Brave Police:A New Era

Nerf War (Brave Style!)

Time zones were weird, any human or robot that have had to go through time zones could tell you that. But at least she was no longer awake three hours before the sun was up, as had been her schedule in England. Jacquin carefully unhooked the input/output cables that plugged into the back of her head when she recharged in her charging dock at night and stretched, trying not to wake the others. When the Scotland Yard Braves had left two months before, it was revealed that Jacquin had been assigned to Japan by her creator, Dr. Autumn di Venice, an engineer from Venice, Italy. And since then, the beast-like Mecha had been trying to adjust to Japan, and its Braves. As her visored gaze swept around the room where the Braves had their charging docks, Jacquin noticed that Gunmax, Power Joe, Drill Boy and Kagerou were missing from their docks. "Guess I'm not the early-riser anymore," she thought as she made her way towards the Decker Room, wondering what the others were up to. Jacquin got her answer when, as the door slid open, Gunmax jumped out and began to shoot her with two hand-held pistols. The Mecha drew her staff in the blink of an eye, pointing its spearhead at the green biker before she could think straight, her long, graceful wings straight and quivering. "WHOA WHOA WHOA! Calm it down, Jacquin!" Drill Boy panicked a bit, waving his hands wildly as he ran to her. She looked at him in confusion, then she looked back to Gunmax and noticed that the twin ''guns'' in his raised hands were actually just harmless Nerf guns. "Next time you decide to jump-scare a bot like that, try to remember that some of us draw our weapons when shot at, even if the projectiles are made of manufactured foam." Jacquin informed him, her tone very dry as she stood in the doorway, twirling her staff with two fingers before compacting and resheathing it with practised ease. She then picked up one of the projectiles from the floor and looked at it. The little ball was yellow, and roughly the size of a golf ball. The Nerf guns in Gunmax's hands were around the same size as his real pistol, made of orange and yellow factory plastic. Once she entered the room instead of standing in the doorway, Jacquin saw several guns of similar make and model to the real guns that the Braves used on an almost daily basis, only these Nerf guns, rather than being human-sized, were enlarged enough that a bot could hold and use them. Jacquin opened her mouth to ask just where they had gotten Nerf guns that big when Kagerou gave her a shake of his head, so she shut her mouth with a click. The beastformer knew by now that if any of the Braves had items that were enlarged or just plain strange, they most likely came from the Commissioner, who was just wacky enough to approve of such things (not that she'd ever say that to his face). Jacquin picked up one such Nerf gun that sat on the Build Team's shared desk, holding it with care. It looked a bit like McCrane's trusty shotgun, except for the colors and the clear tube on top that held 13 to 16 balls. "What are you planning on doing with these?" She asked Power Joe, who was sitting at his desk, fiddling with a much smaller, though not quite human-sized, Nerf pistol that seemed to fire only one shot. The yellow power shovel looked up at her and explained, "We were going to wait for everyone to wake up and get their fuel, and when they came to the office, we would start shooting." Jacquin's feathered wings were tilted in just such a way that told the others that she was thinking, causing Kagerou to ask, "Penny for your thoughts, sister?" Glancing at Drill Boy, who was practising with another small gun that shot rubber bullets instead of balls, an evil smirk pulled on her lips. Turning to Gunmax, Jacquin asked, "How much ammunition did you say you had?" the biker grinned when he caught her meaning. "I knew you wouldn't rat us out, baby."

