Hi fellas! I'm guessing most of you are here from "The Fantastic Mr. Walker"? A few things might be a little tough to keep up with if you haven't read that one.
At any rate! I had a couple of ideas for one-shots that happen before the times of the main story, or side plots that would slow down the main plot too much (gosh knows it's already slow enough). So, despite the fact that "companion" collections never seem to do very well, I decided to go ahead with these anyway!
This first one-shot is a little extra background on what Skylor's up to right now. It takes place right after Chapter 27 and before Chapter 28, while Lloyd is out on that late patrol circuit. After the whole reveal of Kai's connections to Venomari spit, y'know?
Sept 11
3:30 PM
Patrol circuit: Zane and Lloyd
Status conditions: None
Lloyd was running the city patrol just a little haphazardly, to be honest. It was late in the day, and he had bigger things on his mind.
Still, about halfway through the circuit he started feeling hungry. Normally he'd have stuck it out till dinnertime, but he had a feeling that dinner was going to be a tense and gloomy affair tonight—if they even ate together at all. Maybe it would be better to fill up now and delay coming home until dinner was over.
Under this logic, he landed in the streets and headed down to Chen's House of Noodles.
He told himself that he only picked Chen's because it always had awesome food at really good prices, and it always had been one of his favorite restaurants—both of which were true—but to be honest there was a lot of nostalgia at work too. This was the same location where he had met with the others almost half a year ago, before they were summoned to the Tournament of Elements to rescue Zane. They had all been pretty miserable and dysfunctional back then, and things were feeling pretty miserable and dysfunctional now. Somehow it just felt appropriate to go there again.
Plus, you know. Curiosity. He wanted to see what Skylor had done with the place.
Seemingly she hadn't done much. As he sat munching chicken noodles in a booth by the conveyor belt—the same booth as last time, actually!—Lloyd eyed the establishment. Chen's restaurants had always been clean, modern, and brightly-lit, so there wasn't really much to be improved on there. He could almost have sworn that the place looked a little less clean than before, but maybe he was imagining that. The music playing over the speakers was the same samisen remixes of pop hits. Even the chicken noodles tasted exactly the same as always—not that that was a bad thing.
"Well well, look who's dropped by."
Lloyd nearly dropped his chopsticks. He snapped his gaze up from the tabletop, and there stood Skylor, grinning. Lloyd blinked. She was wearing the burgundy company apron—and roller skates.
"You're waitressing?!" he blurted.
"Nice to see you again too." Skylor gave an amused huff, and Lloyd blushed hotly.
"S-sorry. I was just—well—don't you . . . own the place now?"
"Ech." Skylor shrugged, then regretted it instantly when her skates slid in opposite directions. She windmilled for a moment and grabbed the edge of the table.
"Sorry, still getting the hang of these," she grunted. "Okay if I sit down?"
Lloyd, still a little wide-eyed from thinking she was about to fall, nodded mutely. Skylor flung herself into the seat opposite his.
"I need to ditch the roller-skates gimmick," she muttered, flexing her ankles gingerly. "I'd have ditched it already if it wasn't so iconic to the brand."
Lloyd studied her surreptitiously. Honestly, he'd never been able to blame Kai for falling head over heels for her—she was really quite eye-catching. And this was coming from a kid who was still struggling to heave himself out of his ten-year-old aversion to romance.
Still, something seemed a little different about Skylor now. She looked . . . tired. Almost older. The fire in her eyes had died a little.
"So," she said, plucking a bowl of veggie stir-fry from the conveyor belt and digging in. "Did the hotshot send you over here to spy on me or something?"
"Uh, no," said Lloyd indignantly. "I didn't even know you worked he—"
"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," laughed Skylor. "You've got bigger things to worry about. I'm gonna be the one pumping you for information."
"I might not talk." Lloyd smirked skeptically, not entirely sure she was joking.
"No, really." Skylor gestured with her chopsticks. "Spill the beans. How serious is he?"
"Serious? . . . "
"I've heard he has a reputation," said Skylor bluntly, digging into her stir-fry. "Is he for real? Or am I just girl number forty-four en route to forty-five?"
Lloyd stared for a moment, floored by her candor. Skylor waited with eyebrows raised, munching unconcernedly.
"I have no idea how to answer that," said Lloyd at last.
"I know, I know." Skylor sighed. "I get it. It's not a guy-talk kind of thing. But . . . well . . . do you know if he's seeing anyone else?"
"No!" sputtered Lloyd.
"Sorry." Skylor smiled apologetically. "I know it sounds like I'm painting him in a really bad light right now. It's not that I'm suspicious, it's just that . . . " She trailed off, stirring her vegetables.
