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Series One Episode Forty-Four It was a normal day on Mystery Island. This means that the sun was shining, the tourists were spending, the surfer chicks were surfing, and Ji was hanging out with Kara Lynn. They'd been playing volleyball on the beach with a few of Ji's surfer friends, all in swimsuits and cutoff jeans except for Kara Lynn, who wore lavender bike shorts. Then Ji, noticing that Kara Lynn was rather tired, had bet she could beat the genetic experiment home. So that's how they ended up running, hair flying, faces flushed, feet pounding against the gravel, up the path to Ji's mansion. Both girls reached for the door, but Kara Lynn's hand grabbed the knob first, twisted it, and yanked the door open. Carried by her own momentum, she careened forward and slammed into Ji's eldest brother, Nick. Insert shoujo-manga-moment here. No, really. Bubbles and little sparkles floating through the air, half-closed eyes, fog replacing the background, dreamy music obliterating all the other sound effects. The whole bit. The moment was broken when Ji remarked, "When you two have finished staring into each other's eyes, I'd like to go inside, please?" Kara Lynn regained her feet and blushed. "I'm sorry..." "Hey, no problem," replied Nick Kouryunno, dismissing it with a casual wave of his hand. "I've got to be going, though." He then proceeded to walk down the path, turning at the end to flash the two girls a shining white smile before hopping on a bicycle and riding off. "You're still staring after him," remarked Ji, folding her arms and looking up at Kara Lynn in exasperation. Kara Lynn shook herself. "Sorry...he's nice, isn't he?" "Nice looking, sure. All untidy tan hair and clear green eyes to die for. All his girlfriends have said so," Ji replied with a touch of nastiness in her voice. "And then they find out what a jerk he really is, and dump him as fast as they can." The taller girl blinked. "He seemed quite nice to me." "Trust me, you don't want to get near him. He doesn't really care about anyone's feelings." "It only seems that way to you because he's your brother," countered Kara Lynn. "Bah." Several days later, Ji waited impatiently outside a dressing room in a Neopia Central mall. At last the door swung open and Kara Lynn smiled. "Well? What do you think?" "Honestly? You look like a slut." The purple-haired girl's face fell. "I dress like this all the time around you and you've never complained..." "Yeah, well, this is Nick who asked you out. You have to look like you're ready for a night at a nice restaurant and a movie, not a night on the beach." "But the restaurant is on the coast..." Ji rolled her eyes. "That's not what I mean . . ." "She doesn't look that bad," interrupted a new voice. Ji
looked up to see Vicki Pawkeet - the green-haired older girl who'd been a
Training School dropout and was now Sailor Nimmo - standing over her. "It isn't that she looks bad," stammered Ji in reply, mentally
berating herself for stuttering. She couldn't help it; Vicki had this
aura of superiority that did bad things to a person's self-confidence. It
reminded her of Abbie, really. "It's just that, y'know, she looks too
good, you know what I mean?" "Listen, kid," said Vicki, sounding maddeningly snobbish, "it may
be too shocking from your perspective, but the outfit Kara Lynn is currently
wearing is perfectly appropriate for a young adult going on a date." Ji decided not to tell Vicki that Kara Lynn had actually been created
only eleven years ago. Vicki was already insufferable to the younger
Sailor Neopets (including Maxima, Starlee, and others), and Ji had no wish
to make her feel like she could boss around Kara Lynn too - especially since
Kara Lynn was probably more intelligent than Vicki, though not as street-smart. "Well," she snapped, "you may think it's childish to wear
more decent clothing, but the guy she's going out with is trouble - so she
needs to wear something more appropriate than that!" "You don't want her to look like a schoolgirl, do you? For
a date, you have to dress up." "But you can dress up without looking like a slut!" cried Ji, waving
her arms frantically. "But she doesn't look like a slut!" retorted Vicki, doing the same. Kara Lynn, looking somewhat bewildered, glanced back and forth between
the two a bit, then turned to the racks of clothing next to them. As
Ji and Vicki continued to argue, the tall girl flipped through hangers until
she came across something silvery-gray and lavender, with purple ribbon trim.
She ducked into one of the dressing rooms while the fight went on outside. "There's a line between good-looking and inappropriate, and that
outfit doesn't cross it!" Vicki had just shouted, pointing in the
direction where Kara Lynn had been when they started bickering. Both
girls looked - and realized that the purple-haired girl wasn't there any more.
