[color=yellow][b][u]Solving the Mystery of the Tiny Mice[/u][/b][/color] --------------- [b]Leo the Patriotic Lion:[/b] [i](narrating)[/i] Leo the Patriotic Lion here again. Do you remember when my Swedish counterpart, Lennart the Viking Lion, found all those tiny mice in his castle? It was a shock to all of us because absolutely nobody but Lennart himself should be allowed inside the castle. [b]Lennart the Viking Lion:[/b] [i](narrating in English)[/i] All we do know is that CNG had gotten to this batch of mice, and they can summon portals like many of us. That's how they got in the castle, since they were hiding from the man who had kidnapped them. But then a different CNG aftereffect got to them, and they temporarily forgot they could summon portals. As a result, they didn't keep watch until the man was gone, and then escape. Instead, they made themselves useful by keeping my castle spic and span, and believe me, I am very grateful for it. This went on until the day I arrived and saw them doing this. I was able to keep calm, though, and ask them what was going on. Then Super C and the others helped them get out of there safely. It does illustrate that even as advanced as technology has gotten, humans are still smarter, and will still find a way to break or get around it if they can. If everything had worked like it was supposed to, alarms would have gone off, and the man would have been electrocuted on the spot. Somehow, thy didn't happen. As we speak, however, that's being fixed. [b]Super C:[/b] [i](narrating)[/i] And as promised, we'll tell you the verdicts of the trials involving both the mice and the man who kidnapped them. But to tell this story properly, we need to go back a bit further. We are seeing more and more of Leo's parallels now becoming heads of state, so that's where we pick up. [b]Leo:[/b] [i](narrating)[/i] That doesn't mean they all will, however. Parallels known for their deadly martial arts, such as Leng the Bokator Lion, Lek the Golden Lion, Loy the Mountain Lion, Lian the Lithwei Lion, and Lemboe the Island Lion, don't need to be in office. Their martial arts (and their percussion abilities) will keep everyone in line. Of the ones who did go into politics, some were doing it voluntarily, while others got voted in against their wills the same way I did. Ludo the Merchant Lion, for example, wasn't planning on being the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, but he won the election in the emergency situation. Now he's won it again, but this time, officially. (Note that my Finnish counterpart, Leku the Silent Lion, is the first of my parallels to be on an election ballot, but lose the election; however, he was also getting votes without even trying. "Maybe that will break the spell," he thought to himself.) My Ukranian counterpart, Lyaksandro the Cossack Lion, however, did a proper campaign, and won the election the natural way. Zelensky wasn't bothered by it, though; even he was applauding Lyaksandro for winning. Next year will be the next time Australia has an election, and Len the Outback Lion is running for Prime Minister. Cross your fingers for that one, everybody. Anyway, go ahead and scroll on down. ----------- ------------ ------------ *Later, back in Europe, Ludo gets reelected as Prime Minister of The Netherlands. Leonid gets elected for another term as President of Russia as Ukraine finally elected Lyaksandro as President of Ukraine.* ----------------- *Kyiv, Ukraine* *Everybody cheers wildly and claps for Lyaksandro.* [b]Zelensky:[/b] *In Ukrainian as he shakes hands with Lyaksandro.* You're going to do great as my successor! With Leonid as Russia's President, you and him can easily get along as we do the same with the Russian people. [b]Psycho Blade:[/b] *In Ukrainian* Then it shall be my turn to be Ukraine's ambassador to America! [b]Kostyantyn:[/b] *In Ukrainian* Congrats, Lyaksandro the Cossack Lion! The Cossack Lion is now our President! [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *In Ukrainian* You served us well, Zelensky! Now go live your life! [b]Civilian 2:[/b] *In Ukrainian* Future shall be bright for Ukraine! ----------------- *Moscow, Russia* *Everybody cheers wildly for Leonid.* [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *In Russia* A new era of peace and prosperity! [b]Civilian 2:[/b] *In Russia* Now that Lyaksandro is Ukraine's president, we shall get along like brothers and sisters! [b]Civilian 3:[/b] *In Russia* The alliance of Leonid and Lyaksandro will benefit the world under Leo's watch! ---------------- *The Hague, The Netherlands* [b]Wilders:[/b] *In Dutch to Ludo* I tried to form a government, but it was difficult. However, the future is back in your hands. I even voted for you to take my place. [b]Blitz Fox:[/b] *In Dutch* But you did extremely good. [b]Wilders:[/b] *In Dutch* I did everything I can only to face my limits. [b]Blitz Fox:[/b] *In Dutch* That's all that matters is that you did your best. ---------------- *Paris, France* [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *In French* I don't want to think about the Olympics. [b]Civilian 2:[/b] *In French* First, the Americans are obsessing a certain basketball player of ours. Now we got British fans obsessing on a certain Rugby player because his surname sounds like an incredibly immature form of profanity in the English language that brings out the immature children out of them! [b]Civilian 3:[/b] *In French* Ugh! Global civilization has achieved world peace so that English-speakers can obsess on athletes with immature-sounding names?! [b]Battle Bear:[/b] *In French* There's really nothing you can do to prevent immature fans from coming here because, in the end, it's up to them to behave properly. They know the consequences, and please do not worry about English-speaking sports commentators from overseas; they have their own procedures in handling cases involving unintentionally questionable names. With WBC from Wildcat City for example, their approach to these kinds of situations is to not report on them or even mention them. [b]Civilian 4:[/b] *In French* The British love rugby, and rugby is an Olympic sport! Do you realize what happens when British visitors finds out that we have a rugby player named Faraj, and whatever his surname is? Wait until a BBC reporter gets wind of this! [b]Battle Bear:[/b] *In French* Please calm down. Lionus is their Prime Minister and he will order BBC to not report on Faraj, as they would do the same to not report about Steeve. [b]Civilian 4:[/b] *In French* Good. So, if we say Faraj's surname, you wouldn't be bothered, would you? [b]Battle Bear:[/b] *In French* No. You know very well that to us French, it's just a name. If I say it, I don't get a demerit because it is in the context of being just a name, especially when speaking in French. But I do feel your concerns about this. [b]Civilian 4:[/b] *In French* Oh, good, because I understand why everybody loves Paris, but we don't tolerate immature visitors well. It bothers our peace. [b]Battle Bear:[/b] *In French* I can tell you that if a BBC reporter talks about our athletes over their names, they will be sacked, especially with Lionus being their Prime Minister. [b]Civilian 5:[/b] *In French* America provides a lot of cool things for the world, and there's no questions about that. Their people, on the other hand? That's a giant mixed bag. But at least the Americans support us generously. --------- [b]Lionus the Chivalric Lion:[/b] [i](narrating)[/i] The other networks of the UK (Sky, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, etc.) also promised to give their employees the sack if they do reports about people such as Faraj or Steeve, because of the innuendo people pluck from their names. We're holding them to a higher standard than we had been, and it is about time! The difference is that my horse is not going to go berserk over that. [b]Tristan the Pegasus:[/b] [i](narrating)[/i] Anything rash I do results in disciplinary actions for both me and my master (Lionus). But since CNG gave me the ability to talk, I lost my desires to ransack people's properties. I therefore was able to apologise to and make amends with Boris Johnson when I destroyed his property because he wouldn't stop swearing (there were other factors, but that was one of them), and he forgave me. When he resigned, Lionus took his place. ------------- *Washington, D.C.* *Leo and his administration get word about the elections.* [b]Leo:[/b] Wilders is out and Ludo is back in? Wow; that didn't last long. [b]Tom the Patriotic Tiger:[/b] And Lyaksandro finally got chosen to run Ukraine. [b]Leo:[/b] Indeed. I should pay more attention. It seems like only yesterday that Geert Wilders was put in office after Ludo's emergency term. Now he's done, and Ludo has it again. ---------- *Netherlands* [b]Ludo:[/b] *in Dutch* I guess we can say this is officially my turn now, since last time, that was an emergency, so to speak. ------------------- *Russia* *Leonid takes a bow.* [b]Leonid the Cold Lion:[/b] *in Russian* Keep your applause going for Lyaksandro! ------------------- *Ukraine* [b]Lyaksandro the Cossack Lion:[/b] *in Ukrainian to Zelensky* Thank you for all you've done for Ukraine. I hope to continue this era of peace and prosperity we are experiencing right now. --------------- *Washington D.C.* [b]Zax:[/b] Wilders had a good run. But with Ludo, we will be closer with The Netherlands than before. [b]Marshall:[/b] No more pain and suffering in Europe now that Lyaksandro is finally elected to lead Ukraine as Leonid is elected to lead Russia. [b]Jack:[/b] And this is how we all get along! [b]Zax:[/b] *Looks at Leo's computer.* How many volcanoes have been going off in Iceland these days? Now they have to close the famous Blue Lagoon! [b]Jack:[/b] You think that's bad? Ask Lemboe the Island Lion! Volcanoes are a normal part of daily life in Indonesia. Indonesians adapt and learn to live with it with no problems. -------------------- *Russia* *Everybody applauses even louder for Lyaksandro.