A/N: Sooo yeah I know I promised updates of Shattered Masks or D&D but I wanted to write this!
Why? Because I am the writer! And you've gotta deal with it!
Korra: Heyyy, you stole that from me.
Oh hi Avatar Korra, what's up? You wanna maybe say the disclaimer for this chapter. I mean KITT from Knight Rider did it when he popped up in DD.
Kitt: Like I had much choice in the matter.
OI! No comments from the Peanut gallery.
Tyler: We're watching Peanuts?!
NO!
Korra: *snickers* well to keep things from getting too derailed, JetravenEx doesn't own anything but the story.
It's sad but true.
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Masquerade grinned broadly as the field disappeared and reality took its place. Seamlessly slipping Masquerade and his latest victim, a well-dressed boy with coiffed brown hair back into where they'd started; the gardens of the boy's family estate. The only difference was the boy was no longer standing tall and proud, but instead on his knees his eyes wide as his mouth opened and closed struggling to form words, while struggling to comprehend his devastating defeat at the hands of Masquerade.
"That was the fastest brawl I've had in a long time." Masquerade said with a laugh. "And here I was worrying I might actually be late for an appointment! Ha!" He said with a snort.
Normally Masquerade didn't make house calls. He wasn't fond of being in a place where an enemy could have some kind of trick up their sleeves. Even when he'd met Dan, it had been a location that neither he nor Dan had the advantage. He didn't have the advantage as he didn't know the ins and outs of the place, but neither did Dan. For not only would Dan not have enough time to actually come up with a trap that could cause Masquerade some trouble, but his reading about the brawlers after receiving Dan's message was enough to convince him that Dan just didn't have the capacity to actually set a trap for him.
But this bastard, Masquerade cast his eyes over the boy on the ground, Drew Wilson, had been going around the bakugan website bragging to every brawler that he was going to best Masquerade, and when Masquerade hadn't responded right away (he had bigger fish to fry, and a meeting to keep with Dan) the moron went and took it as Masquerade was too scared to face him.
Seeing that, along with having been berated by Naga and Hal-G for losing control of all his 'allies', had been enough to make Masquerade's blood boil to the point where he'd wanted to put the fool in his place right then and there. So he'd teleported to Drew's location in the garden of his family estate which led to this.
"Ho-how could I lose?" Drew said, drawing Masquerade out of his thoughts. IT would seem the fool had gotten his vocal chords to work again. "I bought the best bakugan I could get, I shouldn't have lost to some-some freak like you!" He said glaring at Masquerade.
"If you want me to gift more of your bakugan with a one way trip to the doom dimension, then keep talking." Masquerade said flatly pulling out his field card.
Drew shut his mouth with an audible snap as he grumbled something glowering at Masquerade who sneered at him.
"That's what I thought; now if you'll excuse me I have more important things to get to." He said turning away with his white coat billowing out with the movement before he disappeared from the garden in a flash of light.
Drew glared at where the masked boy had been standing before he picked himself up off the ground. "You're going to regret this Masquerade." He growled clenching and shaking his fists. "You hear me!" He roared. Silence met his words. Huffing Drew turned away and stomped his way over to the large stately mansion perched at the top of a small hill with the garden sprawling out beneath it extending out fairly far before coming to an end where a tall iron fence enclosed the estate.
An immaculately dressed butler with black hair and a patch of white on the left side of his head stood waiting for Drew atop the step leading into the house. When Drew reached the patio he stormed over to the man.
"Sigfried." He said in a harsh tone of voice that had the butler heaving a sigh, Drew gathered himself up. "Masquerade battled me, and he... well he humiliated me! He's disgraced me and I will not tolerate that!"
"Of course not sir." Sigfried droned in a voice bordering on monotone.
Drew stamped his foot. "But he's taken all my bakugan! How am I going to brawl without my best bakugan?"
"Haven't the foggiest clue sir,"
Drew growled. "You know you could be helpful," He said shooting Sigfried a sharp look. The man merely continued to stare blankly ahead completely ignoring how Drew seemed to be trying to burn him to ash with the heat of his glare.
"I am a butler, not a bakugan player," Sigfried said finally focusing his gaze on Drew. "I leave the matters of bakugan to you and your fellow brawlers, sir."
