Well guys, I finally did it! After three and a half long and testing months, I finally have an update on this story. Yay!
It's another long chapter again, in fact it's actually a bit longer than the last one... hehe. Believe me, I really tried to keep this one short, but I guess it's just the way I write. Even though I'm happy wth the way this turned out, I'm still going to keep trying to make my future writing a little more consise. I'm pretty sure I can at least shave a good few hundred words.
What's funny is that I originally intended for this to only the be the first half of what was supposed to be all of chapter 3. I ended up splitting the chapter in two parts so not only could I get something out to you faster, but I was hoping that I could really cut down on the length. Ha, what a fool I was... =P
So yeah, this chapter is pretty much just about each of the Loonatics meeting with some of their fans at the Festival. It's pretty straight-forward, but I tried to integrate character development wherever I could. Also, we get some more hints as to what their lives were like before the comet hit (you know, the point of this whole story.)
Also, in case you were wondering about it, yes I'm taking advantage of the new image feature for this site. The cover art for this story is actually a picture I hand-drew and hand-colored myself. (It's part of the reason why I took so long). Once I found out that we can add images to our stories now, I jumped on the opportunity to share it with you guys! It's a little hard to see clearly, since I had to resize it, but I really like the way it turned out. Expect more stuff like that in the future!
Anyway, I've taken up enough of your time, I'm sure you just want to get to the story. Just like last time, I strongly recommend that you not read this all in one sitting, your eyes have been warned.
Hope you enjoy it!
DISCLAIMER: I honestly can't believe I've gone this far without ever putting a disclaimer. Anyway, I don't own anything about the Loonatics except for the plot of this story. Please don't sue me, I have no money.
Ch. 3 - The Fans
"I didn't think there'd be so many people..."
The nerves were beginning to show in Tech's voice as he peeked through the curtain. He and his teammates - save for Ace who was meeting with one of the event coordinators - were standing off to the side of the auditorium stage as they watched their potential audience continue to grow. At noon today, in just a few minute's time, the "Fan Meet-n'-Greet" event would begin and it seemed likely that some people had been in lines since early that morning. There were three thick lines of people that stretched from a distant point in the hallway, went through one of the three main entry doors, and reached to the edge of the stage. A few individuals were still managing to squeeze in through the doors and meet with friends who had held spots toward the front of these lines, often to the frustration of the people behind them. The only seats that were being used were those close to the aisles, seating people who were either spilling over from a crowded group, or who had simply grown tired of standing.
When the team flew into the fairgrounds just moments ago, they took note of the festival's impressive attendance and expected a large crowd for this event. But even then, they didn't expect this level of turnout. It was large enough to place the normally collected coyote out of his comfort zone.
"Wow, you're right! It's really starting to get packed..." Lexi commented, opening the curtain a little wider so she could get a better view, "and look how far those lines go out the door!"
"More peepuull..." Slam commented with an excited chuckle. He hadn't been in front of a crowd this large in a long time, and he found it exhilarating.
"That may be all well and good for you Slam," Tech admitted, "but I for one would feel much better off with less people."
"What's the matter, Tech? You sound a little nervous..." Duck's tone implied a more condescending form of teasing. "What happened to that 'Mr. Cool and Confident' attitude you're always clinging to around HQ?"
Before Tech could offer any sort of defense, Rev had beaten his friend to the punch, "Cut-him-some-slack-Duck-he's-just-a-little-nervous-that's-all! We-all-have-something-that-scares-us-and-I'm-sure-you've-got-something-too!"
"Me? Afraid of stuff?" the mallard crooned, "Ha! Not likely..."
"You-sure-about-that...?"
"Of course. The only thing that even comes close to scaring me is my own awesomeness!"
"OH-MY-GOD-DUCK-LOOK-OUT-BEHIND-YOU-IT'S-A-WEREWOLF!" Rev screeched at the top of his lungs, startling everyone.
"What? Where?" Duck spun around at the warning and frantically surveyed the area behind him, but all he saw was an empty backstage. There were a few stage hands that were throwing confused looks at the group, but there was no werewolf.
Duck chuckled nervously as he turned back around, "Ha! Nice try Rev, but you should've known that an old trick like that wasn't gonna..." He trailed off once he noticed that the roadrunner was nowhere to be seen. "Rev? Rev?" he called out, worry slowly creeping back into his voice, "Alright this isn't funny guys, tell me what happened to Rev..."
Before his teammates had the opportunity to play dumb, Duck's attention was commanded elsewhere after feeling a light tap on his shoulder, coming from behind him. He turned around slowly and felt a chilling jolt run down his spine as he laid eyes on the culprit, who released a dark and twisted growl.
"AAAAHHHH! WEREWOLF!" Duck shrieked with terror after looking into a pair of menacing eyes. In an instinctive response, he activated his powers and quacked to the opposite side of the room. For a brief second he looked relieved, assuming he had escaped the monster, but panic returned just as quickly as it had gone when he turned around and saw that the beast was once again standing right behind him. With another scream, he quacked once again to a new location, but only met with the same outcome. The duck continued to try and teleport away, but no matter how random his new location would be, the werewolf would always seem to be one step ahead, much to his confusion and panic.
Duck's teammates, on the other hand, weren't quite as concerned. Looking at everything from the sidelines made it easy for them to see through the act. It wasn't an actual werewolf that was chasing their friend, obviously, but just Rev in the same costume he had worn last Halloween: a snarling wolf mask and a pair of vampire fangs (minus the full body costume.) Besides, how likely would it be that an actual werewolf would be as skinny as he was? After a few moments, Duck's mind must have calmed down enough for him to reach this realization as well since his demeanor quickly switched from fear to frustration.
"Come on, knock it off, Rev! This isn't funny anymore! Please stop..." By this point, Duck was only keeping up the chase because he found that wolf mask to be very creepy, prompting him to stay as far away as he could from it. Unfortunately, he was having no luck whatsoever at shaking Rev off of his tail. How was able to keep up with him so well?
Of course, as unpredictable as his power was, Duck was overlooking one small drawback that Rev was only taking advantage of. Each time the mallard would disappear or re-appear, the action would be preceded by a high-frequency noise and a quick flash of colored light. All Rev had to do was keep an eye out for those two signals. With both his speed and the relatively small size of the room, he could be ready and waiting at Duck's new location before he was even finished quacking. Rev was only keeping up the chase because he was curious as to how long it would take Duck to figure this out and give up the pointless pursuit. After a moment or two, his teammates were beginning to wonder the same thing.
"How much longer do you think this'll last?" Tech asked openly.
"Tough call," Lexi debated, "but I'm sure they're smart enough to stop soon enough..."
"I don't know, " Tech joked, "I think it's strange that Duck hasn't stopped already..."
"I think it's strange that Rev actually brought that stupid mask with him..." she joked back.
Tech smirked at her observation and turned his attention back to the chase. As repetitive as they were, it was taking his mind off the crowd outside.
"You gonna be okay out there?" Lexi asked him after a moment, returning to the original issue.
Tech wasn't expecting the question, "Hmmm? Oh... yeah, I'll be fine. I just get a little nervous in front of crowds..." Slam began rubbing the coyote's shoulders in an attempt to relieve him of some of his tension.
"I figured you'd be used to being in front of crowds by now," Lexi wondered out loud. "Besides, you were a grad student, right? Didn't you have to give all sorts of speeches and presentations back then?"
"Yeah, but my audiences were never really that big, mostly just teachers and sometimes a few classmates. The biggest group I ever had wasn't much more than about 20 people. There must be several hundreds of people out there now, you can't blame me for being a little nervous..."
"Yeah, " she admitted, "it is a bit nerve-racking. But still, I wouldn't be worried if I were you, Tech. All these people are our fans, remember. I'm pretty sure they're not gonna care what you do."
"I guess you have a point..."
"Of course I do! And besides, if you're still nervous when we get on stage, you can always just... I don't know... imagine everyone in their underwear or something."
"...are you serious?" Tech said after a moment, unsure of what to make of her advice.
"Yeah!" Lexi laughed. She realized how absurd her suggestion sounded before he even asked. Nonetheless, she decided to stick with it. "It's what everyone always says, right? That means there's gotta be some truth to it..."
Rev zipped over into the conversation, finally deciding to drop the act with Duck. "You-know-she-has-a-point-Tech-that-really-is-something-you-hear-all-the-time-and-why-would-people-keep-saying-something-if-it-wasn't-true? And-besides-you-can-see-how-it-might-actually-be-kinda-funny-if-you-imagine-that-everyone's-wearing-something-really-absurd-like-frilly-bloomers-or-those-boxers-that-have-funny-slogans-on-them-or-something. But-then-again-that-makes-me-wonder-if-someone-isn't-actually-wearing-any-underwear-does-that-mean-you-can-just-put-whatever-you-want-on-them-or-would-you-actually-imagine-them-as-naked-because-I-can't-imagine-how-that-would-be-helpful-at-all-and-if-anything-it-would-just-make-everything-awkward-which-would-just-end-up-making-you-more-nervous-and-"
"Alright Rev," Tech interrupted him sternly, "I think you've made your point."
"Sorry... I-guess-my-mouth-just-runs-a-lot-faster-than-my-brain-sometimes..."
"We can tell," Lexi commented. Rev chuckled nervously, slightly embarrassed at where his runaway thoughts had taken him this time.
Duck suddenly appeared alongside the rest of his teammates. "That was so not cool, Rev. You oughta be ashamed of yourself!"
"Hmmm... you'd-think-so... but..."
"I'm serious! You know how much that stupid costume of yours gives me the creeps..."
"What's the matter, Duck? You sound spooked," Tech interjected, cleverly imitating the mallard's earlier comment. "What happened to that 'Mr. Cool and Confident' attitude that you're always going on about?"
"Very funny, smart guy. But for your information, I'm still cool and confident. It's just that werewolves make me jumpy."
Rev seized one last opportunity and quickly whirled back in Duck's direction and released a surprisingly sinister growl, displaying the fangs he had put back in his mouth. Duck jumped a little and released another yelp making his teammates laugh.
"Alright Rev, I think Duck has had enough terror for one day..." Lexi said gently as she put her hand on Rev's shoulder. Rev was a bit reluctant, but he complied obediently as he put the fangs back in his pocket.
"That's it Rev!" Duck shouted, "I'm so telling Ace on you! Where is that guy anyway?"
"Actually, there's Mr. Boss-man now, right on cue!" Lexi commented as Ace appeared in one of the doorways, returning to meet with the rest of his team.
"What's up, Docs?"
"I'll tell you what's up," Duck spoke accusingly, "Rev keeps picking on me, and won't leave me alone! I didn't even do anything!"
"Whatever-Duck-you-were-picking-on-Tech-and-I-was-just-standing-up-for-him!"
"I was just teasing him, you didn't have to start chasing me with that freaky wolf face of yours!"
"But-you-were-asking-for-it!"
"No I wasn't!
"Yes-you-were!"
"No I wasn't!"
"Yes-you-were!"
"Alright alright," Ace stepped in, "Clearly, this argument is gettin' nowhere. So, in times like these, I feel it's best ta just let tha jury decide." He turned to the other three team members, "Alright, by a show o' hands, who here thinks that Rev's antics were outta line?"
The three of them exchanged a few expressions, but none of them raised a hand.
"Okay," Ace continued, "who here thinks that Duck was askin' for it?"
Tech and Lexi raised their hands almost immediately. Slam hesitated for a moment as if he was debating it in his mind, but he eventually raised his hand as well. One of the nearby stage hands must've been paying attention to the disagreement too, because he also raised his hand. Duck frowned.
