Author's Notes: I do not own the characters of G.I. Joe or X-Men Evolution! They are the sole, respective property of Hasbro and Marvel Comics. The universe of the Misfit and all characters including Althea, Blind Master, Sergeant Snuffles, Lina, Xi, Lance's "woobie", B.A's coffee and Trinity are all property of gifted writer, Red Witch! Dinosaucers is owned by Coca-Cola Entertainment and DiC Studios Incorporated. I do own the OC characters, Justin (aka Whitelighter) and the Dinosaucers Struthio, Raptor, Compy, Plateo, and Montacera! Any songs you see are not mine! I am not here to earn any money off this fic, and I have credited everyone and their respective creations, so please for the love of God, don't sue me! Anyway, now that it's Friday, I thought of a cute one-shot of how Justin's first week in the Misfits would go! Read and enjoy! Constructive criticism welcome! Also, I have changed this fanfic accordingly to delete any song-lyrics, so please for the love of God don't delete me! I'm being good!
Weekly Misfit Adjustments
Monday…
"C'mon, c'mon, hustle everyone! Move your legs and shake your bum!" yelled Roadblock in verse as the Misfits finished their mile run, all of them slightly breathless from running four times along the enormous track with weights attached to their arms and legs. Still, several such as Todd, Althea, Xi, and Pietro looked as if they could have run two or three more miles for their training if desired.
"OK, kids! Ten minutes rest, and then hit the dojo!" Low Light called out.
"Ten? Usually it's five minutes we're given to cool down after we run," Lina remarked between pants, a bit confused, "So why the extra time?"
"Why else, Lina?" smirked Pietro disdainfully as he indicated with his head at the lagging Justin who was still on his third lap, "It'll take chubby cheeks the full ten minutes to even catch up to our level."
Fred defended, "Hey, cut him some slack and be nice, Pietro. It's Justin's first day of training here on the Pit. And Blind Master wanted Justin to exercise without using his powers or the Scout ring the Dinosaucers gave him. Have a heart, will ya?"
"Fred, this is my brother you're talking to here," Wanda said, glowering at the albino, "He doesn't know the meaning of the word much less have it for anyone."
"You're just grumpy because I took all the toilet paper from the bathroom before you really needed it last night," Pietro sniffed.
"No, I'm grumpy because you ran my favorite jacket through the washer along with your bleached shirt this morning! Thanks to you, I'm now the proud owner of a tye-dyed, red-and-white, spotted trench-coat!"
"Details, details…" scoffed the egomaniac, ducking to avoid the ten-pound weight Wanda hurled at his head.
Eventually, Justin managed to finish his mile after only seven minutes into the break. At the instant he crossed the line, the teenager collapsed in a heap on the grass.
"How do you guys do this?" panted Justin as he weakly lay on his back next to Althea who was waiting patently for the new recruit to finish.
"We're used to it, that's all. We've all been in training and battles longer than you have, and army training isn't something you can just jump on and excel at straight away. It's gonna take time and hard work before your body adjusts to it, but you'll eventually get stronger from this."
"Of course, with your extra pounds, it'll take longer than usual, huh, chubby cheeks?" Pietro sneered as he loomed over the exhausted Justin, leaning over Whitelighter with his hands clasped behind his back.
"Love you, too, Pietro," sighed Justin in a defeated tone, unwilling to get into a fight and tire himself even more.
"Boy, if you're this pathetic when doing our warm-ups, I hate to think how badly you're gonna stink when you actually try fighting on the mat! Heck, I'm betting even Lina can beat you up with one of her hands tied behind her back! And speaking of which…can you make it look good? I've got thirty bucks riding on your imminent failure."
"Pietro!" growled Althea. Yet the speed-mutant carried on, eagerly picking on his new target.
"Chubby cheeks, chubby cheeks! Chubby, chubby, chubby cheeks!" Pietro sang, dancing around and leaping like an idiotic frog, avoiding Althea's swipes.
"I take it he's always like this?" Justin asked, deadpanned.
"He annoys everyone, Justin," Althea said while giving Pietro an annoyed look, "Pietro wouldn't be Pietro if he didn't have to open his big mouth and show off his stupid ego every waking second of his soon-to-be shortened life. But…he's a good person and a reliable guy, and not to mention it's nice having him around when we want to annoy someone. You'll learn soon enough not to take him seriously except in rare cases."
"At least he's not being truly malicious about it," Justin commented as he and Althea watched Pietro running away from the wraths of Xi, Todd, Wanda, and Lina, all of them covered with silly string, "And as for being called 'chubby cheeks', I guess I don't mind it really. I've been called a lot worse before. And it's better than being called 'half-breed' or the other nicknames he's tried on me before like 'Ned Flanders knock-off' or a 'Jean Grey clone'."
"Personally …I would have taken that last one as an insult," Althea quipped, raising one eyebrow as she saw Wanda hex the screaming pest against a tree.
Tuesday…
"Try again, Justin. I know you can do it. Just concentrate," the Blind Master encouraged gently as Justin shut his eyes and focused as hard as he could on the image of the candle in front of him. It was late afternoon, and the Blind Master decided that he and his son could use some alone time to work on improving Justin's control over his orbing powers, considering that the young one managed to almost perfect his use of his healing powers. It was also a chance for Justin to try out his new battle Misfit-uniform. It was a blue uniform with a yellow stripe running vertically down the center along with yellow gloves and a blue-and-yellow headband around his forehead. And on top of this, Justin was wearing an olive-green, lambskin army jacket.
Right now, Blind Master and Justin were in the ninja dojo on the Pit, seated on the floor next to a table with a single, thick candle in the middle. The African ninja master was trying to encourage the new Misfit to teleport the candle from the table into his hands, but they had been at it for the past hour with no success. Justin tried squinting with his eyes, making hands gestures, and picturing the candle in his mind as an attempt for a telepathic connection, but nothing worked.
"It's not working," moaned Justin, "And we know I can orb stuff when I get scared or excited, but in other situations, I can't get it."
"Don't say that, Justin," Blind Master said a bit sternly yet gently at the same time as he placed a hand on his son's temple, "I know this may seem difficult, but I want you to learn so that you could defend yourself against any future dangers that may come you way soon. We can't depend on your fright and adrenaline forever as a channel to your telekinetic orbing, especially since emotions are powerfully unstable. And I don't want you to give up on this, especially since I do not wish to be the one to tell Allo that you were seriously injured or killed in battle or by Gideon and the other Whitelighters. Neither of us want you to get hurt if it can be helped."
