Gender Transitions – A Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures Fanfiction
By Akane-Rei
"Que seraaa, seraaaa," howled Benton Quest throughout the Quest Compound. "Whatever will beeeee, will beeeeeee--"
Jessie Bannon shook her head as she walked through the corridors, looking for Jonny and Hadji.
It was sad to see a brilliant scientist turn into this shell of a madman just because his son happened to have certain tendencies.
Come to think of it, both sons exhibited certain tendencies.
It gave her the creeps.
One day, they're both ordinary healthy boys and the next thing you knew . . .
She wondered if they would eventually resort to borrowing what little make up she had.
She shrugged. She'd have to admit, though. She did feel a sort of . pang, if you might call it that. There was a certain envy to be had in the whole situation. After all, if one looks at it one way, it is the case that both her best friends are superheroes.
Or should she say heroines?
Let's see, when they're guys, they're just normal guys; but when they transform, they get to have special powers. Hrm.
Yup, heroines. They are ordinary guys, but when they become girls, they're heroines.
Well, she'll have to admit that she would not have minded being a heroine.
Not that she would have wanted to wear those short sailor skirts, mind you.
Of course not.
Jessie Bannon was a tomboy and that was that.
Still, being a heroine might not be too bad.
She walked into the living room and found Jonny and Hadji.
On second thought.
She smiled.
"Hey, you guys," she said casually, keeping the smirk off her face.
Two young males glared back at her.
She stifled a giggle.
"I supposed Bandit still hasn't figured out what went wrong with that pen and that make up compact," she said nonchalantly.
Again, she was the recipient of two pairs of eyes, glaring.
"Do you not have some homework you could be doing?" asked Hadji, with a tinge of hope in his voice.
"Nope," she said cheerfully. "I think I could just watch you guys all day."
"Jessie," said Jonny threateningly. "You're not helping. The least you could do is help me figure out how to keep all this hair from growing."
"But meatball-head," she said in a whiny voice, "it looks real cute on you."
Jonny made a move to attack her from his position, only to be held down by Hadji.
Jessie laughed, staring at her disgruntled friend.
She really shouldn't tease them. But the fact is, she found the whole situation somewhat hilarious. Here was Jonny, her best friend, sitting on the couch and looking really.well.cute. For a drag queen.
The long blond hair that insisted on growing despite their best efforts really was quite . nice. She was sure that there are plenty of girls who wish they had Jonny's hair right now.
Unfortunately, that was the problem. It's a girly hair.
She laughed harder.
And then there was Hadji, who's blue hair insisted on making an appearance despite his best efforts to dye it.
Between the two of them, they'll be keeping the hair products industry in business.
She stared at her two friends again and felt a vision overwhelm her.
She was staring at the eyes of a princess while they danced under the stars.
"Mamoru," she said softly, lovingly. "Don't you wish this moment lasted forever?"
"That I do, princess," a deep, masculine voice came out of her. "That I do."
Jessie gave a start.
A MASCULINE VOICE? FROM HER?
'What the heck was that?'
"Hey, Jess," cajoled Jonny's voice. "Are you alright?"
She looked searchingly at him.
"What?" she said shakingly.
"You looked spaced out there for a moment," he said quietly. "Are you alright?"
With panicked eyes, she stared at her friends, both epitomes of gender bending. Perhaps she had been hanging out too much with them.
"Oh," she said quietly. "Yeah, I'm okay."
She saw Hadji give her a concerned look.
She gave them a grin. "I'm okay," she said, "I'm just trying to figure out whether you guys would like to borrow anything from my wardrobe."
Jonny threw a pillow at her.
She smiled. "Meatball head," she said with relish.
That night, in her room, Jessie pondered the vision that she saw.
There was a familiar feeling to it. A sort of nostalgia.
NOSTALGIA? OVER BEING A GUY?
Oh no.
"Jess," she told herself quietly, "you are becoming paranoid.
She sighed, feeling quite tired for the moment. Her pillow looks so inviting.
She saw them fighting for him and his princess. They were wearing a sailor fuku and they had powers of fire, water, lighting, and love.
They were defending her world and her princess' world from destruction.
And she...HE was a knight.
Bandit was walking down the halls of the Quest Compound when he heard a noise coming from one of the rooms. It was a groaning of sort and distinctly non-human.
He sighed. It was another monster.
Despite all the hi-tech security system that is installed in the house, monsters seem to gravitate towards it ever since his discovery of the sailor scouts.
Slumping his shoulders, he headed towards Jonny and Hadji's bedroom to inform them of this new monster development.
In the back of his mind, he could hear himself praying that the transformation compact and pen would work well this time.
She woke up with a start.
She got out of her bed and paced her room. She stopped in front of her mirror and looked at the knowing eyes in front of her.
She knew her destiny.
