Everything Nice

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

And Everything Nice

4.

Astro and Uran sat together on the bus on the way home from school. “What happened today Ani?” Uran asked, “I heard you got chewed out by Inspector Tawashi in the principal's office.”

“Yeah guess I shouldn't have gone hypersonic so low to the ground in a populated area,” he said shrugging his shoulders, “the city's insurance company is going to have to fork out for all the windows I blew out.”

“Why did you do that?” Uran asked.

“It's all Buttercup's fault.” Astro moaned, “She goaded me into racing her back to school after we put out the fires in the downtown area today.”

“I don't understand.” Uran said.

“Er, you ever hear of the Power Puff girls?” Astro asked.

“Yeah, they're a bunch of teenage super heroes, I read about them in my Tigerbeat magazine.”

“Oh, well in real life it seems that's who Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup really are.” Astro said, “Who knew?”

“Wow!” Uran said.

“Of course, they had never heard of me.” Astro added, “Can you imagine? They never heard of Astro Boy! I guess New Townsville is like a world apart from Metro City, even though one is a suburb of the other.”

“By the way Ani, how did that fire get started?” Uran asked.

“I don't know.” Astro said, “Tawashi probably had the fire department comb though the buildings looking for signs of arson by now. Something set off a blast in the excavation of an old gas station in the area, those old fuel tanks must have been leaking for years, so it could have just been an accident.”

When Astro and Uran arrived home Inspector Tawashi's police car was parked in front of their house.

“Looks like we may find out some more, Ani.” Uran said as they entered the house.

“Hello Astro,” Tawashi said.

“Hi inspector. What's up?” Astro asked.

“Thought you'd like to know that fire wasn't an accident.” The inspector said. “Early this morning there was a break in at the auction house and someone cut their way into the safe with a torch. It had all the markings of Acetylene Lamp's handiwork written all over it. We found the remains of welding gas cylinders in the rear basement of the building, along with ash from a cigar. We also found Skunk Kusai's prints on the doorknob of the rear of the building. Looks like the two of them teamed up and made off with about 10,000,000 Yen worth of diamonds.”

“You mean they deliberately set that fire to cover their tracks?” Dr. O'Shay asked.

“I'm not sure.” The inspector said, “there was a large pool of gasoline seeping into the basement from the excavation across the street, it looks like Skunk left a smoldering cigar in the basement not far from the area soaked in the fuel. He may have intended to set that fire, or he may have just been careless. I blame myself for not noticing it, we answered a call about the burglary just minutes before that fire started. If only I'd inspected the entire basement …. Astro, I'd like you to help us search the city for Kusai and Lamp. They could be anywhere now.”

“Sure inspector.” Astro said.

“Only you have school tomorrow, Astro.” O'Shay said. “You can go out for a few hours, but not any longer than that.”

“OK, Dr.” Astro sighed.

“Let me know if you find anything,” The inspector said as he replaced his hat on his head and walked out.

[Little Brown Fox]

So does Cobalt and/or Titan not exist in this story or...? (Sorry, I feel obligated to ask...)

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Neither Cobalt or Chi-tan exist in the 2003 canon of course, but I've always felt free to bend that where I felt fit. I do have an idea in the back of my head how to make use of Cobalt in this story, so we'll see how it goes.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

“By the way Astro,” Dr. O'Shay said, “I heard about your team work with the girls today.”

“You know about the Power Puff Girls?” Astro asked.”

“Yes, Dr. Utonium and I are good friends, though I haven't seen him for some time.” O'Shay remarked. “I once offered him a job at the Institute, but he preferred to set up his own laboratory on the other side of city. He felt guilty about what happened last year and asked me to keep quiet about it, but I guess it's OK if you know the story.”

“You mean about the girls?” Astro asked.

“Exactly,” The doctor replied. “We had an unusually cold winter last year, which was probably caused by shifts in the upper atmosphere due to global warming. Several large glaciers broke free from the arctic and drifted south ending up in the harbor. It snowed for several weeks straight. Dr. Utonium and his son Ken had been working on a chemical that they thought could neutralize green house gases and they tried using in a particle beam cannon to reverse the effects of our unusually cold winter. Unfortunately there was an unseen side effect that resulted in the formation of strange EMP bursts in the tops of towering cumulonimbus clouds over the city which released what the professor later called “Z-rays” upon the city. Three teenagers were struck by those bursts, which caused strange mutations in their bodies, giving them unique abilities.”

“The Power Puff girls?” Astro asked.