"It still scares me," Justin confessed in a whisper, "I don't think I'd ever like fighting."
"I know you don't, and there's nothing wrong with your being pacifistic and gentle, young one. But you must learn if you ever wish to prevent your powers from getting out of control and endangering people inadvertently."
Blind Master sighed as he helped Justin rise to his feet, declaring, "We'll call it a day for now, Justin, and…what's wrong? You're shivering."
Justin rubbed his arms for warmth as he replied, "Yeah…I think it's the air conditioning in the dojo or something. Wow, I could really use a blanket -"
On cue, to Justin and Gabriel's complete and total surprise, there was a flash of light before a sheet of sparkling orbs and auras covered Justin's shoulders before materializing into a small, thin, cotton blanket.
"Whoa!" Justin gasped, stunned.
"You did it! You actually managed to orb an object, even though it wasn't the candle we originally intended!" the Blind Master smiled with pride and satisfaction.
"Hey, this blanket looks familiar," Justin murmured as he took a closer look on the fabric, "I swear I could have seen this before…"
"Describe it, Justin."
"Well…it's threadbare and worn-out, as if it's been kept for a long time. And it's small, made of cotton, and light-blue. Hey, if I didn't know any better, I could swear this is a baby-blanket."
"Oh no," groaned Blind Master, suddenly realizing where Justin had seen this particular blanket before as he and Justin felt a telltale tremor run throughout the Pit along with general yelling from Pietro and Lance.
"DIE, PIETRO! GIVE ME BACK MY WOOBIE!" screamed Lance from outside the dojo as they all felt another wave of earth rise and crash against the ground in an attempt to crush Pietro in a very painful manner.
"I didn't do anything!" shrieked Pietro in a girly-like pitch as Justin and Blind Master spotted Pietro dashing past the window with Lance in hot pursuit, "I swear, I didn't touch you blanket this time! I'm innocent! It wasn't me this time, I swear!"
"Yeah right, speedy! You said that last time before I found out you gave it to Junkyard's dog to use as a chew toy after using it as a rag to scrub the toilets in the men's room during your KP duty! Come back here so I can brain you!" Lance roared, chasing Pietro while swinging a two-by-four as a club with several nails jutting out at one end.
"It was a week ago! Get over it – AUGH! OOH! OW! YEOW! OWIE, OWIE, OWIE! Oh holy mother of – GHAAAAHAHAHA! AAAAAAUUUUGGGH, HELP ME! HELP ME, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!"
It took Gabriel, Justin, Spirit, Shipwreck and several other G.I. Joe soldiers about ten minutes to calm the Misfit down and settle this whole mess out…
"My baby, my baby, my baby…" sighed Lance in distressed contentment as he snuggled his baby-blanket against his face like a tender newborn, hugging his prized possession for the entire world's worth. Luckily for Justin, Lance understood enough to forget his anger when he realized it was an accident. Meanwhile, Justin was using his healing powers to mend a very battered and bloodied Pietro who was twitching on the ground with his limbs strewn and broken akimbo and in very odd angles previously thought physically impossible.
"I'm so sorry, Pietro!" gasped Justin worriedly as he bathed his teammate with the soothing sunlight, "I didn't mean to get you into trouble! It was an accident! I'm really sorry!"
Pietro managed to gasp, hissing despite the extreme pain, "Whitelighter…when…my bones knit…you…are so dead."
Wednesday…
All the Misfits were in their classroom sometime during the late morning as they all finished their current lesson. Cover Girl was the instructor for the day.
"Well, I'm proud to say most of you scored very well on your history tests…except one," Cover Girl remarked as she handed back the intimidating, white, stapled packets back to the teenagers.
"Gee, I wonder who that could be?" sneered Pietro at Todd as he exclaimed with mock surprise, "Ah, but as usual, another perfect 100, an A-plus! Hardly anything challenging, but of course, I can't expect the rest of you to match up to my wits!"
"Actually, you're not the only one, Quickie," smirked Todd as he turned the front of his test to reveal another, big, red "A+". Pietro was a bit taken aback.
"Wait a minute…you got a perfect score?" Pietro asked, shocked, "You, Toad, the person who thinks the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria are brands of refried beans? You, the person who learned about Oliver Cromwell through Monty Python? You, the person who thinks prohibition was a deliberate, secret conspiracy theory by aliens to cause the American government to worship the Amazon women from the planet Jupiter? I don't believe it!" (Author's note)
"Actually, that last one was Shipwreck's idea, and tests don't lie, Quickie! I aced this one!" smiled Todd as he waved his paper tauntingly as proof in front of the silver-haired mutant. Althea and the rest of the Misfits grinned as they also showed to Pietro their exams. Each and every one of them, from Trinity to Fred to Lina got a perfect 100 on their exams.
"So did we, Pietro. Hate to burst your perfect little bubble," Althea chuckled, her head rested on one hand with her elbow on her desk. Pietro was flustered, primarily because he was getting shown up.
"Wait a minute! Then who was the person who didn't get an A?"
On cue, everyone turned around to see Justin as Cover Girl handed back his history test last. Justin's face burned a bit as his face fell in disappointment as Cover Girl then sighed as she tapped a finger on his desk, murmuring, "You're going to have to try harder, Justin. I'll see to it that Gabriel can help you out on the next assignment, and I'll be here to provide extra tutoring if you need me."
Now humiliated, Justin nodded, mumbling, "Yes, Cover Girl."
"What did you get, Justin?" Lina asked kindly, trying to make an effort to help Justin not feel too badly about his first exam as the rest of the Misfits waited expectantly. The brown-haired adolescent nervously placed his test face-down on his desk as he looked down on the floor. Pietro then grinned as he zoomed out of his desk and snatched the test off Whitelighter's desk before Justin could react.
"Hey!" gasped Justin. But it was too late as Pietro started laughing.
"Wah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" he guffawed loudly for everyone in the room to hear, holding his sides, "A D-minus! You got a D-minus! On a test that even Toad and Freddy can ace! Wah ha ha ha ha ha!"
"Pietro…" growled Cover Girl as she crossed her arms in front of her chest in warning. But Pietro was having too much fun as he continued teasing Justin, not noticing the angry looks he was getting.