"Alright then, it's unanimous. Looks like you were askin' for it, Duck."
"Oh come on, that's not fair," Duck protested. He turned to the stage hand who had raised his hand, "And no one even asked you!" He just shrugged his shoulders.
"Hey, if he was watchin' tha two o' ya, then his vote's as good as anybody's," Ace defended, "Now Rev says that you were makin' fun o' Tech for some reason. I think ya owe him an apology."
"But-"
"Duck..." Ace raised his voice ever so slightly.
"Fine..." Duck eventually conceded, turning somewhat begrudgingly to the coyote. "I'm sorry for making fun of you or whatever..." he spoke reluctantly.
"Apology accepted," Tech said simply.
"See-now-Duck-that-wasn't-so-bad-"
"Hold on a minute Rev, you ain't gettin' off tha hook that easily either," Ace interrupted. The roadrunner shifted attention to his leader as he continued, "Now, I know ya like messin' around and playin' games n' all, but there's a time and a place for it. So, I think ya owe Duck an apology, too."
Rev took in his words for a moment, but quickly acknowledged him, "I-understand." He turned to Duck, "I-guess-I'm-sorry-too-for-chasing-you-around-like-that-Duck. We-still-friends?" Rev held out his hand. His voice was still eager, but with an undeniable honesty. Duck stared at the roadrunner's outstretched palm and perky grin for a moment, not quite sure how to react, but eventually accepted his handshake.
"Yeah, yeah..." he muttered.
It was hard for anyone on the team to really stay mad at Rev. Sure, there were many times where his motor mouth could become a source of annoyance, and all of them had each fallen victim to their fair share of his pranks, but his more genuine attitude served as a nice counter-balance. His cheerful and generally optimistic demeanor was often pretty contagious, and it helped to make his teammates much more accepting to his shenanigans. Plus, it also helped that Rev was one of the more conscientious members of the team. He would always make sure to never push something too far and he was usually quick to apologize and if he ever felt like his plans went awry in any way. That's just the way Rev was, always thinking of others even before he thought of himself.
"Great," Lexi spoke up, "now that we're all friends again, how about we listen to whatever Ace actually came in to say..."
Ace took her cue, "Right, so I was just talkin' to tha event coordinator and it looks like they just finished puttin' everything togetha. So we should be gettin' started any minute now. You guys ready?"
Rev began the chain of responses from each of the team members, "You-betcha-Ace-I-can't-wait-to-get-out-there-and-see-all-those-people-and-shake-all-those-hands-and-sign-all-those-autographs-and-take-all-those-pictures-and-stuff!"
Duck answered next, "Umm... take out some of those extra words and I agree with Rev. I just hope that they're as ready as I am!"
Slam didn't say anything himself, but he snickered in anticipation.
Lexi laughed, "Well, I can't say I'm as excited as these three, but I'm ready when you guys are."
Ace grinned back at her and then turned his attention to the only teammate who hadn't responded yet. Tech was hoping he wouldn't have to answer, "I-I'm all set chief... good to go!" Try as he did, he couldn't help but stumble on his first word. His nerves must have returned once he heard how soon they would be starting. He tried to pick up his tone at the end to cover it up, but there was very little that could get past Ace's radar.
"Somethin' wrong, Tech?"
Tech opened his mouth to deny the obvious, but Rev was quick to give him away, "Actually-that's-just-what-we-were-talking-about-before-you-showed-up! You-see-Tech-here-is-just-a-little-nervous-about-being-in-front-of-so-many-people-and-I-mean-can-you-blame-him? Have-you-seen-how-huge-that-crowd-is-I-mean-just-look-at-'em-all!" With his last words, he poked his head out of the curtain, taking one last look for himself. Tech sighed.
"Is that true?" Ace asked.
"Yeah, pretty much..." he admitted. "Large crowds just make me a little... uneasy. That's all."
"Well," Ace suggested, "if it helps any, you could always just imagine that -"
"- everyone in the audience is in their underwear," Tech finished for him, rather dully. "Yeah, I got it..."
"Actually, I was gonna say that you could just imagine that there is no audience, and that we're tha only ones on stage. But if that's what calms ya down, then I ain't gonna judge."
Tech opened his mouth to argue against such a gross misinterpretation, but stopped when he caught Ace's smirk. Ace always had a knack for being able to make light of almost any situation. It came in handy whenever spirits were low, or whenever any one of them wasn't feeling their best. For a brief moment, he actually managed to relax a little bit. Unfortunately, it didn't last as some feedback noise from the microphone onstage sent a small shiver through his fur.
The background noise from the chattering crowd slowly began to deafen as a voice came up through the microphone. "Alright, if I could just have everyone's attention, we'd like to go ahead and get started..."
"Well guys," Lexi said happily, "looks like it's starting!"
"Already?" Ace questioned aloud, "Wow, that was sure fast. Alright, listen up gang, there's a few more things I gotta say before we go out there..." He huddled his teammates in closer as the announcer onstage continued to address the crowd.
"Before we start," the man began politely, "I'd like to thank each and every one of you for coming out. It looks like we've got a pretty good turnout today, am I right?" After a quick cheer, the man continued. "For those of you who don't know, my name is Adam Grant and I'm the president of the Acmetropolis City Council as well as the 'Master of Ceremonies', if you will, for the inaugural 'Acmetropolis Comet Carnival!'" The crowd couldn't help but cheer once again.
"Now, as the Master of Ceremonies for this event, it's my job to deliver the opening address. So, if you'll all bear with me for a moment, I have a few things that I would like to say." A random person somewhere in the crowd gave a cheer that seemed to stand out even more in an assembly that had fallen almost completely silent. "Now, as all of you know, on this very day exactly one year ago, a rogue and unidentified meteor, somehow blind-siding all of our satellites and monitors, crash landed into our very own Acmetropolis Harbor."
"Over the past few months, as our city council was planning and organizing this event, there was one question in particular that many people would come up and ask me... 'Why?' Why were we going to such lengths to put something like this together? They could understand the idea of setting aside a day for remembrance, but they couldn't bring themselves to understand why we would see the benefit in planning a celebration for an event that seemed like such a disaster at the time. I'm sure some of you are probably wondering the same thing."
"While we certainly had our reasons, that doesn't mean that those people were wrong for feeling that way. Because it is true that in the days and weeks that followed the impact, our city did enter a dark time of its own. With the explosion, our city suffered many damages as thousands of people lost their homes, their businesses, and their jobs, some parts of the city being hurt worse than others. Hospitals became overrun with people who had been injured from the crash and those who were hurt in the aftermath. And even though the amount of casualties were relatively low, many lives were lost."
"As the days went on, our city continued to fall under even greater distress as the aftereffects of the comet continued to wreak havoc. Lingering radiation messed with our electronic and satellite signals. The comet affected our planet's natural alignment which not only spurred a number of natural disasters around the world-many of them close to home- but also permanently shifted our planet's climate and time zones. Fear and paranoia began to fill the population as crime rates started climbing, and our nation's business and economy began to collapse. To make matters even worse, a number of people started to emerge from the depths of Acmetropolis, in an attempt to seize control while the city was vulnerable, some of them even boasting superhuman abilities that they claimed were a result of the comet's radiation."
By this point, silence was practically echoing through the auditorium, many people remembering their own experiences at the time of the strike. As far as opening addresses went, this one wasn't that bad. "Doesn't exactly sound like a day worth celebrating, does it?" he resumed, "So, why are we? Because not long after things began to turn for the worse, we were given a ray of hope. Some of Acmetropolis' very own slowly began to emerge from the woodwork boasting supernatural, comet-induced powers of their own. Fortunately for us, instead of using their powers to threaten the city, they chose to defend it. They came from all walks of life and banded together in an effort to protect the broken city they called home. Together, they became a light for this city, a beacon of hope for a society that was losing its way. With their help, we stood together, picked up the pieces, and started over."
"That's why we are celebrating today. When that meteor struck the city exactly one year ago, our very way of life changed forever. The impact took many things away from us, and changed much more, but there is one thing we have now that we didn't have then... hope. Hope in ourselves... hope in each other... hope in our city... and hope in six brave heroes who have selflessly put their lives on the line for each and every one of us. And we can only hope that they will continue to do so for many years to come."
There was a small bout of scattered applause from the crowd, as the councilman started to wrap up his speech. "Yes, we have many reasons to be thankful for the help of these brave heroes, and in my opinion, what better way to show our thanks than to tell them in person? So today, for the first time ever, each and every one of you will have the chance to meet with your favorite Loonatics up close and personal!" The crowd sprang back to life with another burst of applause. "For the next couple of hours, they will be right here on this stage signing autographs, taking pictures, and simply enjoying the opportunity to meet their biggest fans in person. So what do you think? You guys ready to meet them?"
The roar of the crowd was deafening in anticipation. "Okay! It is now my honor and privilege to introduce to you... The Loonatics!" The councilman finished his opening address with a flourish.
Taking their cue from the speaker, the team emerged onto the stage, their appearance practically doubling the sound intensity from the crowd. Set up on the stage was a set of long tables covered together in white cloth, long enough to seat all six of them with generous space in between each person. Six chairs had already been propped behind it and in front of each of them, seated on top of the table, were two bottles of water, a small assortment of pens and markers, a few blank sheets of paper, and a small outward facing sign with one of their names on it, telling each of them where to sit.
The team walked onto the stage single-file, in their seating order, and took their seats. Ace sat at the first spot closest to the podium and, moving to the right, sat Lexi, Duck, Slam, Tech, and finally Rev. It took a few moment s for the crowd to subside completely and allow Mr. Grant to resume speaking.
"Now, I'm sure that all of you are fully aware who these people seated next to me are, but for the sake of this event, I think that handing over the microphone and allowing each of the team members to introduce themselves would be a great way to start things off." He removed the microphone from its stand on the podium, "So, one at a time, why don't each of you give us your name, how old you are, and tell us a little bit about what you do for the team? Naturally, we'll start with the leader..." A few more cheers went up from the audience as the councilman handed the mic over to Ace.
Ace couldn't help but tap the microphone a few times before he began. "So... uh... what's up, Docs?" he said with a bit of uncertainty. A few isolated laughs and whoops from the assembly in response to his familiar phrase let him know that he was at least starting off on the right foot. "Tha name's Ace... Ace Bunny," he continued, this time with more conviction, "I'm 21 years young, and like Mr. Grant was sayin', I'm tha leader o' this here rag-tag group o' misfits. And that basically means that it's my job ta keep 'em all outta trouble..." The crowd laughed. "Now, as for what I can do... I guess you've all seen me shoot lasers outta my eyes. But my eyes also give me an incredible field o' vision with infrared capabilities, which makes it tough fer anyone ta sneak up on me. But, as far as super powahs go, I ain't got much compared to tha rest o' tha guys. So, I make up for it with my martial arts and sword fightin' skills. I don't mean ta brag or nuthin', but I'm a pretty good fighta if I do say so myself." A couple of people in the crowd whooped as Ace finished up and handed the microphone over to Lexi.
