The frosty day dawned like any other day. Mecka Lecka High was bustling with students who were rushing to class, falling down stairs, and dropping books. There was something special about this day, though. The date was January 1, 3007, and along with the busy students, other people of the community were waddling about too. Together, they were getting ready for the annual Rose Parade, in which they created floats made from thousands of flowers. The school was usually just one of the places for a gathering, but this year it was particularly important. Originally, the theme of the parade was unity. Because of the recent crazy public obsession with Bath & Body Works, however, the theme was unanimously changed to "Products of Bath & Body Works." The alteration was made a month before New Year's, so the long-cherished, traditional rule of building everything without a mecha was wiped out. In the school, there were a couple of people here and there who were actually not in their mechas. Serenity oversaw the float of Coconut Lime Verbena, and Sir Valence was in charge of Winter Candy Apple. Even Dean Warlic was visiting from the prestigious GEARS university to participate; he was working on the Black Amethyst float. He was a little uncomfortable, however, because of Safiria's unceasing stare upon him.
When he was introduced to the faculty, she almost burst out laughing. Everything about him was different from his blue mage counterpart: his hair, his clothing, even his eye color. Even now, as she watched him nervously pace, she still could not believe that he was the same Warlic from the future.
"Hey, are you going to watch him all day, or are you going to help with our float?" Artix chimed in.
"Ok, ok." Safiria muttered. "I don't understand why we are in charge of the Moonlight Path float."
"Because we're the hot new couple!"
Needless to say, everyone was surprised that they were dating, but others were even more surprised at how long the relationship has lasted. At first, they were an extremely odd couple. They talked, they kissed, and that was about it.
"Oh, please!" Safiria said scornfully. "How many times have you used that phrase? I've repeatedly told you to STOP saying that!"
"Well maybe if you would stop being SO oversensitive and stop lecturing me, I would actually listen once in awhile!" Artix retorted.
"What…" Within the last week, though, they began to bicker constantly, and not in a cute married way. "You should bathe every blue moon instead of using Moonlight Path!" What does that statement have to do with anything? Oh, well. They had been dating for three weeks, which, in Artix and Safiria's case, was when couples start showing their real selves.
"You two, knock it off!" Nimrod walked over. "You're supposed to be building a romantic float."
"Is there a problem?" Warlic was passing by.
"Oh! No, none at all," he grinned.
"Ok. Just wondering if I could be of assistance." Before Warlic left, he turned to Artix and Safiria and held out his hand. "Nice to meet you."
As they shook hands, they introduced themselves.
"It's nice to finally…meet you." Safiria said.
"Likewise." He smiled and walked away.
Nimrod glared at them. "You know, most of our students go to his university after graduation, and I want to keep it that way. Do you have any idea how much that helps this school's reputation?" Then he heaved his shoulders in a big sigh. "Being principal's not easy." He muttered. Taking out a miniature lamb from his pocket, he began stroking it, "Little lambie, little lambie."
Seeing this, Safiria exclaimed, "Aw! How cute! It's the new stuffed lamb from Bath & Body Works!" When she reached out to touch it though, he abruptly pulled back.
"No! Mine!" Then he hunched away.
Time passed as everyone put the finishing touches to their floats. An hour and a half later, they all went to the starting point of the Rose parade and joined the other float-builders. Their sense of smell was virtually obliterated at this point since every single float had a distinct fragrance. Nevertheless, they were still able to enjoy every aspect. The most hyped-up event was Voltaire riding on a float of his own made personally by the Bath & Body Works company. Safiria was one of the first ones to get tickets to ride on his float with him. She giddily chirped, "Voltaire's coming! Voltaire coming!" and then she, along with a certain amount of other fans, screamed when he appeared. Artix could not take the noise, so even though he was in charge of his float, he moved away and sat with other spectators on the sidewalk. Soon the parade started, headed by Voltaire and his screaming fans. Warlic took a seat next to him.
"I heard your float received the most creative award. Congratulations."
"Oh, thanks," Artix replied. "Although I didn't know until just now. I couldn't take the noise, so I came here."
"Aw, I see. And you probably didn't like seeing your girlfriend drooling over some other guy, do you?"
He laughed. "No, I guess not."
At that point, Voltaire was speaking from a microphone. Safiria, unable to contain herself any longer, hugged him and showered him with kisses. Two security guards came and took her away. Warlic cringed at this display and looked over at Artix. He was surprised to see that he was actually amused by this. "He's either really secure, or he doesn't care…"
"What did you say?" Artix asked.
