Disclaimer: Turning Red and it's characters are the property of (c) Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studios.
Elements are borrowed from God of War (2018) and Ragnarök, owned by (c) Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment.
Ten Weeks Ago…
May 2005.
Summer was here in Toronto and everybody knew it.
The air was warmer, the sun shined brightly on those hot days and there was so much to do during this hot time of year. Swimming pools were packed, prices on swimwear and other beach items like surfboards and beach towels were now half off and everyone was ready for the summer of their lives.
Some people like Kris Bengtsson, his brother Stig, his friends Roar and Rudolf and his girlfriend Meilin Lee, including the girlfriends of the three boys, Priya Mangal, Miriam Mendelsohn and Abby Park, respectively. All of them are in high school now together and there was nothing separating them ever again. At school, Kris had joined the basketball team, the Vikings - no surprises there. Mei, Miriam, Priya and Abby had joined the cheerleading squad and it was mostly fun for them - though Abby mostly enjoyed showing off her uniform for Rudolf in a suggestive manner because what else do you expect from hormonal teenagers like them? However, the only massive downside to it was the cheer captain, the meanest, cruelest and most bitchiest queen bee in the whole school, the dastardly Heather Druud and her trio of obedient BFFs, AKA her 'minions'; the snarky and callous Kayley McAllister, the ass-kissing and whiny Dana Masterson Jr. and the ditzy and airheaded, but still just-as-rude Jill Yancey-Vallandingham. And all together, they ruled the school with an iron fist and would let nothing, absolutely nothing, stand in their way.
To everyone's shock, Kris and Moose had made up after the former had returned home from Norway years ago and awakened from his coma finally after seven months. It took them some time, but eventually Moose began to willingly show a more sensitive side to him that never allowed anyone to see. Although, there was positively something he kept buried underneath, he's undoubtedly been going through some stuff after getting thrown through several walls and being heavily injured and did admit that he and his siblings had offered their support when Kris was bedridden after the SkyDome incident.
As for him and Ming….well, things were mostly alright between them and Kris has been tolerant towards her. However, Kris has been keeping a distance between him and her, emotionally, that is. It's been tough to be near her and not remember all the times he's spent working at the temple dealing with her torment, her abuse and listening to all her cruel words, not to mention that he's had at least one, two or even three nightmares of the concert fiasco where Mingzilla attacked the concert and the situation was always different each dream, if not way traumatically worse. For instance, the giant kaiju mom would either stomp on him with her foot and mash him into a paste, eat him alive, sit on him with her giant butt (and not much else in that particular scenario, mind you) and even succeed in crushing him with her paw without Stig to intervene. Of course, how can he possibly ever forget about all that just because she gives him an apology the next time he sees her? Indisputably, he wasn't there with the group during the journey across the Nine Realm to witness any growth in Ming as a character, but Kris already made it clear that it would take him a while to forgive and to understand what she went through to try and save him from the Goddess of Death in the Nordic underworld.
In regards to his godly abilities, Kris has been keeping usage of them to a minimum to try and achieve some normalcy, while secretly immersing himself in some mental training from time to time to help better master his powers from the electrokinesis and the super strength and Stig has been testing out his own capabilities that he's only found out about when in the realms, like trying to see what else he can shapeshift into. It's only been animals he's done so far, whether it's a bear, a moose, a dragonfly, a mosquito, a fox, a duck and even prehistoric creatures like a Dunkleosteus. But he hasn't tried transforming into other people yet. And he's been practicing on honing his magical prowess and expertise.
And as for Roar and Rudolf, they've kinda been showing some supernatural changes of their own lately ever since their Norse journey.
For Roar, his senses have heightened sharply and he's been able to predict what happens next and able to tell what goes on around him, even when he's not there to witness it.
And for Rudolf, he's been demonstrating a strange resistance to pain, but only to small stuff like punches and slaps. Though, he's far too afraid to see how resistant he is to things that can actually, well, kill him, like a gunshot, immolation, consuming poisonous chemicals, etc.
The risk was far too great.