Before she could even start, a large feminine cheer rose up in support of the team's only female member. "Hey guys," she began, "my name is Lexi Bunny... uh... no relation to Ace... and I am 20 years old. Technically, I'm kind of like the 'second-in-command' of the team, which just means that while Ace is trying to keep all of us out of trouble, it's my job to keep him out of trouble." The crowd laughed again. As far as the team was concerned, both she and Ace were doing a pretty decent job of getting the crowd warmed up. "As for my powers," she continued, "I have super hearing. My ears are naturally twice as sensitive as a normal person's, but my power allows me to control how sensitive my hearing is. If I need to, I can turn it up to be almost twenty times more sensitive than the average person's, which can really come in handy for things like spying and tracking. Aside from super hearing, I also have this power where, if I concentrate hard enough, I can shoot energy beams from my ears, which is my main weapon during missions. I call them 'brain blasts!' And... I think that about covers everything, so I'll just... hand this over now..." A few final cheers eased out of the crowd as Lexi handed the microphone over to Duck.
"Hello there, my loyal fans," he began, striking up the familiar prideful tone, "it is I, the one and only Danger Duck, speaking to you now. And although I may look a lot older, I can assure you that I'm only 19 years old... second youngest on the team. I'm not exactly sure what my official role on the team is, but I'm certainly the coolest one here, so I guess that's something." The laughter from the crowd was a bit more generous than it was for either Ace or Lexi. The mallard's larger-than-life attitude actually came off as charismatic and even somewhat endearing to the people. In fact, the rest of the team might've actually felt the same way if it seemed like Duck was actually willing to give it a rest once in a while. The crowd had the benefit of not being around it 24/7, so they found it rather entertaining.
"And as for my super powers," Duck went on, "I can do... this!" He stuck out one of his hands and formed a power orb in his palm, the people observing it with awe. "To be honest, I'm not really sure what these things are... they're like little orange fireballs or somethin'... but they always have a surprise inside them. Sometimes it's something good, sometimes it's not so good, but I never know what it is until I throw it. I call them 'eggs.'" Duck extinguished the orb in his hand an continued, "I also have the power to teleport myself whenever and wherever I want to. The only catch is that I have to have a mental image of the place in my mind for it to work, so I can usually only teleport to places I've already been to. Also, it can't be too far away. If I didn't have a limit on how far away I could go, believe me, I'd probably be on a beach right now." The audience laughed once again.
"Now, I'm sure that all of you would love to hear me keep talking about myself, but time is short, and I think I've run out of stuff to say, anyway. So, I'll just-" Before Duck could pass the microphone, Slam gave him a nudge to help jog his memory. "Oh right," he remembered, "since my giant purple friend here has a little trouble with his words, he's asked me to speak for him today." Slam nodded his head slowly with a grin as if to back up what Duck was saying. Duck placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, "This here is Mr. Slam Tasmanian, and he is... 22... I think?" Slam nodded, and Duck continued, "Yeah, he's 22 years old, and he's basically our muscleman. Since his power is superhuman strength, he comes in handy when we need a guy who can do some heavy lifting, or if we're facing someone who could use a good beating. Also, I think he can make tornadoes or something..." Duck didn't really know what else to say, so he offered Slam the microphone, who took it, raised his free hand into fist a in the air, and released a powerful and enthusiastic cry.
"Bbbrreeeahhhh!"
In response, a deep roar came from a number of people in the crowd, mimicking his cry, many of them also raising their fists up as well. It was easy to tell that most of these people were some of Slam's oldest fans, who were familiar with him from back when he spent most of his time in a wrestling ring. He took in the response with a bit of nostalgia before passing the microphone on.
Tech made sure to take a quick, deep breath before speaking, but his nerves persisted. "H-hello... my name is... Tech E. Coyote..." before he could say anything else, he was interrupted by a few very loud, and very feminine shrieks. Most of the shrieks were scattered randomly throughout the crowd, but a small source was concentrated near the front, and a slightly larger source was coming from somewhere towards the back. At first, he wasn't sure whether to be encouraged or embarrassed by the cheers of fangirls, but as a few of them kept shouting, he heard some more encouraging things like 'go Tech' and 'we love you'. He eventually settled on the former.
"Right," he continued, this time a touch more deliberately, "So, I am 22 years old, and you can think of me as the team's technician. I'm also a graduate of Acme Tech University, I enrolled when I was 16, got my Bachelor's when I was 19, and I was all set to receive my Master's just last year... but, I guess fate had other plans for me." The crowd laughed. "So, with that in mind, it's pretty safe to say that I know a few things about science and technology. In fact, almost every gadget, weapon, vehicle, or any other piece of machinery you see one of us using was likely designed and built by me. As for my superpowers, I can create magnetic fields from my palms that allow me to control almost anything made of metal, which comes in handy on the field and in the lab. Aside from that, I also have an ability known as 'molecular regeneration.' Anytime I'm hurt, wounded, or take any other significant amount of damage for whatever reason, this power will kick in and my wounds will start healing instantly, all on their own. And I know that it sounds ideal, but trust me, this power is far from perfect. I'm not immortal or anything, and I can still feel pain. In fact, the whole process actually takes up a lot of my energy, so there's only so many times I can use it in a row. But still, a power like that has definitely saved my tail many times in the past..." The crowd murmured in agreement, and Tech's demeanor calmed down almost instantly, when he realized that he made it through his speech. With a few last-minute cheers, he gladly handed the microphone to the last remaining teammate.
"Hey-everyone-how-are-you-guys-doing-today?" he began cheerfully, inciting a generous response from the people. "My-full-name-is-Rev-Runner-and-I'm-only-18-years-old-which-makes-me-the-youngest-member-on-the-team-if-you-can-believe-it! And-you-know-I'm-not-exactly-sure-what-my-official-role-on-the-team-is-because-I-know-it-should-probably-be-something-obvious-like-'speed-demon'-or-something-on-account-of-how-fast-I-am-but-then-again-I-think-that-sounds-a-little-basic-and-besides-I-have-been-told-that-I-bring-a-lot-of-energy-to-the-team-so-maybe-that-means-I'm-more-like-the-team's-'mascot'-but-then-again..."
As Rev continued to wander off from the original topic, his voice slowly accelerated until it was almost unintelligible, a common occurrence when he was thinking about a lot of different things at once. Fortunately, it came as a delight to the crowd with some of them laughing and some even cheering at the spectacle on stage. Rev's speech came across the same way that Duck's personality did. Since the people were less exposed to it than the team was, it was a little easier for them to see it as something endearing rather than something confusing or irritable, which seemed to work to everyone's advantage. Regardless, unless somebody stopped him, there would be no telling how long Rev could keep going, so Tech gave him a soft nudge with his elbow as a way to set him back on track.
"Oh-right-I'm-sorry!" Rev realized, somewhat embarrassed, "I'm-supposed-to-try-and-slow-it-down-for-you-guys..." he took a second to clear his throat before he continued. His new speed was still a little on the quick side, but it was much more discernable this time around. "Anyway, in case you couldn't tell already, my power is super speed. I'm the fastest one on the team, and last time we checked, my top speed was almost 9900 mph. For some reason, this speed also affects my brain which-is-what-makes-my-thoughts-fast-which-in-turn-makes-me-talk-fast-so-it-can-be-a-little-hard-for-people-to-understand-me-sometimes." He had to stop himself for a second. For him, talking this slow took a lot of concentration. "Besides that, I also have the ability to fly, with speeds that are almost as fast as my running speed. I also have something like an internal GPS system in my head that allows me to pinpoint the locations of almost anyone or anything I choose, which makes me a really good navigator when it comes to-finding-things-and-since-it-feels-like-I'm-starting-to-talk-fast-again-I'm-gonna-go-ahead-and-give-the-mic-back-so-I-don't-hold-us-up-any-longer..." With a few final laughs and cheers, the mic was passed back down the table and returned to the councilman.
"So, as you can see, we've got a pretty good group here," Mr. Grant commented lightly. "Anyway, I'm sure that all of you would like to go ahead and get started, and since I really don't have anything else to say, I don't see a reason to hold things up any longer. So if all of you would just stay in your lines as best you can..." The people didn't wait for him to finish. As soon as they heard that they were finally starting, the noise level started rising as some people cemented their current spots in line, and others attempted to squeeze back in after getting up from their seats.
Six security guards made their way to the edge of the stage, and two of them took their places at the front of each of the three lines. The plan was that the guards would cooperate with each other and let small groups of people from each line onto the stage in intervals. Onstage, people would separate into six smaller lines for each Loonatic, and every person would get the opportunity to meet with any and all of his or her favorite members. The event was intended to last until every line had been exhausted and every attendee had his or her time on stage. Judging by the amount of people gathered there, it was certainly going to take some time.
"Ya ready fer this, Lex?" Ace asked his partner beside him. The guards were just now sending up their first batches of people.
"Well, ready or not, here they come."
• • • • •
"Man, this is so insane. I still can't believe I'm actually getting to meet the one and only Twisted Spinner in the flesh!" the man gushed. He was a fairly built individual who was likely in his late twenties. His appearance suggested that he was a fan of hard rock music, since he was wearing a black band T-shirt, and sported a few arm tattoos as well as a few piercings in each ear. However, the more retro flavor of the current era was still showing in his hair which had been spiked and dyed a dark shade of red. Right beside him stood his girlfriend, who was probably only a couple of years younger than he was, and sported similar rock influences in her choice of clothing and in a silver nose piercing. She also had red hair, but since it wasn't an unnatural shade like her boyfriend's, it was more likely that it was her natural color. Both of them seemed to be excited to be in the presence of the ex-pro-wrestler, but it was obvious who the bigger fan was.
Slam chuckled appreciatively at the man's comment as he continued to scribble a messy signature onto an oversized white T-shirt the couple had handed him. On the front side of the shirt, it read the words "Live to Brawl" that surrounded the logo for the old wrestling league he was once associated with, the AWA (Acme Wrestling Association.) The shirt was already covered with a number of other signatures that had been left by other wrestlers from the league, a few of which he was very familiar with. It had taken him a minute to find a good spot, but Slam had finally chosen to leave his mark on a small empty spot on one of the sleeves.
"Oh Kris," the girl said with delight, "thanks so much for getting those tickets! I mean, I never thought I'd actually get a chance to have Slam sign my shirt, seeing as how busy he always is. But now, I only have a handful of people left to find before I've gotten every wrestler from the '72 season to sign my shirt!"
The man scooted his girlfriend in closer and gave her a quick kiss, "Anything for you, babe!"
"Finnished!" Slam grunted as he handed the shirt back, his work completed.
The man handed the shirt to the girl who quickly surveyed its new addition with excitement. "Kick-ass!" he exclaimed, "Hey, do you mind if I get a picture with you real quick?"
Slam shook his head as Kris handed his phone over to his girlfriend, who took a picture of both of them posing with a couple of standard tough-guy looks.
"Thanks so much, man! Oh, and before we go, I just have to say that I'm, like, your biggest fan!"
"D'aawww... nu-uh..." Slam chuckled again with a bit of modesty, rubbing the back of his head.
"No, I'm serious, bro, you were an awesome wrestler, even before you hit the big leagues, what with all those 'spin' moves you had going on. Do you remember that one time a few years back when you faced that guy named Golden Glove, and he had you in one of his signature headlocks, but then you did that one thing with your legs, and you managed to flip the two of you over so where you were on top, and then you got him in a headlock forcing him to tap out?"
Slam had to think about it for a second before the memory jarred itself back into his mind. "Ohh!" he exclaimed, before proceeding to reenact the finishing headlock on an imaginary opponent.
"Haha, you do remember! Nobody thought that you could win a matchup like that, but then you came out, kicked his ass, and showed 'em all up that night!" The man then balled his hand into a fist and raised his arm high into the air. Easily recognizing his own victory gesture, Slam raised his own arm in kind and they bumped each other's forearms, laughing. "Yeah, I remember that was pretty much the exact moment I became a fan of you! It's a shame you're not in the ring anymore, but I guess you've got bigger things to deal with nowadays, huh?"
