A/N: Well, I presently have no internet connection at home, so I'm basically back to what I did when I was starting out, running to the library or being at school. So since I can't do homework at the moment. Let's continue with the next part of the 'New Series of Events' Arc
Arc Title: A New Series of Events
Original story: 'A Series of Events that Led to One End' by chquine-harvinellisse
Summary: The first stop on their wild dimension hopping trip lands the Neo Brawlers in a strange alternate Wardington City. Where the brawlers are older and are not… the Brawlers. Instead a group of 5 girls run Crest Café, and when the Neo Brawlers find that they have a debt to pay they agree to work there for a while. It seems easy enough, wait tables, cook food, serve it, work at the cashier, and help the girls find their perfect match. This may be harder than they thought.
Tyler: *holding a microphone* okay so here's the recap from last chapter, Masquerade came and got us out of jail. But it cost him 4000 dollars. *pauses then turns to Aidan* does bail really cost that much?
Aidan: *shrugs* Who knows? The fact is he spent that money on us hoping we'd be the proof that other dimensions exist and transportation between them is possible.
Mike: But the trouble is we're only 4 crazy kids, we could tell anyone the truth as much as we want most would just define us as insane and not give us the time of day.
Jet: Which leaves us with our present situation.
Tyler: . Figuring how to pay Masky back 4000 dollars.
All: *groans*
Mike: *sighs* oh well at least the readers will find it entertaining.
Aidan: Good, then they can go read and enjoy our torture. Like the freaking sadist they are.
Tyler: Now Aidan, there's no need to be rude-
Aidan: JUST SHUT UP AND GO TO THE CHAPTER ALREADY!
Chapter 2
The limo pulled up in front of Crest Café, Masquerade at his wits end as the group of 14 year olds had proceeded to bicker throughout the remainder of the ride.
Masquerade had briefly considered taking them to his home, but after the group had started bickering he hastily reconsidered. Only half an hour with the kids and already he had a migraine. He hoped that Runo would be able to scare the brats into obedience and run them down so that by the time he had to come take them and Chaq back to his home they were too tired to be a pain.
"We're here." Masquerade said as the limo stopped, and the masked blond stepped out the four struggling out after him. Jet and Mike got out without issue but Tyler had managed to get his leg caught in the seat belts and was struggling to get out. Which was made even harder due to Aidan who was stuck behind the other blond.
"Stop pushing me Aidan!" Tyler cried as he struggled to pull his leg free.
"Then move it!" Aidan snapped from behind him.
"I'm trying, Ah!" Tyler finally tugged his leg free and tumbled out of the car landing in a heap on the ground.
Aidan snorted as he stepped out over Tyler and went to join the other 2.
Jet and Mike gave him a look and Aidan raised an eyebrow.
"What?" Aidan said, the two looked pointedly at Tyler who was still lying groaning on the ground. "Ugh fine." He said going over to Tyler and grabbing the blond's arms and hauled the pyromaniac to his feet.
Now that they were out of the limo and standing in front of the building the four took in the place they'd arrived at.
Jet raised an eyebrow. "'Crest Café'? She read the title of the sign on the café. "What are we doing at a café?"
"Yeah I thought the plan was to work off our debt not add to it." Aidan remarked looking to Masquerade.
"I wouldn't protest to some food." Tyler said his stomach growling to emphasize his point.
"Well tough!" Aidan snapped at Tyler, "If you hadn't-"
"Enough!" Masquerade barked reaching up his hands to massage his temples. He moved in front of the four. "To pay off your debt, you're going to help Runo and the other girls run the café. You'll do whatever she tells you to, whatever I tell you to do and with no complaints or I'll send you back to jail no ifs ands or buts." He said turning and glaring at all four kids in turn. Jet stiffened up biting her lip, Mike frowning, Tyler nodding his head rapidly looking like a bobble head, and Aidan just glared back. "Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal." Aidan said icily as Jet nodded murmuring her agreement, Tyler nodding his head so fast it almost gave Masquerade whiplash just watching him.
Mike shrugged. "Fair enough." He said.
