The first day of school for Antoinette was anything but ordinary. Well, the first half of it was pretty normal, starting with English, then math, choir, gym and then a quick lunch. It wasn't how fifth period rolled around however, that things to a quick change.
'OK, Mr. Franklin's Biology class should be somewhere ar-." The girl was suddenly pulled from her thoughts, and from her current place in the hallway, by one of her new 'brother's' hands and by his loud voice asking if she was OK.
"Bash. What are you talking about?" She asked as she jerked her arm free. "Why wouldn't I be OK?"
"I saw them two losers staring at you funny." He said loudly as he pointed over to two males, one of them was just turning around from being at his locker and the other was looking up from what seemed to be their class project. "Yeah I see you two shnoobs!"
Antoinette chuckled lightly and smiled brightly at the two and waved.
"Ignore him." She called over as the male with purple hair waved back to her.
"Nah. You kinda get used to being called out at stuff you didn't do at this school." He called back as began to walk over to her and extended his hand while keeping eye contact with Bash.
Antoinette smiled and walked over to shake his hand.
"So I take it your new here, so let me be the first to say Hi, welcome, and by the way. I'm Randy, and over there is Howard." The purple haired male said as he gestured to his red-headed friend. "And you would be."
"Antoinette Aaberg." She said quickly, avoiding Bash's confused gaze, but she would need a few more weeks of getting used to her new nickname before she used it. "Or Toni for short. Or Anita but thats just what my mom calls me. Nice to meet you."
Howard walked up beside Randy and looked as though he was about to speak when a ginger haired female pushed between the boys, a camcorder in her hand.
"Heidi school here with a new segment, Whats New With the Crew." The female announced as she took Antoinette's hand and tugged her closer to her and handed Howard the camera. "Here, film this Howard. Anywho. Here with me today is our new student from Norway, Antionette McFist. Any relation to Northville's own Hannibal McFist?" She asked as the camera was suddenly pointed at said girl.
"Umm, relative. Yes. Hes my uncle actually." She said with a soft smile but soon felt herself blush and frown when Bash stepped up to where the camera was pointed.
"Formally uncle." He said boldly.
"Formally?" Heidi asked as she gestured for Howard to focus the camera on Bash now.
"Yeah. Toni here's parents died in some freak accident, or something. I don't know. But mom let me see the adoption papers a few days ago, said I was going to be a big brother. Which means you losers better not mess with her!" Bash bellowed in his almost always yelling voice.
"Um. Wow. Thats quite the story you got there Antoinette and I'm sorry for your lose, but I hope you'll feel right at home with your new family and your new school." Heidi said as she gave the younger girl a little hug. "Well thats it for this segment. This is Heidi signing off."
With that she quickly took her camera from Howard and clicked it off, then with a quick glance of her red watch, looked back up at the group.
"Well, I'm off to my next class. See ya guys later." She called over her shoulder as she raced off.
"Well that was... Random?" Toni said after a moments pause.
"Nah. My sis has a tendency to pop up out of nowhere and do crazy stuff." Howard muttered as he folded his arms.
"Boy. Do I know what thats like." She muttered as she shot a now retreating Bash a warning glare.
"Yeah older siblings are a pain. Only one who wouldn't know that is Randy here." Howard said as he gestured to his friend with his thumbs but the purple's attention seemed to be focused on something else.
"So your dad is Hannibal Mcfist eh?" He asked as he brought up his index and thumb to hold his chin. "Eh?"
"Technically yes. I'm not used to using my new last name though." Toni answered with a shrug. "Does it matter?"
"Hm? Oh no- no- no. Not at all. Just curious." Randy answered, his pose never changing. "Just curious. Anywho. Where are you off to now?"
"Mr. Franklin's Biology." She answered, showing him her schedule, which Howard grabbed instead.
"Hey! I got Mr. F's class this period also! I can walk you there if you want." He said cheerfully. "We should hurry and get there right away.
"Um OK? But why the rush?" Toni began but a suddenly rumbling sent her spiraling to the floor and knocked the wind right out of her.
