Chapter 9: A Friendly Evening
September 15th 2006 5:42pm
Retroville, TX
Nick just started working on his homework for the weekend. He was reluctant to do it that night as he wanted to do other things, but it was due the next school day so he had to do it or else it would be an F.
"Thanks for studying with me," Nick said to Betty. They both were sitting on the couch in the living room. Betty was wearing her usual pink dress while Nick was wearing a blue t-shirt and some gym shorts. It was hot this time of year and he didn't have to wear anything considered cool at his house. He and Betty were close friends though, so he doesn't have to put on any sort of exterior personality around her. The house was a bit of a fixer-upper. There were some photos on the wall showing Nick and his mother. "I'm admittedly not good at focusing on these kinds of things."
"I understand completely," Betty responded kindly. "On one hand, I'm glad I'm not nearly as obsessed as other people we know. But on the other hand, I do wanna get a degree and start a career."
"Yeah, I know. Hence why I'm trying my best to at least pass through school so that I would be able to do something beyond working at McSpankies or something." Nick sighed then curiously asked. "What did you wanna do once you graduated?"
"Quite honestly, I'm thinking of becoming a pilot," Betty smiled at the thought. "Just imagine traveling around the world whenever you want to."
Nick chuckled. "If you really want to, you could just do that with the hover car."
"You know what I mean," Betty then looked up. "When we were up in space a couple years ago on those ships made from Retroland rides, it felt great being airborne. It's something I wanted to experience on my own."
"Well with all the things we've done so far, I'd say it's possible."
"Heh, thanks. What do you have in mind?" Betty asked with a smile.
"Honesty, I don't know." Nick sighed. "I think I need a few years to figure it out."
Betty then put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure whatever you end up doing, you'll be great at it."
"Thanks, that means a lot." Nick smiled back.
"And in order to get any kind of degree, we should probably continue with this math problem," Betty said, turning their attention to their assignments.
"Oh boy…" Nick sighed. "Let's get this over with."
Meanwhile at a random sidewalk in Retroville, Libby, Sheen and Carl were walking their way back home.
"You know, if we keep eating at the Candy Bar as often as we do, I don't think it'll be good for our muscles." Carl stated sheepishly.
"Relax Carl," Libby said. "We still have a couple years before we have to start going on diets and whatnot."
"Yeah, but my body has all sorts of issues as is." Carl shrugged. Sheen was walking silently not really paying attention to the conversation. He was deep in thought about what happened on the moon. I know it wasn't her, but the way the clone reacted when I was about to hit her. It… was unlike anything I ever experienced. Given they're all de-cloned, but…
"SHEEN!" Libby shouted.
"Huh?" Sheen was snapped out of his daze.
Libby sighed, then spoke with annoyance. "I was asking if you wanted to head to the arcade before going home."
"Oh…" Sheen then said halfheartedly. "Yeah sure."
"Are you okay?" Libby expression softened. "Normally you jump at the opportunity to go."
"Yeah… it's nothing." Sheen brushed it off.
"You know you can talk to me, right?" Libby said calmly.
"And me too!" Carl added.
"...Alright." We stopped Evil Jimmy and his lackeys. But something doesn't seem right. First, I'm still recovering from almost hitting you."
Libby grabbed Sheen's hand with a worried expression. "I already told you that wasn't me. It was a counterfeit."
"Yeah but, I've also noticed that it affected Jimmy as well." Sheen continued. "What if the League of Villains is planning something, or if it's a new force all together?"
"But the villains are stuck in the distant past." Libby reassured.
"Well there's still Meldar…" Carl mentions.
"Not helping," Libby said. "Besides, he's nothing without the matrix generators."
"No, Carl's got a point." Sheen said softly. "That show was watched by tons of people. What if someone powerful enjoyed it and got mad at us for ending it."
Libby pondered for a quick second. This is surprisingly unlike him. "Well it was either that, or more planets would've been destroyed. And besides, we've tested the N-Men powers. A little more tuning and no one will be able to take us down!"
"You're right. Thanks for helping me Libby," Sheen and Libby then hugged. Carl attempted to but they immediately separated before he could.
"How about we see what the others are up to, so we can make sure they're okay?" Carl suggested.
"Sure thing," Libby said and Sheen nodded, and then turned towards their neighborhood.
To Be Continued...
