(A/N: Hello, everybody. Since my first idea about this fic, it's since been heavily revised so it no longer reflects Crossing Over…as much…well, at least I don't think so ^ ^)
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It was 7:30, and already he was awake. Staring sleepy-eyed at the Girls Gone Wild Infomercial on TV, he felt around blindly for clothes, finding them in a pair of jeans and a Transworld shirt. 'What day is it…?' he wondered, looking around.
"HEY MOM!" he yelled, his voice still a bit scratchy.
'Parents not home today…were home yesterday…drinking by noon…playing Ozzy 'til 2…must be Monday…'
He rubbed the remnants of sleep from his eyes, standing and grabbing his skateboard from the hook on the wall. He didn't bother to turn his TV off as he made his way toward the front door.
"Food…" he muttered. There probably wasn't any in the house yet. There really wasn't much of anything in the house. Just masses of boxes piled up on the walls. They had gone to the Happy Family Chinese Eatery down the street, and eggrolls didn't sound so bad right about now. He pushed open the front door, stepping outside and closing it behind him. He felt his foot slip out from under him, just barely maintaining his balance. Muttering a quick curse, he looked down to see…an envelope. Looking over, he confirmed that they still had a mailbox before picking the envelope up. It was addressed to him;
Aaron Burton
'Weird…no return address…' he thought to himself, flipping it over and opening it. Inside was…surprise, surprise, a letter…and a plane ticket? And money?
"What the…?"
He dug out the letter. It read:
Aaron,
You have been cordially invited to the Osiris 'Armageddon' tour. Enclosed is a plane ticket to Tokyo, Japan, and money for a cab to the airport. You can expect to see pro skaters Jason Dill, Rodney Mullen, Geoff Rowley, and Mark Applegate, among others. Your plane leaves today at noon., and there will be a limousine there to pick you up. We hope to see you there.
Sincerely,
GR
'Well,' he thought, 'this couldn't get much more surreal.'
He made his way back inside, leaning back onto the door. A moral dilemma had overcome him. On the one hand, he could go to the exhibition, then suffer the wrath of a mother who hasn't known where her only child has been for about 3 days, or he could stay here, get some eggrolls, and count the days 'til school. Didn't have to be a genius to figure that one out.
He packed only what he needed…change of clothes, toothbrush, skateboard, and a book. He used the phone to call YellowCab, and within 10 minutes, it had pulled up outside of his house. He locked the door, and walked down the driveway, climbing into the backseat of the taxi.
"Airport," was all he said.
And they were off.
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Tei could hardly contain his excitement.
He had walked out the door to get the paper, only to find a small envelope in it's place. It contained a brief letter, a plane ticket and 100 dollars. The letter basically stated that RokkaCo publishing, in Japan, had seen the first two chapters of his story, 'The Endless', on FanFiction.net, and loved it. They wanted him to come to Tokyo right away for a meeting about publishing the full story. The plane left at noon. There would be a limo at Tokyo International to pick him up.
It had taken him 10 minutes just to find his keys, and another half an hour deciding what clothes to wear to the meeting. He stuffed them into a black duffel bag, grabbed the full version of 'The Endless' sitting next to his bed, and made his way out the door.
He was on the road now; had been for about an hour. He still had about 30 minutes to go before he got to Hartford Airport. "Ha," he said, laughing to himself, "Four to six years my ass!"
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Jessi wriggled uncomfortably in her seat. She had never been a big fan of flying; in fact, she almost had a heart attack when the plane lifted off. Every slight bump of turbulence made her cringe, and she wished she was old enough to drink. Adjusting her glasses, she glanced down at a small Polaroid of her two ducks: Panic and Cricket. She reached into her pocket and dug out the small, folded letter she had received that morning.
She had been invited to take part in the Yu-Gi-Open, an international tournament with a 200,000 dollar purse. Add that to a free trip to Tokyo, and it was an offer she just couldn't refuse.
'Eh, you won't make it very far,' a voice in her head said, 'I bet you bomb in the second round. Why are you even invited, anyway? You aren't that good.'
"Shut up, Voi-Chan!" she muttered, sweeping her hand up as if shooing the voice out of her head.
Glancing around, she realized there were only a few other passengers on the plane. Five, by her count. All kids, like herself. One was flipping through a large stack of papers that looked like a script or something. Another had a skateboard in his lap, making random adjustments here and there. Still another was sleeping.
'Sleep…Sleeeeep!' Voi-Chan said hypnotically.
"Quiet you," Jessi shot back, "…Though…I am tired…eh…got a long way to go…might as well."
She pushed the lumpy seat back as far as it could go, pulled the itchy blanket up to her chin, and drifted off to sleep…
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(A/N: Sorry this chapter was so short, but I wanted to get an even distribution, if you know what I mean. This chapter is Tei and Jessi and me, and next will be Cat, Tal and Nik (the reason being they won't be getting home til the 19th…or something like that), so don't expect another chapter until late August.)