What followed the rumbles felt like several bricks of varying sizes being hurled at her body which was now curled up on the floor, undoubtedly leaving bruises but surprisingly, did not leave a lot of pain, perhaps due to the shock and adrenaline pulsing through her as a loud screech caused her hearing to temporarily leave her as she held her ears and gritted her teeth together. All around her, she could vaguely sense the students running and screaming around her in terror.
"We gotta go! Now!" Howard called above her as he yanked her up suddenly and shook her until the vertigo passed, and her eyes focused again.
The first thing she noticed was a bruise on his forhead the size of a baseball, the second being a large hole torn through the wall with several metal lockers tossed about and crushed flat. Loose wires swung wildly from the walls and one struck a piece of drywall, causing a mini-fire to erupt.
"H-how did-" She began but was cut off this time by Howard pushing her down the hall.
"No time to explain. But don't worry about what happens next." He said quickly as he kept pushing her.
She soon stopped dead in her tracks however, when she saw what looked to be a large dinosaur like creature bust through the wall behind them and crash into the area of floor the two stood on just moments ago. Its pale green scales were the same color of bile that was now building up in the girl's throat the longer she stared at it. Suddenly, piercing blue eyes with pure white pupils snapped open as the creature got back up, now glaring at the two teens.
"We should be leaving now!" Howard all but yelled as he tugged the girl's arm again, suddenly pulling her back into reality.
"W-wait? Wheres Randy?" She yelped as the two took off running down the halls, the creature running close behind them, its hot breathing all but burnt their skin.
"Hes- Somewhere." Howard answered dumbly as the creature swatted a hand between them in an attempt to grab one of them but missed.
Just then, as it made another attempt to grab at them again, it suddenly found its attention being turned to something behind it. A male draped in a black ninja costume with a red scarf dangling around his neck was now pulling at the creature's tail.
"OK buddy. How about you leave those two alone?" The ninja asked in an overly cocky tone as he jumped suddenly and punched the creature right in it's jaw, causing the skin there to winkle upon impact.
The creature went flying over the shaken teen's heads and crashed into another wall. The ninja ran back at it with his sword now pulled and slashed at something that the two hadn't noticed was on the creature's finger. The second his did this, a green haze filled the air, making the air thick and virtually unbreatheable until it cleared away. In place of the creature now sat an older, heavier set looking man, with dark hair that was now balding a bit with pink, blotchy skin. On his now torn and wrinkled suit hung a name tag reading M. Franklin.
"Mr. Franklin!?" Howard exclaimed, having already recovered from his original shock. "Oh yeah. Toni, thats our Biology teach. But I think class may be canceled today. Oh yeah, and thats the school's ninja behind us. "
"Are you two OK?" The ninja asked from behind them, causing Antoinette to jump in surprise, the floor suddenly rushing at her as darkness rimmed her vision and then consumed it all together. "And I'll take that as a no."
Cream colored ceiling tiles and a long ceiling fan greeted the girl's vision when she finally came back around.
"You two just lay down and try to rest. I will call you when your parents get here." A woman's voice could be heard, followed by the squeaking of wheels across the floor.
"Sure thing Miss.T. Don't need to tell me twice." Howard's voice sounded, the ruffling of sheets and a soft sigh edged his tone.
Antoinette groaned lowly in her throat as she tried to force herself to sit upright, her head still pounding with the sound's of the creature's bellows, which were in comparison, even louder than her brother's. A quick survey of her person reviled large purple and blue bruises on her arms from when she fell both times but other than that she seemed to be intact.
"I gotta admit, in all my year at this High School I have never seen anyone take as many dives as you Toni." A low chuckle came from a voice next to her cotside, which she soon found out it belong to Randy, who appeared completely unharmed. "Don't worry though. It was your first monster attack. It can get pretty hectic out there sometimes, but eh, you'll get used to that."
Antoinette glared at him and despite the pain in her arms, she still shoved Randy with such a force he toppled off of his chair.
"Where were you when all of that went on anyway!?" She demanded to know.
