Blooming Rose (OPEN)

It was a nice sunny day. A green flying squirrel was skipping along the sidewalk in Station Square. Sitting in the pocket of a brown shoulder pack being carried by the flying squirrel, was a pink spike wisp. The young Mobian stopped to look around, then pulled a camera out of the bag.


"I want to take a picture, but I need a good vantage point. Hey Pint, could you take a look around?"


To everyone else, all that came from the mouth of the wisp was chirps and squeaks. But to the flying squirrel, she heard,


"No! I'm relaxing here!"


"Pleeeeease? Pretty please?"


"Ugh. Fine... I better get some time to myself later." The wisp reluctantly floated out of the pouch before being hugged by the flying squirrel.


"Thanks! You're the best!"


"Hey, hey, watch the spikes!"


The flying squirrel let go of the wisp, as the little alien flew up to look around for a good spot to take a skyline picture.


"You see any good spots yet Pint?" The flying squirrel said with her hands cupped around her mouth.


"Nuthin' yet toots! Just gimme a sec!"


"Okay. I guess I'll wait here." The flying squirrel said as she stood still on the sidewalk, people and Mobians walking around her as she watched the wisp fly around.

It was around this time a lavender-furred hedgehog skated by, looking up at the rather strange-looking creature floating above in awe.
"Man, what is that? They're kinda cute lookin'." She asks, staring up at the alien creature as she skated around in a fairly large circle to keep a curious eye on it.
After a few circles, she realized she was also circling a squirrel girl, and she looked down at them with a sweet smile. "Do you know what that thing is? Is it your pet or somethin'?"

A wonderful day in Station Square. The featureless artificial mobian was kept hidden for a while since its last encounter, but now, it's been long enough that they were probably fine.

By themselves no less... At least they had a tracker.

When SX6 walked by the lavender hedgehog and green squirrel, it too looked up at the 'wisp' as it had learned.

"Ooh, ooh! A wisp!" "And it's a pink one! Whoa..."

It then proceeded to do its bouncy wisp dance, imitating its float.

The squirrel finally took her focus away from the wisp to look at the hedgehog.

"Hm? Oh, yeah! That's my little buddy, Pint. He's a wisp. A little alien with super cool powers!"

She then turned towards the small featureless Mobian doing it's little dance, giggling at the sight.

"Hehe! Say, you're kinda cute! Do you mind if I take a picture of you?" The flying squirrel said as she held up her camera. Her poofy tail was flicking up and down with excitement. She didn't notice that Pint had flown back down behind her though.

"Hey, Nita. I think I found a good spot fer takin' a pic, but don'cha know it's rude to ask to take somebody... Er, something's picture without introducin' yerself first?" Pint then slowly floated around SX6 to get a closer look at them?

"What exactly are ya'? Ya don't really look like any Mobian I've seen."

The squirrel then responded to Pint.

"Oh right. I'm Nita! I'm a flying squirrel! And what my little wisp buddy here was saying was... what kind of Mobian are you?"

Tempo didn't quite notice SX6 at first as she continued looking up at the Wisp, standing still, balanced upright on her skates. She was wearing light jeans and a similarly colored, midriff bearing top under a dark purple jacket, and specialized Mobian headphones. Something about her gave vibes of a couple decades ago, it wouldn't be surprising if it turned out she was listening to a walkman or whatever.

"A 'Wisp'? I've never heard of those before. I mean, I've heard of Wil-O-Wisps, weird folklore spirit thingies. Alien? Maybe they only appeared recently... Seems harmless enough. I should probably talk to Odell about it later, though." She rambles on to herself, before looking down to Nita, and immediately after her eyes catching sight of SX6.

She slaps her hands to her cheeks and her eyes go wide. "Omigod, you're adorable! Where's your parents, are you out here all alone?" She was now completely off the track of the Wisp currently, going full baby-mode, not even caring about how plain they looked.
Maybe that just made them cuter.

SX6 was still bouncing along until Nita and Pint noticed it. Apparently, Nita wanted a picture.

