Disclaimer: Pokémon does not belong to me. Neither does William Shakespeare. Lucius is co-owned with Mia. The song from the Chapter Title is from 'Mamma Mia' by ABBA. Oh and see the musical if you can!
A/N: I'm still here! And still writing sporadically between long bouts of work induced stress. Be thankful those of you who are still at school or university/college; you have NO idea of just how lucky you are. Many apologies for the delays, but it couldn't be helped.
Chapter Eight: Mamma Mia!
Christine ran swiftly down the streets of Pummelo, her mind in turmoil. God
knows what trouble she had got herself into this time! And all because of
alcohol. If I'd have known this would have happened, I never would have
touched the stuff!!!
But, of course there was no way that he could
have known. The distressed 'girl' reached the front door of the villa and banged
on it with all her might.
A few moments later, a grumbling Jenn opened
the door. "All right...who's making all this racket?!" She blinked as she saw an
out of breath and rather dishevelled buxom brunette on the doorstep.
"Chris?"
"Yeah it's me."
"Aiight, I'll forgive you this time for
making so much noise, but my twin was having a rest..."
"Oh," Chris
looked crestfallen. "Cuz I really need to talk to both of you
urgently..."
The blonde tilted her head slightly and thought for a moment
before letting her friend in and leading her to the living room. "You wait here
and I'll go wake the sleeping 'tiger'"
Chris paced a bit before sitting
down on the lounge. A few minutes later Jenn came back into the room with Trish
in tow. He noticed the older girl was not looking at all well. "Hey Chris," she
gave a tired smile. "What's the problem?"
The three sat down in the girls' comfortable living room; Trish and Jenn on
one side and Chris on the other.
"So," Trish broke the silence. "What was
it that you wanted to talk to us about?"
Christine wrung her hands
nervously. How on earth was she going to explain this? "Well, see...last
night I went to one of the nightclubs, and kinda had too much to
drink..."
"You didn't go and do a strip tease did you?" Jenn pulled a
face and her expression was mirrored on that of her 'twin'
"Er, no,"
Chris denied hastily but then paused. "At least I don't think so...I can't
remember what happened last night."
"So what happened?" Trish prodded
gently.
"Well," she hesitated then took the plunge. "I woke up this
morning to find that I've got myself a boyfriend."
There was a long
minute before either woman said anything, before Trish said quietly, "Did you
say boyfriend?"
"Yeah."
Their mouths dropped open and both
stared wide-eyed at the uncomfortable 'girl'.
"Please tell me you
didn't...y'know...." Jenn choked out.
"No!!! At least I don't think so,
we were both fully clothed when we woke up!" Chris said hastily.
His two
sisters sighed in relief. "Thank God for that..."
"So what do I do???"
Chris pleaded.
"What's his name?" Trish asked
"Paul."
"Is
he cute?" this came from Jenn, of course.
"Well...I guess so." Chris
turned desperate brown eyes on his friends. "You gotta help me..."
"I
really don't know what to tell you. We've never had this happen before," Trish
shrugged helplessly.
"Oh..." the 'girl' drooped in her seat.
"At
least not until we've met this Paul of yours...''
Christine walked back to her room, and made sure to plaster a smile on
her face as she entered.
Sure enough, Paul was still there. "Hey
Christine," he greeted with a big smile and before she could say anything, swept
her into a gentle kiss.
Chris forced himself not to struggle. Mustn't
let him think that anything is out of the ordinary...
When they broke
apart, she smiled sweetly at her boyfriend. "There's someone I'd like you to
meet."
"Oh? I thought you were here at the Convention by
yourself."
"Oh I am, but my older cousin is also here on Pummelo. That's
who I went to speak to before."
"That's fine with me," he hugged
her.
"We thought a lunch tomorrow would be
nice."
"Okay."
"It's going to be my cousin and a few friends of
ours."
"Look forward to meeting them," Paul smiled.
Christine
smiled back weakly. Oh I sure hope that they can help me!!!!
The next day, Trish and Jenn were getting ready for lunch with Chris and Paul
when the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" Trish hollered next door to her
friend and she walked to the door, opening it to see Drake standing
there.