"Boo hoo hoo!" Pietro continued to jab, imitating a baby as he brought his hands to his eyes like he was crying, "What's the matter, Whitelighter? Embarrassed that you don't know your American history very well? Did the Dinosaucers even bother teaching you stuff about your world? Or were they too busy trying to trying to hide you in the desert to even take you to a museum or a library?"
"Don't listen to my brother, Justin," groaned Wanda irritably, tempted to shoot a hex-bolt, despite the consequences of KP duty, "He's just being a jerk like always."
"It's okay, Wanda," Justin tried to placate, hoping to prevent a fight, "I don't mind it, especially since it's true I could use some help in my studies. And I know Pietro doesn't mean it."
Still, it was too delicious for the speedster to resist as he blithely continued, "Are you kidding? You're beyond help, kiddo! I mean, Freddy and Toad aren't the sharpest tacks in the bunch, and I thought I'd never be able to meet someone who'd do as badly as them! You must really be a lost case, huh, chubby-cheeks? I mean, if I ever lost to Toad or Blob, I'd want to crawl into a cave and die!"
"Pietro…" warned Lance in a hard tone as Fred, frowning, began to crack his knuckles at the sight of Justin, pained, looking at the side and averting his gaze. Still, the albino mutant couldn't resist turning the knife a bit.
"I mean, heck even if you got a perfect student like me to tutor you day and night, you'd still wouldn't be able to score an A-plus to save your life!" Pietro howled.
"Is that so, Pietro? Is that you way of declaring a challenge, then?" a baritone voice growled with simmering anger from behind. Pietro irked before he weakly turned his head to see Cover Girl and Blind Master, glaring directly at the white-haired Adonis. Amazing for the ninja master who could still look as if to peer directly into Pietro's eyes. And even more amazing was the fact that Pietro and the other Misfits could tell the Blind Master was seriously ticked off; he certainly appeared to be angrier than Althea had usually seen him in the past.
"Pietro's in trouble, Pietro's in trouble…" Daria, Quinn, and Brittney sang softly in their sing-song, merry voices as the said-mutant chuckled weakly.
000-
"Me and my big mouth," muttered Pietro grumpily as he and Justin were studying for the upcoming civics and economics test the following Monday with the Blind Master looking on sternly. It was past 11:30 at night, and yet the ninja master still wasn't going to let Pietro quit on his tutoring session with Justin, even though Pietro was trying to help Justin study for the past four hours without a minute's break.
"I don't hear you tutoring, Quicksilver," warned Blind Master dangerously as he patiently flipped through his book in Braille, "And remember, your punishment is linked to Justin's next exam grade. If he fails his next test, you will continue to tutor him for another week."
"At least I'll be able to get a better grade with you helping me, Pietro. And even if you didn't want to, I still really appreciate the gesture," Justin offered optimistically, trying to help his friend feel less troubled and resentful.
"Oh shut up, you Ned-Flanders knockoff," growled Pietro, giving Justin the evil eye.
Thursday…
Justin was groaning as he emerged from the shower facilities, now fully dressed. He still wasn't used to the intense training, and his body threatened to buckle and fall apart every second he stood upright. As Justin numbly limped his way on the dirt-beaten path, an object caught his eye behind two crude-oil metal canisters next to the entrance of the motor-pool and all-purpose garage. Justin knelt down and picked it up. It was a dirtied and battered teddy bear, the fur dark brown and the eyes black and glassy. Yet it had a cute coffee-colored muzzle and paws, and it was surprisingly dressed in snug and sharp-looking army ranger uniform, dark-green colored with even a black, plastic little belt and gun holster. Yet despite the childishness, Justin found himself liking the teddy bear, and regardless of the fact that it was covered with dirt, grime, and crude oil from the motor pool, Justin wouldn't have minded keeping it. He then noticed a tag sown on the front of the bear's front-pocket of its army uniform, carefully spelling out the word "BEACHHEAD".
"Beachhead? Is that your name?" Justin giggled to the bear as he carefully cradled it in his arms while walking to the laundry room, "Well, I think we should get you cleaned up first…"
A few minutes after Justin left…
"Yo guys, we're in trouble!" Todd whispered in a panic to Lance, Xi, and Pietro, his eyes wide and sweat crawling down his back as the four of them ducked behind the closest dumpster, "I can't find the bear! I lost him!"
Lance's eye twitched as he grabbed Toad by the collar and hissed, "Toad…please, for the love of everything that is sane and holy, tell us you're joking! Tell us this is a lie and that Sgt. Snuffles is still where you hid him last time while we went to go torture Beachhead! Tell us you didn't lose the only thing that can prevent Beachhead from hunting us down, sawing off our limbs, running over our carcasses with a tank, and putting our heads on stakes, and not in that particular order!"
"Uh…OK, I won't tell you, yo," gulped the frog-like mutant.
"How could you possibly lose Sgt. Snuffles?" griped Pietro, "We told you to hold on to the bear while we distracted Beachhead with those stink-bombs!"
"I swear, someone took him, yo! I needed to go to the bathroom, and I left the teddy bear in a safe place where no one could spot it! And when I was done, I went back and the bear was gone!"
"Where did you leave him?" whispered Xi fiercely, "If don't find that teddy bear soon, Beachhead is going to kill us…and that's ONLY if we're lucky! And you know that an angry Beachhead is enough to scare even me!"
"I think I left Sergeant Snuffles behind the crates at the motor-pool at the Pit!"
"You think?" echoed Xi incredulously.
"Well, it was either that or the vending machines, the dojo, or the pool hall, or Hawk's office…actually, I don't even remember where I went before I had to go, yo."
"We're dead," groaned Lance, "We are completely and thoroughly screwed! We've never lost Sergeant Snuffles before!"
"I vote we relocate to Antarctica!" Pietro suggested weakly before he groaned in disappointment, realizing, "Oh who are we kidding! Beachhead would chase us down to Jupiter if it meant making us pay for losing the bear!"
"Maybe we can trick Beachhead with another bear, yo!" suggested Toad frantically as he nervously quivered, "Maybe if we get another teddy bear and dress it up like him, we can fool Beachhead into thinking it's Sgt. Snuffles! I mean, Pietro can sow, can't he? Just make another bear quick before Beachhead finds out!"
