Hmm. No reviews yet. ( Does ANYBODY love Angel? NO! -___-; Well, to anyone
who's just reading and not reviewing, here is chapter 3.
Quote of the Update: After a comment on cleaning being girl's work, Tim says:
"We are enlightened men."
"What does 'enlightened' mean?"
"It means 'scared of mom'."
--Home Improvement. Gotta love Tim Taylor. ^__^
Quick note: I don't own Trading Spaces. Funny thing is, ya'll, I love the show!
Killer Deals and Lover's Chills
Chapter 3: Laundry, Trading Spaces, and Anomalies
He stared at the ugly white machine. It glared right back. Sora kicked it in hopes of that working. It didn't. Well.hmm. If he put clothes in, maybe it would start by itself? He dumped the clothes from Terra's hamper into the machine (black, white, silver chains, and all). It still wasn't full yet, so he glanced around. A hole in the wall held some clothes in it. Throwing those in, too, it was filled about to the white line, which said plainly "full."
On the shelf above the machines were packages, all labeled clearly. They each said the following: detergent, bleach, softener, and fabric softener. Sora didn't have a clue which was which. He assumed that they all went into the washer at the same time, and so began to do so.
The detergent, bleach, and softener each had a measuring cup in their lids, which he used to his advantage. He also put a sheet of the fabric softeners into the machine and shut the lid. The buttons each had signs and words.
Assuming that all of the dials were on the correct place, he didn't bother with any of them but the one labeled "start cycle." He placed the dial on "regular wash" and pushed the "start" button, quite proud of himself. He'd done the laundry.
He then went out into the family room and sat down with Terra's mom to watch this Trading Spaces thing. She smiled and thanked him, placing the tape into the VCR and he heard some annoying little jingle.
"Hello and welcome to Trading Spaces, the show where two families decorate two rooms in two days with just one thousand dollars."
What's a dollar?
"We're in Wichita, Kansas, where our neighbors Jonas Stalk-"
"Oh, Terra, guess what?" Sora looked at her.
"What?"
"Guess who the next Trading Spaces show will feature?"
Sora blinked.
"Your friends Kyle and Blank and.us!"
"What?!" Sora fell over on the floor. "You're kidding!"
"Wow, I didn't think you'd be that happy," Terra's Mom said. "Blank and Kyle were really happy to hear about it, too. Kyle hasn't seen you in a while, he's really looking forward to seeing you all grown up."
"H-huh?"
"You don't remember? You had the wildest crush on his when you were eight, it was the cutest case of puppy love I've ever seen!"
Uh. Oh.
Sora gave every ounce of his attention to the show he was watching. His first time on TV and he hadn't a clue how to act, nor about that show. Once it was over, he was blinking.
"Hey, er.Mom? Do you have any more tapes?"
"Yeah, here." She reached into the closet and handed her a small box stuffed to the brim with tapes. "You can watch them in your room after you play with Al."
"Okay," Sora said. He took the tapes and swallowed as Al came bouncing out of his room, ready to play Kingdom Hearts.
***
Terra glanced down the stairs, every cautious fiber in Sora's body prickling in tune with her mind. How she was going to pull this off, she didn't know. She was darn sure Riku would know it wasn't Sora. But Kairi.She might be able to fool her. Might.
The downstairs portion of the house was a living room, and that was it. The entire place was built like a beach house, and rightfully so. They were, after all, on an island. Terra drew in a deep breath and hoped to see red hair on the living room couch.
Just her luck, it wasn't Riku or Kairi. It was Wakka.
"Hey, man, you up for a little battle?" asked the boy.
"No, I'm good," Terra said. She scratched behind her head gingerly. "I'm sort of tired out."
"Okay, got to keep your strength up, ya?"
"Yeah."
"See you later, then."
Wakka left and Terra sighed, her lips pressed in a thin line. This wasn't the way to go on Destiny Islands. She just turned down a fight from a "weak" guy. But Terra never had fought a day in her life. How was she going to do everything Sora could?
"Here, have some breakfast before you go meet Riku and Kairi, Sora," Sora's mom said. "Okay?"
