ME: Hey, all.
CHIBI CHAO: Yeah, hey.
ME: Tch, so enthusiastic. (Shakes head.) But anyway, I'm glad that those who've read this fic so far have decided that they like it. Thanks, guys! Now, disclaimer!
NO, NO, NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I DON'T OWN GOLDEN SUN! WHY MUST YOU CONTINUE TO TORTURE ME?!
ME: Ahem, right. Time for the chapter. It's Wednesday, and the guys' plans are getting put into motion. Heh, they hope...
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"Ivan!" A loud thumping sound broke the silence of what was once a peaceful Wednesday afternoon. "Ivan, let me in!"
It was Isaac, battering on the bathroom door. Ivan had once again gotten in there early, and not left for what was now over three hours. Now it hadn't really bothered Isaac before, no, he couldn't have cared less. Well, that was until he needed to go.
"Ivan, please!" He thumped the door once more for good measure, and then slid down slowly to the floor, legs crossed in a very painful-looking position. "Ivan!"
"Problem, Isaac?"
He just about jumped out of his skin.
"Mia! Dammit, don't do that!" He yelled, trying to look as cool as possible with his hand on his crotch. She giggled.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist."
"Well, I'm glad you find my pain amusing." He muttered. She giggled again. It was a nice sound.
"Oh, I do." She looked at the door. "Is Ivan still in there?"
"No, I do this for a hobby." Isaac said sarcastically. Well, what did she think he was doing? Buying a house?
"Well you're not buying a house, that's for sure."
Hey, how did she do that?
The front door opened and closed downstairs. Then there was the sound of two pairs of feet, one much heavier than the other, making their way up the stairs.
"Hey, Isaac!" It was Garet and Jenna. And yes, Jenna was stuck to Garet like a rabbit to an electric fence.
Garet stared at his fallen friend. "Uhh, Isaac?"
"Y-Yes?"
"What in the name of Mars are you doing?"
Oh, that was it. The stupidity level in the hallway was becoming too high for him to breathe. Or maybe it was the fact that he felt like he was going to explode. "What does it look like I'm doing?!"
Garet scratched his head with his free arm. "Buying a house?"
What the Hell?
"Don't be stupid, he's waiting to use the bathroom." Aww, it was sweet of Mia to jump in and defend him like that. Maybe there was hope. "Want to take bets on how long it'll take him to wet himself?" Then again, maybe not.
"Nah, I've not got any money on me."
Oh, that was comforting.
"Me neither. Maybe some other time though."
What great friends, eh?
*CLICK!*
The bathroom door slid open, and Isaac was instantly on his feet. He whizzed past Ivan and slammed the door shut behind him. A loud sigh could be heard from the bathroom as Ivan strolled down the corridor, whistling a happy little tune. Mia raised an eyebrow. That boy definitely had some screws loose somewhere.
And speaking of screws...
"All done!" Isaac announced cheerfully, dusting his hands off on his trousers.
"Great!" Garet pulled himself free of Jenna's vice-like hold (A.K.A: The Jenna death-grip.) and motioned for Isaac to follow him down the stairs. "Let's go."
Jenna grabbed his arm again and pulled him back. "Where are you going?"
"Uhh, to my house. With Isaac."
"Can't we come?" She looked up at him with wide, sad eyes. Damn, he couldn't fight it. Garet was going to crack, and then they would both be screwed. Isaac had to do something, fast.
"No, sorry, Jenna." He said, cutting in smoothly. "Guy time."
"What?"
"Guy time. Y'know, when we men all hang out together for a while and do masculine stuff. No girls allowed."
Jenna's eyes started to water. "Are you avoiding me, Garet?" She said, holding his arm all the tighter. It was going a funny colour.
"What? No! Jenna, I'm not avoiding you, I swear!" Ooh, tough one. How was Garet gonna get out of this? "It's just that, that..."
"You are avoiding me, aren't you?!" She burst into loud noisy tears and buried her face in his shirt. He shot a terrified look at Isaac that clearly said, "Help me!" But unfortunately, Isaac sent him one right back that said, "What the Hell do you want me to do?!"
Oh, Isaac was going down. Garet was going to make sure of it.