Masquerade sighed and straightened up before giving a nod. "Good, now that we understand each other I'm going to go talk to the manager," He turned to head in before turning to them and pointing at the ground where the four where standing. "Wait out here until I call for you." With that he turned back and opened the door a bell jingling as he entered the four kids turning to look at each other.
Tyler was just about to open his mouth to comment when a familiar voice within the restaurant shouted. "What are you doing here?!" The four kids jumped and focused on the door just as it slid shut behind Masquerade.
The four waited a moment eyeing the door before they allowed themselves to relax knowing Runo wasn't going to jump out and maim them.
"So," Tyler began slowly sparing a glance at the door. "This is Runo's café in this world." He took a moment to take stock of the area. "It seems nice enough" He said. Jet nodded
"It's funny," She said looking around taking in their surroundings, examining the other small businesses that surrounded the Crest Café. "When Viki and I arrived in the bakugan world, the second place we went to was Runo's café, it seems history repeats itself." She sighed closing her eyes. "I hope we can figure out a way to get back, I mean can you imagine how long it'll take to earn 4000 dollars?" She said throwing up her hands to her sides. "It took Meredith 3 months working as a lifeguard back home to earn half that much!"
Aidan grumbled kicking at the ground folding his arms scowling. "Not to mention who knows what the pays like here,"
A soft rumbling sound drew the other threes attention to Tyler. The pyro groaned and wrapped his arms around his stomach, "I don't care what happens as long as I get something to eat, I'm starving." He whined looking hopefully at the café.
"Suck it up." Aidan said icily tapping his toe as he tilted his head up and glared at the overcast sky ky.
Mike turned and rested a hand sympathetically on Tyler's shoulder as the Texas groaned his stomach growling again. "It's all right I'm sure we'll get something to eat soon." He said.
"Yeah!" Jet said raising her fist to the air. "We'll scrape something together and-and-" She trailed off as Aidan turned to her with an eyebrow raised and Mike slowly shook his head. "And dig us deeper into debt." She said her arm dropping back to her side as she sighed. "Being broke sucks."
"Agreed." Mike and Aidan said in unison while Tyler moaned something about being so hungry.
At that moment the door opened, Masquerade stepping out and placing his hand on it to hold it open for them.
"Runo's willing to take you lot on as a favor to me, now get in here and introduce yourselves." He said ushering them in.
The four teens entered feeling six sets of eyes boring into them. Masquerade led them over to a table where 6 girls were seated with food in front of them. The neo brawlers immediately recognized five of them, Julie, Runo, Chan Lee, Mira, Alice, and then a black haired girl, all of them looking to be in their late teens.
Julie squealed as the four stopped in front of them clapping her hands together sweeping her eyes over them. "Oh they're so cute!" At Julie's comment Mike flushed, Aidan's eyes widened and his eyebrows furrowed looking offended, Tyler smiled sheepishly while Jet blinked. Julie however, took no notice of their reactions and continued on with a smile. "What are your guys names?"
Jet opened her mouth to say something when Masquerade beat her to the punch gesturing to them each saying their name in turn. "The brunette girl is Jessica, the boy in the blue hoodie is Mike, the idiot in the jean jacket," Tyler gave a protest of 'hey', "Is Tyler, and the snob in the white turtleneck is Aidan."
"Why you!" Aidan growled clenching his fists at his side but was kept from doing something he'd regret by Jet who grabbed his shoulder and giving it a warning squeeze.
"I'm not an idiot." Tyler said sullenly lowering his head, Mike turning to him and gave him a consoling pat on the shoulder.
The group stood there for a moment in a silence as the group of girls seated at the table studied them. Mira looked mildly interested in them while picking apart her piece of cornbread. Julie was grinning ear to ear gushing over how cute the four 14 year olds were, Chan just had an eyebrow raised like she was trying to piece together what made them so important that Masky would call in a favor from Runo for them. Runo was giving them a squinty eyed look, like she was trying to spot all their inner flaws. Alice was smiling at them probably trying to appear friendly, while the unknown black haired girl studied them, Jessica in particular while grabbing her chin her face scrunched up in deep thought.