"Oh, nothing."
Each float was just as stunning as the last. The two hours whizzed by while Artix and Warlic were surprised that they talked like old friends. Eventually, Safiria straggled to them.
"Ohhhh…" she groaned.
Artix chuckled, "Need a ride home?" She nodded. "Bye Warlic."
"Bye. Nice chatting with you."
After the parade, the floats were put on display. As the day waned away and the night began to set in, people went home to get ready for the major ubersome annual party held at the club in honor of the parade participants and spectators.
"Are you feeling better?" Artix had just arrived at Safiria's house and was standing at her door.
"Yes." She replied rubbing her head.
"Good! How could you do that to me on that Voltaire float?! Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was for me? People kept laughing at me after I dropped you off!"
She looked down. "I'm sorry."
"Gaah! That was so stupid! How could you do that? Tell me!"
She stopped mid-rub. "I told you I'm sorry! What more do you want…"
At the party building…
"Shut up! Just shut up!" Safiria was yelling. They were walking up to the door.
"Ok!" Artix paused. "We're at the party now. Let's just be passive-aggressive."
"Fine!" she said.
In the building, Joey was drinking punch with some friends. "Hang on, I need to use the restroom." He walked into the men's room and saw that no one was there. Unbeknownst to him, the door behind him silently opened. Hands reached out; one covered his mouth, and the other dragged him in.
Susie and her friends had just joined the party when she realized she forgot something at home. The other girls offered to go with her, but she refused, not wanting them to miss any part of the party. She went outside to hail a cab. While she was waiting, a man came up behind her and used chloroform on her. She briefly struggled before falling unconscious.
Sally was dancing in an isolated corner when a man in a trench coat approached her. "Hey, how's it going?" He yelled over the music.
"Hi."
They danced together for some awkward moments when he spoke again, "So, I hear there's this stuff that gives you energy and keeps you revved up during the day."
"Oh, really?" she replied nonchalantly.
"Yeah, I heard a bunch of students say it's helped them keep up with schoolwork and tests and other stuff like that."
She looked at him. "Seriously? That's so cool."
Taking something out of his jacket, he said, "You want some?" He held a thermos. "It's called coffee."
"Yeah, sure!" She gulped it down. "Mmmm, that's so good! Can I have..." Her head felt dizzy, and she collapsed. The man caught her as she fell and clandestinely dragged her out through a nearby door.
"Have you seen this year's new toys?!" A student asked.
"Yeah, they're so cool! I going to buy them as soon as possible." Xena replied.
"Me too!" The other student noticed that there was no more punch in her cup. "I'm going to get more punch, want some?"
"Sure." She handed her the cup. "Thanks."
After the student left, a man spoke to Xena, "Have you seen the new circular boomerang they made?"
"No."
He took something from the pocket of his coat and held a flat metallic diameter of a circle.
"This is it?" Xena asked. "It doesn't look that great."
"You never know until you try." He handed it to her.
"Ok then." As soon as she had swung the toy, she felt an exhilarating rush and an urge to scream a war cry and cut off people's circulation of blood to their brains by poking their necks. "Wow, this is awesome!"
"It sure is." He chuckled.
"What's so funny?"
"This."
The boomerang came back and slammed her in the head, knocking her out.
The party raged on without anyone suspecting the four students' disappearances. Artix and Safiria managed to grit their teeth and smile while preventing themselves from any more bickering. All in all, the party was considered a smashing success. That is, until the morning.
At the police station, a message was transmitted to the policemen from an anonymous source:
"We have four Mecka Lecka high school students. If you ever want to see them again, you'll give us two faculty members, Artix and Safiria." End transmission.
Safiria was leaning against her desk, while Artix sat on top of Xena's desk. They were in her classroom, and at the moment they were silent.
"I can't believe he did this." Artix muttered.
"Stupid Zorbak." She murmured. "What are we going to do now?"
"We'll save them."
That night, they went on a date. Even though the transmission didn't say where the exchange would take place, they knew that the arcade would probably be a good guess. They arrived there, and before they entered, Artix held out his hand to Safiria. "Ready?"
She looked at his hand.
"Ready." Then she grabbed it. With her other hand, she opened the door. "Gentlemen first." They entered the arcade, and they were not surprised to see Deady and Twilly in front of the counter. There was a black oval chair, whose back was facing them, behind the counter.