* [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *In Russian* We love you Lyaksandro! [b]Civilian 2:[/b] *In Russian* You have our support! -------------- *The Netherlands* [b]Blitz Fox:[/b] *In Dutch* You are our voice of reason, after all. -------------- *Kyiv, Ukraine* [b]Psycho Blade:[/b] *In Ukrainian* Hopefully life remains stable this way from now on. [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *In Ukrainian* That's already done. [b]Civilian 2:[/b] *In Ukrainian* Another reason for me to have another child so they can live the life they deserved here because when I grew up, it was pure instability everywhere! Now we have everything and this is the best time to have children for our country! [b]Civilian 3:[/b] *In Ukrainian* We're a pretty big country by European standards so we got lots of room to grow! ------------- *Grindavik, Iceland* *The skies are black due to plumes of smoke erupting from a volcano, where an earthquake occurred earlier. Nothing is damaged and tourists have been evacuated way ahead of time.* [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *In Icelandic as he records the volcano with his camera on a tripod.* Here we go again! [b]Civilian 2:[/b] *In Icelandic* That's a very professional looking camera. [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *In Icelandic* It's a Hasselblad. Most professional photographers here use those. The news prefers images taken from premium camera brands like Hasselblad. [b]Snowstorm:[/b] *In Icelandic to the C.I.D.F. soldiers.* I would not recommend sealing the volcano up since as history has proven, all attempts to seal volcanoes eventually erupt in larger and more violent explosions. The lava is going to flow anyways as nature intended. And as you know, this is Iceland, and we've been living with this so no need to do anything since we're already prepared for this so just let it take its course as nature intended. [b]Guitar Guardian:[/b] *In Icelandic* Another day, another earthquake, another volcano. The actual reality of living in Iceland that tourists don't get to see these days. [b]Civilian 3:[/b] *In Icelandic as he uses a stick to cook his smores near lava as others gather near him to do the same.* I wonder if it is possible to cook meat near this? [b]Civilian 4:[/b] *In Icelandic* Possibly, but you might end up burning it. [b]Civilian 5:[/b] *In Icelandic* Better to stick with actual campfire food, like smores. [b]Guitar Guardian:[/b] *In Icelandic to Leonhard the Mighty Lion.* Another volcanic eruption as usual. Waking up to this is quite mesmerizing these days. [b]Civilian 5:[/b] *In Icelandic* It's also the side of Iceland that outsiders don't know much about since this is the actual reality of what living here is like. ---------------- *Edinburgh, Scotland, UK* [b]Civilian 1:[/b] More ashes from Iceland as usual. Nothing new here. [b]Civilian 2:[/b] Icelandic volcanic ashes spread across northern Europe and we get exposed to that, as usual. [b]Civilian 3:[/b] As Lethias know, that's just life here these days. [b]Civilian 4:[/b] I personally think it's annoying that I have to deal with this as part of living in Scotland. But as you said, this isn't a surprise. This is not the first time this has happened to us. --------- *Washington, D.C.* [b]Leo:[/b] I feel bad for them, but I do remember Richard (Jones) speaking to the press about that very subject. They're going off more than ever, but there's no point in trying to seal it off. Even when Super Slash protects the people with his power ring from a volcanic eruption, he doesn't seal it off forever; it's just temporary. ------------------- *Netherlands* [b]Ludo:[/b] I do my best. ----------------- *Ukraine* *A marching band plays the national anthem.* ----------------- *Iceland* [b]Leonhard the Mighty Lion:[/b] *in Icelandic* I do admit, it gets under my skin when I'm trying to do my jobs, be it my engineering job, the job I have now as ambassador to the U.S., or when playing my percussion instruments or guitar. This is always interrupting me. With the music, any practice time you lose is time you never gain back. ------------------------- *Edinburgh, Scotland, UK* [b]Lethias the Scottish Lion:[/b] Oh, dear, me; the volcano is at it again! ------------ *Iceland* [b]Guitar Guardian:[/b] *In Icelandic* Nobody can argue with you on that one. ----------------- *Washington D.C.* [b]Zax:[/b] Hawaii has some active volcanoes as well. [b]Mechayote:[/b] Good thing advanced technologies and AI allows people to prepare for seismic activity way ahead of time these days. [b]Zax:[/b] Meanwhile in Indonesia with that one. [b]Marshall:[/b] Gorgeous country, but you hear about volcanoes there every day. ---------- [b]Leo:[/b] [i](narrating)[/i] Indeed. [b]Racer Rat:[/b] [i](narrating)[/i] People would smuggle CNG to make those volcanoes do their evil bidding, only to have the CNG kill them, but then rub it in with the eruptions. It gave me such a headache. Not necessarily at the level Rita Repulsa would suffer, but a headache nonetheless. (The [i]Power Rangers[/i] franchise has been on the minds of the G-52s a lot lately because last year marked the 30th anniversary for that franchise, and next year marks the 50th anniversary of the Japanese franchise from which it was adapted: Super Sentai.) -------------- *Germany* *German police managed to shoot down an AIRAF spying drone that was headed towards a museum because it contained Celtic gold coins as artifacts.* [b]Police 1:[/b] *In German* It is clear that the AIRAF wants our Celtic artifacts that bad. [b]Police 2:[/b] *In German* They know that they can't invade Germany easily. [b]Police 3:[/b] *In German* Luitpold knows very well that the AIRAF wants to take our Celtic artifacts. [b]Warlord Wolf:[/b] *In German* Why of course they are desperate for them. They claim that all Celtic artifacts throughout Europe should be returned to Ireland immediately. [b]Majornator:[/b] *In German* They have a similar argument against the British government claiming that they have stolen Irish artifacts from them. The British Museum is one of the UK's most famous and visited landmarks in the country. It is also one of the most controversial landmarks in the country as well. I understand what critics are saying, but the British government has their own reasons of why they have their artifacts along with documentations to justify keeping them in their museum. [b]Warlord Wolf:[/b] *In German* It's not an easy topic to understand, but attacks on that museum would worsen things. Right now, we have to worry about the possibility of an AIRAF invasion of Germany over our Celtic artifacts. Last year, we arrested a small group of AIRAF terrorists for attempting a robbery at one of our museums for Celtic gold coins. But this won't be the first and last. [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *In German* Germany is prepared for enemy invasions very well. The AIRAF knows how tough we are against them, should they invade us. [b]Civilian 2:[/b] *In German* If the AIRAF invades Germany, Luitpold is going to enact emergency conscription and our government may reinstate peacetime conscription to deter the AIRAF. We have very good weapons and excellent military resources to deflect them easily. Personally, I don't want conscription because most of us would focus more on getting steady jobs and raising families of our own. [b]Civilian 3:[/b] *In German* You forget that if Luitpold reinstates peacetime conscription, the rest of Europe is going to follow suit. Military forces these days are effective with professional volunteers only since we have more than enough men willing to defend their homeland and find their career paths within their military forces. [b]Civilian 4:[/b] *In German* And then there's America, where for some weird reason, their military is so strong, they will never reinstate conscription because their volunteers are way more than enough for their defenses. Their military is still the largest in the world yet every American soldier today is a volunteer. ------------- [b]Leo:[/b] [i](narrating)[/i] This is truth, but at this point, there are more furry soldiers than human soldiers, and a good chunk of them are Forsythians or descendants or Forsythians. ---------------- *Stockholm, Sweden* [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish to the media.* I don't think the AIRAF understands the fact that Sweden has contributed greatly to other countries in helping them defend themselves from invaders. The world looks up to us for our anti-tank and anti-air weaponry to help them keep invading armored vehicles out. We collaborate with our closest allies in perfecting military hardware for defensive purposes. If the AIRAF wants to bother Germany, they should know that some of our hardware has been developed in collaboration with the German military for Germany in a similar way we have done with the UK. Germany is known for their contribution to engineering, and the AIRAF knows this very well. Nobody is afraid of the AIRAF these days and we know that they are willing to fight over Celtic artifacts than to respect the history of how they ended up in other countries in Europe. Some of the Celtic artifacts they claim happen to be in American museums too, and they know they have no chance in invading America over them. [b]Reporter 1:[/b] *In Swedish* So none of this bothers you? [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* Not at all! I'm going to continue doing what I've been doing, which is living my own life and sleeping peacefully. [b]Reporter 2:[/b] *In Swedish* As for Lennart? [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* He's going to do the same because we have nothing to worry about. We've seen it all from the AIRAF so nothing bothers us at all. They already know about Lennart very well enough to know that they would prefer to leave our country alone these