Drew growled again before he paused. "Brawlers… Wait that's it! Sigfried you're a genius!" Drew said grinning broadly. "I know how to make that no good bastard pay! I'll hire someone to defeat him for me. There's got to be someone to beat him!" He nodded his head. "And then," His lips curled up into a wicked sneer, "I'll make Masquerade realize why you don't fuck with a guy like me!" He said laughing as he ran into the house Sigfried sighing and rolling his eyes up to the sky.
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"No! No! NO!" Drew snarled as he slammed his fist down on his desk glaring at the glowing monitor in front of him. Masquerade had an almost perfect record in terms of victories. He'd crushed every one of his opponents.
Drew had been sure, so sure that SOMEONE had to be able to beat the masked blond, and he'd rushed right into his room and jumped on the computer to track that person down and recruit them to defeat Masquerade. But nooo! No one was capable of beating the masked blond. His whole history of brawls was filled with numerous wins, the guy also apparently had broken the record for number of brawls in one day (167) and had participated in over a thousand brawls.
The only smudge to his perfect record was two brawls he'd been in. One brawl had been against Dan Kuso, where the battle had been determined as a draw, but with preference towards Masquerade. Granted it showed that the battle had been brought to an end before Dan's last bakugan could be defeated, thus voiding the battle from counting towards either of the competitor's rankings. Then there was another brawl that had been against Dan Kuso again, as well as the former number 1 Shun Kazami. Together the two had brought down the masked brawler, before Shun defeated Dan.
So it was possible that Drew could hire either Shun or Dan to attempt to take out Masquerade for him, but as Drew had been scrolling through the long list of battles, and taken a moment to consider the kid who were hurt by Masquerade, he felt his blood boil. His fists tightened and he grit his teeth holding back the urge to snarl.
"Just defeating the bastard would be too kind to him. No he deserves to suffer painfully for what he did to me, and for what he did to all the other kids. We deserve justice!" He snarled shaking his fist at the image of Masquerade on the screen. "I'm going to find a way to get to you Masquerade, mark my words. I'm going to bring you to your knees begging for mercy as I rip your bakugan from you and make you pay for what you've done, and then when I'm done I'll rip that stupid mask off your face and expose who you really are to the world!"
He gritted his teeth and snarled as he glared at the picture of the smug bastard, but no amount of glaring or shaking his fist brought him any closer to get Masquerade. Drew forced himself to take a deep calming breath and then slowly let it out, then he took another and repeated the process several times more. He did this until he was calm enough to think again.
Drew knew he could get together a group of people to assist him with bringing down Masquerade, but they'd need to get the masked brawler to an area where they could ambush him and prevent his escape.
He grabbed his chin, so he was going to need some bait, perhaps a brawl against one of the foes who had come close to beating him? After all given Masquerade's reaction to Drew's talk online about how he'd beat Masquerade, he'd been quite quick to come in and stomp him flat.
Plus with his research he knew there were two such people that fit the criteria. Grinning to himself he clicked on Dan Kuso's name and went to his page on the Bakugan Website.
"Pyrus brawler, age 12, primary bakugan: Pyrus Dragonoid G-power: 340 gs, that's nothing special… Hometown…" Drew's eyes widened as his face contorted into a vicious scowl and he slammed his fists down on his desk once more, the wood rattling from the blow. "Wardington City USA! Damn it! I don't want to have to go all the way to the US to set it up!" Snarling he got up from his chair and knocked it over with a kick, the wooden chair making contact with the wood flooring with a bang. Drew kicked it as well for good measure. "Argh! Stupid USA, why couldn't the guy at least live somewhere in Eur-"
Drew trailed off as a chime went off on his computer and a status update flashed up on Dan's page. Raising an eyebrow Drew went back over to his desk, reaching down and grabbing his chair, putting it back upright with a grunt of effort before plopping back down into it. He scooted up to his desk and studied the screen.
On Dan's page the tab marked 'Posts' was highlighted. Curious Drew clicked on it and read through the latest update and his face broke out into a huge grin.
Hey guys, me and the other brawlers are actually in England! Man this is so cool! We're going to see all kinds of things, and hopefully fit in a few brawls as well ;). So if you live in England and you want to brawl, drop me a line, I'm always game. – Dan Kuso, Leader of the Bakugan Battle Brawlers
Drew's lips curved up in a wicked grin.