"Theres a little thing called, hiding from the scary monster in a trashcan until the ninja shows up." He said as he got up and sat back in his chair.
At that moment, a door could be heard flying open and hitting a wall so fast that it probably did the same amount of damage as the creature from earlier. A blonde woman with bright eyes, wearing a long, sleeveless blue dress rushed into the room suddenly and upon seeing Antoinette, threw her arms around the girl's neck tightly and held her closely. The woman was instantly recognized as Marci McFist.
"Oh my poor little girl! Look at your arms! And your face for that matter! You poor thing, you're all busted up! And on your first day! Oh gosh." Marci exclaimed as she finally released the girl's neck and allowed her to breathe properly again.
"Mom. I'm fine. Really I am!" She muttered as an embarrassed flush fell across the bridge of her nose.
"You look warm too. Oh I hope your not getting sick also! Oh. Maybe you should take the rest of this week and the next off." Marci said quickly as she picked up her daughter's belongings that had been brought to the nurse's office while the girl was still out of it.
"I'm fine! I just passed out is all." She tried to reason with the frantic woman as she swung her legs over the side of the cot and shakily stood up.
"Randomly fainting is not 'fine' Anita. It is caused by something such as not eating. Did you skip lunch today? When was the last time you ate?" Marci asked frantically as she grabbed both of Antoinette's arms.
"Today, I ate a hotdog and a jello cup with two half and half iced teas and then Bash gave me half of his brownie." Antoinette answered bluntly. "And I didn't randomly faint. I got attacked by a freaking monster!"
"A monster? Well why didn't you say so? In that case, how about you take tomorrow off and we'll try to start fresh on Monday?" Marci asked in her usual cheery voice as she walked towards the school's exit with Antoinette following in toe.
With a roll of the eyes, Toni tried to keep up with her mother, her legs felt like jelly beneath her, but her head had stopped ringing with the creature's noise and was now ringing with Randy's statement of "You'll get used to it."
Later:
Dinner in the McFist house hold was far more quiet than it usually was. Since arriving at the table the only noises to be made were the sounds of clinking silverware and the consumption of food and drink and that was about it. It wasn't until after Antoinette removed her jacket to revile sickly yellowish-green bruises that a topic was suddenly spurred.
"How was your first day of school?" Hannibal asked as he eyed the marks with a cold eye.
"Um... Fine." The girl answered glumly as she dropped her fork back in her potatoes to rub one of the marks that stung a bit more than the rest.
"You um... Look like you got yourself a bit beat up." The man said with a soft sigh as he two, set down his own fork.
"Someone beat Toni up!?" Bash exclaimed, slamming both fists on the table causing many items on the table to shake.
"No Bashford. It was one of those silly monsters again." Marci said bluntly as she brought another fork-full of meat to her lips.
"A monster beat her up?" Bash guessed as he scratched his head.
"Eh, figured the ninja would've taken care of that thing before anyone got hurt by it." McFist muttered with a roll of the eyes.
"The nurse said the student who brought her in said that he saw her faint and simply landed on something funny." Marci informed him, spinning her fork as she did so.
"Landing funny wouldn't cause that much bruising." Her husband pointed out as he reached for his drinking glass.
"I feel twice according to Randy and the first time was when the wall literally exploded inches away from me!" The youngest female in the room said with a hint of annoyance lacing her tone as she reached for the lemonade pitcher.
"Did they say who the monster was?" Hannibal questioned her as he watched her from over his glass.
"Mr. Franklin. That old dork who teaches humanology or something like that." Bash broke in before his sister could answer.
"Mr. Franklin. Yes, I knew the man. A few years back we bought his auto company from him so that he could become a Biology teacher actually." Hannibal muttered more towards himself then towards his family. "I wonder what turned him into a monster."
"Did you get to see the ninja, honey?" Marci asked, turning towards her daughter. "You know your father takes quite an interest in him. Wants to destroy him for one reason or another."
Hannibal's eyes were now glued on the mocha skinned girl, his drinking glass still clutched tightly in his robotic hand until the cup began to shake, just pressures away from being cracked. Slowly, he leaned in towards the center of the table.
