Six AM rolled around rather quickly, and Antoinette found herself being rudely awoken by the sound of her teal alarm clock blaring some random song on the radio, whose lyrics she could not catch due to her groggy state. Yawning loudly, she stretched her arms above her head and then reached over to the snooze button and tapped it.
"Eh... I kinda liked that song... I think." She muttered dryly, as she tossed her bed-sheets aside and swung her legs over to the edge of the bed, only to promptly fall back over onto her side and shut her eyes, desperately trying to fall back to sleep.
She managed to drift off into an odd mix of her thoughts telling her to wake up, and random babbling from unheard voices in her dream-like state, but only for about five minutes, only to be rudely awoken by the sound of her alarm clock blaring yet another song, this time she heard the lyrics and recognized the song to be 'Here comes the sun'.
"Ugh! Shut up clock and let me go back to sleep!" She groaned as she sat bolt right up and grabbed the object, furiously searching for the OFF button and when she found it, she pushed it as hard as she could. "I get it! I have school- Wait. No I don't."
She chuckled softly as she remembered her mom allowing her to have the day off today and quickly set down her alarm clock and laid back down and shut her eyes.
Meanwhile:
Antoinette might have fallen back to sleep, but her parents and older brother were wide awake now and gathered around the kitchen table. Marci was going over the family's To-Do list for that day, while Bash lazily went back and forth between packing his school bag (Mainly with comics and pea-shooters in place of his textbooks) and his breakfast, and Hannibal was mindlessly listening to his wife chatter while he finished his own food.
"Oh that reminds me, Hannibal, you'll have to take Antoinette with you to work today." Marci concluded as she put the milk back into the fridge, not noticing her husband's sudden spit take.
This seemed to capture her husband's attention as he thought over quickly what she had just said and tried to think of what a good response would be. It wasn't that he didn't want to spend time with the girl, its just he didn't think his office, considering what went on in there on a regular basis, would be an appropriate place for a little girl to be in.
"Marci, the kid getting a bump on the head is no reason to keep her out of school." McFist pointed out nervously, trying to lace his tone with a sweetness to hide this.
"Better safe than sorry." Marci shot back.
"Can't you just watch her, dearest?" He asked, trying to keep a calm persona.
"Oh no, Hannibal, I have a hair appointment today remember?" She reminded him. "Besides, you two haven't bonded at all since you two met."
He opened his mouth as if to speak, but then shut it slowly, finding that not a single response came to mind, and then went back to eating his breakfast of eggs quietly.
"Well I guess that settles things then. I'll go up and wake Anita after I drop Bashford off at school." She said sweetly as she snagged her car keys from the center of the table and then began to walk towards the door, followed by her son.
"Take your time coming home." McFist muttered dryly, as if almost frightened that if he talked to loudly then he may wake up the girl who was sleeping two floors above him.
"Oh, I'll be back in less then ten minutes." Marci said sweetly as she blew him a kiss and then headed out the door, only to stick her head back in. "Which reminds me, No ninja today, okay?"
"B-but Marci!" Hannibal groaned loudly as he covered his face.
"No buts. Now you are going to take today to spend time with your daughter and nothing violent." Marci said sternly.
"Yes dear..." Hannibal mumbled as he glanced up at the kitchen clock, which now read 6:42, meaning he had exactly two hours before he had to leave for work.
A black band t-shirt with electric blue swirls that came together to form the words 'NightMare Rally' , a black pleaded skirt that reached her knees and black boots made up the fourteen year olds outfit for that day as she walked into a large building complex, feeling oddly out of place next to the man glad in a brown suit, blue dress shirt, and red tie.
"So this is where daddy works, pretty impressive huh?" McFist asked as he gestured to the lobby with his hand.
A robo-ape, who had been typing on a laptop and chatting away on the phone, stopped and looked up at the two before carrying on in its work.
"Well theres a monkey on a type writer, thats pretty impressive." Antoinette muttered as she turned her head quickly from left to right, her ponytail whipping her father by accident.
He growled lowly in annoyance but then forced a sweet smile and patted the girl's back, a bit hard then he should have, but again he was a tad annoyed.
"This is just lobby. The action happens on the top floor." He said kindly, gently pushing her towards an elevator, whose golden doors had opened as if on cue.
"Heres hoping." Antoinette said simply, pretending to lift an invisible glass in a 'Cheer' type way.
