Chapter 2: Taking Care of Business

"VEEEEEEERRRRROOOOOM! And Jay takes the lead, leaving lil' Jackal to eat his dust!" yells the 16-year-old Australian behind him as he sweeps and runs along the walkway in front of a little boy of around ten.

"Hey! No fair! We aren't racing! And my name is Jack, Jay!" said little cousin Jack, stopping. Jay stops too, when he is sure that Jack can't run ahead by tricking him, if he were trying to anyway. As a taunt he sifts his black, Duo-like hair back.

"Well, you should be ready for anything! Now, hit the road Jack!" With that, Jay begins to run again followed by Jack when suddenly a staff is carefully and deliberately placed on the ground...

"WOAH-(smash!) Ow! Hey, what the-?!" says Jay in a ticked off voice, but it is cut off by laughter.

"Poor Jay, you have to be ready for anything!"

"JAKE! You lousy stinkin'...son of a wallaby!"

Jake only laughs and scratches his Goku hairstyle. He then replies, "Oh, ow, your words are so hurtful to me! You better watch your language, this is supposed to be a sacred place, remember?" He sees his younger twin brother Jacob walk up with a staff in his hand and his wild Yamcha (old one) hair swaying in the wind.

"It seems...Jack has finished the chore before you Jay. (Points to Jack dancing and taunting him by sifting his hair back, [Which looks like Gohan's after he first went Super Saiyan] like Jay was doing earlier) Getting slow? Oh well, we must take our victories like our defeats." says Jacob, in his soft but definitively masculine voice. He then holds his staff in a position behind him. "Jake, are you ready to begin again?"

"You bet!" As Jake says this he holds out his bo staff. "BEGIN!" Jake then lunges at Jacob and resumes training as they each try to hit each other and block at the same time.

Jay just gets up, dusts himself off, and sighs. "Oh well, I'd guess it's 'round three. The girls 'ill probably be getting back any minute. Betta get my chores done or Rei'll 'ave my head!" Jay cuts the chatter and gets to work on the leaves. As Jay sweeps and Jack plans a watery assault on him and the rest of the guys, the girls arrive.

"Finally! I thought we'd never get here!" shouts Serena, relieved.

"Serena, we've gone this route a thousand times, why say that?" inquires Ami.

Serena answers in the form of a complaint. "It's just SOOOOOOO cold today! And I'm hungry...and I wanna see Darien..." Serena touches her index fingers together and gets a sad pout face.

Luna just pops out of nowhere (as she might keep doing if I continue to forget that she exists...). "Sereeeenaaaaa! You've been a sailor scout how long? And after all this time you still don't know how to stop whining. Some things really ARE hopeless..."

Serena playfully sticks her tongue out and says, "Oh whatever! We're here!" Serena and the others walk quickly up the stairs to the temple. The peaceful temple gives a relaxing and tranquil feel, only to be interrupted by someone yelling. As the scouts reach the top they see Jay and Rei.

"Yes...I know...Ok, I got it...Ok...Sorry..." says Jay, mechanically. Poor Jay is being yelled at.

Rei continues the verbal assault, "Come on! You guys do no work around here! These floors are still dirty! I should be able to see my reflection, why can't I Jay?"

Jay mumbles to himself, "Maybe because it saw you first and got scared..."

Rei heard that one! "WHAT?! I can't believe you! I let you live in MY temple and you make fun of me?"

Jay defends himself with the ancient art of sarcasm. "Well excuse me your highness! We are trying to help around here the best we can!" Jay gets a rather angry look, which Rei notices.

Rei's tone does a complete 180. "Hmmm...oh, ok. I guess I am a bit too hard on you. Thanks to you guys this place runs pretty smoothly. Thank you."

Jay's response can be best classified as: "?!"

Jay was not alone in this, as his opinion was aptly shared among the others with a: "?!" I think Rei struck them out with that little change up...

Rei looks around and sees Ami, Serena and Lita. "Oh hi guys! Are we ready to get started?"

Lita is the first to speak (but still recovering from the shock) "I...thought we were gonna wait for Mina."

Mina runs in and stops with a skid. She is obviously panting from running. "Hey...guys! Is...Jake here? Or...did he leave?"

Jay, still standing there, says, "Jake? He's in the back with Jacob. Hey, where's Rini?"

A splash and sudden yell is heard, followed by Jack running out with a bucket of water. He is being chased by Jacob and Jake who are soaked from head to toe. Jack runs by Jay and hits him with the remaining ice water.

"Oh you did NOT just do that you little jackal!" yells Jay, joining the chase.

Jay, Jake, Jacob yell at the mischievous little cretin, "Come back here so we can squash you, pest!!!"

"Oh, she stayed at home." answers Serena, referring to Rini, even though Jay just ran off.

This only left the girls to stand and wonder...and laugh their heads off at either the prank or Serena. Rei leads the group inside and sets everything up for the study-buddy session, leaving the group of black haired, brown eyed boys to fend for themselves in their games.

-

Ann unlocked the door of her apartment. She enters and relocks the door, then plops down onto the couch.

"Better get to work." Ann says to herself. She tries once or twice to get up from her seat, but finds that she is too comfortable to. "Oh well, I think I'll get ready for that school field trip to the mountains. It is two weeks from now. Too bad that we won't do any exploring in new caves." Ann tries to get up again, but in vain. "Heh heh, I guess getting ready can wait for a short nap..."

-

James sits down and starts to assemble the things he'll bring for his field trip to the mountains.

"I won't need much, we will only tour paths in the caves. How boring." James grabs his coat, a set of clothes for the trip, and his flashlight. He leaves his writing equipment behind, knowing he will take notes on pads given to the students. He places the items in his closet in a neat order. "I'll be the busiest of the group."