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Pastebin of Notes https://pastebin.com/HV1rVRwe

>>5991914
You, the Doting Aspect of Maple or the Maple Aspect "Dot" are fluent in many love languages and celebrate every holiday there is to show your affection!

And so, when you consider the question, How does the incident on Valentine's Day relate to the one on March 14th? Well, you consider how you had a husband around to celebrate these days with... ack, none of that! Anyhoo, it's an easy answer!

"White Day!" you shout from within the trenchcoat's torso,, to the confusion of Scolding and Inquiring.

"What about it?" Inquiring asks.

Doting explains, "White Day is on March 14th, and that's when Gohan was found..." She grimaces. "...Brutally injured, at Orange Star High School. So there's a link between that incident, and the theft on Valentine's Day!"

Scolding, atop Doting's shoulders, shakes her head. "I'm sure on some planet your reasoning checks out, but we've been on Earth for some time now."

"What's wrong with my reasoning?" Doting asks.

Inquiring trudges through the nondescript and dark city streets with the other two on her shoulders, and says, "Well, how is what happened to Gohan a traditional White Day?"

>Gohan was found burned, cut up, lashed, and maimed. He is in a coma.

Doting scrunches her brows. The dates match up, but that does raise further questions. How does the theft of a risqué chocolate from Peppa correlate with the maiming of Peppa's brother on the day return chocolate is gifted?

Pick one.
>A. Maybe the culprit behind torturing Gohan is a real villainous freak?
>B. Maybe the culprit behind stealing the chocolate has a crush on Peppa?
>C. Roll Insight to ask a better question, 1d100 DC 66 (I will ask for rolls after the vote.)
>D. Write-in your own better question.

>>5991995
>B. Maybe the culprit behind stealing the chocolate has a crush on Peppa?

>>5991995
>>5992039
Support

>>5991995
>C. Roll Insight to ask a better question, 1d100 DC 66 (I will ask for rolls after the vote.)

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>>5992039
>>5992080
>>5992086
Thanks for playing, y'all! Will update tomorrow.

For any newcomers joining in, this quest is slow-paced, and by that I mean I update once per day, usually.

pic not related in the slightest

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“Maybe the culprit behind stealing the chocolate has a crush on Peppa?”

…

After a long pause, Inquiring pipes up, “Dottie? Let’s say that’s true or not. In either case, how would that factor into what happened on White Day?”

“...hrm.”

Scolding shrugs, which sorta throws off the balance of their totem a smidge. “Eh, Dottie did figure out something to link the dates together. By like, a hair. But it is something.”

Inquiring scuffs her shoe against pavement as she mulls it over. “How is it helpful though?”

Doting thinks for a bit. “...hm, hm!” She raises a finger, which jostles the crank on the mechanism for their arms. “It is something else to talk about!”

Inquiring compensates with some quick steps to the side, and asks, “Why would we talk about something else?”

Scolding ceases gripping onto Doting’s head like a lifeline, and replies, “C’mon, Inky, you saw how glum Peppa was, talking about Gohan. Any more of that, and she’d snap!”

Inquiring grumbles, “But we do need to hear more. Lots more, and we’re only halfway through it.”

Doting hums. “I would say we’ve only gotten through half of Peppa’s first meetings with Gohan’s girlfriends, and that’s like, what? Four afternoons out of a whole month?”

Scolding winces, and Inquiring huffs.

“I still think we should press on with the circumstances surrounding Gohan,” Inquiring motions.

“Peppa’s in a bad headspace right now, we need to tread carefully!” Doting objects.

“Gohan’s in a coma!” Inquiring stomps her foot. “We need answers, and wasting our time talking about unrelated… crap! It means that whoever did it goes free and unpunished another, stinking, instant!”

Doting trembles, and shouts, “Our kids need help right now! Vengeance on randos can wait!”

You, the Scolding aspect, meant to strike at immorality and be hard when needed, flail around as the other two argue with each other, and you start to feel a bit redundant. But, as the current head, it’s up to you to decide on which route to take.

>A. Go on a trip down Filler Lane, this business about Valentine’s is unrelated but it should have less bumps in the road.
>B. Go hard, go ham, go hear about Gohan. Doting will have to pull double duty, but it should be worth it. Peppa wants her brother’s torturer to be punished after all.
>C. You have gleaned new info about Izzy, what with these odd reactions to her name. Ask Peppa if she saw anything else like that.
>D. Something else? Write-in
>E. Update Notes

>>5992801
>C. You have gleaned new info about Izzy, what with these odd reactions to her name. Ask Peppa if she saw anything else like that.

>>5992801
>B. Go hard, go ham, go hear about Gohan. Doting will have to pull double duty, but it should be worth it. Peppa wants her brother’s torturer to be punished after all.

>>5992801
>>5992812
And also
>D. Put the other two of us in timeout, have both of them wear a sign that says "We Get Along"

>>5992801
>A. Go on a trip down Filler Lane, this business about Valentine’s is unrelated but it should have less bumps in the road.
>>5992829
And this D

OP ?

This quest is also run on akun, so that will figure into votes.

4 votes for "Go on a trip down Filler Lane"
2 votes for "You have gleaned new info about Izzy"
1 vote for "Go hear about Gohan"
And the write-in, makes it.


>>5997694
I will do my best tomorrow. Please look forward to it!

>>5997964
alright then

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You have spotted some odd behavior from Izumi, so that could be something to look into... but, asking Peppa to focus on weird things with her cousin could affect her cognition, either leaving certain events out or inventing new ones whole cloth. Still, you can keep an eye out.

You straighten your hat, "I've decided, I'm going to have a chat with Peppa. About trivial things."

"Yay!" Doting cheers, pumping the big arm's fist.

Inquiring grumbles, "You mean 'We're going to have a chat with Peppa,' right?"

You smirk. "Nah!"

---

Now clapped in handcuffs and forced to wear a sign saying "We Get Along," you have the two of them march three-legged back to Ruban Rouge.

"I'm sorry I got mad and made you feel like we don't get along, Inky!" cries Doting, as she rubs her wet cheek against Inquiring's squirming face.

"I just wanted to focus on the important stuff, why this?" Inquiring laments.

You shake your head tiredly, and briefly pick them both up to hop all of you down the steps to the speakeasy.

Entering the bar again, you greet Peppa, who you see is no longer tending a bar, but finishing set-up on a private movie theater.

"Oh hi, Inspecter!" Peppa waves, walking over. "Sorry for before, I'll try to get through what I saw of Gohan-"

"Actually, I think focusing on your brother so much will have us miss the forest for the trees."

"Oh?"

You briefly look over the scribbles and question marks in your notepad, and nod. "It is my belief that there is a link between the incidents on February 14th and March 14th, as they are Valentines Day and White Day."

Peppa squints. "Huh? I mean, I guess?"

You nod knowingly. "I will elaborate on this connection at a later time. For now, I wish to peer into the activities that occurred between then."

"Okay, I'll share what I can- heyyy," Peppa cuts off, looking you up and down. "Why are you shorter, and when did you get a dumpy?"

You swat her with the notepad. "Never you mind, young lady."

Handcuffs rattle as you feel Doting tug on your shoe.

You close your eyes, and subtly exhale from your nose. You smile, and say, "One thing I wish for us to consider going forward, the culprit behind the theft on Valentine's..."

"Yeah?" Peppa asks, rubbing a bump on her noggin.

"They may have a crush on you."

Peppa sputters. "What? Why would you say that?"

You look back to your notes. "It was specifically your chocolate that went missing, from your top shelf locker. Despite its extreme look, which could spell trouble for you if revealed to the class, the chocolate never made an appearance, implying it was kept or eaten. A package forged to look like your original unique one was found by you, containing another chocolate intended to make you mad, really meant to sabotage your gift for Cocoa."

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Though, for all of Peppa's caginess before Valentines (which lead to the trashing of your kitchen), you really wish you could have caught wind of what she had planned so you could go over how many ways that plan could go wrong... but in the end, bullet dodged, she already learned the lessons from this.

Peppa hums. "...yeah, yeah. Those are good points! So, someone was trying to sabotage my gift for Cocoa because they had a crush on me?"

"It's a strong possibility," you say. Of course, the theft of her clothes before then also raises a bunch of alarm bells, so you put apprehending the thief at a strong Number 3 in the list of priorities, behind finding out what's wrong with your niece and finding out who maimed your angel boy. You walk over to the theater seats. "Let's look over the footage and see if any suspects jump out."

"Suspects?" Peppa takes a seat next to you. "Like, girls who are blushing, yearning for me from afar?"

'Or boys who are horny, stalking you from a distance,' but you suspect she'd find that less fun. "Sure, why not!"

Peppa thinks a bit. "Well, honestly I don't pay much attention to other girl's faces, having a girlfriend and all. But let me know if it comes up!"

She then gets out a stack of reels, and they all have labels.