"Jenna. Jenna, sweetie, listen. It's not that I'm avoiding you or anything, it's just that, well, we've been spending a lot of time together recently and, erm, uh..." Think, Garet, think! It's not that hard, Isaac does it all the time. Then it hit him. "It's just that Isaac feels a little left out." Ha hah, bingo! He'd done it! Jenna stopped crying almost immediately, and Isaac stared at him, horrified. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.
"What?"
"Yeah, Isaac feels left out. That's it!" Oh yeah, genius, absolute genius. Garet mentally patted himself on the back. Playing with emotions never fails. "Because he's used to me and him hanging out all the time and stuff, but now we don't. You see?"
Jenna sniffled a little and looked over at Isaac. "Really?" She asked.
He was about to say no, but the look in Garet's eyes told him that it probably wasn't in his best interests. And besides, it would get rid of Mia and Jenna for the afternoon. So, swallowing his pride, he nodded. Jenna rushed over and gave him a hug.
"I'm sorry, Isaac. I didn't know." She said, crushing him ever so slightly. Hmm, Garet wasn't lying when he said she had a strong grip.
"It's alright." He wheezed. "But, can you let me go now? You're cutting off the oxygen supply to my brain."
"Oh, sorry."
Garet made an impatient sound. "In your own time, Isaac." Jenna whacked him over the head.
"Don't be so insensitive!" She scolded.
"Jenna! That hurt! I'll tell my mum on you!" He said, mock-threatening.
"Then I'll tell your dad."
"Don't do that! I don't even want to think about what he'd say to that." He shuddered slightly. So did everyone else.
Then, Sheba came down the corridor.
"What's up, guys? Where's Ivan?"
"Don't know. Don't care. Need to be going now." Garet grabbed Isaac's collar and dragged him away. "Later, ladies!"
Garet's house, three hours later:
"Right, so..."
"So?"
"So..."
"Argh! You're useless!" Isaac whacked the table. "We've been here three hours and you've still not helped me at all!"
"Well, you've not exactly been very useful either. And I think my problem's a bit more serious than yours Isaac." Garet crumpled up the bit of paper he'd been writing on and threw it in the bin. "But you're right. We need good ideas."
"You don't say." Isaac rolled his eyes. "I honestly didn't notice."
"Shut up. You're way too sarcastic now, Isaac. What happened to the real you?" Garet shot back, in a false, simpering voice. "Maybe you've just lost your way."
"You'll be the one losing something in a minute if you don't help me, and I don't think it'll be your way."
"Ooh, touchy. My, my, aren't we a cranky little soldier today."
"You sound just like your mother."
"That was the point."
"Well, good for you."
"It is good for me."
"I know."
"I know you know."
"I know you know I kn- alright, enough! This is getting us nowhere!" Isaac hit the table again, and then winced in pain. Garet shook his head.
"You shouldn't have done that." He said. Isaac shot him a venomous glare.
"Look, are you going to help me or not?"
"Yes, I'm going to help you." Garet returned Isaac's glare with an almost identical one of his own. "If I wasn't going to help you, then why would I spend a beautiful day indoors with you, when I could be outside somewhere with Jenna? And let's not forget, you promised you'd help me too." He wrote something down on a little bit of paper, and then frowned and ripped it to shreds. "Nah, I'm thinking your best option is to just go all out and tell her how you feel."
"I was afraid you were going to say that."
"Heh, I couldn't wait to say that!"
Isaac really wasn't pleased, but there was no sense in dwelling on it. If Jenna couldn't make Garet take life seriously, no one could. So he opted for a change of subject. "This is all Ivan's fault, y'know."
"I know." Garet rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe we should...persuade him to help us." He cracked his knuckles. Isaac grinned. Now this wasn't a bad idea at all.
"Yeah, we still haven't gotten him to speak to Sheba yet."
"Exactly."
Back to Isaac's house:
Ivan sat at the kitchen table reading a large book titled, "Getting one over on friends and enemies" a new acquisition of his, and a very good read too. He chuckled a little to himself as he re-read the chapter, "How to use romance to your advantage".
"Oh, Ivan."
His blood went cold. He didn't like that voice. Hell, he'd been avoiding the owner of that voice all day. And all yesterday. But as it turns out, no one escapes the sword in the end, not even the really, really sneaky ones. And Ivan had been as sneaky as possible.
Dammit, he just couldn't win these days!