"Don't be getting smart with me. I have the power to ground you from everything." McFist said, still forcing his sweet tone though it was not needed.
The elevator's doors closed the second they got on. It jerked suddenly and began to ascend upward. Neither of them said a thing to one another, only the sounds of grinding gears and and a few creaks and groans from the elevator filled the silence. With a final ding, the elevators doors slid opened and a large office reviled itself to the two.
"Its about time you got here." A male's voice said suddenly from a space in the room that the girl could not see from where she stood.
"Meh, Marci had a hair appointment today so I'm stuck watching the kid, who missed breakfast today and just had to stop at McFistonalds to get her chicken salad or else she was going to die!" McFist said sarcastically with a roll of the eyes.
"I'm right here!" Antoinette yelped, sounding somewhat offended. "Jerk."
Hannibal visibly tensed as he turned towards his youngest child. He suddenly felt a tad nervous of having the girl around, fearing that she might tell Marci if he did anything else wrong.
"Um. Daddy didn't mean it pumpkin, daddy loves you." He said tensely as he stepped off of the elevator and into the office, followed by the other. "Oh yeah, and Anita, thats Viceroy, and vise versa."
Antoinette turned her head to where her dad had bluntly gestured and saw a man in the corner of the room. She lifted her hand up as if to wave and then dropped it to her side.
"Anita, thats a cute name." The man muttered as he went back to whatever it was he was working on.
"Its short for Antoinette. Apparently." The girl muttered as she studied whatever it was in Viceroy's hands though it looked like a remote.
"I figured as much." He muttered, unscrewing the back of the remote.
"I bet you did." She muttered, walking over to him, her curiosity getting the best of her. "Whatcha working on?"
"Just tinkering with old projects and what not. Studying them actually." He responded, setting down the remote and looking up at her.
"What was that things supposed to do?" Antoinette asked. "Or was it just a remote?"
He paused for a moment and thought over the question, only to bring up his arms in a shrugging motion. "I have no idea actually."
The two stared at each other for a long time, only to glance down at one another's shirts. Much to their amusement, they were the same ones.
"So you're a fan also?" He questioned the girl, who in turn smiled proudly.
"Ever since I first heard them back in first grade. Whats your favorite album?" She asked, stamping her hands on her hips.
"Artificial Sunrise." He shot back, stamping his hands on his hips in a similar fashion to the younger.
"Same here." She responded, now smirking more than smiling.
"Favorite song on that album that isn't Sapphire Moon?" He questioned her, suddenly interested.
"Demon's Delight." She responded, now folding her arms. "Though Twilight's Demise is a good song also."
"What the hell are you two talking about?" Hannibal demanded, now sitting at his desk with his feet propped up on it.
"The best band ever!" Both responded in unison.
"Well stop it, its anno-" McFist paused suddenly, an idea forming in his mind. "Nevermind, carry on."
His idea being that if the two kept one another busy then he could plot the ninja's downfall without Antoinette finding out and telling Marci.
"Why the sudden change of mind?" The other man asked, folding his arms in a similar position to how the girl had hers.
"No reason. You two just seemed so engrossed in your conversation that I figured-" He was suddenly cut off by his daughter putting her hand up.
"Let me guess. You were trying to keep me busy so you could plot the downfall of the ninja? Yeah mom filled me in on this while you were in the shower and told me to make sure you don't try anything." She said sternly, letting her hand drop slowly.
"Oh! Darn-it Marci!" Hannibal yelped, even though he knew his wife couldn't hear him.
"Tell you what daddy, give me two tickets to Night Mare Rally's next concert, and mom doesn't hear about any of this." She wagered slyly.
McFist growled lowly in his throat and pulled out his cellphone and began to dial a number into the phone.
"Fine. Consider it done. But if your mother hears about any of this then you're grounded for a month!" He yelped as he left the room to talk with who ever was on the other line.
"Oh, you are an evil one." Viceroy beemed as the two high-fived.
"Eh, I didn't think he would actually go for it." Antoinette muttered as she went over to her father's large chair and sat down in it. "So, whats this whole Ninja thing about anyway?"
"He made some bet with the sorcerer that if he destroyed the ninja then he would get some crazy superpower or something dumb like that." He explained, using hand-gestures during this.
"Wow. Thats really stupid." Antoinette muttered as she opened up the laptop on the desk that she assumed was her father's and turned it on. "Does he know who it is yet?"
