"Queen Bear," yelled Jadeite. "I found a new source of energy!"
"What'd you call me?" demanded Beryl.
"Enough chit-chat," said Jadeite. "I'm retiring."
"What?!" screamed Beryl.
"Beryl," said Jadeite. "There comes a time in every man's life where he has to follow his dream. I will be opening a bread shop, and sadly you are not allowed to come as a customer."
"Sleep forever!" yelled Beryl.
"Sadly," said Jadeite. "I knew you wouldn't support my dream, so that's why I only appeared as a hologram. I guess this is goodbye."
Jadeite's hologram teleported away.
Queen Beryl sat back on her throne.
"Hmm," said Beryl. "I'll be a customer at his shop if it's the last thing I do."
Jadeite opened his bread shop.
It was called, "Breadite."
"Opened for business," he said giddily, switching the closed sign to open.
To his shock, customers came pouring in like water during a flood.
"Yahoo!" said Jadeite.
"Give me a loaf!" begged a customer.
Jadeite tossed them a loaf, and they left a huge tip of 30 bucks.
"Life is great," said Jadeite. "What did I do to deserve this success?"
As the day went on, the number of customers only increased.
A line formed all the way down the street, and it was like a madhouse in there.
Jadeite started to run out of bread, so he quickly spawned some more.
"Number 302!" called Jadeite.
"MeeeEE!" said Kenji.
He took his dozen of loafs and put them all in the toaster that was available for customers at the front of the room.
"TTOOOOAST!" cheered Kenji, hopping up and down.
"Alright now," said Jadeite. "Don't get too rowdy."
A few customers came shoving their way in past the very long line down the street.
"Hey," said Jadeite. "You have to wait in line."
"No," said Zoisite. He was flanked by Nephrite and Kunzite.
"Ah!" said Jadeite. "Look what the cat dragged in!"
"Jadeite," said Nephrite. "You must return."
"Why?" said Jadeite. "After I left you all made fun of me!"
"Yes," said Nephrite. "But things change."
"No," said Jadeite. "This is my dream, and I will live it. And if I recall, you were giddy to get my job, and Zoisite was giddy to get yours. Kunzite however wasn't giddy to get Zoisite's."
"Yes," agreed Kunzite. "I was far from it."
"Yes," said Nephrite. "However, quickly after getting my job, I realized Beryl was a pest, and way too demanding. I was a bit too anxious for that job, so I'm kindly giving it back to you."
"No," said Jadeite. "I'm a bread boy now. This is where I belong."
"It's hopeless," said Zoisite. "He's not coming back. We'll just have to replace him."
"That won't do," said Kunzite. "Everyone we've had to replace Jadeite has been a mess so far. You can't replace one of the Great Four!"
"Nice try," said Jadeite. "But sadly it won't work. Number 322!"
A customer came up and got bread.
"Hey, give me some of that bread," said Nephrite.
Jadeite handed him a loaf.
Nephrite burned it in his palm. "Haha," he said. "And I'm not paying for it either."
Jadeite shrugged. "I can spawn bread literally for free. You did not hurt me at all."
"Wrong," said Nephrite, throwing a punch.
Suddenly a loaf of bread flung itself, absorbing the blow.
Jadeite picked up the piece of bread, and threw it back at Nephrite.
The bread released the blow it had absorbed back onto Zoisite, greatly crippling him.
"Hey!" said Kunzite.
"I suggest you go," said Jadeite. "If you don't want another beat down."
The Shitennou left.
"Number 345," called Jadeite.
Motoki hopped up from his seat. "I'll have some cinnamon bread!"
"No," said Jadeite. "We only serve plain bread here."
"Oh," said Motoki. "I'll take some plain bread then."
"No," said Jadeite. "You can't."
"Why?" demanded Motoki.
"Number 346," called Jadeite.
Motoki left.
Jadeite came to work the next morning, but stopped when he spotted something odd across the street.
"What is this?!" demanded Jadeite.
The store across the street was called, "Yeasttennou."
