Prophecy
Disclaimer: Flamingos will rule the world.
"When legend becomes reality,
Three warriors of ancient monsters will rampage the earth,
Of light, dark, and element.
Look to the Heavens,
They will come from there…"
Chapter 18 – Jackie's Birthday
Eventually, July passed without a second thought and plans for the Shadow Realm were set, while some typical teenage hanging out was done in the city as well. Then, finally, Jackie's birthday came. Apparently, it wasn't such a normal birthday as one would hope to have.
When our fellow hacker-boy woke up, it was already a rainy day as always and four gifts were piled on a nearby chair. Already he was disappointed as he remembered that there was no "outsiders" for his birthday. Tien-Xiang was still angry about the fact Jennie's birthday was a complete disaster. Tien didn't even know if his poor mansion could survive another one of the trio's parties.
'Still, it was fun while it lasted,' Jackie reflected. After reading the birthday cards from his uncle, Jennie, Erica, and Mokuba, he went to wash up and get breakfast.
As always, Jackie was the first up in the household so he got dibs on the best foods first. Also, no one would complain that he ate too much and almost emptied the fridge. Hey, he was a growing boy.
Eating on the dining room table, he wondered in what kind of things he would get from his mysterious presents that he had yet to open. A game, maybe? Or maybe Teletubby socks. Yeah, he needed Teletubby socks.
Blinking, Jackie wondered in why he was thinking about socks. Picking up the box of butter, he checked the expiration date. Two months late of date. No wonder. Old butter made him stupid…and slightly drunk.
"Oh, screw it." he muttered, putting another layer of butter on his toast. "I don't care if I get high."
After cleaning up, he spent an hour watching the weather channel for any signs of sun. Nope. Cloudy all week. When Jackie turned off the T.V., he silently sat on the sofa, thinking that he loved the quietness of the morning. Now he thought of it, Jackie would like a private birthday. Smiling, the hacker-boy started to think of flying cheese...
Jennie yawned and stretched her arms as she went downstairs in her pajamas. Knowing Jackie, he would probably be up by now. Yawning again, she was about to pass through the living room and into the kitchen, but a quick movement caught her eye. Groggily looking around, she spotted Jackie running around the room, arms out like the wings of a plane, and making engine sounds. He had a pot on his head and a blanket tied around his throat. Shocked out of her sleepiness, the girl stared at her friend veer around like a plane, occasionally stopping to lift the big pot out of his eyes.
Jackie saw Jennie after a few minutes and cracked into a large, insane smile. "Jennie-weenie! Come play! Play!"
He chased after the girl who immediately ran back upstairs.
"Erica! ERICA! Something's wrong with Jackie! He's calling me a weenie!" Jennie shrieked, running through the halls to Erica's room.
The dark-haired girl opened the door, hair messy and rubbing her tired eyes. "…the hell…?"
Abruptly, Jackie flew out of nowhere and tackled Jennie onto the floor with a bear hug.
He yelled cheerfully, "Jennie-weenie! Play, play! Play with Jackie-weenie!"
Jennie didn't respond, obviously unconscious.
"Uh, ohhhh! Jennie-weenie dead!"
A few doors down behind Jackie, the Kaibas opened their doors. Seto grumbled, "What's all this ridiculous noise?"
Mokuba added, "And so early in the morning, too."
Erica stared vacantly at Jackie in his "clothes" and watched his stretch Jennie's cheeks. Seto and Mokuba followed the girl's eyes and stared, too, at Jackie.
"What…WHAT ARE YOU WEARING, FOOL?" Kaiba yelled, thoroughly shocked and wide awake. Mokuba just gawked with his mouth open.
"I'm…can't I…" Jackie whined, eyes big and teary. "I-I'm Superman!"
With exasperation, the blue-eyed man gave Erica a helpless look. However, she just looked bored and sleepy.
"Must've been the butter," she shrugged.
"What butter?" the Kaibas said weakly.
"He has an allergic reaction that makes him babyish for awhile."
"Oh."
"Nappy time," he yawned. Then Jackie curled up on the floor and sucked his thumb, falling asleep, blankets and pots and all.
Kaiba stood next to the hacker-boy. "Any way to reverse this…reaction?"
"Nope." Erica said casually. "Just have to wait it out. In the mean time, take this time wisely. Once he wakes up again, it'll be like taking care of an overgrown infant."
Mokuba and Kaiba looked at Jackie with stone faces.
"Soooo…anyone up for breakfast?" the dark-haired girl volunteered.
Erica was right. Jackie did act like a big baby. Apparently, Tien-Xiang knew about Jackie's problem and took the excuse of escaping to work, leaving everyone else to deal with the issue.
Jennie was told of Jackie's allergies since she only knew the boy for only three years. Fortunately, this kept her from beating Jackie into a bloody pulp. Unfortunately, Jackie preferred her from anybody else.
So close. So very close.
"Get off me, you stupid Neanderthal!" Kaiba bellowed, almost crushed when Jackie jumped on him for a piggy-back ride. Currently, everyone was in the living room, "dealing" with the issue.