Suddenly the black haired girl sat bolt upright in her chair jolting the other members of the table, shock written across her face. "Masky why does the girl look like Jet?!" She demanded jabbing a finger at Jessica.
Masquerade winced reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck, "Well it's-"
Runo's eyes widened as she looked more closely at Jessica, the Neo brawler drawing back a bit from the intense scrutiny while shock rushed across Runo's face. "That's right she does look a lot like Jet!" She focused in on Masquerade as well eyes narrowed and with a blasting glare fixed on him. "What did you do?!"
"Onnii-san you didn't do any experiments with Jet did you?" Alice asked frowning, the other girls fixing Masquerade with disapproving looks the masked boy jerking back in surprise
"No of course not, I'd never let her near a potentially dangerous experiment," Masquerade said shaking his head. "I mean, do you really think I'd risk hurting her?" He asked.
"He hurt her in our-OW!" Tyler's whispers were silenced with a swift elbow to the gut courtesy of Aidan. The blond pyromaniac groaned and doubled over in pain. "My…poor…insides." He moaned wrapping his arms around his waist.
"Hmm," Mira said frowning. "I dunno, you did upset her enough to where she hid from you for several days."
Masquerade could feel all the girls glares increase in intensity, "We've worked past it." He said quickly. "And I would never experiment with Jet, I'd never risk something like that." He said looking at each of them in turn before turning to Jessica "Anyways, this isn't our Jet, this is another version of Jet from another dimension."
Silence fell, and for a moment the girls exchanged disbelieving looks, before glaring back at Masquerade the masked blond frowning slightly.
"He's telling the truth." Surprisingly it was Mike who broke the silence, the boy rubbing the back of his neck. "See, we got stuck in this horrible place called the Doom Dimension and we were trying to get back…"
"When this crazy guy in this weird mask came in," Tyler added.
"Not Masquerade," Jessica hastily added when she saw Runo look towards Masquerade. "This guy's mask was sort of more like a helmet thing… I dunno it was just really weird." She said holding up her hands helplessly.
"Anyways, the guy with the weird mask came in and jumped into the portal that we believed would've led us out of the Doom Dimension." Aidan said scowling slightly. "But bonehead Gyron over there," Aidan said jabbing a finger at Tyler who was eyeing the cornbread muffins that were on the table. "Decided to drag us all in after the guy."
"And that's how we ended up in this dimension." Mike said with a sigh hands delving into his hoodie pocket. "However, we ran into some trouble and Masquerade had to bail us out at the cost of a lot of money."
"How much money?" Chan asked with an eyebrow raised.
Mike, Jessica and Aidan exchanged looks while Tyler reached for the cornbread muffins. He stopped short at a glare from Mira and hastily moved his hand back to his side looking sullen.
"Well…" Jessica began wringing her hands in front of her. "It's…"
"They owe me 4000 dollars." Masquerade said simply, cutting off Jessica's verbal stumbling.
"What?!" Runo shouted jumping up slamming her hands down on the table causing all the plates and food to rattle on the table, a cornbread muffin tumbling to the floor Tyler following its path with his eyes. "They'd have to be working for me for years before they earned it back!" Runo said throwing her hands in the air. "And even then I can't afford to add 4 new workers to the payroll! Plus three of them are guys!"
"So?" Mike said folding his arms across his chest. "It's not like we can't be waitors, or work in the kitchen."
While he was speaking Tyler had squatted down and picked up the cornbread muffin that had fallen on the floor. He wiped it off some before he shoved it in his mouth rising to stand as he did so. His cheeks puffed out with the food he'd crammed into his face.
Aidan gave him a look that said he couldn't believe Tyler had actually ate it, while Jessica sighed and shook her head. Sitting at the table the girls looked at Tyler with various expressions of disgust and shock.
Tyler blinked and then he held up his hands and began talking with his mouth full. "What it's good?" He managed to get out a few crumbs tumbling out of his lips as he spoke.
Aidan groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You idiot." He muttered shaking his head.