days. [b]Reporter 3:[/b] *In Swedish* So your advice to our people? [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* Just live your lives and continue what you're doing! Don't let the AIRAF win by letting fear run your lives! They just want you to be scared in hopes that we surrender our Celtic artifacts and our history to them. ------------- *Galway, Ireland* [b]Gen. Madden:[/b] Grrr! They won't budge! We need our Celtic artifacts so we can tell everything about Irish history! They also belong to us! [b]SCM MacGorman:[/b] We get it, General. But sometimes, we have to focus on bigger things, like the GSAF. [b]Gen. Madden:[/b] But they're after the Celtic artifacts too! [b]SCM MacGorman:[/b] The best we can do is plan ahead. Hopefully the G-52s and their allies are so focused on dealing with the GSAF, they should be distracted enough for us to take our opportunities in reclaiming the Celtic goods then. [b]Gen. Madden:[/b] Germany has a significant chunk of Celtic artifacts in their museums! [b]SCM MacGorman:[/b] Germany also has an incredible military with lots of resources that are well-managed under Luitpold and his administration. Remember, if Luitpold reinstates peacetime conscription, the rest of Europe is going to follow suit, and that's going to get us screwed. Nobody likes conscription these days, so we have to make due with what we have to peacefully convince O'Neill, Northern Ireland's First Minister, to allow us to reunite with us as one whole island nation for Ireland, with Athlone being the new national capital of our nation. [b]Gen. Madden:[/b] Of course; that is the main goal first. After that, we must convince the rest of Europe to return the Celtic artifacts to us so we can manage and curate them to complete our heritage and history. --------- *Washington, D.C., USA* [b]Leo:[/b] You do. Racer Rat said he had a daily headache or so for quite some time because of those volcanoes; when the CNG crisis was still going, they were going off more than ever. ---------------- *Germany* *Luitpold happens to pass by and hears some of the remarks.* [b]Luitpold:[/b] *in German* You can also thank the Forsythians for that. A good chunk of our military forces around the world, but the United States especially, are Forsythian. Not just the musicians, but the actual combatants. ----------------- *Ireland* *President Michael D. Higgins receives a stack of letters from school children telling him not to negotiate with the AIRAF, because, as they write it, "You're only allowing them what they want! We cannot be ruled by terrorists!" Elsewhere, anti-AIRAF protests erupt, but the protestors are also angry at the prison and justice systems "for being too stupid to make an effort to keep them locked up in prison, because the AIRAF deserve to be there forever!" Higgins, however, is in the hospital recovering after feeling unwell.* [b]Civilian 1:[/b] How do you feel about this, Liam? [b]Liam:[/b] I don't know what to think. Last I spoke to the people of Northern Ireland, they said they wanted to stay with the United Kingdom. ------------------ *Northern Ireland* *The BBC's news reporters visit a shopping mall where they ask the civilians present about the subject.* [b]BBC Reporter 1:[/b] What do you all think? Is Northern Ireland ready to reunite, or should we stay with the UK? [b]BBC Reporter 2:[/b] And do you suppose the AIRAF will orchestrate a coup if the reunion does happen? [b]Civilian 1:[/b] I don't know for sure. The Republic of Ireland first needs to heal itself; it had split into Western Ireland and Eastern Ireland. If a reunion between all Irelands is to take place, they need to put that back together again first, and then add us to the puzzle. ------------ *Washington, D.C., USA* [b]Zax:[/b] Sounds like Indonesia has a lot of earthquakes too yet they do an incredible job surviving every single one of them like Japan does. [b]Juno:[/b] Japan wants to help the world prepare and endure earthquakes. The world asks Japan how their cities survive them and from there, the Japanese helps out. [b]Marshall:[/b] California gets earthquakes too, quite a bit. I wouldn't be surprised if Hawaii gets those as well. [b]Zax:[/b] Oh they do; they're just used to it and their infrastructure can withstand them. -------------- *Northern Ireland* [b]Civilian 2:[/b] The AIRAF wants to designate Catholicism as the state religion of Ireland as a whole but recognize Protestants as an acceptable religious minority. I don't think the AIRAF is secular and that they're going to dictate religious policy here. [b]Civilian 3:[/b] They clearly want authoritarian rule. That right there, regardless of how they want to go around about this, concerns me. ---------------- *Ireland* *Some of the protestors are at the American Embassy demanding that Leo should grant Irish citizens refugee status.* [b]Protestor 1:[/b] If the AIRAF takes over this country or engages in terrorism, our lives will be in danger. [b]Protestor 2:[/b] America and Ireland have deep ties for more than two centuries, so there is absolutely no reason why we can't be granted refugee status. Leo granted Ugandans refugee status when Museveni had the Anti-Homosexual Act, so we should be granted the same privilege. ------------- ------------ [b]Leo:[/b] [i](narrating)[/i] I felt it was my duty not just as President, but as a G-52, to grant the refugee status. ----------- -------------- *Later, it is business as usual again, except this time, Texas has just survived a barrage of hailstorms, and at Galveston, the Texas National Guard has closed off the beaches due to blue sea dragons ([i]glaucus atlanticus[/i]) washing up on shore.* --------------- *Needville, TX, USA* *Residents awaken to see their streets piled high with large hailstones and workers repairing the town.* [b]Civilian 1:[/b] Holy smokes! Look at the size of these hailstones! Golfballs to snowballs! *He picks up a hailstone as he uses his phone to take a picture of it.* Look at this thing! It's bigger than a baby's head! If you were outside yesterday, you'd be knocked out! [b]Civilian 2:[/b] So that's where all that "Bap bap!" noises are coming from! No wonder I couldn't sleep well last night! [b]Civilian 3:[/b] This is why today, you must have a garage before you own a car! This right here is a window buster! [b]Civilian 4:[/b] Oh, no! My store's sign is damaged from the hailstones! [b]Civilian 5:[/b] Oh, look! Some broken tree branches due to the hailstorm! People forget how powerful hailstorms can get! --------------- *Galveston, TX, USA* *Texas National Guard soldiers have closed off the beach as they put up large signs with images of the blue sea dragons to educate and warn the public about them. There's scientists in protective gear collecting the blue sea dragons for research purposes.* [b]Soldier 1:[/b] You look new. First time seeing this in person? [b]Scientist 1:[/b] Yes. Such beautiful creatures, but you can't touch them with your bare hands. [b]Soldier 2:[/b] I hear that they sting worse than jellyfishes and Portuguese man-o-wars. [b]Soldier 3:[/b] But how can something so small be deadlier than jellyfishes? [b]Scientist 2:[/b] First off, Portuguese man-o-wars are colonial organisms, because they consist of different polyps from the sea. That's what makes them different from jellyfish. As for these blue sea dragons, they feed off of these man-o-wars and similar venomous animals in the sea, so the venom they consume gets concentrated into their nematocysts, or stingers. [b]Scientist 3:[/b] In our jobs, animals are often named by binomial nomenclature, which is taught in junior high and high school. So, for the Portuguese man-o-wars, [i]physalia physalis[/i] is used. Anthropomorphic animals also have binomial nomenclatures used in their IDs under species. For example, Leo's binomial nomenclature is [i]panthera leo[/i]. For humans, it is [i]homo sapiens[/i]. For these blue dragons, they're [i]glaucus atlanticus[/i]. [b]Soldier 4:[/b] It's why they got ambulances on standby here. This is also why the C.I.D.F. soldiers are here to assist us in blocking off the beach because of those tiny creatures. Gorgeous, but so deadly! [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *Reads the signs.* Oh so that's why our soldiers are blocking off the beach with the C.I.D.F.'s help here. But then again, why would God create such beautiful yet deadly creatures? [b]Civilian 2:[/b] Especially these tiny blue sea dragons? Why create such tiny animals that can send you to the ER if you touch them? We eliminated mosquitoes which didn't hurt the environment, so now we have this. Something tells me the devil has his backup plans. [b]Civilian 3:[/b] The devil knows to deceive, so maybe it was him that created these blue dragons because he knows that we find beauty in them yet if we touch them, we get stung and sent to the ER. [b]Civilian 4:[/b] Leo may know. And it's a good thing Armenia has Levon as their ambassador to us. ----------------- *Washington D.C.* *Congress submits a bill to Leo to get him to sign to approve Irish citizens as refugees.* [b]Dawn:[/b] America's history with Ireland is over two centuries old. I know you'd sign this bill to make sure we do not forget them when things go south in Ireland. [b]Marshall:[/b] This bill will reinforce refugee status with Irish citizens because of the AIRAF. We understand and with the possibility of an Irish reunification on the move, we want to give Irish citizens second options to escape from them. Canada and Australia have signed bills granting them refugee status already. [b]Juno:[/b] Meanwhile, I'm going to go to Levon to ask him why God created the [i]glaucus atlanticus[/i]. They say that each animal has their purpose in the world, but even that, we still question them. [b]Zax:[/b] Oh, Juno; Levon is here already just to say hi. *Levon the Christian Lion is present.* [b]Juno:[/b] Oh? *He provides Levon photos of the blue sea dragons ([i]glaucus atlanticus[/i]).