"Drake! I didn't expect to see you here.." she smiled as he took
her into a warm embrace and kiss.
"Well, I do happen to have the rest of
the day off, so I thought I'd spend it with you, seeing as we've not had much
time together."
"Oh..."
"Something wrong?"
"Well its just
that Jenn and I were about to go for lunch..." Trish confessed.
The
Orange Crew Leader's face fell a bit. "Oh..."
"But I'm sure Chris and
Paul wouldn't mind if you came along," the dark-haired girl hugged him
tightly.
Drake hugged his girlfriend back. "Who's Paul?"
"Chris's
boyfriend."
"Chris's WHAT?!"
"Chris has got himself a boyfriend," Trish explained.
Drake raised a
dark eyebrow. "I never knew Chris swung that way..."
His
girlfriend burst out laughing. "He doesn't! But as Christine, he got plastered
last night and he woke up this morning with a boyfriend."
The Orange Crew
Leader grimaced. "They didn't do it did they?"
"They were both
fully clothed when they woke up so its highly unlikely," Trish answered. "But
Chris can't remember a thing, and he wants our help to get him out of this
situation."
"I see.."
Just then Jenn came down the stairs. "I'm
ready now," she announced before trailing off at the sight of Drake. "Hey
Drake!""
"Hey, Jenn," he greeted with a smile.
"Drake's coming
with us to lunch," Trish informed her best friend. "He has the rest of the
afternoon off."
"Yay!" Jenn cheered and sidled up to the Orange Crew
Leader.
His eyes widened as he felt a pinch on his derriere, and he also
knew that it wasn't Trish.
The blonde grinned widely. "Now the day is
complete," she sighed happily.
Christine and Paul made their way towards the Verona Café where they
were to meet the girls. The promenade along the beach was thronging with
tourists and locals.
Chris felt rather uncomfortable as a couple of guys
passed by with a few wolf-whistles and remarks how lucky Paul was to have such a
babe. If only they knew the truth about this 'babe', Christine thought.
She hoped desperately that Trish and Jenn could help out. One thing is for
sure...I am NEVER going to touch alcohol again while I'm stuck like
this!
"So who are we meeting again?" Paul broke the
silence.
"Trish and Jenn."
"And they are...?"
"Trish is my
older cousin from Australia, and Jenn is her best friend who also happens to be
my friend as well," Chris explained.
"I see. So they're here for the
celebrations?"
"That's right."
As they reached the entrance, Chris
could see his two older friends waiting for him, and much to his surprise, Drake
was there too.
"Hi Chris," Trish called out. "I hope you don't mind Drake
tagging along, he has the rest of the day off for once!"
"No, I don't
mind," Chris sighed. Another person who will know about my
predicament...
Paul's eyes were wide. "Wow!" he breathed. "You sure
do have connections, Sweetie..."
Lunch passed by rather pleasantly with
Paul answering any questions put to him by either girl. When he left to go to
the men's, Christine turned eagerly to her friends. "So...what can I do to dump
him?"
"Dump him?" Jenn echoed in a confused tone.
"You can't
possibly dump him!" Trish spoke up.
"Yeah, he's just so sweet," the
blonde sighed.
"You'll break the poor guy's heart!" her dark-haired
friend added.
Chris spluttered. "But I'm a guy too!!!!"
His three friends blinked. "So you are..." Jenn murmured.
Chris broke
out into a cold sweat. How could his 'sisters' possibly forget he was a
guy??
Trish smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Chris, but its been a few
weeks since you turned into a woman and I guess we've just got used to you as
one." The dark-haired girl then frowned slightly. "You do realise there is the
possibility that you might never turn back into a male?"
Christine's eyes widened. No he hadn't thought of that...
"If that is
the case, you may have to give up all your notions of yourself as a
male."
Chris didn't want to even contemplate that. If Trish was
right, he'd have to begin life again as Christine...and he'd have to drop all
cherished notions of girl ogling, unless he wanted to be classed as a lesbian
which was definitely out. And how on earth would he explain what happened
to his parents? Hi, I went away and something irreversible happened so you've
got a daughter instead of a son?
He hoped to God that his older friend
was not right, but he then remembered Jenn's quip that Trish had the uncanny
knack of almost always being right.
