The scandal continues: see the beginning for all disclaimers.
~ * Part Nine: Pause for Reflection (And Possibly Revelations) * ~
Samantha was seriously starting to regret setting foot inside the Hop Mart after her victory.
Certainly, the praise and kudos she's received the moment she's reentered the shop was a nice little boost for her ego and all – there was no denying that the leader of the Screws loved being the center of attention. But sadly, there were different types of attention she was receiving, and not all of it was that great.
Part of it was due to the fact Samantha had allowed Peppercat to scamper off immediately after the fight. To be fair, she had thought it a fair trade-off at the time: the agile CAT-type had just helped her medafighter's mood tremendously with her well-timed win, after all. Besides, their recent trials battling the Rubberobos and foiling all of Dr. Meta-Evil's plots had helped strengthen the bond between them – Samantha now trusted her medabot enough that she could let the feline run off on her own, confident in the knowledge she could take care of herself.
What Samantha hadn't given much thought to was the fact that, in letting her partner run free for a bit, she was unconsciously mimicking another certain medafighter whose medabot always did what he wanted.
Koji had commented on that little coincidence the minute Samantha stepped back into the Hop Mart. Things had only soured from there.
Peppercat's absence meant Samantha was faced with a small quandary. Without her medabot, she couldn't very well challenge Koji to a robattle over his deliberately provocative remarks. The other obvious option, punching the pretty boy's lights out, while tempting, would mean her brief respite would have been pointless.
Ironically enough, it had been Karin who unknowingly pointed out another option, one she had gladly taken. The other children had decided to summon their own medabots so that they could watch the robattle as well. Afterwards, the popular redhead decided that, as long as her partner was out and about, they could browse over the latest meda-part catalogues together and see if they could find anything Neutranurse liked.
Samantha had decided to take one as well and hurriedly retired to a private corner to skim through it. While Peppercat quite obviously couldn't give her opinions on the matter, Samantha had justified her action by claiming she just wanted to see what was on the market. 'Check out the competition', that was the way she had phrased it.
Somehow, the Screws leader got the feeling Henry didn't exactly buy into her cover story. But he'd given her a catalogue all the same, then passed some out to the rest of the gang. Samantha figured he was just hoping somebody might decide they liked something they saw enough to order one – making a few sales had to be a big factor.
She was right: Henry did hope at least one of the kids ended up buying something. However, the main factor at work was even simpler. It shut them up.
Indeed, the Hop Mart was a significantly more pleasant place for the teenager to work when his patrons weren't arguing over the latest problems they faced or fighting – robattling or otherwise. Henry smiled faintly as he busied himself by straightening a few shelves, making certain the displays looked their best, keeping a discreet eye on the rest of the group.
Sloan and Spyke, he noticed with no small amount of wry amusement, were not flanking their boss for once. Instead, they sat a respectful distance away, huddled over the same catalogue. Although they pointed at the pages spread out before them while whispering to each other, a closer look revealed that the topic of their conversation was hardly the latest meda-part releases. Their furtive glances were more firmly riveted on their leader instead.
Henry was actually mildly impressed. For once it appeared that both boys recognized a potentially dangerous situation and were avoiding it as best they could, instead of placing themselves directly in the line of fire. They were trying their hardest not to set off their boss's volatile temper with any well-intentioned but foolish actions.
(I guess they've set her off enough times in the past that they either know better now… or just don't want to find out what else she could do. And considering the mood she seems to have been in all day, you can hardly blame them…)
The clerk's gaze drifted from the separated Screws, past the other large group currently inside the Hop Mart, to the other occupant who wasn't with anyone. Just as Samantha had retired to a corner to review her magazine and innermost thoughts, another girl had pulled a chair to one side to get away from her peers.
Henry's amused smile faded away into bemusement as he watched Erika bend over her camera. Surreptitiously, he slipped over to check on what exactly she was doing: experience had taught him that it was always wise to get an idea of what was going on around him.
Besides, Henry had a gut feeling that Erika could use some simple companionship right then. A quick glance around the store yielded no sign of Brass, curiously enough, so it seemed the handsome young clerk would have to suffice for the time being.
Peering carefully over Erika's shoulder, Henry saw that the young journalist was studiously scrolling through the footage she had taped of the robattle. As he watched quietly, the tiny playback screen displayed Frosiren leaping into midair and spinning around rapidly, blanketing the street with ice jewel missiles. Peppercat twisted desperately about to avoid most of the deadly hail, ground to a stop on all fours, then glared at the SMD-type while Samantha checked her meda-watch for damage.
Erika paused the replay, and Henry arched an eyebrow. The screen was now frozen on a shot of Samantha looking at her expressionless opponent, her own face twisted with rage. He observed silently, intrigued, studying the reporter closely while trying to figure out what she was thinking.