"There is absolutely no way in hell I'm going to make a bear for -!" began Pietro before a scream of rage bellowed throughout the entire G.I. Joe base, strong enough to send the birds scattering, to cause Junkyard's dogs to howl, and even for Logan to faintly detect it with his sensitive hearing back at the X-Mansion.
"WHERE'S SERGEANT SNUFFLES? WHO TOOK SERGEANT SNUFFLES? WHERE ARE THOSE KIDS? I'LL KILL 'EM! I'LL KILL 'EM WITH MY BARE HANDS! TRINITY, GIVE ME THE BIGGEST GUN YOU'VE GOT!" roared the G.I. Joe ranger.
"I'll get my sowing kit," Pietro said promptly as he did an about face and dashed back to the Misfit manor.
Unfortunately…
"You lost Sergeant Snuffles?" howled the ski-masked ranger in frenzied madness as he chased after Lance, Xi, Todd, and Pietro with a specialized large shoulder cannon built by Trinity that looked similar to a bazooka, except it functioned much, much differently.
"Yeow!" yelled Xi as he narrowly dodged a beam of light shot from the cannon only to see it strike the tank next to him before it exploded into actual subatomic particles, disintegrating and discharging the metal vehicle into a non-fiery and cold molecular blast before making a large hole of where the tank once stood. It was then that the four mutant boys realized that being hit by the weapon was NOT a good thing.
"We're gonna die just because you had to go to the bathroom, Toad!" snapped Lance.
"Oh shut up and hide, yo!" snapped Todd back in return, "And if Pietro actually made a teddy bear that looked like Sergeant Snuffles, we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place, yo!"
"Hey, I can't find furry brown fabric on an army base, remember!" snapped Pietro in defense as he ducked another beam of light which struck and disintegrated several trash cans instead, "The best thing I could do was make it out of Freddy's corduroys!"
Meanwhile, as several of the Joes were trying to stop Beachhead from killing the Misfit boys, Daria, Quinn, and Brittney were excitedly twittering and jotting down notes of three identical pink notepads while observing the effects of their new weapon. Lina and Wanda were watching, deadpanned, along the sidelines with the triplet eleven-year olds.
"What is that thing and what on Earth would have possessed you to give to Beachhead of all people?" Wanda asked, amused, as she was surprised by the fact that a single shot from the cannon caused the men's bathrooms to crumble into thin air, leaving behind its interior intact and exposing Quick Kick, Deep Six, and Cross County to new depths of humiliation for all to see while doing their "business" in the stalls.
"Will you twerps quit staring?" yelled Deep Six hoarsely as he gathered his pants around him.
"Hey, don't blame us! You should really learn to close the stall door, Deep Six!" hooted Recondo as he and several other Joes rolled around weakly on the ground and laughing hard enough to bust a lung.
"It's a molecular-combustion cannon we were designing for a hobby!" chirped Quinn as she jotted down, repeating her scribble out loud, "Girls, we need to note that the trigger has a one-sixteenth of a second faster reaction time than we previously calculated."
"I'll double-check the coefficients along with looking at the polonium radio-wave generator when we get to the lab," Daria said as she made a note in a professional manner.
"So what does this cannon do exactly?" Wanda asked, "Not that I'm actually worried for my lousy-excuse of a brother or anything, mind you."
"It basically reduces all the bonds between the molecules of any solid matter, no matter how hard or indestructible it is! It can even render adamantium into nothing if given the chance! And once it destroys all the atomic bonds, it causes the mass to be so unstable, it practically explodes into tiny, microscopic particles without the heat or fire! It's the perfect thing to use to blow things up! All the damage and none of the mess, all nice and neat and effective!" Brittney added as she started adding the value of the physics heat constant to her equation she was scribbling.
"Dare we ask what happens if it hits a person?" Lina sighed as she winced at the sounds of Xi and Pietro screaming for mercy.
The three triplets gave demonic smiles as they replied, "We don't know yet…that's why we gave Beachhead the chance to try it out for us. We get the results and none of the trouble!"
"Hey, what's going on?" Justin asked as he looked on the scene with slightly disturbed eyes, a bit uneasy from the attempts of carnage while Althea, Fred, and Shipwreck managed to grab hold of Beachhead, "And who's that guy chasing Todd and the other guys?"
"That's Beachhead, one of the Joes, and the only thing you need to know about him to steer clear whenever he's -"
Wanda's eyes then went as wide as saucers as she turned her head to the younger boy, only to spot a familiar object in Justin's hands.
"Justin, are you nuts?" she hollered shrilly.
"Huh? What? What'd I do?" Justin asked nervously, now a bit scared that he did something wrong. But it was too late as Beachhead then detected Justin on the sidelines as well as to what the new Misfit was carrying in his arms.
"YOU!" snarled Beachhead as he dropped the molecular-combustion cannon to the ground, his eyes twitching significantly through the eyeholes of his emotionless mask as he stomped towards Whitelighter, his hands itching to grab the new recruit by the throat and throttle him, the veins standing our of his neck and hands tightly, his breaths coming out in short, hot growls from the deepest, inhumane fury while his face burning redder than a tomato underneath his face guard. Behind him, Todd, Lance, Pietro, and Xi were still at the top of the flagpole, unwilling to get down from their position after scurrying up to the top like scared squirrels, but still managed to get a good look below as to what was going on.
"Oh no…" Lance said as his face went white.
"He doesn't stand a chance," mourned Xi as he saw Beachhead grab the scared teenager by the shoulders, preventing him from leaving.
"We finally got a new recruit, and we lose him to Beachhead of all people" moaned Todd.
"Eh, what're you gonna do?" Pietro shrugged uncaringly and soon found himself under three piercing glares by his other teammates.
"What! What'd I say?" blurted out Pietro.
Meanwhile, Blind Master was about to go rescue his son while Beachhead's strong, sinewy hands went towards Justin's collar, nearly jerking the boy's head back and forth like a bobble-head toy as the ranger snarled murderously, "Give me the bear!"
"But…but he's mine!" whined Justin, unable to see the winces of painful doom and hear the gasps of horrified shock all around him when he made that statement, "I found him! Unca Beachhead's mine! You can't take Unca Beachhead! I found him!"
There was a small moment of silent surprise and bewildered shock as everyone's minds just slightly snapped from hearing this.
"What?" Beachhead growled dangerously, now ready to squeeze Justin until his head popped off.
Justin repeated, still scared out of his wits and trying not to cry as he cowered and stammered, "Unca Beachhead is mine! I found the teddy bear next to the motor-pool! Please, let me keep him! Don't take Unca Beachhead away!"
