The Day Of The Party
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"Kassy-chan!" Keli was exasperated. Not only had Kassy conned her into going to the mall on a Saturday, she had found a guy to talk to. Kassy was now in the middle of marching Keli over towards him.
"Kassy-chan, I don't want-"
"Oh no," she interrupted Keli, "we'll talk to this guy. He looks, umm, interesting."
"You do this and I swear I'll-" Kassy's grip tightened, and her nails began to penetrate Keli's skin. "Owe!"
She managed to get her over to him, although Keli was scowling. She had no intentions of talking to guys any time that day. Keli had just agreed to go to the mall with her, she had never told her she wanted to be set up. But Kassy never listens to what I have to say! She thought to herself, Damn, why can't I have nice, peaceful friends instead of the weirdos I've got.
"Oh shut up! You need to get out more! Live a little! For God's sake! You barely even care about anything anymore!"
"I DO care about something, and you know good and well what that is!" Keli demanded, talking about the Gundam. Kassy wanted her to bring a guy to a party Emily was having in a few weeks, for reasons even she couldn't comprehend. Sometimes that girl is nuts. "I don't need this right now!"
"Yes you do!" she hissed. She walked right up to the guy, "Hi." He was tall, had blonde hair, and brown eyes, and he looked older than Keli and Kassy put together.
"Hi."
"So," Kassy said, "are you at the mall alone?"
"Oh, I'm not. My girlfreind's right over there," he replied, pointing to a girl with long blue hair to her waist, and blue eyes. She was wearing an outfit that was extremely... umm...sluttty.
"Oh," Kassy mumered. She grabbed Keli's arm again, and drug her away, not the she needed to be.
"Too bad," Keli began, "I guess we'll have to go now-"
"Hey look Keri-chan! Some stuff you actually would wanna see, they must have gotten in a new shipment of computers at Radio Shack."
They walked over, and started looking through the stuff, which by their standards were highly useless. Before Keli could say that the day hadn't been a total waste, her watch began to beep. The communication watch.
"Shit," she muttered, "come on Kassy-chan, back to work for the pilot and agent team. The only ones who know how to reach me by this are you and the pilots." They rushed into a bathroom where Keli could answer it, and opened the line.
"My, you look different today," Duo said, staring up at the two. He snickered, "And I thought that you never went to the mall."
"Oh shut up. Why did you call?" Keli asked quickly. She wanted to get off of the looks today, even though she actually looked semi-normal. Her hair was dyed a purple color, and pulled up into a black hat with some longer bangs sticking out from under it. Her eyes were the usual dark blue color, and she was wearing a black shirt, and jeans.
"Just wanted to say hi. I can't do that now?" he asked sarcastically.
"That doesn't sound right, even for you. Tell me why you called."
"Fine then. A few mobile suits have been spotted over your location, and I'm talking about exact location."
"Over the mall?" Kassy yelped.
He nodded, "Yeah. Over the mall. Your grandfather found out, and contacted us, since he doesn't know how to call you on this."
"H-How the hell are we supposed to fight then?!" Keli yelled. Someone walked into the bathroom, took a look at the two girls crowded at the end of the bathroom, yelling at a watch. The person ran back out.
"I said he contacted the pilots. They contacted me, and I called you."
"What? Are you on Earth again?"
He nodded, "Walk out of the bathroom, and look to your left."
"You're in the mall?" Keli demanded.
"Just do it."
"Come on Kassy-chan," Keli said as she walked out of the bathroom, and looked where he told her. A familiar figure wearing a black hat, black shirt, and black jeans was sitting down on a bench. A long brown braid was hanging over the side of the bench, and he was looking at his wrist. He looked up when the two were outside, and waved.
Keli shut off the watch, and walked over to him, "Have you been following me?" she demanded.
He grinned, "What? No hello?"
Keli just stared at him.
Kassy broke the ice. "It doesn't matter. What we do know now is that mobile suits are above the mall. We need to focus on that right now."
"Fine. I'll worry about killing you later," Keli told Duo, with fake sarcasm.
"Okay, here's the deal. I came back because your grandfather asked me to. He asked all of us actually, and we are all here in this mall. After you left for the mall, he contacted us at our hotel rooms, and told us that some mobile suits were heading there as well. So the five of us came here, and each of us is at a specific position."
"Now that that's cleared up, what are we gonna do without our suits?" Kassy asked.
"We think they're here because they think that you're here, but they're not too sure. They might be suits from outer space, and they aren't going to be that concerned if innocent people get killed."
"So?" Keli stated, allready working on a plan.
"Get the other pilots, and get out of here before they shoot the place up."
"You mean like a decoy?"
"Yeah. They see us, they follow us, mall people safe."
"It should work. I've got my cycle here, and Kassy borrowed one of my old ones," Keli told him.
"Good. The five of us came here in a Jeep. I don't think we can fit anyone else in it."
"So, we get the pilots now?" Kassy asked.
Duo nodded, "Come on. Quatre and Trowa are closer than Heero and Wufei."
"I'll go get Heero and Wufei," Kassy said, "you guys can go get Quatre and Trowa. I'l meet you at the fountains."
"Okay," Keli consented.
"They're by Sears," Duo began, "sitting on the benches. Heero has on a blue hat."
She nodded, and walked in that direction.
Keli turned to Duo, "Where are Quatre and Trowa?"
"Over by the Gap. Come on." They walked there, making small talk.
"Why did my grandfather ask the five of you here?" Keli asked him.
"He wants us to help him build your friends' Gundams," he stated simply.
"I'll ask about that later," Keli muttered as she spotted a familiar-looking brunette with a few stray bangs hanging down over his face, and a blonde with bright blue eyes, "Hi guys."
Trowa nodded in acknowledgement, and Quatre said, "Hello."
"Kassy's getting Heero and Wufei. We have an idea on how to get out of this place. We have to meet up with them at the fountains."
They began walking to the center of the mall silently, and met the others as they got there. "We've been filled in on the plan," Heero stated.
"We'll have to act quickly. Innocent people do not need to get hurt," Wufei said.
"Okay," Keli began, "you five will get into your car, and Kassy and I will ride our motor cycles out of here. If we're lucky, they'll either give up on us and leave the mall, of follow us."
"I suggest that we all meet back at Keli's place," Kassy added in.
Heero nodded, "Get away from here, and meet at the mansion."
"The sooner we leave, the better," Duo told them all.
"Right. Ja-ne," Keli told the guys as her and Kassy broke off to get to their rides. They started to run to the parking lot. As an extra measure, Keli took off her hat so they would be able to recognize her even more easily. She looked up, seeing the farmilliar suit model. She waved at it, and grinned.
"Kassy, we should split up," Keli instructed as soon as they got onto their cycles. "They won't chase after you."
She nodded, and took off across the parking lot. Keli gunned the engine, and saw the boys' Jeep across the lot. She took off, and got onto the highway, then looked up and saw one of the mobile suits above. The other one was over the pilots' car, further away.
She got off the highway, and onto a little-used road. From there, she turned onto a dirt road. As soon as no cars were in front or behind, she sped up, and the suit started shooting.
Now the cycle was going at least eighty miles an hour and the shots were getting closer to the bike. Keli found a good place to enter the woods, and turned into it. The mobile suit could no longer see her, but it was still flying above the trees. Keli was sure the thing had her on radar.
The communication watch beeped. This time it was Kassy, "Nobody followed me. I'm at the front drive of your place. How about you?"
"One followed me, so I'm riding in the woods, but it should get me to the back of the mansion, if I navigate right. I gotta loose the suit first though."
She saluted, although Keli don't know why, "Good luck, Keli. Over and out." The screen went blank.
The mobile suit started shooting again, and she saw bullets turning up the ground all around. She jumped over a ditch, and turned another direction. The mobile suit kept going in the same direction, and it lost her eventually. Keli heaved a sigh of relief, and continued on in the same direction. Her grandfather's property began soon, and she could see the house in the distance.
She was now riding in an open field as the pilots were driving up the driveway south. Speeding the bike up even more, she leapt over another ditch, got to the garage, slammed on the brakes, and went sliding into it, stopping right beside the pilots' Jeep.
Kassy's bike was near hers, but she wasn't in the garage. Keli got off the bike, and looked at the pilots, "You get chased?"
Heero nodded, "We lost them before we got here though."
"Yeah, me too. I just went to the woods, and they lost me in the brush. I came up through the back way."
Kassy came back into the garage, "All of you okay?"
"We're all fine," Quatre said.
They walked into the house, "Your grandfather is in the lab," Kassy explained.
Keli nodded, "Okay then." She led the pilots to the secret door, and pressed the panel.
"Scan your acess card now," a computer voice stated. Keli took out her school's ID card and scanned it through the small slot beside the door.
She turned to everyone, "Since you guys will be staying here for awhile I guess, I'll give you all one of these, but for now, you need either me or Grandfather to get into the lab, and don't try to break in, this place is hack-proof."
Grandfather was at the console, looking at a glowing map. Keli ran over to him, "What's up?"
He didn't say anything, he only pointed to the screen. Several mobile suits were clustered around a certain place. It looked like the outskirts of town.
Duo rushed over, and stared at the screen, "OH SHIT!" he yelled, "That's where our Gundams are!"
The rest of the pilots came over, and looked at the screen. Then they all looked at Keli. She really didn't like the way they were looking at her.
"Keli, I need to borrow your Gundam," Heero stated simply.
"You can't," she explained, "I'm working on a new feature that only allows me to use the Gundam, it's voice and keycode-activated, you can't use it; even if you wanted to."
"Fine then. I'm going there anyway."
"Me too," Duo said quickly.
"We're all going to go," Heero told him, "if we don't..."
Keli ran to the elevator, and got in. When she got to the top, she got out, and ran to ShootingStarr. She yelled down at the pilots, "Take any of the motor cycles you want! I'll get rid of the suits."