"Ahem, Ivan?"
He looked up from the book. Garet and Isaac were standing over him, with the air of men meaning business.
"Oh, h-hey guys." He stood up, pushing the chair in under the table and backing slowly away. Isaac and Garet looked at each other and nodded.
"Get him."
Later:
Drip. Drip. Drip.
What?
Ivan's head was all fuzzy as he woke slowly, only to find that he was no longer at the table in Isaac's house with his book, he wasn't in Isaac's house at all. It looked more like a cave.
"Hey look, he's coming round."
"Excellent. Get the scissors."
Ivan paled as he remembered what had happened. They wouldn't...no way.
His eyes focused fully, and he saw Garet and Isaac again. But this time it was different. For starters, they were, as he'd suspected, in a cave. Then there was the fact that in Garet's right hand, there was a particularly large pair of scissors, the kind that barbers use. Oh, and there was also the little fact that he was tied up to a big rock.
"Wha...what's going on?" He asked them, his eyes trained keenly on the scissors.
"Well, Ivan." Isaac began, smiling at him. "As you may remember, you've been having a lot of fun at my expense recently." The blond Venus adept's eyes darted to the scissors and back briefly. "So we, that's Garet and myself, have decided to even the score."
A nervous gulp. "How?"
Garet grinned nastily. "Well, it seems that Isaac is in need of your immediate assistance to help repair some of the damage caused by your knowledge of the current situation."
Ivan was suddenly struck by the fact that Garet was using fairly big words with no trouble at all. Inwardly he cursed Sheba for buying the big Mars adept that dictionary for his last birthday.
"That's right, Garet." Isaac nodded, either not noticing or purposely ignoring the terrified look on Ivan's face. "So, that means that you go to Sheba and tell her that everything you said about me and Mia is false. You will also prevent her from spreading any rumours about it."
"A-And if I refuse?"
Garet smiled widely and opened the scissors. "I get to give you a haircut."
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ME: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Poor Ivan! Well, not really. I think he deserved it. But anyway, don't think this is the end. I wouldn't be that good to Isaac now, would I? Oh, and where's Felix been these past few days? MWAHAHA! Review!
CHIBI CHAO: Yeah, hey.
ME: Tch, so enthusiastic. (Shakes head.) But anyway, I'm glad that those who've read this fic so far have decided that they like it. Thanks, guys! Now, disclaimer!
NO, NO, NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I DON'T OWN GOLDEN SUN! WHY MUST YOU CONTINUE TO TORTURE ME?!
ME: Ahem, right. Time for the chapter. It's Wednesday, and the guys' plans are getting put into motion. Heh, they hope...
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
"Ivan!" A loud thumping sound broke the silence of what was once a peaceful Wednesday afternoon. "Ivan, let me in!"
It was Isaac, battering on the bathroom door. Ivan had once again gotten in there early, and not left for what was now over three hours. Now it hadn't really bothered Isaac before, no, he couldn't have cared less. Well, that was until he needed to go.
"Ivan, please!" He thumped the door once more for good measure, and then slid down slowly to the floor, legs crossed in a very painful-looking position. "Ivan!"
"Problem, Isaac?"
He just about jumped out of his skin.
"Mia! Dammit, don't do that!" He yelled, trying to look as cool as possible with his hand on his crotch. She giggled.
"Sorry, I couldn't resist."
"Well, I'm glad you find my pain amusing." He muttered. She giggled again. It was a nice sound.
"Oh, I do." She looked at the door. "Is Ivan still in there?"
"No, I do this for a hobby." Isaac said sarcastically. Well, what did she think he was doing? Buying a house?
"Well you're not buying a house, that's for sure."
Hey, how did she do that?
The front door opened and closed downstairs. Then there was the sound of two pairs of feet, one much heavier than the other, making their way up the stairs.
"Hey, Isaac!" It was Garet and Jenna. And yes, Jenna was stuck to Garet like a rabbit to an electric fence.
Garet stared at his fallen friend. "Uhh, Isaac?"
"Y-Yes?"
"What in the name of Mars are you doing?"
Oh, that was it. The stupidity level in the hallway was becoming too high for him to breathe. Or maybe it was the fact that he felt like he was going to explode. "What does it look like I'm doing?!"
Garet scratched his head with his free arm. "Buying a house?"
