Hey all! I'll be your hostess for the prompt this week. *smooths skirt trying to look presentable* This week the prompt is: stripped Just remember anything overly explicit should be posted in the Rubber Room (links might be nice!) Have fun!

"That's the third one in the last two days!" Jun grumbled, dusting off her hands as she slammed the door to the Snack J. "What is going on? Did Galactor put something in the water?" "What's wrong, Onechan?" Jinpei asked, the very picture of innocence. "That man came into the Snack and propositioned me!" Jun declared, too outraged to notice her little brother's wide eyes and guilty expression. "He said the rudest things! Can you imagine? Now what would have given him the impression that I was the kind of girl who would do something like that?" "Maybe it was just a weirdo?" Jinpei asked. "No, he's not the only one." Jun frowned. "There were others. It all started yesterday morning, after the newspaper was delivered..." Her eyes moved about the room and came to rest on the nervous expression of her brother. "Jinpei!" she verbally accosted him. "What did you do?" "I was just trying to help, Onechan, honest!" he did his best to plead his case."You've been so sad that Aniki doesn't come around much anymore, so I thought it might help if you found someone new. So I..." he gestured toward the newspaper. "You put a personal ad in the paper for me?" Jun's eyes nearly popped out of her head."What the heck did it say?" She grabbed at the paper, flipping to the classifieds. "Here it is..." she muttered, running her finger down the page. "Oh...." Her moan turned into a growl as she rounded on Jinpei. "How could you?" "What's wrong?" Jinpei gibbered in fear, shocked by the level of anger he was seeing. "I tried to be honest!" "Jinpei, you said that I 'work all hours' and that I 'like stripped pants'!" Jun raged. "No wonder those men were thinking..." her face flamed as red as her shirt. "I did not!" Jinpei protested. "Yeah, I said you work all hours, because you know we're not around here regularly. But I said you liked striped pants!" "How many ps in 'striped', Jinpei?" Jun asked testily, her toe tapping angrily on the floor. "Uhhhh...." Jinpei had the grace to blush as he realized his error. He was out the door in a flash, racing away from his sister's grasp. "I'll be right back, Onechan!" he called. "I just have to cancel that ad! It's supposed to run for another six weeks!"

Poor Jinpei! I guess he never heard that the road to hell is paved with good intentions!

Who was it who said "No good deed goes unpunished"?

Poor, poor Jinpei! Loved how you used the prompt, TJ!

I bet Ken's gonna love this when he finds out... If I was in Jinpei's shoes, I'd consider emigrating to another planet...

Originally posted by Daniella T I bet Ken's gonna love this when he finds out... If I was in Jinpei's shoes, I'd consider emigrating to another planet...

With his luck (and spelling skill), he'd probably emigrate to another plant!

Originally posted by ElectricWhite With his luck (and spelling skill), he'd probably emigrate to another plant!

LOL. Yeah then Jun can turn him into mulch! Nice work, as usual, TJ. Gee, anyone notice Jinpei has been getting into quite a bit of trouble lately in the prompt responses? First he brings home "Rogue" magazine for Jun instead of "Vogue", now he's taken out a personal ad for her, and we see the result of that here!

Originally posted by gatchamarie Poor, poor Jinpei! Loved how you used the prompt, TJ!

Actually, it was all me! When I first saw the prompt I thought it was 'striped', and then I did a double-take and realized that I had read it incorrectly. Thus my submission was born. Redbird, Jinpei is always getting into mischief. It's what he does. So it's very easy to use that in the prompts.

Originally posted by Daniella T I bet Ken's gonna love this when he finds out...

Feel free to write that one, Daniella!

That's cute, TJ. Maybe Jun should enroll Jinpei in a spelling class. Interesting idea wondering what Ken will do when he sees it, DT.

Originally posted by Transmute Jun Redbird, Jinpei is always getting into mischief. It's what he does. So it's very easy to use that in the prompts.

Yes he is, isn't he? And he does it very well.

Very creative, TJ, and sadly for Jun, all too believable. I mean that it could happen. To Jinpei, I mean! Not that she looks like a ... Hey, Jinpei, wait for meeee!

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TJ: Oh dear, Jinpei's potential lifespan has just been seriously reduced!

Chris - Now we know why Ken isn't part of the team, but it raises so many other questions.. Was that really Ken who called by to see Nambu? If so, why would Kentaro lie about him being killed? Or maybe it was Nambu lying about the family.... And I'm still wondering why Ken (or someone attempting to be him) would turn up out of the blue like that......