Terra nodded. She sat at the kitchen table, thinking hard. How did she end up on Destiny Islands, in Sora's body? What could have happened? The game was acting up yesterday, but hadn't it just been a bonus level?
No, she could rule that out now. What was she doing before then? She ate dinner. It was Chinese, like she thought. It always made her mad when she was right.Wait! The fortune cookie! Terra gobbled down the pancakes and orange juice faster than ever and took off back upstairs. Sora would have it in those red pants of his, if he kept it..
Sure enough, Terra found the red half pants right on top of his dirty clothes. And there was the fortune, same as ever.
A journey begins this day,
Of two lives you shall live,
You shall decide the reality of love.
Begin what is to be undone,
Ugly is the light and beautiful the shadow.
Means to justify an end or
The means to justify the journey?
You decide.
"Okay, so the journey.two lives, I'm here, he must be there.decide the reality of love? What the hell? Begin what is to be undone.okay.ugly light, beautiful shadow? Sounds like Ansem.What does it mean? What am I supposed to do? A means to justify an end or the means to justify the journey? What the hell?"
Terra sank onto Sora's bed, feeling like she was going to scream.
"Sora! Weren't you going to meet Riku today?"
"Yeah, Mom, I'm going!" Terra shouted back.
Well, close enough. She slid the paper into her new pockets and headed out to the one place she was sure she could find: The small island across the bridge. Sure enough, there Riku was, waiting on her. Well, waiting for Sora, really, but Sora, if her hypothesis was correct, was in her world, in her body. He must be getting quite the shock.
"Sora! Hey, I was wondering when you'd get here. You're late."
"Sorry," Terra said. "Wakka challenged me."
"Can't you ignore a challenge just once in your life?"
"Nope. Can you?"
"No."
Terra and Riku laughed together. If things kept going like this, she would succeed. And then, she looked at him, for the first time. Those powerful shoulders, that handsome, strong face, that adult disposition.
NO!
She had fallen for a guy once before that way. Terra wasn't going to let it happen again. Kyle wasn't going to happen again in the form of Riku. And, like she'd already told her friends, she'd never fall for Riku in a thousand years.
Or had she? No, she remembered. Only had thought it.
"Come on, Kairi's waiting on us," Riku jumped down from the island into the water. Terra glanced down and gulped. No way was she going to jump that far! She spied the little ladder and took that instead.
"Sora, you feeling all right?"
"Yeah, never better," Terra said, realizing her mistake. Sora would never have done what she did. He always followed what Riku did. "I'm just.er.trying something new."
"If you say so."
Terra followed Riku up onto the main island, across shimmering sand, on old boards that looked a lot like driftwood. She remembered a beach similar to this when she was small. Nostalgia was the least of her worries, however.
"Hey, let's name the raft," Riku said. "How about Highwind?"
"Excalibur would be cool, too," Terra jested.
"Are you two at it again?" Kairi came over the hill and into sight. "I'll give the count. Race from here to the star checkpoint, using any route you want. Whoever comes back first, wins. Ready? 3.2.1.GO!"
Terra took off through the cave entrance, knowing this area best of them all. She jumped onto the star, touched it and shot off back toward Kairi. Strange enough, Sora's body was still just as strong, just as fast without Sora's mind.
"I win!"
"We name it Excalibur, then," Riku smirked. Terra's heart skipped a beat. What was going on? She didn't like Riku!
Terra began to walk off, but.
"Hey, Sora."
"What is it, Riku?"
"Are you sure you're all right?"
Terra looked back and saw his face cocked slightly to the left, his eyes narrowed, his arms crossed. Suspicion was present in every ounce of his voice. "You've been acting weird lately. Yesterday, with that dream, and today, it's like I don't know you anymore."
"Maybe you don't," Terra said, and turned her back on him. "You don't know me."
Terra didn't know what possessed her to say it. She didn't really mean it, after all, she'd barely just met him. The cold shoulder isn't precisely what she wanted to give Riku.
But she had. The deed was done, no matter how you looked at it.
However, Riku didn't take coldness the way most people do. In fact.
"I knew there was something different about you," he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face him. "You're not Sora. Who are you?"
