Elize's and Teepo's Impersonations of their Superpals
"Hmm…" Jude was busy managing the group's inventory. For some reason nobody was using any gels, but Milla still insisted on buying some at every shop they passed by and they were starting to add up.
"Jude, me and Teepo want to ask you something," Elize said.
"Huh? Sure, okay. What's up?"
Elize held her hands behind her back and crumpled her lips. "It's about these skits that we do all the time…"
Teepo spun around in the air and declared, "The skits are getting stale, you know! Me and Elize think it would be cool if we played some new characters!"
"What?" Jude gaped at the two of them. "Elize, they're not improv skits. They're just normal dialogues we have on our journey."
"Oh!" Elize turned held her hand over her mouth and tried to hide her reddened cheeks.
"What a fantastic idea, Jude!" Teepo said. "We should do some improv!"
"Huh? That's not what I said!" said Jude, taken aback by the suggestion.
"Alright, I'll be Alvin and Elize will be Milla," Teepo said.
"What?" Jude scratched his head and pursed his lips. He could see from Elize and Teepo's shining eyes that they were really set on the idea and he didn't want to be a wet blanket. But as long as they were going to do an impersonation… "Maybe I wanted to be Alvin."
"Fine, I'll be Jude," Teepo replied.
"But I'm right here! Anyway, isn't impersonation different from improv?"
"Alviiiiiin!" Teepo yelled.
"What, we're starting now?" Jude said, unprepared.
"Starting what, Alvin? Very suspicious," Elize said in a robotic tone. "Explain yourself. If you don't I'll leave you behind."
"He's going to betray us again and then me and Elize will be sad!" Teepo said. "It's because Alvin is a big fat liar!"
"Hey, you guys, hold on! I'm not ready…" Jude said, waving his hands. But Teepo and Elize just kept boring down on him with their suspicious glares. "Er… You know, I wouldn't betray you, because… uh…"
"Hey, come on!" the real Alvin cried out, interrupting the skit. "Is that supposed to be me?"
"Oh, Alvin! We were just… eh he he…" Jude turned red and scratched his nose.
"You don't have my character right at all! You need to be cooler and more charming!" Alvin ranted.
"Hey, Teepo wasn't doing a very good job as me, either!" Jude said.
"Teepo was great!" Elize retorted.
"Yeah I was! I'm a better Jude than Jude!"
"What's going on?" Milla asked, showing up with their latest batch of gels in her arms.
Alvin put his hands behind his head and casually replied, "Oh nothing. Elize was just pretending to be you."
"Is that so? They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and it could be amusing. Show me."
"W-well… I don't think…" Elize began.
Alvin flashed a toothy grin. "Go on. We're waiting. So dazzle us with your performance."
Elize's hands trembled at her sides and she got red in the face. "You're a jerk Alvin! We hate you!" She and Teepo ran away into the woods.
Alvin frowned. "Well that's just great. I guess you should go apologize Leia."
"Me? What'd I do? I just got here!" a bewildered Leia cried out.
Alvin shrugged. "Which is why Elize ran away! She doesn't like you, remember?"
"That's nonsense! Elize and I are great friends! And unlike some people, I wouldn't endanger her life to protect the whereabouts of a key thingamajig that some stupid handmaid is going to get tricked into using anyway."
"I don't know. I'm pretty sure I heard her say she hates you just now," Alvin said.
"Oh, yeah? Well here's my Alvin impersonation: Blah blah blah, I'm so cool, but all I do is torment little kids for fun! Bleh!" Leia stuck out her tongue.
"That was uncalled for!" Alvin said.
"Maybe you should calm down, Leia," Jude said, trying to keep the peace.
"No, I should calm up and give this chipmunk the upbraiding he deserves for tormenting little kids and then just playing it off like it was all good fun!"
Milla sighed. "You're all bickering like a bunch of children."
"Milla's right!" Jude said.
"Of course you think that," Leia murmured.
"Yeah, we should all stop bickering, right?" Jude said.
"Oh, no, I wasn't going to say that. It's actually quite entertaining to listen to," Milla said, donning a small grin.
"You're just a chipmunk!" Leia shouted at Alvin.
"Whoa! I didn't even say anything!" Alvin said, raising his hands defensively as Leia bore down on him.
Jude sighed. "Forget it. I'll go find Elize by myself."
So while Milla amused herself listening to Alvin and Leia fight, Jude headed into the forest to look for Elize. It wasn't long before his ears picked up her sniveling and he found her. "You alright Elize? I know Alvin was pretty mean to embarrass you like that in front of Milla."