"So you saw the ninja today, did you?" He asked curiously, sounding generally interested in what the girl had to say.
"Kinda. He walked over to me and asked if I was OK and then I blacked out." Antoinette said with a shrug as she refilled her cup and then downed it contents, the conversation seemingly making her throat dry and unfortunately the overly sugared lemonade did not help this. "And he was gone by the time I woke up."
Another silence fell over the table but was broken just as quickly by McFist. Setting down his glass finally, he cleared his throat and turned back to face Antoinette.
"So I take it the monsters you were telling me about were the make belief ones that you only see in movies?" He asked, trying to hide a small smirk.
"Perhaps. But apparently you get used to them over time so lets see if I can handle them later." Antoinette responded, her voice almost having a challenging edge to it.
He was no longer hiding his smirk from the girl as he picked up his fork again and went back to dinner, in turn, Antoinette did the same.
"So other than that little monster attack. How was school today?" Marci asked, the question directed towards which ever of the kids answered first.
"It sucked! I got a D on my math test. Stupid nerd wrote down the wrong answers." Bash said, once again pounding his fists on the table. "And yet somehow that dork got an -A!"
"Bashford, cheating doesn't get you anywhere in life." Marci scolded him, pointing at him with her fork.
"I wasn't cheating! I was copying that jerk's answers!" Bash said gruffly, stabbing the meat off of his plate and biting it rather than just cutting a piece off.
"Thats a form of cheating, idiot." Antoinette snapped, her eyes locking on her brother's to see if he was joking about what he said or not.
"Uh. I knew that!" He said loudly, pointing to the girl while still chewing. "I'm not an idiot like some people at this table!"
"Says the barfbrain who got a D on his math test!" Antoinette shot back.
"Ha! Jokes on you cause brains don't talk!" Bash shot back only to chuckle. "She said barf."
"Thats saying alot." Antoinette said with a roll of the eyes.
"Whats that supposed to mean?" Bash demanded as he bit another chunk of meat off.
"I'm going to be blunt with you. I'm calling you stupid. Again!" The younger girl said loudly.
"Mom! Toni called me stupid!" Bash tattled, turning to his mother for her reaction.
Marci picked up her glass and sipped it. Normally she would discourage name calling at the dinner table but thought it best to let the two continue. After all, if they were going to be siblings then they should feel comfortable around each other and act like brother and sister.
"And how was your day Antoinette?" Marci cut in, ignoring what her son had just told her. "Other than the monsters of course."
"Its was good. The teachers are really nice." Antoinette began but was cut off by Bash.
"Yeah except that Mr. Franklin weirdo cause he blew up half the school." He said, pointing his knife at Antoinette and then at Marci. "Thanks to him McJerk had to pick me up from school."
"I don't see how a teacher turning into a monster had anything to do with your step-father picking you up from school." Marci said as she reached for the bowl of mashed potatoes in the middle of the table.
"Cause Toni got beat up and you took her to the doctors or something and apparently was too busy to pick me up." Bash explained as he eventually passed the bowl into his mother's reach.
"And thats not a bad thing that happened. You got to spend some time with your step-father and we know now that Antoinette has no broken bones." Marci said as she smiled brightly and spooned the fluffy, white goop onto her plate and then sat the bowl down.
"You know I could have picked her up, sugar-pie." McFist reminded his wife sweetly as he forced a smile, trying to picture how much his mood would have brightened that day if he didn't spend an hour in traffic with his step-son.
"Oh I know, but I didn't want to bother you. You're always so busy at work." Marci began, quickly eating and swallowing her potatoes before continuing. "Besides, I didn't mind spending some quality time with my baby girl."
The blonde woman stood up suddenly and gathered everyone's empty plates and took them over to the kitchen sink and set them down. She then went over to a tinfoil covered plate and brought it over to the table. Even though the contents of the plate was covered, the scent reviled them to be brownies. Carefully she took the foil away and cut even pieces and served a piece to each family member.