So the group had so much planned for summer break coming up soon once school is out and so much to do. However, Mei and the girls were planning on leaving for summer camp, but they'll only be gone for three weeks. And then after that, everyone will have plenty of time to do fun activities together as a group and place themselves into the throes of summer fun.
But meanwhile at Jack Curtiss Junior High School where all the friends attended, things are pretty hectic as you'd expect. You have your jocks, your cliques, your nerds, your troublemakers, your class clowns, your overachievers, everything. Life at a high school was like a battleground and a combat zone. And Kris was nose-deep in a little locker inspection, busy tending to his personal things inside his locker before classes start - his backpack, his books, everything. Until he heard on the locker doors to his right and there he saw his adorkable and lovely girlfriend Meilin Lee standing there smiling sultrily in her cheerleading uniform since they'll have practice today for the school's End-Of-Year assembly coming up.
It really showed how kind Mei's years have been to her as proven by how accentuated her figure has gotten with her age with a voluptuous figure with pronounced wide hips, thick thighs, some noticeable bumps on her chest to intricate a growing pair of breasts and a large, wide and squeezable heart-shaped butt, which made Kris face heat up every single time he saw it.
Kris Jr., her beloved tamagotchi, was worn around her necklace like a mother would hold her baby in a baby sling on her chest.
And she had panda ears in her raven hair and her tail protruding from her skirt without a single care in the world since everyone was pretty much blasé about the entire 'red panda' thing nowadays anyhow.
"Hey, Sparky." She greeted him.
"Hallo min kjære. Hvordan har du det?" He greeted her in his native language.
Mei giggled with a blush. Kris has been teaching her Norwegian lately so she knew what that meant.
"哦，我很好。 你好嗎?" She greeted back with her own native tongue of Chinese, which Kris understood since he studies linguistics.
"Just fine, babe. Same old, same old." He answered.
"So…no kiss for your Red Panda Girl?" Mei teased him, twirling her hair.
"Oh, how could I forget?"
In response, he tended to his boyfriendly duties without question by wrapping his arms around his girlfriend's waist and giving her a big kiss. Mei moaned blissfully against his lips before they separated.
"Will you two please get a room?" A heckling student groaned at the couple as he walked by them, but Mei stuck her tongue out at him for barging in on their makeout session.
"Don't listen to him." Kris rolled his eyes. "So what's happening?"
"Well, can a girl come and see her beloved once in a while?" She answered jokingly.
"No, just curious is all." He shrugged. "So you feel like doing anything after school? Like maybe a little get-together before you girls leave for camp?"
"Well, what did you have in mind?" Mei asked while leaning against the lockers.
"Toshio's inviting us all down to the local pool for a swim. What do you think?" Her boyfriend suggested, looking at her.
"Ooh, that sounds fun." Mei beamed with excitement, then seductively hugged him from behind, pressing her cheek against his. "Bet you really want to see me in my bikini, don't you?"
Kris gulped.
She always knew all the right buttons to push to get that heart of his pumping.
This did the trick so effectively as evidenced by his madly blushing face, but it was at this point in their relationship that seeing your loved one in an attractive attire wasn't too uncommon. They were both growing teenagers, after all. However, Ming never allowed her to wear a bikini before even after turning 13 for obvious reasons.
"Is it wrong that I want to?" He asked away, embracing this feeling.
"I don't see why." She only said, continuing her flirtation.
"Hey, guys!" Miriam's voice was heard.
Against her will, Mei lets go of Kris to meet up with the girls, all in their cheerleading attires as well along with the boys. Kris shuts his locker door to join them while the whole gang comes together as a whole. Rudolf was no longer wearing thick winter clothes all year and this was summer, so he's made the right choice by wearing less clothing.
"I cannot wait for school to be over already!" Abby shouted boisterously.
"Just a few more days and it's off to summer camp." Miriam commented. "Just three weeks in the great outdoors with so much to do. Hiking trails, volleyball, arts and crafts, canoeing…"
"Scary campfire stories." added Priya with a mischievous smile. "I actually know a damn good one myself."
"Too bad I won't be there to see it." Stig remarked, holding her hand.