"I think I just found my bait." He said before bursting out into a flit of maniacal laughter. Then he paused frowning. "Wait why am I laughing evilly, I am going to be helping the world by putting down one of the worst people in the world…" He paused again and then shrugged. "Ah well not like I'll have a better excuse to laugh maniacally anytime soon so MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He said bursting into maniacal laughter once more his laughs echoing throughout the mansion.
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Dan was relaxing on the couch on Marucho's plane, Marucho's laptop in front of him. They had just landed in England. They'd been on their way back home after all their globetrotting adventures, but Runo, Julie and Alice (mostly Runo and Julie) practically threatened mutiny if they didn't stop in England. Thus the brawlers were taking a detour for a few days to get in the sights, the shops, the food, and what Dan was really hoping for the brawls.
So when Marucho had decided to turn in for the night, Dan had jumped at the opportunity to borrow his laptop and use it to post an update stating that the brawlers were in Europe and were interested in any potential brawls.
But it had been 10 minutes now, and after multiple refreshes there were no new posts and Dan was beginning to get antsy.
"ugh." He said flopping back into the couch cushions, his evolved Drago popping open on the coffee table turning to Dan, the brunette sighing. "How long does it take people to get on and respond? I want to find people to brawl!"
"Daniel, you should note that it is dark outside right now, most brawlers in this area would've turned in for the night." Drago said fluttering his wings slightly. "Perhaps it'd be best if you go to sleep, I'm sure someone will send you a message tomorrow and you can go battle then,"
Dan frowned leaning closer to the screen squinting at it, as if he could force a response to appear by force of will alone. However, the action failed and instead he felt his eyes ache from the pressure, making him draw back and blink his eyes rapidly rubbing them. Then he relented and turned to Drago. "I guess you're right buddy," Dan said with a sigh setting the laptop down on the coffee table in front of him rising up from his comfortable spot on the couch stretching his arms high above his head grunting. "All right then, time to hit the sack," Dan bent over to turn off the laptop, finger reaching for the power button, when the laptop gave a chime the tab he was on flashing.
Dan blinked. "Huh?" He said sitting back down on the couch, taking the laptop with him. He scrolled the page down to read the message, eyebrows furrowing.
"What's it say Daniel? Is it a challenge?" Drago asked hopping onto Dan's shoulder and peering at the screen.
Dan sat back looking at the computer a surprisingly thoughtful expression on his face. "Some guy sent me a message, stating that I should take care brawling around here. That Masquerade's been around," Dan grabbed his chin. "said I should take care Masky doesn't realize I'm in town." A grin began to form on his face. "Or he might relieve me of my bakugan,"
Drago was silent for a moment. "Perhaps we should set this person straight, and finally put Masquerade and Hydranoid in their place."
Dan's lips curved up, "Yeah lets, but first I should respond to this guy then I'll shoot Masquerade a challenge."
Dan leaned forwards all thoughts of retiring to bed forgotten as he typed a response to the guy online, before he got to work on a challenge to Masquerade.
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On the other end of the internet, Drew smirked as Dan's response appeared beneath his comment.
'Thanks for the heads-up, no need to worry though, I'll take Masquerade on and put him in his place, you and the other kids won't have to worry about a thing,'
Drew chuckled, "I've got him, now lets see if I can hack Dan's messages, find the outgoing one to Masquerade, and aha!" A few clicks on the keys and a new conversation appeared before his eyes, his eyes lighting up with delight as he sat back to wait for the rivals to state the location for their brawl.
"And then, Masquerade, I'll have my revenge," He said eyes widening his mouth stretching in a large disturbing smile as he leaned forwards to look at the screen hands gripping the edge of his desk with barely restrained tension.
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Masquerade appeared in the computer room of his mansion with a sigh slipping the mask from his face, revealing tired bright blue eyes. He sighed and sat down at the desk in the shadowy mask room, setting the glass mask down on the table beside him.
"Well those brawls were so dull they were almost not even worth the effort Master," Hydranoid grumbled popping open on his master's shoulder. "When will we fight a real opponent again?"
Masquerade chuckled turning to look at Hydranoid raising an eyebrow. "I thought you enjoyed lording your strength over weaker bakugan before sending them to the doom dimension." He said with mock surprise.
