WAR: VAQS: Dude, Where's My Bike? (01/01) By: Naia Zifu & Tricia Busick, with help from our VaqAmigas Place: shopping center & streets of Toronto Day/Time: Tuesday afternoon/evening following Vaqs:Chain of Command, and NA: Dawn of the Undead Naia grinned happily. She loved her little oh-so-cute, powder-blue Vespa, even though it's soft putter sounded out of place next to the roar of her VaqSisters' Triumphs. Realizing she didn't care what it sounded like, she decided to meet up with the others on their shopping trip. "I have to make sure they don't forget the ramen," she thought. She climbed aboard, making sure her Shiny-shiny Akiko-sama foil Card of Doom(tm!) was firmly attached to the right handlebar, and started the engine. Then she and the powder-blue Vespa moved at a very cute, and very safe pace to the store. "I like chocobars, any kind of chocobars! I eat chocobars every day, two bars per a day!" she sang as she rode along, off-key as always, bobbing along to the music in her head. "Nougat and nuts in the milk chocolate, cornflakes and peanuts in the milk chocolate. . ." She arrived about half an hour later, to find six Vaqueras standing around *five* Triumphs. "I know it was here when we went in!" she heard Tricia explain, "There was a little road dust on the spider, so I polished it up before going in. Y'all saw me, right? And I have the key right here!" She waved the key around emphatically, all the while her head turning left and right, as though expecting the wayward motorcycle to appear if she looked hard enough in the right places. "Aww, I missed it. . . what'd you guys get? Did you remember the ramen? Please say you remembered the ramen!" Naia said, before noticing the discrepency between the number of bikes and riders. "Somebody double up or something missing?" "It was here when we went in," Tricia repeated, "It had a spider decal on it. Spider's one of my spirit guides you know." "Really? Mine too!" Marilyn the VaqShaman held out her hand. "See my nifty spider ring?" "Awesome! I wish I had one like it." "Yeah, I got it ..." "Ahem," the VaqMadre interrupted, "I think it's wonderful you two have so much in common, but don't you think we have more important things to talk about -- like the fact that Tricia's Triumph is missing!" "Any ideas who might have taken it?" asked Sarah M. "Who knows. Pick a faction." Melissa shifted the heavy shopping bags from one side to another. "You know some of this stuff needs to be in the fridge." "I know, why don't you guys carry the groceries, and I can help look for the bike," Naia suggested, grinning cheerfully. She just wanted to feel like she was doing something helpful to the War effort, and if this would help, she was all for it. "Yeah, we should probably get back to the Church; get things put away," the VaqMadre started directing her "troops" making sure everything was distributed between the bikes' saddlebags, then turned to Tricia. "You'll have to ride with Naia for now. Sorry." "But ... but it's a Vespa!" "I know. Isn't it cuuute!" Naia gazed adoringly at the scooter. " PG war Well, at least it's not PINK! But this is just for now, right?" "We'll see what we can do, but for now it's the Vespa or walking." "Come on, Tricia. It won't be so bad. We can look for your bike together. It'll be fun!" There was just one thing Naia had to check first before leaving... "You guys _did_ remember the ramen, right?" Fully assured there was indeed ramen to be had when she got back to the Church, Naia crowded the displaced Vaq onto the back of her blue Vespa and started the engine. "This is gonna be just like _Roman Holiday!_" she decided. "Except not all romantic and stuff. . ." Tricia groaned from the back of the Vespa, a real long-suffering "Why me?" sort of groan, but Naia didn't notice. "Daisuki," she resumed singing, just as off-key, "Tabetai! Itsudemo, doko demo!" Another chorus of the chocobars song, and Tricia had just about had it. "Will you knock it off!" she cried in frustration. "You can sing along, too. I'll teach you the words. It goes, 'I like chocobars. . .'" "No, I don't wanna sing along, I just want you to shut up and help look for my bike, so we can get back to the Church and to Vachon!" "Let's see, if I were a bike with a spider on it, where would I be?" Naia thought about this very seriously. "Well, spiders like to eat bugs and things. The ratsies like dirt, and dirt attracts bugs, so we should check at the Ratpackers' place first." Then she thought about what the dirt would do to her Vespa, and the Ratpackers' attraction to shiny, pretty things, and began to fear for both her ride and her card. "On second thought, Akiko-sama doesn't like that place. Maybe we should look somewhere else." "What is an 'Akiko-sama' anyway?" Tricia asked, not entirely sure she wanted to know the answer. Naia pointed to the shiny card happily dangling from the handlebar. There was a photo of a young Japanese woman on it, wearing a brown wig and very revealing costume not unlike a shiny bluish bikini, with thigh-high boots and over-the-elbow gloves, although you could only see the whole costume on the back of the card. The front was dominated by a portrait of the actress, printed on an uber-shiny and rainbow-reflecting field, with little stars on it. "Nakayama Akiko, born December 2, 1986, blood type AB. . . obscure Japanese stage actress best known for roles as Taiki Kou in _Starlights Ryuusei Densetsu_ and _Kakyuu-ouhi Kourin_, and her current role as Ten'ou Haruka in _Shin Kaguya Shima Densetsu_. . . currently the Kaiteban," she explained all in one breath. She's pwetty. . . but underaged. . . have to wait a while before I can stalk her." "O-kay, riiight" came the reply, accompanied by the stunned face of one who has just received far too much information. "Akiko-sama says she wants to go somewhere nice." And with no more warning than that, the Vespa started for the more upscale area of town, where there were five-star restaurants and fancy hotels the likes of which Naia would never be able to afford. Logically, there would be no reason for the motorcycle to be there, and if it were it would stick out like a sore thumb, but her eyes seriously scanned around for it nonetheless. But it was getting dark out now, and Naia could feel her stomach starting to rumble. "I guess Akiko-sama was wrong, gomen," she said apologetically, giving the card a small thump for the dodgy lead. "We should probably turn around and head back now." Naia's voice was quivering, sounding on the verge of tears. "Hey, what are you so upset for?" Tricia asked. "It's not even your bike that's gone missing!" "It's my first time in the War," came the tearful reply. "I just wanted to be of some help, you know? But look at me, I can't even help find a lost bike, much less some stupid rock. . ." "Yeah, well, who said we were looking for that rock, anyway? Vachon is happy just like he is. He's not gonna want a cure even if one really does exist. Besides, it's my first war too, and I'm the one that lost the bike." "Yeah, but not every vampire's like him. What about Urs?" Naia's knees felt weak just at the mention of the beautiful blonde vampire's name, and the Vespa swerved dangerously towards traffic. "Hey, watch it!" Tricia lunged to take hold of the handlebars and pull the scooter to the side of the road before there was an accident. "Gomen gomen!" Naia said again. "It's just. . . she's so pwetty. . ." The diminutive Vaq's eyes glazed over as her mind launched into a daydream in which it was Urs on the back of the Vespa, apparently cured of vampirism, since they were driving through the streets of Rome in the sunshine. "Just like _Roman Holiday,_" Naia muttered in her dreamlike state. "Oh brother." Tricia rolled her eyes, and waved her hand in front of Naia's face. "Come on, snap out of it! If you're like this just at the mention of her name, I'd hate to see what you were like if she really showed up. . ." Naia splatted down into a pool of goo at the thought. "Well, at least we know _Naia's_ not gonna fight us for Vachon. . ." end 01/01