Jackie screamed, "NO, NO, NO! Horseys no speak! Horseys ride! GO, GO, GO!"
Mokuba hid behind the couch (because Jackie played a very mean game of tag) and watched his brother being tortured, while Jennie had an ice pack on her head from previous collisions from Baby-Boy. Erica was just looking at a butter box.
Walking up to Jennie, she muttered, "Huh. The moron ate the whole thing."
Jennie moaned. Suddenly, Jackie jumped off the suffocating Kaiba and turned on the T.V.
"Barney!" the boy wonder shrieked, watching the purple dinosaur's theme song start.
Everyone cried out in fear (Erica threw the butter box behind her, hitting Seto in the face) and ran out of the Godforsakened room. Panting in the kitchen, everyone sat down and brainstormed desperately for plans to trap Jackie somehow for the rest of the day. They did this for forty-five minutes until Jackie ran into the kitchen, holding up a huge bag of candy.
"Me found secret food under Jennie's bed! I'm gonna eat it!" he shouted grandly, the pot tipping over his eyes. Then he ran out again.
Jennie stood up suddenly, throwing down her ice pack angrily. "THAT'S IT! I don't care if Jackie's under the power of butter, but that's MY candy! Come back here, you stupid excuse for the word 'man!'"
Jennie rapidly chased after Jackie. Erica ran after her friend, and the Kaibas followed. Somehow, the four got separated and Erica ended up with Seto while Mokuba was with Jennie.
"Damn it! Where is that stupid squid!" Jennie growled, looking around.
Mokuba finally caught up with the girl, breathing heavily. "Why…why do you…like your candy…that much?"
When Jennie went around the corner, she screamed as Jackie almost ran over her, leaving a trail of wrinkled candy wrappers behind him. The girl got up from the floor and held up a small flag with a candy symbol on it.
"I WILL AVENGE YOU, MY FRUIT-FLAVORED CHILDREN!" she shouted, following the wrapper trail.
Mokuba sighed and muttered, "This just gets stranger and stranger."
Meanwhile, Jackie was stalking Erica and Seto, unaware of the trail that he was leaving. Yet, he had a plan to make the two get kicked out of the house. At the moment, he watched Erica look into rooms while Seto warily looked around corners.
When the dark-haired girl sighed hopelessly, Seto looked at her and blushed slightly. What were the chances that he was with her? Suddenly, they both heard a clatter on the first floor. The two gave a nod and ran downstairs.
Jackie snickered, head suddenly empty looking without his metal pot hat. He followed them down and watched as the two puzzled over his pot on the bottom of the stairs.
"Jackie should be around…" Erica murmured, looking up. Then she scurried to the front door and looked out the driveway. Seto followed after her.
"I doubt he'll be out there. If he is, it'll be impossible to track him down now," commented Seto.
Then a creak sound behind them. Kaiba and Erica whirled around. No one was there. The two looked at each other and stepped outside for a better look.
Just when Kaiba was about to go back in, the door closed with a slam and a small click was heard. Viciously, he shook the handle.
Seto bellowed, "That damn boy locked us out!"
Erica raced to the door and started to bang on it. "JACKIE! YOU ARE SOOOO DEAD!
"Now what!" Kaiba seethed.
"Well," the girl started, "let's find another door. Let's try the back one."
Slowly, Mokuba and Jennie moved toward the boy wonder as they saw him lock the door and windows in actions that seemed aimless. Jackie was humming a nursery song that was completely off tune.
"What is he doing?" the little boy whispered.
"It's probably another one of his pointless tasks in his stupid, small brain," Jennie hissed, still angry that Jackie ate her candy.
Then the boy twirled like a ballerina and hopped off to the living room like a rabbit.
"Okay. When we surround Jackie, we'll jump on him and knock him out," Mokuba said, oblivious to the fact that Jennie was taking a large pan out of her shirt. "On the count of three, we'll-"
"DIEEEEEE!" Jennie cried as she flew to the next room and attacked Jackie.
Mokuba hurried to the living room and saw the rabid girl chase the boy wonder around and around the room.
"STAY STILL, DAMMIT!" Jennie shrieked, swinging her frying pan dangerously around. Jackie just hopped from one place to another, acting like a plane again.
The raven-haired boy exhaled deeply and muttered, heading for his room, "I give up. This'll never end…"
Erica gave one last futile kick on the last door to the house and shouted with fury, "He locked everything, that butter-high ass!"
Seto slumped onto the ground beside a tree and crossed his arms. "The only thing we can do is for your friends to let us in or Jackie's uncle to come home."
"But Jennie won't stop chasing Jackie until she kills him!"
"I know."
"And Tien-Xiang won't be home until nine!"
"I know!"
"And it's only eight in the morning!"
"I KNOW! I'M NOT STUPID!"
Erica messed up her already messed up hair and plopped down next to Kaiba.
"Sorry, 'bout that. Just got hysterical over there," the girl whispered, looking up at the branches of the tree.
Seto scowled and waved the apology away. "Never mind that. I shouldn't have yelled at you."
Erica looked at the man in surprise and smiled warmly. Then she shivered from the rain, huddling into a small ball.
"You alright?" the man asked, concerned.