Hydranoid sighed. "Yes, well now its just boring now. When we had those minions all we had to do was prey on the weak bakugan while they dealt with the brawlers." He growled. "I never thought I'd see the day, I'd want a chance to face that Dragonoid."
Masquerade nodded turning his head to the computer, frowning when he saw that he'd received a message from Dan. The corner of his lip quirked up as he opened it, what could Danny-boy possibly want?
He scanned the message, a grin forming on his face that quickly morphed into a smirk.
Dan's message was simple:
Hey Masquerade, word on the street is you've been going round England lately. What you say you leave the kids alone and we have a battle? That is, unless the thought of fighting my DELTA Dragonoid, scares you too much. I'll even make it easier for you, you can name the time of place, and I'll be there, and ready to make you pay for everything you've done.
-Dan
"I think you'll get that chance sooner than you thought Hydranoid," Masquerade said sitting back gesturing to the screen.
Hydranoid craned his neck to peer up at the screen. "A chance to fight the dragonoid? Yes, yes, let's do this! I want to defeat that Dragonoid once and for all!"
"Now, don't be hasty now," Masquerade chastised his partner lightly. "We still need Dan and Drago to push you to your ultimate evolution, but we need you to get to your second evolution first." He grabbed his chin, "However that doesn't mean we can't remind Dan who's number 1 in this game," He chuckled and began to type out his response and setting a possible location. "Oh this should be fun indeed."
Fortunately Dan wasn't in Wardington so Masquerade had no problem selecting a location at the edge of London for them to meet. Plus it was as Masquerade had thought earlier during his brawl with Drew, the brunette boy was too good to even think about setting a trap. The only thing Masquerade could expect was an idiotic spiel and a decent challenge. He wasn't looking forwards to the former, but he'd put up with it to have a real good brawl. Maybe he'd even not use the Doom Card, his smile broadened, he wondered what Dan would offer in exchange for him to not use the death card. He should prod him and see what he could get Dan to put on the line instead. Now that could be entertaining.
Masquerade finished typing eyes going over his response.
In a hurry to lose aren't you Kuso? Very well then, I'll meet you by the Thames River at 2:00 tomorrow near the entrance to the Greenwich foot tunnel, I'm sure you can figure out where that is by then. I'll be waiting, and ready to remind you that I am the best, and not even an evolved Dragonoid on your side will change that.
Masquerade nodded satisfied with his response he sent the message. 'Now I have something to look forwards to tomorrow.' He thought with a chuckle as he got up from his chair turning off the computer. "Lets retire for the evening Hydranoid," He held out his hand for Hydranoid to hop onto, the darkus bakugan jumping from the desk into his palm. The blond placed him on his shoulder before snagging his mask off the desk, he disappeared from the room with a flash of light from his DT. The blond blissfully unaware of the deeper plot going on.
A/N:
Sooo its October 25th and I didn't have anything else really close to completion at this time so I decided I'd go ahead and post the first chapter of Masking Humanity. I'm going with the title, and I don't expect people to really like it, and I'm sorry for those hoping for me to get to my main 3, but I couldn't help but slip this one in. Plus with all the shady dealings in this one I couldn't resist.
Oh dear that awful Drew's got Masquerade and Dan playing right into his hand, what could that awful brat have planned?
So here's the first of 7 updates for this week (for JetravenEx's 6th year anniversary event). I have an arc idea for Shattered Masks that could fit perfectly with the spirit of Halloween but I have to get it started in there, along with the Wendigo stuff in D&D, maybe a bit of chaos in Fighting Bakugan. But that's all possibilities.
Anyways back on track I do hope you enjoyed this introduction into Masking Humanity, and I'd really like to know what you think and any suggestions you might have.
Also in honor of this being one of the 7 updates in honor of my 6th year anniversary celebration, it will have the 6th year anniversary trailer (a bit altered this time hinting at the new 'Phantom' Arc that will be eventually coming to Shattered Masks).
So please review on your thoughts on this chapter, and on your thoughts 6th year anniversary trailer.
6th year Anniversary trailers for all stories:
Six years have passed
Akwimos frowned as he looked around running a hand through his messy blue hair, nervously adjusting his tattered dark blue jacket. "This place isn't that impressive," He looked to his friends as he gestured to the battered area around them. "Seriously why is every so obsessed with taking it over, its not that great."