She leapt into the open cockpit of ShootingStarr, and closed it, then took off the shooting star necklace she always wore, and fed the charm into the slot beside the controls in front of her. The screen lightened, and showed the inside of the lab. Her grandfather opened the tunnel passage, and the Gundam blasted out of it quickly. After only about thirty seconds, she could see the suits hovering in the air. They spotted the bird-like mobile suit flying in the air that was ShootingStarr.
"I don't need this," Keli muttered as the Gundam changed into the large mecha. She grabbed the beam saber, and sliced the nearest suit in half. In all, there were about twenty suits in the air, and about ten on the ground.
She started shooting at the suits, and got rid of eleven of them quickly. One rushed, beam saber out. She grabbed it's hand, and punched it's head, watching it explode. She looked to the side, and saw the pilots coming, with Heero far ahead of the other pilots.
Looking around, Keli saw their Gundams lying on the ground, with the brush that had been hiding them pulled away. She took care of some more of the suits, and the pilots reached the site.
One of the other suits saw them, and pulled out a beam canon, trying to shoot them. ShootingStarr blasted towards it, grabbed both of its arms, and flew up high into the air, where she shot it. Heero reached his suit, jumped in, and closed the cockpit. His Gundam came alive, and began to help with the rest of the suits.
The other four pilots got there, and got into their suits as well. Now all of the enemy suits had been destroyed, and the group could go back. "Fly as high as you guys can," Keli instructed, "people can't see us if we fly high enough."
They agreed, and the group flew as high as possible until they got over the woods at her grandfather's place. They dove down, and flew into he tunnel, soft light illuminating the way for the Gundams. They emerged in the lab, and landed side-by-side, with ShootingStarr nearest the elevator, DeathscytheHell beside it, Wing Zero beside it, Altron beside it, Sandrock beside it, and Heavyarms at the very end.
We got out at the same time, and looked down at the lab floor. Now not only Kassy and Grandfather were there, but John, Angelina, Emily, and Karen were there as well.
Keli ran down, "Hi everyone," she told them. The pilots had come down too, and all eleven of them were standing in the middle of the lab.
"Kassy called us all, and told us to come here, but she wouldn't tell us why," Emily said.
"I told them that I would explain when you got back," Kassy told Keli.
"You know, maybe I should explain the situation," Keli's grandfather implied, standing near them. "It's like this--I know that the six Gundams are very powerful in battle, and I know that the Tauruses are powerful as well, but with everything that has been going on lately, and a sudden flare-up of trouble, I can't think that we need more firepower.
"I've decided to build five smaller Gundams for the Taurus pilots. They will not be as powerful as the other six, but they will be stronger than the Tauruses you have now. The Gundam pilots have come here to help to build them, and Keli could help too, since you five don't really know how to or have access to the materials. You can think of it as a gift," he finished.
"It's nice of you to do this," Angelina told him.
"Yes, it is," Keli added, "but how are we going to get everything?"
"I have connections," Duo said, "I can get the parts, and so can Heero. Your grandfather also has access to a good source."
"Okay... Well, how are we going to do this? You guys have school, and I really should re-enroll..." Keli told her Earth friends and her grandfather.
"School just started about a month ago. I already decided to re-enroll you. If you want to, I can enroll them as well," he stated, looking at the Gundam pilots.
She had gotten out of school once she finished the year, with no reason to go back.
"It might provide a good cover-up," Heero said thoughtfully.
"It's a good idea," Duo added, "maybe it'll give us a chance to lead normal lives for a few months. But I really don't want to pretend to be a Japanese exchange student anymore."
Keli laughed, "Trust me, everyone's probably forgotten by now, anyways."
"Okay, I'll enroll all six of you, the pilots under your normal names. Keli, do you mind becoming Starr again?" he asked.
She shook her head, "Not at all. I kind of like that personality anyway, being a smart blonde and all. It'll be fun, especially having the Preps try to be friends with me as soon as they find out that I have money." She laughed, "Starr Williams is back."
Two weeks later, they were all enrolled at Nothveiw High School in the tenth grade. They began a week apart, with Keli going first, then Heero, then Wufei, then Quatre, then Trowa, and finally Duo. The mobile suits were coming along quite well, and were now about ten per cent completed.
Juggling between building the suits and doing homework is not a fun thing for them to do. They have to get home, hurry up and do all of their homework, which usually takes about two hours, then go down to the lab and work until near dawn. It can't last long for any of them, except maybe Heero.
For the past few weeks Keli had been working on a security feature for ShootingStarr: she had installed a key lock that could only be opened with a key that she was making to replace her necklace, or a voiced security code. Without the key or the code, the suit wouldn't move at all, it would stay where it was left, and three incorrect tries would result in self-destruction, brought on immediately.
After all six of them were in the school, Keli figured out who she had classes with, and now knew her way around. She had homeroom with Quatre, John, and Emily; English with Duo and Karen; Advanced Geometry with Heero, Trowa, Emily, and Kassy; Advanced Physical Science with Wufei, Quatre, Angelina, and John; and Gym with Duo, John, and Kassy. Keli was happy that she had at least one class each with all of her friends.
Keli now had longer blonde hair near her knees, gray eyes, and a tan again, which was the picture she used for her school ID. The day Duo showed up for the first time, she had worn a pair of baggy jeans, a green shirt, sneakers, and an old denim jacket that was about three times too big. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail with a green bow that matched my shirt, and hung down her back.
Keli got into homeroom right when the bell rang, because had just gotten there. She actually woke up early for once, and went to a burger place for breakfast with Kassy and Emily. She had practically run into homeroom, with Emily by her side.
She sat down in her usual seat beside Emily, behind Quatre, and in front of John. "Why are you two so late?" John asked her.
"We went to McDonalds with Kassy, and lost track of time," Keli explained.
"Oh."
The teacher called role, and then let the class talk some more, "You were gone when the rest of us got up," Quatre stated.
Keli grinned, "Kassy drove us, and made us get up really early. We had to drag Emily out of bed."
"That's pretty much what we had to do to Duo. He sleeps way more than necessary," Quatre told her, smiling.
"That sounds about right," she added sarcastically.
The bell rang, and Keli walked to English class alone, as always. It was kind of far away from her homeroom, so she was walking fast, and wasn't paying attention to where she was going. She bumped into someone on accident, and kept walking.
Keli heard running steps, and was flung around, now facing the guy she accidentally ran into, "Watch where you're going, Kid." She looked up at his face. A tall guy, wearing a Varsity jacket. He had short black hair and brown eyes, and he also looked pissed.
"What do you want?" she asked, not caring about the fact the the quarterback of the football team was holding onto her shoulders tightly, "I have to get to class."
"I want you to apologize."
"Screw you," she told him quickly, "I have to get to class now, and doing that is something I don't have time for."
Keli pulled out of his grasp, and continued walking, pretending not to see him edging up next to her. He put his arm around her shoulders.
Her eyes narrowed in anger, and she clenched her fists, "Get your hand off of me now, before you wish you hadn't put it there," she said through clenched teeth.
"You? Hurt me? That's quite impossible, Hon."
Okay, that's it, she thought to herself. She pulled a hand up, and got into a position to throw him down.
"Hey Starr!"
She turned around, and saw Duo standing there. The guy let go of Keli, and turned to him, "This is none of your business."
Ohhhhhhh! I've had enough of this, Keli thought. She spun around again, making the guy loose his grip, "Leave me alone you perv. I have to get to class."
"We'll continue this later," he muttered as she continued walking down the hall. Duo caught up to her.
"What was that about?"
She shook her head, "Nothing. We're both late now."
They reached class just as the bell rang, "Sorry for being a little late, Mrs. Stevens," she apologized, "but the new student couldn't find your class."
She nodded, "Okay, thank you Starr."
Keli walked over to her seat by the window and in front Karen, and sat down. The teacher asked Duo a few questions about English, and then made him sit down wherever he wanted to. Not at all surprising, he took an empty seat beside Keli.
English was very boring, just the usual work, and a bunch of homework. Keli walked to her math class, and took her seat beside Kassy, behind Emily, in front of Trowa, and beside Heero on the other side. Their teacher was being nice for the one day, she gave the class a few worksheets to do, and let them work in groups.
Keli turned her desk to face Kassy's, and she turned hers also. Keli looked over at Heero, who was working silently on the problems, then at Trowa, who was just sitting there, "Why are you not doing anything?" Emily asked him as she pulled her desk beside Keli and Kassy's.
He looked up, "No reason."
"Want some help?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Then move your desk over here. We might as well help more than one person," she finished, staring at Keli.
"Hey!"
"Well, Kassy-chan can do her own work. We both end up helping you with the damn problems!" she exclaimed.
"That might be because I have worse things to worry about, unlike you guys, who study all the time."
Heero sighed from his desk, and turned around, "Do you two mind?"
"Oh fine," they muttered at the same time, sitting down. Trowa moved his over beside Emily's, and they started to do the problems together.
Keli looked over at Kassy, then looked down at her paper. She looked up at Kassy again, and caught her staring at her. She sighed, "What number?"
Keli grinned, "Lets start with number one, then work through the end."
She faked a sigh, and leaned over to look at Keli's paper, pencil in hand, "Okay, first you have to divide the angle by the hypotenuse..."
Before class was over, Keli had managed to do about three problems on her own, and Kassy had done the other twenty-seven. They had more of it for homework. The bell rang, and all of them walked out of class and towards the courtyard for lunch. They met Angelina, John, Karen, Quatre, and Wufei in the hallway, and they all walked outside.
Keli sat down at a bench, took off her backpack, and took out her pocket communicator. She took off the back cover, and started to work on the settings with a small screwdriver. After awhile, she stopped, and screwed the cover back on.
"What did you just do?" Quatre asked, looking at the screen, which was now glowing
"I changed the output and input settings, and made 'record' become more sensitive. I'm feeling really tired today, and science has never been a subject I like, so I've set it to record everything she says. I can make my notes later," Keli explained, yawning, and laying down on the bench.