"Uh... Ok! You can take picture!"

And then the wisp started talking, SX6 could only make out a few words due to their meeting with Spiral, but not enough to know what it was talking about.
Thankfully, Nita had translated.

"I'm- uh... Nothing!" "I'm not anything yet, but Dad says I can be whatever I want!"

And then the lavender hedgehog had noticed it, apparently captivated by their cuteness.

"Oh! I was called a-door-able again! You must be a nice lady too!"
"Ehm... Dad is at home, but if I get in trouble, big bro will come get me!" 

"Okay!" Nita said as she crouched down next to SX6. She held her camera up in front of them. Meanwhile, Pint was still inspecting the featureless Mobian when he suddenly felt his tentacle being tugged.

"EY, WHAT 'ER YA DOIN'?!" He screeched as he was pulled by Nita next to SX6's face, opposite of Nita.

"Say cheese guys!" Nita said as she clicked the button on her camera, a bright flash coming from the lens.


"C'mon toots! Warn me next time!" Pint said as he rubbed his eye with two of his tentacles.

Nita stood up and waited for the camera to print out the photo, paying no mind to Pint's griping. After looking at it herself, she showed it to SX6.

"There! Another photo, another memory!" She put the camera back into the bag and pulled out a folder with many different photos inside of it already of various things. She placed the new one in an empty slot before putting the folder back in the bag.

"Ya said you were... Nothin'? What does that mean?" Pint said after blinking the large mono eye that took up most of his body.

"Pint want's to know what you meant by saying you were nothing." Nita translated for the little robot.

Seems the little guy was getting a lot of attention, and understandably so. They were cute and mysterious...

"Aw... Does the little guy need a confidence boost? You're not 'nothing'!"
She'd caught that he mentioned a father and a big brother. Now she was even more curious...
"What's your name? I'm Tempo~!"

Another photo, another memory...
She liked that phrase a lot. She wasn't sure why.

SX6 smiles as the camera is pointed at it, saying cheese, though, doesn't know why.
He does, however, see the picture, and looks amazed.

"Whoa! Neat-a just made a tiny me in a square! Hello tiny SX6!"
It then waves at the picture. 'Another photo, another memory'
SX6 will remember that... (+1)

It was then that the two had asked what it meant by being nothing.

"Hmm... Big bro is better at explaining things.." "I think he'd say that I'm not any species of mobun yet." "Which means I'm no species, meaning nothing!"

Nita looks a bit confused for a second as she thought to herself, 'Not a species of Mobian? So they're like... A robot maybe? Mama used to tell me stories of learning robots that were around a long time ago. Maybe they are like those ones? Their name definitely sounds like a robot name. Definitely.' She shaked her head, coming out of her thought.

"Thanks for the picture SX6! Excuse me a minute, I have another one to take real quick. Pint? Mind giving me some help getting up there?" Nita asked as she pointed to the top of a light post a few feet away.

Pint simply sighed before flying into Nita's chest, a light pink wave of energy rippling across her body as he did. After that, glowing, wavy, pink lines started forming all over Nita's fur. At her knuckles were three glowing, pink spikes. Her eyes were also solid yellow rather than their normal white sclera and pink irises.

She then ran towards a nearby building, then started using the spikes to scale the wall of the structure. After checking to see if she was high enough off the ground, she jumped off the wall and spread her arms out, letting the flaps of skin under her arms catch the breeze. She gently landed on the top of the light post, then Nita's body returned to normal as Pint un-fused. The little alien then went back to his previous resting spot in the bag pouch as Nita adjusted the lens on her camera. She was about to take a picture of the skyline, before she heard something.

'That sounds like... A police siren? It sounds close.'

"Oooh... I think I get it now? So... 'yet', as in, you WILL be something eventually, but you aren't currently... Gotcha. Can't wait to see what you become, SX6!"
Man she felt a little too smart figuring that one out. It wasn't even that hard, a simple guess... Just be glad she didn't comment on words their name sounded like.