KT: I do love a good mystery

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CW & KT -- Everything I wanted to say has already been said (damn my need to sleep!) Looking forward to more............................

KT, that's an awesome twist! And I can totally see it, because Ken has experience impersonating Galactor officials! Chris, you've certainly opened up a can of worms, having Nambu admit that he thinks Ken is dead. And it begs the question, why would Ken even use his real name if he showed up at Nambu's home?

Hmmmm, so if Kentaro has told Nambu that Ken is dead, does that mean he believes it? Or was he hiding something from Nambu? When Nambu finally meets Ken does he now turn around and tell Kentaro that his son is alive? I think it was KT who said, you have opened up many new questions with that piece. I am looking forward to discovering the answers over the next weeks of Bradbury's jars.

CW -- get the "guy to show up soon" again! Joe and me want some answers! By the way, "I'm challenged plenty" will be my new warcry from now on! KT -- Somehow this would make a great TV ep, I think. I don't why, but it "feels" like a real ep.

KT: Good use of Ken's impersonation skills. It was odd that they only used his Katse voice once in the series! Redbird: Heh heh, no matter how this goes, someone isn't gonna be happy. I'm not planning this out so we'll see. TJ: Why indeed ... cloud: It's funny, I haven't entirely decided what the truth of it is (or I had and then changed my mind more than once), but I did want to contrast a very cheery visitor with the storm of WTF that was gonna come out of his visit. DT: I'm hoping to make this story move faster than some of my others, heh. Glad you like the line. I can definitely hear a homework-doing Joe say it, hehe.

CW - I'm really liking this. So when are we going to be introduced to Adam? KT - Ken got in awfully fast. Hopefully they won't run into Katse on their way out.

Not sure when Adam will make his appearance. I had Joe say he wasn't due back for months (my lazy way of avoiding the issue!), but we'll see how quickly that passes with time-skipping, or if Nambu brings him home early.

Okay, here's my contribution for this week. Didn't think I would have anything but here it is. Just a warning: I suck at writing action, but this is what came to me. ************************** Prompt # 95 Stripped "Come on Joe," Ken hissed at him, glancing over his shoulder and down the hall. "They'll be on us any minute." "Yeah, yeah..."Joe muttered, a small knife clenched between his teeth. His hands were deep inside the wall panel next to the door that was frozen shut. The door that bore the scorch marks of the detonations that did nothing to open it. "Keep your shorts on..." They could hear explosions from a few floors below them, and the two of them locked eyes as they felt the floor shaking violently beneath their feet. An ear-shattering siren began to wail, and the lights went out, leaving them in the pitch dark. Joe swore under his breath. There was a muffled bang, along with a loud whirring sound and red strobe lights flashed in the narrow passageway. At that moment Ken's bracelet began to chime. "G5 to G1--we can see the smoke from the air. Where the heck are you?!" "Five minutes, G5! G1, out! " Ken responded, lifting his wrist to his mouth. "Joe....." "Almost there...." the gunner promised, wincing as a bead of sweat dripped into his eye. "It's not exactly like hot-wiring a car!" His hands flew as he yanked one wire free from the bunch he had finished untangling from the mass of knotted wiring. He grabbed another and hurriedly stripped the insulation from it, and touched it briefly to the first one. Nothing. "Dammit!" he cursed, reaching for the small knife again, and began hastily stripping off more rubber from the wire. In the distance, the sound of shouting and footsteps began to draw close. Spectran troops. "We're out of time...." Ken told him grimly, adrenaline flowing anew through his veins. Making sure he protected his second's back, Ken turned and drew his birdrang, the weight of it steady and familiar in his hand. And he waited. Joe touched the two wires together again, for a longer period of time and was rewarded by a moaning of machinery. Eyes glued to the door, he watched as it rose the briefest of inches. Gritting his teeth, he held the wires together again, and it finally rose up enough for them to squeeze beneath it. Goons began to fill the passageway, single file, laser rifles drawn and already firing. "Ken!" "Go!" Ken shouted, as one of the shots barely missed his head, only to hit the wall behind him. With blinding speed, he let loose his birdrang at the oncoming soldiers. Inching backward towards the door, he paused, watching it neatly cut them down. Unconsciously, the corner of his lip curled up in satisfaction, as the boomerang returned to his outstretched hand. He turned to follow his second under the half-raised door, and emerged into a huge room with a bank of windows that lined the entire side of the ship. He immediately saw that Joe had an explosive charge in his hand, thinking to set it, but Ken threw the birdrang once more, relieved to see the windows shatter under its force. Glass shards exploded outward like needle sharp deadly rain. Joe grinned back at him; a reckless smile. "Come on, we're outta here" Joe shouted as he ran towards the broken window, and launched himself into the sky. Ken followed him at breakneck speed, wings billowing out behind him, and caught the birdrang as he ran. He could see Joe spiraling down through the clouds below, wings catching the air currents. He had just reached the window and was ready to jump, when the mecha exploded, it's entirety engulfed in flames.