Slam only shrugged his shoulders with the familiar grin on his face, not really knowing the best way to respond. Kris seemed to be satisfied, though. "Well, we better get going..." he finished. "Thanks again for the autograph and the pic, man. Keep slammin'!" With his turn at the table over, he turned around and started walking away, motioning his girlfriend along with him. Before they got too far, the girl looked back behind her and managed a small smile and a wave before they escaped into the crowds, Slam waving back in farewell. It was comforting for him to know that his old wrestling fans still cared for him as much as they did. Slam never had the opportunity to spend that much time in the "big leagues", as Kris had called it, before resigning and joining the Loonatics, and it was a pretty common occurrence for many other wrestlers in his same position to be quickly forgotten about after they ended their careers. However, considering where he was now, he had certainly set himself apart from most other wrestlers.
He had been meeting with fans almost non-stop for the past thirty or forty minutes now, so it took him a second to realize that his line was actually empty for the moment. He looked around and saw that his teammates still had at least a few people left in each of their lines and that his must've just been a little shorter this time around. Looking out, he still saw the three main lines stretching out of the room, but the guards were apparently letting the stage empty a bit more before letting more people through. Thankful for the break, however temporary it may be, Slam took a second to lean back in his chair and let both his mind and his signing hand rest.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Duck was handing a signed photograph to one of his own fans while also receiving something in return. After examining the gift, the mallard offered his fan both a word of thanks and a confident smile. Standing on the other side of the table was a fairly attractive blonde girl who was likely only a year or two younger than he was. She had a bit of a shy face that was partially obstructed by a pair of light-rimmed glasses, but she was pretty nonetheless. With the mallard's thanks, she gave a sheepish wave goodbye before hurrying off, blushing, and leaving Duck's line empty as well. Duck was now using his free time to survey the item even closer, a smile growing on his face. Seeing as how he had nothing else to do, Slam decided to pry.
"Whuzzat?" he asked curiously.
Slam's question seemed to snap Duck's attention back to the present situation. "What, this?" he chuckled, "Why don't you see for yourself..." He handed the item in question over to his teammate, obviously eager to share. Seeing the item up close, he was fascinated to find out that it was an amateur painting of Duck himself, framed, and protected by a thin plane of glass. Overall, the painting was pretty well done. It wasn't anything you'd find hanging in an art museum, but was quite impressive nonetheless. In the picture, Duck was standing in a somewhat generic hero pose out on the edge of a cliff, his eyes gazing ahead at something in the distance. A setting sun painted the sky with warming colors, and the skyline of downtown Acmetropolis could be seen in the background.
One particular detail that stood out to him though was that Duck had been drawn wearing, on top of his uniform, a small teal-colored cape. To most, it would seem like a minor detail, but to them it showed just how big of a fan the girl probably was, seeing as how Duck had actually worn this cape in the past. It was only during the first few months after the team had been formed, but Duck had insisted on having a cape to go with his uniform, so much so that he settled on using a small blanket he had found in his room (the only piece of fabric in the tower that was the right size.) As time passed though, he began slowly phasing out the accessory and ultimately ended up abandoning it all together. To them, having this detail included in the picture was a testament to the girl's devotion and seemed to prove that she was likely one of Duck's earlier fans.
However, even that wasn't the most interesting part of Duck's gift. On the bottom left corner of the painting, the girl had written a note on the glass casing in bright red ink. It read:
"To my favorite Loonatic and artistic inspiration. -Elle XOXO"
To top it off, she had kissed the glass right next to her signature, leaving behind an affectionate mark in deep red lipstick. Slam couldn't help but chuckle a bit mischievously as he handed back the painting.
"Pretty sweet, huh?" the mallard began gloating. "Did you see how red her face got? But then again, how can you blame her? I doubt there's a lady out there who can resist the handsome charms of a guy like me. Throw in the fact that I'm an actual superhero and I'm practically a chick magnet..."
Slam rolled his eyes. "Here we go again," he thought to himself.
"I'm serious," he persisted, "It's pretty obvious that I'm the one guy on this team that the ladies find most desirable. Why else would they be drawing pictures of me?"
"One..."
"One more than you. And I mean, just look at you. With guns like yours, you should be getting all kinds of chicks, but it turns out your biggest fans are mostly other muscular tough guys. You're more like... a bro magnet..."
Slam threw him a look.
"Hey, it's just an observation," he defended. "All I'm trying to say is that I am clearly the good-looking one out of all of us. I don't see anyone else on the team having this kind of luck with the ladies, do you?"
Slam was about to answer, when he thought he heard some giggling coming from another direction. He turned to the source and found an instant opportunity.
"Tech...?" he suggested.
"Tech?" Duck asked, confused, "What about Tech?"
Slam turned around and pointed to the coyote on his other side and the two of them watched the scene unfold. At the very front of his line, there stood a total of six girls who were likely all around the 19-21 year old range. Standing directly in front of the table were two girls, an average-sized brunette girl who wore a confident smile on her face, and a silver wolf anthro with a more bashful smile, who also happened to be holding a small rolled-up poster in her hand. The other four girls were standing a couple of feet behind them as if to show that they were with the two girls, but technically not in line. That group consisted of a short blonde girl, a taller dark-skinned girl, a fox anthro, and a white coyote anthro. The four of them were huddled in close, vainly trying to keep their gossiping under a loud whisper.
"Can I help you ladies?" Tech's voice was polite, but he couldn't completely hide what sounded like a slight pique of interest.
The two girls glanced at each other for an instant, suppressing a giggle, until the brunette finally spoke up. "Yeah... were just wondering if you could sign this poster for us?" With her suggestion, the wolf sheepishly handed him the poster, featuring a promotional image of the coyote himself.
"No problem!" Tech said gladly as he laid it out flat, and uncapped his marker. "And I'm making this out to...?" he directed the question towards the wolf since it seemed more likely that the poster belonged to her. She must've been nervous, because she didn't answer right away, and instead sent a nervous look to her friend. In response, the girl nudged her shoulder and made a face that seemed to say, "Go on..."
"Tara..." she finally admitted with a small smile.
"Tara?" Tech repeated, to which the wolf nodded her head in verification. "I like that name... it's very pretty. It suits you..."
His words clearly caught her off guard, because her face instantly flushed red and, though it was hard to tell for sure, it sounded like she might have squealed ever so slightly. Embarrassed, she turned her gaze away from the coyote in an attempt to collect herself as Tech started on his signature.
Tech had no way of knowing for sure about this either, but he felt like he might have blushed a bit too, since he hadn't quite expected himself to say something like that, either. Wasn't he just stumbling on his words not even an hour ago? Where did that come from? The three of them were silent for a moment before he decided that it probably wasn't best to leave a comment like that hanging in the air. So, he decided to keep up small talk. "And your name is...?" he asked the brunette.
"Oh, my name's Ashley," she answered with a small laugh, clearly more confident than her friend who had barely decided to turn her face back to the table. "And let me just say," she continued, "that we both think you're, like, the coolest guy ever!"
Tech laughed politely at the compliment, "Well thanks. It really means a lot to hear things like that from time to time..."
"I love the way your voice sounds, Tech!" Tara almost burst out as if that was something that she had to get off her chest. The other two looked at her for a second as she tried to justify her outburst. "'Cause, you know, it's so deep... and... mysterious... sounding..." she found herself trailing off, embarrassed once again.
That's when a surprising idea appeared out of nowhere in Tech's brain. Out of natural habit, he started to consider the possible outcomes if he went ahead and said what was on his mind, versus what could happen if he didn't. He knew it was a risky move, and he normally would've passed up on an opening like this simply out of the fear of making a fool of himself. But, for some reason, Tech had an extra spark of confidence at that moment, and it was spurring himself to go ahead and take the chance. Ultimately, he spoke before he could convince himself otherwise.
He turned back to Tara and smoothly dropped his voice down as low as he could without it sounding forced, "Well if I had your number, maybe you'd get to hear my voice a lot more often..."
After a second of stunned silence among the three of them, Tara's face flushed bright red once again, and there was no denying the squeal she had made this time. Ashley, who was blushing a bit herself, quickly and eagerly starting pushing her friend to take up his offer. She was fumbling a lot, but Tara listened to her friend and dug a scrap of paper from her pocket and began to scribble something on it. The huddle of girls behind them were in a frenzy now, asking each other if they had, in fact, seen what had just happened. Duck's jaw hit the table.
Tech could barely believe it himself... his stupid line actually worked. For a second, he just sat there unsure of how exactly to react, even doubting whether that had really just happened, when he realized that he hadn't finished signing the girls' poster. He turned his focus back to the poster for a moment as the full triumph of his actions finally dawned on him. He couldn't help but smile.
Once he finished signing his note, he looked up to see that the girls were still writing. "Put my number down too..." Ashley instructed her friend. The female coyote in the back group raised her hand. "And Cassie's..." Ashley added, picking up on her friend's signal. Once they finished, the girls swapped their pink sticky note, fresh with three new sets of numbers, with Tech's signed poster.
"Thank you so much..." Tara said softly while looking over her new and improved poster.
"Anytime, girls," Tech finished, still speaking in a lower-than-normal tone. Both of the girls waved goodbye as they joined back up with their friends behind them who were eager to hear more details. As they started to walk away, Tech managed to pick up a few pieces of what they were saying.
"He's so cute..." one of them said.
"See, I told you it was a good idea for you to come..." another one of them said, speaking to Tara. Tech then watched the six of them walk away in an uproar of giggling and joking. Before they were out of sight, Tara looked back one last time and offered a small wave back to him, which Tech returned kindly.
With the girls gone, Tech's line was finally empty as well, and when he sat back in his chair it didn't take long for him to notice that he was being watched. Slam chuckled slyly and gave his teammate a few good pats on the back. Duck had barely managed to pull his jaw up from the table, quietly infuriated at having his own moment upstaged. Tech noticed the mallard's obvious jealousy and gave him a small smirk.
Duck was ready to say something back, but they were all interrupted when the security guards let a new group of fans onto the stage. As their lines filled up, the three of them turned their attention to the next person in their line and Duck was forced to keep the comment to himself.
"Showoff..."
• • • • •
"Well if it isn't tha leader o' tha Loonatics himself, Ace Bunny!" the actual leader spoke in a playful tone.
"What's up Doc?" the little boy answered with pride. Ace's newest fan was covered from head to toe in a very convincing "Ace Bunny" costume, with a pair of pants and a shirt that actually sported many of the same designs and colorations that he had on his actual uniform. To complete the look, he was also wearing a full-face mask depicting the leader's face as well as a headband that propped up a set of long black and yellow rabbit ears.
"Hey, ya even got the family catchphrase down, don't ya?" Ace remarked, continuing to play along. "Ya think I could get your autograph, little guy?" He picked up one of his pens and one of his scrap sheets of paper and offered it to the kid.
"Sure!" he replied eagerly, taking the pen and paper, "Anything for my fans!"
Before the boy could actually start writing, his mother behind him decided to step in. "Alright, honey, you've had your fun. But remember, there are people waiting..." The woman offered Ace a smile which he returned. By the looks of it, she seemed to be somewhere around her late 30s.
"Okay..." the son said obediently, but with a bit of obvious disappointment.
"And be polite... let the nice man see your real face while you're talking to him."