>A. Shower Thoughts
>B. Medicine Ball
>C. Clothes Found
>D. Dizzyingly Busy
>E. No Riches?
>F. A Girl and her Pig
>G. Pen Pals in Paradiso
>H. Metal Melon Matron
>I. PeppaVision, Pep-PeppaVision- nah, this is just Peppa watching some TV with her mom
>J. Peachy Keen
>K. Snapshots
>L. Mardi Gras

M. Gohan part trois (0/1) - You need to watch more before this unlocks.
N. Gohan part quatre (0/3) - You need to watch more and M before this unlocks.
O. Gohan part cinq (0/7) - You need to watch more and N before this unlocks.
P. Kafka - You need to watch A, B, C, D, and E before this unlocks.
Q. Clubbing - You need to watch K and L before this unlocks
R. Chateau Papillon - You need to watch L, M, H and J before this unlocks.
S. Back to Basic (0/13)
T. Dark Cloud - You need to watch K, O, and R before this unlocks.
U. Rideau Rouge - You need to watch everything else before this unlocks.

https://youtu.be/BUX_JNixxZQ

You look up at all that. "What the heck."

"It was a month, lots of things happened," Peppa says. "What do you wanna watch first?"

Pick three, please, will go with top three for now.
>A. Shower Thoughts
>B. Medicine Ball
>C. Clothes Found
>D. Dizzyingly Busy
>E. No Riches?
>F. A Girl and her Pig
>G. Pen Pals in Paradiso
>H. Metal Melon Matron
>I. PeppaVision, Pep-PeppaVision- nah, just regular TV
>J. Peachy Keen!
>K. Snapshots
>L. Mardi Gras

>>5999234
ABC

>>5999234
>>5999346
Backing, I do not have context for any of these

>>5999346
>+1
I’m surprised Peppa didn’t find out it’s her mom

>>5999234
>A. Shower Thoughts
>B. Medicine Ball
>C. Clothes Found

>>5999889
Our disguise is perfect!

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>>5999234
>C. Clothes Found
>D. Dizzyingly Busy
>F. A Girl and her Pig

Rolled 2 (1d3)

Vote Tally
AAAA - 4 votes for Shower Thoughts
BBBBBBB - 7 votes for Medicine Ball
CCCCCC - 6 votes for Clothes Found
D - 1 vote for Dizzyingly Busy
F - 1 vote for a Girl and her Pig
JJJJ - 4 votes for Peachy Keen
LLLL - 4 votes for Mardi Gras

A, J, and L have tied, rolling 1d3.

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>>6000146
Peachy Keen wins!

will do tomorrow, my work will kick my ass if I do another all nighter and show up late again

Night, y'all!

>>6000151
See you tomorrow

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You pick up a reel, and read the label, "Medicine Ball?"

Peppa's eyes narrow at the sight of the reel, but she nods. "Yup."

She puts the reel in the projector, and the doohickey starts revolving on the whatsit, shining light onto the canvas.

===

In the high school locker room, Peppa finishes getting changed, and takes her normal clothes and zips them into her bag. When she puts her bag away, she does a quick side-to-side to see if anyone's looking at her and her locker. She didn't see anyone looking at her. Her tail twitches.

She whips her head around, and sees a pair of swirly glasses. The girl attached to them yelps in surprise, backing up a step.

"Hey, you! ...you!" Peppa snaps, pointing a finger toward the glasses, and tracing a swirl in the air as she tries to recall this girl's name. She wants to say Polly Whirl? Anyway, "Did you take anything from my locker?"

"N, no?" the girl says, starting to sweat even before the PE starts.

Peppa leans in closer. "Did that have a question mark at the end?"

The girl gulps. "No, it didn't, I didn't take anything! I was just wondering, why you would ask me, I guess?"

Peppa squints. "Why indeed..." For a moment, she reaches for a reason, and comes up with, "You're standing behind me, looking over my shoulder!"

The girl presses her glasses up, her eyes shifting down and aside. "My locker's below yours."

Peppa wags a finger, about to refute that- aaand she can't. "...so it is."

Cringing, she apologizes, turning back to close her locker. She hears the glasses girl sniff, and Peppa focuses on setting up the new padlock for her locker, letting out a breath when she hears the girl's retreating footsteps.

"Just so you know," a voice chimes in. Peppa turns to see Erasa standing beside her. "Videl was watching you like a hawk just then."

"Oh?" Peppa asks. "Why?"

Erasa shrugs. "If I had to say, she probably was going to step in if anything got physical?"

"..." Peppa scowls. "Why is everybody assuming the worst of me?"

Erasa pats Peppa on the back. "Videl's mad at you. But the thing with Videl being mad at you? It means she cares. She'll come around, but just give it some time."

Peppa nods, and hops down to the bench, walking out beside Erasa. "Still, I wouldn't get physical with random people, that'd be what an unstable person does, and I am very stable."

"Mmhmm?" Erasa hums. "So you just get physical with cous-" she cuts herself off.

"Hm?" Peppa looks up at Erasa who is looking away. "What?"

Erasa coughs. "Sorry, thought of something. Anyway, you just get physical with cause, then?"

"Uhhh, yeah?" Weird phrase, but okay. "Lasers work too. Can even do some telekinesis!"

"Telekinesis, huh?" Erasa nods solemnly. "If any balls hit me today, I shall blame you."

Peppa snickers. "Don't worry, I'll put up a forcefield around you, an invisible one that is totally there!"

Erasa grins. "Wow, sooo glad to have you on my side today!"

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Then she tilts her head, thinking. "And with Izzy still gone, Videl would have to be on the other team to balance things out."

"Mm." Peppa walks along, silent.

Erasa considers for a bit, then snaps her fingers. "Or if it's boys too, there's Gohan."

"MM."

Erasa looks at Peppa. "Do you want to play with, or against your bro?"

Peppa's eye twitches, and sports a rueful smile. "MM, MM, MM."

Erasa nods. "Ooh, kay. Good talk, Peppa!"

Peppa blinks, then looks up at Erasa, and says, "Actually, it's fun talking with you. Thanks for taking the time to check in on me! I hope we can do it again sometime."

Erasa nearly trips. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" She looks at Peppa incredulously. With a slight blush to her cheeks, she asks, "You... like talking with me?"

...Peppa scratches her head. Then, she smiles, and says, "Yeah, why wouldn't I? We're friends. I mean sure, we don't have all the same hobbies, but who does?"

Erasa looks away, her blush intensifying. "Riiiiiight, I'm... gonna see you in gym, gotta go, bye!" She runs off.

Peppa watches her go. "Uh... huh." She has never seen Erasa get that pink before.

Going down the hall, she spots Coach Freddy. "Hey Coach! You spot any thieves lately?"

"Hey Peppa! Can't say I have- actually, just saw Paru run past. She steal anything?"

"Paru? Oh, you mean that girl with the glasses?"

"Eh? No, I don't think she was wearing glasses. Did Paru take your glasses?"

"No, I don't wear glasses, only goggles."

"I see. Oh yeah, did you check in with Mahogany?"

"Mahogany? Oh right, my cousin."

>COMMON KNOWLEDGE: Coaches call all students except siblings by their surnames. Source: real life

Peppa does the (ﺧ益ﺨ) face. "Kinda, it's complicated. She does have a medical reason to not show up for PE tho."

He nods. "Thanks, kid! One more thing, do you know the phone number for Castle Frypan? I have to call her parents now."

Peppa's (ﺧ益ﺨ) face intensifies. "Yeah..." Sorry Cuz, could only do so much.

---

But as a game of Volleyball starts up, Peppa feels as if a weight's been lifted! Seriously, once her aunt and uncle learn of what her cousin is up to, she'll get the help she needs, and then the others will know that she was only looking out for her cousin! Videl will stop being mad, and Gohan will have to admit he's been a huge buttface, and everything will go back to norm-

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BAYUM!

Everything goes topsy turvy when a volleyball strikes Peppa in the face!

The tiny girl falls back on her tailbone, making her clench up since Saiyan Tails are sensitive! "aaaaaaaaaaaagh," she rasps.

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A whistle is blown, and the game is paused. Videl runs under the net, and kneels down beside Peppa.

"Peppa, you okay?" The first words Videl has said to her in a while!

Peppa works her jaw. "I'm okay, it just surprised the heck out of me."

Videl smiles. "Well, keep your eye on the ball!" She holds out a hand.

Peppa takes it, "Will do, let's get back to it!"

Alright then, that was a bit embarrassing, Peppa's definitely keeping track of the ball now. But strangely enough, getting walloped seems to have improved Videl's mood towards her.

Huh, maybe there's something to that? Like on Valentine's, instead of looking good in a girl's eyes, maybe looking a bit pathetic is what wins their favor-

WHA-BOOSH!

Where'd that one come from?!?

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She gets knocked down, again, she gets back up, again. Whistle blows, again.

Videl walks over. "Peppa, you good?"

Peppa blinks till the seven stars flying around her head go away, then she holds up a hand. "Uh, who put all the spin on that truck? That trajectory was insane!"