And her destiny was to help them. She would help them in order to find her princess.
Again she stared at her reflection. And, just for a second, she could have sworn she saw the dark eyes behind a mask of a caped man.
Wait a minute.
A man?
Come to think of it, in her dream, there had been that-
A bright array of lights flashed throughout the house.
'And they're at it again,' she thought, making a run towards where the ruckus would be. She shook her head.
They really ought to do something about those transformations. The array of lights were so bright is basically gave away their positions.
Not to mention the fact that they're quite vulnerable without their clothes.
As she made a move to open the door to her bedroom to go outside, another vision assailed her.
She was dancing with a princess when the whole world collapsed. She can feel the ground beneath her shake. In her head, she can hear a voice.
"You have to help them," it said.
She shook her head, confused.
"You have to help them."
"But what can I do," she asked in a familiar deep voice.
A flash of light appeared from the sky and blinded her-
She stared at her hand in the door knob. She watched as it moved on their own, her whole body swaying in an array of lights. She felt herself changing, changing, changing. A black suit and tie attached themselves to her while a top hat appeared in her hand.
And then it was finished, and all she could do was stare at herself at the mirror.
She was a superhero.
A look of delight entered her eyes.
She was a superhero, just like Jonny and Hadji.
And, what's more, she didn't have to wear those damn sailor fukus.
She approached the mirror carefully and took a good look.
She had to admit that the tux looked alright. It was a typical guy's tux, but hey, these are the modern times. Women wear armani suits and normal guys' clothes all the time. So, really, it's no big deal for her...for her...
She looked at herself closely at the mirror.
Rather, she stared at herself...no...himself on the mirror.
"No," he gasped.
She...er...he was taller than before and her hair was short and black."
"This can't be happening," he whispered quietly.
He heard a knock on her door and she glanced at the offending frame with a look of panic.
"Jessie, are you alright?" she heard her dad query.
She...he looked around for...something...anything.
"Ponchita," her dad's voice came through more insistently, "are you alright? There's a monster in the house and I just want to make sure that you're alright. Jonny and Hadji...well...Sailor...hmmm...you know what I mean. They're taking care of the intruders right now. "
"This CANNOT BE HAPPENING," he said under his breath.
"Ponchita?" her father said again, this time with a rattle on the doorknob. "Is there someone in there with you?"
"Ummm...I'm okay, dad," he exclaimed in the highest pitch voice he could manage. He cringed at the sound of it.
"Jessie?" her father said, the rising concern evident in the tone of his voice and the more insistent rattling of the doorknob.
He clenched his fist in frustration.
"I'm okay, dad," he tried again, striving for a girl's voice, and knowing utterly that he failed.
"Jessie!"
This time the door burst open and in comes her father. His look of concern underwent a dramatic change as he took in the scene before him. From a concerned parent, to a confused man, to a steadily angrier father, Race Bannon glared at the man in front of him.
"Who are you?" he demanded. "And where is my daughter?"
He approached him with determined steps and grabbed him by his cuffs.
"I asked you a question, boy," he said menacingly. "Just what the hell are you doing in my daughter's room, at this time of the night?"
He choked.
"Ummm..." he gagged.
"I'm waiting," said her father, bringing his face close to her (or his) own.
Jessie would swear that at that moment, she could see a cloud of smoke coming out of her father's ears.
Her father looked around.
"Ponchita?" he shouted. "What did I say about having boys in your room, especially at night?"
Still, Jessie was choking.
"D-d-d-dad," she protested, only to have her masculine face brought close to her father's.
"I am not, nor will I ever be your father, boy," her father said vehemently. "Whatever it is you have done with my daughter-"
"Daaaad," she (he) insisted, abandoning his attempt for a high-pitched voice. "It's me, Jessie."
"What do you take me for?" her father demanded. "My daughter is a girl, not some...man!"
"Daaaaad," she said, trying to look at his eyes, "it's really me, your Ponchita."
Her father smirked. He brought her new face even closer to his this time as he growled, "Listen, you punk. You expect me to believe that my daughter of fifteen years has suddenly out of nowhere turned into a man within the space of--"
And just as those words flew out of his mouth, he gave her new form a double take.
"Oh no," he said in supreme denial.
"Can't a girl...I mean guy have a decent night's sleep anymore?" exclaimed Sailor Moon, aka Jonny Quest, as she dodged one of the many ammos that this new monster had just hurled.
From the far corner of the house, a howl of pain is heard.
"What was that?" asked Sailor Mercury, aka Hadji Singh, after delivering one of her bubble blasts. She squirmed, trying to adjust to her ill- fitting costume.
Sailor Moon looked at her in concern.
"I don't know," she answered, "but it can't be good."
