"You've been to Sync City!?" Futaba said in shock, "That's a science lover's dream vacation! What brought you there!?"
"A yokai terrorist," Clockwork explained. "And also because Drakus wanted to see some old friends."
They spent most of the rest of the day talking about their adventures, with Sumire explaining the situation with her sister Kasumi.
"At first I thought Maruki could help her walk again," Sumire admitted, "But when he became the Dreamer, I just had to step in."
The talk turned to more pleasant things, with the group wanting to set up a camping trip, complete with a barbecue.
"We'd better make sure there's a lot of food," Haru said, "Between Ryuji, you guys, and Yusuke, that's a lotta massive appetites we'll have to fill."
"A barbecue will mean plenty of meat and vegetables," Yusuke said, "And the scenery will surely help to inspire my artwork."
Iris and Futaba were already looking through the new EMMA app on their phones. The app had exploded in popularity over the last few months thanks to its development by the IT firm Maddice. EMMA was capable of finding all the best items for whatever a person could need, at least from a physical standpoint. Reviews online showed that it struggled somewhat with more emotional desires. But for things like shopping, tourism, or anything job and education-related, EMMA could most certainly be relied upon. It was the most advanced AI system of its kind.
"Alright," Ren said, "We'll set out tomorrow to get all the gear and food. For now, let's take a rest. After all, we do need to patrol in-between shopping."
Soon after they got outside, they heard someone yelp.
"Oww… why did I trip…?"
The squad blinked again, staring at the almost hilariously unlucky scene before them in the form of a short, fairly young looking blonde girl in a nun outfit laying there with a bunch of spilled clothes from her open bag… with her ass in the air and her panties just… out there.
Thank fuck no perverts were around, otherwise they'd probably have to beat the shit outta someone.
"Hey, you good? Bad luck, falling like that," Starscream called out as he approached, moving slowly as to not startle the girl and holding out his hand as he neared. "C'mon, let's get you cleaned up."
Ryuko looked around, clicking her tongue a little as Starscream helped the girl up. "Aw hell, your clothes are all over the place. Probably gonna need to throw 'em in the wash after this."
"O-oh, um… thank you! I'm sorry for the mess…" the girl tapped her fingers together, giving the squad a soft smile as she shook her head and held her habit down so it wouldn't get blown away in the sudden breeze. "Um… if I could trouble you for some help…"
"Oh- yeah. No prob," Ryuko nodded, returning the girl's smile with a sort of half grin of her own and immediately bending over to help her pick up all of her loose clothes that had been strewn about. "You been traveling or something? There's a lotta stuff in here- shit, where're my manners? I'm Ryuko Matoi."
"Oh- hello miss Ryuko! My name is Asia! Asia Argento!" the now named Asia paused, then cleared her throat. "I'm so glad I met someone as nice as you… you seem so kind despite your language and looks," Asia continued after a few moments, hefting her travel bag in her hands and bowing her head towards the squad with that same soft smile still on her face. "It must be divine guidance!"
"Something like that, I guess," Starscream shrugged instead of agreeing, nodding back and rolling his shoulders. "So, got anywhere you need to go, Asia?"
"Mm- right! Um… I am a bit lost… could you help me? I've been assigned to Evershade Valley's church, but I don't know where it is…" Asia poked her fingers together around the handle of her bag, looking at the squad a bit sheepishly.
Inkerton shrugged again, not seeing the harm in this. After all, they weren't doing anything important. "Sure. I don't exactly know where it is, but I'm pretty sure I've seen that the Last Resort hotel's offering a whole floor as a church."
"O-oh! Thank you!"
Soon, the hotel soon came into view, and Kisame gazed at the shiny, 15 story building in wonder. "Sweet Kishimoto…" he breathed.
Thad guided the bus to a rather turbulent stop at the hotel's drop-off and valet area. Collective sighs of relief arose as everyone filed out of the vehicle.
"Thank the Stars!" Chet exclaimed. "I gotta take a leak!"
Drakus helped Taeko, Lute, Mozenrath, Vaizen and Vaati disembark, and the six of them walked toward the hotel entrance, arm-in-arm. Bradford and Chet tottered after them, bearing armfuls of luggage. Thad hopped out of the driver's seat and hurried to catch up with his fellow retainers, as the X-Squad shuffled off. And Inkerton carefully disembarked with his own luggage before stretching his tentacles, and scored a better look at the colossal skyscraper he'd call home for the next few days. It was almost as tall as the Scuttleport factory, and its design was more or less actually decent to look at. And the building was painted in a splendid golden color, allowing it to catch the sun's rays.
The sight of this elegant complex took Inkerton's breath away. It was as if it was actually inviting him inside.
"Coddamn..." Inkerton muttered, as he turned around and saw some baby ducks in the fountain.
"A bunch of baby birds?" Inkerton asked, as the ducks waddled over to him. "Did, did I become a father?"
A group of four fully grown Canadian geese showed up in the entrance. The geese scared two of the employees away and pushed a squirrel into the fountain. Two of the geese chest pounded each other and went over to Drakus and Taeko, nuzzling them affectionately.
He shouldn't freak out, this was a vacation! The people here obviously didn't mean harm (or well, he hoped they didn't mean harm). They just wanted to give them a perfect hotel stay, which was nice. The masks were creepy though. But, maybe they were more used to other people like them staying! Wait, no, that made no sense either.
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