"You…named…Sergeant Snuffles…'Unca Beachhead'?" sputtered Flint nearby, his eyes crinkled in shock. He didn't know whether to be amused or repulsed for it was both disturbing and disgusting as well. And the same, indescribable look was on the rest of the audience's faces as they looked on.
"Uh…yeah, that's his name, isn't it?" Justin asked Flint as he pointed to the tag on the teddy bear's uniform, "It says so right here, 'Beachhead', so I thought that was its name. And I added the Unca part, like the name 'Unca Scrooge' from TV."
"Beachhead, let my son go," Blind Master growled with stern power before turning his attention to Justin, "Whitelighter, that tag is to indicate the owner of the teddy bear you're holding right now, not the toy's name. This is the army ranger, Beachhead, and he's one of the Joes who leads and organizes the team over at the Pit. The teddy bear you're holding is his, and it would be best for the both of you if you gave it back, even if you did find him first."
Looking a bit sad, Justin still respectfully gave Sergeant Snuffles back to the cooling down Beachhead who snatched it rudely without any thanks. Beachhead was looking scandalized as if he still wanted to chew Justin out, but then when he grasped his teddy bear, he remarked, blinking in surprise, "Hey, Sergeant Snuffles feels warm…and soft."
Justin shyly clasped his hands behind his back as he said nervously, a bit scared, "Um…well, he was dirty and covered with some of the crude oil when I found him. So…s-s-so I ran Unca Beachhead through the washer and dryer and used some of that fabric softener and stain-remover to clean him up."
Beachhead's eyes nearly popped out of his green ski-mask as his voice dropped to a whisper of disbelief, still in shock, "You…you cleaned him up? You cleaned up Sergeant Snuffles?"
Justin was actually shaking a bit, not sure if he was still going to be punished as he confessed, "Well…yeah."
"You didn't decide to hold him for ransom? Tie him to the top of a flagpole? Attach him on a model rocket to the moon? Send him over a one-way trip in a barrel over Niagara Falls?"
Justin gave a wry look of disbelief at the army ranger as he shook his head, saying, "Um…no. I like Unca Beach – uh…Sergeant Snuffles. I think he's a cute teddy bear."
There was a long pause, and you could have heard a bird chirping miles away during the silence. Beachhead then said the sentence that practically caused every Joe and Misfit, including General Hawk, to feel their hearts and jaws drop down to their feet in complete surprise.
"Nah, kid…you can call Sergeant Snuffles 'Unca Beachhead' if you want. Hell, I kinda like the name myself," Beachhead offered softly, "What's your name, kid? And for God's sake, stand up straight when you're addressing a superior."
"Um…Private Justin Moore," Justin stammered as he tried to look into the man's eyes as best as he could while at full attention, "And…and I'm really sorry! I didn't know that Sergeant Snuffles was yours! I would have returned him had I known. Please don't kill me!"
Beachhead studied the terrified boy for a full minute before he gave a small smile and held out the bear to Justin as an offering. Justin was amazed and surprised at the gesture but he managed to still gratefully clasp the teddy bear against his chest and cradle it as his own comfort toy.
"Oh…My…God…" Althea said slowly in a cracked voice.
"Beachhead, are you feeling all right?" Hawk managed to ask as he irked.
The army ranger frowned as he barked, snarling and daring anyone to make a joke, before he faced Justin again, "Oh shut up! I'm just…the kid could use the bear more than I can. And it's only just for one night! And if anything happens to Sergeant Snuffles, Private, it'll be your head, you understand?"
"Yes sir…" Justin gulped meekly. At this, Beachhead then dropped his fierce façade as he chuckled.
"And I think we'll get along just fine, Justin," grinned Beachhead as he draped his heavy arm around the shyly bewildered Justin's shoulders and walked him back to the Misfit manor. The rest of the Joes and Misfits observing this felt their eyes bulge and their jaws practically drop past the crust of the Earth.
"I see it, but I don't believe it…" murmured Lady Jaye, not sure if she was willing to convince herself that her eyes were not playing tricks on her.
"It's the end of the world as we know it," Tripwire uttered in a dramatic and mournful voice.
Friday…
Justin threw up in the bedpan next to him, emptying the contents of his stomach for the third time that day as Lina and Lifeline hovered nearby. Justin was in a bed in the G.I. Joe infirmary, and despite getting his stomach pumped, he still couldn't shake off the nausea the was ailing him.
"Oh by Reptilion, I just wanna die," moaned Justin as he weakly flopped back into bed.
"I told you not to try B.A.'s new seaweed-jelly rolls at dinner," Lina murmured as she took Justin's pulse, making tsk, tsk noises all the meanwhile, "Word of advice…if not even Fred is willing to eat a dish, you know it must be bad. I'll go check up on you later after I go get some more medication for the acid-reflux reaction."
As Lina left, Justin rested his head against the pillows weakly, hoping he could get some rest and peace and quiet…
"Hi, Justin," chimed in Trinity in harmonious, cutesy voices as they loomed over the patient on his bed.
So much for that expectation…
"Um…hey Daria, hey Brittney, hey Quinn," Justin politely greeted each of the girls, "What's up? Uh…if you're here to visit me, then it's really nice of you. I could use the company and -"
"Strip him, girls!" cheered Daria as Quinn and Brittney jerked Justin's hospital gown off him, leaving him as bare as a bear, so to speak.
"Augh!" Justin yelped as he tried to use the blanket to cover himself, "Girls, what on the mother planet are you - !"
"Say cheese!" Brittney grinned as she took a photo, the flash blinding Justin painfully and causing him to drop his hold on his blanket and rub his eyes painfully.
"Aaahh! Brittney!"
"Electroshock therapy…STAT!" yelled Quinn as she took out two, miniature pink paddles connected to a defibrillator strapped to her back.
Brrzzzzaaaaaapp!
"Yeow, my back!"
"Hmmm…patient shows no signs of glowing," Brittney mused.
"Try it again!" Daria yelled as she lightly placed a red-light bulb on Justin's nose before getting clear.
BBBRRRRZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAPPPP!
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"
"Cool, we created a Rudolph!" remarked Daria, laughing, as the electric current coursing through the teenager's body caused the red-light bulb on a dazed Justin's nose to glow brightly, bathing the room slightly in bright crimson.