Benton Quest ran towards Jessie Bannon's room as soon as he heard a commotion in that section of the house. While he can be quite insensible when it comes to his own sons' conditions, Jessie was still like a daughter to him and it was from a fatherly concern that made him enter her room.
What he saw upon entering, however, was enough to push him to another mental breakdown.
He blinked.
Twice, just to make sure.
Yup, no mistaking about it.
It was Race. And another GUY.
Both of whom look to be on the verge of kissing.
He stumbled back and watched as the participants of the little drama in front of him were startled out of their reverie. They looked at him and then at each other, then back to him and then at each other, as if realizing the implication of their position.
They jumped apart.
But it was too late.
He already saw.
And he could never forget.
"Race," he said, trying to clamp down the tide of hysteria that threatened to overwhelm him. "Does Estella or Jessie or any of your other women friends know that you...and him...and you...and him..."
He looked at both of them back and forth.
Then he shouted indignantly, "In your own daughter's bedroom? Have you no discretion!"
Again another wail is heard from the distant corner of the house.
Sailor Moon winced as a projectile scraped by her arm.
"Those wails are becoming a tiny bit distracting," she muttered under her breath.
Sailor Mercury jumped behind her and nodded in agreement, as they faced the monsters back to back.
"Perhaps we should investigate," she inquired.
Sailor Moon nodded. "Let's finish this."
Just then, the monsters jumped and flattened them to the ground.
"Any ideas as to how to finish this exactly," gasped Sailor Mercury.
Sailor Moon groaned. "Give me time."
While Dr. Quest and her father stared at each other in a kind of stupor, Jessie had a feeling of imminent danger. A vision of a hapless Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury came to her mind.
She (he, really) looked at both older men. With a careless shrug, she darted out the room, intent on helping her friends, leaving behind two speechless men.
Race cleared his throat.
"Listen, Benton," he said approaching his friend with an outstretched hand.
Benton backed away quickly, a look of panic entering his eyes as he stared at the outstretched hand.
"Listen, Race," he said hurriedly, "I like you as a friend and everything, but..."
"Benton," Race began again.
"But I'm just not interested in you that way," let out Benton in one breath. "I'm not interested in ANY men that way."
"I'm getting squished!" cried Sailor Moon, huge globs of tears forming in her eyes.
"Jonny-I mean, Sailor Moon," Sailor Mercury said, breathing heavily, "do not, I repeat, do not cry like a baby. You will no doubt regret it once we transform back to our natural selves."
"But the monster's soo heavy!" she wailed.
Sailor Mercury prayed for patience.
Suddenly, the sound of a guitar chord is heard, and both sailor scouts look around, as if almost waiting for an entrance. Their eyes widen as an array of roses showered through from nowhere, prickling the monsters and (miracle of miracles) driving them away.
Sluggishly, they got up on their feet and looked up to their rescuer.
"Who are you?" asked Sailor Moon breathlessly.
With much posing, he replied, "I am Tuxedo Kamen! Here to help you ladies in distress."
With that, he gave a formal bow before stepping back out into the night and disappearing.
Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury looked at each other.
"He's sooooo cu--" Sailor Moon cut herself short as she realized what she was saying. "Oh my god," she cried, "I'm acting like a girl!"
Sailor Mercury nodded as they both stared into the night.
Bandit made sure that both sailor scouts were okay, before going back to his sleep. He did NOT want to be there should their transformation compact and pen malfunction as it's wont to do.
Tuxedo Kamen, aka Jessie Bannon, decided that a walk around the Quest Compound would probably do him good at this time. It would give him time to ponder, think, reflect upon the events of the day.
Besides, her/his father and Dr. Quest were both still in her room.
Daylight broke sooner than most of the people in the Quest Compound would have liked. As Jonny (with his pigtails) and Hadji (with his blue hair) came groggily down the stairs, they headed for the kitchen to have an informal breakfast.
"Some night, huh?" commented Jonny to his friend.
"That is an understatement," replied Hadji, looking at Jonny strangely.
"Listen," said Jonny urgently, "I would appreciate it if you don't tell Jess about ...you know...the crying and the 'cute' comment."
Hadji gave an evil (or what to him would be an evil) grin as he looked beyond Jonny's head and saw Jessie behind him.
"Oh Hadji doesn't need to tell me that, Jonny," she said gloatingly. "You did that quite well on your OWN...hiccup."
A cornered look entered Jessie's eyes. That was a man's voice that just came out of her. Right when she said "own," it was a man's voice.
"YOU DID THAT ALL...hiccup" she stopped.
What the?
Jonny and Hadji looked at her in perplexity.
"Jessie?" they both queried. "Is there something you want to tell us?"
In Jessie's room, Benton and Race still stared at each other in stupefication.
"Que sera, seraaaaaa," Benton sang under his breath.
"Whatever will be, will beeeeeee," continued Race.
Revised December 31, 2001
