Last time Max and The Ramblers arrived in Magicx to help resolve the situation with Bloom and Sky. Stella had fears that Bloom, who had been left alone with Morgan, had attempted suicide. Her fears were abated when she found Bloom alive, deeply depressed, but alive. Bloom's spirits began to lift when she met up with old friends from the struggle against Voldemort. But that soon changed when she met Julie. On with the show!
Chapter 3: I Accuse Julie!
A few minutes later Jill was introducing Bloom to Andrew, Violet and the new members of the team. Her spirits were definitely on the rise. But when Bloom shook hands with Julie, her face darkened, falling into a mixture of shock and rage. "You!" she exclaimed, "How dare you show yourself here!!"
"What are you taking about?" Stella asked.
"It's her!!" shouted Bloom, her finger pointing at Julie, "She's the girl I caught with Sky!!"
"You're f#ck$ng crazy!" said Julie, "I did no such thing!"
"Don't insult my intelligence!" snapped Bloom, "I saw you with Sky, I saw the look of savage lust on your face as he screwed you!!"
"I've never even seen your boyfriend," said Julie, "Nor have I ever been in this dimension before. So how could I have done what you say I did? Which I didn't."
"If Julie said she didn't do it," said Andrew, "Then she didn't do it."
"But I saw her with my own eyes!!!" raged Bloom.
"Everyone just calm down," said Max, "There's obviously more going on here than meets the eye. Now Bloom, exactly when did you catch Sky with another girl?"
"Four days ago," said Bloom, "I went to his dorm room at Red Fountain, just after lunchtime, 12:30 p.m. I was going to surprise him, when I heard noises from his bedroom. I thought at the time he was watching a dirty movie; at the time that was what I had hoped what was happening. I went in and say Sky, in bed, with that girl, Julie."
"I did not have sex with your boyfriend!" said Julie, "End of discussion."
"Can you prove that?" asked Brandon, "Where were you at that time?"
"Given that it was around 12:30 p.m. in this world," said Virgil as he made a quick calculation in his head, "It would have been 3:15 a.m. Eastern Standard Time in our world. Where were you then, Julie?"
"I was at home," said Julie, "Sleeping."
"Can anyone back that up?" asked Musa.
"Well, um, err," stammered Julie.
"I thought so," said Bloom, "So stop lying and just tell the truth."
"I never lie!!" snapped Julie.
"Then how do you explain what I saw?" asked Bloom, "You god-damned lying whore!!"
This obviously struck several nerves in Julie, for her spring-loaded pistols snapped into her hands. She aimed the guns at Bloom, "Say that again, you crazy bitch!!"
"You are a g#d-damned lying whore!!" exclaimed Bloom, a pair of fireballs in her hands.
The two women readied themselves to kill, when Max stood between them, his huge revolvers already drawn. "Both of you stop this!!! This is neither the time or the place to kill each other!!"
After a few seconds of glaring at each other, Bloom powered down her fireballs, while Julie's pistols retracted back up her arms. "Now," said Max as he lowered his guns, "We're gonna get this whole mess sorted out. Julie, can you prove that you weren't here four days ago? Have you any alibi to back up your story?"
"She does," said Fay, "I'm her alibi."
"Fay, don't," said Julie, "It's not worth ruining your reputation."
"It's the only way to clear your name," said Fay, "And I don't give a f#ck about my reputation anyway. I was with Julie at the time. We were both in bed, together."
"You mean…" said Laura, "That you, and Julie…"
"Yes," said Julie in a reluctant tone, "Fay and I are lovers. We've been so since the mission to that parallel Earth where we rescued Andrew."
"I honestly didn't know that," said Steve.
"I did," said Sally-Ann, "I always figured that she swung the other way."
"Oh, I forgot you were here, Sally-Ann," said Julie, "Normally you're talking up a storm by now."
"I've had a rough couple of days," said Sally-Ann.
"Well putting aside who sleeps with which gender," said Jill, "It proves that Julie didn't do it with Sky."
"That may be," said Tecna, "But we have evidence that proves the opposite. Timmy is on his way right now with a security recording from Red Fountain that places Julie at the school, with Sky."
