Lively Little Things

“I wholeheartedly disagree with the actions being taken in my name. I do not know who at the Bureau is giving out these false orders, but rest assured, they will be brought to justice.”

Uzo Watanabe, this morning

“But what I don't understand is how the human government is condoning these actions,” Kenta said as he, Melody, and Pinkie walked through the snow. “Prime Minister Watanabe is on the record as being committed to unity. And yet fairies all over the prefecture are being kidnapped and sent out to God knows where?”

“We aren't entirely sure who's responsible for this,” Pinkie answered. “Dad would have a better idea, but he's been captured, too.”

“So where are we headed?” Kenta asked.

“I have a garage out in the forest where I've been tinkering away,” Pinkie explained. “It's not been easy to hide it from Dad, but I managed. We're here.”

She led Kenta and Melody to a large shack she had built in the forest and opened the doors. Inside was a small biplane cobbled together using whatever spare or abandoned parts Pinkie could find. Neither Kenta nor Melody could identify any of the parts: the barely held-together body of an old crop duster, a propeller that was the tail rotor of a Bell 206, the tail of a plane used for firefighting, the landing gear of a hospital plane, and (somehow) the wings from three separate Cessnas. The whole thing was held together with magic, duct tape, and prayers.

“Are you sure this thing can fly?” Kenta asked. “This thing looks pretty… unsafe…”

“Don't be silly,” Pinkie told him. “I've already flown this baby five times. She's perfect.”

“What's her name?” Melody asked.

“The Hoshino,” Pinkie answered, “after that reality show host. You know the one.”

“Oh, right… him.”

•

Skies over Sendai, Miyagi

The Hoshino flew like a bird that accidentally drank out of a fountain of beer. That was really no fault of Pinkie or her piloting skills, though. Her plane was just that flimsy in the air. Their goal now was to figure out where the Bureau was taking the kids and Zim. Luckily for the trio, the Hoshino was modified to seat four people safely.

Unfortunately for the kidnappers, the van they decided to stuff the kids and Zim in had windows. This gave Melody and Kenta an opportunity to see their target with ease. How they planned on getting the kids and Zim out of that van… Well, they were going to cross that bridge once they got there.

“Look!” Melody shouted out the right side of the plane. “I see Coda's face!”

“How can you tell from this distance?” Kenta asked her. At the time, they were easily hundreds of feet in the air.

“I just know,” Melody answered. “I could never forget Coda's face. Can you get us closer?”

“Will do, sweetheart,” Pinkie said as she pitched her makeshift aircraft sideways. The maneuver got them closer to the van, but it almost caused Pinkie to lose control of the plane. Kenta nearly lost control of his stomach.

“So what's the plan?” Kenta asked.

“As soon as we get over the van, I'll jump onto it and perform a little breaking and entering,” Melody explained. “Maybe teach those punks a lesson about messing with my family.”

“I'm trying, but it's getting hard to turn this thing with the van trying to shake us off,” Pinkie told her.

“Leave that to me,” Melody replied. She then opened the side door of the plane to climb outside. Having climbed onto the roof of the plane, her goal was to inch her way to the edge of the wing and jump off there.

“There she is!” a voice shouted from behind. Melody turned around to see Agents Suzuki and Shimano tailing the plane in a Bell helicopter.

“Is that her?” Suzuki asked. “I can't tell.”

“Not you buffoons again!” Melody said to them. “What is your problem with me?!”

“My problem isn't just with you,” Suzuki corrected her. “It's you and the rest of your fairy trash. You're dangerous. We cannot have your kind threatening the survival of mankind! Shimano!”

“Yes, sir.”

The Bell swooped in closer to Pinkie's plane.

“Light Pulsar Grenade!” Suzuki shot out an orb of light at the plane, nearly knocking Melody off the roof.

She barely managed to keep her footing with a “Sticky Glue Footwork” before responding with a “Zap It To You, Mate!” Shimano's quick thinking led him to turn sharply, allowing Suzuki to try to block the lightning as he did before. As he was barely able to see, he missed. He was fortunate, though, as the bolt of lightning also missed him, and shot straight through the window on the other side.

“Shimano, a little help over here?”

“Of course, sir!” Shimano put the helicopter on autopilot, allowing him to help Suzuki aim his spells.

“Pinkie! Go lower!” Melody shouted.

“I'll try, but I'm already getting the low altitude lights,” Pinkie warned her. She pitched the plane even closer to the van. Dangerously close. Close to the buildings. But Pinkie, for being an amateur, had plenty of skill inside the cockpit. Suzuki tried to launch a Channel Fireball spell, but it missed, setting the roof of an office building on fire.

“I would advise against firing off any more fireballs in the city, sir,” Shimano said to Suzuki.

“Okay, noted.”

Back in the plane, Pinkie was struggling to maintain control.