"Come on." Videl runs back to her side.

"Yeah, yeah." Peppa picks herself back up.

Time to get your head in the game, Peppa! Well, it's been in the game twice now, but still!

She will hit that ball, and it will go anywhere but her face!

As she goes to return the ball, some unnoticeable particle or gust of air brushes against her eyelashes, causing her to blink.

BWOOOOMMMMMpsh.

She looks down at the ball at the floor, in total disbelief.

She can catch bullets. She can jump to the ceiling. She can fistfight at the speed of sound while having a dialogue on opposing philosophies.

And she can't volley the ball???

>A. That's it, play Hard!
>B. Don't go crazy, it's just a game.
>C. PK SHIELD!
>D. Write-in something to say, you will need to pick A B or C tho
>E. Update Notes

>>6001269
>B. Don't go crazy, it's just a game.
Videl won't like us when we're angry

>>6001269
>C. PK SHIELD!

>>6001269
>C. PK SHIELD!
the middle approach. wtf is going on ?

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>>6001269
>A. That's it, play Hard!
>D. "DODGE!"

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4 votes for PK Shield.
---

The game doesn't pause this time, play resuming as it would after a player simply botches a return, as opposed to the other two times when that player had been knocked to the floor.

Peppa supposes this meant they thought she would be injured the first two times. She wasn't. Once was luck, twice was carelessness... but three times? By then, her pride had been injured.

And a thing about Saiyans, their pride was as much a part of them as their appetites.

===

Beside you, Peppa blows some air up into her bangs. "Okay, so this is gonna sound, not great. My reasoning here was that there was no way for me to suck at volleyball that badly, so something had to have been up."

"I see," you say, tone tinged with dread. Did she let that pride boil over into anger and lash out? "So what did you do then?"

Peppa frowns, admitting, "I tried to prove my feelings correct by doing a little trick with telekinesis."

"Oh, that's not that bad!" you say, relief flooding your body. "I thought you were gonna do way worse!"

...

Peppa turns away from you, crossing her arms. "Hmph!"

"..." Ah, you've stepped in it now. "What I mean is, it would be understandable if you did something worse, but you should never lash out like that, and using your powers to test a theory is a much better alternative, even though you shouldn't take a game too seriously, and," you gasp in some air, "I, am gonna be quiet for the rest of the movie." Really could not have dug yourself in deeper. Serves you right trying to fill in for Doting and Inquiring

Peppa side-eyes you, then shakes her head. "...the thought did cross my mind, just going apeshit and giving the other team a taste of how it is to get spiked in the face."

You nod. "But you didn't."

She shrugs. "Eh. Let's finish this one."

===

Her other teammates give her some light admonishments and pep talk to inspire her to do better, or just to stop sucking, and she laughs it off sheepishly. Outwardly, she smiles as her teeth grind together.

Then, she spots Erasa, and thinks back to their talk from before, and gets an idea that puts a grin on her face, one that shows off her canines.

"Trying out a new face-to-ball style-" Erasa starts, intending to tease Peppa a little, but she pauses at the sight of Peppa's face. She turns away, letting out a meek, "Nnnnnnope."

The game resumes, and Peppa focuses, not on the ball, but on herself.

Then, she casually observes the game. Even when the ball is on the other side of the court, even when its trajectory has sent it down a definite path, even when it's the last ditch effort to return it from the back of their court, she keeps her guard up.

Then Videl spikes the ball, and Peppa makes no move to return it, the ball zipping past her zone of control.

She hears a girl behind her make a return and Peppa feels a slight breeze in her ponytail. She turns her head to see the ball spinning in the air, stymied by her telekinetic barrier.

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Erasa apologizes, "Heh, my bad, Peppa! My aim's bad." Erasa laughs, rubbing the back of her neck. "Looks like that barrier came in handy, though!"

Peppa regards Erasa with a confusion, and then she shifts her gaze to the ball-

-FWEEEEET!-

All players turn to the Coach. Coach Freddy points at Peppa, and unenthusiastically announces, "Blatant use of supernatural powers. Peppa... sit this one out."

Peppa blinks. "Huh? Oh!" She points at the ball, "The thing is, this ball has been acting supernatural the whole game, I was just trying to prove it. See, it was fixing to brain me again if I didn't-"

Videl cuts in with a tired, "Peppa, go sit down."

Feeling betrayed, Peppa sends a glare her way. "Why? Why, whywhywhwhwy- WHY don't you listen to me, for once? Now let's do the math, I got hit three times, but I'm a genetic freak, and I'm not normal-"

"Oh, get over yourself!" Videl returns the glare, crossing her arms. "You attribute maliciousness to what is simply bad luck and you letting your guard down! And then you go and cheat at the game to prove otherwise! Tell me Peppa, from what you've uncovered with this stunt, can you honestly tell me that Erasa, of all people, is out to get you?"

Sparks fly in the air between the two, each of their gazes locked on the other's.

...but eventually, Peppa's eyes well up with too much tears for her to continue.

"...ki, hic, hhn!" Her chest heaves as sobs escape her body, and she runs out the gym.

>>6003205
not erasa, but who the fuck is doing it ?

>>6003356
My guess is glasses girl.

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>>6003760
Paru?

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>>6003919
Nah, coach said Paru wasn't glasses girl, so that leaves Erasa as Paru. Why is her surname Paru, OP?

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She fights down the tears, just enough till she gets to the water fountain and douses herself with water. There, just worked up a sweat, is all. And she's out of breath, which is why she's doing all this gasping for air, so she's gotta drink some water now!

Ha, Ha! There, perfectly fine!

Her face still burns with betrayal, and her nose is runny. She magics up a cloth, and dries her face off.

===

You point out, "You cried."

"No kidding? Thanks, Inspecter!"

"Hrm..." Alright Scolding, you know the score, it's time to switch. With your arm, you hold a bucket of popcorn in front of your face, and sink down.

After some rustling, you pop your head up and take in a breath of fresh air- koff, koff, some smoggy air. Then, you pat Peppa on the head. "There, there!"

Peppa blushes, and growls, "I'm not a kid." She doesn't swat your hand away though.

"I see, I see," you say soothingly as you finish tousling her hair. "Wanna wear my hat, then?"

The frowning Peppa eyes your hat, and looks away. "...sure."

You remove your hat, revealing a second hat on your head, and place the first one atop Peppa. "You really value your friendships with Videl."

Peppa pulls the tip of the hat down to cover her face. "Yeah."

"That's good. My advice for a situation like that, though?"

Peppa lets an eye peek through the brim of her hat.

You smile at her, and explain, "You can't take your friends for granted. You have to let them know about your plans before you spring them, and if they tell you 'No' even if it sounds good to you, well, then you'll have to decide whose judgment you truly do value more, yours or theirs."

Her frown deepens. "But why can't my friend trust that I have good judgment?"

"Everyone thinks they have a good head on their shoulders. But when they get stubborn, they are inflated things filled with hot air. You have to let go of your own ego and let other people in before you explode at someone."

She huffs. "But if they don't trust me, why should I care what they think?"

"Peppa?"

She looks up to see your loving smile.

"You do care about what others think of you. Sure, it hurts when they're mad at you, but, when Videl helped you up, how did you feel then?"

"..." She squirms. "...better."

Hooray, you didn't raise a sociopath! Golden Rule in place! "Just keep that in mind, and treat your friends right, and you'll get over these scuffles. I promise."

"You mean it?" Peppa looks up at you... then looks over towards the tower of film reels. She sighs. "Never mind, I'm afraid we've only scratched the surface, so no need to jump the gun with a promise like that.

"Oh?" What else happens in those other reels that has her so defeatist? "Well, let's see then!"

"There is one bit of this left."

===

School is out for the day, and Peppa walks out into the courtyard alone, having managed to evade bro and his new squeeze.

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She wipes some sweat off, and puts on her tinted goggles. She scowls up at the hazy sky, the humid summer air assaulting her as relentlessly as a ki barrage.

Then, she hears a voice call out to her!

"Hey Son Peppa, think fast!"

"Hm?" She looks around, and doesn't see nor sense anyone around her, then she realizes that the voice came from above, so she looks up-

A Medicine Ball comes down upon her head.

Thunk.

>Common Knowledge! SUCKER-PUNCHING: Everyone has moments when they're vulnerable. A sleeping saiyan will feel much pain if you throw a rock at their head, and a strong fighter not expecting to get shot will indeed get shot by a bullet they didn't see coming.

Laid flat on the ground, Peppa's vision is blurry. The hazy air and summer sun do her no favors, and she blinks frantically to get a handle on things.

Fortunately, one eye out of two gets focusable, and she peers with it up at the window she heard that voice come from.

...

Ah, Erasa's peering out the window, down at her. Maybe she saw something?

Peppa waves, "Hey! Ergh, Erasa, did you see who threw that-"

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https://youtu.be/iVay367HM3Y

A smile.

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>>6003356
>>6003760
>>6003919
>>6004172
Thanks for playing, y'all! Will move onto the "Clothes Found" part next.