The reporter pressed a few buttons, and the shot enlarged, sharpened, and refocusing on its new subject. It was now practically possible to see the frustration written in Samantha's face, how her turquoise eyes all but glowed with aggravation.
Erika's cinnamon eyes remained locked on the close-up of Samantha's face. The reporter's jaw tightened visibly, as her mouth, already pressed into a thin line, twisted. One of her eyebrows twitched once, twice.
Suddenly the footage was shooting backwards, events unfolding in reverse in rapid time – only to replay a few seconds later. Frosiren sprang up and spun, Peppercat dodged and ducked, taking visible damage in her arms and legs. Then the scene rewound and replayed again, this time slowing slightly as the CAT-type took a few very nasty hits.
Rewind.
Replay.
Rewind.
Replay.
Rewind.
As he watched Peppercat land hard on all four limbs for the fifth time since the actual fight had ended, Henry coughed uneasily. The clerk was feeling distinctly uneasy with Erika's apparent obsession with watching that particular scene repeat constantly. The fact that the journalist was hunching further and further over her camera as she continued the cycle, dull cinnamon eyes hardening with intensity, certainly didn't help ease his sudden concerns for her sanity.
"Say, Erika…"
The preoccupied reporter showed no signs of responding to his hesitant query, as Frosiren's barrage of Peppercat continued. Henry sweated a bit, and glanced about the shop while mentally casting about for some other topic to bring up. Anything to smother that manic gleam he thought he glimpsed developing in Erika's dark chocolate eyes…
(Think, Henry, think! Can't ask her about current events, that'll likely just remind her about her latest scoop… Maybe that new… no, wait, what about Brass?)
Another quick scan of the shop revealed no sign of the Sailor Multi, and Henry grimaced thoughtfully. The best topic he could think of involved the purchase Erika had made the previous afternoon, but if he recalled correctly, she had specifically said it was a surprise for her partner. If stumbling across her latest breaking news had distracted her from giving it to Brass, and the SLR-type happened to overhear them discussing her gift…
(Oh, what the heck. It's worth the risk, especially if it snaps Erika out of 'highlights reel' mode…)
"So, how's the new meda-par…"
"It isn't right."
"Hm?" Henry instantly snapped his mouth shut when Erika interrupted him, regarding the reporter carefully.
The normally vivacious girl remained nearly motionless, her dark chocolate bangs shading the top half of her face. However, Henry could see her jaw tightening further, teeth grinding together for a few seconds before she abruptly spoke again, in a whisper oozing with malice.
"She shouldn't have won."
"That…" Henry was about to say 'That can't be helped,' only to cut himself short again as his instincts screamed at him, warning him it would be prudent to keep his mouth shut and thoughts to himself.
"She won't win," continued Erika, seemingly not hearing him. "I won't let her."
Henry blinked, then inhaled sharply, holding back his gasp as realization struck the worker.
(She doesn't mean the robattle at all! She means…)
It dawned on Henry that his intuition had once again served him well. Erika was obviously not thinking about the robattle that even now replayed before her dark cinnamon eyes. Had he completed his earlier comment, it very likely would not have gone over well with the girl.
He remained silent, fighting back his impulse to do something that might only land him in trouble despite his good intentions, as Erika's smoldering glare raised from the perpetual loop of film to where Samantha was sitting by herself. There was no mistaking the rage in the young journalist's eyes, and Henry wasn't about to make himself a target.
He suddenly had a much better idea of what exactly Spyke and Sloan had to feel about this entire situation.
Meanwhile, Samantha was completely ignorant of the little drama playing out between the reporter and the store clerk. The leader of the Screws had come across a section in the catalogue that actually sparked a bit of interest, if only because of her recent robattle. Scanning a few pages, she soon located what she was searching for.
"Snow Maiden medabots… Here's the model," she muttered, tapping one finger against the picture she had just located of her last opponent.
Turquoise eyes following her finger along the page, she studied the information offered on the type. Although most of it was along the lines of 'Buy this! It's cool and looks really pretty! Buy it now!!', there was some useful general stats offered. Then her gaze strayed to the price, and her eyes widened.
"Man, for a medabot that looks like it belongs in a doll show, these things aren't cheap," she noted.
(Then again, maybe it's not so shocking,) she reflected, remembering the jewel hail the SMD-type had launched. (That wasn't just from one arm or anything, those jewels shot out of everything – those bracelets on her wrists and ankles, and even that headband! Even perfectly matched sets of meda-parts don't normally interact like that…)
Samantha then smirked, and glanced down at her meda-watch. According to the catalogue, a pair of SMD-type legs of the make she's just won were pretty expensive by themselves. Built for some great speed, apparently.
(And I snagged a pair for free, too… Not half bad.)
Feeling smug, Samantha found her gaze traveling around the Hop Mart. By chance, it came to rest upon where Koji, Karin and Rintaro were sitting with their respective medabots, Sumilidon, Neutranurse and Kantaroth. Although each pair had a copy of the catalogue spread out between them, only Karin and the medabots were actually perusing the pages with interest. The boys, meanwhile, were more interested in Karin.