"What do you mean? Of course I'm Sora!"
Terra panicked and broke from his grasp to run for it. He was too fast and too strong for even Sora's body, though. Riku grabbed and took hold of Sora's wrists and pulled them, cop style, behind Sora's back before Terra could even think of a clever escape plan.
"Let me go, you-" Terra shouted a long string of fragrant curse words, most of which Riku didn't even know.
"Who are you?" Riku demanded, pulling her tighter. "What's your name? What have you done to Sora?"
"Let me go, and maybe I'll consider it," Terra said sweetly, despite her predicament.
"Well, at least I know you're a woman," Riku chuckled under his breath. "Why did you steal Sora's body?"
"I didn't. It's some dumb fortune cookie Freaky Friday thing!"
"What's a fortune cookie? What's Freaky Friday?"
"Let. Me. UP!"
Riku twisted Sora's wrists around and brought Terra up face-to-face with him again, and a little too close for comfort. Forcing her to sit down, he placed his wooden sword to her throat. Disney left out the little detail of how sharp those little sticks were.
"Speak."
"I've got the stupid fortune, if you please will remove that thing from my neck. We're on an island, how far do you think I can run?"
"Point taken," Riku said. He sheathed the sword and waited patiently, his aqua eyes burning into hers. Into Sora's, she corrected herself. These were only out on loan.
"Here." Terra whipped out the sheet of paper and gave it to him. "He got it in that so-called dream he had yesterday. I got it in a fortune cookie in my dinner, also yesterday. Apparently, we both went to sleep and. . .ended up in each other's bodies. Or so, that's my theory. I swear I've no idea how we got this way. And if I knew how to switch us back, I would. Happy?"
"Except one thing. What's your name?"
"Sora."
"Your name."
"Oh, all right. I'm Terra. Terra Jem, TJ to my friends."
"Welcome to the Destiny Islands, Terra. And to our little experiment."
"Huh?" Terra's mouth dropped open. "What do you mean, 'our' experiment?"
"You know, after being made into an evil guy, unlocking and being locked in Kingdom Hearts, getting lost, it gets a little boring doing it over and over and OVER again," Riku smiled. His voice, however, was like getting licked with cactus spurs. "So, you're the one King Mickey chose to switch places with Sora. Don't worry. Your body will soon follow, too. We've halted the consumption of this world for a bit."
"But why?"
"We're what are called Anomalies. We don't quite fit into our world, or any others. We can go to them, go through them, but we're never quite a part of them. Your friends are like that. They were looking for you long before you came to that place called Kansas," he smiled. "Sora is the strongest Anomaly here, which is why we chose him to go in your place. It's sort of like a 'walk in your shoes' reality show, yes?"
"Yeah.except I didn't exactly give consent, did I?" Terra said. "Why did you tell me all this?"
"So you'd know. They'll erase my memory of it, so they can see what happens when no one knows about it," he grinned, chuckled, laughed. "Of course, I'll always get that nostalgia feeling for the original, but that's the way it is. We wanted to try something new."
"Sounds cool," Terra nodded. Of course, it sounded beyond just a little strange, too, but still. She couldn't argue with how many times they'd had to go through their "story." "So, Blank and Renee are Anomalies, too?"
"Blank is. Renee's absolutely oblivious.it's happening."
"What?"
A flash of light sparked over Riku's head.
"I'm forgetting. And you're changing."
Terra looked down. Sure enough, her legs were growing. The color of her pants, and the initial shape of them, weren't changing. They were growing with her. The curves of a boy were being replaced with those of a woman. A pretty flat-chest woman with a small butt, but a woman nonetheless.
"Will anyone remember me back home?"
"No. And no one will remember Sora here. They'll remember you, and whatever your life is and was, with a few tweaks and twiddles here and there."
"Tweaks and twiddles? What kind of tweaks?"
Another flash of light covered Riku and her. Quite suddenly, Terra was herself again.
And Riku blinked at her.
"Excalibur it is, then. Come on, let's go talk to Kairi. We need to gather supplies."
************************************************************************ Ookay.now we're getting somewhere! Yay! I love this story already!! ^__^ Plot. Review, please. Critics welcome!
