The Bloo Panther

[James Withaness]

Hey Ub3rD4n, I hope the fact that there hasn't been a new chapter in a few days doesn't mean you're suffering from writer's block. Not to rush you, especially with a somewhat complex story like this one, but I hope we'll be seeing more of Inspector Blooseau.

BTW, I'm a longtime lurker who's just registered because I'm a fan of your work (in fact, you could call me an Ub3rF4n...heh). I figured you might like to know that, since you seem to really appreciate positive feedback.

[Ub3rD4n]

................whoa..................

Someone liked my work so much that they registered for the express purpose of SAYING I'M DOING A GOOD JOB. As you all know, I feed off positive feedback, and that one's gonna hold me for a while.

As for the update schedule, I'm sosososososo sorry about that! Since University is starting up again, I'll be updating slower for a while. But I WAS gonna update yesterday, until the power went out in my house, and has only now returned. So, I'm too behind on real work to write another chapter right now, I'll try to get one done tomorrow. They actually take two to three hours to write up, since I'm slow and want to get things right.

So, barring incidents, I'll have the next chapter up tomorrow, and hopefully one up the day after that. (Weekend!) But, again, biiiiig thanks to James (Ub3rF4n, I love it!) for the support. I'm sure there are other cool things to do on the forum as well for you, the people here are great. And I'm gonna keep on adding more chapters, cause like I said, there's ALWAYS more chapters.

[Ub3rD4n]

So, sorry bout the delays in the whole "updating new chapters" thing. But I'm ready to pour out the fanfic now! I also recently realised that there are, like, 6 independant storylines in this fanfic, and it looks like this thing may go to 7 chapters (gasp! seven whole chapters!) But I'm still gonna enjoy it!

Chapter Five: Random Encounters

"Just what do you think you're doing here?" asked Frankie, angrily.
"Why, I'm just here to spend some quality time with my dear Aunt Doris." Denise replied, mockingly innocent.
"And she just happens to be inspecting this place a few days after we met?"
"Well, I saw the name of this place on the bus and thought it'd be a nice place to visit."
"Look, your beef's with me. Leave the friends out of it."
"Oh, I don't think so." spat Denise, dropping the act. "I'll be glad when every one of those annoying FREAKS are out on the street!"
Just then, Ms Philburn came out of Madame Foster's room with the remains of a vase on top of her head. "You can't make me talk, pig!" called Madame Foster, still in the room. "I think we can move along now." said Ms Philburn gravely.

Slugger pulled a painting down from the wall and, with great difficulty, seeming as he had no arms, smashed it over his head, then spun it around until it flew off of his head into a wall. He was still vaugely dissatisfied. "Well, where the heck is everyone!? I know it's a big house, but... Well, looks like I'm gonna hafta aim bigger. I know! The garage!" And he bounced mady off in the direction of the garage.

"Senor Azul? Senor Azuuuul? Is Eduardo-whoa!" Eduardo, who was wandering the halls looking for Bloo, was pulled up head over heels by a rope snare. "Aah! They is gonna grind my skull for me precious ivory!"
"Eduardo!" cried Bloo, coming out from behind a suit of armour, "You ruined my trap! It was SUPPOSED to be for the jewel theif!"
"Jewel theif?" squeaked Eduardo, not calming down much.
"Oh, didn't you hear? There's a famous dangerous jewel theif in the house. I'm gonna catch 'im!"
"Ay! A scary jewel theif! I ought to tell Wilt and Coco!"
"Sure, you do that." said Bloo, walking off, "but trust noone.....it could be ANYONE in the house!"
"Even me?"
"Naaaah!" cried Bloo as he left Eduardo's view. Eduardo made to make his way back to Wilt and Coco. As he did, his eyes darted nervously from place to place. He flinched and yelled as other imaginary friends walked by. "Calm down, Eduardo," he murmured to himself, "you got to be brave. Got to warn Wilt and Coco. Got to-"
"Hi!" yelled Red, jumping out at him.
"Waaaauuugh!" Eduardo screamed at the top of his lungs, and ran blindly through the walls of the house, passing, as he did, through a linen closet, a bathroom (in use), and Smarty Pants playing Crackers at chess.
".........You ever get the feeling that you're just an extra in someone else's story?" Smarty Pants asked, after Eduardo had passed through.
"........No!" replied Crackers, weirded out.