* As you can see, they're popularly known as sea dragons. Internet articles about them are common around the world. I am a veterinarian, so I normally do not deal with this kind of animal. So, I have to ask; why would God create such beautiful and small animals that are way deadlier than Portuguese man-o-wars to the point that the Texas National Guard has to close off the beaches in Galveston when they washed ashore and the public deems them to be a threat to people if they touch them? [b]Zax:[/b] A blue dragon sting means instant trip to the ER. The Bible says that God gave man dominion over the animals, yet many birds today are difficult to control. We used to farm pigeons, but they were expensive and people favored chicken over pigeons. As a result, pigeons roam freely and live among people outside in cities and towns. [b]Marshall:[/b] I didn't know people used to farm pigeons. [b]Dawn:[/b] Doves symbolize peace, and are basically the same as pigeons in the literal sense. Perhaps, the question you're looking for is this: what does God think about man letting pigeons back into the wild where in return, they co-exist with people in cities and towns? *Leo signs the bill.* [b]Leo:[/b] I would have done this anyways. The AIRAF wants a reunited Ireland for the wrong reasons. *Levon looks at the pictures of the blue sea dragons.* [b]Levon:[/b] While God gave man dominion over the earth, He also wanted humanity to peacefully exist with it. I'm not really sure how to answer that question. But you did bring Matthew 6:26 to mind. Here's what that says: ----------- [quote][color=white][i]Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?[/i][/color][/quote] ------------------------ *Galveston, TX, USA* [b]Civilian 5:[/b] No, I don't think Satan created anything. It was all God's doing until sin entered the world. *He takes photos with his smartphone, then uses the G-52 app to send them to Wrangler Wolf and to Sandstormer.* ----------------- *Ireland* *The news reports on Leo signing the bill. Almost in a heartbeat, a good chunk of the humans start planning to leave the nation just in case. The protests continue, however, because some folks want the AIRAF in prison forever, and that the prisons are "too incompetent to hold them."* [b]Liam:[/b] Are you sure you aren't unfairly stereotyping them? [b]Civilian 1:[/b] Yes, I'm positive! ------------ *Washington D.C.* [b]Juno:[/b] I see. So, I'm guessing God wants to remind people that despite having dominion over animals, they must respect them and be careful with them as well. [b]Zax:[/b] Sounds about right. After all, as they say, when it comes to wild animals, you can look, but you cannot touch them. [b]Zachary:[/b] There's a lot of cute furry animals out there, but they also have sharp teeth and claws. [b]Juno:[/b] And in America, we have opossums. They may be cute, but they don't like being touched and prefer to avoid others. ---------------- *Friendswood, TX, USA* [b]Wrangler Wolf:[/b] *To Sandstormer as he uses his communicator to pull up images and animated videos about the blue dragons.* There's so many of these blue dragons being washed up on Galveston's beaches. As you know, you can't touch them with your bare hands, because their stings are way more painful than them Portuguese man-o-wars. *He pulls up an animated video of a blue dragon's stinger.* Their venom is basically a biological weapon, so that's why our troops closed off the beaches even though these blue dragons are from nature itself. Because of this, there's goes everybody's spring break vacations at the beaches. ---------------- [b]Super C:[/b] [i](narrating)[/i] Nobody even bothered to travel anywhere for spring break this year. Nobody living in Wildcat City, anyways. Instead, we're the ones getting all the tourists, because "it's the one sane city that never lets anything go unpunished, and they will help reinforce that." You people must understand CNG was to blame for that. Don't bring your families to us because you're punishing your kids. If you're going to visit Wildcat City, do so for the good things about us. [b]Lennart:[/b] [i](narrating in English)[/i] CNG was the reason I am able to do what I do, and why I had the embarrassing meltdown when I destroyed the AIRAF's HQ building all by myself. The castle was only built when a disgruntled terrorist used CNG to speed up the 3D printer that built my castle; CNG killed him after it started doing it, of course. Again, it was rubbing it in by killing the people, even though it gave them what they wanted. The masked man who kidnapped the mice, because of this, is historically the second intruder ever to land on the island my castle is located on, which is all the way up in a place we call Bottenviken (or Bothnian Bay to you English speakers). If you're not sure where on the map this is, Bottenviken is the northernmost part of the Gulf of Bothnia, which is in turn the northern part of the Baltic Sea. The land holding the bay is still rising after the weight of ice-age glaciers has been removed, and within 2,000 years, accoding to the experts, the bay will be a large freshwater lake, since its link to the south Kvarken is mostly less than 20 metres (66 ft) deep. The bay today is fed by several large rivers, and is relatively unaffected by tides, so has low salinity. It freezes over each year for up to six months. Compared to other parts of the Baltic, it has little plant or animal life. Why else do you think it was chosen as the place for my castle? The castle has grown on me, though, so I use it more frequently as a hiding place, or as a place to calm my brain. It was easier for me to show compassion towards the mice I found in my castle, having gone through the anger management, therapy, and all the forms of acceptance training that I've gone through, but it did not surprise me to see the mice panic when they saw me. They thought I was going to turn them into cold cuts. In any event, we now turn to the main focus of this journal entry, which is those mice we found in my castle. ------------------- *Stockholm, Sweden* *The Supreme Court of Sweden hears about the tiny mice in Lennart's castle and decides not to sentence anyone. Instead, they suggest the Swedish government to do an investigation of how the tiny mice ended up in the castle.* [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish to intelligence agents from the Swedish Security Service.* But that makes no sense! His castle is on an island all the way up in Bottenviken and it's cold up there! These tiny mice would've been freezing themselves to death trying to cross the icy cold sea to reach his castle! [b]Intelligence Agent 1:[/b] *In Swedish* I understand, but they're saying they were brought here by a masked man. That's all we know. [b]Intelligence Agent 2:[/b] *In Swedish* We did check the video cameras, and it's hard to gather the detailed evidence of this. The best we can do is conduct an investigation with the C.I.D.F. and interviewing the mice. [b]Intelligence Agent 3:[/b] *In Swedish* You can help us as we go to the castle and interview the mice. [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* Well; that's just great. Sweden has generally no problems, and we've been living in perfect peace up until now. ----------------- *Finland* [b]Finisher:[/b] *In Finnish as she notices footprints in the forest.* Why would someone go through this alone? Look! [b]Black Metal Major:[/b] *In Finnish* People usually do not go here during this time. What would they be doing? [b]Finisher:[/b] *In Finnish* Good question. *Uses her communicator to speak to Leku the Silent Lion.* Hey, Leku! I'm seeing footprints in this forest here. I find it unusual that someone would walk through this alone way up north here. Not even the Sami people would do this. [b]Black Metal Major:[/b] *In Finnish as he uses his communicator to take pictures of the footprints before sending them to Leku.* I've never seen these before. I know we have good border security, but even with that, someone here must've got lost or something here. I have a feeling that someone is trying to hide something. ------------ *Tokyo, Japan* *A new and extremely busy sushi bar has been opened as human-sized chefs work alongside with tiny mice chefs, which brings a lot of smiles to the customers.* [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *In Japanese* Wow; this is amazing and fun! [b]Civilian 2:[/b] *In Japanese* Very busy! This almost reminds me of [i]Spirited Away[/i], but with chefs and tiny mice chefs. [b]Civilian 3:[/b] *In Japanese* Just what I needed to see after work! -------------- *Hanoi, Vietnam* *Chuong is inside a restaurant eating pho as tiny mice work with human-sized workers in the restaurant.* [b]Chuong:[/b] *In Vietnamese* I tend to forget that you exist. I always thought I only see you with Luong but had no idea that there were many of you. [b]Tiny Mouse 1:[/b] *In Vietnamese* There's way more of us than you think, and we've been hiding out in plain sight. [b]Tiny Mouse 2:[/b] *In Vietnamese* And we live modern lives too; just micro-sized. That's in addition to any human-sized mice you might see. [b]Tiny Mouse 3:[/b] *In Vietnamese* And we bring lots of joy to life. [b]Chuong:[/b] *In Vietnamese* I also hear that tiny mice citizens also exist in Iceland. [b]Tiny Mouse 4:[/b] *In Vietnamese* Of course! They had to board the Viking ships a long time ago to get there. How do you think people in Iceland know their existence, too? [b]Tiny Mouse 5:[/b] *In Vietnamese* Leonhard has plenty of those mice living in his home and taking care of it as well. [b]Chuong:[/b] *In Vietnamese* Wherever there's Leo and his parallels, these tiny mice exist with them, too. What about Greenland? [b]Tiny Mouse 4:[/b] *In Vietnamese* That, too! [b]Chuong:[/b] *In Vietnamese* You learn so much about these lions and their lives these days thanks to tiny mice like you. No doubt even Leku the Silent Lion has tiny mice living in his home. [b]Tiny Mouse 4:[/b] *In Vietnamese* Of course! When he's cleaning his home, they maintain and clean his weapons. When he's taking care of his weapons, they're cleaning his home. [b]Tiny Mouse 6:[/b] *In Vietnamese* Even Lex the Brilliant Lion has tiny mice in his home. Yes, there's tiny mice scientists working with him in AI, too! How else has Earth's civilization as a whole advanced so quickly these days? [b]Tiny Mouse 7:[/b] *In Vietnamese* You ever wonder why you see robotic servers everywhere these days? Mice like them are part of this. [b]Chuong:[/b] *In Vietnamese* How amazing. It all makes sense now. [b]Tiny Mouse 8:[/b] *In Vietnamese* You've seen a preserved painting of Luong playing a traditional musical instrument with mice doing the same in áo dài (traditional unisex Vietnamese costume). That right there is proof that we do indeed exist, and not just inside one's imagination. --------------- *Washington, D.C.