"Yeah, typically when something's reduced to rubble, 'not that great' is an understatement" Superior said dryly as he looked around violet eyes gleaming in the dim light.
But now it's time
"How do you know so much?" Marduk asked looking over at Meredith, his red eyes narrowed.
Meredith smiled and folded her arms Superior perched on her shoulder. "I may have gone through the time stream hunting rogue bakugan and fighting some future bad guys." She said with a chuckle.
Marduk frowned. "No, seriously,"
"I am being serious."
For us to consider the future to come,
"I think this is the worst day of my life." Aidan said, sounding suspiciously like a whine his arms wrapped tightly around himself.
Jet had already put on the uniform and had joined the other girls in snickering at the three boys misery. Or well the two boys, Tyler was too busy stuffing his face with the food Mira had given them. He was sitting in a chair just inhaling food and making a mess. IF it weren't for the fact he was wearing a dress, he looked just as normal as he'd usually be.
Mike lowered his head face flushed. "Do we really have to go through this humiliation?" He mumbled.
"Just be glad I don't have a camera, otherwise I'd be set with blackmail on you guys for life." Jet said with a laugh grinning
For I'm not just continuing what you love
Masquerade frowned as he considered the entity before him. "And what are you to supposed to be?"
The ghost? Apparition? Waking Nightmare? Sneered at him, the expression making Masquerade draw back a step.
"Why, I am the one who almost was," The see through blond's blue eyes narrowed in distaste at Masquerade. "but you put an end to that pretty quickly, now didn't you." It said advancing towards him. "Fortunately I'll be abke to rectify that little error in the universe,"
"And how do you plan to accomplish that?" Masquerade asked edging back every time the thing advanced.
The thing's lips stretched up into a haunting grin. "Why, by taking your place."
All new bakugan to appear!
Aracnus
Jet yelped struggling to keep up with the princess as the weird bony spirit things chased after them, the two girls running as hard as they could to keep ahead of the monsters.
"It's no use!" Jet cried to the princess who came to a halt faced with a smooth cliff face, it was too tall for either girl to jump and not enough room to call on Skylord or Reaper or Hydra.
"We can't just give up!" The princess retorted taking a running start at the cliff face and leaping up wards her fingers managing to get a grip on a small crack, her boots scraping against the rock face trying to find any purchase. All she got for her troubles were a few stones that were dislodged and a painful cramping feeling in her fingers. With a grunt she released the wall and turned to face forwards.
"Any ideas." Jet said eyes widening as the ghostly purple entities gathered above the two girls.
The princess narrowed her green eyes and bit her lip, "Brace yourself, when they attack we'll jump to the sides."
Jet glanced to the side and frowned, "But there's not enough space." She said weakly.
"Well I'm sure not dying here!" The princess snapped clenching her fists as the entities drew nearer and nearer forcing Jet and the princess back closer to the rock at their back.
The entities sneered and opened their skeletal mouths letting out an earsplitting screech before they leapt at the two girls bony hands outstretched to grab them, sharpened nails whistling through the air ready to relieve them of their heads.
The princess grabbed Jet and pushed the girl back against the rock before shielding her with her own body. The princess screwed her eyes shut waiting for the pain of the blow.
Instead she heard another screech and a rush of air that made her dark blue hair go flying in all directions. Slowly, uncertainly the princess lifted her head and gaped at the sight before her, letting Jet rise to look at the scene as well.
The skeletal monster, or what they assumed was the skeletal monster, was now a wriggling mess of giant spider webbing. Standing by the trapped monster was the spider.
The spider went over to the two girls. "You're lucky I caught up to you two when I did, otherwise you'd be Wendigo food." He said one of his eight legs flicking out to kick the trapped wendigo aside.
"And who are you?" The princess asked dusting herself off and straightening herself up.
The spideroid lifted on of his front legs and bent it in front of him drooping his body forwards slightly in a make shift bow. "I am Darkus Aracnus, and I've come to offer my assistance Princess," He straightened up and nodded to the two of them. "You both looked like you need it."
Skylash
The books hadn't exaggerated Skylash was a beautiful bakugan, her scales were all black making her blend in with her surroundings like a shadow in darkness. Her purple eyes were bright and glimmering with intelligence. The five purple gems engrained around her neck glittered with the energy flowing within them. Sharp claws were at the end of each hand.