Lloyd eyed her, wondering what in the world was going on in her fire-engine-red head. This was why he avoided all possible dealings with girls. Girls were mystical. Except for maybe Nya, who was at least quasi-comprehensible. On most days.
"I think he's pretty serious," he said at last. "I mean, he was so crazy for you that he nearly blew our entire mission on Chen's Island. He couldn't get over you even when he found out—uh, you know, about your dad. He wouldn't do that for just anyone. He's usually really careful about avoiding anything that could be a danger to the rest of us."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I mean, he knows how to—y-y'know—sort've get on a girl's good side—" Lloyd blushed, wondering how in the world he'd gotten himself into this kind of conversation "—b-but he never gets into an actual relationship with anyone, y'know? Except you." He hesitated, weighing what Skylor would like to know against what Kai would probably kill him for saying. "And, uh, he talks about you in his sleep sometimes. Definitely hasn't done that for anyone else."
Skylor gave a muffled snort.
"Sleeptalking? Really?"
"Yeah. Nobody's told him yet." Lloyd grinned lopsidedly.
Skylor chuckled, and a slightly awkward silence fell. Lloyd ventured to take a few more mouthfuls of noodles.
"I guess he really is serious," said Skylor distantly, fiddling a sugar pea between her chopsticks. Lloyd raised an eyebrow at her, his mouth still full of noodles. Could've fooled him, but Skylor didn't exactly sound happy to hear that. How did this make any sense?
"I have to admit, he's given me more credit than I deserve," continued Skylor, not looking up. "Not too many guys would be interested in a girl with former criminal connections . . . "
At those last two words a cold rock seemed to drop into Lloyd's stomach. For a moment there he'd almost forgotten about the entire sorry slobber-trading business. What would Skylor say if she knew about that?!
Then he relaxed slightly. She couldn't be too judgmental, right? It's not like she exactly had a spotless record herself. Heck, maybe she and Kai would be able to relate, two former lost souls struggling their way back onto the straight and narrow. They might even be good for each other that way.
Still, he thought he'd better not say anything about it right now. Kai was well aware of the danger of his situation, he would tell Skylor himself if and when he thought best.
"Look." Skylor suddenly pushed the bowl of stir-fry away. "I'm just gonna ask you straight, okay?"
Lloyd gulped. Straight asking was never a good sign.
"The fact of the matter is," said Skylor tiredly, "I'm kind of a trainwreck." She looked around the restaurant and leaned closer, lowering her voice. "My company is kind of a trainwreck."
"Wh . . . what?" stammered Lloyd.
"Why do you think I'm waitressing?" said Skylor ruefully. She gestured around at the mostly-empty dining hall. "Look at this place. It's not just because it's an off-peak time. It's almost always this empty."
"Ohhhh . . . " Lloyd whispered. Suddenly everything began to make sense.
"Running this chain has been a nightmare." Now that Skylor had started talking she seemed to be unwinding like a clockwork mouse. "It was really profitable before, so there was a lot saved up, but now it's all gone because of all the lawsuits. Everyone wants a piece of us—the food safety boards, the trade commission, all those workers my father kidnapped—and I can't say I blame any of them. I feel grateful I haven't been sent to jail. But now the company's a disgrace. I mean, would you want to eat at a place that used to make its noodles with slave labor?"
"Uhhh . . . well . . . " Lloyd eyed the ceiling awkwardly, twirling his chopsticks in his bowl.
"Okay, okay, so you're a special case," conceded Skylor. "But the public doesn't want any part of it. I've tried to get out the word that Chen's is under new management and everything's clean and legal now, but you know, that kind of thing doesn't go away. The only people interested in eating here—or working here—are thugs and hoodlums. And that just makes business worse, because who wants to take their family out for a nice dinner at a table next to the mafia's?" She sank back in her seat, sighing. "So, yeah. The company is in such a bad place right now that I'm pretty much running this central branch all by myself. I'm on the verge of shutting down some of the other locations."
"You mean you're . . . going out of business?"
"I don't know." Skylor rolled her chopsticks back and forth on the table, her gaze seemingly fixed straight through them. "I'm planning to stick it out as long as I can. Maybe I can pull through. But, y'know. It's kind of a grungy situation." She gave a weak smile. "It's not like I'm this well-to-do restaurateur or anything. Not anymore. I'm this crazy girl staying up till three AM to wash dishes and write to attorneys, running a riffraff magnet that just keeps getting shabbier. And . . . I'm not sure if that's what Kai signed up for. I mean, does he know he might end up with a bankrupt diner lady in his life?"
Lloyd looked her up and down. Man. He had a whole new respect for this woman now.
"I don't think that's gonna be a problem," he said. "Kai's not like that. He wouldn't walk out on you just because you're going through a bad time—he sticks with you tightest when you're in trouble."