She looks to her side where Nita was, before noticing she was gone and looking around.
"Hey, whatchya' doin' up there?!" Tempo calls out, when she hears the police sirens.

It... Could be anything, really. But she was also morbidly curious. She looks to SX6, crouching down and saying "Might be better to stay away from cops. Do as people say, not as they do.", before skating closer to the sounds.

SX6 was amazed at actually seeing the wisp power in action.

"Whoa! Neat-a transformed! Woo!"

After a bit of cheering, they'd hear the sirens as well, initially confused before Tempo told them to stay away.

They were a little confused at the phrase, but at least somewhat listens, not going towards/after the cars.

Nita placed the camera back in her bag and looked around for where the sirens were coming from. She floated back down next to Tempo and SX6 as a red and black scorpion was being chased around the corner of a building across the street by two police on motorcycles. He was wearing an outfit that looked like something straight out of a western movie. In the scorpion's hand, was a brown bag that seemed to have something in it. The scorpion was running through the street, vaulting off cars and swinging on poles. He happened to cross the street right where the trio was standing. Using his long tail to shove Nita aside, he ran past Tempo and SX6 as he shouted,

"Outta my way kids!"

Nita fell to the ground, wincing as her bottom hit the concrete. The force of the impact also flung Pint out of her bag.

"EY, WHY DON'CHA WATCH WHERE YER GOIN' YA PUNK?! GET BACK 'ERE!" Pint screeched as he was about to fly after them, but Nita grabbed the little wisp and held them back.

The police pulled over to the curb and followed after the criminal between two buildings. Shortly after, the cops came back out to the sidewalk looking extremely frustrated.

"Suspect got away, we're gonna need some backup." one of the officers said into their radio. The other one asked the people nearby, "Did anybody see where that scorpion went?" A Mobian dog spoke up that they saw them head continue down the sidewalk.

'Huh. That's strange, I could have swore they went down that alley.' Nita thought as the officers rode off down the street to continue their search. Nita then noticed the same dog walk down the same alley, though he seemed somewhat suspicious, what with him checking around before he entered.

"Where are you heading?" She said quietly as she snuck up to the corner of the building. She saw the dog go behind a dumpster, then she carefully followed going around then peeking behind the dumpster.

"What the heck? Where did he go? He was right here!" Nita said with a confused look on her face. She clearly saw them go down the alley and behind this dumpster. "People can't disappear into thin air, can they?"

As the police sirens got louder, she eventually saw the scorpion rush by, pushing Nita aside. 
"Yo what the fuck?"

She was about to give chase, but she stopped by Nita first to check if she was okay, and by then, the scorpion was already gone.
"Stupid, good fer' nuthin', stinkin' cops..."

Tempo follows close behind Nita as she walks into the alley way and behind the dumpster that both the scorpion and his apparent dog accomplice had went behind... only to find nothing.
Nita expresses her confusion, and Tempo wasn't completely sure what was going on herself, but she felt the need to call attention to what she said based on personal experience.
"Well, I mean, we live in a world where most of the population has some kind of powers, I don't think it's that unbelievable."
She leans her back against the wall beside the dumpster, thinking.
"Maybe they're invisible, the two numbnuts... Maybe they climbed to the roofs without being seen, or teleported. Maybe there's a secret passage back here. Who knows?"

SX6 was perplexed by the scorpion at first, what was he holding? And what was a 'fuck'?

"Hi, Mr. Cowboy! What's in the-"
But he was already gone... darn. Oh, there was a dog too, but they weren't nearly as interesting.

SX6 then followed Nita and Tempo into the alleyway, seemingly not finding anything, except a dumpster.

"Hmm... Neat-a can fly, maybe she can check roofs?" "And I'll ask Mr. Dumpster, I'm sure it would know where to find the numbnuts if they were here!"

SX6, completely unaware of what they just said, proceeds to lean against the dumpster while muttering, trying to 'talk' to it.

Nita was still confused. She looked around, before finally giving up and leaning on the dumpster.

"Sorry little buddy, but dumpsters can't talk, I don't think that you're gonna get any information from them." Nita said as she pouted.