“Exactly,” O'Shay said. “The same cloud also released negative Z-rays which caused less desirable mutations in other people, plants and animals. That has been hushed up and the details kept from the public. Only the New Townsville district was involved. The girls have manged to contain the problem up till now, but they could use some help. That's why I had you transferred to school in that part of town.”

Hamegg looked through the diamond paper envelopes, using a jeweler's eye loupe attached to his reading glasses to inspect the goods. “Very nice, but of course quite recognizable on the open market and too well known,” he companied, “but I can have them re-cut and still make a profit.” he added, scribbling a figure onto a scrap of paper and handing it to Skunk.

Skunk made a face and showed the slip to Lamp. “You've got to be shitting us, Hamegg,” Lamp scowled. “That's only a tenth of the rocks value, and you know it! Besides, you owe me, if I hadn't put my neck on the line you'd still be pounding rocks in the pen.”

Hamegg shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Well I suppose I could double my offer.”

“Twice nothing is still nothing!” Lamp yelled.

“You'll triple your offer,” Skunk smiled, “because you know we'll bring you some more business in the future that will be worth your while.”

“You drive a hard bargain,” Hamegg said, offering his hand in agreement. “Care to shake on the deal?”

“Fine.” Lamp said. “In cash!”

“Of course.” Hamegg said. He turned around to face a picture of the emperor that was hanging on the wall, and removed the framed portrait to reveal a wall safe. He quickly spun the combination and opening the safe removed a bound stack of bills which he quickly counted before handing them over to Skunk.

“You scoundrel!” Lamp said, “You knew what you would pay for those and had the money ready in advance!”

“I know how you guys think.” Hamegg said, “So I left myself some room to let you have the satisfaction of haggling with me. It's a tradition.”

Kusai and Lamp drove away in the old van. “First think I'm going to do with my share of the take is to trade this POS in on a new SUV,” Lamp said.

“Let's see about finding ourselves a better place to stay.” Skunk said. “I've had my eye on a nice flat on the nicer side of town for some time now. Looks like we will be able to afford it now.” He handed Lamp a slip of paper with some writing on it. “Drive us over to this address and we'll check it out.”

Lamp looked at the address and made a left turn at the next street. “Well this windfall won't last us forever,” Lamp replied. “Any ideas for our next job?”

“Don't rush me, I'm working on it.” Skunk replied.

A sudden gust of wind blew the van against the curb. Lamp struggled with the wheel as the sky seemed to turn black for an instant. There was a clap of thunder and both men passed out as the equivalent of an electric shock passed though their bodies. A black Z ray had come down from the clouds and struck their vehicle head on.

Buttercup entered the laboratory to find Professor Utonium and Ken looking at a computer screen in a panic state. Bubbles and Blossom entered the room a few moments later, just as the professor noticed them.

“Good thing you guys decided to show up,” Ken said, “A black cloud appeared on the radar out of nowhere and there have been two reported Z ray strikes already. We're trying to get a fix on the last one now.”

“Great.” Blossom sighed, “The fire downtown today was bad enough, now what kind of crazy stuff are we going to have to go up against this time, talking pizzas?”

“Well with any luck those Z rays may have missed hitting anything that can turn into a monster.” The professor said. “Poochi, do you sense anything?”

“No.” the robot dog replied.

“Well that's good.” Bubbles sighed.

“So I understand you guys had some help with the fire today.” The professor said.

“Yeah, Astro Boy arrived on the scene about the same time we did.” Buttercup said. “You know, he's in my P.E. class, I kicked his butt in soccer and basketball and I didn't know he was a robot until I saw him jump of the roof of the school ahead of us and fly away.”

“I was meaning to tell you about him.” Ken said, “but I never got the chance. He and his kid sister are in the same school as you this year.”

“We already met Uran,” the girls replied together.

“They also have an older brother named Kobaruto who's out of town in college.” The professor added, “So you probably won't be meeting him.”

“You know,” Poochi said, “I have a bad feeling that things are going to get worse around here, and it will be a good thing that we have Astro nearby in New Townsville.”

[Little Brown Fox]

Hoohoo, has canon ever stopped any of us before? Actually, I tend to think up excuses as to why he would be there in the 2003 series; AUs and various origin stories. Also, Titan isn't that hard, since he always came last. He could easily be slipped in post-series, if one really wanted to. But I have a hard time imagining what could be written about him; he's mostly just... there, for no really good reason, and mainly serves as filler.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Pabst Hops walked around the old gas tank following the engineer he'd hired to inspect the old structure. He'd meet the structural engineer in a bar just a few days after he'd found the old structure on the edge of the New Townsville district for sale. Pabst new little about engineering and was all too happy to hire the man in exchange for a piece of his profits after expansion of his business. Both men had agreed to the partnership over a few glasses of happoshu.