A short time later Timmy showed up with a recording crystal. The image from the crystal showed a full color, three-dimensional view of the corridor outside Sky's dorm room. From one direction Sky came walking towards his room, a huge, expecting smile on his face. At his side was a giggling girl who looked just like Julie. The girl was wearing a very revealing pink halter-top with an obscenely green pink miniskirt. They were both laughing as Sky opened the door to his dorm.
"That's not me," said Julie as the recording finished playing, "I'm telling you that's not me. I would never wear something that sluttish, especially if it's pink."
"Well it proves two things," said Stella, "One that you're lying, and that you've got poor fashion sense."
"This video proves nothing," said Fay, "For all we know there's someone native to this dimension who looks just like Julie."
"I want to see that recording again," said Violet as she tied her hair back with a ribbon. After explaining that the controls for recording were voice activated, Timmy played the recording again. Just before the image ended with Sky and the girl going into the dorm room, Violet paused the video. "I thought as much, rewind." The video played backwards for a few seconds, "Pause," the image froze with the girl's face clearly visible, "Now zoom in on the girl's face." The image of the girl's face soon filled the display.
"That's not Julie," said Violet, "And I can prove it. Exhibit A; that girl's eyes are dark brown, while Julies' are yellow, like a hawk."
"She could have used contacts," said Bloom.
"I have perfect vision," said Julie, "And I never miss with my guns. Combined with my eyes, I wound up with the nickname 'Hawkeye.'"
"Moving on," said Violet, "Exhibit B; no scar." True enough the girl on the recording had flawless complexion. Julie, however, had a hooked shaped scar below her right eye that she had since she was 9 years old; the scar a result of a faulty propane tank and an ill-timed baseball throw.
"Care to explain that?" asked Julie, daring Bloom to challenge her innocence.
"You could have used makeup to cover the scar," said Bloom. It seemed that she was determined to blame the incident on Julie.
"We're getting nowhere fast," said Andrew, "There has to be something that can prove Julie's innocence beyond any reasonable doubt."
"There might just be," said Violet, "This image looks more like it was manufactured instead of recorded live."
Timmy, Tecna and Elise then scanned the recording crystal with their PDA's. Tecna then used a spell to confirm their findings. "She's right," said Tecna, "The recording has been tampered with. What we saw was placed in with the rest of the security feed. I can't believe we didn't think of checking the crystal for tampering."
"I can't believe a mortal thought of it," said Elise.
"I'm no ordinary mortal," said Violet, "And neither are my siblings. My brother Klaus can remember everything he's ever read, while my sister Sunny can draw the future. It doesn't always work when she wants it to, she draws when she feels like it."
"Moving on," said Jill, "Bloom, it's obvious you were mistaken. It couldn't have been Julie you saw with Sky."
"Then how come I remember seeing the two of them in bed?" she asked.
"How can you be sure of anything" asked Fay, "For all we know your memories have been tampered with as well."
"Bloom," said Jill, "Are you absolutely sure of what you saw?"
Bloom started to answer, but paused. "Come to think of it, it does all seem somewhat fuzzy."
"Then there's no doubt that there's more going on here that meets the eye," said Max, "I want to question Sky about his side of the story. Where is he?"
"On his home planet of Eraklyon," said Riven.
"My cousins are in town," said Stella, "Their ship, The Night Rider, can get you to Eraklyon and back in less than two hours."
"Okay then," said Max, "Steve, Michael, Shawn, you go with them and pick up Sky."
"You got it, boss," said Steve, "we'll teach that punk a lesson he'll never forget."
"Don't!" said Bloom, "I mean, I know that something bad happened between Sky and me. I don't know for sure anymore what really happened, but that's no reason to hurt him."
"We won't hurt him," said Michael, "Much."
"I'll go with you," said Virgil, "I want to see this ship that belongs to Stella's cousins."
As they left Stella asked Flora, "I need you and Helia to go pick up Kodatchi and Shampoo. Bloom is their friend, they'll want to be here for her."