"Good plan," Angelina said, walking up to her.
Keli grinned, "I can't do any geometry, but I am good at computer stuff, not to mention everything else."
"Maybe you should focus on school for now," Karen added, sitting down on the ground.
"Yeah, you've got the perfect cover-up," Kassy began, "who would think that a girl with grades like you could be a Gundam pilot? It's hard enough for me to believe."
Keli sat up, "Hey! I'm smart!" Her voice lowered, "just not at anything that has to do with math."
The whole group laughed, and Duo came out with a loaded lunch tray, "What's so funny?"
"Nothing," Keli said just as Kassy remarked, "Dissing Keri-chan's grades."
Keli groaned, and laid back down on the bench, "Do you mind, I'm trying to sleep."
Angelina grabbed onto her hair, and managed to pull her up to where she was sitting on the bench, "You can sleep in class."
"OOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEE!" Keli yelled, "Damnit, Angel-chan! Don't pull my hair! It hurts!" People started to stare at the group, and Keli blushed.
She let go, and Keli glared at her, "You didn't have to do that."
"It was the most convenient way I could get you up."
"Well, it hurt," she muttered, rubbing the back of her head.
"Maybe we should stop fooling around, and get to business," Heero stated.
Angelina nodded, "Although I've got no idea why we need to talk about things. Everything's fine, right?"
He shook his head, "Everything seems normal, but something's wrong. The attacks have faded away for now, there hasn't been a single attack since the mall incident."
"And that means?"
"They have either quite the attacks, which is not probable, or they are planning something that is going to be hell to pull off."
Emily groaned, "Heero, we are at school, and we shouldn't be worrying about stuff like that right now. Can we talk about anything else?"
He nodded slowly, "We'll talk about this later."
She grinned, "Great," looking at Keli, Kassy, Karen, Angelina, and John, she said, "You guys are still all coming, right?"
Keli nodded, "Why the hell not? I've got nothing else to do."
Kassy smiled, "Me too."
The others all said that they could make it too. "Good," Emily told us. She looked at the boys, and smiled again, "I'm having a party next weekend, a Halloween thing, I guess. It's going to be at my barn, outside of the city. You're all welcome to come."
"I don't think that we-" Heero began, before Keli interrupted him.
"Oh come on, you should have a little fun while you're here. Besides, it's just for a few hours, and her barn is great. They've got a ton of land, and a pond. We can all work on the new suits later."
He smiled slightly, which was kind of weird, taken that Heero was a guy that was too serious even to smile or laugh once in awhile, "Okay, we'll go. It is just a few hours anyway."
Duo grinned, "Fun at last! The only thing we've been doing has been working on the new suits. A party would be a nice change."
Keli stared at him, "You're probably one of those people that spike the drinks, and brings all the drugs."
He heard her, "Hey! I do not spike drinks, and I don't do drugs."
"Okay, guys," Angelina said, "you can stop arguing. It's almost time to go in, anyway."
Keli looked at her watch,"Oh yeah, it is." She took out the pocket communicator, and turned it on, then stuffed it in her jacket pocket, and grinned, "Notes in a pocket, the new revolution."
Kassy glared at her, "That's illegal, ya know."
She shrugged, "Yeah, but I can sleep in class, that's all that matters."
BRRRRRIINGGGG!
They walked inside, and Keli parted ways with everyone except for Quatre, Angelina, John, and Wufei. As they entered the class, the teacher told them that they would be taking notes the whole time.
She grinned, and sat down in my desk beside Quatre. Angelina sat in front of her, beside John, and Wufei sat down beside John on his other side. She laid her head down on the desk, and managed to snooze through the whole period.
She woke up when Angelina started tapping her on the head, "Starr! Class is over!"
Keli looked up at her, "Okay." She got out of her seat, and looked at her watch, "Shit! I'm gonna be late! Our gym teacher hates that! I gotta go! Bye!" she yelled as she ran out the door.
Angelina laughed, "She's the most scatter-brained person I know."
Keli heard the sounds of John and Angelina laughing behind her, but she couldn't say anything.
Keli ran into the locker room, just in time. She changed into her gym clothes, pulled her hair up into a big odanga at the back of her head, and went outside with the rest of the class. As usual, they were playing basketball in the gym, with the boys and girls playing on opposite sides.
She ended up playing with the people she usually played with, and besides Kassy, Emily, Karen, Angelina, and John, they were really good friends: Kassy, Jennifer, Ann, Rachel and Annie. Keli played on a team with Annie, and Kassy; while Ann, Jennifer, and Rachel were on the other one.
Keli looked over to John, who was getting ready to play on the court across from them. He waved, as usual, "Were you late?"
She shook her head, "Nope. Does your teacher even care?"
He grinned, "Not at all."
Duo walked out of the boys' gym teacher's office. He saw Keli and Kassy, talking to John, "Hey, I didn't know the two of you were in this class."
Keli nodded, "At least we have gym last period, unlike a bunch of people."
He grabbed one of the balls, and started bouncing it on the floor, "Hey John. Come on, the teacher's gonna get pissed at us."
He turned around, and took a shot at the basket, scoring.
"Yeah, see ya," Kassy told them. The two turned back to their friends, "Come on, Annie, we've got a game to win."
"You wish," Rachel muttered.
Keli grabbed a ball off of the rack, and started dribbling around, absently. "Starr..." Jennifer tried to get my attention.
"Huh? Oh..." she threw the ball to Kassy, who was on the sidelines, ready to start the game.
She passed it in to Annie, who scored easily. Jennifer passed the ball to Ann, who immediately passed it back to Jennifer, which was where Keli was. She grabbed the ball, and scored again.
She heard John yell something, and looked over to where he was, and saw him receive the ball from Duo, and score.
Keli turned back to her game, and almost immediately, Jennifer's team scored. She passed the ball in to Kassy, who passed it Annie, who was being blocked from scoring. Keli ran as close as she could to her, while Kassy was guarding Rachel. She threw the ball over Jennifer's head, and Keli leapt for it. She managed to grab it, and threw it to Kassy before she touched down to the ground. Kassy scored easily.
"Yes!" Keli yelled, grinning.
Jennifer walked over and pulled on her hair, "Even I've gotta congratulate you on that."
"Thanks."
They went back to playing, and by the end of the game, they had really lost count of who won. None of them really played to win, anyway. It was more of a fun thing to do. Keli walked to the water fountain with Kassy, as usual, and saw John and Duo talking, already there.
"Hey John. Who won your game?" Kassy asked.
He grinned, "Who do you think? My team."
Keli rolled her eyes, "You're still an egomaniac. That'll never change."
"Well, Duo played pretty good too," he added in.
"Baka," she muttered under her breath, "why do guys always have to win, or else they go nuts?"
"That's just the way it is," Duo said, grinning.
Kassy rolled her eyes, "Whatever." She looked at Keli, "It's time for us to get back to the locker room. Bye you guys!" she said as the two walked away.
After class was over, Keli walked outside into the parking lot with her blonde hair hanging down to her knees.
"Do you need a ride home?" she asked, "you don't have your cycle with you."
Keli shook her head. "I'll get a ride."
"Okay." She walked over to her car, and opened it.
Keli walked back to the school after she left, where the rest of her friends were, waiting for their parents to pick them up.
"Why haven't you left yet?" Quatre asked her, walking out of the building.
"I rode to school with Kassy, remember? I don't have a ride. Why haven't you left yet?"
"Heero took everyone but Duo to school. I'm waiting for him to come outside."
"Oh," Keli answered. She walked over to John and Angelina, and started chatting with them for awhile, until Heero came outside.
Keli walked over to him, "Do mind if I ride home with you guys? Kassy took me to school, and I didn't want to bother her for a ride back."
He nodded, and started walking towards the car, and Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei followed him. Turning back to her, he said, "Duo got detention, so he'll be home later."
She laughed, "Why am I not surprised?"
They reached the jeep that Keli was beginning to think was stolen from somewhere, and she decided to ask, "Where did you guys get this jeep?"
"I bought it," Quatre replied, we needed a vehicle to get around this city, and it seemed like a good idea to have a car."
"Good," Keli muttered. No one heard her.
They walked inside when they got home, and said hello to her grandfather, who was just sitting in the living room. He saw the other pilots walk down to the lab. "Come down when you're done with your homework, Keli," he told her.
She nodded, and went up to her room. She turned on her computer, turned on the lights, and turned on her CD player. Hitting the remote control to it, the room was filled with music, some classical stuff that she liked to study with.
She got to work on her math work, and after spending twenty minutes on one problem, she gave up, and instead finished her English work, and then got back to the math. After another ten minutes, she called Kassy.
She answered, and before she could say anything, Keli spoke, "Can you help me with this math? I've spent half an hour working the same problem, and I haven't gotten it right yet."
"Okay okay, clam down," she told her, trying not to laugh. "but I can't really help you right now, my parents are fixing to go shopping, and they want me and my brother to come too."
"Maybe later?"
"If I get back before nine, I'll call you."
"Okay. Bye." Keli stated, hanging up. "Great, if I don't do it, I'll get an F, and I can't call Emily right now, she's gone too."
"Do what?" a voice asked from the doorway. She looked up, and saw Duo standing there. "What 'tcha doin?"
"Some math problems that are hell," Keli answered, not wanting to talk for the moment.
"Let me see it."
She tossed him the notebook, and stared at him, "I don't think you could do them."
"Give me a pencil."
She threw one of the mechanical ones to him, and he started writing. "What are you doing?" Keli asked him.
"Writing down how to do these problems."
She got up, and walked over to him. He was busy writing down a whole bunch of notes. Keli glanced at them, and saw that it was the right way to do them. "Where'd you learn that?"
"I have to know geometry, it's needed to design stuff."