Lamp stopped periodically to take a closer look at sections of the tank, and kept notes on a form attached to a clipboard. “So how does it look?” Hops asked.

The engineer reached up to place his pencil behind his ear and turned to face his employer. “The tank's in better shape than one would expect for something its age,” he said, “probably because the natural gas that it once held acted as a rust retardant.”

“So will it be safe to modify it for my needs?” Hops asked. I need to increase production, my micro brewery can't keep up with demand, and I'm loosing customers! I need to make use of this tank for the storage and aging of my happoshu.”

“No problem!” Lamp lied though his teeth, “We merely need to line the inside of the thing to hold your product, and install a bit of bracing here and there.”

“Phew!” Hops said “Things are looking up! I'm glad I meet you.”

“Sure.” Lamp smiled, I'll have my contractors at your disposal in a few days.”

Hops got into his car and drove off, and Lamp jumped into the front seat of his new SUV.
“So how'd it go?” Skunk asked while looking at himself in the visor mirror. He still couldn't figure out what had happened to him and Lamp. After that energy force had hit them had laid unconscious in Lamp's van until morning. Skunk's completion and hair color had changed, his new look would fool the police and that stupid boy robot. Lamp also had been changed by the discharge, he no longer needed those thick glasses to see, and the flat spot on the back of his head was gone.

“He went for it hook line and sinker.” Lamp laughed. “I told you I knew enough about structural engineering to throw the bull at him. You sure your contacts at the construction firm can do the job?”

“No problem.” Skunk replied. “They'll do a good enough job for your new partner to run off enough product to make it worth our while. We'll grab ourselves enough of his excellent ale and make a killing on the black market. If that tank goes kablooey after that, who cares, we'll have made enough on the deal and poor Mr. Hops will be left holding the bag.”

"Yeah, well that tank actually is in pretty sorry shape." Lamp laughed. "It probably will burst after two or three runs of happoshu, but we'll be long gone by then."


“Any sign of Lamp or Skunk?” Inspector Tawashi asked.

“None.” Astro sighed. “It's like they just vanished or became invisible or something.”

“I can't believe that they left town.” Tawashi said. “I've got the force on alert and there is an outstanding APB out for them. They may lie low for a while, but mark my words, they will surface again.”

“You're probably right, inspector.” Astro agreed.

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

And Everything Nice

5.

Buttercup held the bowl up to her face and used the chopsticks to spoon the rice into her mouth. She plucked individual bits of vegetables, shrimp and salmon from the bowl with the chopsticks, eating them one at a time. Buttercup got stares from her mother and tried to eat like a young lady, but she was quite hungry and ended up mimicking her father, wolfing down the meal.

Buttercup's dad was a professional wrestler, and he never took off the horned blue mask that he wore in the ring, except when showering, he even slept in it.

“Dad, am I ever going to see your face?” she asked.

“I told you I made a vow never to remove this mask until the day I retire from wrestling,” her father said.

“Shess!” Buttercup groaned looking at her mother, “I bet you you have to look at that mask when the two of you sleep together!” she said giving her mom the evil eye (nudge, nudge, wink, wink!).

“That's none of your business, young lady!” her mom said, almost choking on a bit of mushroom.

Her father put down his empty bowl and quickly changed the subject, “So how was your day, Buttercup?”

“Same old, same old,” the green eyed teen said, sighing. She really wanted to tell her dad all about her superpowers and all the hero stuff she went through with her fellow Power Puffs, but they had taken a vow to keep their identities a secret. Only professor Utonium, Ken, his dog Poochie, and now that robot kid Astro knew who the Power Puff girls really were.

Pabst Hops stared up at the huge tank. The six story high structure once held natural gas for the Metro City gas company. It had become useless scrap metal when the utility had gone out of business and shut down, a victim of changing times. Cheap electric power provided by solar, wind, tidal generators, thermal vents, and nuclear fusion had displaced the use of fossil fuels in Japan. Even aircraft were retrofitted to burn the clean hydrogen cracked from ocean water by cheap electric power.

When the city had put the old tank up for auction, Hops saw the possibility of using it as part of a huge fermentation tank for his brewery. He then lucked out in finding an engineer with contacts in the construction business able to retrofit the aging tank. The crew had just arrived and were already at work with their welding equipment, cutting away parts of the old structure and adding new bits. Soon its insides would be fitted with a plastic lining that would hold the thousands of gallons of happoshu that his brewery would be producing.