Samantha smiled slyly: Karin's sheer obliviousness to her own popularity with the male gender was often a source of wry amusement to the Screw leader. Oh, sure, it tended to extremely annoying how boys seemed to gravitate naturally toward the redhead while passing over obviously more desirable, charming girls such as Samantha herself…
Strangely enough, however, Samantha found it didn't bother her as much as it did certain other girls. After all, did she really want a bunch of stupid jerks that completely ignored the lack of brains or brawn in lieu of simple beauty lusting after her all the time? Spyke and Sloan respected Samantha for all of her wondrous traits, not simply her good looks and charm. Somehow, she got the feeling the same couldn't be said for all of Karin's mindless admirers.
Besides, it could be downright hilarious at times how the popular redhead treated her male friends as simply such, blissfully unaware of the fact that they wanted so much more from her. No matter what the boys did, though, it seemed Karin would never recognize any of them as a boyfriend. Boys, yes; friends, yes; but never in the same sense they longed for, or fought so hard for.
As Samantha watched from her corner, Rintaro scooted his chair a bit closer to Karin's. While this went unnoticed by the pigtailed girl, who continued to study another interesting feature on the latest meda-parts on the market, the same could not be said of the boy sitting on her other side. Not about to be outdone for a commoner, Koji not only pushed his own seat closer, but leaned in to quickly peck his intended on the cheek.
Only Karin chose that moment to push back from the table, taking her open catalogue with her.
"Oh, Henry!" she called, waving at the clerk with her free hand.
Behind her, his target suddenly absent, Koji discovered he had leaned too far to the side and could not halt his sideways movement. Instead, he landed in the next closest area.
That just happened to be face-first in a very startled Rintaro's lap.
"DUDE!!" the wild-haired boy protested loudly and vainly, waving his arms about and struggling to pull away from the taller and heavier Koji.
Karin failed to witness this scene, as she held up her open catalogue to Henry and pointed out the meda-part that had caught her fancy. That didn't mean it escaped his notice, however, as the sweating employee struggled to keep a straight face.
Samantha bit back a bark of laughter as Rintaro finally squirmed away from Koji and both boys immediately relocated to chairs a considerable distance apart from both Karin's former seat and each other. Two pairs of violet eyes regarded their opponents warily and with no small amount of embarrassment.
(Oh, now that was classic!) Samantha's thoughts howled. (The only way that could have been better would be if Ikki'd gotten caught in that pile-up too!)
The leader of the Screws sputtered, picturing what sort of look Ikki might have gotten on his face had he been caught in the middle of that mess. Considering there was little love lost between the long-time rivals for the ever-oblivious Karin's affection, the thought of the hapless Tenryou having Karakuchi's head land in his lap…
Abruptly her amusement vanished as her thoughts strayed to the absent Ikki. Stubbornly, Samantha attempted to focus on something, anything else. It wasn't fair that the nasty predicament he'd managed to wrap her up in was able to spoil her fun even when he wasn't present. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
(With the problem he's gotten us both into,) she thought bitterly, (He's not going to have a whole lot of time to fight with Koji about Karin anyw…)
The proverbial 'click' snapped in Samantha's mind.
(Oh. Karin. Karin.)
She stared at Karin, who was discussing different meda-parts with Henry nearby and trying to decide which ones to buy… or whether she should just get them all.
(K'so, that's it, isn't it?)
Aquamarine eyes narrowed thoughtfully, calculatingly, as Samantha recalled exactly how Karin had reacted to the news that she and Ikki were supposedly a couple. The popular redhead was remarkably accepting of the news, more so than most of her friends. From her own account, Karin had even suggested Ikki wake her up with a kiss…! In front of everyone, yet…!
(She thinks we're together. She accepts us together, apparently. Hell, she even seems to LIKE seeing us together!! And if she thinks, accepts and even likes us together, then…)
It was like all the pieces had fallen together in front of the leader of the Screws, allowing her to finally see what might be going on. Suddenly, what had previously seemed a strange and confusing move on another girl's part made perfect sense – at least in Samantha's view.
(If Karin believes Ikki and I are going out, he stands even less of a chance with her. And Erika's never been too thrilled with the way Ikki keeps trying to get Karin…)
Samantha turned her turquoise death glare upon Erika instantly, privately fuming. It was the only explanation she'd hit upon so far that made sense. Even though she had no way of knowing yet whether or not it was the truth, the Screws leader decided she'd figured it out.
(If that's the case, then she's trying to use me. And nobody uses the Screws like that.)
Her aquamarine eyes blazed with outrage as she glared at the reporter, even as a pair of dark cinnamon orbs studied a painful replay with shocking intensity. Two very different girls made the same silent promise at that instant.
(She won't get away with this. I won't let her…)