"While the kids were at school I had time to make my home-made brownies, oh and that reminds me, I also ran out and picked up some new clothes for the two of you. Antoinette, I didn't know what size you were so after dinner can you try them on for me? I left them in your room." Marci said, her attention on both the brownies and her children and her voice running as fast as a rode-runner.
"Um. Sure?" Antoinette muttered as she bit into her desert.
"And then afterwards we can all watch a movie until bedtime." She said as she clapped her hands together, her jewelry jingling as she did so.
With a shake of the head, the youngest of the group shoved the remainder of the brownie into her mouth and chewed it quickly then swallowed it down with the remainder of her lemonade.
"I'll go do that real quick." She said as she got up and raced to what was now her new bedroom.
Despite only living in the house for one and a half short days her bedroom was already fully decorated and littered with her personal belongings. The day before when they finally arrived home from the hardware store, they all pitched in to paint the room the sapphire color that had been chosen and matching curtains and surprisingly carpet had been put in the same day. The bed was a simple Murphy bed with a silver frame and a desk and laptop complete with speakers under it. The room was also complete with its own bathroom and a dresser and walk-in closet though most of the clothes Antoinette already owned were on the floor in a scattered mess.
"Geez. I should really put those clothes away." She muttered as she simply stepped over the piles and found the clothes lying on her swivel chair.
The three pairs of skinny jeans had been folded up neatly in their own pile, and much to Antoinette's relief, were in her size as well as being in her favorite colors; dark blue, black, and deep purple. The shirts however, ranged in sizes and patterns so with a heavy sigh, she removed her her semi-dirtied band T-shirt and let it drop to the floor before picking up the first shirt. It was white with black zebra prints outlines in sparkling blue.
"I guess this one is kinda cute." She muttered as she pulled the shirt on over her head.
Other then the short sleeves being a bit to tight around her arms it still fit her and with that she took it off, set it on the floor and pulled the second shirt, this one was black with blue, sparkled flames on it and was long sleeved. The shirt was so long it fit her like a dress, not that that was a bad thing, so with a satisfied smile, she looked at the last t-shirt and her smile instantly fell. It was hot pink, with 'Barbie Girl' written across the front in white glitter and just from looking at it she could already tell it was six sizes to small and more than likely from the kids department.
"I'm not even going to bother with that one." She muttered as she reached for a clean tank-top at plaid PJ bottoms that were also in her pile of new clothes and put them on.
Smiling at the comforting fit of the clothes, she was about to leave her room when she let out a heavy sigh and did a ten second tidy by moving all of her clothes into the laundry hamper. All except a piece of black and purple cloth, that she didn't remember having in her room before that time, so she simply threw it on her bed and left the room.
"Ugh! Took you long enough." Bash yelped as he threw a pillow at her from his spot on the couch.
He must've left to change shortly after she did, and Marci must've picked out both of their pajamas at the same time for Bash was now wearing a white T-shirt and plaid PJ bottoms as well.
"Aww! You two look like twins." Marci exclaimed as she walked over to the couch holding a bowl of popcorn, her husband followed after her with another pitcher of lemonade and the remainder of the brownies. "Well except Bash is taller, and a bit paler, and has brown eyes, and no purple hair streaks for that matter. But your clothes are similar."
With a roll of both of their eyes, the two siblings sat on the couch with their parents, Bash sitting next to Marci and Antoinette next to Hannibal.
"So what movie is it tonight?" McFist asked, trying to sound cheerful but failing in doing so.
"Ooh, Its a new one. Hasn't even come out in theaters yet." Marci began as she picked up the remote and clicked it on. "Rise of the Warriors, I think its called."
"More like 'waste of an evening'." Hannibal muttered glumly as the movie began.
"Oh shush hun, its starting!" Marci said as she passed the popcorn bowl around.
As Hannibal had said, the movie was a waste of an evening, well to the boys at least as they soon found out that the three hour long movie was about a female warrior and the path she paved in life. The only two male characters that were of any interest were either dead or a timid child. The movie could only be described by the girl's as being beautiful, elegant and yet haunting. While the male's describe the movie as being boring and too dressy for their tastes.