Inspector Tawashi thought he recognized the man standing on line in front of him while waiting for the teller at the bank to deposit his pay check. The man walked by him winking at the inspector and laughing to himself. Tawashi could have sworn that it was Skunk Kusai, but the mans complexion and hair color were all wrong, and he didn't look like he was wearing makeup.

Lamp was waiting in his shinny new SUV for his partner. “It must feel strange to be making a deposit in a bank instead of a withdrawal at gunpoint.” Lamp laughed.

“You don't know the half of it,” Skunk cackled. “That stupid flat foot Tawashi was in line ahead of me. I gave him the evil eye as I walked past him. He didn't recognize me, but I bet I really got under his skin.”

“Yeah, what happened to us?” Lamp asked. “After we got struck by that black lightning we woke up looking about 20 years younger. I feel great, like I could bench press a few hundred pounds.”

“Me too.” Skunk replied, “I looked in the mirror last night and couldn't believe the changes in my body. So what's our next move?”

“How long do you think it will take for your construction friends to turn that old gas tank into a brewery?” Lamp asked.

“They'll have Mr. Hops ready to run his first batch of happoshu in a few weeks.” Skunk said. “I told them to add an extra drain port with a hidden pipe so we can sneak up with a tanker truck and drain off a few thousand gallons for ourselves. What about your connections on the delivery end?”

“No sweat.” Lamp replied. “My mob connections are all set. We'll be underselling Mr. Hobs with his own product in markets he never knew he didn't have.”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Astro adjusted the straps of the rollerblades so the inline skates fit perfectly over his boots. This time for his P.E. class he was now going to play roller hockey with the rest of the class, and once again he and Buttercup found each other on opposing sides. “I can't win for loosing!” Astro thought to himself.

Tamo stood nervously in the middle of the field. He was wearing a black and white stripped shirt, the uniform of the game official, the black rubber puck in his hand and a whistle hanging from a string around his neck. Nobody had picked him to play on either side, so being the odd kid remaining, he was given the job of refereeing the game. He quickly dropped the rubber playing piece on the ground between the two teams and beat a hasty retreat barely in time to avoid the flying sticks.

Astro almost got wood on the puck, but Buttercup beat him to it. She slapped the round object towards her team's goal just as Astro swung at air. “Damm, she did it again!” Astro muttered under his breath as his took off, the wheels on his skates screaming as they rotated at several thousand RPM.

Buttercup and Abercrombie relayed the puck back and forth between them, keeping just a few feet ahead of Astro's best efforts to catch up. The boy robot knew he could overtake them using just one of his arm jets, but that would be cheating. Astro's electronic brain computed that he wouldn't be able to intercept them and take over the puck to make a run for the other goal, but maybe he could prevent them from scoring. He made a straight line across the field and back towards the goal, arriving in front of the cage just as Buttercup blasted the puck towards the scoring line. Astro blocked the shot with his own stick, just as his teams goalie lined up to do the same. The puck made a bounce on a rough bit of pavement just at the last second to strike the top of Astro's stick, and was deflected over his head into the goal cage.

“Rats!” Astro thought to himself. “I stink at this game!”

Astro unstrapped the skates and the (totally unnecessary) shin guards, and threw the equipment into the large basket in the corner of the locker room. He quickly got out of his gym uniform and into his school clothes. “Hey don't feel bad Astro,” Tamao said, patting him on the back, “Buttercup makes most of the guys look like wimps. Guess she takes after her dad, the masked wrestler.”

“Thank's Tamao,” Astro replied. “You know I could beat her, but I have to be real careful in sports not to over do it.”

“Yeah I know,” Tamao sighed, cleaning his glasses. “I guess it's hard for a robot to play with human kids, you have to limit yourself to our level.”

The girls took their seats in the back of Ms. Keane's history class. “Ever since that fire last week, it's been quiet again in New Townsville.” Bubbles said.

“Yeah.” Blossom agreed. “We've been able to get our school work done for a change.”

“Too bad.” Buttercup smiled. “I'd love for us to meet up with Astro again as the Power Puff Girls. I had a lot of fun today embarrassing him on the Hockey field.”

“You really like him don't you?” Bubbles said.

“Oh come on, he's just a robot.” Buttercup snapped back.

“You don't fool me a bit,” Blossom replied, “I can see you making eyes at him.”

Buttercup quickly turned her head away from the corner of the room where Astro was seated. “Who me?”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Ken, Poochi and Dr. Utonium sat around a table. The doctor and his son were on opposite sides of the table, with Poochi sitting between them. They sat in silence contemplating the chess board that sat between them.