He gave the notebook back to me, and left the room, "I'm gonna go help the rest of them."
Keli nodded absently, then sat back down, and managed to finish the work in an hour. When she was done, she walked down into the lab, and got to work on Kassy's suit.
"Get finished?" Duo asked, from his spot working on Angelina's Gundam.
"Yeah," she told him, getting into the cockpit, and hooking up a few wires to the system, and began typing furiously, inputting as much data as she possibly could.
So far, the pilots and her grandfather had been the ones to use all the machinery, and she was only working on the cockpits. Kassy's and Emily's Gundams were so far the only ones she was working on, and they were also the furthest along.
After working for four hours straight, she went back upstairs. It was now past ten, and she needed some food. Keli grabbed a bag of chips and a soda, and headed back down into the lab. She worked on the new suits for two more hours, and then began working on ShootingStarr, upgrading the system--making it better.
The pilots had all gone back upstairs, leaving her alone. When the clock struck two AM, she stumbled back upstairs, exhausted from sleep deprivation. This is what she had been doing for the past month, and she knew it wouldn't last.
Keli fell asleep in her school clothes, too tired to change.
At last...the day of the party...
Keli woke up yawning around nine, and managed to get out of bed. She should have been woken up around six, but for some reason--she wasn't and had slept in. It was a nice Saturday morning; there were no clouds, the temperature was perfect, and a nice wind was blowing. She walked over to the balcony door, and opened it. Smiling as the wind ruffled through her hair, she went outside, and stood leaning against the railing.
Yesterday night she had dyed her hair back to it's normal dark brown color, and had gotten the extensions taken out. The end result was that now her hair was back to normal, and hung down to her hips. She had also put a small streak of green in her hair, right at the front.
She walked out of her room, still in her pajamas, and went downstairs to find everyone hanging around the kitchen. Her grandfather was still asleep, because he wasn't down there, but all the pilots were. Heero was sitting at the bar, drinking some orange juice; Quatre was in the process of making toast for himself and Trowa; Wufei was sitting at the table, doing nothing; and Duo was trying to figure out how to make pancakes, and was making a HUGE mess. Pancake goo was all around the kitchen, lumped in various spots.
Keli groaned at the scene, and walked over to Duo, "You have to flip them with a spatula," she muttered.
"I tried to stop him, but he had already started cooking," Quatre told her.
"If you can call that cooking," she answered.
As she said that, he attempted to flip his "pancake". It flew into the air, and landed right on top of Heero's head. He got up slowly, and walked towards Duo.
"Heero?" Duo said, wide-eyed.
Heero said nothing--he just walked around the side of the bar, and into the kitchen.
"Heero, I know you wanna kill him, but...Wait, what am I saying?" Keli snickered, walking backwards. Duo was cowering in the corner of the kitchen, trying not to say anything.
"Heero, don't…" Quatre warned.
Heero looked at Keli, and smiled, which might have freaked her out as much as him walking towards her like that. She got the hint, and grinned furiously.
"W-what are you doing?" Duo yelled at her.
Heero reached Duo, and grabbed his shirt, pulling him up. He dragged him over to the bowl of pancake mix, unknown to Duo. Heero reached behind Duo and grabbd the bowl of "pankakes". He picked it up, and dumped it on Duo's head.
The room erupted in laughter as Duo pulled the bowl off of his head, and the mix dripped down all over his clothes, and his hair.
Duo yelled loudly, "WHAT DID YA DO THAT FOR?"
"You started it," Heero answered, "I was only following your example."
"And you," Duo pointed at Keli, "why did you back away? I've got this crap all over me!"
She grinned, "Hey, you shouldn't have tried to do that, anyway. Chefs just do it to show off. You aren't supposed to flip the damn things, and even if you do, not that hard! Plus, this is sooo funny! Where's the camera?" Keli asked, just to be funny, "this is a true Kodak moment!"
"Hey!" He reached up, and got some of the goop out of his hair, and flung it at her. She ducked, and it sailed over her, striking Wufei, who had gone into the kitchen to get some food, on the side of his head.
He stared at Duo, who was looking sheepish, "Uh, sorry Wufei, didn't mean ta hit you."
Wufei grinned, and flung some of he goop back at Duo. Her back was turned to him, and she was just staring at Heero and Duo, and didn't see the pancake mix fly. It hit the back of her head, and she groaned.
"Damnit!" Keli turned around, and stared at Wufei, "Why'd ya hit me?"
"Sorry, you were in the way," he said.
Before she could realize that she had turned her back to Duo, more of the goo hit her.
"Oooh," she shuddered as she pulled the goop stuff off of the back of her head, and slung it back at Duo.
It hit him, and he slung some more back. It missed Keli, and hit Trowa who threw the goop back at him. His aim was very off, and hit Quatre. A few more throws, and they were were all in a huge food fight.
Keli's main objective was to hit Duo, who had started the whole damned thing, and she grabbed whatever she could to hit him. After their fight had escalated to using stuff from the cupboards, her grandfather came down, and saw the six of them covered with food, and flinging it around.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
They all looked up, covered with food. Keli grinned, "Umm, would you believe cooking breakfast?"
"How did this happen?"
They all pointed at Duo. "He was the one that started it," Keli explained.
"I was just trying to make some food!" he yelled, more to her than to her grandfather.
"And screwed up the whole kitchen in the process!"
"OKAY OKAY!" Keli's grandfather yelled, "THAT'S ENOUGH! You're all going to clean this up!"
"Oh great," Keli muttered, sitting down in the goop. She was already covered in the junk, and didn't care about it anymore. After three hours of cleaning up the crap littered all over the floor, they were finally done.
"And why don't we try and cook breakfast?" Keli asked Duo sarcastically.
"Because we screw up the kitchen in the process?" he answered.
"Because I'll kill him if he does that again," Heero muttered.
"That's a really good reason," she complemented, "I'd be glad to help you do that."
"Hey!"
"Oh shut up," Heero and Keli said at the same time.
"You're the one that started it anyway, Duo," Quatre told him softly.
"I don't care!" he answered, "I just know that I get dibs on the shower first."
"Oh, I'll give you a shower," Keli muttered turning the sink faucet on. She grabbed the hose extension, pointed the nozzle at him, and fired. A stream of cold water hit him in the face.
He yelled out, and held up his hand so the water wouldn't hit his face anymore. Keli started laughing, and managed to get him completely soaked in a matter of seconds. "Mwa ha ha!"
"ENOUGH!" Heero yelled at them, surprising them both, "we're done here, and you're trying to make more of a mess!"
"Umm, sorry Heero," Keli mummered.
"Yeah, sorry," Duo added.
"I'm going upstairs," he told them, leaving the kitchen.
After a few minutes, they all heard the sound of running water. Keli walked back up to her room, and took a shower, not caring whether the water was cold or not. She dried her hair and got dressed into a pair of old jeans, a gray shirt, a green jacket tied around her waist.
Keli walked downstairs once more for the day, this time somewhere around three in the afternoon. Duo was the only person downstairs, and he was eating some chips like there was no tomorrow.
She walked past him, and into the living room. From there, she gained access to the lab, walked over to the elevator, rode to the top, and just stood in front of ShootingStarr, not doing anything. The other Gundams were close to hers, and the new ones were being built in a corner of the lab, away from everything else.
Keli just stared at her own Gundam, lost in thought, remembering things from the past, thinking about things that could happen in the future. Her thoughts wandered to the fight in space almost a year ago, against the one person she was afraid to fight against: Frere.
She began to daydream, retrieving the thoughts she had submerged in her mind for so long. Keli was back in ShootingStarr, and her friends were all in their suits. The group was out in space, fighting against the ship that she had no idea abou the pilot. Then the transmission, and Frere appearing in front of her; the stepfather she thought was out of her life forever.
Keli remembered how he said that she was only fighting for a lost cause, and that she was dead to the world, that no one cared...
That was when he had powered up to fire at the Earth, and all of them. She told everyone to shoot, and fired herself...
Keli shook her head, trying to shake the thoughts that haunted her so much. She knew it had to be done, and that he wouldn't have stopped to kill her, but for some reason she thought that this responsibility shouldn't have been pushed onto her.
I'm still just a child, she thought to herself, looking up at the death machine in front of her. A kid--a girl picked to be a pilot of a sign of death: the Gundam, which is the fear and cause of death for so many soldiers.
She remembered how she used to be before. A happy kid, not hiding anything, proud to be herself, and proud to have the few friends she had. Not scared of anything, not running or hiding, not pretending. A cute kid, actually, with a grin that could get her out of almost anything, and an almost arrogant way of doing things, as if she didn't care how much trouble she got into, that whatever she was planning on doing, she would do. It was nowhere near to what she had become.
She knew that the same thing had happened to the other pilots, but didn't want to accept everything that was going on. She was too eager to go to Mars, and help out, even though it was called for. Too eager to kill the soldiers in that base, and too eager to destroy.
Now she was either less of a person, or more, depending on how people knew her before the incident. She still had the same grin, and the same proudness like she used to, but that was where the similarities ended. I'm semi-happy, even though most people would see me as depressed, that's just my way of acting. I've probably grown as a person, because of all the things I've had to go through. My old life is gone, and I have a new one.
In this new life I'm a ruthless soldier, one that doesn't care how many people she kills. The only things I care about now would be crushing my enimies, and staying alive. Nothing else, at least nothing else she could admit to herself.
I don't even really have a family. My mom and Frere were the only family I had, and now Frere's dead, and my mother...My mother had left the city. She had gone after the Mars Base attack, and hadn't been back since. I knew she cared about me, but she also had her job to worry about. Being a representative for Earth was a lot of work for a person, and having a kid who becomes a Gundam pilot, and rescues the other five is a hard thing to defend.
I do have my grandfather, but he treats me more like an equal than a fifteen year-old kid. The pancake incident was the only time I had ever been in any type of trouble. He thinks of me meerly as a soldier now, and not as a normal teenager like he used to, which disturbs me.