"No!" said Jadeite.
He stormed inside.
"Hello," said Nephrite. "Would you like to try a bread sample?"
"Alright," said Jadeite.
He picked up a piece of bread, and burned it in his palm.
"Haha!" he said.
He left.
"It's over for Jadeite," said Kunzite. "Our bread is better, since I am better than Jadeite."
The sun peaked over the horizon, and the early morning bread buyers soon filled the streets.
"Any minute now," said Zoisite.
"Heh heh," thought Jadeite, in his store across the street. "My customers are loyal."
And they were.
The customers streamed into Jadeite's store even faster than they did yesterday, like a tsunami of sorts.
"What is this?!" said Nephrite. "Why are they all going to Jadeite's store?!"
"Maybe we weren't clear that ours was a bread shop," said Zoisite. "What does Yeasttennou even mean?"
"No," said Kunzite. "We have a picture of bread on our sign. There should be no confusion."
After many hours of the Shitennou twiddling their thumbs and playing with the bell, a customer walked in with a suit and tie.
"WELCOME!" called the Shitennou in unison.
Fireworks went off, and the door made a loud bell sound.
The customer did not say a word, but simply walked up to the counter and took one of the bread samples.
He took a bite, and chewed it slowly.
He chewed it for ten minutes, while the Shitennou waited on the edge of their seats.
Finally, after ten minutes, he swallowed the bread.
"So," said Zoisite. "Good, right?"
"No," said the man.
That's all he said.
They waited.
"Care to explain?" asked Nephrite finally.
"This bread has no love in it," said the man.
"Oh come on!" said Kunzite.
But the man continued. "It tastes like it was made by a machine."
"Wrong," said Kunzite. "I made it with my own bare hands."
"Mm," said the man. "The bread industry is not for you. Have you considered something more cold-hearted, like telemarketing?"
Nephrite threw a blow, but the man absorbed it.
He left, without explaining why he was able to tank that shot.
"That's it," said Nephrite. "This bread shop is no more. And I'm not going back to Beryl, so it's time to start a new industry."
The Shitennou exited the bread shop, and Nephrite blew it up.
Jadeite watched from inside his store.
"Heh heh," he snickered.
Nephrite spawned a new building in its place.
"Tomorrow we will open shop," he said.
They went their separate ways.
The next day, Jadeite arrived at the bread shop, and saw that across the street was some kind of ski shop.
"I'm glad they're finally living their dream," said Jadeite. "And not someone else's dream."
Jadeite opened up shop, and meanwhile the Shitennou opened up their shop.
This new shop was called, "Skitennou."
They sold skis and snowboards of great quality, at low prices.
"Finally," said Nephrite.
Someone walked in.
They examined a snowboard for a very long time.
They tapped on it like one would tap on a door.
Then they held it to their ear.
"Hmmmmmm," they said.
"Mmmmmm?" said Nephrite.
"Good," said the man. "It was made with love. I'll take 20."
The man bought 20 snowboards and left, and in fact road out on one.
"Good work," said Zoisite. "I'm glad everything worked out."
A customer who had been waiting in line all morning finally reached the counter at Jed's bread shop.
"I have a bone to pick with you," said Queen Beryl.
"Why?" said Jadeite.
"For one," said Beryl. "Your treason set a trend, and all my other Shitennou left too! Now they're running some kind of sweat shop!"
"Actually," said Jadeite. "It's a ski shop."
"No," said Beryl. "And second, you told me I can't come to your bread shop as a customer! But I'm here as a customer!"
"Wrong," said Jadeite. "I won't sell you any bread. In fact, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Beryl spawned a crystal.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she yelled.
She threw a crystal.
A slice of bread slung itself, deflecting the crystal like some kind of mirror.
Beryl was hit by the crystal and died.
"Ah," said Jadeite.
"Good work, boy," he said patting the bread.
It returned to its loaf, and Jadeite sold the loaf.
"Mmmmm," he said. "Dreams really do come true."
FIN
