Series One Episode Forty-Nine The large grey building loomed over head, not menacingly - just with unfamiliarity. The sounds of the city surrounded Isis as she approached the green metal doors leading inside. 'Neopia Central High School..' she thought to herself as she opened the heavy door. 'What a drag it would be to go here.' The tall blonde stepped into the crowds of bustling students, all wearing the same bland uniform. It was obviously just before class, as everyone was pushing through the hallways and slamming lockers shut. And as she stood at the entrance, Isis could only frown in disbelief at how horrible it would be to be a student here. With her short dyed blonde hair messily tamed by a chard of embroidered fabric and chunky black earrings, she gave off an almost bohemian vibe among the uniformly dressed students. She simply displayed carefree style in comfortable olive khakis and a snug green bomber jacket over a knitted pastel sweater. And at 6 feet tall, she had a great vantage point - if only she knew where she was going... A bell rung harsh in her ears. And suddenly the hallway was empty. Isis began walking down the hallway and glanced at the crumpled paper in her hands. English Office - Second floor Room 205
'Second floor?..' She didn't see any stairs anywhere. The hallway seemed to stretch into endlessness, the rows of grey lockers and dingy white floor like a bland tunnel. Running footsteps were approaching fast from behind, and as she turned, a girl dashed past her, long brown hair and flappy collar flickering behind. The girl turned a sharp right and disappeared. 'How odd,' she thought to herself, keeping her pace on the polished white floor. A tall man in a collared t-shirt and greying hair appeared from a room to her right, and looked up at her, surprise in his expression as he spotted her. "Oh, you must be Isis. Monica told me you'd be here. I'm Curtis Johnson." He introduced himself curtly and held out a dry hand which she shook politely. "Yes, Ms. Narula said I could pick up some text books here." "Right, I'll get them for you.. Just follow me." He turned and walked into a teal door with the number 205 on the front. Isis followed. "So she tells me the English resources at Inigmah aren't to your liking, is that right?" Curtis implored. Isis shook her head and looked around the large room, text books stacked in boxes and shelves. "Inigmah is a specialty school, as you know - And all I need to get a credit for High School graduation is an Advanced Li. course. So I figure I'd get on that." She lied convincingly. She knew everything there was to know about literature already. Isis just wanted some good books to read that she wouldn't have to pay for. "Well take your pick - Recommended books for the course are listed here," he pointed to a list on the wall, "And you can select whatever you want." With a smile, he turned and walked out the door, leaving Isis alone in the huge white room. A stack of thick gold and black books on the floor caught her eye and Isis bent down to investigate. The top book was inscribed with gold carvings and a huge green eye stared back at her, inset into the cover. She traced her finger around it once before opening it. 'Book of Vision... Weird.' - Just then the door opened, and Isis looked up to see a fair girl with long blonde hair standing in the doorway. "Is this the book room??" The girl demanded. Isis lifted one brow and stood up, wiping the dust on her pants as she did so. "Obviously." The girl walked in... (no- strutted in), and stared at Isis with distrusting blue eyes. The girl thrust the book towards her and shifted her weight to one hip. "Put this where it needs to go." The girls simply looked at each other, green to blue, before the long-haired girl whimpered and turned away to do the job herself. "You must not go to school here.." "No, I go to school on Mystery Island." "Pshh!!! What, really?" The girl flung herself around to face her, head cocked to one side and looked her up and down disapprovingly. "Oh my god, that explains the unfortunate wardrobe then..." Silence followed until Isis simply dropped the book with a slam that resounded through the silent room for a few seconds before she flicked her hair to the side and strode up to the shorter blonde. She placed her hands on her hips and bit the inside of her lip as she stared her down. "Unless you want those pretty blue eyes rimmed with purple and black, I wouldn't suggest speaking to me like that." Came the simple challenge. And that was seemingly all it took... With a little pout of her pink lips, the girl rolled her eyes and huffed dramatically. And with that, she flicked her long golden hair and strode out the door, slamming it closed behind her. "Public School..." Isis muttered in disbelief. She scooped up her striped bag and gathered up the Book of Vision (among others), without once regarding the text book list given to her. And out the door she went. Outside the sun was shining, and teenagers were on their morning break.. Some were laughing with friends, flirting with the opposite sex, sitting glumly in the shadows.. Some were enjoying a quick smoke before class started again. All were divided into groups standing in small crowds. Occasionally a student would dash between, followed by giggles and happy faces, except for one particular posse which hunched into itself with rigid shoulders and critical eyes. Pink lips moved rapidly there, matched only by the flickering eyes. And among the group of about 7 or 8, stood the short blonde from the book room. She spotted Isis strolling across the street towards the harbor and made quick work catching up with her. "Hey wait!" She called breathlessly as she grabbed her elbow. Isis could only look down at the girl with surprise. "Look, sorry if I was a bitch. It's been a rough day.. Ugh, I mean, just look at my hair." She explained miserably, motioning to her hair. It looked flawless. "It's okay, I understand." Isis lied with a sideways smile. "My name's Gami." "I'm Isis." "Cool, well I was thinking maybe if I'm ever at Mystery Island, like having a beach party, maybe you could come?" Gami turned back around to her posse and met eyes with a tall brown-haired guy who was blushing furiously and looked away. 