"Oooh....." Sheen's eyes widened happily. Lying on the ground looking through some comic magazine, he had found something that he liked. Liked very much. And couldn't live another second without shouting it to someone else. "Jimmy! Carl!" he said loudly. Both of the other boys jumped, they had gotten used to the quiet that came with Sheen's reading of anything that mentioned or even just might mention Ultralord.
"Wha-"
"Look!" Sheen threw the magazine in front of Jimmy before he could say another word.
"Oh, wow." Jimmy said. "An Ultralord convention, right here in Retroville. I suppose you want to go?" he asked.
The question required no answer, but Sheen answered anyway. "Yes!" he said, determined. "And you guys have to go with me! You have too! Okay? I don't think my mom will let me go alone." he said.
"It does sound fun, I've never been to a convention on that kind of subject before." Jimmy said.
"Trust me Jimmy, it'll be fun. It'll be cool. It might even be the coolest thing ever!"
"Well, I don't know about that, but-" Jimmy began.
"EVER!" Sheen shouted.
"Can I see?" Carl said, and then was handed the magazine ad. "Oh! Can I go too?" he asked hopefully.
"Weren't you just listening? You have to go." Sheen said.
"All right!" Carl said happily. The boys agreed quickly enough. Little did they know about what they were getting into.
Jimmy woke up early the Saturday of the weekend that they were going to the convention center for a weekend of Ultralord. Although he wasn't as obsessed as Sheen with the program, he still liked Ultralord and was excited about going. Not only did it mean a weekend of geekdom and sugar highs, but a weekend without his parents. His parents had agreed to let him go without adult supervision. So had Sheen's and Carl's. They would certainly have some unsupervised mischief. But they would still be responsible enough to be trusted later, of course.
Jimmy got ready quickly enough, he checked his watched and saw that it was 5:45AM as he headed to start up his hovercar. He jumped in surprise as he saw someone there waiting for him. "Hey Jimmy, what took you so long?" Sheen asked as he hopped out in front of him.
"Ah! Oh, hi Sheen. Didn't I say I'd pick you up at your house?"
"Yeah, but I got tired of waiting for you. We're going to be late, we'd better hurry up!" Sheen shook Jimmy.
"Calm down Sheen, it's not even six yet. We'll be fine."
"If we don't want to wait on a long time, we should be there by two thirty! AM!" Sheen fretted.
"Well, then I guess we're already late, aren't we?" Jimmy said as he took off.
He hoped it would calm Sheen down. But Sheen only became more hyper. "No! We're late! Hurry up Jimmy, I don't want to miss the welcome ceremony." he shook Jimmy around some more, and the hovercar went crooked.
"Cut it out, I'm driving!" Jimmy pushed him aside.
"Fine, just hurry up and get there."
"As soon as I pick up Carl." Jimmy promised.
"Carl! Why is he so slow?"
Only about ten minutes later, they arrived to the Retroland Convention Center. There were a lot of cars, some even with out of state license plates, in the parking lot. The place was crowded with cars, but only a few people like them could be seen like them getting ready to go inside. "What time is it?" Sheen asked.
"Only a few minutes to six." Jimmy said after looking at his watch.
"Oh no! We're really late! I'd better get on my costume." Sheen said, and crouched down in the car.
"Your what?" Jimmy asked. His hearing was perfectly good, but he really hoped that Sheen wasn't really... Well, as he stood back up again, it was obvious that he was.
"Ta da!" Sheen struck a pose identical to Ultralord's. It was fitting, because he was in a very realistic Ultralord costume. Or, at least as realistic as Ultralord costumes got. From a glance it looked to be exactly the same as the one from the TV show, except Sheen's size of course. Jimmy and Carl both stared at it, a little surprised.
"Very impressive." Jimmy complimented him.
"Yeah, that's really good, Sheen." Carl said.
