Malibu Mall Madness
Disclaimer: "I will...with women." Master Shake, after being told to go to bed by Frylock, Aqua Teen Hunger Force
Chapter 3: Ditching!
An unknown location
Klick!
At the flick of a switch, rectangular overhead fluorescent lights activated, bathing the small room in bright white light. The small room appeared to be a basement. It also appeared to be a workshop of sorts, with various power tools in the corners. One wall was filled with small shelves that had various small things in them like screws, nails, bolts, nuts, and washers. On another wall was a board with hooks on it. On the hooks hung various items like squares, clamps, saw blades, and wrenches. In the center of the workshop area, was a long table. On that table was a long flat object, covered by a tarp.
A madly grinning Samuel Farley marched, blue eyes gleaming with madness and pride.
"My greatest creation..." The mad genius grabbed the tarp and threw it off, revealing what looked like...a surfboard on steroids. Around seven feet long, the top of the board was flat like a surfboard, but the bottom looked like the bottom of a motorboat. The back of the board held three small jets. The bottom had a fin on the back for maneuverability. The board was held up by the fin and a pair of retractable struts from the board's sides. "My surfboard! Everyone thought I was crazy for making this thing..." He ran his hand over the board. "But with the experimental technology I worked on secretly and swiped from Stark when those buttheads fired me..." He snickered wildly. "I'll make them all regret it...and I can't have a stylin' surfboard..." He reached under the table.
The mad inventor pulled out a white box and opened it up. Inside it was a folded-up dark blue wetsuit-like garment with bright blue armored pieces. The chest plate in particular had an emblem of a blue-and-white stylized wave in a black circle. On top of the folded-up suit, was a bright blue helmet much like those of riot cops. "...without a stylin' suit." His grin managed to get even bigger. "Say hello to your newest super-villain, world! Say hello to..." He held up the suit. "...the Surf Master!"
The new mall in Malibu
The eagerly-chattering batch of New Mutants, accompanied by Scott, Jean, Sage, and Ororo, walked into the crowded mall.
"Goddess..." Ororo gawked at the massive crowd. "I have never seen so many people in one building before."
"It's this busy because it's opening day, Ororo." Sage explained. "It'll quiet down once people start getting used to this mall here."
"Okay, everyone!" Scott announced. "Gather around! I got something to say!"
"It's better to burn out than fade away?" Bobby quipped.
"Thank you, Kurgan." Scott rolled his eyes. Bobby chuckled.
"Aw come on, Goggles!" Tabitha groaned, throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. "Lookit this place!"
"Now calm down, Tabitha." Sam reassured. "I'm sure we'll get to see everywhere."
"Are you serious, Sammy?" Tabitha laughed. "The only way to cover it is through independent exploration!"
"Miss Munroe has an announcement, everyone." Scott explained.
"Thank you, Scott." Ororo smiled. She produced some pieces of paper. "Everyone, the teachers and myself have prepared an itinerary for you for this trip.
"Awww!" The New Mutants all groaned.
"Are you insane?" Roberto groaned.
"I can't breathe...I can't breathe..." Tabitha started panting and patting her chest. "Oh God..."
"Here, Tabitha." Amara gave Tabby a small paper lunch bag. "Breathe into this." Tabitha immediately grabbed the bag and started breathing into it.
"Tabby, seriously." Bobby snickered. The young ice-maker formed a small ice cube in his hand. "You need to chill." He put it in the back of her shirt, making her jump up and yell in shock.
"Drake!" The blonde bomb-maker snapped at the laughing ice-maker. She growled, raised her hand, and...
Whap!
"Ow!" Bobby grunted, rubbing the side of his head where Tabitha smacked him. "Geez! Some people can't take a joke." Storm cleared her throat to get attention.
"As I was saying..." The weather-manipulator continued on. "These itineraries will allow you all to see the sights in the mall, as well as have plenty of time for lunch and to explore the shops of your choice."
"Why can't we just explore on our own?" Ray shrugged. "Besides, we might get to meet the Superstars again. It is said they'd be here."
"Oh yeah!" Roberto grinned. "Can't wait to see that total babe Jenni Starr again!" Ray, Roberto, and Sam grinned and hooted excitedly at the thought of meeting the blonde guitarist/singer.
"Oh, brother..." Bobby grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.
"Not to mention Paul." Amara smiled dreamily. Tabitha rolled her eyes.
"Oh yeah, it'll be a blast seeing the Starr family again."
"Look, guys." Scott tried to calm the New Mutants down. "It's not that we don't want you guys to have any fun here. It's just we still have to be careful."
"Indeed." Sage added with a nod. "Malibu isn't as unfriendly towards mutants as many other places, but we still have to be careful."
"And considering that disaster tends to follow us like a hyperactive puppy..." Jean added.
"Is THAT why you had us bring our glovatrixes?" Ray reminded, producing his own glovatrix.
"Yes. Now put that away, Ray. We don't want to cause a scene. Let's go."
A few minutes later
The group of Xavier students walked up to a large Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Scott, Jean, Sage, and Ororo were standing in front, the New Mutants behind them.
"Do we have to go here first?" Scott sighed at Jean.