"Man, we lost him." said Wilt, slightly paniking now.
"Coco!" Coco announced, and proceeded to lay two eggs. The first one popped open to reveal a large length of rope.
"Oh, no. You're not going to try that, are you? I'm sorry, but that sounds like something Bloo would do."
Coco proceeded to tie the rope up in a snare trap and then popped open the other egg, which contained (surprise, surprise) chocolate milk. Coco then walked around a corner to wait. Wilt reluctantly followed, realising that he'd never catch Cheese at this rate. It wasn't long 'till Cheese walked past, saw the bait, cried "Chooooocolate miiilk!" and ran headlong into the trap. Coco then ran out to grab him, but he just swung himself around and around, eventually hitting Wilt when he went to help, and this frantic movement snapped the rope, setting Cheese free once more.

"Aha! Got it" Slugger exclaimed, dragging a container of petrol out of the garage.

[antgirl1]

That was pretty good, but I'm starting to feel Slugger is unnecessary for the story.

[FailedShapeshifter]

Hehe...the vase.....uhoh...why does Slugger have that.....if you bring in a box of matches or something like that I'm hiding under my bed....

[Ub3rD4n]

So, sorry about the shortness of the last chapter. Yesterday I came down with something awful (I even got out of work for it) and I got tired a lot faster than I thought I would because of that.(Yes, I know. Excuses, excuses). I'm still not in what you'd call prime mental condition (even for me), but I've been on this fanfic for long enough, and it needs to be finished soon, so here we go:

And BTW: Slugger is normally unnessecary for the story. I just like him. But he IS actually vaugely important here. Just you wait and see.

Chapter Six: It Was Like That When I Got Here

"Lesse...it's gotta be round here somewhere. Aha!" Bloo cried triumphantly as he pulled a makeup kit out of Frankie's room. "Now I'm gonna be able to dust for prints! That theif is as good as caught." He walked past part of the hall which was on fire, with Slugger next to it yelling "Burn! Burn!". When he realised Bloo was there he turned to face him and tried in vain to block his view of the gigantic fire now raging. "H-hi, Bloo. Wassup?"
Bloo glared at him for the longest time, and then said "Outta my way! I've got a criminal to catch and I don't need any pointless distractions!" He then walked off in search of the jewel theif.

"So," said Frankie, continuing the tour of the house through some of the house's many hallways, with Ms Philburn scribbling notes on a clipboard all the way. "we here at Fosters take great love and care for all the imaginary friends who live here. We treat them as if they were our own. What the-" Frankie had just walked around a corner to see Douglas and Adam with an imaginary friend hooked up to some weird machine, taking notes as the dials and LED displays changed on the machine. The imaginary friend seemed to be in no small discomfort. As soon as they saw Frankie, the two jumped in front of the machine, trying to block it from view. "What the heck are you two doing!? You're not allowed to do any weird experiments on any of the imaginary friends except Coco!"
"Uh...you mean this..isn't Coco?" stammered Douglas.
"No! It is not Coco!" cried Frankie, unplugging the friend from the machine.
"Oh, we-we-well we'll just be going then." he replied, as he and Adam grabbed the machine and ran off. Well, the machine was so heavy that all they could do was walk briskly, but they certainly gave the impression of running.
"Uuugh, why today?" Frankie muttered to herself.
"Who were those men?" asked Ms Philburn.
"Oh, two guys who dropped off a friend a few years ago on the provision that they could come and make observations on her whenever they liked. They're a little....you know, not that bright. Who wants to visit the parlour?"

"That was close. She almost found out." Adam remarked.
"But the plan! The plan!" Douglas blurted out.
"Don't worry. I don't think she suspects. The plan will go forward as......planned."