>>6004172
And you figure right, her name is Paru Erasa. As for why I gave her that surname, see pic. Also, mind her initials.

>>6004305
Woop.

Have a good night!

>>6004295
>Common Knowledge! SUCKER-PUNCHING
so that thing about Goku getting hit by a rock thrown by Krillin. But still who the fuck is doing this ?
>>6004305
>And you figure right, her name is Paru Erasa. As for why I gave her that surname, see pic.
alright, that was funny

>Also, mind her initials.
what about P.E. ? wait, is that her gimmick ? and why is this bitch trying to catch us by surprise ?

>>6004480
>what about P.E. ? wait, is that her gimmick ?
I don't think Erasa ever had PE superpowers but OP also called the detective "Three Maples" and she was Three Maples? Maybe it's ESP, she has a middle name somewhere, something that begins with S

>why is this bitch trying to catch us by surprise ?
I don't get why she would go through the trouble to set that up and then stick around

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>>6004480
>>6006511
Good questions, y'all.

Who the fuck is making Peppa get BTFO?
Why is Erasa trying to punk Peppa, and then let Peppa know she did it?

Now, back to the story!

==========
chocolat noir
==========
The film finishes rolling after that, and Peppa gets up with the next one in hand, the one labeled "Clothes Found."

Now, as the Doting Aspect, you are compelled by the urge to rush over to Peppa and do all the doting things even if it means blowing your cover, but there's just too much here to examine, and too much more to watch that you still haven't, so you gotta hand the wheel over to Inquiring.

Climbing up to the seat, then stepping up to the plate, you inquire, "Wait, so Erasa was the one who hit you with the balls?"

Peppa half-nods and half-tilts her head. "Maybe."

"'Maybe'?" You shake your head. "How is that a ‘maybe’? That footage, from what we could see, had her at the scene, grinning even!"

Peppa nods. "That is true, I did see that."

"Then, why is that in doubt?"

Peppa explains, "Maybe Erasa could throw 30 kilo. What I know for sure is that Erasa is Videl's friend. When Erasa's return almost hit me, Videl told me off for suspecting her. Videl is also good at sports, and often gets the chance to interact with the ball when we play, so those spikes I caught with my face? It’s not hard to pinpoint who was serving them."

"...you suspect Videl?"

On Peppa's face... appears a smile. "I mean, she was really upset at me, so she and Erasa could have set this up to teach me a lesson."

"..." You scribble some on your notepad in response to this outlook. "Videl and Erasa are the type who would do that to you?"

Peppa hums. "I mean, they did. So yeah."

“I don’t understand, Videl’s always looked out for you. Even if you weren’t friends, she still wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you. After all, your mother saved hers from falling victim to Anime Maternity Syndrome.”

>Common Knowledge: CARMEN MIGUEL
>Miguel is a famous singer, who opted to keep her stage name when she married Mr. Satan. With a name like Carmen, you should probably suspect the hell out of her.

But...

“How do you know about that?” Peppa asks, her eyes narrowing. The theater seat feels smaller, and what faint lighting the theater has focuses on you and nothing else.

You tip your hat to hide the sweat running down your forehead, and say, “I’m an Inspecter.”

“...” Peppa nods, and gets back to setting up the next film. “Alrighty. Anyway, Videl believes in Justice, that wrongdoing should be righted, and everyone gets what they deserve. So if I get punished, I’ll be redeemed in her eyes.”

“I see.” This is what your daughter has come up with for why her friend would throw balls at her head.

The projector’s light illuminates your notepad, and you look down at your cloud of scribbles. Hey, that bit there looks kinda like "AAAAAAAA."

The next film starts.

===

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https://youtu.be/_YRX1S6M4Ps

Peppa’s next day at school goes a bit different. Not that there’s any event or unusual behavior from someone around her, no.

When it’s time to take notes, she shows the image of a studious student, but focuses instead on sensing every other student around her, and whips her head around to Videl and Erasa when they so much as move a limb. When people look at her in response, she looks back down.

When it’s time to answer questions, she raises her hand because that is normal for her and also because that will focus the room’s attention on her if anyone starts throwing things, but after flubbing a question because she didn’t retain any of the lecture, she stopped raising her hand.

When it’s time to head to electives, she zips through the halls. However, she pokes her head around the corner to see if anyone’s following after her, and is disappointed to find that everyone is indeed following after her because they’re all headed to electives.

Her art in art class, despite what the pattern may indicate, does not show any disturbing imagery that reflects her mood. …although, the total lack of imagery on the paper might.

When asked what’s wrong, Peppa goes, “Nothing.”

Then, it’s time for P.E.

Peppa floats up to her locker, and peers inside. Ah, lucky! Her uniform was there today.

She takes out the shirt, but from the feel of it in her hands, something doesn’t feel right.

She looks at it. There’s a stain on it.

It smells, doesn’t smell like sweat.

She picks up her shorts.

The outside is fine.

The inside.

…

>A. Make a new uniform.
>B. Go to the nurse’s office.
>C. Ask the others what the stain is.
>D. Ask the others if their uniforms are weird.
>E. Ask Coach if any boy has been inside the locker room.
>F. Write-in
>G. Update Notes

>>6008632
>B. Go to the nurse’s office.
so is it really cum or it depends on what we pick ?

>>6008681
It's the same no matter what you pick.

>>6008632
Ew.

>E. Ask Coach if any boy has been inside the locker room.

>>6008632
>>6008739
Support

OP ?

>>6008681
>>6008739
>>6008774
>>6013199
Should update y'all, I'm figuring out a new schedule. Gonna work on updates in the early morning and crashing after work. Time to crash!

>>6013742
Did you write any, OP?

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She pulls her hand back, her fingers constricting into claws, but not enough to close, if she closed, she would feel it more, it would spread more. She smears what little of it is on her onto a clean part of the uniform, now unclean, but unnoticeably so. How much of it is unnoticeably so?

The thought that that... slime, has stained one iota of her body, brings another thought, long repressed, to the surface.

An alien world, an alien fish, an alien slime.

She clenches her teeth, and her intake of air hisses.

Think of what Dr. Chansu said... what did Chansu say? Peppa talked out her problems, and said she was upset for a bit, then she was fine, and Chansu noted something down, and they also talked about tootsie pops?

Peppa could go for a sucker. Where in the school can she find one?

She shuts her locker, the light motion slamming the door shut, and she drops down. If anyone is looking at her or talking to her, it is unclear, as the girl has blocked out everything that would be a distraction from her short-term goal.

She steps out into the hallway, and the Coach pokes his head out as she moves past. He asks something, she says she's going to the nurse. It seems he's about to ask her for more info, but after a moment's observation, he gives her the OK.

As she walks, she snarls as she considers how that last interaction could even happen. Why should she bother with obeying something like "No running in the halls"? She could run faster than a hovercar's top speed, she can simply dodge and weave around those slower than her.

She stops. She considers, maybe the coach's touted surveillance over that hallway, and even the school's security cams, could they see something that would be moving too fast for them to see?

And since there is evidence that a boy got in the girls' locker room, it's also evidence that any of that surveillance is pretty shit.

Though, the only boy in their school she knows of who can move really fast is her brother, and as much of a butthead her brother can be and has been lately, any thought that he's behind this is the simplest thing in the world for Peppa to nip in the bud.

So if it's not speed, perhaps it's another means? How could a guy get into the girl's locker room? Perhaps hiding before or after school- eh, Peppa hasn't sensed anyone hiding in a locker when she's been there, and she can't prove that anyone did before or after she got there. And how would they know her locker combination? It's not even information the school has, those locks are personalized, and when it's reset by what a teacher can do, the combination itself is reset. Peppa hasn't had to redo it.

So say someone had her locker info, they could get in her locker, but that info would need to be gathered by an accomplice, a girl. The other part would need to be done by a guy.

Why would a girl and boy collaborate on this... no, that's useless. A girl and boy did collaborate on this. The question now is Who? Who among the girls has ties to a boy?

>>6015218
thank Kami-sama it wasn't cum

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The obvious and immediate answer is Angela, who is so lovey-dovey with Penn. But, Peppa can't think of what the heck she could have done to inspire cruelty like this from either of them. That dating game she and Cocoa had hosted even set them up together!

...Videl also has a boyfriend, Sharpner. And those two have been antagonistic to her lately. They seem to have a so-so relationship, but it’s there. Sharpner seemed like he wanted to take charge and mostly show off when he confronted her on Valentine’s. Is this another part of that? But Videl is all about doing the right thing to a fault, so why would she plot something this mean? Then again, she’s also in cahoots with Erasa.