"Wait. So I'm confused. Why did she turn white?" Bash asked loudly, interrupting the beautiful music in the otherwise silent scene.
"To symbolize both the purity of her heart, and the fear of failing yet again." Marci said in almost a dream like state as she kept watching.
"What happened to that puny dork that kept following her around?" Bash asked, even louder than before.
"If you were paying attention you would see he was kidnapped by the same woman who killed Phoenix!" Antoinette snapped.
"Why didn't she just kill her then if she hates her so much instead of killing that guy?" Bash questioned as he pointed to the screen.
"Because she wanted to harm Rochelle by piercing her soul, rather than her heart. So that the pain of guilt and fear would haunt her until the end of her days." Marci said, still in her dreamy state.
"What I don't understand is how you know all this when the main character hardly spoke at all." Hannibal mumbled as he leaned his head on his robotic arm.
"Oh you two just don't know how to watch." Antoinette said, not shifting her eyes from the screen as she waved a hand at them.
Just then a very 'intimate' scene between the main character and another male character came on. Hannibal turned bright red while Bash sat up a little straighter and the girl's fangirled.
"Oh here we go." Bash said with a wide grin across his face.
"OK! Now who the heck is this guy!?" Hannibal demanded as he began to fast forward the scene.
"If you were paying attention to the flashback scenes then you would know that this man is one of the cronies of Camilla, who was the one that killed Phoenix and kidnapped Taran." Marci said sternly as she snagged the remote from him and hit play.
"So why is she sleeping with him!? I thought she was 'purity' or something like that!" Hannibal pointed out.
"Because their love for each other is pure." Antoinette explained as she shifted her eyes over once and then turned them back to look at the screen. "He may have been forced to fight Phoenix and join Camilla's forces but he was not forced to love her."
Just as the scene was, in Bash's mind, 'getting hot', a fluttering of cherry blossom petals dissolved the scene into the after-math of the events from the previous scene. This hit the teenage boy hard.
"How much longer is this movie!?" He yelped, dropping the bowl of popcorn he had been holding.
Clicking the play button on the remote, both males groaned when they saw they still had an hour left, but much to their relief, the movie began to pick up with lots of action scenes and the weakling being taught how to fight and the movie ended with a strange, sapphire dragon appearing to deliver the final line of "They are two of the bravest... I have ever known."
"Holy crap!" Antoinette yelled as she and her mother clung excitedly to each other. "I did not see that coming!"
"That was amazing! I can't believe it!" Marci agreed as the two make annoying 'Eee'ing sounds.
"What? What happened?" Bash demanded but when he got no answer, got up and left the room with a bored mutter of "What ever. I'm going to bed."
"Why are you freaking out? What happened exactly?" Hannibal asked, sounding as confused as his stepson.
"That was phoenix at the end of the movie!" Marci said with a large smile. "Oh what a great movie."
"Great? There was hardly a plot to it." He said with a roll of the eyes as his wife got up to put the movie away.
"Oh you just don't know how to watch." She said as she closed the movie's case. "Maybe next time we should watch 'Mandy Runningtam: Tenth grade samurai!"
"I love that show!" Antoinette said as she got up and stretched.
"Is that that dorky anime show about that girl that goes around defending her school dressed as a samurai?" Mcfist muttered as he got up and dragged himself after his wife and daughter as they left the room.
"Sure is. And that show is a hoot." Marci said excitedly as she headed off in the direction of the bedroom the two of them shared.
Antoinette smiled and went to her own room and opened the room and stepped inside.
"You see those are the kinds of monsters I like." She said with a slight laugh as she closed the bedroom door. "Good night dad." She called through the door. "Night mom! Night Bash!"
A few muffled good nights answered this as McFist stayed out in the hall for a little while. He could hear the steps of the ladder leading up to his daughter's bed squeak as she climbed then and could already hear his stepson's snores from his room. With a heavy sigh he headed off in the direction of his own room. Usually night time for him would spark thoughts of how to destroy the ninja but tonight he found himself pondering over another thought. This was their first official night as a family of four.