* [b]Leo:[/b] Too many times when I see an opossum, it's been killed by somebody running it over on the roads. *Our communicators beep, and we learn about the Swedish tiny mice.* [b]Tom:[/b] Wait; what? [b]Leo:[/b] Looks like Lennart had some unexpected guests. --------------------- *Pearland, TX, USA* [b]Sandstormer:[/b] That explains why Ron DeSantis has been campaigning to the college kids, saying, "Don't come here." I think tourism overall is starting to go back up, but it is still at the trough it is in thanks to the supernatural forces picking up where CNG left off. The last time my neighbors took a vacation was 2007, and they only went as far as Dallas. (They went to a Mavericks game.) ----------------------- *Sweden* *After the ruling, Lennart speaks to the mice.* [b]Lennart:[/b] How do you feel right now? [b]Tiny Mouse 1:[/b] So much better. [b]Tiny Mouse 2:[/b] We're just so glad we are safe. [b]Tiny Mouse 3:[/b] Now we just have to find whoever it was that brought us here. [b]Tiny Mouse 4:[/b] But we've lived in Sweden all our lives. *Meanwhile, on Lennart's island, the C.I.D.F. and Swedish troops fix all the alarms and such so that this cannot happen again. They reinforce it with one of T2's inventions. Lennart and the mice go back to the castle to help with the investigation after a C.I.D.F. soldier sends him a text via the G-52 app, and the authorites rule that the mice are allowed to go back for this reason.* ----------------- *Finland* [b]Leku:[/b] *in Finnish* I wonder if that's the masked man we're looking for? Lennart told me somebody took a ton of tiny mice captive and dumped them on the island that contains his castle. Somehow he did it without setting the alarms off. Even when security is at its best, you can still slip through it. ---------- *Washington D.C.* [b]Zax:[/b] Let's listen to this. ----------------- *Finland* [b]Finisher:[/b] *In Finnish* A masked man? [b]Black Metal Major:[/b] *In Finnish* I have an idea. *In Finnish to the C.I.D.F. soldiers.* Scan these tracks and trace them on the map to see where it's coming from. This might be the masked man in question. ----------------- *Sweden* *Elias arrives to the castle.* [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* This is going to be a very long day today. Lennart, may I come in please? ---------- *Washington, D.C.* *We listen.* ---------------------- *Finland* [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 1:[/b] *in Finnish* Yes, sir! *The troops begin to scan. Eventually, the machines begin to beep.* [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 2:[/b] *in Finnish* There's some freaky-looking shack by the Kemijoki River. [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 3:[/b] *in Finnish* That must be his hideout! -------------------- *Sweden* *Lennart opens the door and lets Elias in.* [b]Lennart:[/b] *in Swedish* Hi. How can I help you today? ---------- *Finland* [b]Finisher:[/b] *In Finnish* Freaky; yet it looks surprisingly well-built for a cabin house. [b]Black Metal Major:[/b] *In Finnish* Perfect for hiding and smuggling contraband and other suspicious goods. [b]Finisher:[/b] *In Finnish* We need to check it out. *On her communicator.* Mikko! You're going to want to join us on this! We'll give you the coordinates of the shack! [b]Mikko:[/b] (Male light blue Finnish fox UN1024.) *In Finnish* I'll be there! --------------- *Sweden* [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* Yes. Do you have any idea of how these mice ended up here? Our government is conducting an investigation into this to see how this happened since nobody but you can be here. Strange that I'm here but our government wants me to help out here. *Danger Major assists the intelligence agents, soldiers, and C.I.D.F. in investigating this.* [b]Soldier 1:[/b] *In Swedish* Yes; the footprints did come from the border with Finland. [b]Soldier 2:[/b] *In Swedish* We had no idea how the mice got here. [b]Soldier 3:[/b] *In Swedish* The suspect did come here through a border checkpoint and presented ID. Nothing suspicious of him or the mice came up until now. System shows that they are coming here as tourists per the online documentation the suspect has done. [b]Soldier 4:[/b] *In Swedish* We didn't know there was persons trafficking involved with those mice. [b]Danger Major:[/b] *In Swedish* Sounds like we are dealing with a very crafty smuggler. [b]Intelligence Agent 1:[/b] *In Swedish* Remember Putin's state-sponsored doping programs? They carried out a complicated covert operation in importing ingredients from around the world to synthesize them to make their drugs for volunteers for their experiments to try to cheat in the Olympics. [b]Intelligence Agent 2:[/b] *In Swedish* People do get extremely creative in smuggling anything, even with all this technology we have today. Criminals will always cheat the system and are getting way more creative in that. [b]Intelligence Agent 3:[/b] *In Swedish* Criminals will exploit anything to get what they want. They will do whatever it takes to outsmart us. [b]Intelligence Agent 4:[/b] *In Swedish* Sometimes, it even takes a team effort of criminals to achieve their goals. As they say, teamwork makes the dream work. [b]Danger Major:[/b] *In Swedish* Time to put them back in their place and remind them that crime never pays! ---------------- *Finland* [b]Leku:[/b] *in Finnish to Mikko on communicator* Please do; this is a dangerous criminal. -------------- *Sweden* [b]Lennart:[/b] *in Swedish* Well, first of all, thank you all for coming, and thank you for freeing those mice. All I know is that they said somebody dumped them here in the hopes of getting them into trouble. I don't think they did anything to him. According to them, he just saw them as...well...mice. *He shrugs.* Since he didn't have a cat, and couldn't pay for an exterminator, this is how he got rid of them. And so they made themselves useful by keeping the place clean and shiny. They have an excellent work ethic. [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 1:[/b] *in Swedish* When did you last come to the castle? [b]Lennart:[/b] *in Swedish* Last Friday. That was when I noticed the mice. But they had been here since Monday. --------------- *Finland* *Mikko joins the G-52s and allies to investigate the shack.* [b]Mikko:[/b] *In Finnish* It's a fitting location for a hideout. [b]Finisher:[/b] *In Finnish* The windows are heavily tinted. He is well prepared for our arrival. Check for traps behind the doors and windows. We won't enter through the chimney, since that's too risky. --------------- *Sweden* [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* At least a week... So, they've been here for a while. [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 2:[/b] *In Swedish as he shows Elias his communicator.* Here are images of footprints and the GPS information with them. We were able to piece the images together and the footprints are tracked back to Finland. [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* What is that masked man doing here from Finland? Show this to Lennart. [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 2:[/b] *In Swedish to Lennart as he shows him his communicator.* We saw these footprints and we managed to piece them together on the map and it shows that the masked man came here from Finland. Note the ski tracks, too, since he used skiing equipment to make his way here as well. [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 3:[/b] *In Swedish* He's a very crafty and cunning type. [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* Whoever this guy is, he sounds like he's well-prepared for anything. *On his smartphone to Leku in English.* Leku, the C.I.D.F. are saying that they found footprints in Sweden that is traced back to Finland. They also noticed ski tracks as well. It sounds like you're up against a challenging suspect, but your stealth skills should outsmart him. I'm somewhat apprehensive about the idea of bringing Lennart there to confront the suspect. -------- *Finland* [b]Leku:[/b] *in Finnish* I wouldn't go in the chimney anyway; I wouldn't fit! *in English on communicator to Elias* I plan to do just that. I also worry about bringing Lennart here. The last time somebody saw his face, it shocked them so much, and it ultimately led to their death. -------------------- *Sweden* [b]Lennart:[/b] *in English to Leku on communicator* That would be Billy Bob Jolson. This may or may not be one of his crooked relatives. Be prepared. *to the C.I.D.F. Soldier in Swedish* That makes sense. But I didn't see any tracks of any kind when I got here to discover that the mice had been dumped here. ------------------ *Sweden* [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* Why would any of his relatives be in Europe let alone Scandinavia? [b]Danger Major:[/b] *In Swedish* Drug smuggling and dealing? They could be taking part in trying to profit from Putin's state-sponsored doping programs before. Show corrupt Russian officials and politicians the American dollar, they drool over them like dogs over fresh meat. [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* What a disturbing thought yet it can make sense. ----------------- *Finland* [b]Mikko:[/b] *In Finnish as he places breaching charges on the cabin's doors.