And despite that prank of hers, Erasa does not have a boyfriend. Well, Peppa doesn't recall seeing her with another boy, but it could be someone outside of class. Still, Erasa has been more focused on her work with internships and writing on fashion. It's a rare day when she’s not seen with a magazine in hand, analyzing articles and writing some pieces of her own for others to review. Any interest she has in romance is more on the gossip side and some light teasing with her friends.

https://youtu.be/7v5TdLx4js4

But that medicine ball really hurt! With her clean hand, Peppa scratches her head in confusion. It's hard for her to reconcile the two Erasas she's seen. She much prefers Cocoa's, hehehe-

The girl cuts her own leering giggle off, and scowls at the hand that touched her uniform. It felt unclean still, but she couldn't see where the unclean part ended or began. Was there any? Perhaps washing it would help speed along the wave of disgust washing over her.

But washing her hand wouldn’t be thorough without soap, and the soap came out of the dispenser, and looked greyish and felt like slime on her hand-

---
Peppa's Blennophobia: Triggered.
Peppa's Argyrophobia: Triggered.
---

The sound of pained groans and splashing echoes out from one of the stalls.

A flush, and Peppa staggers back to the sink to wash up again. She rinses out and wipes her mouth, and forgoes the soap this time.

She makes her way to the nurse, she was headed there for some reason? Not like she gets sick, too tuff for that, what was it again?

“...lollipop, lollipop, ooh lolly lolly lolly,” she croaks out, focusing on that, “Lollipop.”

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https://youtu.be/8SH2tEgUo2s

She gets to the nurse, confirms that she is completely fine but gets told to take some rest anyway, and lies down, her newly acquired candy in hand.

She glares at what the nurse gave her, but pops it in her mouth anyway. Her face twists.

The neighboring cot’s curtain is drawn, and her cousin calls out, “Peppa?”

Peppa’s eyes flick over to her cousin. “Hey Izzy.”

Izumi considers her. “Something wrong?”

“No.” To emphasize the truth of her statement, she crosses her arms.

“You look like you’ve swallowed a lemon.”

“...cough drop.”

“Ay,” Izumi commiserates. She looks back down to her workbook.

Peppa sucks on the Most Meh of All Candies for a bit, before asking, “So what are you working on?”

Izumi presents the front of the material for Peppa: “Exam Prep for Semi-Smarties.”

Peppa nods, and more gratefully crunches down on her cough drop with the knowledge that there’s always a worser candy. “How did things go with your parents?”

Izumi finishes a problem, then looks up. “My parents?”

Twirling a finger, Peppa continues, “Coach gave them a call, on account of all the PE skipping.”

“Oh.” She furrows her brow. “That does explain some things…”

Now turned onto her front and kicking her legs in the air, Peppa asks, “What happen?”

“They told me they were proud of me for getting my priorities straight.”

“...whaaaa?” Peppa tilts her head. “Why?”

Izumi shrugs. “They said I was already good on PE, and my studies were top priority.”

“Hm… isn’t it required though?”

“Nah, they talked with the principal, and I got a slip to stay in here during PE.”

“How did they pull that off?”

“Mamá brought up how I was being given unfair treatment because I’m a foreigner, and Papito backed that up by saying they had a thing against the offspring of two different races.”

"Oh wow." Peppa thinks on her own status as a Mt. Paozu native, and as half a space monkey. "And that argument works?"

Izumi shifts her eyes. "Our royal status probably did the heavy lifting."

“So if I’m hearing you right,” Peppa says, taking a deep breath, “When our Coach F got inquisitive over your sick leave and sent Aunty and Uncle a missive, notifying them of the situation, instead of remediating this deviation with their princess then, your parents give you their permission to skip an elective that was a prerequisite if only because they appreciated this show of initiative in giving your studying precedence over being physically active, hence they convinced the principal to issue a slip permitting your absence ever since with their respective accusations that you were getting discriminated against for your Frypanish heritage and exemplifying a hybrid interspecies combination of human and alien forming the continuation of your nation’s royal lineage?”

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>>6016102

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"Peppa, your tongue is bleeding!" Izumi whisper-shouts. In an instant, she's at Peppa's side. She inspects her cousin's mouth, and wipes at some blood with a materialized handkerchief.

Peppa thumbs her nose. "Eh, I bit it a few times but I managed to power through that well enough, heh heh- hack, cough cough, rasp!" Some blood got in her throat, which was already irritated, and not at all helped by the splintered cough drop!

Izumi winces, and gets some gloves on. Using water magic, which was somehow distinct from materialization, she gets some chilled water for her cousin to rinse and clear her throat. Then, she commands, "Open wide, I'm gonna put pressure on your tongue for a bit."

The proud girl goes to wave off her cousin's mother henning, but relents under her cousin's severe gaze and opens her mouth obediently.

It's uncomfortable for a moment and her gagging starts up again, but then, with just a light dose of healing energy from Izumi's fingertips, Peppa's tongue, which would have been sore for the day, is good as new. It even smoothed over the afterburn in her throat!

"All better?" Izzy asks, a smile proudly displayed on her face.

Peppa returns it, gratefully! "Yeah, thanks!"

"Good." Izumi turns back to resume her studies.

Peppa observes her cousin, so focused on the material. And after a bit, Izzy finishes a section, and flips to the back of the book to grade herself. The intensity in her eyes has returned, and Peppa doesn't like it.

"You know," Peppa cuts in, "This kinda takes me back!"

Izumi looks up from the answer key. "Hm?"

Keep it up! "What we would get up to when we were little," she explains. "When it wasn't sparring, it was hide and seek, and flying, and make-believe, and playing doctor."

Izzy smirks, "I could barely keep up with you two back then."

"Of course you could, your legs were longer!" They laugh. "Still, the playing doctor part, like, whenever me and Gohan got hurt, you would be there to help us and calm us down when we were crying, and help the pain go away with magic spells."

"I don't think 'pain, pain, go away' was an actual magic spell."

"We all thought it was, so it worked kinda. But then you learned how to do healing magic for real!"

She shrugs. "Sometimes you two would get knocked out, hit your heads on a tree or rock, or the ground. You, you would dive right at the ground, thinking you could punch through it."

"I can drill through the ground now-"

"Yeah yeah, so I didn't want to be unable to help you when something immediate was needed."

Peppa scoffs. "How selfish, taking it upon yourself to learn magic because your cousins worried you with our rough-housing and liability to not wake up again... and then you'd get blamed for it!"

Izzy sniffs. "As a princess, I have a reputation to maintain, and I'll not have you and Gohan sully it with your monkeyshines." She sticks her tongue out. "And we all got blamed for it anyway!"

Peppa grins. "Cuz Bro's the snitchiest snitch who ever snitched!"

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Izumi laughs. "Yeah, shame on him, telling on us so an adult would come and provide actual help!"

Peppa smiles, but it turns into a cringe. "...though, when I was the one running to get an adult, I don't think I did much better. Oh, I lied, of course, but I can still recall one time, 'Aunty Aunty Aunty, we're not playing Mumblety-peg and Izzy and Gohan are bleeding and we're not playing Mumblety-peg and they tripped onto some knives that we did not take from the good cutlery and were super always there by our new Peg for Mumblety-peg!'"

Bemused, Izzy asks, "How come that didn't work, you covered all the bases!"

Peppa lets out a dramatic sigh. "I guess it was written on my face, just not cut out for lying."

She grins. "Well, don't beat yourself up over it." She looks back to the answer key, and compares her answers. "Oh, you piss-poor excuse for a princess."

...

Concerned, Peppa whispers, "Izzy?"

She huffs. "Yeah Peppa, sorry, I'm trying to figure out where I'm screwing up in this one problem."

"Uh." Peppa thinks on a solution. Heck, if she's already doing it, "Maybe I could help-"

Izumi corrects herself. "Ah, I forgot to do this one thing. Did I forget to do it on the other problems? Well, I didn't forget to do it for the others, the answer key says so, but just goes to show that one moment's slip-up can throw the rest of my answers' veracity into question, and I can't have that."

"I don't think it matters that much."

"Imagine if I had twenty people to rule over, and I mess up in dealing with one of them, that one person is going to get screwed over by my failure. One person out of twenty. Now imagine that I have twenty-thousand people to rule over."

"Seems like a small town?"

"Hm, that is the population of a small town, is Frypan's demesne a small town? Twenty-thousand could be a low estimate. When's the last time we had a census done, what is the extent of our borders? Abuelo got the money to build the castle three times from somewhere, but did that treasure hoard of his come from the good, honest murdering and looting of another king on his level, or was it taken from another source? Did his reign of terror scare people into paying or did it scare them into fleeing? And Mamá considers it rude to ask him just how many people he ate back then."

"...your Oxy Grampa ate people?"

She shrugs. "If he did or didn't, it's what the surrounding residents believe. They still call him a demon king, and the horns and flaming castle did him no favors." She chuckles. "Let's say we did try explain that there was a perfectly sound reason our castle kept catching on fire, and that it was because the afterlife's spirit furnace was venting flames onto our castle in particular? Yeah, no."

Peppa scratches her head. "Yeah, that's a lot of PR to tackle."

Izzy shakes her head. "It's in the past." Then, she looks at her phone's clock. "Like a lot of our kingdom, tech-wise."