"Are you guys sure you can't come?" Mei asked her boyfriend.
"Uh, well, for me, I think being lost in a forest in a weird world of gods for seven months is enough for me to say no, so I don't think I'm ready for the great outdoors again yet." He explained, still remembering those old haunts.
"But it's been three years already." Rudolf reminded him. "I thought you'd be over it by now."
"I'm still getting there." Kris admitted, shrugging. "I was wandering around a large forest for days until the gods found me."
Mei rubbed his shoulder gingerly and said, "Well, anyways, maybe when we get back, we'll have plenty of stuff to do."
"I cannot wait." Roar smiled.
"Out of my way, idiot!"
And just like that, the girls' happy mood was ruined in 1.0 seconds flat as and was replaced with the burning and boiling feeling of irritation coupled with misery with a long-suffering scowl of annoyance on all four faces.
They hated hearing that voice.
Hated it with a fiery passion. Hated who it belonged to, the same person they had to deal with everyday at school and at practice.
And no matter how much they didn't want to look toward where the snotty and discourteous voice came from, they had no choice and lo and behold….
….there she was and with her cronies, no less.
With her long, perfectly-brushed and combed blonde hair held back with a zebra-striped hairband, flawless, pale and blemish-free skin, lip-glossed lips, mascara and eyeshadow like any prissy girly-girl like her would have, especially the ring earrings, manicured lime green nails, an embroidered designer Prada handbag and she wore a white V-neck, slim waist, button-up blouse, plaid necktie and black flared, versatile skirt that went past her knees and a pair of dark blue Mary Jane's.
Heather Druud, 17, the meanest, cruelest, unempathetic, materialistic and narcissistic Queen Bitch of the whole school, captain of the cheerleading squad, spoiled rich daughter of the city attorney, Pamela Druud who plans on running for mayor of Toronto someday, Mei's arch-nemesis and the self-proclaimed leader of the 'Queen's Row Quartet' clique, or the QRQ's for short.
And there's the trio that follows her everywhere she goes like a flock of sheep.
Kayley McAllister, 16, English-born, brunette, short hair in pixie cut hairstyle and spiky bangs dyed blood red, tan skin, sports punk rock garb with a black tank top with sleeves ripped off, fishnet gloves, black arm sleeves, plaid skirt, spiked belt, nose ring and corset-style leather ankle boots who was chewing bubblegum. Family owns a meat-processing plant and really loves rock music, even though her parents hate it. Rude, bitingly sassy, insensitive and loyal to Heather to the end.
Dana Masterson Jr., 16, African-American, black hair in flipped out ends with lavender highlights, pink eyeshadow, red lipstick, black tie-back halter neck blouse over a faded blue blouse with the sleeves folded up and tight denim jeans and she was nibbling on a sucker. Daughter of a special ops commando, lives in a luxury condominium on her father's pay and loves disco music. She tends to get a bit overdramatic, can be sassy like Kayley, but not as much and is sensitive about her looks.
And lastly, Jill Yancey-Vallandingham, 16, of Thai and Polish descent, black hair in a poofy, shoulder-length bob with thick bangs, has a curvaceous figure with thicker hips and a bigger butt than Mei's and Abby's, pale skin with a light dash of freckles on her cheeks, a form-fitting tank top and pale banana yellow high-waist cut-off cycling shorts that showed off that massive derrière she loved showing off, taunting the girls at the school with how more salaciously well-endowed she was than them and she currently had her earbuds in, listening to music on her iPod. Her parents are divorced, she lives with her single father, the CEO of the CTV News and is a fan of K-pop. As for her, she's coquettish, ditzy, flirtatious, boy-crazy, loves to tease, but is also forgetful, childish and frivolous.
And much to Mei's great and heavy displeasure, they were coming this way.
"Well, well, if it isn't Sleeping Dummy and his pet." The snide squad captain retorted snarkily, directing the last word with large emphasis right at Mei, who snarled like a mad dog.
"Lee." Heather fired a venomous glare at her nemesis.
"Druud." Mei returned the courtesy, hardening hers even more.