Just then Paul came back and Chris
forced himself to smile sweetly at her 'boyfriend.'
"So, Paul," Jenn
quipped brightly. "We were just telling Christine here how lucky she was to have
you..."
Chris glowered at the blonde. You are not helping matters
either.
Puck was sitting on the hotel balcony reading, when a shadow fell
across him. He glanced up to see his older sister standing there. "What's up
Cal?"
"We are going for a walk now," the Fae said firmly. Puck obediently
followed Calliope inside and out the door. For when his sister said 'now' in
that tone of voice, she meant now.
The warm afternoon sun shone on
their backs, as the two Faes walked along the promenade. Callie was determined
to get to the bottom of why her normally happy-go-lucky brother was in such a
depressed funk.
"Puck, we need to talk," she said, finally breaking the
silence.
"About what?" he answered warily.
Callie stopped walking
and faced him. "You."
Puck's shoulders slumped. He knew from past experience that he wouldn't be
able to get out of an interrogation by his sister.
"What do you want to
know?"
"Why you are in such a depressed state? You were so happy and
confident when you left. And then we find you constantly depressed and it just
isn't like you. Mom and Dad are getting worried about you..."
Her brother
said nothing at first as they sat down on a bench. "It's about Mia…you know
about the deal with Oberon?"
Callie nodded.
"Well I came here to
find Mia in the...in the arms of another guy."
The brunette felt her
heart sink. Poor Puck!
"And what's more, she said that she never loved me
at all," Puck's voice began to catch, and Callie silently drew her brother into
a comforting hug.
"It seems very strange," she said finally. "Especially
after how heartbroken she was when you left."
"I know. Funny thing is,
she's still wearing the ring I gave her."
"And yet she says she never
loved you," Callie frowned.
"But you know what this means Cal? I can
never come back here again if she doesn't prove herself. And thing is, I can't
tell her that."
Trish sank gratefully onto the couch and leaned against Drake. Jenn gave her
best friend a sympathetic look. "Getting tired, Sis?"
The dark-haired
girl nodded. As her illness dragged on, her strength and stamina were steadily
being sapped, so that at the end of the day, she was completely
exhausted.
Jenn was greatly concerned over her twin's health. She didn't
think that her friend could keep on like this for too much longer, there was
only so much punishment that the human body can take. The blonde came to a firm
decision; if Trish was not better in a month's time, she was going to pack her
off home to Sydney and go with her. Then make sure her family enlisted the
services of the top medical specialists in Sydney.
Drake hugged Trish
gently as Mia came running excitedly in the room. "Hey guys, you gotta come with
me to the Harbourside Restaurant!!!"
"Why?" Jenn queried with an
eye on her twin.
"Cuz Mikey promised to publicly declare his love for me
in a serenade!" the seventeen-year-old gushed.
Trish meanwhile was
staring at Mia's outfit. The teenager was attired in a hot pink crop top, short
skirt and high heels. "Uh, Mia, are you sure you want to wear
that?"
"This?" Mia looked down at herself. "Of course!!!! Pink is my
favourite colour and I just adore heels!"
Three pairs of
eyebrows were raised. Mia and pink? Mia in heels?
"Jenn, would you mind
stepping outside and see if there is a squadron of Flying Swinubs passing over
the house?" Trish murmured.
Mia didn't hear the comment. She ran forward
and grabbed Trish's hand. "So will you go with me? Pweaaaaaaaaaase?" and used
the Puppy Dog Eyes for added emphasis.
The older girl sighed. "Oh
okay..."
Half an hour later, the quartet were sitting at a table with Mikey in the
Harbourside Restaurant, Trish starting to regret her capitulation to her
young friend.
The karaoke night was in full swing, and some of the
'singers' were absolutely awful and did nothing except to exacerbate her
tired disposition.
"Why did I agree to this?" she whispered to Jenn who
was sitting next to her.
"Cuz you're a real softie?" the blonde whispered
back.
The Australian sighed. "That I am."
"Like a
marshmallow."
"Oy."
Puck dragged his reluctant sister by the hand into the Harbourside
Restaurant. "Come on Sis, they have a good karaoke night here so I
hear."