>>6018345
hmm

OP ?

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A wry smirk, and Izzy adds, "It's a common joke for the streamers I follow to look at their viewer data, see 1 viewer from Frypan, and then they give me a quick shout-out."

Peppa grins in response to her cousin moving to a lighter topic. "Heh, that's pretty cool!"

Izumi shakes her head. "It doesn't feel cool when it happens. Whenever they do it, it's a reminder that I'm the only one in my country who has access to my comforts."

Peppa cringes some more. "Ehhh, maybe you can fix that? Make life comfier for everyone?"

"That's what I'm trying to do," Izumi says. "I need to learn a whole lot though, so I can tackle these problems better."

Peppa tries to encourage and discourage her cousin all at once, "But you don't need to stress yourself that much, you're only 16. You have time. Like, for real, Videl is 20 and she's still in high school!"

Izumi frowns. "There's something that stinks about that, but she was born in 756 and she was in the freshman courses two years ago."

"I think she was held back a few years from all the traveling her parents did for bouts and shows."

"Hm, her parents are performers," Izzy says, looking off in the distance. "Probably good at what they do, to have something to show for it. Wish my parents had something like that."

"Hey, I'm a huge fan of what your parents produced!" Peppa cheers, pointing at her cousin.

"Har. Hope I can live up to the hype." She smirks, then looks back down at her work. She clicks her tongue. "rrrrgh, can't even focus on this."

"Ooh... sorry cuz. I can quiet down." Actually, she's surprised the nurse hasn't thrown them out for all the whispering. "This work better? Unless it's too distracting?"

Izumi pinches her nose. "...it's not your fault, talking with you is fun. Just, can't really mix fun and studying."

"Can't you? Like, mix the two, a little? Try to make it a game?"

She sighs. "It's work. I don't enjoy shoving this info into my brain, no matter how how gifted a child Mamá says I am, nor how much more evolved Papito keeps saying my Tuffle Brain is." She swipes a hand down her shirt, and pouts. "Where are my gifts, Mamá?"

"Pfft!" Peppa stifles the giggle, and asks, "Uncle says that too? Thought it was just my mom."

So the two of them got information downloaded into their toddler brains like "whoa," then they got some GEDs, and finally their good rich buddy Bulma Briefs bankrolled them some university programs. And yet, both of them insisted on enrolling their own children into public education, despite how 'advanced' their own learning was. Funny, that.

Izzy rolls her eyes. "I think they just want to convince us they had something to pass down besides shortness. Which I managed to dodge, thankfully."

Peppa gives the stink-eye. "Yes, being short is such a loathsome state, how dreadful an existence I lead."

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Izzy waves her off, "Yeah, yeah. What are you up to now, Super Saiyan Level 8?"

Giving a so-so gesture, Peppa replies, "Almost, I just need to invent it, is all!"

Izzy gives a thumbs-up, and winks. "With your Tuffle Brain and Saiyan Everything Else, the sky's the limit!" Then, she puts the thumb near the open eye she has focused on Peppa, and considers. "A good thing you can fly though, otherwise your limit's four feet, tops."

Peppa laments, "What have I done to deserve this?"

"As Papito's favorite would say, 'Blame it on the misfortune of your birth!'" She raises her palm and quietly chuckles as an ojou do. Then, she stops, and more seriously asks, "But uh, you're good, right? You looked pretty gloomy when you came in."

Peppa nods. "I'm fine. Got another clue as to who's stealing my stuff, in the end."

"Oh?"

"It's a boy," Peppa declares. "But also a girl!"

"...hm?"

"It makes sense, but I also don't wanna explain why it does."

"But like, a hermaphrodite, or a duo?"

"Oh! A duo."

"Thanks, would have bugged me. Okay, Izzy! Time to focus!" she smacks her face, and then rummages around her bag. "With a little help, that is~"

She pulls out some candy, and unwraps it.

"Looks Tasty," Peppa murmurs.

Izumi pops one in her mouth, and chews it. She smiles wide. "Mmm~!"

Peppa gulps the water gathered in her mouth.

Now much more chipper, Izumi explains, "One thing I will say about the Tuffle Brain, it can go at high speeds, but it's still a real gas guzzler. A constant craving for sugar all the time!"

"Yeah," Peppa softly replies. She is sorely reminded of the fact that Mom hasn't been able to pack her any food since the kitchen got wrecked. And the teachers wouldn't even excuse her to find a snack to fulfill Elevenses, the philistines!

Her cousin gushes some more, "So my tutor set me up with these vitamins, not only do they get me in the zone, but they taste super good too!"

Peppa licks her lips. "I'll bet."

Izumi glances at her.

Peppa stares back intently. Her tail flicks in irritation.

Izzy politely asks, "Would you like one?"

Peppa goes to reply,

https://youtu.be/K32N_pw_bDs

and her stomach beats her to it. She blushes, and nods.

Izumi nods, and pulls out some more. She presents them to you. "Thanks for taking the time to talk with me, Peppa, I appreciate it. So here ya go. All the flavors. Take your pick."

Pick one.
>A. The Red Candy
>B. The Blue Candy
>C. The Green Candy
>D. No, I must refuse.
>E. Write-in
>F. Update notes

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>>6020774
>B. The Blue Candy
Should help her stay in Control, hehe
>E. Who's your tutor? Did they teach you to hurt yourself? Do they hurt you?
>F. Izumi has issues with being a princess and her family's legacy
>Her parents allowed her to keep skipping PE
>Her tutor gave her candy that helps her focus
>Peppa Can't with slime or silver
>Someone came on her uniform and put it back in her locker
>Videl keeps yelling at her, worst girl
>Erasa dropped a medicine ball on her, somehow not worst girl
>The volleyball thing is most likely psychic powers

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>>6020774
Supporting >>6020847
Eating the totally not sus at all candy could show us why Izzy freaks out when her name is called. Do each of the flavors do different things? I hope we didn't get the one with Purgemint.

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>>6018437
>>6020585
>>6008774
Thanks for keeping up with this, y'all! We still have "Peachy Keen" left to do, but I do have a lot of that one prepared, so it should be a quicker pace before the thread falls off.

>>6020847
Thanks for the notes! And good guess with her tutor, very closely related!

>>6020867
how the heck did you- uh. The Candy is as you say, Totally Not Sus at ALL.

Hittin' the hay, vote still open.

>>6020875
>how the heck did you- uh. The Candy is as you say, Totally Not Sus at ALL.
>Kek
I saw it from DB Origins Quest, Oolong ate the candy and paid for it, it was funny. I don't remember Izumi shitting herself back when she heard her name, so this candy probably hits different.

>>6020774
>B. The Blue Candy
And supporting
>>6020847

>>6020774
>A. The Red Candy
gotta break the matrix
>>6020847
hmm
>>6020875
so anon knew something. also thanks for staying with us, OP.

OP you better archive this, we're at page 10 already.

>>5999999
Nice GETs

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>>6024244
I archive the threads right out the gate so they don't get misarchived, they do get downvoted tho.

Okay, home stretch!
---

Peppa picks the blue candy, and inspects it. It looks tasty.

Her latent Saiyan instincts pipe up in a grandmotherly tone, “She shouldn’t eat it, she doesn’t know what went into it or who it’s from, and candy won’t fill her up! Which she wouldn’t even have to worry about if her damn shortie mother could make some damn supper for her kids!”

But her Tuffle reasoning rebuttals with a scientist’s logic, “Food is meant to be eaten, she doesn’t know where a lot of her food will be coming from going forward, but she also has little choice and has to risk it. And furthermore, her cousin ate some and she hasn’t died, so less risk.”

Of course, no such exchange occurs, for a good chunk of her Saiyan instincts had already noped out when the chromosomes aligned, and only really flare up again during a full moon or when she has lost someone or something she never thought she could lose… like her mother’s cooking!

So she pops the candy in her mouth, and bites down. Crunchy and tangy outside, gooey filling that’s sour!

And then, a spark runs along her spine, leaving shivers in its wake!

“Mmm~! What is that flavor?”

Izzy reads the wrapper, “Electric Blue Lemon.”

“Lemon, you’re making a comeback!”

Peppa squirms on the cot, liking this new feeling. All her earlier queasiness is suppressed, and with those clouds put out of the way she is able to laser focus on past situations she wasn’t in the mood to deal with. Maybe she could say this one thing to Gohan, or bring up that thing to Videl, and with her cousin, she could ask her about- oh hi!

“Thanks a bunch! By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask…” She asks the words she had left off a week ago, “Who's your tutor? Did they teach you to hurt yourself? Do they hurt you?”

Izumi frowns.

“Izzy?”

Izumi frowns some more, closes her eyes, bites her lip, and finally huffs. “Teacha was hired by my parents, a tutor of some renown who was willing to travel to Frypan.”

Peppa quirks an eyebrow. “Okay, but who’s your, ‘teacha’? What’s their name?”

Izzy rolls her eyes. “Their name is Teacha, and yes, they are also my teacher.”