SX6's "talk" with the dumpster had suddenly revealed though that this wasn't an ordinary dumpster. When they leaned against a handle to open the side door of the dumpster, the little robot activated a secret switch that made a small rectangle of the ground shift downward underneath Nita's feet.

"WHAT TH- What's going on?!" She jumped away from the dumpster, turning to see what was happening. The rectangle of concrete then slid underneath the dumpster, revealing a secret stairway.

"Woooooah! Looks like you were right Tempo. Nice going SX6!" The squirrel gave them a head pat before looking down the dimly lit staircase. Nita pulled out her camera from her bag.

"What do you think is down there?" Nita said as she took a picture of the staircase.

"I dunno, but if dat scorpion is down there, I wanna give 'em a piece 'o my mind!" Pint said before he flew out of the bag and down the passage.

"Hey, Pint! Wait for me!" Nita said as she quickly hurried after her partner.

SX6 was learning so well.
Odell might not appreciate her teaching him such language. And whoever his father is might not be so happy either.

Still, with a secret passage opened, Tempo looked at it with a hint of surprise.
"Dang, I was more banking on the idea they had powers. They really didn't seem the type to have like, a secret bunker or whatever." She says as she looks down it, with Nita going first.

Stairs.
Great.
Given her fairly slender build, of course she didn't seem the type to have much of a reason to complain, but if you recall her main footwear are a pair of rollerblades.
Skates and stairs don't mix well, and she'd rather not have to take off her skates just to walk down.

"Hm..."

Gladly, there was a hand rail apparently, and upon noticing it she grinned mischeviously.
Tempo skates back to the very end of the alley up against the wall, then immediately goes back to the secret entrance to jump on the rail, grinding on it.
As she grinded down the rail and her speed steadily increased, she feels something build up inside of her, a rush of energy steadily increasing...

She's known what this is for a long time, but she has no reason to tap into it right now.
All she does is smile, crouching down on the rail and looking ahead for any changes in the path.

Oh hey, it actually worked somehow.

"Oh, thanks Ms. Dumpster!"
SX6 says with a grin, as they started going down.

"She was nice, kinda grumpy though, those numbnuts must have been mean..."

SX6 also noticed the hand rail, and tried to grind on it after noticing Tempo, but they lost balance and fell off, disappointed, they continue to use the stairs.

Nita got down to the bottom of the stairs to see Pint floating in front of a door.

"I would open dis door, but my li'l tentacles can't work the dang stinkin' handle!"

Nita took a look at the door. It had one of those circular door handles you had to turn in a counterclockwise rotation to open them.

"I've got this!" Nita grabbed the metal handle, then grunted as she cranked it around. The door opened to reveal a large, hidden floor underneath one of the buildings that made up the alley.

"Wow. I wonder how long this has been here." Nita said as she walked inside, taking note of the many metal shipping containers, and hanging walkways connected to the wall. The walkways had a collapsing ladder that allowed access. Nita decided to look around, taking a few pictures on the side as well.

"I wonder where that scorpion and doggy went? Surely they are somewhere in here, Right Pint?"

"I dunno Nita. But I think we should be careful in here. I think I hear some dudes chit chattin' over 'dere." Pint said as he motioned over behind some of the shipment crates several feet away.

She hopped off the rail at the bottom and waited for the others, looking rather impatient to get through the door but not making any noise. 
Once the door was opened, she followed Nita on through. 

She didn't seem to notice SX6 trying and failing to grind the rail. It's a miracle it didn't fall down the stairs and get hurt, poor kid... 

Tempo looks around and listens in for nearby sounds, slowly skating toward the crates, hoping to catch what words were being said...

When SX6 got to the bottom, they noticed that their friends decided to hide behind crates and that the scorpion and dog were talking.

They wanted to say hello, but it was rude to interrupt conversations.