"And finally…Trinity's complimentary bikini wax!" grinned Daria as she and Brittney brought out huge strips of durable cloth dripping with hot wax.
Plap! Plap!
Rrrriiiipp!
"YEOW! That hurts!" yelped Justin as Trinity threw back his medical gown, giggling like maniacs as they darted back out of the room. A bit irritated, Justin managed to put back on his gown despite the soreness and stinging burns on his back from where Quinn had shocked him. He tried to tug the light-bulb off his nose, but he winced at the pain, then discovering that it was super-glued on.
"Gee, and to think that after the hate-curse, I thought they'd like me…" sighed Justin as he lay back on his bed, now completely fatigued and drained.
"Ah, they like you plenty, Justin," grinned Lance as he pulled back the white curtain hiding him and his bed from view, exposing that Lance in his own medical bed in the infirmary next to Justin's, "Trust me, if Trinity hated you, they would really torture you. This doesn't even register a blip on their radars for pranks and weird experimentation."
"Lance? What are you doing here? You're not hurt, are you? Are you OK? Are you all right?"
The earth-shaker couldn't help but smile at Justin's concern for Lance rather than for himself as he commented sadly, "You could say that…I had one of my attacks yesterday."
"Attack?" Justin asked, puzzled. Sighing, Lance explained the situation to Justin, on how Magneto did genetic experimentation on him while he was in the Brotherhood, how the chemicals he was injected with was viciously causing his DNA to go unstable along with his mutant powers, and how he would have headaches, dizzy spells and would actually go into shock and seizures for the rest of his life that would eventually cause his death if not treated right away. Justin was silent, but he had tears in his eyes before, embarrassed, wiping them away with his hand. From the way Lance made it sound, it was definitely a LOT worse than the hate-curse Justin was subjected to by Gideon.
"I'm so sorry," Justin sniffed hoarsely, whispering.
"I wish some other people felt the same way like you and the other Misfits," Lance sadly smiled as he looked at a small photograph in his hands. Justin saw that it was a pretty, young Caucasian girl with long hair tied into a pony-tail, her rosy cheeks and face radiant and smiling, while wearing a cute outfit of a pink-coat, a white undershirt, and blue Capri pants.
"Who is she, Lance? Is that a friend of yours?" Justin asked, curious and cocking his head to the side.
"It's my girlfriend, Kitty," Lance answered.
"Oh." Justin wasn't so sure how to respond to that, especially since he was given differing testimonies and viewpoints of what exactly happened between the X-Men and Misfits over two months ago, and how Lance was unfairly caught in the middle of the blowout which left him shattered. As much as Justin respected the Misfits, he still wanted to give people a chance rather than accept what he was told about the X-Men as the full truth.
"Do you think she misses you?"
Lance pondered that question for a while before he sighed, "I don't know. She's a strong person, and I know she cares about me and the history we've had together, but…it's hard to say. Especially since Summers and Red are probably doing their best to make sure that she chooses Colossus over me."
"Are they honestly that bad?" Justin asked, his voice in a certain tone that was signaling to Lance to be candid. Though Lance had many opinions about Scott and Jean, he knew that deep down (as much as he hated to admit it), he was a bit biased.
"Well…Summers and Grey have their good points too," Lance admitted, though not without a bit of bitterness, frowning and crossing his arms. Justin nodded.
"Then maybe, Scott and Jean will soon see how much they were wrong about you too," Justin provided gently, "And for what it's worth, even though I haven't known you as long as everyone else, I think you're a good person...and a good friend."
Lance smiled a bit ruefully. It was a bit uplifting, that one small statement. Justin then rested his chin on one hand on his knees as he drew himself into a sitting position on the bed.
"So, tell me about Kitty. What's she like?"
Lance was thoroughly surprised as he blurted out, "What? You want me to talk about Kitty? You actually want me to go on and on about her, even though it drives everyone else up the wall?"
"Call me a sucker for punishment," Justin giggled.
"Well…her full name's Catherine Pryde, but I always called her 'Pretty-Kitty' as a nickname, and she's got the most beautiful brown, puppy-dog eyes…" Lance began, feeling himself starting to like the kid more and more.
Four and a half hours later…
"Yeah, and despite everything, she'd always forget being mad at me, and I really liked it, y'know? I mean, I really thought she loved me enough to want me back in her life, and even though things got rough and crazy, she'd be willing to get over it and welcome me back. I guess it felt good, to be wanted unconditionally like that. You understand right, Justin?"
Justin just remained silent as he continued to look at Lance with an amused face while still resting his head on his hand, propping up his chin. Lance had to smile as he decided to end his discussion. He had to admit, Justin had some resolve. Normally, after an hour or so, everyone else would have begged for Lance to stop (or threaten him to stop, either way showed that they hated his obsession with Shadowcat), but surprisingly, Whitelighter stayed true to his word and didn't mock or laugh Lance even once. Actually, he didn't say anything after the second hour.
"I'm just glad you're so quiet about this, Justin," sighed Lance as he leaned back on his pillows, "Y'know, don't tell Pietro I said this, but I think you're really not so bad as a younger brother, OK?"
No response.
"OK, Justin?"
Still no response.
"Justin?"
A soft snore answered back. Lance then turned to his right to see why Justin was so quiet and respectfully attentive during his Kitty-talk.
Justin fell asleep with his eyes open.
Saturday…
"Yo, Justin," Todd asked as he, Fred and Xi sat next to the young teenager on the couch in the living room, "We've been meaning to ask you about your Secret ring, yo. What's it do and how's it work?"
Justin hesitantly took off his Secret Scout ring and gave it to Fred to look at as he explained, "Well, from what Allo told us, it's a ring that helps you fight when you're in battle. If we activated it by saying the words 'Secret Scout Ring, power up', it'll give whoever wears it increased speed and agility and not to mention helps us withstand attacks better and makes us stronger too."
"So it is like one of those rare power-ups for players in video games, a token that gives a bonus to protect the character?" Xi blinked as he observed the ring all around its sides.
"I guess you could call it that," Justin admitted at the non-related description.
"Could I give it a try?" Fred asked eagerly.
"Sure, I don't see the harm," Justin said, nodding.
Forty-five seconds later…
"Ow! Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!" yelled Fred as Todd and Xi tried their best to fan out the fire in the kitchen while also simultaneously attempting to plug up the open valve to the gas main in the house. Althea ran by with two fire extinguishers in hand, yelling to her father, "Pops, we need another stairway! This one got demolished!"