“Hmm… seems suspicious! A bit too coincidental if you ask me!

“Oh, we can go there? Okay.” Izumi asks, before smirking wide at Peppa as a cat would at a canary, “What’s up with you favoring warm colors, Peppa?”

Peppa crosses her arms in front of her, self-consciously. “Uhhh…”

In full Tease-inator mode, Izumi presses, “Always red, yellow, even some orange! And black too, of coarse. I gotta know, is it all on purpose, or is it fate?”

Peppa blushes red, and blows up at her bangs. “I can’t help being named that.”

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“But you can help what you wear~” Izumi swoops in for the kill, looming over Peppa. “Spill.”

Curled up on herself, Peppa admits, in a tiny voice, “because it goes cute with my ribbon.”

Izumi hmphs in triumph. Then, she notices the state of her defeated foe, and frantically pats her on the shoulder awkwardly. “It does, it does!”

Peppa pokes an eye out. “And you sure do favor green.”

“Huh?” Izumi tilts her head. “I don’t follow.”

A confused look on her face, Peppa explains, “Y’know, Izumi means Spring, greenness?”

Izzy narrows her eyes… “Pfft.” She shakes her head, amused. “Nice try, Peppa, but it’s the other kind of Spring.”

“...the sproingy Spring?”

“The watery one.”

“Oh…” Peppa groans, disappointed.

Izumi giggles, untouchable!

Peppa shrugs. “I guess that explains all the bedwetting.”

…

Izumi nods, returns to her cot, and buries her face in a pillow. “aaaaaaaaaugh!”

The two of them laugh a bit, then Peppa remembers that her cousin's tutor might be harming her, "Oh shoot!"

https://youtu.be/d11-trxvJx4

"So did Teacha do that to you?"

Her cousin's mood spoils. "Peppa, I was just having fun, can we not talk about this right now?"

"Izzy. This is important."

Izumi crosses her arms, gingerly. "Aside from patting me on the back, Teacha doesn't lay a hand on me."

Peppa nods. "If they did I would take their hands away."

Izumi frowns. "Can you please stop threatening them? They're really helpful and bring out the best in me."

Peppa gapes. "Bring out the best... blood?"

Izzy scoffs. "You don't get it. See, pain is the best teacher, Teacha knows this first-hand, and I haven't done anything Teacha hasn't done to herself."

Peppa runs her hands through her hair. "I don't think I want to get it. That sounds like it hurts, and I think better mentors can be found."

Izumi shrugs. "It isn't for everyone, but it's still what I'm doing."

...

Peppa thinks about what's wrong with her cousin, if anything can dissuade her from this course, but that newfound laser focus doesn't give her any point that she can't immediately shoot down. And not even the most sentimental pathos-based puppy-dog-eyed plea for her to stop will work, she tried that a week ago and Izumi's still at it.

"Fine. I don't get it, and I don't want you to hurt yourself. That's all I have to say about it." Then, she thinks. "But, can you tell the others the truth about what happened?”

“Hm?” Her cousin looks at her. “What about what now?”

“You know, what happened on Valentine’s Day, and your injuries that were already there. Can you tell the others your injuries were already there and I didn’t mean to hurt you?”

…

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>>6026161
>“And you sure do favor green.”
...uh, yeah!

>>6026231
why did she hit us for saying her name ?

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She continues, “C’mon, the others still think I did something wrong. If you shed some light, they’ll understand-”
“I don’t want to.”

Peppa blinks. “What?”

Her cousin explains, “I don’t want people to know about my punishments. At least not now, not until they see the results. They’re an important part of the process, and right now they are still shameful. They’re a record of my failures, but just like them, over time they will heal once I’ve overcome them. Then, and only when I’ve done that, can I look back on each one with pride and display them.”

Peppa sigh, and wearily says, “Izumi,"

https://youtu.be/X76lu7TCvOg

A jolt goes down her spine, clouds swell, and her body tenses. The squeeze moves her sweat glands to distill some cold, but her body is not hot, so it feels gross. That ickiness percolates across her body. Her body is icky. And cold. She shivers.

In that same instant, she hears a gasp, and looks over to see her cousin, a grimace on her face and squeezing her arm.

Izumi’s hand clenches down on what Peppa knows to be wounds even if the sleeve and bandages cover them up. She squeezes a few times, timing it with her breaths, and gets calmer.

Peppa, on the other hand...

Through clenched teeth and hyperventilated breaths, she keens out, "What is this, what's going on, what did you do to me, why can't you help me out, everyone hates me now because I covered for you, Izumi why-"

-SMACK!-

...Peppa rubs her cheek, where pain is. She looks up at Izumi, who stares back.

"Peppa?" she asks, breathing heavy, eye twitching.

"...Izu-"

Her cousin places a hand over her mouth. "I'm going to tell you this once."

Muffled, Peppa stares at her cousin, in shock.

Izumi tells her, "Keep my name out of your mouth."

Peppa's eyes narrow.

"Does it hurt?" Izumi asks. "Where I hit you?"

Peppa growls at her angrily.

Izumi lets out a sigh of relief. "That's good, that's how you control it, you collect it all in one place."

Betrayed, but also confused with that sentiment, Peppa's face falls as she stares at her cousin searchingly. "Then, that's what the pain is for?"

Izzy nods. "All those feelings bundled within you, unraveling across you, you nip them and concentrate them into one thorn. That thorn is still there, but it's only in the one place. It's manageable."

"But you have several places?"

"A new thorn for each time it happens. And when we review tonight, and I still can't get trig down, well. New thorn."

...it's all so unbelievable, Peppa has to recap it out loud. "...your teacha does THAT to you, and you let them, and the only way they gave you to help with it was pain..."

"They're good teachers."

Peppa can only shake her head. "This isn't going to work, pain can't make you stronger-"

Izumi flippantly waves a hand, declaring in monotone, "Says the Saiyan."

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Peppa bares her teeth. "Says Me! I'm more than my race, and you know what? I'm not comfortable with you rubbing it in my face like that! You got to be tall, is that not enough for you!?"

Izumi frowns. She gazes... at? No, past Peppa. "There's a lot of areas where I'm not enough."

Well past the point of sympathy for her cousin's twisted outlook, Peppa turns away. "Fine, fine, Izu- Izzy, do what you will!"

The school nurse sweeps the curtain open, chiding them, "Hey, you two aren't here to chat, you're here to rest-"

"I'm leaving," Izumi answers.

The nurse crosses his arms, "Now, look! You have that special slip to rest and study in here, Mahogany, but that doesn't give you free rein to-"

Izumi's aura flares up red, and quickly gouges into her palm with her nails. She then fixes the nurse with a look. "...I'm going to the library, I'm having trouble getting quiet in here." She looks back at Peppa. "My cousin is feeling under the weather, but it should pass. Peppa, I wish you good health in the oncoming days." She walks out, a trail of blood drops following her.

The nurse faints back into their chair.

Peppa notes the implication in those words, and grits her teeth. Another of her loved ones she's turned against her.

...

"Oh, fuck that!"

https://youtu.be/1v1CimgAK2M

Peppa speeds through the halls and catches up to Izzy.

"Peppa, what."

"I have something else I want to say to you."

"Oh really?" Izumi asks her, "Is it something like, 'I'm going to tell the others'?"

No. Peppa flares her nostrils anyway. "And what if I do?"

Izumi sighs. "Do what you will."

"..."

"If it's that big a burden for you, you can let it slip. And I won't entrust you with anything else."

...

Peppa looks aside. "It's not that. Heck, not like my cred's worth anything if I wanted to blab."

Izumi rubs her arm. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry I got you involved in it, and made you look bad in front of the others."

Peppa inhales. If she were sorry, she'd... She exhales. "Nah, I pushed you, this is a burden I volunteered for, and they all won't even hear me out."

Peeved, Izumi clicks her tongue. "I can't believe they didn't buy the bit about the red paint, you're an artist and you like red!"

"Eheheh," Peppa rubs the back of her head, then says more seriously, "But yeah, if every conversation I have is going to crash and burn, I wanna at least crawl away from this one with..." She bows her head and claps her hands together. "Thanks for helping me out yesterday!"

Izzy laughs, "Come on, that? It was nothing! Anyone passing by would have done the same, I was just there because Teacha had business to take care of.

"Not anyone, it was you, you brought me to the nurse when I was knocked out!" Peppa explains, "You healed me, and looked after me till I woke up. You care for others. That Izumi I see-" that shock runs through her body, anxiety running rampant.

"Peppa!?" she gasps, and hisses out, "I told you not to-" She gets hugged by Peppa.

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Peppa hugs her cousin, and continues despite the bitterness on her tongue, "That Izumi is who I love. Don't forget she's you, and you're worthy of love!"

"Peppa," Izumi whispers. Her body fidgets in discomfort still. "I'll... try, I guess?"

Peppa smiles up at her... and still feels disgusting, even worse than Baby looks. "Uhhh, whendoesitstop?"