"Well, Coco, I think we've been taking the wrong direction here. I think we should try a new strategy for getting Cheese out of here."
"Coco?"
"No, Coco. A chainsaw is not a strategy."
"Coco cocococococo."
"I don't care if it would make everyone happy! Look, just hang back, I'lll show you how this is done."
Wilt turned around a corner, to see Cheese sucking on a light bulb.
"Where'd he get that?" Wilt muttered to himself, then yelled "Hey, Cheese?"
"Yes."
"Wanna play a game?"
"Yess! Yess!"
"Well, then, come over here!"
Cheese ran straight to Wilt, who grabbed him and lifted him into the air. "See, Coco?" Wilt said smugly "We didn't have to hurt him! He's just looking for someone to play with."
"Uuuup! Uuuup!" Cheese cried, raising his hands in the air.
"Cococo coco."
"You think? Okay, then." Wilt then lifted Cheese onto his back, so that he was riding piggy-back.
"Horsie! Horsie!" cried Cheese, jumping up and down.
"You wanna ride?"
"Yess! Yess!"
"You wanna ride outside?"
"Yesssss! Yesssss!"
"Then let's go!"
Wilt took about two steps towards the front doors before Eduardo came bowling into him, knocking him over.
"Eduardo!"
"Coco!"
"Wilt! Coco! There is a BANDITO in the house! He is big, and scary, and he smells like feet! Is you okay?"
"Taaaaag!" cried Cheese, and ran off.
"Well, we WERE okay, until you ran into us! Sorry, sorry, but we were THIS close to having Cheese out of the house!"
"Waah! I sorry, Wilt!" cried Eduardo, bawling now "I got scared something happen to you and Coco!"
"Whoa, calm down, Ed. Calm down." said Wilt, patting Eduardo on the head. "It's okay, I'm sorry. It was an accident. No harm done."

"There certainly are a lot of hallways in this house, aren't there?" Ms Philburn commented.
"You don't know the half of it." replied Frankie. "But we still make sure that all the rooms and hallways of the house are in tip-top condition." as she said this, they came across an Eduardo-shaped hole in the wall, through which they could see a whole lot more Eduardo-shaped holes in different walls. "Uh, moving along..." Frankie said, panickedly, ushering her guests further down the corridors which were covered in makeup. "Uh, moving along further...."

"Mm...it is now only a matter of time before that twit ruins the house and that ugly lady shuts down Fosters forever!" said Duchess to herself. "I shall be free! No more having to stand that lazy Frankie, that whiny Eduardo, that stupid Wilt, and most of all that troublesome-"
"Duchess! I KNEW it would be you! Well, I'm on to your plans!" Bloo announced from behind Duchess.
"What plans? I plan nothing!" Duchess blurted out.
"Oh, yeah? Then why are you standing there gloating to yourself? Only people with evil plans gloat to themselves! After all the false leads and unnessecary torturing, I've finally caught you, jewel theif!"
"Jewel theif? You think I am a- no wait. You wish to know who the jewel theif is, no?"
"I know it's you, Duchess! Confess! I have ways of making people talk!" at this point, Bloo pulled out a couple of springy clothes pegs.
"Listen, you grating little twerp!" Duchess yelled, pulling Bloo up so that he was level with her eyes (well, one of them, at any rate) "I'm trying to help you! I know who the jewel theif is! she is in this very house!"
"What, seriously? For a while there, I thought maybe there WAS no jewel theif."
"Then why all the yelling and grabbing and accusation?"
"Mostly an excuse to use the clothespegs. I don't suppose you-"
"No. Now listen carefully. There is an old lady in the house, she is being followed by a blonde girl. She is the one you want. I'd watch out though. She's supposed to be pretty dangerous."
"Noone is a match for Inspector Blooseu! I shall track down this menace, and bring her to justice!"
"I think she went that way!" Duchess told Bloo, who ran off in the offered direction. "Now, where was I? I think I got up to the part where I laugh evilly. Mwahahahaha!!"

[antgirl1]

Oh god, Duchess. You ALWAYS gotta ruin everything even more than usual. XD

[jekylljuice]

Originally Posted by Ub3rD4n

".........You ever get the feeling that you're just an extra in someone else's story?" Smarty Pants asked, after Eduardo had passed through.
"........No!" replied Crackers, weirded out.

That's a winner.

And some lovely development in your latest couple chapters, Dan. D&A are on top form. As is Duchess.

[James Withaness]

Originally Posted by Ub3rD4n

Yesterday I came down with something awful (I even got out of work for it) and I got tired a lot faster than I thought I would because of that.(Yes, I know. Excuses, excuses). I'm still not in what you'd call prime mental condition (even for me), but I've been on this fanfic for long enough, and it needs to be finished soon, so here we go:

I hope you're not feeling unduly pressured to complete this story quickly, especially if you've been sick, but I like where it's going and the way the various plot threads are converging. The one thing in this story that had me a little worried was Bloo's speech defending Frankie in Chapter 1, which seemed slightly out-of-character (and which wouldn't be worth mentioning except for the fact that everyone in your stories is usually very in-character), but he's been very much his usual self since then, and I'm eager to see how his investigation concludes.

[Imaginary Light]

Oh, darn that Duchess...always stirring things up