"Again? That's the third time this month!" Shipwreck yelled from upstairs as he got into his fireproof, plastic, heavy-duty suit he kept in his room for such emergencies while Althea helped the other three put out one portion of the blaze as it spread to the entire ceiling.
Justin ran immediately for the nearest fire alarm on the Joe base to help signal to Barbecue that his services were needed just like Blind Master taught him recently. Looking around wildly, the adolescent was relieved to find a telltale white and red pull-switch on the far side of the house, shielded with a protective glass case. Yet before Justin could pull it, he then noticed several odd notes taped underneath the fire alarm, one after another in succession.
One was in bold, black letters:
Pull ONLY in "emergencies"!
The next one taped underneath it was written in triplicate and underlined:
Do you want us to spell it out? E-M-E-R-G-E-N-C-Y!
The next one Justin could make out in Cover Girl's handwriting:
DO NOT use this for pranks!
Wanda wrote the next one in what Justin hoped was red ink:
Shipwreck, Pietro, this especially means you!
The next slip of paper was angrily scribbled in crayon. Trinity, of course:
We mean it!
Another was ingeniously printed out by a computer printer in block letters:
What part of the word "emergency" do you idiots not understand!
Lina's delicate, cursive script was next:
Are you two TRYING to get KP duty for the next hundred years?
Lance then made the final point hit home:
Screw it…TOUCH THIS AND DIE!
"I'm not Shipwreck or Pietro, and this is an emergency…" Justin had to nervously remind himself as he opened the case and pulled on the white handle for the alarm.
Sunday…
Justin was puzzled when he heard Althea shush him as she grabbed him swiftly by the shoulder and dragged him into the kitchen from the hallway before he could even yelp. Wincing, the chubby boy rubbed his arm, still surprised at how strong the team leader was when he noticed that she and the rest of the Misfits were grinning widely as they gathered around a white coffeemaker.
"Um…hey. What's going on?" Justin asked nervously.
"Finishing your Misfit-initiation, Justin!" cheered Daria as she, Quinn, and Brittney dragged Justin closer to the coffee as Todd was bringing out the white coffee cups. Justin still felt a little uneasy.
"I thought we did that Friday when the girls gave me the facials and when Trinity tried to do a practice lobotomy on me and when we tried doing that boy-bonding bonfire at midnight," Justin asked, raising an eyebrow.
"So that's how we lost the woodshed," Lina remarked as she eyed the male Misfits.
"Actually, that happened when Fred and Pietro accidentally used paint-thinner on the fire, thinking it was water," Xi explained.
Wanda then rolled her eyes at Pietro's forehead where he now had two band-aids taped over his eyes, giggling, "I guess that also explains the loud explosion and why Pietro singed off his eyebrows."
"It's NOT funny!" snapped Pietro.
Fred than explained, "Actually, this is another initiation, Justin! You can't be a Misfit until you try this stuff!"
Justin wrinkled his nose a bit at the familiar odor as Lance handed him a cup. He asked, "Coffee?"
"Not just any coffee, Justin!" Althea grinned as all the Misfits clinked their mugs together as a grand toast, "This is B.A.'s coffee, the good stuff that puts all the Starbucks shops in the world to shame before making them eat their own words and burying them in a landfill! Come on, try it!"
Justin shrugged as he raised his coffee cup to the toast, saying, "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt. Why not?"
000-
"What on earth?" General Hawk bellowed as he and Blind Master ran out to see the other Misfits handlers trying to stop the Misfits from wrecking the Pit during their caffeine-high.
"B.A.'s coffee again?" Blind Master asked in a tired voice at Shipwreck as he tried to grab hold of Pietro who was actually trying to speed by on rocket-engine-powered rollerblades.
"Gee, how'd you guess?" Shipwreck snapped back sarcastically as the speedster dashed past his reach.
"Well, at least Justin's behaving himself," Blind Master sighed with relief.
"If I knew you were coming, I'd have baked a cake, baked a cake, baked a cake!" Justin sang at the top of his lungs while orbing from place to place like a wild, out-of-control drunk driver, disappearing and reappearing in clouds of sparkling lights and orbs.
"You were saying?" General Hawk asked, deadpanned, raising an eyebrow before a bunch of different flavored cakes suddenly appeared all around them in bunches and bunches of white sparks. Indeed, the whole Pit was covered with butterscotch, chocolate, strawberry, mousse, cupcakes, triple-deckers, and an assortment of other pastries and desserts before their very eyes.
"What the heck?" Low Light blurted, "Why's Justin orbing cakes?"
Justin then began singing the song, "That's Amore".
"What the - ?" yelped Shipwreck as the flashing, telltale orbs of white lights completely covered the area surrounding them before Hawk and the G.I. Joe soldiers found themselves knee-deep with various cooked pizzas and bottles and bottles of expensive wine.
"Whoa, Justin must have orbed food from all the restaurants in Italy!" Cover Girl exclaimed, her eyes wide. Shipwreck, on the other hand, looked like a kid who had been told Christmas had come early as he started lovingly hoarding and gathering all the expensive bottles of wine he could reach, grinning like a maniac. Blind Master then realized what was happening as he recalled the session on Tuesday.
"Now I got it!" Blind Master shouted, catching on, "That's how Justin's telekinetic orbing works! Justin has to say what he wants to orb! He needs to concentrate and verbally say what he wants to orb, and his powers are more controllable that way! If he says the name of an object, his mind can generate a clear enough picture for him to mentally orb and summon an object with his powers! Don't you get it! Whitelighter has to call out an object's name in order for it to teleport to him!"
"Are you sure?" General Hawk asked.
"It's the best explanation so far!"
Spirit still seemed slightly skeptical as he said, "I'm sure it's probably another reason than -"
Yet to the Joes' horrors, Justin then began singing the song, "When I see An Elephant Fly" from the movie Dumbo.
"Augh! Run, run, run!" yelled Low Light as he pointed at the unmistakable shapes of the orbs forming into grey and brown elephants teleported from various parts of the world, only to leave the elephants hanging as they hovered in the air for a split second before they plummeted, screaming and roaring, onto the buildings and ground below. Luckily, the elephants weren't orbed high enough to seriously injure themselves. And humorously enough, Shipwreck was trying to save as many wine bottles as he could carry while running from being flattened.
