"No."

"Drew, come on. It'll be fun," James begged.

"I said no."

"The rest of us agreed," Chen said snootily.

"I don't care! I don't want to make a fool of myself on a stage," Drew growled. He emphasized his disdain for the idea with an added 'harrumph'.

"Do not be such a party pooper," Ramesh continued.

"I am NOT a party pooper!"

"Then join us! Come on; the four of us cover the entire vocal range needed for this song," James uttered excitedly. "Besides, it's not like anyone else in this place knows the words. You can mess up and it'll still be good."

"Nnnrgh…fine. But you are going to pay for my dinner!" Drew stood up quickly and stalked toward the karaoke stage, his face slightly red from the hissy fit he had been throwing. Ramesh snickered, Chen rolled his eyes, and James got a grin on his face that threatened to crack it horizontal. The three of them trailed a fair distance away to give Drew a bit of breathing room.

They were at a small, poorly-kept pool hall a little ways off campus. It was one of those seedy appearing places that most people would avoid at all costs. However, this place offered something that had attracted the attention of two of the posse: they had an open mic night. And James and Ramesh weren't going to miss out on it.

Drew stood on the stage, his face twisted into a nervous grimace, as the rest of the group joined him. James gave their song request to the guy at the bar who grunted in response and went over to the tape shelf that he kept behind the counter. Grinning a little, he turned to tell James that they didn't have the song when James pulled a cassette out of his pocket. The man's face dropped like pins in a bowling alley. Sneering slightly, he grabbed the tape from James with a bit more force than needed. As James climbed onto the stage, the man pushed play on the boom box next to the stage, which was Chen's signal to start singing.

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haha

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haha

Ramesh started to sing along as well, adding his slightly lower voice to Chen's highly pitched yodeling.

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haha

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haha

In the short instrumental break between the words, Drew shot James one last disgruntled glare before he started to sing-speak his lines in his low, slightly shaky voice.

Alo, Salut, sunt eu, un haiduc,
Si te rog, iubirea mea, primeste fericirea.

Then James took over, singing a bit more than Drew did while giving Drew a few nudges with his elbow and signaling like there was a call he was answering during the beeping part. Drew just rolled his eyes a little.

Alo, alo, sunt eu Picasso,
Ti-am dat beep, si sunt voinic,
Dar sa stii nu-ti cer nimic.

Now all of them started singing, trying to match their words up to the beat, though Drew and Chen were having a bit of trouble; Drew was going too slow and Chen was holding his notes for too long.

Vrei sa pleci dar nu ma, nu ma iei,
Nu ma, nu ma iei, nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei.
Chipul tau si dragostea din tei,
Mi-amintesc de ochii tai.

Ramesh and James started to dance while singing, an odd mix of disco and a two-step with a few turns and hip thrusts thrown in. Chen tried to copy their moves and Drew made a half-hearted attempt to do the same.

Vrei sa pleci dar nu ma, nu ma iei,
Nu ma, nu ma iei, nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei.
Chipul tau si dragostea din tei,
Mi-amintesc de ochii tai.

This time, Drew actually tried to sing his lines and was starting to grin a little.

Te sun, sa-ti spun, ce simt acum,
Alo, iubirea mea, sunt eu, fericirea.

James gave his friend a full-mouth smile and grabbed him around the shoulders, his unoccupied arm rising into the air in a grand, sweeping motion.

Alo, alo, sunt iarasi eu, Picasso,
Ti-am dat beep, si sunt voinic,
Dar sa stii nu-ti cer nimic.

The second time the chorus came around, all of them were trying their best to match their voices and dance moves perfectly; it would have been okay if Chen hadn't gotten turned around during one of the spins and ended up with his back to the audience.

Vrei sa pleci dar nu ma, nu ma iei,
Nu ma, nu ma iei, nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei.
Chipul tau si dragostea din tei,
Mi-amintesc de ochii tai.

Vrei sa pleci dar nu ma, nu ma iei,
Nu ma, nu ma iei, nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei.
Chipul tau si dragostea din tei,
Mi-amintesc de ochii tai.

Chen sang with as much spirit as a dwarf from one of their role-playing games would have if he had access to the best drink.

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haha

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haha

James joined Ramesh in singing the line while Chen sang in the background, drawing out the final word of the lines a little.

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haha

Ma-ia-hii
Ma-ia-huu
Ma-ia-hoo
Ma-ia-haha

Knowing that the end of the song was nearing, James and Ramesh egged Drew and Chen on to join them in an all-out dance, energetically swinging their fingers up and down in the classic disco move, twisting their hips in tune with the music, and doing the moonwalk with the synchronization that comes with being geeks with similar mindsets.

Vrei sa pleci dar nu ma, nu ma iei,
Nu ma, nu ma iei, nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei.
Chipul tau si dragostea din tei,
Mi-amintesc de ochii tai.

Vrei sa pleci dar nu ma, nu ma iei,
Nu ma, nu ma iei, nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei.
Chipul tau si dragostea din tei,
Mi-amintesc de ochii tai.

Drew was still dancing a little, even though the song's final note had faded away. James's laugh, though, brought Drew out of the trance dancing. This time, his face was red from embarrassment instead of anger. They got a couple of claps from the few people in the bar and one whistle from a woman who was leering at Chen; apparently, she liked it when he had accidentally gotten turned around.

"Well," he started as they headed back to their table, "that was a lot more fun than I thought it would be! What was this called again?"

"It is karaoke. It is a big thing over in Japan," Ramesh responded. "My roommate made that song. I am quite glad that you two memorized the lines like I asked. So what should I tell that crazy exchange student?"

"Tell him it isn't much. Maybe sell it sometime or another or something?" Chen suggested.

"I might have to do more of this sort of thing," Drew added. "I haven't had this much fun since my Cousin Eddy redesigned the toy train for Hanukah into a steam train of doom!"

Little did they know that twenty years later, if a certain green villainess had ever found out about that night, she would burn the three that she didn't work for to a crisp--and fry her boss just because of the torture she endures every Friday as a result.


Author's Notes:

I realize that 'Dragostea Din Tei' was made in 2004 by the band O-Zone, but I just couldn't resist. It's the Numa Numa dance song, for anyone that hasn't realized it yet. I found myself dancing to it on the way to class today, and I couldn't help but to picture the MIST posse doing the same. Then I thought that it would make sense for this to be where Drakken discovered his love of karaoke. Poor Shego.

Karaoke was just starting to become known in the US around that time (mid-to-late 80s), and I figured a couple of nerds like Ramesh and James would keep up with the latest from Japan.

I'm fairly certain that those are the right lyrics. I took them from one of those lyrics sites and it seems right; then again, I can't read Romanian.

Thanks to kwebs and Samurai Crunchbird for taking a look at the story and thanks to the latter for suggesting the ending line.