The dark dragoness snorted folding her sharp claws across her chest as she surveyed Jet and Skylord. "This is your partner?" She asked Skylord, her purple eyes narrowed. "She doesn't look like much!"
Skylord growled glaring at the older Dark Dragoness, who waved a hand.
"Not that it matters, prepare yourself Skylord," The dragoness spread her wings and lifted her claws. "Because if you want any hope of evolving you're going to have to go through me to do it."
Skylord growled spreading her wings and taking to the air facing off with the other sky dragoness. "I think I can take you mother."
Brining old characters into new situations
Mark rushed into the kitchen just as Masquerade finished pouring his cereal. The silver haired boy looked panicked and once he came to a stop in the center of the kitchen he immediately doubled over panting. "You-you have to listen to me, because to-today may be the worst day ever," He rasped
Masquerade turned his head to look at the other boy an eyebrow raised "Are you out of your mind? We're not going after the brawlers until I can get a few more recruits. What's got you so freaked out?"
Mark ducked behind Masquerade and seemed to be looking all around for something. "She's coming today."
"Who?" Masquerade echoed, when he heard the doors get thrown open to the mansion making him jump to his feet and turn his attention immediately towards the hallway and to the entryway where the sound had originated from.
"Doesn't matter, I'm not here!" Mark said quickly darting under the table.
"Mark!" A female voice called followed by footsteps heading towards the kitchen. "I know you're here, so just come out and this won't be so painful to do."
Masquerade blinked and turned to look down at Mark whose head was poking out from underneath the table. "You do realize you're being an idiot, who is that anyways?"
Mark glared at him, "Well I would be just fine if you'd stop-"
"Mark!" The girls voice from the doorway to the kitchen made Mark flinch and bang his head against the kitchen table. The silver haired boy jerked with the force of the good thunk and lowered his head wincing in pain.
"Ow," He mumbled, while Masquerade turned his attention away from the idiot to the newcomer wondering why in the world Mark would act so afraid.
To say the least he was surprised. The person was a girl with long blond hair pulled back with a hair band and two long pigtails with beaded scrunchies holding them together. The girl wore a lavender dress under a darker purple coat that was buttoned and ended with a red ribbon at the neck. She wore black tights leading to lavender mary janes. She had her hands on her hips and was glaring at the table.
"Mark!" She snapped. "This place is a disaster! How many times have I told you to keep this place organized!" Then she glanced at Masquerade and scowled. "And its this bad when you have company over?! It's a good thing Dr. Michael called my father and asked me to help you get this place in order, dear lord how long have you two lived like this?!" She said walking away shaking her head as she surveyed the kitchen.
Masquerade frowned and looked to Mark in askance who was rubbing the back of his head. At Masquerade's look Mark sighed and gestured to the girl.
"Masquerade, allow me to introduce you to my cousin, the wicked she-demon Katie Lowery." Mark said with a huff.
Its been a great six years:
Images flash by of Mike getting washed away by a tidal wave, of Aidan jumping from the Sears Tower, of Dan gripping Shun's limp hand as the ninja lays comatose on the bed. Then they pick up flashing images of every character to have appeared.
But its gonna keep getting better.
A tall woman wearing a cowboy hat steps up, she's wearing an orange plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. She's wearing faded blue jean shorts and tall dark brown boots. Her dark brown hair is pulled back in a long braid, leaving only her dark red bangs hanging near her face.
"Of course its gonna keep getting better for y'all," She said with a grin, "You're gonna be meeting me and many other characters in Fighting Bakugan, seeing Masquerade deal with the whole nother world in Shattered Masks and the chaos continues in Doom and Docorrus. With so much stuff to come what could be better?"
Julie runs in waving a CD in her hand. "Wilda! Wilda!" She cried.
"What in tarnation are you so excited about?" Wilda asked frowning as the silver haired girl ran up to her.
Julie grinned as she held up the CD which had the words 'Ship Happens' "I think I have the perfect idea for a fanfic, or a song fic, starting with this little bad boy." She said tapping the CD.
Wilda studied the case, then a big grin appeared on her face. "I like the way you think Julie," She said adjusting her hat. "Let's get to plotting, I got time to spare before I show up, might as well make it useful."
Julie grinned. "This is going to be fun…"