"I'm sorry you guys." Twilly said sadly.
"Oh, shut up Twilly." The chair turned around, and they saw Zorbak grinning in it.
"Where are they?" Safiria coldly glared at him.
"Come with us first."
Suddenly, Artix's phone rang. "Oh, can you hang on?" He answered the call. "Mmhm. Uh-huh. Ok." He hung up. "Oh, that was Joey, he told me where he and the others are, so if you don't mind, we'll go and get them."
"What! How is that possible?!"
"We're good teachers." He glanced at Safiria. "I guess it's time to go straight to the action." He pressed a button on his watch, and they heard two thumps outside the building. Two gigantic guns partially blocked the entrance of the arcade. "Saf and I have our respective mechas outside, so unless you want to get shot up into a googol of pieces, stay here." As the guns cocked, Artix and Safiria ran outside the arcade.
"Grrrr." Zorbak growled.
Artix and Safiria jumped into their mechas. "Go get the kids! They're at the abandoned warehouse next to that restaurant downtown. I'll stay here." Artix shouted. Safiria nodded and flew off.
"Deady, now." Zorbak commanded. Deady's nails sprouted into Artix's gun and jammed it.
"Shoot!" Artix muttered. Deady's nails had another growth spurt, and Artix's gun exploded, blowing his mecha backwards into a nearby building.
Meanwhile, Safiria arrived at the warehouse. She found them locked up in the freezer. "Do warehouses have freezers?" She wondered. "Oh well." She used her energy blade to break the lock, and she let them out.
"Oh, thank you, Safiria!" Susie said. The others gave her their gratitude too.
"Yeah, you're welcome. Now, can you tell me if you heard them say anything?"
"No, we all woke up in there after we were knocked unconscious." Sally replied.
"All right. That's ok. Come on, I'll drop you off at the hospital."
As they walked to her mecha, Artix's mecha jumped back up after its fall. "Ha! I have other weapons besides guns." He taunted as he pressed a button. On his viewscreen, he saw that his laser was locked and loaded while Zorbak, Twilly, and Deady ran outside.
Zorbak's staff glowed when a giant skeleton rose up from the ground underneath Artix's mecha. They grappled for awhile.
"Ah, I can't shake it loose!" Artix murmured. Amidst the chaos, he heard the screams of nearby citizens. Among them was Warlic's. After running a safe distance away, he turned around to watch the fight.
The skeleton lifted Artix's mecha above its head and began spinning it around. "Uh-oh." Artix said. It let go, and Artix and his mecha were thrown into the sky. He looked out his viewscreen and thought, "Wow, the sky is so pretty. It's like the color from my Dancing Waters lotion." Serenely gazing outside, he was shocked when his mecha hit something hard in the air. He adjusted his view and saw that Safiria's mecha had caught him. Hearing the message alert beep, he displayed the message on his screen, and he saw her.
"Need a little help?" She winked.
"Nah…No, I think I have everything under control." He joked.
"I told you to get the flying mecha."
"Yeah, whatever. Did you get the students?"
"Yep. All safe."
"Can you put me on the ground now?"
As she did so, the skeleton ran towards them. "Mehehehe. Go, my minion. Destroy them!" Zorbak cackled. The skeletal being's eye sockets glowed a fiendish red.
"Why are its eyes glowing?" Safiria wondered. Her question was answered when a full spread of missiles left his eyes. "Aaah!" Surprised, Artix and Safiria dodged them rather than activating their shields.
Nearby, Warlic whispered, "Wow, they're good."
"Enchanted Orchid shield activate!" The undead minion momentarily stopped when it smelled their shields.
"Mmmmm…" It moaned.
"No, don't fall under their spell!" Zorbak yelled.
"It's not a spell." Twilly muttered.
"Oh, shut up!"
"Now's our chance!" Safiria yelled. She activated her gun, which shot out Midnight-Pomegranate-flavored bullets.
"Oh, yummy!" It sighed in delight while it fell down.
"How can it talk without vocal cords?" Artix questioned.
"Magic, duh!" Safiria answered.
"No!" Zorbak yelled. "Magic is used by those stupid goody adventurers. This is NECROMANCY!"
"….Ha! You were wrong, Safiria!"
"Just go kill it!"
"Yay, joystick time!" He giddily cried. A joystick appeared from beneath a panel. "I assure you, you'll love my Green Clover & Aloe blade!" A green scythe whooshed to life in his mecha's hands. He jumped up and delivered the finishing blow.
