Hey, Evaluator! Back from your vacation?
'M not sure if I will use your new prof, Ninja. I like the old one.

Loooonnnnnnggg chappie coming up.


Claw glanced around at the brightly lit surroundings of Tubelectric. Wild Angel hadn't had anything new, but the trip wasn't a complete waste.
KRSplat had nothing to say about it either - that is, he had plenty to say about it, but no information. He suggested that they look in the War Tavern for rumors of "volunteers".
Copper agreed with him, recalling that she had done the same with her fight against Beren.
So now for the second time that day, Claw found himself back in the War Tavern.
Ducky was shaking her head. "Kiyrenin? That's new to me. I'm afraid nothing has been said about it to me or even in my hearing."
"I see. If you do, tell us. This is important."
"I will."
A tall green rabbit walked over. Ducky brightened a bit. "Say, I don't suppose you know Acid? He's a regular here."
Acid snagged a stool before another could take it and sat. He grimaced.
"Haven't been around for the past few days though. They've been keeping me busy." He turned to Copper curiously. "I haven't seen you around, though. I'm Acid."
"Coppertop. I don't really come here that often, so I'm not surprised."
"Heh, I've heard about you. Who hasn't? Don't worry, I'm not going to go all wide-eyed and squeaky-voiced on you."
"Finally, an intelligent one," Copper said dryly. "Why can't you find me more of these, Ducky?"
"Don't blame me, there aren't any more."
"Okay, I agree. Just keep your ears and eyes peeled."
"For what, sensible people or your Kiyrenin?"
"Both."
Acid sat upright. "What was that?"
"What?"
"That name."
"Uh, 'Kiyrenin'. Why?"
"I've heard about them. Stay away from those guys; they're up to something."
Copper leaned forward, eyes narrowing slightly. "Just what do you know about them?"
"Only what I've overheard. They've got us - Carrot Corp - working on some drug that suppresses the ability to do magic in mages. Nasty stuff."
"Really." Copper paused. "Interesting. I have information that the Kiyrenin are behind a series of attacks on my friends and I."
"Like I said, they're nasty. They've got connections and lots of money. Otherwise we wouldn't be doing this work for them."
"Right. I take it you were involved personally in this?"
"I was, but I didn't want to get mixed up with the Kiyrenin. People who did work for them before have a disconcerting habit of going missing. So I took some time - a lot of time - off."
"Drugs to supress mage-ability," Copper muttered. Acid scowled.
"The implications of that are not good," he admitted. "There are a lot of nasty rumors flying around."
"I see. What are you going to do now?"
"I'm not sure, they might come after me. I'm trying to stay out of sight - me and my brother Electrik."
"Two of you? Harder to hide two."
"I know, but Electrik is pretty self-sufficient."
"Well, you could come with us. You'd be harder to find in deep space."
"I'll have to ask Electrik. Don't go away."
"Like I would. Hurry."
Acid slipped off his stool and went to find his brother Electrik. In a moment he was back, with a tall blue rabbit following him.
Electrik was as sensible as his brother. Rather than being overawed by the "great mercenary Coppertop" (unlike a certain bounty hunter/bartender, which positively exasperated, and, on occasion, sickened the mercenary), he greeted her with a sardonic half-bow.
"So, you're the savior who's going to rescue my brother from the evil Kiyrenin, huh?"
"I guess so," she said, equally sarcastic. He grinned.
"Thank you. You have no idea of the relief you are going to bring to my ears."
"He's been complaining, has he. We'll fix that. I'm Coppertop; my hapless crew there go by the names of Claw," who nodded calmly, "Shinyso," and he gave the brothers a quick salute, "Defalcon Phoenix," who grinned and also nodded, "Crystal Summer," and Crystal lifted a hand in acknowledgement, "and Evaluator, who's around here somewhere. Guys, meet Electrik and Acid, who have no idea what they were just recruited for."
Defalcon smirked. "Wait'll they see Phantom Eclipse and our remaining two people."
"I -" Acid suddenly spotted something and groaned. "Oh, no, not now ..."
"WHERE ASHID GOING?" A tan rabbit, wearing a ridiculous outfit, trotted over.
"Not you," Electrik muttered. Then, "go but Phish, Foo. Acid's not going anywhere."
"CAN FOO COME TOO?"
"NO. Hey Phish, come fetch your wayward brother!"
"FOO WANNA COME TOO!"
"NO. Phish! Get over here!"
"Excuse me," an orange pilot said to his companions, and he walked over too. "C'mon, Foo. Let's go home."
"FOO WANNA RIDE ON TEH BIG SHPASHE-SHIP!"
"You can ride on it when we go home. I'll take you for a spin."
"FOO SHPIN?"
"Not here."
Phish led his demented sibling towards the Carrotus portal. A moment later, Foo's voice could be fainly heard.
"Ooh, happyland!"
Copper eyed Acid and Electrik, who looked distinctly embarrassed. There was an uncomfortable silence, which was broken by Acid.
"That was our ... cousin, Foo," he admitted. Electrik rolled his eyes.
"Living proof that intelligence can skip whole generations."
"Ah. Hopefully you retain enough to make yourselves useful."
"Don't worry about that. Uh, maybe we should leave before Foo decides to return, or we'll never get out of here. Phish can handle him."
"I agree," Electrik seconded, and Copper rose.
"Phantom Eclipse is on Tubelectric. Kaz and KRSplat are with her. C'mon."
Yes, Claw had to admit, a very profitable trip after all.


Well, sort of long. BTW, I caught that italics mistake, 4I. Fixed it, too.