"Yes we do, Scott. Grin and bear it." Jean smiled. The optic blaster let out a sigh. Serves me right for letting Ororo and Sage do the itinerary. The New Mutants looked at each other.
"Let's ditch." Tabby whispered. "Go explore on our own."
"Tabitha, we can't!" Sam protested in his own whisper.
"Come on, Sammy." Tabby pleaded. "I'll go insane if I have to do this itinerary thing."
"I dunno..." Sam frowned. He noticed Bobby, Ray, and Roberto following Tabitha's advice and leaving. "Where are you guys going?"
"We're splitting." Ray explained. "Tabby's right, man! I wanna check out that game store!"
"I'm with them." Amara agreed. "I wish to explore!" She joined the boys.
"Your choice, Sammy." Tabby grinned as she walked up to the other leaving New Mutants. Sam sighed. He looked at the the two teachers, Scott, and Jean, and then at his teammates.
"Ah, why do I get dragged into these messes?" The Kentuckian mutant sighed as he joined his fellow New Mutants.
The Food Court
"Ah, it feels good to be away from the teachers." Ray smiled in triumph as he walked towards the food court, Roberto in tow.
"I gotta admit, I can agree with that." Roberto nodded. He then pointed forward as he noticed one of the various restaurants. "Hey, look! A pizza place!" Ray grinned.
"Aw, yeah!" The electrokinetic whooped. "Let's eat!" The two young mutants walked into the food court. However, they noticed two people sitting at one table in front of the pizza place. "Yo, Roberto! Look! Is that...?"
"Mae de Deus, it is!" Roberto grinned. "Come on, let's go say hello!" Meanwhile, two members of the Superstars, secretly members of the West Coast Misfits were enjoying some food at the food court.
"Mmm, this is good salad." Jennifer Hendrix Starr, one of the Superstars' singers and guitarists, and secretly the West Coast Misfit codenamed Shining Star, smiled happily as she ate a bowl of salad. The blonde teenager normally had a birthmark of a red four-pointed star over her right eye, but she had it covered up with makeup to hide it. She was wearing a red t-shirt and blue jeans, white sneakers, and had on a red fedora on her head. A mutant girl native to Chicago, Illinois, Jenni had the power to fire crimson energy beams from her right eye and hands, and the power to hypnotize up to three people at one time with flashes of red light from her eye.
The Superstars were an all-mutant rock band who used their music to fight for human-mutant peace, but due to the great amount of prejudice that existed, the band were forced to hide their mutations and just act like regular human musicians.
"Hey, Kyle!" Jenni grinned widely, pointing at her salad with her fork. "You should try this salad. It's delicious."
"Does the Thunderbolt look like a salad guy to you?" Jenni's companion grunted. He was a thirteen-year-old with collar-length brown hair, his blue eyes covered by blue shades. He was dressed in a black AC/DC Razors Edge t-shirt, blue jeans, and black combat boots with steel toes and gold lightning bolts on them. He had blue studded wristbands and black biker gloves on his hands. He was Kyle "The Thunderbolt" Wildfire, the Boston-born drummer of the Superstars, and secretly a mutant with the power to generate and manipulate electrical power. He was eating a pizza with a plastic container of milk and an apple next to him. "The Thunderbolt prefers a nice hot pizza. The Thunderbolt can't understand why some people would eat a stupid jabroni salad." Jenni sighed.
"I suppose I should be grateful that I managed to convince you to get an apple." The blonde girl sighed. Kyle shrugged.
"The Thunderbolt likes apples." The electrokinetic took a bite of his apple, as if he wanted to illustrate his point. Jenni shook her head.
"If you say so, Kyle." She smiled and sighed happily. "We needed this break."
"Break from what?" Kyle snorted. "All we do is jerk around doin' nothing and waste time on our tours."
"Kyle, we do very important work." Jenni reminded. "We may not fight on the front lines like our East Coast counterparts do, but we make sure they got some good knowledge to use."
"I'm a fighter, not a damn librarian." Kyle grumbled, taking another bite of his apple. He then heard yelling. "What in the blue hell?" The young mutant turned his head and... "Oh, no."
"Jenni!" Ray Crisp called as he and Roberto ran towards Jenni and Kyle's table.
"Aw, great." Kyle groaned, putting his head in his hands. "Two of the X-Men, some of the biggest embarassments of the mutant race."
"Kyle, be nice." Jenni hissed. "Hey, guys!" The blonde waved happily.
"Hey, girl!" Roberto grinned. "How's it been?"
"Just fine, thanks." Jenni answered with a polite smile. "Didn't expect to see you guys here."
"I wonder how the hell they plan to make mutants look bad today?" Kyle grumbled under his breath. Luckily for him, only Jenni heard his complaint.
"Kyle, be nice!" Jenni hissed, smacking Kyle upside the head. The action made the young mutant yelp and rub his head.
"What's his deal?" Ray asked, jerking his thumb at a muttering Kyle.
"Oh, he's just being his usual cheerful self." Jenni smiled. "So, how have you guys been?"
Well, well, well! Looks like our heroes may have some trouble a-brewin'! What is Farley up to? Will Kyle ever cheer up? Will the X-Men and Superstars team-up? Will I stop asking stupid questions? Ind out in the next chapter!