Without much further protest, the boy removed both his ears and his mask to reveal a smiling, young face, complete with dark blonde hair styled in a boyish cut, and a pair of bright, yet mischievous green eyes. Ace smiled back at the boy as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded up photograph for him to sign.
"Now what's yer name, kiddo...? I mean, yer real name..." Ace joked as he took the photo.
"Hunter."
"Well, that's a pretty cool name, Hunter! How old are ya?"
"I'm 8 years old right now, but I'll be 9 tomorrow!"
"Is that so? Well, in dat case, I'm gonna write 'Happy Birthday Hunter' right here on this picture, just for you. Okay?"
"Okay! Thanks, Ace!"
"Anything fer tha birthday boy!" Ace answered happily as he grabbed a spare pen and began writing down a short message. He wasn't quite sure why, but he was really taking a shine to the boy, so he tried his best to keep him talking. "Cool costume ya got there! Where'd ya get it?"
"My mom made it for me! The ones at the costume store were too expensive..."
"Well that was nice o' her. She did a really good job..."
"Uh-huh!" the boy responded enthusiastically, "I think it's even better that the ones at the store! She made it because I told her that I wanted to look just like you when I got to see you today. Wanna know why?"
Ace laughed, "Why?"
"Because when I grow up, I wanna be just like you! 'Cause you get to go around and be a superhero and do a whole bunch of superhero stuff, like beat up all the bad guys! That's what I wanna do! Someday, when I'm big like you, I'm gonna be the one who beats up all the bad guys and saves the day..."
Ace couldn't help but laugh again at the way Hunter's face lit up while he talked about this. "Ya know, you remind me a lot of myself when I was a kid..."
Hunter's eyes widened as he absorbed what his icon had just told him. "Wow, really..." he said after a moment, "you mean it? Do you really think I could be a real-life superhero someday?
"Absolutely! There ain't a doubt in my mind!" he said with a grin. "But, ya know, bein' a hero ain't just about beatin' up bad guys."
"It's not?" This was news to him.
"Nope. Sure, beatin' up bad guys is fun n' all, but a hero's real job is ta protect people! When yer a real hero, yer supposed ta stand up for people who are in trouble, especially for tha people that ya care about, like yer friends... or yer mom."
"Oh yeah, huh..." Hunter was sure that he knew that already, he had just forgotten. "That sounds like a lot of work though..."
Ace laughed again, "Yeah, it is a pretty big job, but it's not that hard. Ya just have ta make sure that ya always stand up fer what's right, and more importantly, never stop believing in yourself. If you can do that... then yer already a hero!"
"Really?" the boy asked with renewed excitement, "Is that all? I can do that, it'll be easy! Just you wait and see, I'm gonna be the best superhero ever!"
"Yep! And make sure that ya eat plenty o' vegetables, too!" Ace quickly added. Wasn't it his job now to remind kids to do stuff like that?
"Awww..." Hunter turned his head down at the new suggestion. Apparently for him, saving the world was easy, eating his peas was hard.
Ace only chuckled as he finished signing the photo and handed it back to the boy. "Here ya go, Hunter."
He eagerly took the photo from him and surveyed his new prize. "Cool! I can't wait 'till all my friends see this! "
"What do you say...?" The mom interceded, reminding her son of his manners.
"Thank you, Ace!" the boy crooned happily.
"No problem-o... oh, and one more thing before ya go..." Ace dropped his voice a little and motioned the boy in closer as if he had a very important secret to tell him. "I don't know if ya noticed, but I've seen a lot of bad guys walkin' around today..."
Ace winked and the boy's face lit up, picking up on his signal. "I know," he whispered back, "I've been seeing them all over the place. What do you think they want?"
"I don't know, but whateva it is, it can't be good. But tha problem is, I'm stuck here signin' autographs right now, so I can't stop 'em. So, I'm gonna need an extra pair o' eyes ta keep a look out fer troublemakers and make sure that everyone here stays safe. So whaddya say, ya think ya can handle it?"
Hunter's eyes widened again but only for an instant because he quickly calmed down and dawned a more serious demeanor. "You can count on me, Ace!" he answered proudly.
"Attaboy, now go out there and get 'em! But just remembah... tha most important thing ta do is ta protect people. So make sure that yer mothah ova there stays outta harm's way. It's up ta you ta keep her safe. I'm countin' on ya!"
"Got it!" the boy answered back with a salute before putting his mask and his ears back on. He waved a final goodbye to the bunny before dashing back to his mom's side, proudly displaying his new autographed picture.
As his mother ushered the two of them out of the auditorium, she looked back at Ace and offered another smile. Ace smiled back with a nod of his head as he watched them walk away, overhearing the start of a new conversation.
"Get behind me, mommy! Ace said I have to keep you safe..."
"Keep me safe? Keep me safe from what?" she asked warmly.
"You know, the bad guys! Can't you see them?"
Ace couldn't help but feel good about himself after the encounter. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but something about the boy seemed strangely familiar, and a part of him was glad that he could at least leave a positive influence on him. Who knew, maybe really would someday grow up and do something amazing...
Lexi must've been keeping an eye on what was going on with Ace as well. "Looks like someone's pretty good with kids..." she teased with a smile after just finishing up an autograph of her own.
"Eh, what can ya do, we're role models now. It's all part o' tha job."
"I didn't see you act so nice to any of the other kids. Was it the costume?"
Ace laughed a little, "Well, that helped. But honestly, I could swear I was just like that when I was a kid. It was like... I was lookin' into a mirror from the past or somethin'. It was weird."
"So does that mean he's gonna grow up and be just like you? I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing." she joked.
"It's obviously a good thing, Lex. Ya oughta know that."
Lexi only had time to laugh before the two of them were distracted by new fans. When she turned back to her own line, her attention was immediately drawn to a medium-size photograph that had already been placed on the table in front of her. Instead of being a promotional poster or a stock image that had been pulled off the internet, it was a real-life action shot. In a way, it seemed more amateur than most pictures, but the way it had been set up seemed to suggest a unique sense of professionalism. It was almost like she could fully relive the moment that had been captured just by looking at the picture.
The shot was taken about two or three months ago when a couple of hackers broke into the computer system at the Acmetropolis Military Weapons Base. Aside from stealing a significant quantity of the base's private documents, they also managed to gain remote control of about a handful of 20-foot robotic battle droids, most of which were sent rampaging through the streets. Naturally, when the police realized that they needed assistance, the Loonatics were called in to help. It was a rough time at first, considering how strong and seemingly indestructible they were, but Lexi quickly discovered that the type of energy that was emitted from her brain blasts was particularly effective at interfering with the droids' internal systems. Using her powers, she could stop the robots and render them useless without actually destroying them. And just like that, the team formulated a plan that put her at the forefront of the action.
This particular photo was taken in the middle of an empty (evacuated) street. Obviously Lexi was the main focal point of the shot and she looked as though she had just landed back on the ground after an impressive jump. Her landing pose was acrobatic to say it one way, with three of her limbs resting on the ground, and her body still in a kind of crouching stance. Her eyes, however, were facing straight ahead and glowing hot pink. A few lingering flares of pink energy could also still be seen on her ears, implying that she had just fired her shot, probably in mid-air. Several feet behind her, the droid stood facing the other direction with her teammates at its feet, helping to contain it. The droid's body was alive with electrical discharge and a few puffs of smoke could be seen escaping some of its joints. Lexi still considered this one of the finest moments of her career on this team, and to see it captured so well pretty much left her speechless.
"Wow.." she finally said, still not taking her eyes off the photo, "this picture is incredible!"
Lexi heard the girl before her answer, "Thanks. I took it myself..."
Instantly, a bell went off in Lexi's mind that made the photo seem like an afterthought. The girl's voice was so familiar... she recognized a tone that reminded her of a flower petal: soft, yet defined. A name slowly formed in her mind that came as a welcome surprise. Could it really be her? She figured there was only one way to find out and slowly turned her gaze from the photo to the girl opposite the table. She looked to be about Lexi's age, but stood a few inches shorter than her, and had a slightly lighter body frame. She had chestnut hair that hung just past her shoulders, and her golden-brown eyes were partly hidden by a pair of thin, black glasses. She knew she recognized that voice.
"...Amber...?"
"Hey Lexi." the girl smiled when she finally saw the recognition on her old friend's face.
"Oh my God, it's really you!" Lexi exclaimed. She immediately got up from her chair and the two girls hugged each other happily over the table. They spread apart only after a few good moments, "How long has it been?" she asked.
"Well, it depends on what you're counting," Amber answered with a laugh. "We haven't actually seen each other since last summer. But technically, you did text me last Christmas..."
"Has it really been that long?" Lexi gasped, "I'm sorry... I guess I've been kinda preoccupied."
"Don't worry, you don't have to apologize," she reassured her. "I'm pretty sure the stuff you've got going on is a lot bigger than anything I've got to deal with."
Lexi only smiled again as the two of them went in for another hug. "It's really good to see you again," she said sweetly. After breaking apart for the final time, Lexi sat back down and brought attention back to what her friend had brought. "So, you said you actually took this picture?"
"Yeah! I'm guessing you like it?"
"Are you kidding, I love it! I always thought you were pretty good with a camera, but this is proof if I ever needed it."
"Thanks, but it was more luck than anything. I guess I was just in the right place at the right time. I'm actually planning on using it as part of my final project for my photography class, but I figured I had to show it to you first. Plus, I figured that if I brought it to the autograph session, I could even get you to write something on it... if you don't mind," Amber smiled.
"Of course not, that's pretty much all I've been doing today, anyway!" Lexi laughed. "But for you, I'll see if I can come up with something special."
"Thanks!"
"No problem," she said cheerfully, as she started to write something down, making sure to leave plenty of room. "So if you're taking a photography class, does that mean you're still an art major?"
"Yep."
"How's that working out for you?"
"It's amazing, Lexi! It's almost like I get to do all the same sketching and doodling that I did before, except now it counts as homework! I'm practically spending 15 hours of college credit working in a sketchbook. So yeah, I couldn't be happier!"
"You haven't changed at all, have you?" Lexi teased, shaking her head. "Typical art nerd..."
"Hell yeah I'm an art nerd! Proud of it, too!" Both of them laughed. "But, you know, I am trying to branch out a bit," she continued. "Since I've been taking this photography class, I've started becoming more interested in taking pictures of real people, and real places, and real things that are happening. I'm actually thinking about switching my minor to journalism and seeing if I can land a job as a photographer for a local newspaper or a magazine or something."
"That'd be pretty cool," Lexi commented, "and hey, if you keep landing shots like this, I'm sure you won't have any problem finding a job."
"Thanks, I hope so too. I mean all those art classes keep me pretty busy, so it better be worth it." They both laughed again. "I'm pretty sure that if it weren't for the cheerleading squad, I wouldn't have a social life at all..."
Almost immediately after she finished, Amber realized that she had probably spoken a little too quickly. She knew that the cheerleading squad was still a bit of a sore spot for her, even after all this time.
But fortunately, even though there was a second of extra pause before she answered, her voice didn't sound troubled at all, "Oh you're still with the squad?" she asked. "That's cool! It's kinda funny though, you don't see many art nerds going for a pretty-girl sport like that."
"You know me, Lexi, I like being different. Besides, a lot of the girls are actually pretty cool about it. I even have a few of them in some of my art classes. They're not very good, but they try..."
Lexi laughed, much to Amber's relief. It was comforting to know that it seemed as if Lexi had mostly moved on after the ordeal they had gone through last year. They were both doing good, and that was all that she could have hoped for.