"Yeah, considering we've been walking in the rain and I'm still in my pajamas," the girl chuckled.
Seto smirked, but it soon vanished when Erica shook from the cold again. Frowning with his eyes looking around for any people, Kaiba sighed with frustration and pulled the dark-haired girl close to him, his arm covering her shoulders.
"W-What the hell are you-" Erica stuttered, starting to turn red.
"Shut up and go to sleep." the man growled in return. "We still have thirteen hours to pass."
The female fidgeted uncomfortably for several minutes and just when Seto was about to snap, she unexpectedly stopped. Seto looked down at the girl and noticed that she was already fast asleep. Giving one of his rare smiles, he leaned his head against the top of hers. Slowly, his eyes drooped and he, too, fell asleep.
While Erica and Seto slept outside, Jennie continued to chase the butter-high boy, but even that started to get boring. Even for Mokuba, who Jennie saw him sleeping on his bed as she ran past to catch up with Jackie.
Of course, Jennie got tired and eventually collapsed on one of the sofas as the two ended up in the living room again. Jackie, too, who was supposed to be hyper, fell onto the rug, panting.
"Jennie-weenie…bad tagger. Tagger is trying to kill Jackie-weenie," the boy whined, between gasps. His pot disappeared somewhere and his cape was loose.
Jennie snapped, throwing her pan and missing, "STOP CALLING ME THAT, DAMMIT!"
Jackie gave a bored sigh and covered his mouth as he yawned. Then Jennie yawned, too.
"Oh, fudge. You made me sleepy…Now I can't kill…you…" Jennie grumbled before slumping on the sofa. Quite abruptly, her breathing slowed and she was still.
Curious, the boy crept up cautiously and saw that his chaser was completely pooped out and deeply asleep. Relief washed over Jackie, but so did drowsiness. Going on the other end of the sofa Jennie was laying on, he put his head on the hand rest, blinked blearily a few times, and fell into a tired slumber, glasses and all.
When Tien-Xiang came home at night, he opened the door silently. It was quiet…a little too quiet. Putting his things on the stairs, he crept slowly to the living room.
He almost laughed out loud as he leaned against the doorway frame. Jennie and Jackie were on the same sofa, but Jackie's head was tilting off the couch, while Jennie was practically falling off the furniture. Tien went up to Jennie and shook her gently awake.
"Huh? What? Huh?" she said groggily, sitting up and blinking sleepily.
Then Jackie woke up with a snort, startled out of his sleep by the girl next to him. "What happened? How'd I get here? And…what am I wearing!"
The hacker-boy chucked his "cape" away.
While Tien explained and scolded Jackie in what happened, Jennie remained blank and sleepy. Fortunately, she was not yet into killing mode.
"What time is it?" Jackie muttered, checking the clock. "Oh. 9:45 P.M….WHAT! I SPENT MY WHOLE BIRTHDAY SLEEPING?"
Jennie winced from the noise and noticed the absence of Erica. "Hey…where's the crazy yak?"
The room grew silent as Jennie and Tien-Xiang glared at Jackie.
"What!" the hacker-boy snapped. "I didn't do it! Well…I least I don't think I did…"
After an hour of searching, everyone found Erica and Seto outside, still asleep. Apparently, Erica somehow curled onto Seto's lap and the man himself had his arms around her, his lips just millimeters away from Erica's cheek.
Snickering, Jennie woke the two up and almost immediately, the two teenagers separated to opposite sides of the lawn, both blushing from extreme embarrassment. Until one in the morning did everyone stop teasing Seto and Erica when Seto actually tried to kill Jackie and Erica brought a chainsaw.
In the end, everyone had to sleep and Jackie commented to Jennie that compared to his four presents (an upgrade disc from Mokuba, a watch that could record voices from Erica, a DVD of his favorite anime from Tien-Xiang, and an exploding box from Jennie, scaring the living daylights out of him) the vision of Seto and Erica being in a scene like that was the best. Of course, Erica heard about that and knocked the birthday boy out with Jennie's pan.
Ah, well. Happy Birthday, Jackie.
A/N: Unfortunately, the real life Jackie doesn't become insane when he eats old butter. He just gets food poisoning like the rest of us do. Damn.
Anyway, hope you had fun reading this side adventure and for all those people confused as to why I described the cold when it was July, it's because the Shadow Realm is being an ass with the weather and messing it up. Blunt, no?
This time, I had SIX reviews! I AM HAPPY! Well, here they are!
fairy'smaiden (very funny witticisms), blackangel04 (yes, I like the cursing, too), Isis the Sphinx (thanks for the Marik/Malik name info), candy-animelover600 (it's nice to know how you're life is going), DarkHand27 (I will kill you if you don't review this time…), and ElementalDemoness23 (NEW REVIEWER! YAY!).
Well, thanks for all the love and if you review, I'll give you a chainsaws for a present! YAY!
Another thing…For those who voted on who's their favorite character, the winner is ERICA! I'm kind of surprised really. I thought everyone would like Jennie more since Erica seems more…Mary-Sue-ish. I mean, I like Jennie. She's my favorite chara.