"I guess so," Elize said. She rubbed away her tears.
Jude gave Elize a good talk to cheer her up. Her and Teepo's spirits were restored from Jude's kind words and she perked up when Jude said her impersonation of Milla was pretty good. At the end of their conversation, Jude grinned and asked, "What do you say, Elize? Want to go back to the others and show Milla your impersonation of her?"
"Yeah! Let's do it Teepo!"
"I'll show her my impersonation of Jude, too!"
When Jude, Elize and Teepo approached the rest of the gang, Alvin and Leia were still fighting. But when Elize cleared her throat and announced that she and Teepo would show them their impersonations, everyone got quiet and focused their attention on the performance.
"I'll be Milla and Teepo will be Jude," Elize said.
"I'm ready!" Teepo cried out.
Elize cleared her throat. In a robotic tone, she announced, "I am Maxwell and it is my duty to destroy all spyrix."
"Hey, let me help you, Milla!" Teepo said.
"Very well, but if you slow me down I'll leave you behind."
"Whaaaat? But I thought we were superpals, Milla!"
"We're not, Jude. I'd sacrifice you in a heartbeat if I needed to do so to complete my mission."
"Waaaaaah! You're mean, Milla! I hate you! I'd rather hang out with my superpals Elize and Teepo!" Teepo flew off behind a tree wailing and crying. Then he flew back around and said, "See? We're great actors!"
At the conclusion of the skit, Milla looked to Jude. "Was that all true, Jude?"
"What? It was just a skit!"
"Hmph. If you want to hang out with your superpals, I can just leave you behind." Milla gathered up her gels and headed off into the woods by herself. "Darn it!" she muttered when she had to leave some of the gels behind because she could only carry fifteen of each kind. "If only we had the GRADE bonus that lets us carry ninety-nine!"
"Wait, Milla! That wasn't me! It was just Teepo pretending to be me! Milla!"
Alvin chuckled and Leia smiled awkwardly as Jude ran after Milla.
All of a sudden, Rowen leapt down from a tree into the midst of them and yelled out, "Time for a duet!"
Wah! But I can't sing!" Leia cried out.
"That's alright. I can't conduct either," Rowen said.
"I'll sing!" said Elize, volunteering.
When they heard Elize was going to sing, Jude and Milla got curious and came back to listen. Elize sang a song, but she didn't sing very well. It wasn't as though it was outright awful since the lyrics were good and the song fun to listen to, but it was inarguable that Elize's singing wasn't good. Still, everyone was very patronizing of her since she was a child, and they all said it was a great song.
"So that's what good music sounds like, huh? I read a great deal about songs in books, but I don't think I've ever heard one before." Milla couldn't tell that Elize's song hadn't been very good because she didn't understand art, and since everyone was giving Elize praise she just assumed that the song was the height of artistic perfection. She put her hand over her chin and contemplated the thing.
"That was great, Elize!" Leia said, because they clearly had yet to heap enough praise on the girl.
"Yeah! You're totally better at singing than the rest of us," said Jude.
Alvin looked up at the sky. With a serious mien, he said, "Better be careful, though. I hear kids who sing too much strain their underdeveloped vocal chords and lose the ability to speak."
"What? No way! There's no way that's true!" Elize cried out in horror.
"You're a big fat liar, Alvin!" Teepo yelled.
"Yeah, a big fat liar!" Elize said, but with an edge of uncertainty.
"Are you so sure? Well, it's your voice. If you want to end up mute for the rest of your life…"
Jude sighed. "Stop it, Alvin."
"Yeah, stop it, you chipmunk!" Leia said.
"Yaaargh!" Teepo flew right at Alvin and bit down on his head.
"Ahhh! Get off of me!"
Alvin managed to get Teepo off his head and throw him into the air.
Teepo made a face and stuck out his tongue. "Yuck! Tastes like a lying traitor! Hmm… but there is an aftertaste of peach pie."
"Why you! Didn't anybody tell you it's rude to taste people?" Alvin said. "And you messed up my hair!" He furiously ran his hands through his hair to fix the damage.
"Are you sure he doesn't taste like a chipmunk?" Leia asked with a smirk.
Everybody laughed except for Alvin. He scowled at them for a little while, then he just sighed and forced a grin.
"Well, that was certainly amusing," Milla said. "But you're all slowing me down, so I'll have to leave you behind now." She scooped up as many gels as she could and then summoned Sylph so she could fly through the sky.
"Milla, wait!" Jude said. He ran after her, but had difficulty keeping up.
"Jude!" Leia cried out.
Everyone fell in line behind Jude and the whole gang chased after Milla.