"I don't know..."
"It'll be fun," the Fae pleaded. "And it
might be just the thing to lift my spirits."
Callie knew he was right and
so followed her brother to a table and sat down.
After a while, Mikey finally managed to make his way to the microphone. Mia
had starry eyes and gushed to her friends, "Isn't he such a
sweetie?"
"Er..sure," both girls chorused.
Mikey flashed a smile at the audience. "I'd like to dedicate this song to the
love of my life, the beauteous Mia."
Jenn leaned over to whisper in
Trish's ear, "Mia's boyfriend or not, if he is as atrocious as all the others,
I'm gonna deck him!"
The dark-haired girl smiled tiredly. "Well I won't
stop you that's for sure."
Jenn brightened and hugged her best friend.
"Really? You're da bestest Sis!"
Meanwhile at another table, Puck was
fuming. "Why that no good, filthy, stinking mangy maggot!"
Callie placed
a hand on her brother's arm in an attempt to calm him down. "Now Puck, don't you
go turning him into maggot," she warned. "Even if we both think its the
truth."
"As if I'd do something like that..." He stood up. "Even better,
I'm going to confront him!"
Callie's eyes widened. "You
wouldn't..."
"Oh yes I would! If that guy thinks that he can publicly
flaunt the fact that he's got Mia, he's got another thing coming!!!" And with
that he stormed off towards the stage.
Across the room, four pairs of
eyes widened as they recognised the young chestnut-haired man who came up on the
stage and grabbed a spare microphone.
"Oh," Trish murmured.
"No,"
Jenn finished for her.
Puck punched a few numbers into the karaoke
machine and the opening bars of a catchy little tune flowed through the
speakers.
"Anything you can do I can do better. I can woo Mia much
better than you."
"No you caaaaaaaan't," Mikey retorted with a
smirk.
"Yes I can, yes I can, yes I can!"
Jenn noticed
Trish's eyes suddenly widened. "What's up? Shocked that they can both sing?" the
blonde joked.
"No, no," the Aussie shook her head. "It reminds me of this
bad dream I had once..."
"Do tell."
"Well, I dreamt that I did a
parody of this very song to Pokémon, and published it on the
Internet."
Jenn giggled. "As if you'd do something like
that."
"Exactly," Trish nodded. "For one thing, my writing absolutely
sucks!"
Drake raised an eyebrow, and Jenn snorted. "Suuure it
does."
"But it does!" her friend insisted. "Then another time I dreamt I
wrote a story combining Pokémon and Shakespeare."
The blonde burst out
laughing. "You've got to be kidding me!"
"I know! As if I would be so
insane," Trish scoffed as she leant back against Drake.
"Well, there is
one way to stop these insane dreams of yours, Sis," Jenn mused.
"And that
is?"
"Lay off the coffee."
"Never!"
Across the room, Calliope had slunk down in her seat, embarrassed by her
brother's actions. She just hoped that she could stop him before Puck
embarrassed himself too much. "Guardians all, hear my plea. Right whatever is
breaking Puck's heart."
Mia gasped and jumped to her feet as the gold
ring on her left hand suddenly glowed white hot before fading to reveal the
original silver. "What the...?"
"What's the matter Mi?" Trish looked up
at the younger girl with concern.
"My ring…it changed colour," Mia
stammered before she caught sight of her outfit. She promptly freaked. "WHAT THE
FRELL AM I DOING IN PIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK???? AND A SKIRT AND FLIPPING
HEELS???"
"Now THAT is more like the Mia we know and love," Trish
whispered to Jenn.
Mia was completely confused.
"Triiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish," she wailed. "What the frell is going
on???"
Her older friend could only shrug helplessly. "I honestly don't
know Mi. This is the first time I've been able to get out of the house for a
while."
"Why not?"
"I've been a bit under the weather lately,"
Trish explained.
This raised two sets of eyebrows. "A bit under
the weather?" Jenn exclaimed in astonishment.
"More like completely
under the weather," Drake added.
"Last week you could barely get out
of bed!" the blonde reproved.
Mia sat down, completely mystified. "How
come I didn't know about this?"