* Everybody step back! *Everybody steps back.* Here we go! *He sets the charges off blasting the doors open revealing a surprisingly neat and organized lab and storage boxes lined up against the walls.* [b]Finisher:[/b] *In Finnish* That's a well-organized drug lab. [b]Black Metal Major:[/b] *In Finnish* Watch out for tripwires. Cut them first if you see them. I see there's a 3D printer there, too. [b]Mikko:[/b] *In Finnish* I can see it from here. He's making ghost gun parts with that printer. *The heroes enter the cabin carefully.* [b]Finisher:[/b] *In Finnish* Something under this rug feels odd. *She removes the rug and reveals a hidden door to the basement.* Might be another trap, too. Leku, lead the way from here. [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 1:[/b] *In Finnish* I see contraband. [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 2:[/b] *In Finnish* They appear to be ingredients for Putin's state-sponsored doping programs. What is he doing with them now? [b]Black Metal Major:[/b] *In Finnish* Anything for all we know. ------- *Sweden* [b]Lennart:[/b] *in Swedish* Of course, I could be wrong, but it's just a theory. *They continue to watch the live coverage.* [b]Lennart:[/b] *in Swedish* Uh-oh! Now I hear gunshots! [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 1:[/b] *in Swedish* Sounds like a machine gun. ---------------- *Finland* [b]Leku:[/b] *in Finnish* I don't believe it. *Suddenly, he hears gunfire.* Now I believe it! [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 2:[/b] *in Finnish* Defensive parameters! ---------- *Sweden* *All of a sudden, swarms of armed drones show up and start attacking the island; it causes a lockdown all over Sweden.* [b]Gustav:[/b] *In Swedish as he uses his SRS sniper rifle to take out the armed drones.* I see a fleet of drones with machine guns attached to them! Take cover! [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* Do you want me to stay with Lennart or run and take cover? [b]Danger Major:[/b] *In Swedish* We take cover with Lennart in his castle and protect the mice! [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *In Swedish* Who's sending in those drones?! [b]Civilian 2:[/b] *In Swedish* Someone's going to Valhalla, and I don't mean that in a good way, if you catch my drift. [b]Civilian 3:[/b] *In Swedish* Whoever is messing with Lennart, tell them it was nice knowing them in this world. Shut your windows and turn off the lights! We're going to the bomb shelters! *Civilians throughout Sweden close down shop and lock their homes with windows closed before hunkering down in basements and bomb shelters, all assuming that Lennart will go berserk.* [b]Civilian 4:[/b] *In Swedish* Get ready for Lennart to unleash a storm of flying axes to his foes! [b]Civilian 5:[/b] *In Swedish* Whoever is pushing Lennart's buttons better start praying for mercy now because Vikings show no mercy in battle! [b]Civilian 6:[/b] *In Swedish* I don't want to see Lennart right now! I don't even want to imagine what's going to happen to the guy who's messing with him! --------------------------------- *Finland* [b]Leku:[/b] *In Finnish as he readies his two Five-Seven handguns.* Don't worry! I got this! *He fires back.* [b]Masked Man:[/b] *He shoots back with his Vityaz-SN SMG and speaks in Russian.* Who's here?! [b]Black Metal Major:[/b] *In Finnish* I hear Russian! [b]Finisher:[/b] *In Finnish* What is a Russian man doing here?! [b]Masked Man:[/b] *In English as he reloads.* I want to see the Finnish parallel of Leo! [b]Leku:[/b] *In English* You can't shoot what you can't see can you? [b]Masked Man:[/b] *In English* You won't fool me for long! -------------- *Washington D.C.* [b]Zax:[/b] If Lennart starts to go berserk, we're darting to the PEOC! [b]Secret Service Agent 1:[/b] Standing by at your orders, sir! [b]Secret Service Agent 2:[/b] PEOC is ready when needed! [b]Mechayote:[/b] Pray that Lennart does not go berserk and unleash the rage of 40 million Viking warriors. [b]Juno:[/b] Whoever is sending armed drones to Sweden is really begging to see Valhalla. [b]Marshall:[/b] Whoever is messing with him is risking their life to a thousand Viking axe slices shredding their body apart like carnitas for tacos. [b]Juno:[/b] That's putting it nicely there even though it's graphic but we get the idea. [b]Marshall:[/b] He's a Viking lion! What do you really expect these days? --------------- *Vietnam* [b]Chuong:[/b] *In Vietnamese* Whoever is messing with Lennart, I do not want to see or hear anything involving this! Whoever is messing with him is probably not going to live to tell about what happens next. [b]V-Fox:[/b] *In Vietnamese* Chuong, relax! We're fine! ------------- *Denmark* *The news cover about the drone attack in Sweden.* [b]Alpha:[/b] *In Danish* Someone is going to die and not live to tell about Lennart. [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *In Danish* Someone is really begging to see Lennart's axes. [b]Civilian 2:[/b] *In Danish* And that would be the last time they'd witness his weaponry. [b]Civilian 3:[/b] *In Danish* People across Sweden are hunkering down. I think we should get ready now, I think. [b]Danger Drummer:[/b] *In Danish* We're going to be fine, guys. ----------- *Sweden* [b]Lennart:[/b] *in Swedish to himself* Keep calm; keep calm. Don't go berserk unless it's a specific type of berserk that won't do harm to the people. *to the others* I gained that ability after the embarrassing meltdown where I ransacked the AIRAF satellite factory all by myself. *He does, however, use his sword and axes to destroy any drones coming for him.* [b]Lennart:[/b] *in Swedish* These are just chunks of cheesy hardware worth absolutely nothing. [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 1:[/b] *in Swedish* Whatever you do, don't snap. The world's assuming you will snap. [b]Lennart:[/b] *in Swedish* I know. Besides, the boss cat is up there. See him? *In the skies, Super C and any other G-52s who can fly also take down the drones that don't reach Lennart.* [b]Super C:[/b] *to Lennart* Just don't lose your temper, okay? [b]Lennart:[/b] *to Super C* I'm working on that. Mind you I am still destroying all the drones that reach this island. *He destroys another drone.* [b]Super C:[/b] When did this start? [b]Lennart:[/b] About 5 minutes ago. --------------- *Finland* *Leku fires back.* [b]Leku:[/b] *in Finnish* If he's Russian, this is going to tempt Leonid into bellowing again! [b]C.I.D.F. Soldier 1:[/b] *in Finnish* Leonid's not going to bellow. He'll be impeached and exiled if he does. ----------------------- *Washington, D.C.* [b]Leo:[/b] Then everybody pray hard that he doesn't go berserk. *His communicator beeps.* Would you also pray about Leonid keeping calm? The masked man they're after is apparently from Russia. -------------------------- *Russia* *News reaches Leonid.* [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *in Russian* Why does it always have to be one of us? [b]Civilian 2:[/b] *in Russian* Promise you won't snap, Mr. President? [b]Leonid:[/b] *in Russian* I promise. Besides, I'm dealing with a headache right now. Could somebody bring me an aspirin, please? *One citizen gets one for him.* [b]Leonid:[/b] *in Russian* Thank you kindly, ma'am. *He takes the aspirin with a sip of water.* ------------ *Sweden* *The Swedish soldiers continue to shoot down the drones.* [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* If I knew this was going to happen, our Navy would've built observation stations around this castle! [b]Danger Major:[/b] *In Swedish* That will be done after this! *He beats his snare drum to destabilize the drones.* [b]Gustav:[/b] *In Swedish* Where are these drones coming from anyways? [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* No clue! But after this is done, we'll pay Lennart for the scraps so we can recycle them into pure metal materials. [b]Gustav:[/b] *In Swedish* Pay him in gold bullion since the castle has a basement complex with a large space for them behind a bank vault where only Lennart knows how to access it without bureaucratic permission. It also has a space for physical copies of Lennart's most important documentations there, especially those involving his personal identification for government purposes. [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish* Certainly! *To himself.* [i]Behind the wall of gold are his most important possessions worth more than gold. This castle is built with a lot of thought into it for Lennart.[/i] -------------- *Finland* [b]Masked Man:[/b] *To the C.I.D.F. soldiers as they confiscate his items.* My explosives and hardware! [b]Finisher:[/b] What are you doing with explosives? Is that semtex for C4 bombs?! [b]Masked Man:[/b] That has nothing to do with your concerns, let alone this country! If I wanted to use them against Finland, I would've done so already! [b]Finisher:[/b] You're smuggling weaponry into my country and putting others at risk! My people will not be harmed by this! [b]Masked Man:[/b] Typical G-52! Spare me the nationalist nonsense and propaganda! [b]Black Metal Major:[/b] We Finns just want our peace and quiet where the only loud noises we should hear are the sounds of Finnish black metal music! *He plays his guitar to stun the masked man.* [b]Masked Man:[/b] *Drops his gun and grabs his head.* Ow! My head! -------------- *Washington D.C.* [b]Zax:[/b] Oh dear. I hope this doesn't cause anti-Russian discrimination to increase in Finland. [b]Juno:[/b] Finland usually does an excellent job in preventing racism and border security at the same time. [b]Mechayote:[/b] We have to pray for Leonid. *Everybody prays for Leonid.