K, here's chapter 4! Hollow Hearts must be abandoned for now, so that I might stay ahead of you all. *Sniff*
Ketso woke up, his head pounding. He could feel a bump under his spikey blonde hair. He groaned and sat up. He was on a little cot in the street, and he was still surrounded by the strange creature and its crowd.
The creature, with its bright blue-purple orbs, was staring at Ketso and poking him with a stick.
"You must be tough!" It said. "People I hit usually don't regain conciousness for hours! You were only asleep for twenty minutes!"
"ASLEEP?!" Ketso shouted, his hand on the bump. "I WAS ASSAULTED!"
"No," Piku glared. "You were a PANSY. Stupid baby boy. Go back ta' sleep. Yer mommy will be here to rock you an' feed you a baba in a few minutes."
"I don't HAVE a mother," Ketso said, fuming. Piku sat down in a chair, sipping a soda.
"Whatever." She said, undaunted. Ketso was surprised; most people drained of colour when he said this. He changed the subject.
"What are you?!" He said, sitting up.
"I'm a Lilty. Wanna make somethin' of it?" Piku held up a fist. "You're such a little flower-boy. You freaked the minute I pulled my visor up."
Ketso tried to think of something to say, but suddenly Harry the Yuke spoke.
"Piku, we said we'd stay for a while, but we really have to go."
The crowd started to murmer goodbyes, and suddenly another Lilty ran up.
"GOODBYE, BABY! WE'LL MISS YOU!" She was sobbing ferociously.
"Aunt Joy! Yer so weird!" Piku dismissed her; drinking a green soda. "See ya, guys. Wish I were back in Tipa!"
Harry held up a crystal. He snapped it in half. The crowd flickered and then disappeared.
"Hologram Crystal," Piku explained when she saw Ketso's shocked face. "What do yer people use to talk? Cell phones?"
Ketso stole her soda. "I'm thirsty!" he sneered.
"Why are you acting like a four year old? And you don't want that soda." Piku said.
Ketso chugged the whole thing in defiance. And instantly wished he hadn't. His face turned blue and his eye twitched.
"It's pickle flavoured," Piku explained, with an amused look on her face. Ketso was hacking his lungs out behind the cot.
Ketso stood up. "Listen, I don't know who you are, but I gotta go. So unless you have a way outta here-"
Piku emerged from the darker part of the alley. Her baggy suit fell loosely around her frame. She must've been two and a half feet tall. At best. She wore iron shoes, iron knee-pads, iron guantlets, and a thick iron visor.
But Ketso wasn't staring at her clothes; he was staring at the strange girl's peach-like head. She had red skin framing her tannish-face and dark blue eyes. She had just a tiny nose and mouth. The red skin seemed to go off into long, leaf-like strands, tied in a tail on the back of her head, and tucked under the visor.
"You're a red peach!" Ketso exclaimed.
"Shut up. Anyway, if you wanna leave Traverse Town, follow me. But I've gotta find someone."
Ketso followed the short, Peach-girl. She stopped by that strange woman, and Ketso crouched behind Piku to hide.
"Where's Gerard?" Piku asked, flatly.
"You're doing it? You're actually taking him outta Traverse? Wow. The town'll be glad... Who's your friend?"
Ketso's eye twitched. Piku kicked some mud in his face.
"Oh, this ugly frog-boy I found hiding in the bushes, staring at you? Yeah, he's gross. I think he likes you, though!"
Ketso pointed his muddy face up at the woman. She squinted to see better in the dim light and saw Ketso's crusty-looking features.
"Ah, um, I have to go! Gerard's over there!" Said the woman as she scurried off.
"I owe you one!" Ketso gasped, rubbing the mud off his face.
"You owe me for throwing mud on your face. Huh. That's a new one." Piku said, walking over to the street lights glowing over in the road. A boy with dark hair and a darker coat was poking the teenage boy in the orange vest.
"You wanna know where yer parents are?" the boy asked, still poking. "They probably ditched you. Don't worry. It's probably just until the divorce is over..."
The brown-haired boy with the vest shook his fist as Piku dragged the other boy away.
"Gerard, we're doing it. Yer gonna go find her." Piku said, bored. Gerard looked giddy. He pulled out a ripped photo.
"I get to find HER?!" He said, shoving the photo into Ketso's face. It was of a pretty blonde girl, but the photo was chopped in half.
"Rikku!" Gerard said, dreamily. Then he pulled out two smaller pieces of the photo.
"And I'll KILL HIM!" Said Gerard, holding up the two pieces to reveal a silver-haired boy.
"Great," Piku said, not listening. She brought out a tiny remote and clicked a button.
"First timers?" she asked. "Well, it's Gummi time!"
Suddenly, a huge ship appeared behind her. Ketso, Gerard (still drooling over this "Rikku"), and Piku walked up the dock and into the bright orange ship.
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TLP: Hey, K_K. You want Ketso now? You can have him!
Ketso: Wh-what?! NO! I don't wanna go! I never signed a contract!
TLP: Um, yesh, you did! *Holds up very legally-binding contract*
Ketso: You said that was a petition to get rid of Pickle-flavoured soda!
TLP: And you believed it! Anyway, hope I posted the right chapter... That could be a problem, otherwise...