What the Hell?
"Don't be stupid, he's waiting to use the bathroom." Aww, it was sweet of Mia to jump in and defend him like that. Maybe there was hope. "Want to take bets on how long it'll take him to wet himself?" Then again, maybe not.
"Nah, I've not got any money on me."
Oh, that was comforting.
"Me neither. Maybe some other time though."
What great friends, eh?
*CLICK!*
The bathroom door slid open, and Isaac was instantly on his feet. He whizzed past Ivan and slammed the door shut behind him. A loud sigh could be heard from the bathroom as Ivan strolled down the corridor, whistling a happy little tune. Mia raised an eyebrow. That boy definitely had some screws loose somewhere.
And speaking of screws...
"All done!" Isaac announced cheerfully, dusting his hands off on his trousers.
"Great!" Garet pulled himself free of Jenna's vice-like hold (A.K.A: The Jenna death-grip.) and motioned for Isaac to follow him down the stairs. "Let's go."
Jenna grabbed his arm again and pulled him back. "Where are you going?"
"Uhh, to my house. With Isaac."
"Can't we come?" She looked up at him with wide, sad eyes. Damn, he couldn't fight it. Garet was going to crack, and then they would both be screwed. Isaac had to do something, fast.
"No, sorry, Jenna." He said, cutting in smoothly. "Guy time."
"What?"
"Guy time. Y'know, when we men all hang out together for a while and do masculine stuff. No girls allowed."
Jenna's eyes started to water. "Are you avoiding me, Garet?" She said, holding his arm all the tighter. It was going a funny colour.
"What? No! Jenna, I'm not avoiding you, I swear!" Ooh, tough one. How was Garet gonna get out of this? "It's just that, that..."
"You are avoiding me, aren't you?!" She burst into loud noisy tears and buried her face in his shirt. He shot a terrified look at Isaac that clearly said, "Help me!" But unfortunately, Isaac sent him one right back that said, "What the Hell do you want me to do?!"
Oh, Isaac was going down. Garet was going to make sure of it.
"Jenna. Jenna, sweetie, listen. It's not that I'm avoiding you or anything, it's just that, well, we've been spending a lot of time together recently and, erm, uh..." Think, Garet, think! It's not that hard, Isaac does it all the time. Then it hit him. "It's just that Isaac feels a little left out." Ha hah, bingo! He'd done it! Jenna stopped crying almost immediately, and Isaac stared at him, horrified. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.
"What?"
"Yeah, Isaac feels left out. That's it!" Oh yeah, genius, absolute genius. Garet mentally patted himself on the back. Playing with emotions never fails. "Because he's used to me and him hanging out all the time and stuff, but now we don't. You see?"
Jenna sniffled a little and looked over at Isaac. "Really?" She asked.
He was about to say no, but the look in Garet's eyes told him that it probably wasn't in his best interests. And besides, it would get rid of Mia and Jenna for the afternoon. So, swallowing his pride, he nodded. Jenna rushed over and gave him a hug.
"I'm sorry, Isaac. I didn't know." She said, crushing him ever so slightly. Hmm, Garet wasn't lying when he said she had a strong grip.
"It's alright." He wheezed. "But, can you let me go now? You're cutting off the oxygen supply to my brain."
"Oh, sorry."
Garet made an impatient sound. "In your own time, Isaac." Jenna whacked him over the head.
"Don't be so insensitive!" She scolded.
"Jenna! That hurt! I'll tell my mum on you!" He said, mock-threatening.
"Then I'll tell your dad."
"Don't do that! I don't even want to think about what he'd say to that." He shuddered slightly. So did everyone else.
Then, Sheba came down the corridor.
"What's up, guys? Where's Ivan?"
"Don't know. Don't care. Need to be going now." Garet grabbed Isaac's collar and dragged him away. "Later, ladies!"
Garet's house, three hours later:
"Right, so..."
"So?"
"So..."
"Argh! You're useless!" Isaac whacked the table. "We've been here three hours and you've still not helped me at all!"
"Well, you've not exactly been very useful either. And I think my problem's a bit more serious than yours Isaac." Garet crumpled up the bit of paper he'd been writing on and threw it in the bin. "But you're right. We need good ideas."
"You don't say." Isaac rolled his eyes. "I honestly didn't notice."