'Obviously his intent, not hers...' Isis concluded with a small grin. "Sure, that'd be cool. I live in the big jelly house east of the market. Just drop by whenever, I guess." In actuality, she could never imagine herself hanging out with a bunch of 14 year olds, much less a shy freshman who wanted to date her.. Uugh..That's why she gave Gami incredibly inaccurate information. With a giggle, Gami tossed her hair and grinned big. "Huhkay! Cool, well, see ya around!" "Bye.." Isis turned away made a horrified face. What an incredibly WEIRD encounter. She picked up her pace and continued towards the harbor... BOOM The earth shook under her feet and she jolted forward to keep her balance. Crowds of people and Neopets screamed and raced in an enormous stampede from the Market Place, racing past Isis who was sprinting in the other direction, towards the white cloud of steam billowing into the sky. Some uncontrollable curiosity pushed her towards the origin of the destruction, apparently coming from the wishing well. "My god, the wishing well exploded!" "Sloth! It's Sloth, everyone get out of here!" "Just get out of here!" Came the urgent shrieks from the masses. And revealed hovering above the wishing well stood a cackling girl with orange and purple hair, clad in what appeared to be Sailor Neopet fuku. As the hot steam dissipated into the afternoon sky, a few dozen Grundos were doing hard labor gathering the gold and silver coins now scattered on the grass. Before she knew it, four Sailor Neopets had arrived. "LUPE NEO POWER! MAKE UP!" came one shout, followed similarly by others including Quiggle, Zafara, and Uni. In a flurry of colors and beams of light directed at the Grundos, Isis shielded her face and stepped backwards a few feet. She didn't want to get caught up in anything like THIS. The orange and black clad girl had disappeared in a black flicker and a shrill giggle, leaving just a few gigantic Grundos behind. A vortex of fire flung out and was quickly extinguished. Another Grundo was knocked down by a smattering of water. Isis simply watched in disbelief. "HEY YOU! PICK UP YOUR PEN ALREADY!" came a shriek from one of the girls. Isis moved her gaze over to see someone was pointing at her and motioning frantically to a metal cup and red plastic pen. She raised one eyebrow and knelt down to lift it up. The Sailor who yelled at her looked back and in a panic, pounced on a Grundo in a flurry of green. A tingling sensation vibrated through from the pen and up her arm, a surge of power mysteriously enveloping her. And everything around her seemed to go mute although the fighting continued. "Lenny Neo Power, Make Up!" Isis felt herself call out. Though she didn't see it, two feathers had fallen from the sky and exploded into thousands of tiny feathers that swirled around her in a gust of wind. And as they settled, she looked down to see herself in a white and red outfit. Her hair felt pinned up. Then everything seemed to come back to life. There was a scream as the sailor in the light blue fuku was thrown backwards, landing painfully on the pavement. And almost was suddenly there was a horrible sound as the Grundo was defeated in a flurry of fire and wind. One of the four girls hurriedly approached her as the two others glad in green attended to the fallen sailor. "Isis! You're Sailor Lenny!" She cried out. Her long blonde hair settled on her shoulders familiarly. It was Gami. "Great." Isis spat sharply, inspecting her uniform more closely. She looked back up with narrowed green eyes at Gami. "And I suppose now I'm going to have to run around with you kids and fight crime and all that." Sailor Zafara was running up to her then and pushed herself in front of Gami who was opening her mouth to protest. "You've got to!" Zafara chirped, "You're part of the team to help defeat--- " "Hey, I KNOW what Sailor Neopets do." Isis interrupted, looking down at the petite brunette. She sighed and shot her gaze towards the mess they had just created by the Wishing Well. "...Fine." "Not like you have a choice, anyway.." Gami muttered, obviously not happy with her own situation as a Sailor Neopet. She tossed a lock of blonde hair over her shoulder and turned to yell at Leslie. "Hey, Lupe-face! Let's book it out of here, eh?" Sailor Lupe nodded as she helped the shaky Sailor Quiggle to her feet. "I'm Zelda." The short girl with green streaked hair stated. "That's Leslie, Tammy, and Gami. Sailors Lupe, Quiggle, and Uni. I'm Zafara." "Isis Florien." "Nice!" She smiled perkily. "We should hang out sometime." "...Yeaahh, if I'm ever in Neopia Central. I don't come here often - I live on Mystery Island." Isis hardly realized she had changed back into her usual attire until she felt a black beaded bracelet clinging to her wrist. She turned to leave. "Okay, well, see ya around then!" Zelda called. "Not if I can help it.." Isis muttered under her breath as she shouldered her book bag and headed back to the harbor. Great. Why is it that I have to be burdened with this? If life wasn't busy enough, now I'm supposed to be some hero.... |