However, there was still one major issue that still needed to be resolved, and it had been bothering Amber for the past few months. In fact, it was part of the reason she had came to see Lexi in the first place. The thought of potentially opening up an old wound scared her, but she knew that it needed to be addressed. Besides, it seemed like the perfect opportunity had been set up for her since they had just reached a break in the conversation as Lexi continued to write her note. After a moment, she finally mustered up the strength to bring it up.
"Speaking of cheerleading..." she began with a bit of hesitation.
Lexi looked up.
"...umm... I brought some people here with me... and..." Amber's voice started to fail her as she couldn't think of a good way to bring it up. She ended up motioning her head lightly to her right in an attempt to just point it out.
Curiously, Lexi looked in the direction her friend had indicated and saw that she was telling the truth. A few feet behind her and to her right stood two blonde girls who could've only been about a year or two older than them at the most. They were whispering to each other and pointing at some of her teammates, Ace in particular since he was the closest. Lexi must've been so caught up in her reunion with Amber that she didn't notice them standing there. She looked at the two of them for a second, trying to figure out what was so familiar about them, when the girl on the left saw that she was looking at her, and offered a weak smile.
That's when Lexi put the pieces together. She couldn't come up with any names, but she recognized her, both of them in fact, as girls she met during last year's cheerleading auditions at Acme U. She remembered that the girl who smiled had seemed friendly enough when they first met, but it never lasted. Curiously, she couldn't really conjure up any specific memory about the other girl. Lexi didn't smile back, she couldn't really think of any reason why she should. Fortunately, the girl turned away before it seemed intentional. Part of her wanted to feel angry at the two of them, but deep down, she knew it was pointless. Even though they both ultimately became part of the problem, she saw them more as pawns than anything else. They were just powerless bystanders who just got caught up in the mix. No, she decided not to ruin the moment by feigning empty negative feelings for either of them. She kept in mind what Tech had told her earlier that day in the lab, the past was behind her.
"Yeah, I see you did," she finally responded somewhat dismissively, "they friends of yours?"
"Well... kinda..." Amber answered sheepishly, ''But actually, I wasn't talking about them... I think she's trying to hide from you..."
With another glance, Lexi suddenly understood why Amber sounded so hesitant. Standing a bit behind the two girls was a taller girl with long and curly black hair. Most of her length was in her arms and legs, and by looking at the curves of her body, it was easy to guess that she probably never had much trouble finding a date. However, today her face was free of the usual copious amounts of cosmetics and it seemed almost as if it revealed a strange vulnerability in her. It clashed with every memory she had of her being a confident and sassy individual. Her name was Tiffany, and Lexi's mood instantly darkened.
In the split-second it took to recognize her, a flood of different emotions filled Lexi's mind. Things like anger, sadness, resentment, guilt, pity, and surprise all seemed to fight for dominance in her head, but it seemed as though resentment was the strongest contender. Tiffany's eyes wandered the room flittingly as if she was trying to avoid looking at her, but it only took a second for her to realize that Lexi had finally found her, forcing their eyes to meet. Their gazes were locked rigidly for a moment as if they were both trying to register the situation, but Lexi's face quickly formed a scowl that startled her into looking away. Try as she might have, Tiffany wasn't someone that she could just reason herself into ignoring.
"Amber," Lexi finally said softly, "what's going on?"
"Listen, I know you two haven't seen each other in a while, but -"
"What is she doing here?" she interrupted her with a bit more force in her voice, the bitterness beginning to show.
"Calm down, Lexi," Amber pleaded gently, "just give me a chance to explain."
Lexi realized that she had raised her voice, and decided to pull back a little. She wasn't angry with Amber, and she certainly didn't want it to seem that way.
"I know things have been kind of rocky between the two of you," she began, "but I think it's time we all moved on from this. Besides, she just came to apologize."
Lexi stole another quick glance at Tiffany, which she promptly avoided. "Doesn't look like it to me..." she said bitterly.
"I'm sure she's just a little nervous, that's all..." Amber defended her, but was a bit unsure herself, "and you two have been keeping this up for almost a whole year now. Don't you think it's time to give it a rest. I mean, you two used to be best friends..."
"Exactly, we used to be best friends," Lexi answered bitingly. "Then I realized how selfish and shallow of a person she really was."
Amber sighed. She expected a struggle, but this was more difficult than she had hoped. "Look, I know things didn't end well between you and her, and she can't take back what she did, but believe me when I say that she really does feel bad about what happened. I know you have a bit of a temper, but could you at least give her a chance to talk to you? It would really mean a lot... for both of us."
Lexi kept her head down as she wrestled with the idea. After a second, she picked up her head and took another look at her old friend who, to her surprise, was already looking at her. She must've been paying close attention to what she and Amber had been saying, waiting to see how she would react. The two ex-friends stared at each other intently once again, as if they were both waiting for the other one to make a move. As the seconds dragged on, Lexi's expression slowly started reverting into an intense and heated glare, almost on its own. For an instant, Tiffany's features softened, but she quickly hardened them back up and narrowed her own eyes in response, as if she was now angry with Lexi because she was still so angry. Lexi's glare didn't let up though, and whatever little courage Tiffany had pulled together a second ago seemed to fall to pieces, leading her to finally drop her gaze. She looked at the floor for a bit, with eyes that seemed more conflicted and defeated than anything else now, before walking away, clutching her arms.
"Where's she going...?" Amber questioned with quiet disbelief, almost to herself.
"She hasn't changed at all..." Lexi said conclusively. Amber looked at her friend, visibly disappointed with what had just happened, prompting Lexi to defend her actions.
"Look," she spoke up calmly, "I know you only mean well, I really do... but it's just not that easy. It may not have seemed like that big a deal to you at the time, but it was for me. We were practically best friends ever since we were kids, and she was the one who decided to throw it all away, not me. To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if I ever will be able to forgive her..."
There was silence between them. Amber was clearly upset that things hadn't gone the way she had hoped, but strangely enough, part of her could almost understand why Lexi felt the way she did. Regardless, she still felt like she needed to say something...
"You know it doesn't do anyone any good to hold a grudge, right?" Lexi remained silent, so she continued. "I understand why you feel so strongly about this... but I want you to put yourself in her shoes for a moment. What she did wasn't right and she knows it. But don't you think that the last thing she needs is to see her old friend be so cold and unforgiving when she's only trying to set things right? I know it's not easy for you, especially with that stubborn, fiery temper of yours, but all I'm asking for you to do is let it go and move on. I know that you can find it in yourself to lay down your pride, at least just this once. Holding a grudge isn't going to solve anything..."
Lexi still kept quiet, but now she had much less resolve, and was more conflicted than ever. Amber did always have a way with words, and for the first time, she began to wonder if maybe such strong and negative feelings weren't justifiable. Still, she didn't really know how to respond to her. She didn't want to say "no" and seem even more bull-headed than she already was, but at the same time, she didn't want to say "yes" because she thought that there was a good chance that she would just end up making a liar of herself. The last thing she wanted to do right now was lie to Amber. So how was she supposed to respond? Interestingly enough, a distraction appeared from out of the blue that kept her from having to make such a decision.
"Hey Lexi, can we ask you something...?"
The bunny was snapped out of her thoughts and looked up to see that one of the other girls (the one who had smiled) had asked her the question. She was a bit annoyed at how oblivious the two of them seemed to be, but Lexi decided to go ahead and acknowledge them since they had provided a break from the tension.
"Yeah... what is it?" she asked, rather flatly.
The two of them giggled before she continued. "Okay so... are you and Ace, like... together, or something?"
Lexi gave a very loud sigh. She barely had enough patience for questions like this in the first place. She certainly didn't have the patience now, especially for those two.
"Let me make this perfectly clear," Lexi began ranting, "Ace and I are just friends! We are not dating... we are not in some kind of weird relationship... and we do not have feelings for each other! Why does everybody always have to assume that me and him have to like each other that way for some reason. Just because we both happen to be bunnies, and just because he happens to be a pretty good-looking guy, it doesn't mean that-"
"Ya think I'm a good-lookin' guy?" Ace interrupted her, clearly hearing what she had said.
Lexi stopped dead in her words as her face flushed bright red. That was not what she meant at all! But the damage had already been done, and the excessive cooing and giggling from the two girls only subjected her to further embarrassment.
"Wait... I didn't... that's not... he..." Lexi began stammering, but to no avail on the girls. For all they were concerned, Lexi had just given herself away, and there was no reason at all for them to hear about how she had simply gotten caught up in the moment. "Fine, whatever!" she burst out, "I've got a picture to finish signing..." With one last huff, she turned her complete attention back down to her unfinished writing. Out of the corner of her eyes, tough, she could still see the girls murmuring excitedly, and she wasn't sure, but she could swear that she saw Ace smirking as well.
"Damn his impeccable comedic timing!" she thought to herself. He just had to completely ruin another one of her moments with his light-hearted commentary, didn't he? He was definitely going to pay for that later.
But, also out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Amber appeared to be smiling as well. She figured that if anything good had come out of Ace's remark, it was that it had successfully cleared the tension in the air. It seemed that both of them were thankful for that, seeing as how neither of them wanted to end their reunion on a sour note. With that in mind, she picked up her marker and continued the thoughtful message she had started before. Now, she had thought of one last thing that she could add...
• • • • •
After a few more moments, Lexi finally felt satisfied with what she had written and offered back the photo. "That should do it!"
"Thanks again, Lexi," Amber responded kindly, taking the picture back. The words had been written on the upper-left corner of the image, written in small, fine handwriting. The few lines of text effectively covered up about a quarter of the entire picture. "This really means a lot."
"No problem at all, that's what friends are for. If anything, I should be thanking you for showing up today."
Amber gave a small laugh. "Well, I guess that's everything. I probably shouldn't hold you up any longer..." she said as she glanced back at the still-crowded auditorium behind her. She was technically the last one in Lexi's line, but she had already spent a considerable amount of time there, and it looked like more people could be let onto the stage at any moment.
"Alright. Well, it was great seeing you again!" Lexi said, starting to wrap things up. "And hey, whenever I get a day or a night off sometime, you and I should totally hang out together!"
Amber laughed, "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. We could go shopping or go see a movie or something, just like old times!"
"Is your number still the same?"
"Yep."
"Great, then I'll definitely give you a call!"
"Sounds like a plan," Amber said with a smile. She was about to turn and leave, but she figured there was one more thing that needed to end with more resolve. "Oh, and one more thing..." she leaned in a little and dropped her voice a bit, "...could you at least try?"
Lexi immediately knew what she was referring to. "Amber..."
"Please, just promise that you'll give it a try... for me?"
She was still unsure about the whole thing, but she certainly didn't want to leave her friend disappointed in her, "Fine... I'll give it a shot..."
A genuine smile appeared on Amber's face as she leaned in closer and gave her friend a hug goodbye. "Thanks, Lexi. It was great seeing you."
"Same here," Lexi said sweetly, returning the hug. After a second, the two friends let go and Amber began walking away, the other two girls already having gotten a head start.
"Oh hey, make sure you text me later!" Amber called back.
"Okay, I will!" Lexi agreed with a smile as she watched her friend disappear into the crowd. When she realized that her line had actually been freed with her departure, she allowed herself a moment to relax. Her fans were great and all, but seeing a familiar face had really done a lot to pick up her spirits.
"So I'm guessin' she's a friend o' yours?
Lexi looked up to see that Ace was trying to start a conversation. His line was empty as well, and probably had been for a little while. She folded her arms, "I'm still mad at you, you know."
"Mad at me fer what? Makin' a joke?"
"I don't know... maybe for making me look like an idiot!"