“Your move Dad,” Ken said.

“I'm thinking!” the doctor replied with his hand hovering over the board. He was about the grab his queen when the robot dog muttered, “I wouldn't do that if I were you.”

“Hey, don't interfere with the game,” Ken snarled at his pet.

Dr. Utonium withdrew his hand from over the board and started scratching his chin with it. He then picked up his remaining rook and moved it across the board.

“Check!” he announced.

“Really?” Ken muttered as he captured the attacking piece with his bishop.

“Opps, didn't see that.” his father sighed, moving his queen over two spaces.

Ken studied the board for a few minutes and nonchalantly moved a rook over two spaces. “Checkmate.” he announced.

The doctor threw his hands up in the air and walked away from the table towards the window.

“It's been real quite around here,” he said. “We haven't seen the girls for several weeks now.”

“They're probably busy with their school work.” Poochi answered, “and it seems they only come over here when some thing's up, or they're bored.”

“Or to rob some of my candy.” Ken added.


Over on the other side of town Pabst Hops watched as the construction crew packed up their trucks. Lamp handed the owner of the brewery an invoice and smiled.

“The modifications are all done, all you have to do is install your equipment and start brewing your beer.”

Mr. Hops looked over the bill and then filled out a check. “Here's the final payment, Mr. Lamp,” he said. Why don't you and your associate come by in about two weeks and have a taste of the best happoshu there is?”

“Yeah, sure.” Lamp laughed. “Why not?”

Acetylene got into his SUV and looked to the right where Skunk was seated.

“How did it go?” Kusai asked.

“Seems we passed the baka's inspection.” Lamp laughed. “Maybe your motley crew actually did a proper job.”

“I highly doubt it.” Skunk replied. “They cut too many corners. Still they do know how to put on a good show.”

“We've been invited to come back in a few weeks to taste his brew.” Lamp added. “Think it will be safe?”

“Yeah, probably.” Skunk said. “I told the boys what we had in mind. Hops will be able to run his brewery for at least a few months before things go to hell.”

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

And Everything Nice

6.

Buttercup's dad had his masked head buried in the newspaper at the breakfast table. “Well, you will look at this!” he cried out holding the paper open to a full page advertisement. “Looks like my favorite brand of micro brewed happoshu has gone mainstream!”

Buttercup leaned forward to take a look at the page her father was holding up. 'Micro no more!' read the advertisement. 'We've gone Mega!' There in a glorious full color was a picture of a huge brew tank. Judging by the people standing next to the monster, it must have stood a good 5 stories tall. 'Our new brewery facility will be producing our favorite organic smooth Happoshu beer in several varieties, including an alcohol free brew that is destined to become a favorite among teenagers.'

“Is that the stuff you once caught me sneaking a taste of?” the green eyed teen asked.

“Sure is,” her father answered, “It was always in short supply, I'd buy a case every time the store got some more in stock. Sounds like they've finally solved the supply problem.”

“Hey it says here they are going to have an open house next week, and that they're going to be giving away free samples to everyone that shows up for the grand opening,” Buttercup read.

“Let me see that!” her dad said snatching the newspaper out of his daughter's hands. “Wow, you're right. The brewery is opening a store at the new facility and there'll be a tour of the place too. Hey you want to come along?”

“You going to wear your mask?” she laughed.

“Maybe not.” her father said. “I guess I can be out of character for once. Besides, I'm tired of being hounded by autograph hunters!”

“Well in that case,” Buttercup smiled, “I'd love to come along. About time I was able to spend some quality time with my old man!”


Pabst Hops barked orders to the ten newly hired workers who were now busily mixing the ingredients for the light beer into the first of the mixing chambers. He walked around the huge tank that was now being filled with water in preparation for the fermentation of the first batches of happoshu. The tank contained three separate chambers, the two larger one would be used for the fermentation of his dark brew, and a lighter beer, the smallest would be used for the production of the new alcohol free happoshu he would be introducing to the market. As the liquid level in the tank rose he inspected the pipe fittings and looked carefully at the outer structure of the tank. Everything seemed to be in order.


Skunk slapped Lamp on the top of his head and pushed the newspaper into his face. “Look what Hop's is up to.” He said, “He's going to be giving away the first batch of his brew in a weeks time.”

“Hey, that's smart thinking on his part.” Lamp laughed. “We'll hijack his second run after he's stoked up demand by giving out samples of the first.”

“Yeah, you're right.” Skunk replied, “I didn't think of that.”

“Well let's make sure that tanker truck we're going to need is available,” Lamp said, “I can just taste the profits now!”