Queenpins

Q

Prologue

Dr. Ina'nis Ninomae drove the police cruiser wildly, drifting and swerving through the muddy twists and turns of the rough forest path with the pedal to the metal. Ame's dear old friend, the shy and reserved bookworm who kept to herself and to her studies - the one who always supported her from the other end of a telephone line, drove fearlessly to the frontlines.

Her arrival drew the attention of Chief Enma and her gas-mask wearing dirty cops. At first, they were amused. They laughed as they prepared to shoot her down. But then, they quickly saw that Ina wasn't alone.

Ina honked the horns of the police cruiser. Then, the myriad of other emergency vehicles followed suit and made their presence known. All of them turned on their emergency sirens at once, flooding Strawberry Cove with flashing red lights and intensely loud sound.

Enma and her officers were on edge. They didn't know what to expect.

"Block off the path!" Chief Enma barked, rousing her loyalists to action, "They're not gonna make it through to the beach!"

Enma's officers did as they were told and prepared to block the road. They rushed to their own cruisers to prepare a roadblock. However, before the officers could make it to their vehicles, they heard another noise through the wild din.

Bicycle bells.

Krrring krrring~!

All of the sudden, four bicycles cut through the forest and the thicket ahead of Ina's cruiser. One by one, the bicycle riders emerged: a blue haired man with a short carbine rifle affixed with a bayonet, a masked red-head with a myriad of menacing chains trailing behind him and a blonde man with many mechanical hands clenched into fists at his side. They all rode alongside an older, gray-haired gentleman with a longsword and - despite his age - the brightest, most youthful grin painted on his face.

"The Tempus Boys are back in business!" Vesper Noir cheered with great enthusiasm.

Calli heard this happy cry and drew her attention for a moment. Even from a distance, she saw the four bicycle-riding men and smiled. The men gave Calli sharp salutes - then they proceeded to harass Enma's officers.

"H-hold the line!" Enma tried to shout and reorganize her defenses.

Before she could rally her troops, however, a fifth bicycle emerged from the forest. Its rider, a female officer, pedaled forward with incredible strength and shouted out at the top of her lungs.

"OMAEEEE~!"

It was Sergeant Subaru Oozora!

Enma's face went pale. She dragged one of her officers and pulled him in front of her, using him as a human shield. Because of this, Subaru crashed her bicycle into the officer and knocked him out.

Enma tried to draw a pistol from her holster, but Subaru whacked it out of her hand with a swing of a baton.

"Damn it!" Enma cursed.

The panicking Chief of Police winced and ran towards the hallucinating army. All the while, she blew her wartime whistle, drawing some of the hallucinators to her aid. So many of them came at once that Subaru couldn't break through them on her own.

Thankfully, she didn't have to.

Ina's cruiser, along with the convoy of other vehicles punched through the incomplete, disorganized road block and came to Subaru's aid. Their passengers, dozens of Shrimps and Deadbeats who evaded the HALU attacks in the City came with their fire axes and baseball bats, eager to bring their hallucinating brothers and sisters back to their senses.