"Not a clue. But we've gotten close before." He responded, crossing over to behind the girl so he could look over her shoulder and at the laptop's screen, suddenly pointing to a file icon. "Its that one there."
"Gotcha." Antoinette muttered as she tapped the icon a few times and a new screen took the place of the laptops home page.
A picture of the ninja appeared, followed by several photos of random teenagers from the school, flashing across the screen with the words PROCESSING also flashing across the screen.
"Whats it processing?" Toni asked, slowly taking her hands away from the laptop's keys.
"We managed to collect some of the ninja's hair from that mustache party and its not comparing it to everyone's hair in the school." He said with a shrug. "Its almost done so we should know soon enough."
"Well that sounds like a pretty simple plan, why haven't you though to just do that from the start?" Antoinette began but the male suddenly held up three fingers.
"You will see why this never works in three, two, one." At that moment, a ninja star pierced the center of the laptop's screen, causing it to crack and then go back.
"Holy crap!" Antoinette yelped as the swivel chair she was in was suddenly pushed out of the way of the laptop, seconds later the laptop exploded.
"Thats why." Viceroy said with another shrug from his spot on the floor, sounding cool as if the explosion did not happen. "Hes not in here ninja, you can come out now."
Just then, a tall and slender figure, draped in black and red, reviled himself to them.
"Aw man! I was totally in the mood for fighting some robots today!" The ninja groaned as he folded his arms. "Wheres McFist anyway? And who the heck is that?"
"Hes on the phone. Oh, and this is his little girl, Antoinette." He answered bluntly, rubbing at a spot on his coat where the explosion had burned it.
"Little girl?" Ninja asked, sounding confused.
"Adopted." Antoinette chimed in, only to be cut off by a sharp yelp.
"My laptop! Ninja! Robo-apes! Attack!" McFist yelped, but then turned to his daughter. "Anita, how about you two go down to the break room, while daddy takes care of the Ninja? There are quarters in the coffee tin on the top shelf in there for the vending machine. And remember, your mother won't hear about this right?"
"Sure thing dad." Antoinette said, getting out of the chair and rushing towards the elevator with the scientist as Robo-apes began to fill the room. "As long as I get both the tickets and a Daddy/Daughter day this weekends. A real one."
The doors to the elevator slammed shut before McFist could agree or object, but from the defeated look on his face, he was more than likely going to agree to it.
Later On That Weekend:
"You owe me a real Daddy/Daughter day this weekend!"
Well, she probably hadn't said it like that. Or maybe she did, he couldn't remember that well since after she left the room, the ninja flipped him on his head and knocked him out. So maybe he just imaged the whole thing? No such luck, and the millionaire found himself sitting at a local diner, eating stale pancakes, slightly burnt around the edges, with very thin syrup. His youngest child sat across from him, eating her own breakfast.
"After this, can we go to the park? Or the mall? Or both?" Antoinette asks curiously, not wanting this to be the highlight of her day.
"Anything you want to do today princess." McFist says sweetly, forcing a rather painful looking smile.
"So we can go bungy-jumping off the Eiffel tower?" She tested, wanting to see what his limits would be.
"If thats honestly what you want. Then NO!" He snapped suddenly, but then tried to appear calm as he got a few awkward stares from those around him. "You mentioned the mall?"
Rolling her eyes, the girl went back to her own stack of pancakes and continued to swallow them. A small smile began to bud on her thin lips as she sipped her cool milk and then looked around the room.
"What are you thinking of?" Hannibal asked as he focused his attention onto the girl in front of him.
"I don't know." Antoinette muttered dryly, sounding upset, but looking happy.
He recognized that tone from when he had first spoken to her on the phone, just two days before her arrival. His robotic arm, seemingly with a mind of its own now, reached out and touched her hand.
"Your parents again?" He muttered as she slowly looked up at him.
"Yeah. But its weird." She began, taking another forkful of pancakes. "I don't really miss them. Thats what upsets me is knowing that I don't miss them at all."
He frowned when the girl's tone suddenly changed towards the end of her statement but then he smiled gently and patted her hand yet again.
"Its a lot to take in all at once. And you didn't have a lot of time to prepare for a new family and a new school. Maybe you didn't have time to miss them, or maybe missing was replaced with knowing that they left you in good hands?" He suggested gently, going back to eating his own breakfast though in his mind he was secretly planning a trip to the therapist with her. "But lets not talk about such depressing things."
"Did somebody say 'Depressing things'?" A somewhat raspy voice asked from behind the man's head.