"I didn't know you were making one. You could have asked for my help, I would have helped you add realistic-"
"Come on Jimmy, even when you have a boy genius as a friend, sometimes you just have to do things for yourself. But since you're offering to help, I haven't done my homework yet this weekend, want to give it a try?" Sheen offered.
"No." Jimmy replied right away.
"Come on! I'll give you a dollar."
"Imitating your handwriting and grade patterns are more trouble than it's worth. Especially if it's only worth a dollar." Jimmy said.
"Fine, whatever, let's just go!" Sheen hopped out of the car.
"You're going to just walk in with that on?" Carl asked.
"Yeah." Sheen said. "Now hurry up."
Jimmy and Carl looked at each other. Jimmy decided to be the one to approach him. "Sheen, are you sure you want to wear that inside?" he asked.
"Yes already! Hurry up, you two slowpokes!" Sheen shouted impatiently.
"Well, you might want to reconsider." Jimmy suggested.
"Why?" Sheen spun around and faced them.
"There might be a dress code.. One that we'd want to adhere to. Dressing like that would certainly be against it. You wouldn't go to school dressed like that, would you?"
"Why not?" Sheen asked Jimmy.
"Because you'd get kicked out, remember? And you wouldn't want to get kicked out of here, would you?" Jimmy asked.
"Of course not." Sheen said. "Now let's go."
"But the costume..." Jimmy protested.
"Jimmy, Carl, you've never been to a convention before, have you?" Sheen spoke slowly with understand.
"No." the other two boys replied.
"Well, everyone's in costume. Like that guy." Sheen pointed to a kid that was a little younger than them, and also had on an Ultralord costume. "And that guy, too." he pointed to a man who was at least in his mid-thirties, but still wearing a Ultralord costume. "My costume is way better than any of their's." he said disdainfully.
"Yeah..." Jimmy hesitantly agreed. "Well, never mind. Let's go!" he said, and the trio ran towards the entrance.
Jimmy, Sheen, and Carl had been standing in line for what seemed like forever. Other impatient surrounded them in the cramped hallway. "What time is it?" Sheen asked Jimmy.
"It's 7:55, same as when you asked me twenty seconds ago, Sheen." Jimmy was starting to get testy. He wasn't the only one, several people glared in Sheen's direction.
"Okay." Sheen leaned against the wall and flipped up his Ultralord mask. He looked around the hall, stared at an Ultralord poster, then became bored again. "What time is it?" he asked Jimmy.
"7:56." Jimmy sighed.
"Okay." Sheen said. "Wait!" he stepped forward, and the mask fell down in front of his eyes again. "The opening ceremony is in four minutes! We're going to miss it if we don't get to our passes SOON!"
Jimmy looked to the front of the line. They weren't that far, but at the rate the line was moving, they certainly weren't going to make it. "Sorry, Sheen. We'll just ask someone else what happened in the opening ceremony."
"We can't ask someone else. We have to BE THERE!"
Jimmy shrugged. "How do you suggest we do that?"
"Can't you use your brain blast or something? Get us to the front of the line?" Sheen suggested to Jimmy.
"Sheen, the only way to do that would be to cut in line. And that wouldn't be fair to those other people. Would it?"
"Who cares." Sheen began to walk to the front to try and cut. Jimmy and Carl pulled him back. "Guys! Stop it! I've got to go to the ceremony. Ultralord is going to be there, I bet! I want to see him again. Let go!"
"If we get kicked out of here, it'll be no Ultralord for anyone." Jimmy said.
"Fine..." Sheen became placid again, and flipped up his Ultralord mask and leaned against the wall. There was that poster again. "Hey Jimmy, what time is it?"
Before Jimmy could answer, the man in front of them made a noise of frustration. "We're all in the same line, you're just annoying all of us! Shut up kid!"
"You can't tell me to shut up! I'll use my Ultra-blasters to stop your evil!" Sheen began to take aim at the stranger, exactly as Ultralord did to an enemy in the TV show. The man's child, the one in an Ultralord costume that they had seen in the parking lot, began to cry. Jimmy sighed, and wished he could run away from this. Carl became very uncomfortable.