Nita wanted to see was going on, but she couldn't do that from behind these large shipping containers. She looked at Tempo and SX6 as she held one finger to her snout, indicating she wanted them to be quiet. She then jumped to grab onto the top of the container the three were behind, then lifting herself up to lay on top. She crawled to the other side to see the cowboy scorpion, the dog and two other Mobians wearing masks. They were standing around what looked to be some sort of robot tied up in a chair. It was gray with light blue lights across it's body, but the most noticeable feature was the large fin-like piece of metal that was in the center of it's head.

"Can't believe we found one of these guys! Do you know how much a Gizoid would sell for on the black market?" The scorpion said.

"Probably worth a small fortune I bet." The dog said back.

'A Gizoid? That was the robot that my mom used to tell me stories about!' Nita thought as she lifted her camera to take a picture, but Pint quickly slapped it out of her hands,

"'Ey, what 're you doin'?! You trying to give away our cover toots?!" Pint whispered but he then realized what he just did. After he slapped the camera, it hit the top of the shipping container with an echoey thud. The four baddies turned towards the sound.

"What was that?" The dog asked as his ears perked up.

"Yeah... I think there might be someone here other than us." The scorpion raised his pointed tail as he pulled a revolver from the holster on his belt.

Nita quickly and carefully floated back off the shipping container and with a frantic look on her face, she motioned for Tempo and SX6 to follow her to a different hiding place.

Tempo was... Rather concerned by the low thud echoing around the room and the voices on the other side of the box turning more serious... 
She watches as Nita glides down, looking understandably upset, and Tempo nods with understanding, a surprisingly serious expression on her face, as she gets ready to follow Nita.

SX6 on the other hand, was rather confused, why were they even hiding?
But Nita wanted them to be quiet and follow, and that they do.

However, looking at the Gizoid past them, SX6 felt some kind of connection but didn't really know why.

They'd have to figure it out later, for now, stealth time!

Nita and Pint carefully moved around to a set of wooden crates, ducking down underneath them. Nita could feel her heart pounding in her chest from fear.

The scorpion started walking towards the shipping container as the dog motioned for the two other masked Mobians to follow suit. Just then, a door on a raised ledge behind the Gizoid was opened, catching the attention of the four thugs.

"How's our Gizoid friend doing?" An elderly looking Mobian possum said as he started walking down a sloped ramp.

"Oh, boss! Glad to see you!" The scorpion said as the rest of them turned around to the new person in the room.

"Any luck getting them reprogrammed?" The possum asked as he tapped the foot of the android with their cane.

"Not yet." The dog said. "But Xander here got a little something to help the cause."

"Here ya go boss." The scorpion handed the bag from earlier to the possum.

The possum opened the bag and pulled out several hundred dollars, a slight frown coming over their snout. They shoved the money back in the bag before whacking one of the shins of the scorpion.

"HEY! What was that for?!" The scorpion shouted as he held his shin.

"Young Alexander, you know that Black Rose members don't rob businesses for money. It's too risky for us to get captured or compromised."

"Yeah, but-" The scorpion was suddenly cut off as the sharp tip of a weapon stopped about an inch from his face. The possum had pulled a concealed sword out of the shaft of their cane, a serious look on his face.

"I am not going to say it again. Got it?" The scorpion huffed before saying,

"... Yes Mr. Delacom."

"Good." The possum said as he put the blade away. "Now you all get back to work on fixing up the Gizoid. I have some business to attend." They then exited the same way they came.

Back behind the crates, Nita was watching the whole conversation.

"Black Rose? That must be some sort of crime group. If a crime group is trying to reprogram a Gizoid to work for them... Let's just say that's not something we want, trust me." Nita whispered to the others.

"I say we stop them right now!" Pint said as he balled up a tentacle and punched it into another.

"We can't do that Pint!"

"Why not?"

"Because... We should wait for the police."

"But who knows how much longer until they get that Gizoid reprogrammed? And like you said, they can be very dangerous."

Nita sighs as she says nothing for a moment.

"I guess you're right Pint. That's what Rez would do." She then turned to Tempo and SX6. "I won't ask you two to help. And surely not you SX6, you'd be safer staying here behind these boxes."