Quote of the Update: After a comment on cleaning being girl's work, Tim says:
"We are enlightened men."
"What does 'enlightened' mean?"
"It means 'scared of mom'."
--Home Improvement. Gotta love Tim Taylor. ^__^
Quick note: I don't own Trading Spaces. Funny thing is, ya'll, I love the show!
Killer Deals and Lover's Chills
Chapter 3: Laundry, Trading Spaces, and Anomalies
He stared at the ugly white machine. It glared right back. Sora kicked it in hopes of that working. It didn't. Well.hmm. If he put clothes in, maybe it would start by itself? He dumped the clothes from Terra's hamper into the machine (black, white, silver chains, and all). It still wasn't full yet, so he glanced around. A hole in the wall held some clothes in it. Throwing those in, too, it was filled about to the white line, which said plainly "full."
On the shelf above the machines were packages, all labeled clearly. They each said the following: detergent, bleach, softener, and fabric softener. Sora didn't have a clue which was which. He assumed that they all went into the washer at the same time, and so began to do so.
The detergent, bleach, and softener each had a measuring cup in their lids, which he used to his advantage. He also put a sheet of the fabric softeners into the machine and shut the lid. The buttons each had signs and words.
Assuming that all of the dials were on the correct place, he didn't bother with any of them but the one labeled "start cycle." He placed the dial on "regular wash" and pushed the "start" button, quite proud of himself. He'd done the laundry.
He then went out into the family room and sat down with Terra's mom to watch this Trading Spaces thing. She smiled and thanked him, placing the tape into the VCR and he heard some annoying little jingle.
"Hello and welcome to Trading Spaces, the show where two families decorate two rooms in two days with just one thousand dollars."
What's a dollar?
"We're in Wichita, Kansas, where our neighbors Jonas Stalk-"
"Oh, Terra, guess what?" Sora looked at her.
"What?"
"Guess who the next Trading Spaces show will feature?"
Sora blinked.
"Your friends Kyle and Blank and.us!"
"What?!" Sora fell over on the floor. "You're kidding!"
"Wow, I didn't think you'd be that happy," Terra's Mom said. "Blank and Kyle were really happy to hear about it, too. Kyle hasn't seen you in a while, he's really looking forward to seeing you all grown up."
"H-huh?"
"You don't remember? You had the wildest crush on his when you were eight, it was the cutest case of puppy love I've ever seen!"
Uh. Oh.
Sora gave every ounce of his attention to the show he was watching. His first time on TV and he hadn't a clue how to act, nor about that show. Once it was over, he was blinking.
"Hey, er.Mom? Do you have any more tapes?"
"Yeah, here." She reached into the closet and handed her a small box stuffed to the brim with tapes. "You can watch them in your room after you play with Al."
"Okay," Sora said. He took the tapes and swallowed as Al came bouncing out of his room, ready to play Kingdom Hearts.
***
Terra glanced down the stairs, every cautious fiber in Sora's body prickling in tune with her mind. How she was going to pull this off, she didn't know. She was darn sure Riku would know it wasn't Sora. But Kairi.She might be able to fool her. Might.
The downstairs portion of the house was a living room, and that was it. The entire place was built like a beach house, and rightfully so. They were, after all, on an island. Terra drew in a deep breath and hoped to see red hair on the living room couch.
Just her luck, it wasn't Riku or Kairi. It was Wakka.
"Hey, man, you up for a little battle?" asked the boy.
"No, I'm good," Terra said. She scratched behind her head gingerly. "I'm sort of tired out."
"Okay, got to keep your strength up, ya?"
"Yeah."
"See you later, then."
Wakka left and Terra sighed, her lips pressed in a thin line. This wasn't the way to go on Destiny Islands. She just turned down a fight from a "weak" guy. But Terra never had fought a day in her life. How was she going to do everything Sora could?
"Here, have some breakfast before you go meet Riku and Kairi, Sora," Sora's mom said. "Okay?"
Terra nodded. She sat at the kitchen table, thinking hard. How did she end up on Destiny Islands, in Sora's body? What could have happened? The game was acting up yesterday, but hadn't it just been a bonus level?