She clenched her fist, and a tear ran down her cheek, falling to the floor. Looking up at ShootingStarr, then the other five Gundams, she smiled softly. The past few weeks have been fun. A little insane, but fun.
The phone rang just then, and Keli was brought out of her trance. She answered it down in the lab, and Emily came onto the screen.
"Hey, feel like going to the mall today? I need to pick up some stuff."
Keli smiled, "Sure, love to. I need to get out of the house anyway, I'm bored."
She grinned, "Great, do you want to meet me there, or do you want me to pick you up?"
Keli shrugged, "I think I'll meet you there. How about by the fountain in an hour?"
Emily nodded, "Okay, see ya then."
She walked back upstairs, and found her grandfather in the library, "I'm going to go to the mall with Emily. I'll be back in a few hours."
He nodded, "Fine."
Going back up to her room, she grabbed her wallet and a pair of sunglasses, then walked back downstairs, went to the garage, and got onto her motor cycle. She put the helmet on, and slid the visor down over her eyes.
Reaching the mall with about half an hour to spare, she wandered around until it was time to meet Emily, and then went back to the center of the mall, where a large fountain was. Emily was sitting in a chair, and waved when she saw Keli.
"Hey, Emiry-chan," Keli told her walking up to her friend.
"Konnichiwa, Keri-chan" she answered, "I need to pick up a bunch of stuff, and figured we could look around as well."
She nodded, and they started walking around. Emily got everything she needed, and the two started to window-shop. They walked into Camelot Music, and Keli ended up buying a CD, paying for it with one of her credit cards. Emily bought some stuff from Bath&BodyWorks, and they just hung out for awhile, chatting about nothing in particular.
"So, are all of your house guests going to come tonight?" Emily asked her.
"Yeah, they'll all be there. It starts at seven, right?"
She nodded, "And ends at midnight."
"Why'd you decide to have a party at night?"
Emily shrugged, "It's Halloween, and parties are always more fun at night."
"You have to be right about that."
"Yeah," she looked at Keli, "you know, its getting kind of late. Shouldn't you call your grandfather and tell him you won't be home till after the party?"
Keli shrugged, "He really won't care, but just in case…" She pulled out her cell phone, which is an old model that doesn't allow you to see the other person on the line, and called. She would have used the pocket communicator, but it was still set like it was when she slept in class, and the watch would be too weird to use in a mall.
Heero answered the phone with his usual informal answer, "Yes?"
"Heero, its Keli. Where's my grandfather?"
"Hang on."
After a minute or two, he picked up, "Hello?"
"Hey, Grandfather. I'm gonna go straight from here to the party, and I won't be home 'till late."
"Okay, the others are all going to this party too?"
"Yeah, it starts at seven," She told him.
"Okay, bye."
"Bye," Keli hung up the phone, and glanced at Emily.
She looked at her watch, "My mom should get here soon, you can follow us there. It's dark outside, and it's easy to loose your way."
Keli nodded, and went into the parking lot with her. Her mom was waiting, and Keli said hello. They followed her to her cycle, and she followed them to the barn, which was way out in the country.
They got there at around six, and Keli helped them set up. Her mother said that she would leave once everyone was here, and trusted the group to keep the place in order.
True to her word, she left at seven-thirty, leaving at least thirty people alone for five hours. After it reached eight, Emily turned on her CD player as loud as it would go. Keli decided to go upstairs, and hung out on the balcony, looking out across the small pond, lilluminated with small lights from the barn.
Kassy, Emily, and Karen all came up too. "Where's everyone else?" Keli asked, putting on her jacket. It was getting a little cold.
"Oh, John-kun and Angel-chan are dancing, and the pilots have gone off somewhere. Probably to talk in private," Emily answered.
Keli laughed, "And how about everyone else?"
"Oh, dancing, or hanging out. We're the only people up here for now," she said.
Keli smiled, and returned her gaze to the water, not really looking at anything, just staring off into space.
She heard voices coming from below and also sounds of late night nature. You know: crickets, water lapping over the area of the pond, mobile suits...Wait a second! Mobile suits?!
"Do you guys hear that?" Keli asked the rest of her friends.
They all nodded, and she saw the Gundam pilots run up towards the barn from the direction of the woods.
"We have to get everyone out of here!" Quatre yelled out, looking up at the suits coming closer.
Keli ran back down, with her friends behind her. "What do they want?" She muttered, not talking to anybody.
"Emiry-chan, get yourself and everyone else inside! Now!" Keli yelled at her. Fortunately, she didn't ask any questions, and left, along with Kassy, John, Karen, and Angelina.
"What now?" Duo asked her.
"We wait for whoever the hell this is supposed to be," she answered.
They didn't have to wait for very long, because the suits landed in a huge gust of wind, which blew their clothes and hair backwards. There were five mobile suits; four standard Taurus mobile dolls, and one was a manned Virgo.
"Who'd need this much firepower to come here? We don't even have our Gundams to fight with." Trowa said.
"Too many nuts out there, huh?" Keli muttered.
The Virgo's pilot jumped out, and landed on the ground. He was tall, had short black hair, and had brown eyes. Keli immediately recognized him, "Still trying to be a kid huh?" was what he said as soon as he saw her.
"Still trying to be a Shit Head, I see," she returned sardonically.
"Ooh, children shouldn't say things so mouthy. It's not polite," he stated, just trying to make her madder.
"I'm not a child!" she yelled back, "from the way I've had to deal with things, I act more grown-up than you ever did!"
"Oh, really? A child believes in something she doesn't even understand. That's you all right."
"I believe in peace! That's easy to understand!"
"Peace is nothing! it will never truly happen! You see, dear Daughter, peace is just a word, it's not real."
Keli grimaced when he called her daughter. She hated being called his child, "I never was your daughter!" she shouted, "You're such an asshole it wouldn't even matter to you!"
The others had all been quiet, not saying anything, but now, Duo spoke up, "Why are you here, and what do you want?"
"Well," he answered, "I was going to get Keli's Gundam, but since all of you are here, I might as well get yours too."
"Okay, first of all; we don't have our suits here, and second of all, we would never hand them over to you!" Duo yelled at him.
"You don't have to hand them over, that would be too easy, and not fun at all. Oh well," he said. He looked up at the mobile suits behind him, and pressed a button on a remote control he had with him. The suits' eyes began to glow, a signal that they had been powered up, and ready to use.
"What are you gonna do; sic your dolls on us?" Keli asked.
He laughed, "Not at all. I was going to have them burn down that barn."
"Innocent people are in there!" Quatre yelled at him.
"All the more reason for me to burn it down."
Heero pulled out a gun, "Call them back. Now!"
"Okay, fine. Have it your way," my father muttered. The dolls grew lifeless again. He drew a gun, and pointed it at Keli, "If I can't have your Gundam, at least I'll be able to get something out of this."
Heero took a very well placed shot, and the gun flew out of his hands. He glanced at Heero, and then back at Keli. He got into a fighting stance, grabbed two things out of his pocket, and threw one towards her. It grew into a human-sized version of a beam saber, and landed near her foot.
She raised an eyebrow, "You wanna fight against me? Well...my grandafther was a good teacher."
"Your grandfather trained you?" Trowa asked.
"Yeah, in the martial arts, ever since I was little, and up until I became a pilot, he's trained me. I might have even surpassed Frere in ability."
"I don't think so," he told her, "are you going to fight me or not?"
She nodded, and bowed, "I accept." She grabbed the saber, and held it up, weighing it with her hands. The beam was a really cool green color, like Duo's scythe on his Gundam.
He drew his, and it was a red color, and also longer than hers, "Do you know what happens when this blade gets too close to a person? It isn't pretty."
Keli smiled, "I didn't even think you could make these so small, but it is cool weapon."
"If you beat me, you can keep it."
"I guess this is my sword now!" she yelled, rushing at him. She swung the blade around in a circle, and attacked by trying to slice him in two. His sword went up, and he blocked it, and threw one of his own, swinging the blade neatly where her middle was. She did a back flip, and landed away from him.
"Nice move," he complemented, "that would have been difficult for me to pull off, especially with this sword."
"I like difficult," Keli told him, grinning, and not even breathing hard.
He lunged at her, trying to cut where her feet were. She jumped up, and kicked his chin, sending him into the dirt. He got up, and tried to decapitate Keli. She ducked, and did an uppercut, sending him flying again. He jumped back up, ready to fight some more.
They started to grapple, both of them absorbed into what they were doing, trying not to let the other person get at them. After a few minutes of getting nowhere, he tried to swing his sword to where it would leave her no way to get away from it, because of the weight of her own sword and reaction time.
She threw the sword into the air, ducked underneath his sword, and then jumped above it, catching the sword as it fell down. She landed, and her sword was now pointed at his throat, "Drop your sword, now."
He looked at her, "So, you win." He didn't drop the sword.
"Drop it!" He refused to drop it, and she spoke up again, "DROP IT OR THIS SABER WILL GO THROUGH YOUR THROAT!"
It clattered to the ground, and he didn't move, "There, are you happy?"
Keli lowered her sword, "The fight's over. Get out of here."
He stared at her, "You were almost all too eager to kill me in space. Why not down here?"
She figured out how to shut off the saber, and did so, "I don't want to kill you. In my point of view, it's a waste of time."
"Keli, be careful," Heero muttered, seeing that he was acting way too cocky for a person who had been beaten.
Keli turned to look at him, Don't worry, I'm be-" she was cut off by being thrown to the ground. Frere stood over her, and pulled her up by her jacket, and looked her in the eye. Her hair fell out of the ponytail she always wore, and blew everywhere.
"You should have killed me when you had the chance," he muttered. Keli managed to slide the jacket off of her arms, and fell to the ground. He pointed the sword down at her, "Drop it."