Sheen just looked bewildered. "Hey! What are you crying for?" he asked the kid as his father tried to calm him down. "Ultralord doesn't cry! Except in episode two-thirteen, but not as much as you do! Stop it!"
"I'm warning you, shut up right now." the man said to Sheen.
"No! You!" Sheen shouted loudly, and then turned to the kid. "And you stop crying, or else I'll blast you with my Ultra Lasers! As any fan would know, they-"
Sheen couldn't finish his explanation, the kid started howling as he cried even more.
"Sheen, I think you might want to just give it up right now." Carl suggested. He was glad that the man was too busy trying to calm the little boy down to cause any of them physical harm.
"Why won't they be quiet! It's so loud! It's annoying! Isn't it annoying, guys?" he asked, and before any of them could answer, said, "Hey Jimmy, what time is it."
Jimmy tried not to sigh, and just told him the time, to the second. The seconds dragged on and on before they got their passes. They put them on, and Sheen put his around his neck in pride. "Ah, we're ready."
"For what?" Jimmy asked.
"What do you mean, for what?" Sheen asked.
"I mean, what can we do here?" Jimmy expanded his question. He hadn't bothered to research the event, thinking that Sheen would have more than enough information about it, and share it with them over and over again.
"Oh, there's lots of stuff to do." Sheen assured.
"Good." Jimmy said. He noticed that many people were exiting a large auditorium, and stopped a random passerby, a boy who wore an Ultralord shirt similar to Sheen's favorite, but seemed a tad more level-headed than his friend. "Excuse me, was that the opening ceremony?"
"Yeah, it's over now." the boy said.
"What happened?" Jimmy asked.
The boy shrugged. "Just some boring crap." he said before wandering away.
"Oh, good thing we missed it then." Carl said optimistically.
"Boring?! Nothing involving Ultralord can possibly be boring." Sheen insisted.
"Yes, and what should we do here, at UltraCon'03?" Jimmy asked.
"UltraCon'03! That sounds so cool, Jimmy! I knew you were a genius, but not a creative one." Sheen said.
"It's on every banner around here." Jimmy pointed.
"Oh. Well, let's see." Sheen brought out the bag with the maps and schedules that they had received with their passes. "We can... Ummm..." Sheen stared at the papers for at least five minutes. "I don't know, this is really confusing."
"Yeah." Carl agreed, turning over the map he had been given several times.
"I have the schedule and locations memorized." Jimmy informed.
"All right Jimmy!" Sheen cheered.
"What's up next?"
"Well, first of all, do you want to enter the costume contest?" Jimmy turned to Sheen.
"Of course." Sheen said. "If I don't enter, there might not be anyone to win!"
"Well, you should probably go sign up right now."
"Where? WHERE? Show me where!" Sheen ordered.
"Follow me..." Jimmy led the way. Two hours later, Jimmy and Carl were still waiting outside of the sign up room for Sheen to finish.
"Jimmy, I don't want to be mean or anything, but this whole thing has just been kind of boring." Carl said.
"I know Carl, it's not mean, it's the truth. Just don't say so in front of Sheen."
"Okay." Carl agreed immediately.
"Besides, I'm sure it'll get interesting soon. They wouldn't be holding these conventions for over five years in a row unless they were fun, would they?" Jimmy asked. At the moment he certainly wished that he HAD researched the convention.
"You're probably right about that." Carl said, just as Sheen finally exited.
"You are looking at contestant number one-oh-four!" Sheen flashed around his piece of paper with a large "104" on it. Jimmy and Carl both opened their mouths to say something, but Sheen was ahead of them. "Let's move! I hear they're showing an exclusive unaired episode of the Ultralord Japanese cartoon over in Viewing Room two in fifteen minutes!" he said with much excitement. The other two boys, Jimmy leading the way, ran with him to the designated area.
"This is great!" Sheen said as they found a seat somewhat near the front.