"Hey, ya oughta be thankin' me. If I'd a let ya blow any more gaskets, ya mighta never been able ta calm down."
Lexi felt like arguing, but she knew he had a point. She didn't need to be told twice that she had a feisty temper. But she wasn't quite willing to prove Ace right at the moment, so she kept from saying anything.
"So who was that goil, anyway?" he asked.
"Her name's Amber," she responded, deciding to talk, "she's a good friend of mine. We knew each other back in high school, but we didn't really become friends until we saw each other in college."
"She seemed nice."
Lexi smiled, "Yeah, she can be a little shy sometimes, but she's a really nice person once you get to know her. She really helped me out through some tough times..."
"What about that otha goil, tha one with tha black hair that was kinda standin' by herself?"
Lexi's smile faded. She realized that Ace had been listening to a lot more of her conversation than she thought. "Oh... she's... no one, really..."
"Ya sure about that? It sounded like tha two o' ya knew each otha."
"Yeah... we actually used to be friends... but it's a long story."
"I see."
She paused for a second, "Ace... why do people have to change?"
Ace had to think about it for a minute, "Well, that's kind of a tricky question. Tha way I see it, people don't really change all that much... at least, not on their own. Instead, it's tha world that does all tha changing, all we do is respond. And ya know, seein' how a person responds ta all tha changes around them is a pretty good way ta know what kind of person they are..."
Lexi thought it over for a moment, eventually coming to a realization, "So... that means that I have to forgive her, huh?"
Before he could respond, both of their lines started filling up, drawing their attention elsewhere. With a head filled with new thoughts, Lexi turned to her next fan, eager for an autograph of his own.
• • • • •
"Wow! I'm-so-glad-that-you-guys-actually-made-it!" Rev proclaimed happily.
"Are you kidding? There's no way we would've missed this!" Alex answered.
Just as he had hoped, three of Rev's closest friends from High School - Alex, Kurt, and Jessica - were standing on the other side of the table, paying their old friend a visit. The oldest one in the group was Kurt who happened to be in the same class year as Rev. He was also the tallest among the three of them and had lengthened sandy-blonde hair. At the moment, he was busy writing something on the back of a photograph, using Alex's back as a backboard. Alex was a tiger anthro and was the same age as Rev, although he actually belonged to the grade below him. Jessica was the youngest out of all of them, one year younger than Rev and Alex, and was also the shortest. Her long black hair was decorated with a blue headband and she was carrying something that, for now, was kept hidden behind her back.
"Did you think we'd forget?" Kurt asked.
"Well-we-don't-get-to-hang-out-all-that-much-anymore..."
"So?" Jessica said with a smile, "we're still your friends, you know."
"Here, we got you something..." Kurt said as he finished whatever he was writing and handed the photo to Rev. It was given to him with the back-side facing up, displaying that all three of them had signed it, along with personal notes of congratulations and friendship. Since he knew he'd have plenty of time to read through them later, he quickly flipped the photo over to its front to see the image. The picture was of the four of them posing and smiling for the camera in their bathing suits on the beach. It looked pretty typical, but there was a fun story behind it.
"Do you remember that? It's the picture we took that day when school got cancelled and we all ended up spending the day at the beach. You always used to tell me how much you liked that picture, so..." Jessica explained.
"Of-course-I-remember! That-day-was-so-much-fun-and-it-really-meant-a-lot-to-me-since-I-used-to-be-working-so-much-back-then-and-I-could-hardly-ever-find-time-to-hang-out-with-you-guys-outside-of-school-so-it-was-amazing-that-we-ended-up-having-all-that-extra-time-together!" Rev remembered fondly.
"So you should be thankful that I mixed the wrong stuff in Chemistry class that day!" Alex boasted, crossing his arms with a cheesy grin.
"...and caused a small explosion that caused hundreds of dollars of damage to lab equipment, and spilled huge amounts of poisonous gasses into the hallways, potentially putting hundreds of people in danger and forcing an evacuation of the school where the police, the fire department, and the bomb squad were all called in for safety precautions...?" Kurt matter-of-factly included what Alex had conveniently left out.
"Well, you're not supposed to put it like that..." Alex defended.
"Speaking of school," Jessica moved on, "we got you something else you might like!" she handed him the item that was held behind her back, revealing it to be a folded, medium-size sheet of poster board. Opening it up, the page was dominated with the words "WE LOVE REV RUNNER!" in thick and bold red lettering. The words were completely surrounded by countless signatures and notes written and scribbled in all kinds of colors and sizes.
"Yeah, me and Jessica passed that around at school, and ended up getting a crap-load of signatures," Alex said, Jessica nodding in agreement. "We were expecting a few, but we got a lot more than we could've imagined..."
"Wow...thanks-guys!" Rev said with genuine amazement, "But-you-didn't-have-to-go-to-all-this-trouble-just-for-me..."
"No, it wasn't trouble at all! Trust me dude, you're like a celebrity at school now!"
"Really?"
"Yeah," Alex continued, "I mean, you were always a pretty nice guy, so people already liked you. But then, you actually got superpowers? And ended up joining a team of superheroes? You can't tell me that's not cool! To think, a real superhero graduated from our school... it only makes sense that you have a lot of fans there..."
"To-be-fair-I-didn't-actually-graduate."
"But it was only two months away," Jessica insisted, "an you were one of the honor students."
"Didn't they send you like an honorary diploma or something?" Kurt asked him.
"Yeah-they-sent-it-to-me-in-the-mail-a-few-months-ago-along-with-a-letter-saying-that-they-were-going-to-go-ahead-and-let-me-have-my-diploma-so-I-guess-I-really-did-graduate-even-though-I-technically-didn't-graduate-which-is-a-really-good-thing-because-you-know-in-the-off-chance-that-this-super-hero-thing-doesn't-last-forever-I-would-have-to-get-a-real-job-someday-and-it-would've-been-hard-for-me-to-find-anything-since-no-one-would've-thought-that-I-even-finished-high-school-and-it-also-would've-made-it- really-hard-for-me-to-just-go-to-Acme-Tech-like-I-wanted-to-do-before-and-develop-my-inventing-skills-and-I-know-I'm-probably-just-overthinking-this-since-there's-probably-no-reason-why-I-wouldn't-be-a-superhero-from-now-on-but-you-know-what-they-say-it's-better-to-be-safe-than-sorry."
His friends just looked at him for a second, only having heard bits and pieces of what had just rushed out of Rev's mouth. "Man," Alex finally answered, "I'm still not used to how fast you can talk..." They all laughed.
"It's-really-good-to-see-you-guys-again..." he repeated as if making sure that his friends knew how much he appreciated them showing up. Even though he was perfectly content with his new life as a Loonatic, this group was certainly one of the things he missed most about his old one.
"Oh, that reminds me," Jessica said, pulling a camera out of her pocket, "I wanted to make sure and get a picture of the four of us before we left today! C'mon guys, huddle up!" She began walking around the table to get closer to Rev on the other side.
"Jeez, Jessica, what is it with you and that camera?" Kurt remarked.
"Lighten up, it's just a picture... and since we're all here, we might as well," Alex argued, walking over to join the others.
"Alright, alright, but let's just try and get it right the first time, okay?" Kurt wasn't much for taking pictures, but considering the situation, he didn't need a whole lot of convincing. Once he had joined his friends, the four of them huddled together as Jessica held out her camera in front of them and snapped the shot. They all looked at the image that appeared on the camera display, and were instantly satisfied. They were all together, smiling and happy. Rev thought that he actually might've liked it more than the beach photo for some reason.
"I'll make sure and send it to you later," Jessica promised after noticing the smile forming on Rev's face.
"Great!" he answered.
"Well Rev," Kurt began as they walked back over to the other side of the table, "it's been fun seeing you again, but we've gotta get going..."
"Aww-already?" Rev asked curiously.
""Yeah, I've got a job interview in a couple of hours, so I need to start getting dressed..." he answered.
"And it's my older brother's birthday today, so our whole family's going out to eat tonight," Jessica added.
"That's-cool. I'm-just-glad-that-you-guys-could-come-out-and-see-me!"
"Oh, and one more thing before we leave," Alex made sure to include, "Are you busy this weekend?"
Rev thought about it for a moment, "Well-I-can't-say-for-sure-because-it-mostly-just-depends-on-whether-or-not-we-have-a-mission-and-if-we-do-how-important-it-is-but-I-guess-I-might-be-free. Why?"
"We were hoping that all of us could get together and go watch that new movie that's coming out... 'The Bloodening!'"
Rev's face lit up, "Oh-you-mean-that-movie-where-that-guy-who-has-no-legs-goes-around-with-a-hacksaw-and-starts-trying-to-cut-off-other-people's-legs-in-their-sleep-so-he-can-wear-them-as-his-own-and-use-them-to-get-revenge-on-the-guy-who-took-his-legs-in-the-first-place?" Alex nodded. "Man-that-movie-looks-AWESOME!"
"I know dude, that's why you should come with us! And now that Jessica's seventeen, we can all get into an R-rated movie without having to go through the trouble of sneaking her in! So what do you think, you up for it?"
Rev liked the idea, and tried to think of a way he could give a hopeful answer. "Well... I-can't-promise-anything-but-maybe-I-can-have-a-talk-with-Zadavia-and-see-if-she'll-let-me-have-the-night-off. I'm-sure-she'll-be-fine-with-it-as-long-as-no-major-end-of-the-world-crisis-comes-up."
"Sounds like a plan to me!" Alex was satisfied.
"Just try to let us know as soon as you can, okay Rev?" Kurt added.
"No-problemo!" he chimed back.
"Great, we'll see you soon, Rev." Kurt finished, beginning to walk away.
"Bye Rev! Miss you already!" Jessica boomed back with a cheerful wave before following Kurt.
"Bye-Kurt! Bye-Jessica!"
"Take it easy, Rev," Alex said while bumping his friend's fist.
"You-too!"
And with that, Rev watched his old friends vanish back into the crowd. Inside he was really hoping that his movie plans would fall through... being part of the team had a tendency of messing with things like that. But even if he couldn't make it, he was sure that he'd see them again soon enough. It felt good for him to know the four of them were still good friends, even with his absence.
"Someone's pretty popular today, huh?" Tech commented next to him.
Rev turned to face the coyote, now noticing that he had been watching them, since his line was empty. Rev's line was empty now too, so he was happy to talk. "What-makes-you-say-that?" he asked.
Tech pointed to the signed poster board Rev had sitting beside his chair.
"Oh-that? That's-just-something-that-got-passed-around-at-my-old-school. It's-nothing-special-really..."
"Nothing special?" Tech repeated with polite disbelief as he took a closer look at the poster. "Rev, there must be well over a hundred different signatures on this thing. Seems like something pretty special to me."
Rev was trying his best to maintain a sense of modesty, "Yeah... I-guess-it-is-pretty-nice. But-it-really-doesn't-matter-to-me-how-many-signatures-I-got-or-even-if-I-got-any-at-all. I'd-be-perfectly-happy-with-just-seeing-a-few-friendly-faces!"
"Come to think of it, you've actually had a lot of those too."
"You-think-so?" Rev asked casually.
Tech was almost taken aback at how lightly Rev was taking all of his recognition. Apparently, it would've been a bigger deal for him that it was for the road runner. "Of course," he answered, "you've had people like that coming in all day. Seems like every twenty or thirty minutes, you get a group of your old friends who are all eager to talk about old times and take pictures with you and stuff..."