She let go of her sword, and he kicked it far away. She started to get up, and he pointed the sword closer, "Don't move."
Keli stayed where she was, and tried to act tough, "You gonna kill me?"
He pointed the sword even closer, "Most likely; yes."
She glanced back at the barn, and saw that all of her agent friends were out on the balcony, watching the fight. She looked back up at Frere, and past him, to see the Gundam pilots. Duo was edging towards the sword that had been kicked away. Heero had grabbed his gun again. Quatre had an indescribable look on his face. Trowa was looking down at Quatre with concern, and Wufei was almost ready to get into the fight himself, probably just for the hell of it.
Keli started to move backwards, using her hands to propel her. Seeing that Duo had reached the sword, she yelled out, "Duo! Throw me the saber! Now!"
Frere leapt at her, but she leapt up, and grabbed onto his shoulders, avoiding the sword. She used his shoulders as a vault, and flipped over him, onto the ground behind him. She grabbed the beam saber, and opened it up.
"Ah, so you have exceeded me in fighting abilities," he said, "which means I have to kill you."
Keli shook my head and grinned, "If you can catch me." She shot the guys a look, hoped they would figure out what she was trying to get them to do, which was to get everyone away from there, and started running towards the woods.
"Hey!" he yelled chasing after her. Keli trusted her knowledge of the landscape, and ran off into the dense foliage.
"What is that idiot doing?" Duo demanded, staring after her.
"Hope this works," Keli muttered as she ran. The beam was emitting enough light for her to see, but it was also letting Frere see where she was. She shut it off, trying to remember everything she could about the woods behind the barn.
Her watch beeped, and she opened it, seeing Duo looking at her, "What the hell are you doing? You wanna die?!?!" He yelled.
She shook her head, not stopping, "Not at all. I have an idea."
"What is it; let him chase you till you drop dead?!"
"Not at all. It has to do with a creek near here. I hope I can make it, and set up in time."
"I'm coming to get you."
"Oh no you won't! This is my fight. I can handle it."
"I'm still coming!" She heard the sound of a motor cycle engine starting, and he cut the line. She closed the watch, and sped up.
She moved a little to her left, and jumped over the small creek in the way, and encountered a small clearing. The moonlight shone down on her, and she took a chance to glance back. Frere had stumbled through the creek, and was now just reaching the clearing. Keli could easily see that he had the saber out, and was having a hard time getting through the woods.
She waved at him, still running. "I can see you! Having a hard time?" She yelled, just to piss him off. It worked, and he started running faster, "Phase one; complete," she muttered, "phase two; in progress."
Keli ran to the right, and kept going. She knew where she was heading, and didn't slow down. Finding the place, she stopped, and got onto the tree branch that stretched out over a different small, swampy creek. The branch couldn't hold much weight, and she knew it would break if he got on it, but that was her backup plan. She started to crawl out over the water.
Keli got a short distance away from the shore, and found the branch that was above her in the dark. She jumped up, and sat down on it. From her position above the water, she could easily see Frere coming through the woods.
"Over here, Jackass!" she yelled out, hoping he would come her way. He did, but didn't see her. He climbed out onto the branch, and now stood directly below her.
She grabbed onto the underside of the branch, and swung down, hitting him in the chest with her feet. He stumbled, and began to fall backwards, "I win," Keli said slowly.
"Not if I can help it!" he yelled out, grabbing her foot just as he slipped off of the branch, which was about ten feet above the water because of a recent drought. Keli was still holding onto the branch, but her hand was slowly slipping off of it.
Her hand slipped completely, and she began to fall. She managed to grab onto the thick branch that he had slipped off of with one hand, and that held, luckily.
"Let go of me!" she yelled down at him. Oh shit! At least I can swim, unlike him. But the current'll drown me!
"Never!"
Her hand was beginning to slip. Frere's body was already halfway in the water, and the current was dragging him further away, which was what was making her loose her grip. She started screaming, and kicking at him, which didn't do any good.
Keli's hand slipped completely, and she fell down towards the water, while Frere started laughing.
Somebody grabbed onto her wrist, "Hang on!"
Keli looked down at Frere, and saw that his grip was slipping. She used her free hand, took out the saber, and opened it up. She slowly brought the beam down, and burned his hand almost completely off. He screamed and lost his grip, then vanished beneith the water.
"Byebye, Looser," Keli muttered as the person began to pull her up. She glanced up, and saw bright violet eyes staring down at me, "What's up, Duo?" she asked innocently, wrapping her hand around his wrist.
"Besides the fact that you're kinda hanging in mid-air; nothing."
He pulled her up the rest of the way, and she walked back onto level ground, still holding the sword open. She looked around, and spotted her bike near where the two were, "You took my cycle to get here?"
He nodded, "I couldn't exactly use a car."
Keli sighed, "Oh well. Where's everybody else?"
"They should be coming soon. They all took off after me on foot."
"Oh, okay."
Duo looked at the miniature beam saber in Keli's hand, "Wonder where he got those."
She shrugged, "I don't know, but his own weapon killed him. I think I'll keep this; it may come in handy."
"Sure, it's easy to hide."
"Yeah," she told him, closing it, and putting the silver handle into one of her pockets.
They heard voices through the brush, and knew who they were: the Gundam pilots, and the Peace Legacy agents, "Are you okay, Keri-chan?" Emily asked, seeing her.
"Yeah, I'm fine. The pilots must have gotten you guys before they came," she stated.
She nodded, "They wanted us so we could lead the way."
"What happened?" Kassy asked, seeing that Keli's hands were kind of messed up, because of the branches she had been holding onto.
"I came down here, and got onto that limb," Keli began, pointing at it, "Frere came here, and stood directly under me. I swung down, kicked him, and made him loose his balance. I wanted him to fall into the water, but before he dropped down, he grabbed my foot, and pulled me with him. I kind of grabbed onto the other branch, the one he was standing on, and tried to hold on.
"I couldn't hold on anymore, and slipped off. Duo grabbed onto my wrist before I could fall down, and I used the saber to burn his hand, so he let go and fell into the water. Duo pulled me back up, and you guys came."
"Saber?" John asked, staring at her.
"Oh, I forgot, you weren't there," she explained, taking the handle of it out of her pocket. She opened it, and the green beam shot out, "we had a little duel, and fought with these."
"That is a cool weapon," Angelina complemented.
"Thanks, but we've got a party to get back to. You guys all walked, didn't you?"
Emily shook her head, "I drove Karen-chan, Angel-chan, Trowa, and Quatre on the Gator. The rest ran here." ((Don't ask about that. It's just something that my friend has. It's like a lawn mower, without the blades, and a little trailer in the back.))
"Oh, all right then," Keli said, "I'm riding my motor cycle back," looking over at Duo, she muttered, "which isn't even meant for off-road travel."
He shrugged, "Like it even matters."
"Yes it does! You've got no idea how much that costed! It's a new model, and isn't even out on the market yet!"
"And I care about this; why?"
"Because you could have messed up my favorite cycle, that's why!"
"Okay okay!" Kassy yelled out, stepping in between Keli and Duo. She still had the saber out, and put it up sheepishly, "don't kill each other. Keri-chan, its not messed up, anyway, so stop yelling about it. Duo you shouldn't have used her bike in the first place."
"Hey! If I hadn't have borrowed that thing, she'd be swimming down the creek!"
"Yeah yeah," Keli mumbled, not wanting to admit she had needed the help.
He stared at her, "Now we're even."
"Huh?"
"You saved us on Mars, I saved you here. We're both even."
"Fine, can we just get back to the party? It's almost ten."
"Yeah, come on," Emily said. They walked over to where she had parked, with Keli walking with the bike by her side. Emily put the Gator in drive, and Trowa sat up front, with Karen, Angelina, and Quatre sitting in the back now, with no more room left.
"Hey! How am I gonna get back?" Duo asked, acting stupid, as usual.
"Walk," Heero answered.
"Yeah, it's not too hard. You just put one foot in front of the other, and move," Keli stated sarcastically.
"I'm not gonna walk all that way! That's crazy!"
Keli got onto her bike, and pulled the helmet over her head, although she didn't really need it. She gunned the engine, ready to go, and Duo jumped onto the bike behind her "I'll ride with you."
"No way!"
Kassy groaned, "Keri-chan, just do it. Or else we'll be stuck out here till midnight!"
"Fine," she muttered, pulling the visor down over her eyes. Emily took off, and Keli shot off after her.
"Hey! What should we do about the mobile suits in front of Emily's barn?" Duo yelled out, trying to be heard over the sound of the engine.
"How am I supposed to know? Maybe put them on self-destruct?" Keli suggested.
"Anyway, we'd better get rid of them before Emily's parents get here."
"Yeah! I know!" she replied. "We'll have to think up something."
"Already working on it!"
She slid to a stop beside the side of the barn, and Duo got off quickly. Keli took off the helmet, and followed him. She looked up at the six suits, "This is past suspicious for these people. FIRST OF ALL I come here looking like the girl who infiltrated the Mars Base. SECOND OF ALL six mobile suits are parked in front of a party that six people who look suspiciously like the Gundam pilots are attending. THIRDLY, the exact same people start fighting a guy in the yard. FOURTHLY, the girl looking like the pilot runs off, followed by the man, and another suspicious boy on a motor cycle, and FINALLY; the group comes back, and starts messing with the suits looking like they know what they're doing.
"This says 'Gundam pilots and crew' all over it. Hence, all the people at this party will know who we really are, and somebody's got to blab! We're screwed." Keli finished with her theory, and looked over at Duo for him to add anything.
He started back at her, "Did you just say 'Hence'?"
She stared at him, "Does it matter?"
"No, I just think it's odd that you blurt out the word 'hence' all of the sudden."
"Have I ever told you you're an idiot?" she mumbled, looking around, seeing the headlights of the Gator, "Emiry-chan's gonna be here in a few minutes, and the others should be behind her."