"Why wasn't this episode ever aired here?" Jimmy asked.
"The Japanese put something scandalous in it, probably." Sheen said.
"Quiet!" someone in back of them shouted. Another episode of Ultralord was already in progress, almost finished. The boys stared at the screen and enjoyed.
As the episode's credits rolled, a teenage boy in front of them turned around. "You little guys don't know why this episode wasn't aired after the first time?" he asked with a grin.
"Not really, do you?" Jimmy asked.
"Everyone knows." the teen said in a squeaky voice.
"Not everyone." Sheen's eye twitched. He did not like anyone insulting his Ultralord knowledge.
"Well, when it aired in Japan, all the flashing lights and colors gave a whole bunch of kids seizures!" the teenager said. Jimmy and Carl looked a little frightened as he explained. Sheen just mellowed out to the Ultralord ending theme. "So it was banned from ever being shown anywhere again! Too bad, because it was one of the best episodes of the series."
"Cool! The best of the series!" Sheen cheered happily.
"Seizures?" Carl repeated.
"Yeah. Lots of kids got them. Kids about your age. They aren't allowed to show it even at this con, but they are anyway. Hope you survive." he turned around as the episode started.
"Jimmy," Carl began in a worried tone. "He's lying, right? That didn't really happen, did it?"
"Well, it certainly is possible, but I don't think it's very likely."
"I hope not." Carl said.
"Sush Carl, I don't want to miss even a second of one of the best episodes!" Sheen ordered. And they all became quiet.
The episode started out normally and typically enough of an episode of this Ultralord incarnation, it wasn't until the battle scene, where the enemy released a bomb that exploded around the town, that people realized something was wrong. A fourth of the children in the room started with the seizures. Two hours later the hospital had taken them all away. Jimmy and Carl were all right, but Sheen wasn't moving much.
"Sheen... Sheen, are you okay?" Jimmy tried to shake his friend out of the trance he was in. "I didn't know you were epileptic." he said, quite upset.
Sheen slowly turned around to his friends, a smile on his face, which relieved both of them. "Those lights were awesome. What's epileptic?"
"I'm just glad you're okay." Jimmy said.
"Huh?" Sheen stared at Jimmy, then turned his attention back to the screen, now blank. They had turned the episode off before it could finished. "Hey! Where's the rest of the episode?" Sheen shouted loudly.
Jimmy thought it would be best to distract him. "Sheen," he began. "I'd like to check out the Dealer's room. It says here that they have every kind of Ultralord collectable that you'd ever want, right in that one room!"
"That sounds... nice." Carl said cautiously. It wasn't boring anymore, but he hoped there wouldn't be any other nasty surprises waiting for him in this convention center.
"Collectibles? Yeah! Hurry up guys! I won't wait for you." Sheen in a very hyperactive way ran over to the dealer's room, going quite a ways before he remembered he didn't know where it was. He waited for Jimmy. Once Jimmy led him to the place, he stared around in awe. Every kind of collectable, that certainly wasn't an exaggeration. "Let's look here first. No, here! Oh, wait, look at that!" Sheen ran around looking at things, leaving Jimmy and Carl to apologize as he bumped into people.
He finally settled with staring at one table. Sheen looked over all of the many videos, many from different Ultralord series and seasons, others from Ultralord imitators. Stifling his urge to tell him that the imitators didn't belong at UltraCon, he picked up the season seven DVD box set and waved it at the dealer. "How much is this?" he asked.
"Fifty dollars, before tax."
"Oh. Okay." Sheen said. "I'll give you ten." he said. The dealer was much less than amused. "Come on, here's ten dollars!"
"Look kid, if you're not going to buy anything, please move aside."
"I am buying something. I'm buying these DVDs."
"Get out of here." the dealer grabbed his merchandise and pushed Sheen away.
"He's cranky." Sheen commented. Then he noticed something he didn't have more in his price range. "Ultralord toilet paper!" he said happily, and then purchased a few rolls.