Since it was a Saturday, Deckerd and Yuuta arrived earlier than normal, greeting the awakening Mechs. "Good morning, Boss, Dekkado." Greeted McCrane as he and Dumpson walked out, followed by Duke and Shadowmaru, the latter of whom already looked wide awake (you know, being a ninja and all). Duke, on the other hand, was still half-asleep. Despite his strict personality, the knight was not quite a morning person. Smiling at his teammates, Deckerd put Yuuta on the catwalk beside the human hallway that led to the Decker Room and walked towards the Mech-sized hallway. Had the others not been so sleepy, they would have thought that such a move was suspicious. Yuuta usually rode on his favorite perch on Deckerd's shoulder when they arrived at the office, so why did the blue Mech make the young inspector use the human hallways instead? The question never found its way to their minds as they followed their leader to the bullpen. The absence of the other half of the Braves wasn't unusual as Gunmax, Drill Boy, Power Joe, and sometimes Kagerou, used the early morning to play, or to have some time to themselves. The absence of Jacquin wasn't unusual either, since she was an early bird (no pun intended). About halfway to the Decker Room, Deckerd poked his head into a storage room in the right wall of the hallway, telling the others to continue as it would take him a moment to get what he was looking for. McCrane nodded and continued to lead the others. They had barely gone a few feet when something small and blue whizzed past Duke's head from behind in the corner of his vision, startling the half-awake Mech and causing him to jump into the arms of Dumpson, who had been walking to his left. The wrestler was very startled to suddenly find himself with an armful of white knight, but not as startled as Shadowmaru when something small and fast shot him in the right wing. It hadn't hurt, but it still surprised the ninja, who had a lot of sensors in his wings for detecting air currents. Before any of Mechs could say "Hijiri saba" (holy mackeral), a volley of yellow projectiles had them running for cover, of which there was none in the spacious hallway. Each armed with multiple different Nerf guns and wide grins, Gunmax and Drill Boy shot Dumpson and McCrane from the left side of the hallway junction, while Jacquin and Power Joe shot at whoever they could from the right. Duke, having since jumped out of Dumpson's arms, tried to run back the way they came when he was shot multiple times in the chest by a grinning Deckerd, who had a few Nerf guns and extra bullets in the storage room he was hiding in. "UNLOAD!" Yelled Jacquin as she got Shadowmaru in the backside with a suction dart, causing him to whirl around and stare at her with overbright optics. His open mouth made a good target, as Kagerou, who had been hiding in the vents above, hung from a ceiling panel and made an upside down bull's eye in his brother's intake. Eventually, Deckerd was forced out of the storage room by Duke and Dumpson, who then armed themselves with Nerf guns and began to shoot at the pranksters, Deckerd himself included. Soon, all of the Braves had Nerf guns, and they were shooting each other whenever they could. There were no teams in this battle, no allies to turn to for protection. It was exhilarating. Eventually, after they ran out of bullets and excess energy, the robots dragged themselves to the Decker Room, where Yuuta and Commissioner Juuzo Saejima had been waiting for them. Yuuta looked surprised to see the number of suction darts that had remained stuck to the Mechs' armor, especially the one that had stuck smack in the center of Jacquin's visor (a lucky shot by Duke), and the two that were still stuck on the two discs on Shadowmaru's aft (courtesy of both of his siblings). The purple ninja blushed when he realized the darts were still there and he hurriedly removed them, earning him snickers from his brother and sister. "Well, it looked like everyone had fun, at least." Said Yuuta when he flopped into his chair, the Braves chuckled in agreement at the comment. Removing three more suction darts from his helm and visor, Gunmax asked, "Hey, Deckerd. How did you know there were Nerf guns in that storage room?" The blue Mech in question, who had been sitting, hunched over his desk, raised his head and replied with a smile, "Jacquin told me." Gunmax, Power Joe and Drill Boy (Kagerou had known about that) stared in amazement at the ornately-colored beastformer, who had taken pity on Shadowmaru and was helping him remove the many suction darts that had stuck to the various parts of his frame after she removed the one on her face. She smiled and said, "What? I thought it was a good idea at the time. Didn't know our fearless leader could be so playful though." Gunmax shook his head again. "No, I mean, how did you convince him to agree? Not even I have that kind of persuasion." Jacquin's small smile quickly morphed into a grin and she put a finger to her lips with a hidden wink. "What can I say? I'm a woman." Several bots groaned at the lame remark, though the Mecha was swiftly becoming known for her wit and humor. Deckerd rolled his orange optics with a smile and replied, "She promised to take Yuuta to the opening of the new Okinawa Zoo next Thursday while I take that meeting with Vice-Commissioner Azuma." Yuuta leapt from his seat like he'd sat on a pin, his happy squeal making all of the Mechs smile at their boss's obvious joy. Of course Jacquin offered to take the boss to the zoo in Deckerd's absence, since the Mecha DID manage to get tickets for whatever she wanted. But, like with the Commissioner's antics (and his gravity-defying hair), no one ever asked.

"Hijiri saba" is Japanese for "Holy mackerel".