Runo still gave Tyler a wary look before she focused on Mike. "Well not only are you likely to cause problems as all the males I've come into contact seem to have a nack for that." She sent a pointed look at Masquerade who pretended to be engrossed with something on his phone. "Also… You'd have to wear the uniform."
At the mention of uniform Julie's eyes widened and she burst out laughing. "Haha! That'd be great! Oh-Oh Runo!" She said while in the midst of a laugh attack leaning far back in her chair. "Just hire them for that reason, come on please!"
Mira blinked as realization at what Julie was getting at came to her as well. "Oh this I'd have to see." She said smirking darkly.
Alice frowned. "Guys that doesn't seem like a-"
She was cut off by Chaq jumping out of her seat, her seat crashing to the ground with a loud bang as the black haired girl grinned very broadly before saying excitedly. "YES DO IT THAT'D BE THE BEST!"
Mike and Aidan exchanged confused glances while Tyler finished off his muffin.
"Oh man that thing was good, not enough to completely satisfy but good." Tyler said rubbing his stomach a content smile on his face. "So all we'd have to do is not cause trouble and wear a uniform sounds good to me."
"Plus with your friend being the way he is," Masquerade said nodding to Tyler. "It seems unlikely you'll endear yourselves to any of the other businesses around here, so this will be your best bet." He had a devious smirk on his face, one that told Mike, Jessica and Aidan that there was something they weren't going to like about this 'deal'.
"Well…" Jessica said slowly turning to Runo who was glaring at her friends as they encouraged her to hire the four to make them wear the uniforms, Julie laughing extremely hard along with Chaq who was giggling like a loon, the other 2 besides Alice were fighting to keep a grin off their face while Alice just looked worried. "If all you're looking for is someone to take orders and do a few tasks like washing dishes or cleaning stuff we can do that."
"And wear the uniforms, can't forget that~" Julie said in a break between her laughter.
Jessica blinked. "Well yeah but I figured that went without saying. If that's all your looking for we can do that." She said.
Runo smiled slightly. "All right then, I guess you four are hired, we'll work out some contract later, although we'll have to get you your uniforms. You three," She said looking to Tyler, Mike and Aidan. "Will be particularly difficult." She murmured grabbing her chin while Julie howled with laughter her and Chaq bursting out into another fit as well.
The boys exchanged looks.
"Uh… Just wondering…" Mike said slowly. "What are the uniforms?"
Runo grin turned into a smirk as she stood up and gestured to the dress she was wearing. "You're looking at it."
Jessica eyed the dress, grimacing slightly at it before her shoulder's slumped in surrender. While Mike and Aidan exchanged looks for a moment.
"You're not serious." Aidan said slowly.
"Wait…" Mike began lifting his hands. "You're not expecting us to…"
"You guys already said you would!" Julie said in a sing song voice. "You can't back out now!"
"But-!"
"I never-!"
"Okay."
Mike and Aidan fell silent turning to look at the other boy of the group. Tyler looked at them in turn and lifted his shoulders in a shrug.
"I mean we get money, we get food, and all it takes is wearing a dress." He snagged another cornbread muffin off the plate on the table. "Jeez you guys are acting like that's the end of the world." He said rolling his eyes taking a bite out of the muffin.
/-/
Annndddd we'll stop there XP.
Uh oh, looks like there's a small snag in the Neo Brawlers plan to get hired at Crest Café. Whatever shall they do?
Aidan: I refuse!
Mike: Really? Is this humiliation really necessary?
JetravenEx: I dunno, Chquine what'd you say?
Chquine: You will wear the dress or you will suffer.
Mike: We're gonna suffer either way!
Tyler: *still eating muffins* I see no downside to this agreement.
Mike: That's cause you'll prolly get delegated to cleaning the toilets or something.
Tyler: Still don't see the downside.
Aidan: You're hopeless.
Anyways, man this took forever, this one was real slow going, hopefully it'll start picking up some next chapter. I don't know how long the 'New Series of Events' Arc will last but prolly a good few chapters. I'll try to keep it short to make time for the other fanfic series I'm going to be crossing into but there's no telling how long or how short it'll be. Depends on how things play out.
Anyways thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this latest installment of Bakugan: Neo Dimensions :D