"Find anything?" Jimmy asked as he and Carl met back up with Sheen.
"I found Ultralord toilet paper!" Sheen said in triumph.
"I got a key chain." Carl said.
"There's lots more stuff here. Let's keep looking." Sheen said. They wandered around, and then found more Ultralord in Japanese, only this time it was comics. "Look, Japanese stuff again." he said with a smile. Carl was cautious to approach it, Sheen walked right up and picked one up. Before he could open it to look, the dealer took it away. "Hey!" Sheen protested. "What's the big idea?"
"I need your ID, you must be over eighteen to look at this." the Japanese comic dealer explained.
Sheen glared at him hatefully. "I just want to look at the comic! Maybe I'll buy it if you stop being such a jerk!"
"Show me your ID to prove that you are eighteen or older."
"Fine." Sheen muttered, and then pulled Jimmy aside. "Jimmy, can I have my fake ID now, please?"
"I don't think it'll fool him." Jimmy said. "Plus it's not very responsible." he added.
"I just want to look at a stinking comic book! That's it! It's stupid not to let me look at it. Now gimme!" Sheen said, and Jimmy did just that.
"Here's my ID!" Sheen smiled.
"Wow, you sure don't look twenty-four." the dealer said. "Well, look at whatever you want." he said as he handed the fake ID back.
"Thank you." Sheen picked up the comic he had wanted to look at before. Jimmy and Carl kept a safe distance. He opened it, and flipped through it, confused. "Japanese people are weird." he commented. "Why is Ultralord naked?" he asked loudly. Lots of people stared at him.
"Hey, what are you looking at that for?!" another guy who had been browsing took the comic away.
"Why are you letting children look at this kind of trash?!" a lady with her three kids asked.
"Something has to be done about this!" another person declared. A hour later, the police had carter away the Japanese comic dealer, and the dealer's room was closed pending further investigation.
"This stinks." Sheen said as the three boys stood in the hall outside, police tape covering the door.
"I'm getting kind of hungry." Carl said.
"Me too." Jimmy said. Sheen nodded quickly to say that he was as well. The boys went to eat at one of the restaurants nearby.
Sheen was finished quickly, but Jimmy and Carl took their time as he danced on one of the tables, entertaining the kids who were also eating there. He sang his own version of the Ultralord theme song, and then began his impersonation of one of Ultralord's attacks, finishing by jumping down from the table and then touching down on the floor. The manager asked him to stop.
"Sheen, don't forget, your costume contest starts in two hours." Jimmy reminded.
"Two hours?! Hurry up! Or we'll be late!" Sheen said.
"Sheen, the room is just down the hall..." Jimmy said.
"I know! But you have to get there early to get a good seat. And I have to get their early to prepare for my masterful performance." Sheen said. "So eat faster!" he ordered.
Carl and Jimmy did get pretty decent seats to see all the people in costumes, thanks to Sheen's obsession with coming early. But they had been waiting an awfully long time for two young boys, and thought the boredom might never end. Someone had started an Ultralord trivia game, but they soon discovered that they needed Sheen-like knowledge of the series, possibly more, to even have a chance. So they just sat and watched people come in, and the stage, for a possible beginning.
"Well, it should have started by now, so any minute now, I guess." Jimmy said.
Someone walked up onto the stage, and everyone cheered. "Thank you." he spoke into a microphone. He then began to introduce the different people in many different costumes, most of Ultralord and all his incarnations, but some of different villains from the series. Jimmy and Carl were impressed at first, but soon enough all the costumes started to look the same.
"Hey Jimmy, what number was Sheen again?" Carl asked.
"One-hundred and four." Jimmy groaned.
They were certainly happy when one-hundred and three rolled around. Not only was it one before Sheen, but it was a costume of a character they hadn't seen already. Lizardman, a little known Ultralord villain.
"After Sheen's on, let's leave." Jimmy said.
"But then how will we know who won?" Carl asked.