"You did know," Jenn replied. "But for
some reason you didn't seem to care much."
"What??" the teenager was
completely taken aback. "I would never say such a thing!!!" Mia was beginning to
feel dizzy. What she was hearing couldn't be true. It sounded like she was a
completely different person. And why couldn't she remember a thing?
Mia's inner turmoil was interrupted by a sudden change in the singing 'duel'
presently taking place on the stage.
"How do you solve a problem like
Maria..." Mikey sang loudly.
The brunette's head shot up at that. How
dare he!!!! She stood up.
"Uh oh," Trish murmured to her
companions. "Batten down the hatches, Puerto Rican eruption on the
horizon."
Mikey noticed that Mia was up and so rushed over to her with
Puck not far behind. "Hey, Sweetie! What did you think of that..."
WHAM!
Mia punched Mikey square in the face. "How DARE you!!!" she seethed. "What gives
YOU the right to call me a problem?? And in PUBLIC!!!! How dare you humiliate
me!!! We're not even DATING!!!"
Noticing Puck standing to the side, Mia
then flung herself into his arms. "Puck!!!" she cried joyously. "When did you
get back? Why didn't you tell me?" She trailed off when she realised that the
young man was not hugging her back. "What's the matter?"
A variety of
emotions played across the Fae's features. "Well...thing is Mia...you ARE dating
him."
"What?" Mia gasped. "I'd never ditch you for another guy..."
"But you did," Puck retorted. "You said that you never loved me and that
I was nothing but a pathetic Fairy Boy."
"No..."
"I don't know
what's up with you Mi," Puck shook his head. "One minute you hate my guts and
now you're acting like this never happened? What's going on??"
"I don't know..." Mia whispered, on the verge of tears. "I'm being told I've
done all these things which I can't remember doing; saying things that I know
I'd never say..." The girl shook her head. "Why would I say I never loved you
when I've kept your ring on and waited these past two years?"
Puck's gaze
softened. "Mia..." but Mia fled from the room, unable to take
anymore.
Trish, Jenn and Drake rose from their seats and followed the
distraught girl out.
Puck stared after them, jumping slightly when there
was a soft touch to his shoulder. He turned to see Callie standing behind him.
"You okay?" she asked with concern.
"Yeah...," he sighed. "I just wish I
knew what was going on."
Callie frowned slightly. "It must be
magic..."
"You think so?"
"I do, especially after seeing Mia's
reaction. No human would suddenly switch personalities so dramatically, unless
they were schizophrenic or bipolar. Or unless they had a severe head injury
causing brain trauma."
Well none of that applies to Mia," Puck said. "But
who would do such a thing? And why Mia?"
Lu sat back in the plush chair in his hotel room, completely
bored.
"What to do. What to do," he murmured, twiddling his thumbs for a
few minutes before his eyes brightened. He had just the thing. Raise the stakes
in his evil plan to destroy his arch-nemesis Puck.
"Hmm..how about we get
his little lady love to drive the ultimate 'stake' in his pathetic heart by
sleeping with his rival," Lu decided with an evil chuckle.
The lean Fae
began to reach out with his magic for the item which he was using to control
Mia, only to find out it was no longer accessible. His green eyes snapped open
in shock. There must be some mistake surely, for his spells were always
infallible. He tried again to no avail.
Lucius frowned. He'd have to
think on it later. Besides he had plenty of other victims to play with....
To be continued…
Author's Note: It's been a while, and I apologise to any loyal readers out there. But at my age, 28, work is liable to swamp and overwhelm you. I've been living and working under a constantly high level of stress and pressure the past year and a half, with occasional freak-outs.
Stress rather kills the creativity. But I do view writing as a release and will try not to wait another seven months before posting.
Plus I do have at least another 3 ideas, one which will definitely be out in September, seeing as I promised Mia I'd write it for her birthday. Eh…that one is going to be interesting to say the least.
And you'll have to wait until December for any intensive writing from me. I'm taking two weeks off work, then Christmas is here which hopefully will mean another two weeks. If that is the case I shall only have to work for one week in December. (grins)
And I think this chapter goes to show I don't take this story very seriously. I wonder if you can spot them…