The surprise brought the argument to a sudden stop. The dressing room door clicked open. "And I suppose you're going to say that's too inappropriate,
too?" asked Vicki, not looking at Ji. "Nooo," replied the shorter girl, her eyes also locked on Kara Lynn.
"That's just fine." Kara Lynn was wearing a silvery gray skirt (it would've gone below
Ji's knees but barely reached halfway down the other girl's abnormally long
thighs) and a lavender shirt, all cut in a way that flattered her figure while
remaining marvelously modest. The collar was trimmed with bunched purple
ribbon, and the whole effect was quite pretty. "Not at all," replied Vicki. "It's just fine." It was a normal day in Dr. Sloth's hideout. This means that mutant Grundos were performing acts involving much muscle power and little brain work, EvilChia888 was getting into fights, and Dr. Sloth was yelling at Abbie. "The fact remains that you have NOT reached your monthly quota of energy!!" "Oh, come on, Slothman - we've been doing this for a year! It's not like I won't make up for it!" "The Chaos Faerie is getting impatient-" "She's been getting impatient for months now! Lighten up!" "You know what?" said Sloth suddenly. "This whole business stops right here. From now on, you get to talk to her - personally." If Abbie was nervous, she didn't show it. "Bring it on." Sloth walked to the nearest computer terminal (being something of a computer freak, he made sure there was always a computer terminal handy if he could help it) and tapped a few keys. "She's all yours," he said as what looked like a pair of glowing red eyes opened in the middle of the screen. As the afternoon grew late on the island, Kara Lynn took a deep breath, brushed her bangs back, and walked towards the hut of the Haiku Generator. Nick Kouryunno - all untidy tan hair and clear green eyes to die for, all five feet eleven and a half inches of him - was there, glancing at his watch. He looked up as she approaced, and smiled that slow smile. "Hey." "Hi," she replied, somewhat flustered. She hadn't brought
a purse or anything, because she hadn't thought she'd need makeup: a flawless
complexion was programmed into her DNA. But now she almost wished
she had, just for the psychological boost it would bring. "I got us tickets to a bit of a silly movie, actually. Korry Batter and the Chamber of Secrets, at the Neopia Central cinema. Hope you don't mind?" "Oh - oh, no, not at all!" Kara Lynn managed a weak smile. Nick stepped forward and took her arm in his, and led the somewhat dazed girl to the ferry leading to Neopia Central. The sun was setting as Ji rode her surfboard inward on the last wave of the rising tide. She splashed through the shallows at the edge of the water towards Shoylana, who was flying out to meet her. "Ji! There are Hissladys attacking at the harbor!" the cream-colored Shoyru cried. It was not what Ji had expected to hear, but she recovered from her surprise quickly. One "Shoyru Neo Power, Make Up!" and one "Shoyru Hover!" later, Sailor Shoyru was soaring through the sky following Shoylana, who led the way to the docks. There weren't many boats out at this time of evening, but a few ran steadily through the night, and the harbor was busy enough. Standing on top of the boathouse, Sailor Chia looked down upon the chaos and laughed. She didn't dare admit to herself that the Chaos Faerie had seriously scared her. Instead, she reveled in the confusion she was causing. A Hisslady pounced on a whimpering baby Kacheek and started draining its energy... Thwack! Something large and moving very fast slammed into Sailor Chia from behind. She fell forward and landed in the water with a loud splash. Spluttering and thrashing, she surfaced and looked up to see Sailor Shoyru hovering above her. "That wasn't very nice, now was it?" Chia yelled. "Chia Giggle!" Shoyru swooped out of the direction of the orange energy. "Takes one to know one!" she called back. As Chia swam for the dock, Shoyru pulled out her communicator and dialed Kara Lynn's. Instead of the familiar noseless face, however, it was a yellow buzz - Berveth - who answered the call. "Kara Lynn's not here," he announced. "Where is she?" Then: "Never mind. She's at a movie with Nick...and she didn't take her communicator. Drat, drat, drat." The second Korry Batter movie had been out for so long that the theater was almost empty, but Kara Lynn was enjoying it anyhow. Nick's arm had been around her shoulders since the scene with the young wizard-pets in Vertick Alley, and she was rather enjoying that too. When he moved in a little closer, though, it eventually got hard to see the movie. "Wait," she protested in a whisper, moving her face back from