A girl with pretty red hair and gray eyes ran out of the barn, and up to us, "What's going on? Why are those mobile suits here, and why are the two of you standing out here all alone?"
"Don't worry about it. We'll take care of all this," Duo told her softly, "don't worry."
She smiled, "Good, I hope they aren't anything to be scared about."
"Not at all, just go back inside, and don't worry about it."
"Okay," she said, leaving.
Keli rolled her eyes, "You find the worst times to act like a dumbass."
"Excuse me? Dumbass?" he stared at her, "I'm not the one who challenged my step-father do a duel at nine at night, and then ran off into the woods."
"I had to do it, or he would have destroyed this place."
The Gator drove up, and they clearly heard what Keli had just said, "What's going on?" Quatre asked.
Keli shook her head, "Nothing. Now, how do we get rid of these?" Keli pointed to the six suits, "Self-destruction would work, but not here."
"That's what all of us were thinking," Angelina stated, "but I think that we should wait for the others to get here."
Keli shrugged, "Yeah, but we should get these away from this place." Just then, Heero, Wufei, John, and Kassy ran up.
"We would have to take them to an unused area, and then self-destruct them," Heero said, not even out of breath.
"Sounds like a plan," she told him, "I'll take the Virgo, you decide the rest."
"Well, I should stay here," Emily said, "somebody's got to make up a story to tell, and I don't need to be gone when my mom shows up."
"I'm going," Heero stated.
"I think I should stay behind with Emiry-chan," Karen added.
"Same here," Angelina muttered, "I don't really feel like piloting anything I'm not used to.
"Well, at least one of the guys is going to have to stay here, so it'll be me," Quatre said to us, "and maybe Trowa should stay behind too. It would look weird if all the Gundam pilots went."
Trowa nodded, "Okay, I'll stay back too."
"Okay, that makes the pilots me, Heero, Duo, Wufei, John-kun, and Kassy-chan," Keli told them all.
"Lets get going then," Heero said.
"Right," John stated.
She walked over to the Virgo, and the others walked to the other suits. Keli got into hers, and turned it on. She walked over to her bike, and closed a hand around it. The dolls came to life as well. All five of the pilots came onto the screen as they blasted up into the air, and began to head in a direction.
"Where should we go?" Wufei asked.
"Hmm, I think that the best place to do this would be further out into the country, where nobody will see us, or be able to stop us," Kassy answered.
"Umm, how are we gonna get back once we've finished?" Duo asked, hoping someone would have thought about that.
"Hang on," Keli told them. She opened up a link with Emily, "How do we get back when we're done? Do you have anything for us to use?"
She shook her head, "No, but you could take your cycle. How did the other pilots get here?" She moved closer to the screen, "Keli, people are asking about all proof this. I don't know what to say, and neither do the others."
"Then stall and wait till we get back. I'm sure we'll think of something."
"Oh, and about the way they got to the party? The jeep that I still think Heero stole."
"Oh, can't use that," Emily muttered, looking down. Her face lit up, "Get one of us to go there, and we'll take you all back, if we have enough room."
"I grabbed my bike before we blasted off," Keli told her.
"Okay, that takes care of one... but we need another car for the rest of you. Someone who left their keys here, or someone who is here...Hang on for a second," she said, leaving the room, and going outside. She came back in, "Kassy-chan's car is available, and so is Karen-chans' mom's convertible that she borrowed."
"Karen's car can't hold many people, and Kassy's can only hold four extra in a tight squeeze. That only takes care of five people."
"Yeah, but your bike can hold two people. Someone can ride back with you."
"Oh yeah, that'll work." Keli looked back at the screens where the other pilots were, "Did you guys get all that?"
They all nodded, and Keli looked back at Emily, "Okay, Kassy's car it is. Who's gonna drive it out here?"
"Umm, hang on again," she said, walking out of the room. She came back with Angelina, Karen, Wufei, Quatre, and Trowa.
"I'll do it," Karen spoke up, "I've driven her car, anyway."
"Okay, Karen-chan," she told her, then she looked back up at the other pilots, "Where are we going?"
"How about behind the railroad tracks that borders the highway going to Atlanta?" John asked, "It's out of the way, and would take awhile for the authorities to get here."
"Sounds good," Karen added, "I'll have the car parked beside the highway. It might look a little odd, but we have to take a chance."
"Okay," Keli stated, "Meet you soon. Over and out." She closed that link, and looked at the rest of the pilots, "Okay, we have a ride."
They flew the rest of the way in silence, and landed where they were going. Keli put her cycle down, and flew away from it, landing by the others, as far away from trees as they could get.
"Ready?" she asked, holding up the self-destruct button, which she had given a one minute delay to, the same as the others.
They all nodded. "Self-destruct sequence, now!" Keli yelled out, hitting the button when the others did.
They leapt out of their suits, and started to run through the dusty gravel as quick as they could, and didn't stop. The blast from the suits was enough to make the ground shake, and an ear-splitting sound.
Keli stopped running, and watched the inferno with glazed over eyes. The other five quit running further away from her, and turned around too.
"I didn't calculate an explosion that big," Heero stated.
Keli walked over to her cycle, which had fallen over because of the blast, and picked it back up. The helmet had cracked from the force, and she tossed it back onto the ground, after inspecting it.
"Okay, I've got my ride here, and yours will be here soon, but one person has to ride along with me." she began walking towards the highway, bike in tow. The rest followed her.
After a ten minute wait, Karen showed up, in Kassy's car, "Hey guys, need a lift?"
"Yeah," Kassy replied, "normally, I'd save everyone a fight, and ride along with Keri-chan, but since you're driving my car, I'll drive back."
Karen shrugged, and got out, letting Kassy sit in the drivers' seat, and taking the passenger seat for herself.
Heero got inside, and sat down, followed by John, and Wufei. Duo was shocked, "No freaking way are you gonna make me ride with her!"
"Deal with it," Heero muttered, "I'd rather ride in the car, and I think John and Wufei would too. Besides," he said with a non-Heero tone, "first come: first served."
"No way!"
Kassy looked bored, and turned the car back on, "We're leaving now..."
Keli shrugged, not caring. They left, and she turned to Duo, "Either you come with me, or you walk back. The choice is yours."
"Fine," he muttered, "just don't kill us."
Keli grinned, "I'm reckless, not stupid."
"That makes me feel safer."
"Baka."
"I am not!"
"Are you coming or not?" she asked, getting on the bike, pulling her hair into a ponytail with a ribbon, and revving the engine.
"Yeah sure." He got on behind her, and she shot off onto the highway, "So, what do we tell all the people back at the party?" he asked.
Keli shook her head, "I honestly don't know. We'll just have to deal with it by telling as little as possible."
"Yeah, I just hope that works."
"Me too."
"Well, school life will be a little weirder now, and the Gundams still need work," he explained.
"Yeah, I know. The system work has almost been completed in Kassy's, Emily's, and John's, but other than those three, this will take another six months to finish."
They saw Kassy's car ahead, and Keli grinned widely, "I found our companions." She began to speed up slightly, and pushed the cycle past the speed limit.
"What are you doing?" Duo asked when the bike began to speed up.
"Let's catch up," was all she said about it. She sped up even more, and got closer and closer.
"You crazy or something?"
She sped up even more, and was now right behind the car. She moved out of that lane, and went into the one beside theirs. Lucky for them, there weren't any cops, or any other cars for that matter. Keli shot ahead of them, and got back into the other lane.
"We'll just beat them back," she muttered.
"You've got to be kidding. Why even bother?"
"Just 'cause."
"God. You need help."
"I do? What about you? At least I don't call myself Shingami!"
"So?"
She rolled her eyes, and stopped talking. After ten more minutes of driving, the two reached Emily's place again, still ahead of the car. Duo slid off of the bike, and went inside, with Keli behind him.
"How did it go?" Emily asked, seeing them. The group of three all started up the steps to the second floor, where no one else was.
"They're all destroyed, but I think that the explosion caused some damage," Keli told her.
"As I expected, but it had to be done. Where's everyone else?"
"They're coming," Duo explained, "this reckless maniac passed them halfway here."
Keli grinned, "Okay, yes, I am reckless, but I know what I'm doing at least."
The car drove up, and everyone got out, "So that was you back there," Kassy commented, seeing the two talking to Emily.
"Yeah. Baka decided to be an idiot and go about seventy past the limit," Duo replied.
"Me? An idiot? And I am not baka!"
"Somebody stop those two before they're at each others' throats," John muttered.
"Shut up!" Keli and Duo yelled at him at the same time.
He backed away, and let her and Duo argue for awhile. Some people came upstairs just as he was saying, "A Gundam pilot shouldn't be so damn crazy! I mean, Heero's half nuts, but you're like that guy doped up on a ton of caffeine! You've got no fear for your own life, no cares, and you don't even try and act like a normal girl!"
"What are you guys talking about?" the same girl that had come outside earlier asked, "did I just hear you say Gundam pilot, Duo?"
Keli sighed, walked past her, and went back downstairs. She saw Jennifer, Ann, and Rachel. They came over, "What just happened?" Jennifer wanted to know.
"Yeah, and why did we see you get into one of those suits and fly away? And then you come back here like nothing happened!" Rachel added.
"I don't want to talk about it," Keli muttered, walking out of the barn, "it's a long story."
They didn't follow her, and she walked down to down to the pond, and sat down. She looked down at the jeans she was wearing, and noticed that there was a big rip in them at the knee, and that she was bleeding at her ankle which also hurt, the one her father had grabbed. Her hands were very scraped up, and so were her arms. The shirt she had on was torn at the shoulder, and the short sleeves were messed up too. Not to mention that it was cold outside, and that her jacket was laying around somewhere in the darkness, covered with mud.
"No wonder everyone's been looking at me funny," She told herself, "I look like a train wreck." Keli sighed, and pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to get warm.