"Yeesh, OK, OK, we believe you now!" gasped Low Light at Blind Master as he helped Cover Girl up from her sprawled position on the ground.
"At least we were lucky no one got hurt from the falling elephants!" Cover Girl exhaled in relief.
"Get this elephant's butt off my back! Get it…Oh GOD! This one's suffering from diarrhea! Augh, IT'S ALL OVER ME! " they heard Beachhead screaming in the distance.
Shipwreck made a sly grin as he quipped, "Well…no one we care about much, anyhow."
"How big of an object can the child possibly orb anyhow?" cried out Spirit.
As if on cue, Justin began singing the Beatles song, "Yellow Submarine".
"I had to ask!" groaned Spirit as he and the other Joes ran for cover as the sky rained down crushing, gigantic weights of six yellow submarines which orbed from various seas and into the skies right above the Pit. Several still had people inside it, and many bewildered and stunned faced were peering out of their windows only to find themselves on dry land. One submarine even had several men cursing loudly in Russian.
"What else can go wrong?" General Hawk groaned. And by Murphy's Law…
"Uh…General Hawk," Mainframe's nervous voice rang through the Joe frequency on his communicator, "I know this sounds weird…but there's a big, brown T-Rex dinosaur on the Joe communication monitor who says he wants to see you and the Misfit-handlers. And doesn't look very happy…"
"A big, brown dino-…uh-oh," murmured Roadblock, his face blanching when it suddenly clicked who was calling.
The Misfit handlers immediately rushed inside to the control room with Mainframe on the main screen communications to see that the G.I. Joe had indeed spoken the truth. It was the Dinosaucer leader, Allo, on the other end, and he did not look entirely pleased. Heck, it was safe to say he was downright angry.
"Uh…hi, Allo," Spirit said too cheerfully, a bit anxious, grinning like an idiot.
Allo's eyes flashed, narrowing as he rumbled lowly, "General Hawk, Moore…care to explain what did your Misfits did to my son?"
"Hey, wait a cotton-pickin' minute! What makes you think it was us?" snapped Shipwreck, immediately defensive and his fists on his hips. Allo glared at Shipwreck before pointing behind himself, moving a bit to the side, and the Misfit-handlers, Mainframe, and General Hawk could see the chaos behind the Dinosaucer through the monitor.
Actually, "chaos" was a relatively light term for the situation. It was rather pure, unadulterated pandemonium that could put the future Armageddon to shame. The entire Lavadome was a mess. All around, all the Dinosaucers were drinking cups of coffee while acting quite peculiar, to put it mildly. Itchy was on his haunches, barking like a seal while balancing a beach-ball on his snout like a complete buffoon. Stego and Bonehead were on the floor in a drunken manner, hiccupping and smiling stupidly while chugging down their umpteenth cup of coffee, the brown liquid dribbling over their uniforms and their goofy faces.
"Hic! Pash me another of them good coffee, Shhh-teeego," drawled Bonehead stupidly as he tried to reach for the huge coffeepot on the counter, but sadly enough, was too drunk to even stand up properly.
"Hee hee, I love you, man! Hic!" Stego said sluggishly, letting loose a loud burp.
Teryx was hanging upside-down from the ceiling like a bat and was shaking so hard, her feathers were actually molting off by the handfuls. Tricero, Plateo, and Bronto-Thunder had already dinovolved to their prehistoric forms and were crashing their way through the walls while roaring and charging madly like blind, crazed animals. Dimetro was feverishly writing a mathematical equation on the walls of the Lavadome, and the Joes could see that the entire room was plastered with little black squiggles and scribbles from Dimetro's black marker as he kept cackling to himself madly like a insane scientist from old horror movies.
"Hee hee hee…take the constant, add the one, take the limit before converting to polar coordinates…" Dimetro cackled eagerly, his hand moving so fast as it wrote his formulas, it was practically a blur. Struthio was hooting while running around, completely naked while streaking all over the Dinosaucer base, and following him was a hyperactive Montacera as she followed by while roller-skating. Yet what was the most odd were the two Dinosaucers, Compy and Raptor, holding hands and skipping (yes, skipping) over and over the room while holding mugs of coffee in their hands and singing "Friendship" in beautiful harmony.
The sight would have been comical if it wasn't so oddly disturbing.
"Apparently, from what I can gather, the Dinosaucers acted like this the instant they finished their morning coffee, and from I could discern from Justin's outbursts before he orbed away, he told me the Misfits gave it to him to give to us as a present by the courtesy of someone named B.A.!" the allosaurus raged, his teeth grit.
"Oh boy," winced Cover Girl.
"We really have to put that stuff under maximum security," groaned Mainframe.
Low Light shook his head as he explained, "We tried that before. Remember the explosion that sent the vault door flying into the Cobra satellite on Mars? That was when the Misfits went through our entire stores of dynamite in one day. Along with us needing a new maximum security vault."
"General Hawk, when you said Justin would be trained for his powers and defending himself, THIS wasn't what I had in mind!" Allo shouted as he turned his attention to the general.
"I know, I know, Allo," sighed Hawk, rubbing his temples and closing his eyes from the migraine. The Dinosaucer then focused his ire on the Blind Master.
"I should have known you'd be a bad influence on Justin, Moore!" snapped Allo.
"Excuse me!" growled the Blind Master right back.
"You heard me the first time!" Allo snarled, unabashed, "All your ninja-training and army tactics are obviously not helpful for Justin's growth if THIS is what results of your foolish ideals and philosophies!"
"Well, this is certainly not surprising," sighed Spirit in the background as the others ignored Allo and Blind Master screaming at each other hoarsely through the monitor, "Already, Justin has caused enough destruction to set us back by a month along with the rest of the Misfits, not to mention relations with the Dinosaucers are pretty much going down the toilet."
"And it's only the first week," groaned Shipwreck, "And Psyche-Out said that it'll be several weeks before Justin can finally get used to being a Misfit and living at the Pit."
Low Light sighed as he saw Allo and Blind Master continue to argue heatedly back and forth, commenting wearily, "Yeah, but how long will it take for us to get used to Justin and the Dinosaucers?"
The End
Author's note: I got the "Oliver Cromwell/Monty Python" joke from Red Witch's excellent humor fic, "Memories are Made of This", so give it a read! It's excellent! and until next Friday for the next one-shot, read and enjoy!