"Shut up. You're way too sarcastic now, Isaac. What happened to the real you?" Garet shot back, in a false, simpering voice. "Maybe you've just lost your way."
"You'll be the one losing something in a minute if you don't help me, and I don't think it'll be your way."
"Ooh, touchy. My, my, aren't we a cranky little soldier today."
"You sound just like your mother."
"That was the point."
"Well, good for you."
"It is good for me."
"I know."
"I know you know."
"I know you know I kn- alright, enough! This is getting us nowhere!" Isaac hit the table again, and then winced in pain. Garet shook his head.
"You shouldn't have done that." He said. Isaac shot him a venomous glare.
"Look, are you going to help me or not?"
"Yes, I'm going to help you." Garet returned Isaac's glare with an almost identical one of his own. "If I wasn't going to help you, then why would I spend a beautiful day indoors with you, when I could be outside somewhere with Jenna? And let's not forget, you promised you'd help me too." He wrote something down on a little bit of paper, and then frowned and ripped it to shreds. "Nah, I'm thinking your best option is to just go all out and tell her how you feel."
"I was afraid you were going to say that."
"Heh, I couldn't wait to say that!"
Isaac really wasn't pleased, but there was no sense in dwelling on it. If Jenna couldn't make Garet take life seriously, no one could. So he opted for a change of subject. "This is all Ivan's fault, y'know."
"I know." Garet rubbed the back of his head. "Maybe we should...persuade him to help us." He cracked his knuckles. Isaac grinned. Now this wasn't a bad idea at all.
"Yeah, we still haven't gotten him to speak to Sheba yet."
"Exactly."
Back to Isaac's house:
Ivan sat at the kitchen table reading a large book titled, "Getting one over on friends and enemies" a new acquisition of his, and a very good read too. He chuckled a little to himself as he re-read the chapter, "How to use romance to your advantage".
"Oh, Ivan."
His blood went cold. He didn't like that voice. Hell, he'd been avoiding the owner of that voice all day. And all yesterday. But as it turns out, no one escapes the sword in the end, not even the really, really sneaky ones. And Ivan had been as sneaky as possible.
Dammit, he just couldn't win these days!
"Ahem, Ivan?"
He looked up from the book. Garet and Isaac were standing over him, with the air of men meaning business.
"Oh, h-hey guys." He stood up, pushing the chair in under the table and backing slowly away. Isaac and Garet looked at each other and nodded.
"Get him."
Later:
Drip. Drip. Drip.
What?
Ivan's head was all fuzzy as he woke slowly, only to find that he was no longer at the table in Isaac's house with his book, he wasn't in Isaac's house at all. It looked more like a cave.
"Hey look, he's coming round."
"Excellent. Get the scissors."
Ivan paled as he remembered what had happened. They wouldn't...no way.
His eyes focused fully, and he saw Garet and Isaac again. But this time it was different. For starters, they were, as he'd suspected, in a cave. Then there was the fact that in Garet's right hand, there was a particularly large pair of scissors, the kind that barbers use. Oh, and there was also the little fact that he was tied up to a big rock.
"Wha...what's going on?" He asked them, his eyes trained keenly on the scissors.
"Well, Ivan." Isaac began, smiling at him. "As you may remember, you've been having a lot of fun at my expense recently." The blond Venus adept's eyes darted to the scissors and back briefly. "So we, that's Garet and myself, have decided to even the score."
A nervous gulp. "How?"
Garet grinned nastily. "Well, it seems that Isaac is in need of your immediate assistance to help repair some of the damage caused by your knowledge of the current situation."
Ivan was suddenly struck by the fact that Garet was using fairly big words with no trouble at all. Inwardly he cursed Sheba for buying the big Mars adept that dictionary for his last birthday.
"That's right, Garet." Isaac nodded, either not noticing or purposely ignoring the terrified look on Ivan's face. "So, that means that you go to Sheba and tell her that everything you said about me and Mia is false. You will also prevent her from spreading any rumours about it."
"A-And if I refuse?"
Garet smiled widely and opened the scissors. "I get to give you a haircut."
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
ME: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Poor Ivan! Well, not really. I think he deserved it. But anyway, don't think this is the end. I wouldn't be that good to Isaac now, would I? Oh, and where's Felix been these past few days? MWAHAHA! Review!