No, she could rule that out now. What was she doing before then? She ate dinner. It was Chinese, like she thought. It always made her mad when she was right.Wait! The fortune cookie! Terra gobbled down the pancakes and orange juice faster than ever and took off back upstairs. Sora would have it in those red pants of his, if he kept it..
Sure enough, Terra found the red half pants right on top of his dirty clothes. And there was the fortune, same as ever.
A journey begins this day,
Of two lives you shall live,
You shall decide the reality of love.
Begin what is to be undone,
Ugly is the light and beautiful the shadow.
Means to justify an end or
The means to justify the journey?
You decide.
"Okay, so the journey.two lives, I'm here, he must be there.decide the reality of love? What the hell? Begin what is to be undone.okay.ugly light, beautiful shadow? Sounds like Ansem.What does it mean? What am I supposed to do? A means to justify an end or the means to justify the journey? What the hell?"
Terra sank onto Sora's bed, feeling like she was going to scream.
"Sora! Weren't you going to meet Riku today?"
"Yeah, Mom, I'm going!" Terra shouted back.
Well, close enough. She slid the paper into her new pockets and headed out to the one place she was sure she could find: The small island across the bridge. Sure enough, there Riku was, waiting on her. Well, waiting for Sora, really, but Sora, if her hypothesis was correct, was in her world, in her body. He must be getting quite the shock.
"Sora! Hey, I was wondering when you'd get here. You're late."
"Sorry," Terra said. "Wakka challenged me."
"Can't you ignore a challenge just once in your life?"
"Nope. Can you?"
"No."
Terra and Riku laughed together. If things kept going like this, she would succeed. And then, she looked at him, for the first time. Those powerful shoulders, that handsome, strong face, that adult disposition.
NO!
She had fallen for a guy once before that way. Terra wasn't going to let it happen again. Kyle wasn't going to happen again in the form of Riku. And, like she'd already told her friends, she'd never fall for Riku in a thousand years.
Or had she? No, she remembered. Only had thought it.
"Come on, Kairi's waiting on us," Riku jumped down from the island into the water. Terra glanced down and gulped. No way was she going to jump that far! She spied the little ladder and took that instead.
"Sora, you feeling all right?"
"Yeah, never better," Terra said, realizing her mistake. Sora would never have done what she did. He always followed what Riku did. "I'm just.er.trying something new."
"If you say so."
Terra followed Riku up onto the main island, across shimmering sand, on old boards that looked a lot like driftwood. She remembered a beach similar to this when she was small. Nostalgia was the least of her worries, however.
"Hey, let's name the raft," Riku said. "How about Highwind?"
"Excalibur would be cool, too," Terra jested.
"Are you two at it again?" Kairi came over the hill and into sight. "I'll give the count. Race from here to the star checkpoint, using any route you want. Whoever comes back first, wins. Ready? 3.2.1.GO!"
Terra took off through the cave entrance, knowing this area best of them all. She jumped onto the star, touched it and shot off back toward Kairi. Strange enough, Sora's body was still just as strong, just as fast without Sora's mind.
"I win!"
"We name it Excalibur, then," Riku smirked. Terra's heart skipped a beat. What was going on? She didn't like Riku!
Terra began to walk off, but.
"Hey, Sora."
"What is it, Riku?"
"Are you sure you're all right?"
Terra looked back and saw his face cocked slightly to the left, his eyes narrowed, his arms crossed. Suspicion was present in every ounce of his voice. "You've been acting weird lately. Yesterday, with that dream, and today, it's like I don't know you anymore."
"Maybe you don't," Terra said, and turned her back on him. "You don't know me."
Terra didn't know what possessed her to say it. She didn't really mean it, after all, she'd barely just met him. The cold shoulder isn't precisely what she wanted to give Riku.
But she had. The deed was done, no matter how you looked at it.
However, Riku didn't take coldness the way most people do. In fact.
"I knew there was something different about you," he grabbed her shoulder and turned her around to face him. "You're not Sora. Who are you?"
"What do you mean? Of course I'm Sora!"