his. "I want to see what happens..." "A slow bit's coming up. Besides, everyone does this at the movies." "I've gone with Ji before and she's never done this..." "That wasn't a date, pretty girl. People do this on dates." And he kissed her. Kara Lynn found that she didn't really mind. But, a few moments later, she pulled away again. "Can you wait?" she asked, glancing at the screen, where Korry's archrival at school had just created a vicious Reptillor out of nowhere. "I want to see how this ends..." Korry wasn't the only one having snake problems. Sailor Shoyru had sent out a general distress call, but none of the Sailor NeoPets had arrived yet, and she was finding it difficult to battle an army of Hissladys with only the advantage of flight. Then a Chia Chaos Ruin zoomed down the dock, tearing up the wooden planks and sideswiping pets, users, and Hissladys alike, to hit Sailor Shoyru in the back. Her wings were shredded and she fell to the ground, barely aware of the splinters that dug into her knees. "Ready to die, pesky Sailor NeoPet?" came Sailor Chia's voice from what seemed like very far away. "Yes, that's right. I'm going to kill you. Really kill you this time." "I'd like to see you try!" It was a new voice, from somewhere in the evening-darkened tropical foilage in front of Shoyru. She raised her head to see a very welcome sight in yellow-green and dull brown. "Nimmo Meditate!" Sailor Nimmo glowed spring green and Sailor Chia froze in place, eyes sliding out of focus. "Thanks," said Sailor Shoyru weakly, standing up. "Can you do that to every Hisslady here, though?" "I don't need to." Sailor Nimmo smiled wryly, and suddenly several dozen strong-looking NeoPets stepped forward out of the shadows of the forest. "You forget, I have ties to the Mystery Island Training School. I brought the cavalry." The last Hisslady was taken on by none other than Ryshuu himself, while Sailor Shoyru watched, impressed. He can take that thing out easily, she thought bitterly. Sailor Nimmo can do the same, even as Vicki, even if she hasn't done her freezing bit. In fact, Sailor Nimmo had kept Sailor Chia in a daze for quite a while, so that she and Shoyru could get users and pets out of the area. But finally Sailor Nimmo had started martial-arts-ing Sailor Chia, getting too close to give the evil sailor time to use her devastating attack. At last Chia had gotten transported away, with some severe bruises but a whole lot of energy. Most of the NeoPets from the Training School had gone; it was only Ryshuu and one Hisslady left now. And Kara Lynn can be just as strong and fast as
Vicki, Shoyru added to her train of thought. AND she's got a
strong attack as Sailor Buzz. Why can't I be anything like them?
Why do I have to be short and small and weak and powerless?
Balthazar's claws, I hope she's having fun on her date.
The next afternoon, Kara Lynn couldn't find Ji anywhere. She'd checked all of her best friend's usual hangouts, and been up and down the island coast, but had no luck. Then, as the tall girl was standing on the boardwalk at the edge of the beach, she heard a familiar voice in one of the cafés that overlooked the ocean. She waited around for a few minutes, feeling a little self-conscious, until sure enough, a group of surfer girls containing Ji walked out, laughing and chatting. "Oh, hey, Kara Lynn," said Ji, upon noticing her friend, with a cheerfulness that sounded oddly false. The other girls paused to listen. "We're going to be entering the Tiki Tack Surfing Championship, which is coming up soon, so we'll be practicing more often than usual for a while. I'll have to talk to you some other time." She turned, and walked away, and her companions followed: Ji's will was, for the moment, the guiding force of the group. It had happened before and it would happen again; the brunette was a natural boss. Watching them leave, Kara Lynn felt a little distressed for a moment - but she shook the feeling off. She wasn't being abandoned; Ji simply had something else to do, and the only proper way for Kara Lynn to react would be to let her have her time. I can't expect her to always want to hang out with me, the purple-haired girl told herself. Her wings itched, though, and she wished she was hanging out with Ji some place where she could pull off the restricting shirt and just hang out in swimsuit and shorts with the Buzz-like wings stretched out. "Well, hello," said a voice behind her - and Kara Lynn turned to see Nick Koryunno, holding up a little slip of paper. "I have a coupon - buy one smoothie, get one free. Would you care to join me?" And so Nick and Kara Lynn ended up walking the other way, arm in arm, and Kara Lynn forgot to be upset. |