“Kenta, you're gonna have to help out on defense!” she shouted.

“Me?” Kenta asked. “What can I do?”

“I don't know. Think of something!”

Kenta discovered a turret sitting behind him, facing the enemy. Instead of a gun, there were two compartments that Kenta could slide his hands into. He had seen these in old newsreels about the Last War, giving him a clue as to what they do.

•

Inside the Bell, Shimano spotted Kenta climbing into the turret.

“Sir, the boy is in the plane!” Shimano shouted. “We need to disengage!”

“Disengage?” Suzuki asked. “Why?”

“The boss wants the boy alive!”

“Frankly, Shimano, I don't give a damn what the boss wants,” Suzuki answered with a cold stare. I don't care if I drag them into the fiery pits of Hell myself! These miscreants will be brought to justice, dead or alive. But preferably dead!”

Suzuki began to chant a haiku, his high magic spell.

The four winds tease me,

But who shall have the last laugh?

Magical Missile!!!

“Sir!”

•

Inside the plane, Kenta saw a giant ball of rainbow-colored light emanating from Suzuki's position inside the Bell.

“Pinkie? They're casting a high magic,” he warned the pilot.

“How can you tell?” Pinkie asked in response.

“Oh, just the giant orb of light right behind us is all,” Kenta answered. 

Pinkie looked out of the plane to see the orb growing bigger and bigger by the second.

“Fluff, that's a Magical Missile at point blank,” Pinkie said as she pulled her head back inside the plane. “Those buffoons! They're going to get a whole bunch of innocent people killed.” She poked her head out the other window to warn Melody. “Melo! We gotta get out of here!”

“What about the kids?” Melody asked, barely able to hear her girlfriend over the sound of the plane's engine.

“We'll have to figure something else out!”

“No way!” Melody insisted. “If we don't rescue them now, we won't get another chance!” With that, Melody jumped off the roof of the plane and onto the roof of the van. Pinkie quickly swerved the plane in the opposite direction in order to avoid getting hit with the Magical Missile.

By now, Shimano was struggling, begging Suzuki to undo the Magical Missile. It was too late. Once a spell had been cast, especially a high magic spell, it could not be undone. All Shimano could do now was fly the helicopter to a safe place where minimal damage could be done with the missile.

•

The van was now speeding and swerving with reckless abandon through the outskirts of the city. The agents inside were trying to shake Melody off the roof. She, meanwhile, was slowly making her way to the back of the van. Once she did, she chanted a “Boundary Release” spell, unlocking the back doors of the van.

As the doors opened, she poked her head inside the van to say hello to her siblings and Zim. Her presence was greeted with cries of various nicknames.

“Come on!” Melody shouted at them. “Jump out of the van now! It's your only chance to - woah!” Her plea to her siblings was interrupted by the agents still trying to throw her off the van.

“Are you okay?” Zim asked her knowing she was barely hanging on at that point.

“Just take care of the kids, Zim,” she replied. “I gotta teach some scumbags a lesson.” Melody turned her attention to the front of the van. She was about to make her way there when a blinding flash of light startled the driver. The driver was unable to see what he was doing and so slammed on the brakes while turning rapidly to avoid hitting anything. There was just one small problem: that combination caused the van to lose balance. Melody was barely able to leap to safety before the van flipped sideways.

Once the blinding light had subsided, Melody made her way over to the van right as the agents were trying to make their escape. She zapped them with glancing bolts of lightning before they could make much progress.

“Alright, you two,” Melody quietly said to them, “you and I are gonna have a little chat. Who put you up to this? Who is your boss?”

“Go to Hell…” one of the agents cursed at her.

“You seem to not know me very well,” Melody told them. “My name is Melody. Maybe you've heard of me. Agony Torture.” A different spell shot out of Melody's hands. Hitting them directly with lightning would have likely killed the agents. She wanted to hurt them. She wanted them to pay. They were not about to get away with harming her family. Not again. Not this time. “Now talk! Who set you up?!”

“Some high up military guy,” the other agents cried out. “We don't know his name, but he has X Clearance. He can overrule the Prime Minister during a special emergency.”

“Sounds like defensive ops to me,” Melody realized before shooting more torturous pain at them. “That means he gave you a codename to refer to him. What is it?”

“Saber Rider!” the agents cried out in unison, before one of them continued, “His codename is Saber Rider.”

The sound of that name tore through Melody like a thousand knives being driven into her at once. “No! You're playing games with me!”

“We swear… That's the codename he gave us. He said something about a fairy insurrection and needing to figure out what makes them tick. That's all we know!”

“Gods above… He knows where my family lives,” Melody realized. “But how…”

“Melo, we've got a problem…” Pinkie said as she and Kenta finally found her.

“What's the matter?” she asked Pinkie. Pinkie said nothing, instead pointing her in the direction of the forest outside the city. A large fire had broken out just a short distance from the city.