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Series One Episode Sixty-Three Anton Rheinhold buttoned the collar of his designer shirt, polished a nonexistant speck of dust from his leather shoes, and ran a comb through his perfect blond hair one more time before heading for the door. "Moooorning, Ants!" a loud, boisterous voice sang out. Anton sighed heavily as a red techo burst out from under his bed with a broad grin on her face. "Good morning, Juno Hana," he replied in a calm tone. "I believe I have asked you once before not to call me 'Ants.'" "Riiight," Juno said with a slow nod. Her grin never faltered. "How about Anty?" "No." "An? Tony? Toto? How about I just call you Valerius? Valerius is a cool name..." Anton ignored her and headed out. In the hall he paused to tap on the door of his mother's study. Clair Rheinhold looked up from her paperwork just long enough to acknowledge her son's presence. "Ah, good morning, Anton!" she said with a cheerfulness he'd learned to recognize as false. "Good morning, mother. Are you by any chance free this afternoon at three thirty?" "I'm sorry, honey, I'm just too busy today. Your father has an important meeting coming up and I need to help him prepare." She looked wistful for a moment. "I wonder if he'll come home for dinner tonight . . . " Then she shook her head, chiding herself for getting distracted. "Anyway, Anton, don't you need to be getting to school?" "Yes, I know." Anton picked up his school bag. At the door he paused and glanced back at his mother. "You have a taiko concert this weekend, correct?" "Yes," she replied without looking up from the stack of budget proposals. He nodded stiffly. "I'll be there." Because we both know Father won't. "Get your homework done first," was all she said. Anton sighed and turned to leave. "A Techo concert?" Juno piped up excitedly, shimmying up a lamp in the living room. "What's that? Sounds cool!" She grinned, bracing herself for a daring leap to the sofa across the room. Anton rolled his eyes. "For the last time, it's taiko, not Techo!" * He cringed as Juno missed the sofa entirely and crashed into his mother's prized Gilded Peophin Vase. "I'll pay for that," Juno groaned from the floor. Anton saw his mother slowly and deliberately set down her pen and rise from her chair, a murderous glare in her eyes. He made a quick escape before things got ugly. Zelda Amaryou had beaten him again. Anton's clenched fist trembled as he stared at the test paper on his classmate's desk. A bright red "99" was marked at the top, heralding his defeat. Zelda was, at the moment, fretting over the one answer she'd missed. He watched as she shook her pen in an attempt to make it write. Suddenly, blue ink sprayed all over her face and hands. She made a small sound of annoyance and searched her bag for a tissue. Anton stared dejectedly at his own score of 97. He'd signed up for a psychology elective class knowing that it was filled mostly with freshmen, who he'd assumed would be easy prey. It was enough to be beaten, but to be beaten by a fourteen-year-old was more than he could bear. He would have his revenge. As it happened, he got his chance right after class. As he headed down the hall toward his locker, he spied Gami Tenbo and her gang clustered around Zelda's locker. Anton plastered on a snide smirk and joined the group. "Hey Genius Girl," Gami jeered, flicking one of Zelda's green ponytails. "Isn't it a bit early for a Halloween costume?" The popular girls exploded into giggles. "What's the matter, little Miss Perfect?" one of Gami's cheerleader friends taunted. "Haven't you got any comebacks in that vast lexitron of yours?" "Lexicon," Jenna corrected under her breath. Gami shot her a glare. "Nothing that wouldn't bring me down to your level," Zelda retorted flatly. "Oh, did we hurt your feelings?" Anton drawled, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm terribly sorry. But..." He leaned closer, narrowing his aqua eyes at her. "I won't be sorry when I humiliate you on the next test," he said, softly so that only she could hear. "I didn't stay up three nights in a row studying to come in second. I'm going to be number one. Don't forget that." Gami, meanwhile, was a bit peeved at the newcomer stealing her thunder. She moved in, nudging Anton out of the way. "And that sweater is so last season. Get a clue." "Oh yes," Anton said with a smirk. "Why don't you tell her what this year's fashions are, Gami? Surely you went to the latest exhibition in Faerieland." In truth he suspected she hadn't gone, and was looking for the chance to embarrass her. So he was quite dismayed when Gami said "Yes, actually. I flew there in my father's private jet." This of course was a lie, but Anton didn't know that. "What's this?" a girl's voice cut in. "Two snobs trying to outdo each other? Talk about lame." Anton glanced around and saw a tough looking girl with pigtails standing with her hands on her hips. In truth, his first instinct was to run away, but he made himself turn to face her. "Melony, isn't it?" he said as contemptuously