[[chapter two- mitochondria obsessors make good pranksters]]

Nikki examined her handbook. Then she put on a little headset, and spoke into the microphone.

"Track Hiei." She said. Then a computerized voice spoke into the headset.

"Tracking... please wait." Then there was a ding and the voice came back on. "Tracking complete." Nikki smiled evilly and watched the screen as Hiei left in another direction.

"Perfect." she said and began to prepare for her stunt.

[[in Tokyo]]

Hiei left in the direction of an old warehouse, where he was temporarily calling home.

He walked down the sidewalk, staying towards the shadows. Up ahead he could see the warehouse; a shapeless form on the horizon.

There was a noise behind, him and Hiei turned to investigate. Nothing was there. He made a 'slightly confused but more annoyed' face and continued on his way.

After awhile, Hiei heard the noise again. It was something of a rustling in the bushes.

The fire youkai whirled around an orb of compressed fire in his hand.

Finding nothing yet again, Hiei scowled at the darkening sidewalk, and muttered gazing around

"What in all of Ningenkai, is that?" he shrugged the question off, and walked on, slightly faster than before. Hiei was able to get as far as the doors of the warehouse before being interrupted once again by the noise that seemed to be following him.

The fire demon took a short deep breath and turned calmly. On the cement before him was a little plushie. Further inspection revealed that it was a Bakura plushie. It seemed harmless enough, but just to be absolutely safe, Hiei drew his katana and poked the plushie with the tip of the blade.

The stuffed figure squeaked weakly and fell over. The fire demon looked at it, puzzled. Then the plushie began to glow with a golden aura, when the aura died away, the plushie stood. It looked, for the most part, the same, save for the fact that its eyes seemed harder; more evil, perhaps.

It looked at the fire demon coldly, reaching in its pocket. Then the plushie took a grenade out, and aimed it at Hiei.

The fire demon looked down on the plushie for a moment more, and neither of them moved.

The Bakura plushie set the fuse and set the bomb on the ground. Then it disappeared into the darkness.

Hiei watched the plushie go, then returned his attention to the bomb at his feet. It ticked mechanically. Then out of the blue, in mid click, the grenade exploded splattering banana cream pie all over everything in a five-yard radius.

The fire demon held back his fury and wiped the pie off his face. The plushie stood on a pile of crates a few yards away, laughing uncontrollably at Hiei's current state.

Then the fire youkai lost his temper and charged the plushie with his katana.

Or, at least that's what he would have done had he not slipped on the pie-coated ground and fallen over.

[[in the control room]]

Back in the control room, everyone was hysterical. Nikki was the only one able to keep their composure; she sat in her chair, arms crossed, snickering at the fire demon that was covered in banana pie. The other four fell on the floor, giggling nonstop. When they recovered, each congratulated Nikki for her excellent work (particularly Andrea, who was pleased to see that she wasn't the only one who could properly pull a prank) and walked into the other room, still grinning broadly.

The other room of the house was sort of like a recreation room. It had couches, a TV (a TV with a GameCube and a PlayStation, that is), and a five-level bunk bed.

Nikki was glomping the Bakura plushie on the second level.

"You were so awesome, Bakura-Chan!" However, the plushie did not reply. If plushies could die, this one was going to suffer from asphyxiation shortly.

Elli climbed up onto the topmost bunk, and spoke to Liz.

"Having fun?" she asked, grinning, already knowing her friend's answer.

"Duh!" Liz responded, smiling. "What's in store for them tomorrow?"

Elli pondered the question for a while. Then she shrugged.

"Dunno, I'm too tired to think. I've gotta sleep to refuel my thinking power," she laughed, lying down on the bed. Liz nodded and turned over on her own bed. Soon all the five girls were asleep.

The next morning dawned bright and sunny. Neha was the first up. She loved computers and proceeded to boot every one of them up in the control room, finding that not much had changed since the previous day. She sat back in her plush chair with a hot cup of Mocha Java, observing them. Kuwabara was on his bed, keeping as far way from the bookshelf as he possibly could. Yusuke was greasing back his hair, muttering something about a dogcatcher. Kurama was outside already, walking towards the city. And Hiei was sitting on a pile of crates polishing his katana.

Neha monitored the screens until her friends woke up.

Andrea, Elli, Liz, and Nikki came into the control room. Neha turned to face her friends. There was a brief silence as they observed the monitors, each grasping coffee, hot chocolate, milk, orange juice, or AriZona Iced Tea. Then Elli spoke up.

"Okay," she told them. "Yesterday was practice, today the real stuff starts." Then she glanced at the plushies and gerbils, to make sure they were listening. "Today, Andrea is going to be the boss. And that goes for all of you. Now let's get busy, we have lots of pranks to pull and we've only got twenty hours left, so let's get moving!"

The others nodded and went to find their backpacks. In a matter of moments, they were all ready, and out the door. Elli motioned to ten of her gerbils, and they lifted her into the air without much trouble.

"Okay," she said to her friends, taking out her laptop and opening it. "You guys go get our second observation area ready, and I'll set the bait." And with that the gerbils flew away.