* ------------- *Russia* [b]Vladimir:[/b] *In Russian* That man has no idea that the Finnish are going to go after him like swarms of bees! I hope they deport him back to us before Lennart goes after him! No one has ever survived Lennart's rage to tell others about him! ------------- *Sweden* [b]Lennart:[/b] *in Swedish* I wish I had know this was going to happen also; I would have made the suggestion about those naval observation stations. *He uses his sword to destroy one last drone.* [b]Lennart:[/b] *in Swedish* Whew! Thank heavens that's over! ----------------- *Finland* *Leku rushes in after the guitar riff and manages to apprehend the criminal, then drags him out in front of everybody.* [b]Leku:[/b] Now confess, you two bent hood! Why did you kidnap all those mice? You knew access to that castle of my Swedish counterpart was forbidden! ---------------------- *Washington, D.C.* *Leo leads everybody in the prayers for Leonid; he also prays for Lennart to keep calm.* --------------------- *Russia* [b]Leonid:[/b] *in Russian* Generally speaking, yes, but believe it or not, Bendraqi was one of the rare few who experienced one of Lenanrt's berserk attacks and lived to tell about it. However, all of us are forbidden from speaking to him about it, and he's still forbidden, as far as I know, from ever seeing Lennart's face in person (although that's really a safety precaution). The two were allowed once to hear each other's voices, but that was it. ------------ *Sweden* [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish on his smartphone.* All clear! *The civilians leave their basements and bomb shelters to return back to their lives as they open the windows again.* ----------------- *Finland* [b]Masked Man:[/b] Because Sweden has resources that gives the Fredriksson Administration (referring to Elias) an unfair advantage against Putin. After the Great Wall of Russia was built, Zelensky from Ukraine tapped Fredriksson to import anti-air weaponry and even asked him to build several anti-air weapon factories throughout western Ukraine. When I heard that Sweden was sitting on rare earth minerals, I decided to kidnap those mice and try to coax them into finding out those minerals for my knowledge. No doubt was the Viking Lion nearby because with resources like that, of course it will be heavily guarded with Swedish conscripts, machine gunners, and of course, that dreaded Viking Lion. I wanted to know why Sweden is all of a sudden, a Scandinavian military powerhouse backing Europe against Putin. He even managed to use his words to get Putin to bend in to his will by selling all of our nuclear waste to him so he can turn them into safe modular reactors that provides infinite energy to Europe as well as use them to develop advanced military weaponry that can be used against us. Sweden has incredibly intelligent military officers and engineers. Together, their military forms an invincible barrier where not a soul will be able to enter the land of the Vikings. This also gives Sweden the upper hand in forging closer ties with Kazakhstan, and with America's backing, they made sure the Putin Administration would fail and fall into the hands of our own people. And Karelia... That land is no more! Some became Finland, and what was left of Karelia is purely Russian territory. The Karelians have integrated into Finland and became part of that country. Finland was never a rich country; it was a poor agrarian nation blanketed in snow. Now, Finland is transformed into an iron wall against Russia and their conscripts are incredibly skilled as they are brave thanks to learning from the one Finnish snowman that brought Stalin's military to its knees. And guess who's behind Finland? Sweden! Finland's access to advanced military technologies from Sweden, America, and Germany has turned them into the iron wall with a knife towards Putin. All I wanted to know was what resources does Sweden have that makes them the military superpower of Scandinavia. They went from conquering the seas and lands to conquering space. A nation that started off with Vikings now with advanced minds for the future. And this isn't even mentioning the fact that Fredriksson is supporting his country in taking a page from Japanese pop culture conventions to promote Swedish pop culture conventions, which features Vikings, Viking metal music, Swedish pop musicians, modern home appliances and furniture, and of course, some IKEA, around the world. In other words, Fredriksson is partially responsible for bringing the Putin Administration to its knees without his hands by discreetly turning Sweden into a Scandinavian military powerhouse. [b]Finisher:[/b] As for the drugs for doping... [b]Masked Man:[/b] I wanted to make some money, too! Was that so much to ask? I want to live my life like the west, you know. [b]Finisher:[/b] Explosives and weapons? [b]Masked Man:[/b] Make them into drones to keep Lennart distracted, and hope that these mice get into those rare earth mines and tell me what they're being used for in Sweden. Their men are tall, so I thought they wouldn't notice the mice easily. [b]Finisher:[/b] But like you mentioned earlier, they're not stupid. [b]Masked Man:[/b] Fredriksson has so much tricks up his sleeves. He's worse than Leo the Patriotic Lion and Lennart the Viking Lion combined! He uses his appearance to bring the world to him, to let the world know that the dragon rules Sweden and he has nothing to lose. Sweden may have less resources than America does, but America powers Sweden a lot. Again, he and Leo are responsible for making the Putin Administration collapse into the hands of our own people with little effort. I just wanted to live in Russian glory one more time, especially in the Olympics! Just once, because those Americans always find a way to maintain their position as the number one nation on Earth, even on their worst days. [b]Finisher:[/b] And that's why you took part of Putin's state-sponsored doping program? [b]Masked Man:[/b] Exactly. I was just helping to distribute materials for those Russian drug manufacturers to assist them in their "research" purposes. I don't know how the world found out about this because this was supposed to be a secret! Someone leaked everything from every single facility that was part of that program to the world! This wasn't supposed to be possible for that to happen, but it did. I knew Leo was funding our neighbors to build the Great Wall of Russia before he supplied their troops with American military hardware pointed at us behind the walls. And of course, Fredriksson gave them anti-air weapons too to keep the Russian Air Force within Russian airspace. The worst part at the time was that the Russian Air Force's capabilities are way behind what the American Air Force is capable of. I was surprised after Putin invaded Kazakhstan, other countries did not attack us but instead, allowed our people to overthrow Putin and his associates. The world turned their back on us and said "Let Russia burn because Putin screwed up so let the Russian people handle Putin and clean up after him." Basically, they told the world to abandon us and let us suffer. Now, we're just a diminishing republic and modern culture from outside has flooded us! Russian teens turn on Stalin than to honor his legacy of bring Russia to modernity. Russia's future won't be the same because of blockheads like Fredriksson making sure that we won't have the future Putin intended for us. Those mice will never tell me what kind of rare earth minerals Sweden has. [b]Black Metal Major:[/b] I don't think you'll ever have to worry about that. Leku, want to say something? [b]Civilian 1:[/b] *In Finnish* What is that masked weirdo doing here? [b]Civilian 2:[/b] *In Finnish* So he's the man with that cabin! [b]Civilian 3:[/b] *In Finnish* A Russian criminal on our land? How? [b]Civilian 4:[/b] *In Finnish* Nothing personal Leonid but keep your garbage within your country! We're tired of cleaning up their mess after them! [b]Civilian 5:[/b] *In Finnish* Karelia this Karelia that! Karelians are Finns and they feel at home with us! [b]Civilian 6:[/b] *In Finnish* So that's where all this noise is coming from! Do we need to send another dump truck to pick up all that mess and dump it back on Russian soil?! Nothing personal Leonid, but your country is still a gigantic mess! [b]Civilian 7:[/b] *In Finnish* We know it's not Leonid's fault, but wow what a job Putin has done in making Russia into a hot mess! ----------- *Sweden* *Lennart listens to the conversation with the G-52 app, then forwards the recording to Elias, and to the others (except for Leku). The judges in the courts give the mice advice on what to do next and how to cope with it.* ----------------------- *Finland* [b]Leku:[/b] So because the mice wouldn't cooperate with you, you took them to Lennart's castle and dumped them there to try to bully them into doing what you wanted. No doubt the ICC will be working out a warm welcome for you; nobody but the Viking Lion himself should ever set foot on the island. But you did, and you almost made criminals out of those mice. You're under arrest! *The police arrive to arrest the masked man and confiscate everything in his cabin.* ------------------ *Russia* *Leonid and his administration listen to the recording.* [b]Leonid:[/b] *in Russian* Boy; does he have his head screwed on backwards. ---------------- *Washington, D.C.* *Leo and his administration listen to the recording.* ------------------- *G-52 HQ* *Having returned to HQ after the attack finished, some others listen to the recording.* [b]D.W.:[/b] What a dork! [b]Super C:[/b] I know. The mice wouldn't give him what he wanted, so he somehow breached security at the castle and dumped all the mice there as punishment. ---------------- *around the world* *The other G-52s and their allies hear the recordings.