🚀 go-pugleaf

We are only slightly out of continuity... between posts 4 and 5 of the IR.

     When we last left Yo-Yo, he had just captured somebody who was trying to
catch him, and H'siao was angsting over the revolution.  And now, without
further ado...

                         Two Guys and a Lemming #5
                      Is is Magic, or is it Memorex?
                            By Yvonne Bennett

     Yo-Yo led the guy into the pizza place to pick up dinner and untied his
arms.  "Here, you hold the pizza, huh?  We'll walk back.  Oh, by the way...
don't try to run off with my dinner or anything, this thing is sharp."
     As they left, Yo-Yo made his point by carving a lowercase "y" into the
wall with his yo-yo.
     The man gulped and walked beside Yo-Yo.
     Yo-Yo smiled.  It's not in his nature to be violent.  If the guy started
running, he'd just snag him.  Although he always wondered if he could make it
work.  It was all he could do not to burst out laughing as the man walked
along with the pizza and a horribly worried look on his face.

     When the two arrived back at the hotel, H'siao had calmed herself down,
and Enzio was worrying less than earlier.  The newscast of the revolution was
fading worse than before, so the volume on the television was turned off and
the radio was turned on so they could still hear what was going on, and get
the occasional picture.
     Both turned to stare at the man that Yo-Yo had brought in.
     Enzio spoke first.  "Who is that, and why is he here?"
     Yo-Yo said, "Well, at the moment, he's carrying our pizza... I'm not sure
who he is."
     The man put the pizza on the floor and looked at the trio.  "Here's my
card," he said, reaching into his back pocket while keeping a wary eye on the
fop.
     H'siao accepted the card.
                ________________________
                |                      |
                |   Johnathan Quincy,  |
                |   Mage-in-Training   |
                |______________________|