His daughter looked up as he turned his head so he could see the owner of the voice. It was a boy, about Antoinette's age, decked out in purple with dark blue hair. He was leaning on his hands and was smiling brightly.
"A,B,Conversation. C your way out of it." Antoinette said bluntly as she set down her fork and then added. "Before D jumps over E and beats the F out of you."
"Nice one." Hannibal commented as he turned back around, yet scooted down the booth so the boy would have a clear window to view the girl from.
"Aww, but your conversation was just beginning to sound delightful." He said sweetly, cradling his head in both hands.
"You're insane kid." Hannibal snapped from behind his coffee mug. "You should probably check yourself in."
"Oh but I'm not insane." The boy said with a giggle. "Mother had me tested."
Antoinette blinked, before shifting her gaze towards her dad for any indication on what to say next, but really he didn't know how to respond to that.
"Umm. Who are you again?" Antoinette asked suddenly, looking directly at the boy.
"Julian, and you?" The boy, now dubbed Julian answered while extending his hand over the table.
"Antoinette McFist" She went to extend her hand as well but Hannibal's hand cut hers off for the handshake.
"And I'm her father, and I already know I don't like you." He has no idea where that came from, all he knew was he suddenly didn't want this boy talking to his girl. "Now if you don't mind, I'm trying to have breakfast with my daughter. Would you mind turning around before my McFist punches your McFace."
"I don't. And I think that is absolutely adorable." Julian said in an overly eager voice. "Threatening a life in such a violent matter for the little one!"
"Um... Julian?" A voice comes from the boy's booth. "Who are you talking to?"
A girl with light purple hair and tan skin, wearing a yellow uniform, turned toward the male, no doubt leaning on her seat as well.
"The family of McFists." He answered with a soft giggle as her turned and sat back down the right way, followed by the girl.
A few gasps came from the table as Antoinette stood to get a better look at who ever was sitting with the boy. An accordion player, a paton twirler, a clown, and two familiar faces of Randy and Howard, sat with him.
"S-Sorry about that, he does that a lot actually." The twirler explained gently.
"Its fine, I just wish he hadn't intervened in such a personal conversation!" McFist all but yelled back at the girl in an attempt to keep his voice calm.
"Uh guys, maybe we should just go to another booth for our meeting." Randy spoke suddenly, beginning to slide out of his seat.
"No way Cunningham! The monster klub always meets in this exact restaurant, in this exact booth!" Howard retorted, creating an even more awkward atmosphere.
The Monster Klub. An evil plot began to form in the millionaire's mind as he thought over the name. Putting this plan into motion without his daughter knowing would be surprisingly easy.
"Monster Clu- eh Klub, as you put it? Do you mean monsters like the ones that attack your school on a regular basis? Because you know, Anita here, is a huge fan of those things, well the small ones at least."
"After that first attack I'm not sure if I even like the small ones." Antoinette began but her father ignored her.
"And she doesn't have many friends at this school, what with being new and all, and I think you all would get along just fine." He was cut off by Howard's hand and the group suddenly muttering quietly between themselves.
After a short time, they broke apart, and Howard cleared his throat and looked up at the two.
"My colleagues and I have spoken, and we all agree-" He was suddenly cut off by Julian.
"Of course your miserable twit can join out Klub!" Even though what he said sounded like an insult, his voice sounded like he was trying to make it a compliment.
"Julian!" The girl snapped suddenly, punching him hard in the arm. "That wasn't very nice."
"But I only meant it in the nicest way." He retorted, a soft pout forming on his pale lips.
"Aww, and I mean it in the nicest way possible when I say 'You are the definition of today's society as far as a gossip queen goes'." Antoinette said from across the table, smirking as she took a long sip from her milk glass.
For the record, it seemed that this lone comment really did go a long way in shattering most of the boy's pride for reasons unknown, but a quick smile masked this all as made his final comment.
"Save your voice for your beautiful sobs. From what I hear, you have a lot of those in store." He sat back down, ignoring the sugar packet hitting his head. "Oh, and our next meeting is in the lunchroom after school on Monday."
"I'll be there." Antoinette began as she got out of the booth, having finished her meal.
"And I'll be there with her. In case you try to say anything else 'nice'." Hannibal said in a threatening tone as he too removed himself from the booth and went to the waitress who had served them to get their bill.
"No you won't dad! You'll be dropping me off is all." Antoinette called over to him as she left the cafe and went to get into their car.