"Oooh, delicious! You were right!" It was unharmed.
"Mehehehehe!" Zorbak snickered.
"I'm glad you like it, but you're not supposed to ingest lotions or any other bath stuff." Artix smiled.
*Gurgle* *Gurgle* "What will happen if I do?" It asked.
"You should have your stomach pumped."
Then it broke into pieces. "But in your case, it doesn't matter since I used my blade to slice and dice you. But I have to admit-" He pointed at Zorbak. "That was a pretty sturdy skeleton. It was what, 6 seconds, before the skeleton finally fell apart?"
"6.2." Safiria interjected. Looking at Zorbak, she agreed. "I think you have a knack for your necromancy hobby."
Zorbak gritted his teeth. "You're more powerful than I thought. We shall meet again soon!"
"No! No more games!" But before they could stop the blue moglin, a black cloud exploded around Zorbak, Twilly, and Deady. Once again, they were gone.
"Shoot. What do we do now?"
"Let's put our mechas back." Artix grumbled. One second later, they arrived at the school and maneuvered the mechas into the hangar. After they got out, they were bombarded by reporters, photographers, cameramen. Even Westion's Mr. Ed Equine from Channel 1,000,000,010 was there.
"Hey, move it!" Nimrod bulldozed through the crowd. "Don't worry guys. I'll take care of this." Turning to the media, he stated, "They've been through enough for today. If you have any questions, please direct them to me!"
Grateful, Artix and Safiria patted him on the back before they circled the crowd. When they had made it outside, Artix spoke, "We have to do something about this."
"I know, but what?"
He glanced around. "Let's go to their lair."
Safiria paused in shock. "What? How are we supposed to do that? For all we know, their lair is in another dimension!"
"I know what might help. The Nova Gem."
"The one from the factory?"
"Yes. Remember Warlic and his 'dream'?"
"Hmm," she mulled it over. "How do we use it?"
He smiled. "Haven't you heard? Bath & Body Works lotions are unforgettable for a reason." He continued when Safiria gave him a blank look. "They contain the special ingredient *, which by itself allows people to re-experience memories. With enough energy, time travel would be possible. The only problem is that a LOT of energy is needed. With our Nova Gem…"
"Oh, I see where you're going. But then how do we control where we will go?"
He shrugged. "We'll figure it out. Let's meet at the arcade tonight. Bring your mecha and whatever else you might need for a long trip."
Just as they were about to part, Sally bumped into them. "Hey Safiria, Artix." She smiled weakly.
Concerned, Artix asked, "How are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm doing fine. You know, I just wanted to thank you guys again for being such great teachers. That really helped us while we were hostages." She fumbled around in her purse. "My family is so grateful for everything you've done for us. They asked me to give you this." A black box was presented to them.
"Oh, you don't have to."
"No, we insist."
"Well…alright." He opened the box and saw a golden coin with a Z inscribed on it. "Wow, it's beautiful."
"Yes, it is." Safiria agreed.
"We call it the Z-token." Sally explained. "My grandmother found it at an archaeological dig. Unfortunately, it wasn't worth anything, but I've been using it as a good luck charm."
"Thank you Sally." Artix was breathless as he gazed at the coin. "We're touched."
"You're welcome. I'm going to head back home now."
"Alright. Take care!"
"Bye!" Safiria waved while Sally walked away.
Later that night, Artix and Safiria managed to stealthily sneak their mechas out of school. They were outside the arcade when Artix held up the Nova Gem.
"Did you bring all your Bath & Body Works products?" He asked Safiria.
"Of course."
"Ready?"
"Yes. I hope this works."
"Me too." He opened a bottle of Vanilla Bean Noel lotion and slid some of the lotion onto the gem. It began to glow intensely. "Aah!" Artix yelled. "The stability of my mecha is fluctuating. It's gonna explode!" He threw the Nova Gem into his torpedo hatch and fired into the sky. A small green explosion erupted, and a green portal appeared as well.
"I guess we have to go through there." Safiria remarked.
"Yep. So if you don't mind…"
She lifted him up, and together they flew into the portal. There was a hazy fog in there, but the trip was short. When they stepped out of the portal, it disappeared behind them.
Artix sighed. "This looks familiar."
"Yeah, it sure does." A Nova Gem clinked against the leg of Safiria's mecha. "What do you know? At least we could still go home."
"That's reassuring."
In this timeline, it was a frosty day dawning like any other day.