"Yeah. I-guess-you're-right," Rev admitted, "but-that-doesn't-mean-that-all-of-them-were-actual-friends-of-mine. In-fact-most-of-them-were-just-people-I-would-say-hi-to-in-the-hallways-or-have-polite conversations-with-every-now-and-then. You-know, just-people-I-was-nice-to."
"But that's the thing," Tech said, finally realizing himself why it seemed like such a big deal to him. "You're really a pretty likable guy, Rev. So all you have to do is be nice to everyone, and it's easy for you to make friends. That says a lot about you, and you should be proud of it! In fact, it almost makes me wish that I had made more of an effort towards making friends back when I was in school."
"You-mean-high-school?"
Tech laughed, "Any school, really..."
"Oh-come-on-now-Tech-you've-gotta-be-exaggerating-because-I-remember-that-you-used-to-be-one-of-the-biggest-names-floating-around-Acme-Tech! I'll-bet-you-made-all-kinds-of connections-and-knew-all-sorts-of-interesting-people-and-I'm-more-than-sure-that-at-least-some-of-them-have-shown-up-so-far-to-see-you." Rev sounded confident.
"You might think so... but the truth is, I haven't gotten a single person like that all day." Tech revealed with a somewhat contradictory smile.
"Really?" Rev asked with a bit of disbelief, his optimism beginning to drop. "Not even one?"
Tech shook his head, "I've had plenty of fans who seem to like me enough now, and I've met a few people who said they had a class or two with me in college, but other than that, I don't think I've met even one person so far who I can honestly say was an actual friend of mine before all of this happened..."
"How-come?" Rev asked with honest curiosity.
Tech smiled again. His smiles were becoming more and more passive, as if he was only doing so because he preferred it over frowning. "Like I've said before, I've never been a very 'likeable' guy... or at least that's what everyone else thought. In grade school, they thought I was a nerd... in high school, they thought I was a loner... in college, they thought I worked myself too hard... and in grad school, they actually hated me because a lot of professors liked me the most... People felt a lot of different ways about me, but no matter how they spun it, not very many people ever thought of me as a friend.
Silence lingered between them as Rev thought about what he was being told. Tech continued, "And you know, I can't help but think that maybe if I had been a little more like you while I was in school, maybe I'd be the one having old friends come by, wanting to take a picture..."
That's when a new thought occurred to Rev, "Hey... I-know-something-that'll-help-cheer-you-up!"
"Hmmm...?" Tech raised his eyebrow, without a whole lot of enthusiasm.
"You-said-that-all-you-wanted-was-for-a-friend-to-take-a-picture-with-you-right?"
"Well, that's one way to put it... I guess."
"Well-I-have-a-camera," he announced, pulling one out of his pocket, "so-why-don't-we-just-take-a-picture-right-now-so-you-won't-feel-so-down!"
Tech offered a small laugh, "I appreciate the thought Rev, but in retrospect, that's not really what I'm-"
"C'mon... it'll be fun!" Rev insisted, interrupting him.
"I..."
"Too-late! I'm-already-starting!" In the blink of an eye, Rev had zoomed himself by Tech's side and held out his camera in front of them. "Alright, say-cheese!" he instructed, smiling widely. Tech was still trying to adjust himself to this sudden turn of events as well as Rev's sudden display of friendship. When the camera flashed, he knew he had reacted somehow, but he wasn't sure if it made for a good picture.
Just as quickly as he had come, Rev raced back to his own seat and analyzed the new image on his camera display. "Hey-this-looks-pretty-nice..." he finally said after a second or two. "I-can't-wait-to-put-this-up-on-my-blog-later! Here-take-a-look!"
Tech took the camera from Rev, fearing the worst (he never really took a good picture) but was surprised to see a somewhat decent photo. Rev was smiling gleefully - as expected - and Tech was relieved to see that he had actually managed a smile as well. It was a small one, and it was pretty easy to tell that he wasn't expecting the camera, but it seemed genuine nonetheless. Behind the two of them, you could see each of their teammates busy with their own fans. "Actually, it is pretty good..." Tech finally admitted.
"Yeah! And-now-you-can't-say-that-you-didn't-get-to-take-a-picture-with-a-friend-because-that's-what-we-just-did-and-I-even-did-you-one-better-because-instead-of-it-being-a-picture-with-an-old-friend-you-got-a-picture-with-a-new-friend-which-makes-it-a-lot-more-special-if-you-ask-me."
After hearing what he had to say, Tech was actually at a loss for words. It took him a minute to realize that what Rev just did had actually gotten through to him. And what amazed him even more was that it didn't even seem like Rev was aware of it himself. He was just trying to make him feel better, so he took a picture with him. And now, Tech really did feel better, but it wasn't because of the picture, rather it was what Rev had just non-chalantly said that seemed to matter so much more. Whether or not it was completely intentional, Tech was content. "Yeah... I guess you're right..." he finally responded with a small chuckle.
That's when the two of them noticed the guards letting more people onto the stage. The main lines in the crowd weren't stretching out through the doors anymore, so it looked like the end was finally in sight. As their personal lines started filling up again, they both returned their attention to the newcomers, just as they had been doing before. But one thing was different now... the smile on Tech's face wasn't forced in any way.
"Thanks Rev..."
"Anytime-buddy!"
• • • • •
The five of them were standing outside of the auditorium now, with the carnival in full swing all around them. Laughter and chatter filled the air as kids ran around dragging their parents to different rides, families and couples walked in every direction looking at all of the attractions, and booth owners stood outside of their booths, trying to coax passerbys into giving their game a try.
The fan session had just ended and Ace was off somewhere once again, speaking some of the event coordinators who still needed to talk to him before the group was let go. The rest of the team was waiting for him outside the building, all of them either rubbing or stretching out their hands.
"Oh great, now I have blisters..." Lexi grumbled, looking over her fingers.
Tech gave his writing hand a shake, "I haven't written that much since my old research papers on quantum mechanics..."
"Uh-huuhh!" Slam agreed.
"Well at least it's finally over," Duck pointed out to the rest of the group. "Does anyone have the time?"
"Let's see... it's-about-a-quarter-past-three!" Rev chirped after locating a nearby clock.
"A quarter past three!" Duck repeated dramatically. "That means we were in there signing autographs for three whole hours!"
"I guess the two hour time slot they gave us didn't exactly pan out, huh?" Lexi joked.
"Joke all you want, sister, but we're still out three hours of time we could've spent stuffing our faces with carnival food," Duck responded flatly. "I don't know about any of you guys, but I am starving!"
Slam said something that was hard to understand, but it was easy to tell that he agreed with Duck.
"Actually, I'm pretty hungry too, " Lexi admitted, her stomach growling. "It probably wasn't the best idea to skip lunch..."
"Don't-worry-guys-I'm-sure-that-we-can-all-go-grab-something-to-eat-once-Ace-gets-back!"
"Yeah, speaking of Ace, where is he off to now?" Duck wondered out loud in accusing voice. "And why does it seem like we're always waiting on him?"
"Chill Duck," Lexi intruded, "he's just talking to some people right now. He should be back any minute now."
"Well, he better hurry up! The recognition ceremony is in just two hours and I don't wanna waste it all standing here."
"Actually, there he is now," Tech pointed out. The group turned to the entrance of the auditorium and saw Ace coming through the doors, walking up to them. "What's the news, chief?" he asked out loud.
"Well foist off, they wanna apologize fer goin' so far ova time. See, they had a lot more people than they expected show up, and since they had all paid ta be there, they didn't wanna stop before everyone had gotten a chance ta be on stage."
"Well, that's really no big deal," Lexi pointed out. "Sure it took a while, but I for one had a lot of fun!"
"Yeah," Tech agreed, "it's pretty cool to finally get to see what kind of people our fans are."
"Well, I'm glad you guys feel that way, 'cuz that's pretty much what I told 'em," Ace remarked. "And also, since some of us got gifts from some o' tha fans, they're sending a guy ta drop all of it off at HQ fer us so we don't have ta carry anything around."
"Cool. Anything else?" Lexi asked.
"Nope. Otha than that, we're free ta go! Now we've got two full hours o' free time before we have to be at tha Recognition Ceremony."
"Alright," Duck spoke up, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm about to high-tail it straight to the food court! You guys comin' or what?"
Slam licked his lips excitedly. He was definitely going with Duck.
"Actually," Tech answered, "I have to go and deliver the ride I finished this morning. I told the officials that I'd have it set up by three, so I'm already behind schedule."
"Hey-do-you-mind-if-I-went-with-you-Tech? I-can't-wait-to-see-the-look-on-everyone's-faces-when-you-show-them-the-Loona-Loop!"
"Sure, if you want. You sure you're not hungry though? I'm not sure how long it'll take..."
"Don't-worry-about-it-I-can-wait-besides-I-made-sure-to-eat-something-before-we-left-just-in-case-we-got-held-up!"
"Smart thinking," he commended, "And hey, I could probably use your speed anyway. I'm gonna have to set this thing up pretty quick to make up for lost time."
"You-can-count-on-me-Tech!"
Duck turned to the two bunnies, "Well I guess it looks like it's just us four. C'mon, if we hurry, we can still get there before they run out of all the good stuff."
"Actually Duck, I'm gonna have ta meet up with ya later. I gotta split too..."
"What? Why?" Duck asked disappointingly. All of his teammates were bailing on him.
"Don't ya remembah? I told ya that I was supposed ta be meetin' someone today. We're just gonna go grab somethin' to eat ourselves."
"Oh right," Duck remembered, "you're supposed to meet that girlfriend of yours, huh?"
"I already told ya that she's not my goilfriend." Ace answered somewhat annoyed.
"Yeah yeah, don't worry about it. I read ya loud and clear..." he winked and gave Ace a playful nudge.
Ace could only bring himself to sigh, "Yeah sure..." Then he turned to Lexi, "Hey Lex, you wanna come with me? Me and her were gonna try that new carrot soup they got ovah at tha otha end o' tha fairgrounds. You like that stuff, don't ya?"
Lexi had to think about it for a second. On one hand, Ace had just confirmed that he was in fact meeting a girl, so she couldn't help but feel like she might end up being an intrusion. But on the other hand, she knew that Ace wouldn't have asked her to come with him to something personal like that unless he really felt like he needed her there. It was a tricky situation, but she eventually conceded, "Sure... I'll come with you..." It also helped that she did in fact like carrot soup.
"Fine, you guys would just end up slowing us down anyway!" Duck spoke out. "Come on Slam, let's hit the food court! I'm starving..."
"Uh-huuhh!" Slam agreed as the two of them began walking away, leaving the other four behind.
"So, if we don't meet up before then..." Tech began.
"Just make sure that yer at tha Central Plaza by about 5:00," Ace finished.
"Got it! See you two later."
And with that, the three groups separated from each other, each headed for their own unique part of the festival.
Well that was it! What did you think?
For this chapter, I really spent a lot of time on revising and editing, so I'm hoping that I managed to clean it up pretty good. But in case you saw any mistakes, keep in mind that its very easy to miss something with this much text...
So anyway, in the next chapter we get to see some of the stuff that's going on at the festival. Hopefully, I can get it out before the end of July and keep between 9,000-13,000 words at most, but I guess I can't promise anything. THEN, when we get to the chapter after that, we finally get to our first "detailed backstory". And believ me, that's when it's gonna really start getting good ;)
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please leave me a review telling me what you thought. I love reviews! Also, keep an eye out for the next chapter! If you're ever curious as to how it's coming along, feel free to check my channel. I update it regularly with my progess on the next chapter.
'Till next time!