RB - talk about a cliff hanger! Tension is in the air....

Redbird: Eek, hopefully this'll be one of Ken's miracle survives. At least if he's knocked out the Condor's there to catch. *crosses fingers*

Ken has survived worse before! But that was certainly tension-filled, Redbird!

Great scene, Redbird! Lots of tension for your readers!

Thanks for reading, everyone! Yep, lots of tension in this one!

I'm so loving the great, different uses of this prompt, guys! CW ... am out of questions cause all have been already asked by the others! But, I'm so, so very intrigued! Please, don't think to stop this (always if possible! )! I so need to know more! KT ... as has already been said, that's a great use of Ken's ability to impersonate Galactor! I love it! And, always if I'm not missing anything, or skipped any pieces ... then, who's the person who's helping Joe!? You got me so very curious! Can't wait to read more! Redbird ... you're very humble! That's a great action piece, instead, full of fueling tension! And, please do tell me what happened to my dear Eagle in the very near future! You've got me hanging really nicely, there! But, as TJ so rightly said, Ken has survived so many worse situations before, so I hope we could just see his silhouette flying out triumphantly of the blazing fire!

Originally posted by gatchamarie That's a great action piece, instead, full of fueling tension! And, please do tell me what happened to my dear Eagle in the very near future! You've got me hanging really nicely, there! But, as TJ so rightly said, Ken has survived so many worse situations before, so I hope we could just see his silhouette flying out triumphantly of the blazing fire!

Thanks GM, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Hmmm...I'll have to look through the older prompts, or wait and see what we get for the next one, so I can tell you what happened to Ken! (Though I have a vague idea....)

... can't wait, Redbird! But, always when you'd feel most comfortable to do so! I'll try to be patient!

Originally posted by Transmute Jun

Originally posted by Daniella T I bet Ken's gonna love this when he finds out...

Feel free to write that one, Daniella!

OK -- here goes! //"He did what -- OUCH!" Ken got up so quickly he banged his head on the undercarriage of his plane. Now his head would have a dent. Or his plane would have a dent. He was too dizzy to tell which. "Yes, I'm telling you," continued Joe as if nothing had happened. "Jinpei wanted to help Jun, but his spelling is nothing to be proud of, so..." Ken slipped out from under the plane. On his day off, he had stripped off his shirt and pants, and, clad only in shorts and sneakers, he was happily tinkering with his plane. Until Joe had shown up with the latest on Jinpei's long list of gaffes. "I'll kill the little imp," started Ken, only to be cut off again. "But that's not all," said Joe. "Last week, Jun asked him to get her Vogue, and he got her -- yes, you guessed it -- Rogue!" "Two questions," said Ken, rubbing his head. "What is Vogue, and who is Rogue?" Joe gaped, open-mouthed. "Maybe you and Jinpei make a better team than you realise." He shook his head sadly, and walked off.//

RB, that was great! Honestly! More!

DT - Brilliant!

Originally posted by Daniella T RB, that was great! Honestly! More!

Thanks, DT! Loved your prompt response! I can see it all in my head (especially poor Ken banging his head--not to mention his befuddled look!) GM: Hopefully a conclusion will reveal itself in the near future--I'll try to not make you wait too long!

Bravo, DT, bravo!

DT: LOL poor Ken's gonna be dizzy for a while and poor Jinpei's gonna find himself in a remedial reading/spelling/something class and getting a hearing test.

Okay, I took Redbird's hint and posted in the Rubber Room! http://www.gatchamania.net/thread.php?threadid=4427&sid=

Ken certainly had an interesting reaction!

That's priceless, DT! Plus, I'm really not surprised that Ken doesn't know anything about Vogue and Rogue! Guess, after that and seeing his blameless reaction, Joe would have willingly banged his head against something, too, just there and then!

DT - Apparently Jinpei has been learning from Ken.