"It doesn't till you deal with it!" Izumi scolds her. "And what's with telling me you love me, huh!? That's just gonna make it pump through everything faster!"

Peppa groans out, "Aw, for real?"

"For real," Izumi says, scratching at her arm again.

"Well excuse me, Princess-" Peppa snaps her gaze up at Izzy. "I'm allowed to call you that, right? There were three candies, so are they all Izzzzzu... your first name, or other things?"

Izumi lets out a nervous laugh, her core still betraying her. "Just stick with Izzy!"

Peppa frantically nods. "Okay, if the power of love is useless, there's Plan B! I apologize in advance."

"Plan B?" She looks down at Peppa, and sees the girl's foot raised. "Wait, Peppa, no-"

-stomp-

Izumi collapses, and cradles her foot. "Yeooowwww!"

"Did it work?" Peppa asks, still tweaking and thinking that maybe she is the common denominator in all her friendships going screwy-

-whok-

Izumi kicks her in the face, and all those spasms and thoughts get replaced with Ow, my nose is broken!

Peppa mumbles, "danks izzy!"

"Any, hsssss, time! Guh!"

They stumble back to the infirmary.

==========
chocolat noir
==========

Up at the projector, Peppa holds a pair of reels up. "How did 'Clothes Found' and 'Dizzyingly Busy' get spliced together?"

>SPLICING: Sometimes the story gets abridged by virtue of it making too much sense for things not to be interconnected.

>Medicine Ball completed!
>Clothes Found completed!
>Dizzyingly Busy completed!

The three of you consult with each other as your host wonders how her own memories work.

"Called it!" the Doting Aspect of Maple gloats.

"Oh really? You managed to call 'Izumi is taking a weird drug' in advance?" Inquiring asks her.

Doting considers. "Yes."

Scolding rages, "You did not!"

Doting tips her hat, smugly. "Well, heheh, maybe some of us should take the time to reread the Manga!"

Inquiring picks up the copy of the Dragon Ball manga, and flips to Doting's bookmark. "You reread up to Chapter 7."

"Aaaand I found it! What can I say, it's my lucky number!" She looks aside and whispers to the audience, "thanks anon!"

Back up at the projector, Peppa finishes deliberating over how the films melded together. "Oh well, here's the next one!"

===

Fun fact: Mt. Paozu is located over 1000 kilometers away from Orange City, but there Peppa is, walking home from school!

Balancing along a branch as she makes her way through the forest’s canopy, Peppa grumbles as dark clouds loom over head.

Stepping off a branch, Peppa lazily vaults over a stream with her Power Pole to another tree, but something in the water catches her eye!

>>6026395
interesting. I don't even remember when we got knocked out kek

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>>6026509
If I had to guess, I'd say it was when

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“Is that a fruit?” she asks.

Quickly lowering herself to the riverside, she squints at the object. It’s pink, round, and looks very similar to a peach. But, it is too big to be a peach.

…

“Is that a butt?” she asks. “Wait, if it is, then that means that butt’s owner drowned!”

So, Son Peppa did what anyone would do in a situation like this!

She nudges the corpse with a stick, and sings, “And the moon is the only light we’ll see~”

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But after prodding with the Power Pole a fair bit, she feels a twitch. The butt sinks beneath the water, then after a second, the water erupts! A form somersaults through the air, water catapulting off of it like a wet dog’s shake, and the “corpse” lands in front of Peppa.

https://youtu.be/cdQ-He2mwBM

Having taken a stance to guard against any attack, a newly drenched Peppa wipes some river water off her face.

A boy who doesn’t look older than ten stands before her… drying his hair with a blow dryer. There aren’t any outlets out in the middle of nowhere, so upon closer inspection she sees that the blow dryer is attached to the boy’s arm, where a hand should be. The boy is also wearing a pink jacket with words on the back, “SON OF A PEACH.”

She also notes that he’s been drying off for the past minute at this point. Peppa scratches her cheek, “Uhhh…”

“One sec,” the boy tells her, gale force winds distorting his features. When he’s finally dry, he licks his human hand, and slicks his blonde hair up. Then, he holds a palm up, stomps the ground in a wide stance, then whips his head around. His mechanical arm sprouts a paper fan. It opens with a DUN-DUN. His gaze meets Peppa’s eyes. “...Yo!”

Peppa quickly blows away a sweatdrop that formed on her bangs, and gives him a little wave. “...Yo?”

The boy nods with a grin, and his hand sprouts a yo-yo which he starts playing with.

Peppa lets out a little puff of air from her nose. Still, she scolds the boy, “Don't play-drown!" She turns away, and marches home.

“Hah, I can hold my breath the longest in the- ey, ey, ey, wait up!” the boy shouts at her. “This youngster has a question- ack!”

Peppa hears the boy tripping, and falling to the ground with a loud THUD. She pauses her stride, and shakes her head. “And pull your pants up!”

“Huh? My pants are… oh dang!” Some quick rustling later, and the boy follows after Peppa once more, now properly wearing a pair of yellow pants. “Uh, this youngster was wanting to ask you if you’ve seen this monster?” He holds up a drawing for Peppa to see.

Peppa sees that the paper is soggy, the sketch lines non-existent, and whatever color there was is now faded away. “Can’t say I have?”

The boy’s eyes narrow, then he looks at the drawing himself, and grimaces. Crumpling it into a ball, he asks her, “Well, the monster is big, red, and evil.”

“Uh huh?”

“Yuh huh! With two red, pointy…” he raises two fingers to his forehead, “Horns!”

Peppa quirks an eyebrow. “...does the monster have a tail?”

The boys nods, giving her a glance-over. “Yeah, not like yours though. This youngster would say it’s more of a warthog’s.”

“I see… does the monster have butterfly wings and tusks?”

“No?”

It’s Basilea.

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>Common Knowledge! BASILEA
>Peppa's rival, a demon princess who time traveled from the future to beat up Peppa when she was much younger. Kinda lame! But she stuck around, and over the years, she has grown taller and stronger... and still managed to lose every fight she's been in! Had some moderate success in the Tag Tourney from Fu carrying her. Went to jail for trying to blow up all dragon balls, and once freed she mostly goes on random adventures due to having a lack of direction and goals, and does not have much of a home in the future to return back to. The Future Version of Peppa killed her dog or something, it was left vague but Basilea still wears an animal skin she's fond of.

“And why are you looking for the monster?”

“That monster killed my family.”

https://youtu.be/kJ3pajkeWtA

Peppa stubs her toe on a root, but stands in place. “She did?”

“Yes. A real dick about it too."

"..." She turns to the boy, her eyes shadowed by her bangs, “I’m sorry.”

The boy shakes his head. “Don’t be, the only one who has to be sorry is the monster.”

“Well, I wish you luck with finding her.” With that, Peppa turns away once more.

She hears that the boy has stopped following after her. Good. She had really wanted some alone time this evening, hence the walk.

But to her confusion, she hears a metallic clack, then the sound of a chain. A metal hand comes down and grips her shoulder in a vice.

“Oh, you’ll wish me more than luck finding her.”

https://youtu.be/dq_Gf76mD4k

Peppa looks at the robot hand connected by a chain to the boy’s mega buster arm. She clicks her tongue. “Rude.”

The boy wags a finger at her. “Now, when this great mercenary was describing the monster, not once did he describe a woman. No one would think this great mercenary was describing a woman, but you did.”

Peppa’s face twists at this. “...you’re a what-now?”

The boy grins. “If this great mercenary told you, he’d have to kill you!” He braces himself, and his chains start pulling.

Peppa plants the power pole in the ground, and stands tall. “You just did!”

The boy tugs with his arm. “Huh, I did?”

Peppa tugs back. “Yes!”

“Guess that means you’re dead,” the boy reasons out... then grins. He shrugs, the chain going slack. “But this granter of mercy will spare you in exchange for you telling me where I can find the monster.”

Peppa tugs at the metal hand, but it only tightens its grip in response. She tries to fry it with ki, makes it uncomfortably warm. Telekinesis doesn't work, the electromagnetism can subvert it. The claw's going nowhere for now, and she's still iffy on teleporting.

Now, how will Son Peppa get out of this trap? FIND OUT NEXT TIME, ON CHOCOLAT NOIR.
>A. Point him in Basilea's direction, it's the consequences of her own actions after all.
>B. Basilea's life is bad enough, stand your ground even if it means a fight.
>C. Write-in
>D. Update Notes

>>6027181
>A. Point him in Basilea's direction, it's the consequences of her own actions after all.

>>6027181
>A. Point him in Basilea's direction, it's the consequences of her own actions after all.
who's that guy based on ?

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>>6027716
Might be spoilers, so it's in spoilers. I based him off of Mercenary Tao, Mother 3 hero and rival, and Momotaro.

He also does this!

>>6027810
I see, so he's og to this quest instead of the original TQ

>>6027851
Yup! I will say he's og to the manga and anime as well, shows up in one panel.