as he could. "What do you want?" Melony walked up and pushed him lightly. "You leave my friend alone." Anton tossed his head haughtily. "Resorting to violence, are we? Honestly, you lower-class people are so crude." He plucked Melony's hand from his shirt, flicking it aside as if it were something dirty. But Melony looked ready to introduce him to her right foot, so he figured it was time to make an exit. Careful now, he told himself. Don't look too eager to get away. He looked at his watch, making sure in the process that everyone could see it was an expensive Faerie brand, made of sterling silver. If these ruffians even knew fine jewelry when they saw it, that is. "Oh my, just look at the time. I'd better get to my next class, so I'll see you ladies--and I use that term loosely-- later." As he walked away, he flashed the popular girls his best dashing-debonair smile, making them all squeal. All except Gami. She was scowling at Anton's retreating figure. Ooh, he's good, she thought. But I'm better . . . "Honestly, Sloth, are you sure this thing's gonna work?" Sailor Chia was referring to a large, rather cumbersome contraption that vaguely resembled a vaccuum cleaner. "Of course it'll work! I invented it!" "Great, I feel so much better now," Chia muttered as she strapped the thing on. "What was that?" Sloth asked, his voice growing low and dangerous. "Nothing." "Anyway," Sloth continued, "the EnergyVac 9000 has two settings, controlled by these two buttons." He indicated a pair of buttons on the handle, one red and the other blue. "Push the blue button for Absorption Mode, which allows you to steal energy from everyone in range. The energy is stored in the tanks on your back. The pressure is indicated on this meter. If the tank pressure gets too high, or if you get in trouble, you can use the red button to activate Blast Mode." "Blast Mode?" Sailor Chia repeated incredulously. "Yes, Blast Mode! Is there a problem with that?" Sloth snapped. "Now, as I was saying, Blast Mode will reverse the direction of the energy, shooting it back at your opponents in a devastating attack!" Chia's eyebrows arched. "Hmm. I suppose you do have a good idea once in a while." That afternoon, Melony, Kami, and Zelda were strolling together through the bustling Main Street shopping district. "Man, Miss Kanker gave us soooo much homework," Kami complained. Zelda shrugged. "I got mine done during class." The other two eyed her enviously. She changed the subject. "Where's Leslie today?" "She had to stay over late at Inigmah," Kami answered. "They've got some kind of lab project..." They walked on quietly for a moment, thinking of their friend. "Say, did you hear?" Melony said, breaking the silence. "They've come out with some new Apple Jelly battledome items. I'm thinking about heading over to the battle magic shop to check it out." "Apple Jelly, huh?" Kami said with a grin. "They're for fighting, not eating." Kami seemed to deflate. "Oh." At that very moment, Anton was having a heated "discussion" with the owner of the battle magic shop. "What do you mean, you don't have a Rainbow Swirly Thing?" he said indignantly, as if it were the simplest of requests. "Now look here, young man," the yellow Grarrl behind the counter argued. "You've no place telling me what I ought to stock in my own shop." Anton would've said more, but suddenly he felt something hard and cool pressed against his back. He froze. A gun?! The terrified look on the shopkeeper's face told him that whoever was behind him wasn't friendly. Sailor Chia chuckled softly as she brandished the EnergyVac 9000. "I knew there'd be a big crowd here, what with the new items and all. You'll be perfect guinea pigs for my latest toy!" With that, she pressed the blue button, and a dark vortex opened in the machine, draining energy from everyone in the shop. Anton screamed. Across the street, Zelda's ears perked up as she heard a distant explosion followed by screams. She froze, straining to pinpoint the source. Kami and Melony saw the look on her face and feared the worst. "Did you hear something?" Zelda nodded. "I think we've got trouble..." Anton and the rest of the shop's customers collapsed as Sloth's machine continued to absorb their energy. "Well well," Sailor Chia said with satisfaction. "The tank's half full already!" She felt something tug at her ankle. She looked down in annoyance to see Anton, who was making a rather pathetic attempt to glare at her. "You..." he hissed, his voice a dry whisper. "My mother will sue you for this..." She shook him off and laughed. "Is that the best threat you can come up with?" She powered up her attack. "Chia Chaos--" "Zafara Flame!" Chia was caught off guard and fell flat on her face, her attack dissolving. She jumped up angrily and beat out a small fire that had sprung up on the edge of her skirt. "I should've known you losers would interrupt," she hissed. Moehog frowned, hands on her hips. "I don't know what you're planning, Chia, but you won't get away with it!" Anton thought her pose and her voice seemed very familiar somehow... "Acara