Back inside the barn, and upstairs, everyone was pretty much talking about everything that had happened. The Gundam pilots and PL agents were upstairs, and so were a few extra people that wanted to know what was going on.
Emily, Kassy, Karen, Heero, Quatre, and Trowa walked out onto the balcony, and spoke quietly,
"What do we do about all of this?" Kassy asked Heero.
"It's impossible to lie completely, but we can't tell everything. Eventually we'll be found out, and Keli's in the most danger out of us all."
"Well, so what we do?" Karen wondered.
"I guess we have to tell everyone that we're the Gundam pilots," Quatre said.
"We can't do that," Trowa explained, "I suggest that we handle this each in our own way."
"I agree," Emily told them, "that's the best we can do for now."
They all looked inside the glass door, to see Duo, John, Wufei, and Angelina talking to a few people, trying to invent a story worth lying about. Kassy glanced out over the area, and saw Keli sitting by the pond, gazing into the water.
"She's the one that's the most messed up by all of this. She's really got no other people in her life than the ten of us, and her grandfather. Her mom has left the planet, and she can't see her anyway; and all of her other relatives have probably given up on the fact that she'll ever be found again."
They all turned to look at her, "Now that you mention it, Kassy, she has seemed a little messed-up lately, which isn't too unusual, but she acts happy," Karen added.
"She's usually so bright and perky, and today she's acting like the world's ending," Emily said.
"She did just go through hell and back," Karen spoke up, "I mean, her own step-father tried to kill her."
"Someone should go talk to her," Heero muttered in his usual way.
"I would go with Karen and Emily, but I don't think that she'd want to talk to someone who doesn't know how she feels," Kassy said.
"One of us could go talk to her," Quatre told them.
"It might be a good idea if Heero or Duo went to talk to her," Trowa said, "the rest of us aren't really close or anything."
"I shouldn't go," Heero spoke up, "she still doesn't trust me that well. Duo should go."
"Why him? All those two do is argue!" Kassy demanded, "that won't help at all."
"He is the one that went after her when she ran off into the woods with her father on her trail, and the one that got to her before she fell into the water after Frere," Quatre explained.
"But still-" She was interrupted by the rest of the group coming outside onto the balcony. The other people inside had gone back downstairs.
"Well, we made up a doozy," John muttered.
"What did you guys say? And do I even want to know the answer?" Emily asked.
"Well," Angelina began, "we started by saying that Keli's in the secret service," she muffled a small laugh, and continued, "and said that the the five people who went with her are her partners and allies."
Quatre hid a smile, "Nice lie."
Kassy burst out laughing. "Who made that one up? I know that John and Angelina aren't that creative."
They pointed at Duo, and he grinned, "Just call me Agent Maxwell."
"You honestly think people will believe that?" Heero asked.
"They already have," Wufei said, trying to hide a small smile as well.
Duo walked over to the railing, and looked around. He saw the figure by the pond, and his expression grew serious, "What's she doing down there?"
"She just kind of walked out, and went down there. It's where she's been for thirty minutes," Kassy told him, looking down as well.
"I'll go down and bring her back up here then." He walked back inside, and went downstairs.
Keli was looking silently at the water, and noticed that Duo was there, standing behind her. She picked up a small rock, and threw it into the water, blurring the image. He sat down next to her.
"What do you want?" she asked him, keeping her gaze on the water.
He shrugged, "Nothing, really. I just don't understand why you're down here by yourself."
"Because I want to be. Now if you don't mind, I'd like you to go."
"Why?"
"I just do," she muttered, shivering because of the cold weather.
"Here," he said, taking off his jacket, "you're fixing to freeze." He handed it to her, and she pulled it over her shoulders.
"Umm, arigato," Keli muttered.
"Hey, can I ask you something?" he began.
"What?"
"Who exactly was that man? He was the same one that attacked us in space, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, you kinda seemed to have a former knowledge of him."
"He was my stepfather. His name's Frere. He married my mom a few years after I was born. The last time I saw him before in space, he attacked me because I defended my mom. I was ten when that happened," she explained.
"Oh."
"He was a horrible man. I don't know what my mother ever saw in him," Keli muttered. A lone tear slid down her cheek, and dropped down onto her hand. Duo caught the movement, and looked towards her.
"What's the matter?" he asked slowly. At that moment she burst into tears, and clutched onto the front of his shirt, crying. He raised an eyebrow, and put an arm around her. She kept crying for a few minutes.
After she was done sobbing, she glanced up, "Gomen nasai," she mumbled.
"Sorry about what?"
"Nothing--umm, I mean--nothing," she stammered.
He laughed, "You're weird."
"Same to you," Keli retorted, "by the way, what'd you say about the suits?"
"Well, me, John, Wufei, and Angelina came up with the dumbest and worst lie in the history of the universe."
She stared at him, "What?"
"Well, you don't expect us to tell the whole truth. Umm, actually everything we said was a complete lie."
"Oh?"
"Unless you really are a member of the Secret Service, everything I said was bullshit," he said, grinning.
She burst out laughing, "Secret Service? You really think they'll fall for something as lame as that?"
"These people aren't exactly Harvard material, but they're not stupid."
"It worked though."
She rolled her eyes, "Only you would think up something so dumb. I'm surprised they listened for two seconds."
"At least it got them to stop asking questions."
"Am I going to have to show them my Secret Service badge when I get back inside?"
He grimaced, "I hope not. I don't really know."
"What about you, Heero, and everyone else that went on the little joy ride? What kinda crap did ya say about them?"
"Do you mind having five partners?"
Keli laughed again, "Nice one, honestly, but that is the worst load of shit I've ever heard of in my life."
"As I was saying before: but it worked."
She sighed, "You're hopeless."
He grinned, "Our problem has been solved."
"Or maybe you just made more of a mess," Keli replied.
"You'll never know unless you go back inside," he said, getting up.
"Fine," she mumbled, "maybe I can fix some of the damage..."
He held out his hand, and helped her up. Both of them walked back inside, and everyone was wondering about everything. The rest of the pilots were still upstairs, probably just talking.
"Starr! Are you okay?" a girl named Hannah asked.
Keli nodded, "Yeah, I'm all right. Just kind of worn out from all this."
"I know how you feel," she said.
"Yeah, because now that school's been in for so long, you can't sleep till noon!"
She laughed, "Guess so."
Keli yawned, "I think I'll be sleeping till noon tomorrow. a little sleep is all I need."
Jennifer walked over to her and the little group, along with a few more people Keli didn't really recognize, "A fifteen year old Secret Service agent, huh?"
Keli glanced over at Duo, and answered, "The world has gone nuts," she shrugged, "but what can ya do?"
Jennifer smiled, "I just thought that was a dumb story that Duo made up to hide something worse."
Keli grinned, "Like what?"
"I don't know, maybe something like you guys are supposedly dead or something; like the Gundam pilots."
Despite what she really wanted to say, which would be getting up in her face and screaming, 'We are the Gundam pilots DAMNIT!' Keli opted for something else, "Oh, them. Those people are long gone. Most likely dead--they haven't been seen in such a long time. I wasn't even on the case, it was too simple of one to solve."
"Whatever did happen to those five, anyway?" Duo asked, winking at her.
She shrugged, "They've been left for dead, and haven't really been heard of since the Mars Base thing."
"Not much was ever released on that little matter," Rachel said.
"You'll never know what really happened there, I guess."
She stared at Keli. Realizing what she just said, she covered her tracks. "Umm, what I meant was that-er no one will-uh ever know what happened there."
Heero and company came down the stairs, and walked over to Keli, Duo, and the group gathered around them. Kassy grinned one of her I-know-something grins, and stared at Keli, who was still wearing the blue jacket Duo had let her borrrow, "Where's your jacket, Duo," she asked, acting funny.
He shrugged, "I gave it to Starr outside."
"And why was that?"
"Cause it's cold outside."
"And why was that?"
Keli stared at her. "Did somebody spike the drinks? Kassy, you're acting way too messed up to be not doped up on anything."
She laughed, "Nope, I'm fine."
Emily glanced at her, "Kassy, I think you need some sleep."
Kassy snickered.
"Well then, why are you acting like this?" Keli asked.
"Why are you?"
"Huh? Did you just ask me the same thing I asked you?"
"What?"
Keli groaned, "Never mind. God, it's like you're wacked-out on drugs."
"Me? On drugs?"
She nodded, "That's the way you're acting. I think somebody spiked the drinks."
Kassy shook her head, "Uk. You are so thick-headed it's not funny."
"Nani?" Keli asked, switching to Japanese for a second. If she wasn't doped up, she'd answer.
"Okay, why'd you change languages for a sec? That was weird," Kassy commented.
"Baka," she muttered.
"Hey! I am not! If anyone's stupid it's you!"
Keli shrugged, "As long as we're clear on that, it's fine by me."
She grinned, "Sorry."
Keli yawned again, and looked down at her watch, "Damn. It's already midnight. I think I'll go back home now, and get in at least a few hours' sleep before I have to get to work."
Heero looked over at her, "I think you should lay off work for awhile. You're tired, and people can't work well when they're tired."
She nodded, "Thanks, I might just take a few days off, you know, to have a little fun after school."
Jennifer stared at her, "I didn't know you work. Where?"
"Oh, I work at my Grandfathers," she answered, "so do Heero, Duo, Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei. We help him out with stuff."
She smiled, "Always the helper."
Keli grinned, "You could say that." She turned around, "I think I should be getting back home now. I look kinda like hell, and feel just as bad." She waved to everyone, and left on my motor cycle.
She had to take mostly back roads and stuff because if she didn't the police would stop her and fine her for not having on a helmet. She got home around one-thirty, and went right to bed, not even caring if she got dirt or blood on her sheets.
Her grandfather didn't really ask about the party. He knew something had happened, but didn't know what, and none of them were about to tell him.