"Yeah, but I was almost hoping he was just passing through," said Skylor. "I wouldn't want him to stick around just because he felt sorry for me . . . "
"It's not that. He just likes you. A lot. And he doesn't care about that background stuff."
"Man." Skylor rested her chin in her hand, smiling a little dreamily. "That's a thought . . . "
Lloyd nibbled at his meal in silence, eyeing the young redhead. For a second he had to wonder if there might not be something to this whole romance thing after all. Just seeing the way it made people feel, the way they responded to each other . . . there had to be something strong at work there. Maybe he just hadn't discovered it for himself yet.
Eventually Skylor shook herself out of her daydreams and gave Lloyd a smile.
"Well hey, thanks for telling me all that. I feel a little better about all of this now. And sorry for dumping it all on you—I don't have any girlfriends to yak with, and it's not like I have time to make any new ones."
"Ah, it's fine," said Lloyd, twitching his chopsticks dismissively. "Heh. I never thought I'd make such a good informant."
"Well, you're certainly the perfect little wingman." Skylor grinned back.
"Heyyyyyy, hey. The Green Ninja is no one's wingman," said Lloyd, lifting his chin. He considered for a moment, then smiled sheepishly. "Just to be fair, though—he, uh, doesn't really shave cats."
Skylor chuckled.
"I shouldn't be saying this, but—you keep on annoying him when we're on video chat, okay?" She grinned mischievously. "He's adorable when he's all flustered up."
"You should have seen him back at the Tournament." Lloyd grinned back. "For a while back there he thought you were his cousin."
"What?"
Lloyd found himself suddenly gifted with tongues. He told her all about the Tournament, and the weird tendency of technology to self-destruct when Kai touched it, and the prank war, and any number of funny stories he hadn't even known he'd remembered. Some of them he was pretty sure Kai would have wanted him to keep zipped, but he figured that the master of fire would willingly have traded a little embarrassment for the chance to cheer Skylor up, if he'd been here.
A tiny part of him kept whispering that he was a dirty rotten liar for keeping silent about the Venomari spit. But he pushed that train of thought way to the back of his mind.
Finally a few other customers drifted in, sitting down at a table. Skylor glanced in their direction and hastened to stand up, steadying herself on her skates.
"I've gotta get back to work, Goldilocks," she said, smiling. "Thanks so much for hanging around. I really needed that." She waved dismissively as Lloyd fumbled in his pocket. "No, no. The noodles are on the house."
"But—" stammered Lloyd.
"No, seriously. Friends don't pay." Skylor gave him a wink. "But if you really want to sing for your supper, could you do me a favor and give something from me to Kai?"
"S-sure!" Lloyd was still searching for change. "But are you really sure you don't want me to—" He broke off cold when Skylor leaned over the corner of the table to kiss his temple. He blinked up at her, somewhat terrified.
"Don't worry, that is not the thing," said Skylor, laughing. "That was just a thank-you and because you're adorable. This is the thing." She handed him an envelope. "Thanks in advance, kiddo. Take care, okay?"
Waving, she skated off to the back room. Lloyd sighed, tousling back his hair.
You're a slimy creep, the voice in the back of his head hissed. You're trying to hook this poor girl up with a drug dealer! Doesn't she have enough problems already?
He shook his head angrily in an effort to knock the annoying voice loose. Kai was a responsible guy. Also not an actual dealer. He'd tell Skylor the truth if he thought it might be important. And Skylor was savvy and self-reliant—she'd be able to make up her own mind if she didn't like what she heard. There was nothing wrong with encouraging them to stick together if they liked each other. It wasn't lying by omission. It wasn't.
He felt in his pocket again, wondering if he should leave a really substantial tip or something. But that might be a little insulting, especially after Skylor had insisted that he shouldn't pay . . .
Noticing a tip jar by the front register, Lloyd dumped all his pocket money into that on his way out. It was peanuts as far as running a restaurant was concerned, but it had to be better than nothing. With the envelope crinkling guiltily in his pocket, he took off to complete his patrol.
A/N: Oish. I can't seem to let go of the idea that running Chen's House of Noodles after Season 4 would be a really miserable business . . . Seriously tho, in Season 5 we see the place is empty on New Year's Eve, when there should be crowds of people in there having celebratory dinners. Plus Skylor, the supposed owner, was working behind the counter. In Season 6, she's still working there, and she's throwing rough customers out, too. Tough times for Chen's are practically canon by now.
. . . Then there's the fact that Kai seems to be "free" and available again by Season 6. Gotta wonder about that one.
Time and plot permitting, I may be able to tie this together with the main plot of "Fantastic Mr. Walker." And I already have ideas for at least two more bonus one-shots, so this thing is going to get updated at least a few times! Hopefully.
Thanks for reading, and drop a review if you could? ^_^''