Terra panicked and broke from his grasp to run for it. He was too fast and too strong for even Sora's body, though. Riku grabbed and took hold of Sora's wrists and pulled them, cop style, behind Sora's back before Terra could even think of a clever escape plan.
"Let me go, you-" Terra shouted a long string of fragrant curse words, most of which Riku didn't even know.
"Who are you?" Riku demanded, pulling her tighter. "What's your name? What have you done to Sora?"
"Let me go, and maybe I'll consider it," Terra said sweetly, despite her predicament.
"Well, at least I know you're a woman," Riku chuckled under his breath. "Why did you steal Sora's body?"
"I didn't. It's some dumb fortune cookie Freaky Friday thing!"
"What's a fortune cookie? What's Freaky Friday?"
"Let. Me. UP!"
Riku twisted Sora's wrists around and brought Terra up face-to-face with him again, and a little too close for comfort. Forcing her to sit down, he placed his wooden sword to her throat. Disney left out the little detail of how sharp those little sticks were.
"Speak."
"I've got the stupid fortune, if you please will remove that thing from my neck. We're on an island, how far do you think I can run?"
"Point taken," Riku said. He sheathed the sword and waited patiently, his aqua eyes burning into hers. Into Sora's, she corrected herself. These were only out on loan.
"Here." Terra whipped out the sheet of paper and gave it to him. "He got it in that so-called dream he had yesterday. I got it in a fortune cookie in my dinner, also yesterday. Apparently, we both went to sleep and. . .ended up in each other's bodies. Or so, that's my theory. I swear I've no idea how we got this way. And if I knew how to switch us back, I would. Happy?"
"Except one thing. What's your name?"
"Sora."
"Your name."
"Oh, all right. I'm Terra. Terra Jem, TJ to my friends."
"Welcome to the Destiny Islands, Terra. And to our little experiment."
"Huh?" Terra's mouth dropped open. "What do you mean, 'our' experiment?"
"You know, after being made into an evil guy, unlocking and being locked in Kingdom Hearts, getting lost, it gets a little boring doing it over and over and OVER again," Riku smiled. His voice, however, was like getting licked with cactus spurs. "So, you're the one King Mickey chose to switch places with Sora. Don't worry. Your body will soon follow, too. We've halted the consumption of this world for a bit."
"But why?"
"We're what are called Anomalies. We don't quite fit into our world, or any others. We can go to them, go through them, but we're never quite a part of them. Your friends are like that. They were looking for you long before you came to that place called Kansas," he smiled. "Sora is the strongest Anomaly here, which is why we chose him to go in your place. It's sort of like a 'walk in your shoes' reality show, yes?"
"Yeah.except I didn't exactly give consent, did I?" Terra said. "Why did you tell me all this?"
"So you'd know. They'll erase my memory of it, so they can see what happens when no one knows about it," he grinned, chuckled, laughed. "Of course, I'll always get that nostalgia feeling for the original, but that's the way it is. We wanted to try something new."
"Sounds cool," Terra nodded. Of course, it sounded beyond just a little strange, too, but still. She couldn't argue with how many times they'd had to go through their "story." "So, Blank and Renee are Anomalies, too?"
"Blank is. Renee's absolutely oblivious.it's happening."
"What?"
A flash of light sparked over Riku's head.
"I'm forgetting. And you're changing."
Terra looked down. Sure enough, her legs were growing. The color of her pants, and the initial shape of them, weren't changing. They were growing with her. The curves of a boy were being replaced with those of a woman. A pretty flat-chest woman with a small butt, but a woman nonetheless.
"Will anyone remember me back home?"
"No. And no one will remember Sora here. They'll remember you, and whatever your life is and was, with a few tweaks and twiddles here and there."
"Tweaks and twiddles? What kind of tweaks?"
Another flash of light covered Riku and her. Quite suddenly, Terra was herself again.
And Riku blinked at her.
"Excalibur it is, then. Come on, let's go talk to Kairi. We need to gather supplies."
************************************************************************ Ookay.now we're getting somewhere! Yay! I love this story already!! ^__^ Plot. Review, please. Critics welcome!