"Of course," said Flora, "We'll be back in no time."
"Who's Shampoo and Kodatchi?" asked Jill.
"Shampoo is a member of the Amazon tribe from Bloom's Earth," said Tecna, "Bloom saved her life a few years ago, making Bloom an honorary member of the tribe."
"And Kodatchi," said Timmy, "Is Tatewaki's sister. I've got to warn you, she's certifiably psychotic."
"Well that's just great," said Andrew, "A man hater and a lunatic."
"Laura," said Max, "If Bloom's memories have been tampered with, can you restore them with your powers?"
"Perhaps," said Laura, "I've never tried to reconstruct tampered memories before. Reading someone's mind in order to learn his or her identity is one thing, but memory is a horse of a different color. But I believe I can help Bloom. I just need time to prepare myself; an hour's meditation and I'll be ready."
A short time later Riven, Brandon, Musa, Layla and Tatewaki, along with Steve, Michael, Shawn and Virgil, arrived at the Magicx spaceport. They reached the docking bay where The Night Rider was situated.
"I said it before," said Brandon, "And I'll say it again. It's a piece of junk!"
"And as I said it before," said Stella's cousin Amanda, "Don't go badmouthing my ship!" She then stroke the hull of The Night Rider as if to calm the ship, "That's right, don't listen to the mean man, you know I'll always love you."
"It's uncanny," said Michael, "Amanda looks almost exactly like Stella. You're sure they're not twins?"
"Believe me," said Musa, "If Stella had a twin, we'd all know about it."
"So when do we leave?" asked Layla.
"As soon as Beauregard and Lucinda find Ryoga," said Amanda, "He got lost again."
"Typical," said Tatewaki, "Ryoga never did have any sense of direction."
A few minutes later, after Amanda showed Michael, Steve, Shawn and Virgil the works of The Night Rider, Stella's other cousins showed up. Beauregard and Lucinda had long since abandoned the life of royalty for the freedom of space. They, along with Amanda, who hated being cooped up in the Solarian palace, bought and fixed up The Night Rider a few years ago.
With Beauregard and Lucinda was Ryoga Hibiky, a martial artist from Earth. He and several other martial artists helped Bloom defeat the Shadow Riders a few months back. Afterwards, Ryoga asked to join up with The Night Rider, in hopes to see all that he could see of the universe. His only flaws were his tendencies towards violent emotions and his lack of directional sense. Seriously, Ryoga couldn't find his way across the street with both eyes open and a road map.
"What happened this time?" asked Amanda.
"I was looking for the parts needed for the oxygen recyclers," said Ryoga, "And I took a wrong turn."
"'Wrong turn' my ass," said Beauregard, "You were almost halfway across the planet when we caught up with you."
Introductions were made and everyone got onboard the ship, which soon blasted into orbit. "That was trippy!" said Steve.
"This is some ship," said Virgil, "Wish we had boats like this on our Earth."
"Doesn't The Bureau have it's own space station?" asked Michael, "One with its own transporter?"
"We did," said Virgil, "But it was on loan from NASA. We had to give it back."
"Setting coordinates for Eraklyon," said Lucinda, "Amanda, you all set down there?"
"As set as can be," replied Amanda from the engine room, "Let's just hope we don't blow up before we get there."
"Blow up?" asked Shawn nervously.
"Nothing to worry about, kid," said Beauregard, "There's just two things you need to know about space travel, and Bloom would testify to them. One; don't panic. Two; always know where your towel is."
"I'll take that under consideration," said Shawn.
"Better brace yourself, new people," said Lucinda, "Those uninitiated to hyperspace travel may find their first time unpleasant with them. First time is kind of like being drunk."
"What's so unpleasant about being drunk?" asked Virgil, who just happened to be a recovering alcoholic.
"Ask a glass of water," answered Riven. With that The Night Rider shot into hyperspace, destination: Eraklyon.
The end of chapter 4. Next chapter our travelers reach Eraklyon and kidnap Sky for what he did to Bloom. But did he really do anything? Reviews will be rewarded with cake and pie. See you next time!