     H'siao stared for a while, and Enzio looked over her shoulder.
     "John Q. Mage?" he asked incredulously.
     The man was feeling a little better.  The weird dude that was threatening
him earlier wasn't paying much attention to him anymore, and was in fact out
of the room, supposedly changing clothes.  The other two seemed much less
hostile.  He said confidently, "Well, not yet.  I need more practice before I
can become a real mage.  That's why I'm not in Bob at the moment.  I wouldn't
be of any help, and would probably be a detriment."
     Yo-Yo walked in in his bright yellow costume with a big smile on his
face, and the man stopped talking for a while.  Yo-Yo grinned and said, "go
on, dude!  I was only picking on you earlier.  Besides, H'siao is much more
dangerous than me, so I don't have to worry anymore."
     The man looked from Yo-Yo to the girl standing on the floor.  He couldn't
quite figure out how a plush kid with a huge nose and green hair could be any
real danger, but he decided not to take his chances.
     He swallowed uneasilly and continued with his tale.  "Well, I was
recruited to look over public relations.  Basically, just wander around from
place to place and see what the general sentiment is about all this.  I can
control my powers enough to sense the general emotional feedback of people,
both groups and individuals, as well as test to see if there is magic around
somewhere.
     Enzio jumped in before H'siao could speak.  "Well, we pretty much don't
have an opinion on who's right or wrong, because we are so far remufflesd."
     Enzio found that it was very hard to talk with a plush foot placed in his
mouth.
     H'siao glared at him and hopped down to the floor.  "Can I talk now,
please?  Thank you."
     She looked the M.I.T. over.  "I have an interest in one of the major
revolutionaries, as you may have figured out by now."
     John nodded.  His brain was starting to hurt from all the anger he felt
from the lemming.  (lemming?)
     "But you just said you could tell if somebody was magic.... well... I've
been wondering something.  We are new to this altverse, and we have brought
with us things commonly known as 'schticks.'  I want to know if we are magic
or not.  Hmmm... Yo-Yo!  Show off your schtick first."
     The mage held up his hand.  "I've already seen his schtick."
     "You WHAT?" shouted H'siao as she stared at Yo-Yo.
     Yo-Yo shrugged, "I got bored.  This dude walked up behind me and pulled a
gun.  That's why I brought him in the first place."
     H'siao fumed at Yo-Yo.  "Alright, I'll let it go this time, since this
may turn out to be a good thing.  But do you know how easily you could've
gotten killed if you hadn't noticed this guy ... or anybody else that could
have shown up that knows how to handle a gun?!"
     Yo-Yo sighed.  He had heard this lecture a million times before, and
quite frankly, he was starting to get tired of it.  He contained himself, and
quietly said, "H'siao.  Can we please save this for later?  You have been
wanting the information this man has for quite a while now.  Talk to him, and
I'll submit to your lecture later.  OK?"
     H'siao looked slightly puzzled.  It almost looked like Yo-Yo was about to
lose his temper.  She'd never seen that before.  Maybe she should lay off for
awhile.
     She nodded and turned back to John.  "So, you can see if somebody or
something is magic, correct?"
     The man nodded, not knowing if this was good or bad.
     "And since you've already seen Yo-Yo's schtick... tell me is it magic or
not, and if it's not, what is it?"
     The man scratched his head.  "No, Yo-Yo is not magic, but I'm not sure
what he is doing, due to the speedy nature of his schtick."
     H'siao smiled, but didn't let John see this under her huge nose.  "Good,
OK, since you aren't sure, why don't you check out Enzio's?"
     The Mage In Training nodded his head.
     Enzio pulled out what looked like a cellular phone and dialed.  "Send me
one right away."  As he put away the phone, there was a screach of tires as a
large pump truck showed up at the hotel.  Enzio opened the door just in time
to let the driver in.
     "What's up, boss?"
     "Just stand still for a minute."
     H'siao looked at the plumber.  He looked alot like Enzio.  In fact his
name tag read "Dan Enzio."  H'siao shrugged and looked at John.  "Well?"
     John looked slightly worried.  "Uh, this isn't magic either, but again,
I'm not sure what it is, because I didn't know where to look."  He gulped,
thinking, [if I don't come up with what the Hell (tm) is going on here, I may
be in trouble].
     Enzio handed the plumber a couple of bills.  "Thanks for the trouble."
     The plumber nodded, and raced out the door.  The truck disappeared in
another squeal of tires.
     H'siao sadly watched the $40.00 change hands, then shook her head.
"Alright, I guess I'll have to show you my schtick, then.  It usually takes
longer and stays in one place..."
     The lemming removed her sunglasses, mumbled something that sounded like
it could be a name, and then raised her hand to the air and shouted "Let's
Go!!!"  Some music started sounding from nowhere.  In the middle of the room,
a door appeared in the ceiling.  It opened downward with a creak.  Something
that looked very much like H'siao, except in swim trunks and carrying a surf-
board, hopped into the room.  The door disappeared.  He looked around,
slightly confused, and then spotted his friend H'siao.
     "H'siao!  Where have you been, little Dudette?!"
     H'siao embraced her fellow lemming.  "I've been stuck here for a while,
that's all... unfortunately, I have lost the power to get back."
     The lemming looked her up and down.  "Hmm... can I get back?"
     "Well, yes.  But I'm not sure why you can and I can't...."
     "I might be able to shed some light on the subject," said the M.I.T.
     Both H'siao and the other lemming turned.  "You can?  You finally figured
out how our schticks work?"
     John nodded confidently.  "It's definitely not magic.  You are all just
using some sort of dimensional jumps.  When Yo-Yo throws his line, a small
portal opens up, and throws something for it to wrap around.  When Enzio calls
up his plumbers, a portal opens up to allow the truck to go back and forth,
but only the trucks that came out can go back.  This is H'siao's problem as
well.  She can't go out that exit over there because she never fell through
the door."
     H'siao sighed as she stared at the two pillars with the glowing exit sign
above them.  "Well, that would explain it.  You can go home now, kid."
     The lemming blinked and gave H'siao one last hug before heading for his
exit.  "Hey, keep in touch, ok?  Sometime when you have less company?"  He
winked at H'siao and dove through the exit as he shouted "Yippee!"
     H'siao almost tried to follow him, but the door disappeared as soon as he
was through.
     She smiled at the mage, letting him know she was smiling.  "Hey, thanks,
bud.  Gee, wanna hang with us for a while?  Yo-Yo was really only fooling when
he threatened you."
     John smiled back, but shook his head no.  "Sorry.  Once this IR is over,
I'll be going back to training."  He looked at the intermittant pictures on the
TV.  "Looks like it won't be long now.  I'd better get going.... Say, would
you happen to have a small gun on you?  I seem to have lost mine."  He looked
at Yo-Yo bitterly, as Yo-Yo just grinned.
     "Sorry, no guns here."
     "I don't carry guns, shuriken are better."
     "Nope.  I got a pipe wrench, though."
     John Q. sighed again.  "Can I at least have some pizza?"
     "Sure, there should be enough," said Enzio, and H'siao nodded agreement.
     Yo-Yo looked slightly worried.  "Ummm.... how much do you like spicy
food?"
     "Not bad, I kinda like it."
     He picked up the pizza box, and realized that it was still quite warm.
It actually felt warmer than when he brought the thing in.  He gulped slightly
as he opened the box and a cloud of spicy, hot air blew into his face.  John
promptly fainted.
     "I guess he doesn't like _that_ much spice, Yo-Yo.  I'm a little wary of
it myself," said Enzio.
     H'siao just sat down and started eating.  "mmmm... Good.....HOTHOTHOTHOT
HOTHOTHOTHOTHOT!!!!!!!"  The lemming leapt into the air and headed for the
kitchen sink.  She turned on the cold water and put her whole face in it so
the water poured directly into her mouth.
     Yo-Yo inhaled some fumes from the pizza and had no problems.  "Hmm... I
guess they couldn't take it," and started eating peacefully, taking swallows
of milk once in a while.  "Good Pizza."

WHAT WAS ON THAT PIZZA?????

DOES IT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE PLOT?????

OR IS IS JUST BECAUSE ZORRO'S YOUNGER COUSIN IS FROM MEXICO?????
that's distant cousin (*slash**slash**slash*)
sorry

AREN'T YOU GLAD THAT THESE GUYS _AREN'T_ MAGIC?????

IS SPACE MOOSE GONNA CATCH UP WITH THESE GUYS?????

FIND OUT ON THE NEXT EXCITING

                                 SUPERGUY!

comments to ybennett@vt.edu