"Sheen'll tell us." Jimmy said. He didn't really care who won, as long as they could leave, anyway.
"And here's yet another Ultralord." the announcer said.
Sheen leaped onto the stage. "I am Ultralord! Protector of the world! Against evil like Lizardman!" he started attacking costumer number 103 as he was leaving the stage.
"Hey, what's the big idea?" he asked.
"I will not let your even run free in this convention center!" Sheen said, and then the two started fighting. Sheen was getting beat pretty badly before some people dragged them apart. "Hey, Ultralord is always supposed to win. Hey, get back here! Now!" he ordered.
"We don't know him." Jimmy said to Carl as they exited the room of screaming fans.
"Guys? Jimmy! Carl!" Sheen called loudly as he exited the room with the other crowds. "Where did you go?"
"Right here." Jimmy said as he and Carl met up with Sheen.
"Weren't you watching?" Sheen asked.
"We saw, but had to leave after that." Jimmy said.
"Oh." Sheen said. "Well, look, I won a prize!" Sheen held up his medal. "For most unstable entry!"
"That's great, Sheen." Jimmy said.
"Yeah, uh, congratulations." Carl added.
"Thanks." Sheen smiled. "Say Jimmy, what does 'unstable' mean?"
"Umm..." Jimmy stalled. "What should we do now?" he asked.
"I don't know. How about we go watch more Ultralord? Maybe they'll show that episode they never finished again." Sheen said.
"Sounds good to me." Jimmy said.
The trio walked off to a viewing room. They watched many episodes. Jimmy and Carl were glad for the quiet. Well, relative quiet, as Ultralord was a very loud program.
"This part of the convention is great." Jimmy said.
"Yeah, but how's it different from the Ultralord marathons we have at home?" Carl asked.
"Well, there's more people here, and we can't see the screen as well." Jimmy explained.
"Hey guys! This is great, huh? But I'm getting hungry." Sheen said. Jimmy and Carl looked over at him, they hadn't noticed he was gone.
"Want to go out and get some food again?" Jimmy asked.
"And miss all this Ultralord action? No way! I caught these rats." Sheen held up some squirming mice. "We can just cook them and eat them! Like Ultralord did in episode four-oh-seven."
"Okay." Jimmy agreed, thinking Sheen would be back soon enough, and then would ask them to get some real food.
Sheen just calmly walked to the corner. "Can I have a lighter?" Jimmy and Carl heard him asked. "Thank you." he said.
"Lighter... No!" Jimmy said, and tried to make it to the back of the room to stop him, but it was too late. Sheen had set the garbage pail on fire.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Jimmy shouted at him.
"Well, how do you expect me to cook these without a fire?" Sheen asked, waving the mice in front of Jimmy's face. He soon lost grip, and dropped them. "Oh man."
"Fire! Fire!" several frantic people shouted, running out.
"I'm calling nine-one-one!" a lady said as she went out through the emergency exit.
"We'd better get out of here..." Jimmy dragged Sheen towards the door.
"Why? Ultralord's still on." Sheen said.
"It's that kid again." the annoyed parent from the beginning of the day pointed at Sheen. "He's the one ruining our whole convention."
Many annoyed people started to advance on Sheen, as well as Jimmy and Carl, who were standing right next to him. Jimmy looked at the angry mob, and then backwards at the fire. "Just run." he said mostly to Carl, and then plowed through the crowd, dragging Sheen behind him. They ran to the parking lot, and jumped in the hovercar. The mob was still behind them, and fire trucks pulled up.
Jimmy took off, careful not to go too high in case Sheen fell off... The convention was certainly too stimulating for him. They flew away, the mob followed them for a while, but they eventually lost them, and started going back towards their homes. Jimmy sighed in relief. "Guess we won't be staying another day." he said.
"Why not?" Sheen asked. The other two refused to answer him. That did nothing to kill his happy mood. They continued in silence, and as they finally landed at Jimmy's house, Sheen spoke again.
"That was really cool. We have to go against next year."
The End