Tumble!" "Chia Chaos Shield!" Acara cried out as she was knocked back and crashed into Zafara. Moehog helped them both up, and Chia took the opportunity to recharge her machine. "Allow me to demonstrate Doctor Sloth's newest invention!" Chia gloated. "The EnergyVac 9000 is highly efficient at stealing energy from large groups of civilians... or teams of Sailor Neopets!" With that she turned it on the girls. They gasped as they felt their energy being sucked into the vacuum. Anton was making plans to crawl to the door and escape, but suddenly he recalled something his father had said to him, on one of the rare occasions he'd been home. "Don't ever back down, Anton, and don't ever run away. A real man faces his obstacles." That's right, he thought. What would people think of me if I ran like a coward? He got to his feet slowly and grabbed an Apple Jelly Sword from the wall. "I'm going to borrow this," he informed the shopkeeper. The Grarrl was too unconscious to argue. Anton pointed the sword at Chia and shouted in the most intimidating voice he could muster, "Hold it right there!" Chia turned slowly. "You!" she said scornfully. "Back for more?" The Sailor Neopets looked behind them, and were equally surprised to see Anton clumsily wielding the sword. Chia rolled her eyes. "Please. I don't have time for this." She pressed the blue button, and the sword was yanked from Anton's hands and sucked into the vortex with a slurping sound. The evil senshi laughed insanely, then proceeded to turn the vacuum on Anton. The young man cried out involuntarily as he felt his life-force ebbing away. He tried to fight it, but this was the second time Chia had used the vacuum on him, and he was growing weaker by the second... Acara and Moehog formed a protective wall in front of him. "I'll get the innocents out of here!" Zafara told them. "Hold her off until I get back!" Anton could see that they were struggling too, but they managed to stand firm as Zafara dragged him outside. Soon she was back with more unconscious users and pets. Last of all was the shopkeeper. It was taking Zafara a notable amount of effort to move the massive Grarrl, but she managed to get him outside and lay him next to Anton. It was then that Anton noticed the blue ink stains that speckled Sailor Zafara's face. He remembered that morning, when Zelda had shaken her pen too hard... No. It couldn't be. But it all added up: the pigtails, the ink stains, the vague familiarity. Suddenly all the connections fell into place. The girls he'd tormented this morning were now fighting valiantly to save his life. "Moehog Kick!" Sailor Moehog shouted, striking at the EnergyVac. Her foot glanced off harmlessly, but the force of the blow sent Chia staggering. Sailor Chia checked the tank meter and saw that it was well past full. "What's the matter? You want your energy back?" she asked mockingly. "Okay! Blast Mode!" She grinned wickedly as she pressed the red button. "What kind of a name is Blast Mode?" Moehog muttered as they braced themselves for the attack. Suddenly, half a dozen warning lights started flashing on the machine. Chia's eyes widened as an annoyingly polite voice announced "Warning! Weapons System Malfunction..." What?! Don't tell me... this stupid contraption's jammed! A few seconds later, the entire machine exploded. Moehog, Acara, and Zafara braced themselves against the powerful blast. Chia, who had the machine strapped to her back, took the full force of the explosion. It threw her across the room and into the wall. The battered senshi pulled out her communicator. "Sailor Chia requesting emergency teleport!" she said between coughs. When the smoke cleared, she was gone. "Just for the record," Chia gasped as she materialized back on the space station, "this time it was all your fault." Sloth said nothing, which meant she was right. "Mooorning, Valerius!" Juno boomed, jerking the covers off Anton's bed. Anton just moaned, too tired to make a retort. I can't believe it . . . he thought to himself. Those girls were superheroes? Now how am supposed to face them at school? Especially Zelda . . . "C'mon, c'mon, up and at em!" the techo insisted. "You don't want to be late for school, do ya?" Anton reluctantly sat up and started getting dressed. "They saved my life," he muttered. "Even after the way I treated them, why did they still save me?" "What's that?" Juno asked. "Nothing. Forget it." Anton waited anxiously as Mr. Knobuerk handed back their tests. The paper hit his desk, and he hesitated a moment before cautiously turning it over. One hundred percent. Anton felt like cheering. He felt like jumping up on his desk and doing a victory dance. He felt like announcing to the world, "Today I, Anton Rheinhold, have conquered Psychology!!" But he settled for a quiet smirk. "Wow, Zelda! You got a hundred and five?!" "Yeah. Isn't extra credit great?" Anton just stared, feeling, if possible, even more stupid than he had the previous day when she had saved his life. Then he buried his face in his arms, and stayed like that for the rest of the hour. |