After paying the bill, Hannibal followed after her, only to stop in front of the Klub's booth and mouth over to the purple male 'I'm watching you punk!' and then promptly leaving, to continue their day of fun.
The rest of the day was spent at the mall, going into every single store for about twenty minutes each and buying something from each store as well. Finally when the stores were closed, the father and daughter were back at home. Hannibal was already passed out in his leather chair in the livingroom, and Antoinette was busy typing away at her laptop on the couch. Thats how Marci found them and she couldn't help but laugh.
"I see you wore your father out." She commented with a soft chuckle as she tossed a fluffy, blue blanket over the man. "Did you two have fun?"
"Yeah. Except after that idiot talked to us at the Cafe and dad wouldn't stop threatening every male worker we ran into at the mall." Antoinette huffed as she continued to type.
"Your brother told me about that boy." Marci said as she walked over to her daughter's side and sat down. "And we both agreed we think hes trying to flirt with you."
"You sent Bash to spy on us!?" Antoinette gasped in mock surprise.
"Someone had to make sure your father didn't try hunting the ninja during your special day." Marci began, stopping just so she could look at her hot pink nails. "And I had a nail appointment today and couldn't do it so I sent Bashford instead."
"And did he tell you that dad didn't try anything?" She asked, finally taking her hands away from her keyboard.
"He did an- What are you typing dear?" Marci asked, suddenly trying to read what was on her daughter's screen.
Theresa: Heyo! Twirler girl from the monster Klub here. Just wanting to say sorry about what happened earlier!
Antoinette: Um, hey? How did you get my Email address?
Theresa: The school's homepage.
Antoinette: Ah, well no hard feelings. It was kinda funny watching dad flip out like that.
Theresa: It was! I never seen him act so 'overprotective' before! lol.
Antoinette: Haha! Ikr? And watching the guy actually get hit was pretty funny.
"Just a Insta-chat with a friend." Antoinette explained as her mother giggled.
"Oh what fun! Well, I'll just leave you alone then. Don't stay up to late OK?" She kissed her head and promptly left the room just in time for Antoinette's Email alert to ding twice.
She was surprised, and somewhat annoyed, however, when she saw who the message(s) was from.
Randy: Hey Toni! Glad to see you bounced back from last weeks attack.
Antoinette: Hey Randy! Yeah, glad to see it to, though I wasn't really that shaken by it.
Randy: You hit the floor twice and ended up in the nurse's room for three hours!
Antoinette: Was I really out for that long? Yikes. So how are you anyway?
Randy is OFFLINE
With a roll of the eyes, Antoinette clicked on the dreadful message that still blinked, waiting to be answered.
Julian: Well, little miss Dread, my dear friend, Theresa Fowler insisted that I talk to you an apologize, though I do not understand what for.
Antoinette: How about for calling me miserable, Little, and Twit? OK, that was out of order.
Julian: I did not say it to be mean though.
Antoinette: ...
Julian: May I explain?
Antoinette: Go right ahead, I am very interested *rolls eyes*
Julian: For starters. You are short.
Antoinette: I am five foot one!
Julian: In my books that is short. For two, you seemed upset today because you didn't miss your parents, which is ironic for if you did miss them then you would be miserable either way.
Antoinette: ...Twit?
Julian: A twit is a silly or foolish person. Meaning you are a short person who is upset for a silly reason. I was calling you silly. 'Of course your silly daughter can join'.
Antoinette: Why didn't you just up and say that instead?
Julian: Not the way I talk.
Antoinette: Fair enough.
Julian: So your father will not have to pummle my face in correct? Though the thought of such an event taking place to someone else would be very humorous to watch!
Antoinette: ... Keep talking like that and he will.
Julian: ... You're no fun!
Julian is OFFLINE
Theresa: Did you talk to Julian?
Antoinette: Yeah. He said he was calling me a Silly Daughter and then said I was no fun and logged off.
Theresa: That sounds like him. Well, I have to go now. How bout I give you my phone number so we can text later?
Antoinette: Sure.
Theresa: 6626107.
Theresa is OFFLINE
After copying the number into her phone's contact list, the girl shut off her laptop and looked at the time on her phone. It was almost ten thirty. With a heavy sigh, she pulled herself off of the couch and dragged herself towards her bedroom, thinking over the three conversations she had just had was was beginning to dread the upcoming monster meeting even more.