* --------------- --------------- [b]Lennart:[/b] [i](narrating)[/i] So we now have a better idea of what was going on with the mice, and why the masked man dumped them at the castle. They wouldn't do what he wanted, and some even had no idea what he was talking about, and so he dumped them in my castle as punishment. He later confessed he would have done more bad things to them, and as a result, they used their portal powers to hide inside the castle. He never did find them afterwards. --------------- ----------------- *Later, after the masked man is jailed in Finland to face charges, the Finnish government decides to deport him to Russia.* ------------- *Finland* [b]Finisher:[/b] *To Leonid on her communicator.* Nothing personal, but my goodness; your country is still a hot mess! We just deported one of your criminals back to your country, since we decided that he's not worth keeping in prison. -------------- *Russia* [b]Vladimir:[/b] *On his communicator to Finisher.* We get it, and you're not wrong to say that. We are cooperating with the world in capturing every single Russian fugitive who have fled overseas to avoid their crimes. *To Leonid in Russian.* Finland just deported that man back to us to deal with. What do you want to do? ----------- *Washington D.C.* [b]Zax:[/b] I see Finland decided to deport the man back to his country of origin, which is Russia. [b]Juno:[/b] Good heavens; what is up with Russia that made them such a huge mess? Leonid is still cleaning up after Putin! [b]Mechayote:[/b] It seems that Finland doesn't like to jail foreign criminals and prefer deporting them instead. Then again, Finland is a country that is extremely serious on their fiscal policies and doesn't want any resources and money go to waste. [b]Marshall:[/b] They would rather spend their tax money on their people a lot through their guided growth plans. When it comes to Finnish jail, they rather jail criminals from within their own country first, which could explain why jails are so rare in Finland, they're slowly closing down jails than building more of them. Finland is a country known for extensive planning as much as they are known for their saunas. ---------- *Finland* [b]Leku:[/b] *in Finnish to himself* Goofy man; good riddance! ---------------- *Russia* [b]Leonid:[/b] *on communicator to Finisher* Tell me about it; I still have a headache trying to clean up the mess. Does that tell you how much damage Putin did while he was in charge? I think you did the right thing by deporting him; if he had been from the United States, that's where he should have been deported. As it happens, he was one of us. Tell me something; what was the verdict regarding all those tiny mice? I hear he tried to frame them by dumping them on the site of Lennart's castle, and since CNG got them, they used the portal trick some of us have just to hide from him. Nobody but the Norseman himself is allowed in there! *to Vladimir in Russian* I'll tell you afterwards. ------------------------- *Washington, D.C.* [b]Leo:[/b] Leonid told me he's had a headache trying to clean up the mess. I wonder what the judges said about the mice being in Lennart's castle? Any ideas? --------- *Finland* [b]Finisher:[/b] *On her communicator to Leonid.* Finland cannot make a verdict on those mice because the incident took place in Sweden. But because we have close ties with Sweden, they're treating these mice as victims of human trafficking. ----------------- *Sweden* *The judges decided to treat the mice as victims of human trafficking.* [b]Judge 1:[/b] *In Swedish* If they have families overseas, see if you can reunite them there, assuming where they came from are their original homelands. [b]Judge 2:[/b] *In Swedish* Each of the mice have ID. Use that to aid them in family reunification. [b]Judge 3:[/b] *In Swedish* If that is not possible, then we can offer them citizenship here. But before that, try to get them to reunite with their families back at home safely. [b]Elias:[/b] *In Swedish to the Swedish Security Service intelligence agents.* Use their IDs to see what hometowns they originally came from and try to reunite them with their families there. [b]Intelligence Agents:[/b] *In Swedish* Yes, sir! *Elias, Gustav, and the intelligence agents visit Lennart's castle again to try to get information about the mice's whereabouts to see if they can reunite them with their families back in their hometowns.* [b]Elias:[/b] *To the mice in English.* Be prepared to show ID, because we are going to see if we can return you back to your hometowns to reunite you with your families. If you're from outside of Sweden, there's no need to panic. We want to make sure you're safe first and that your families know you will come home alive to them. If for some reason you happen to be immigrating here or there's no way to send you back, we can offer you citizenship here, which is extremely difficult to get under me since we are extremely picky on who we let in to live with us. In Sweden, we pay high income taxes to our social programs to reinforce our people into being contributing members of society for a social purpose. As much as we value individualism here, we have collective goals and purposes. After all, everybody in Viking villages has to pay their collective taxes to maintain them. We love to take care of our people, but that money has to come from somewhere, which is our people, in return. [b]Gustav:[/b] IDs ready, please! [b]Intelligence Agent 1:[/b] Wait, their ID cards are extremely tiny. [b]Intelligence Agent 2:[/b] Our government-issued phones can scan them easily. [b]Intelligence Agent 3:[/b] If the mice have ID cards with QR codes on them, that's even easier. ------------------- *Washington, D.C.* [b]Mechayote:[/b] The Swedish government decided to treat the mice as victims of human trafficking, so they're going to check their IDs and see if they can get them to reunite with their families from their hometowns. If that is not possible, they will offer them citizenship in Sweden, in which they must understand some of Sweden's domestic policies, such as their income tax policies for their social programs. [b]Zachary:[/b] Sweden has to get that money from somewhere to maintain their social programs, which are taxes. Then again, the Vikings were experts in the art of taxation during their heydays. Everybody in their villages paid their taxes to maintain them and those who were conquered by the Vikings paid taxes to them for their protection or else they would be arrested. [b]Mechayote:[/b] The British promised us protection in return of taxes, which in reality meant complete submission to their rule. That's why we had the American Revolution. As Thomas Jefferson said, a government that is big enough to give you what you want is strong enough to take what you have. This is also why we are a federal republic and many countries have representative forms of government due to human tendency to distrust central authorities. -------- *Russia* [b]Leonid:[/b] *on communicator* Nobody deserves to be a victim of anything, but that especially. But I am pleased to hear that the mice have been ruled not guilty. Even better is the fact that they took care of Lennart's castle in the meantime. ------------ *Sweden* [b]The Mice:[/b] *to Elias* Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. [b]Tiny Mouse 1:[/b] Most of us came from Russia to start with, so we'll see what happens. [b]Tiny Mouse 2:[/b] And our thanks to Mr. Lennart for not going berserk. *The mice line up like soldiers at attention so that they can obey Elias's orders. Since they are doing this at the castle, Lennart arrives as well and supervises this. But this time, they are not scared of him.* [b]Lennart:[/b] I am thankful that you mice made yourselves useful by keeping the place clean for me. [b]Tiny Mouse 3:[/b] We're glad he didn't come in the building. I guess we weren't sure if he was ever going to leave, so we didn't. [b]Tiny Mouse 4:[/b] I want to go to America; it's the best place in the world to live. --------------------- *Washington, D.C.* [b]Leo:[/b] Good to hear the judges made the right decision, then. Not so good to know those mice were victims of trafficking. [b]Tom:[/b] I wish Russia would get their act together. [b]Leo:[/b] Well, that's on them. --------------- --------------- ------------- [b]Leonid:[/b] [i](narrating in English)[/i] It is on us, but it was on us a long time ago. When you look at all the damage Putin did, it's easy to see why the people wanted him out, and yet anybody who was willing to stand up to him was arrested. The first thing I did when I took over was work to free all those people. Now I'd deal with another headache with the case of these mice. My decision, for those that were wondering, was to try the masked man again back in Russia. As you might have guessed, he's spending the rest of his life in solitary confinement. The masked man did complain to me about the same things he complained to Leku and the others about, but he got the same answers: everything he supported was absolute rubbish. He also confessed that because he had stolen those drones, he found ways to use them to breach the security around Bottenviken. In the end, it was all for nothing. [b]Lennart:[/b] [i](narrating in English)[/i] It took longer than we wanted, but we did manage to get all the mice taken care of; now my castle is empty again, but I found ways to say thank you to all the mice, even buying some gifts for them. The mice were all reunited with their families; some of which stayed in Russia, but others moved to Sweden successfully, and as promised, still others went to the United States. When the mice arrived in the U.S., Leo had a few of his parallels, including me and Leonid, appear as a welcome party. Leonid presented the mice with a few awards he had given to the ones who had stayed behind, and His Majesty, King Leo V of Kriegland, awarded all the mice that were in my castle the SSSMSB. All are safe and sound now, and the world can breathe again and get a good night's rest. [b]Leo:[/b] [i](narrating)[/i] You get a good night's rest, too. Good night. ------------ [color=blue][b]THE END[/b][/color]