"Hmm, glad to see you in uniform. Hopefully, you'll try to be more competent during practice this time." Heather jabbed at her.
"Yeah, and maybe don't pull your red panda shit on us again." Dana cried with disdain.
"I still think it's cute, though." Jill gushed with big, anime eyes. However, Dana and Kayley both glared at her haughtily and she gulped. "But just….you know, like, don't do it again….and stuff."
"Ugh. Good help is so hard to find these days." Heather rolled her eyes before turning to the other boys. "And what are you smelly bottom-dwellers doing standing around? Don't you got some dragons to battle or some shit like that?"
"Shall I hand you your mighty sword, mi'lord?" Kayley jeered at Stig with that thick British accent of hers, chortling.
To this, Stig gave his best non-verbal, non-confrontational and non-violent response - the middle finger.
Two of them.
But they just laughed this off.
"Cheeky." The English punk girl sassed with a hand behind her guffawing mouth.
"What do you mannequins want?" The goth bit back.
"I want you to go fuck yourself, Marilyn Manson, and stay that hell outta this. This is professional." Heather caught that bullet and redirected its trajectory right back to its sender without any hesitation.
"Whatever." Stig just rolled his eyes.
"Whatever." Heather's trio mocked him before sharing another mocking laugh.
"We're not in the mood for this right now, Druud! Now if you don't mind-!" Abby's rant was cut short when Heather pressed a finger to the plump Korean's lips to shush her up in a patronizing manner.
"Tut-tut." Heather then patted her on the head. "Now run along back to the pasture and graze, little heifer. Just don't be farting up the place when you get there or else your virginity will last longer."
Another round of denigratory laughter erupted from the QRQ's making Abby boil up with fury and if wasn't for Priya and Rudolf holding her back, she would've lunged at the girl like a wild cat and started pounding the shit out of her face until no boy, not even her boyfriend, would ever find her fuckable ever again.
"Don't you have a certain someone's face to be snogging right now, Heather?" Priya let go of her friend and crossed her arms.
"Keep to yourself, uggo." Came the rapid-fire retort from the queen bee. "And by the way, you four piglets better make that routine go smoothly, because if you don't, I'll make sure my mom has you all sent to summer school. That means you can all kiss your precious summer break goodbye, flushed down the shitter and down to where all the other washed-up wannabe losers are-"
"Hey, you know what?" Kris interrupted with a wide smile. "I think someone could use a hug right now."
"A what?!" Heather did a spit take.
"O.M.-Gosh! He just interrupted Heather!" Jill gasped.
"Are you fucked in the head, you wanker?" snapped Kayley like the most loyal lackey she was.
Mei and her friends suddenly smirked together with something of an idea of where he might be going with this. Just playing dumb at her expense. A little reverse-psychology tactic of pretending to be flattered and humbled by whatever mean stuff the bitchy girl was saying and act with kindness rather than aggression and anger, because otherwise he'd be feeding her ego.
"Yeah, that's what you need. A little affection." Kris slowly came at her with open arms, which made Heather shrink back as if being faced with a leper.
"Don't you dare!" Heather warned him, but was sadly ignored. She let out a helpless squeal once Kris wrapped his strong arms around her tightly, embracing her warmly. The trio gasped with horror seeing a 'rando' hug their cheerleader as if they were old friends.
"That's it. Bring it in. Doesn't that make you feel better?" Kris hummed with content.
"No…." She wheezed out.
"Hey, stop that! You let her go!" Dana ordered hotly.
The girls all started to snicker at Heather's position right now and than Stig and the boys all humorously started following Kris's example if it means making Heather look stupid as they, one at a time, hugged the girl with him in a large group hug that Heather considered to be like being surrounded by a horde of zombies.
"Yeah, I'll take a piece of that action." Stig remarked with an impish smirk.
"I love action!" Rudolf peeped.
Heather has had enough of this. She roared with self-righteous fury, shoving them off of her and started whacking at them with her handbag, trying to get them out of her personal bubble that's been unceremoniously violated. Some of the students stopped to watch the scene and some laughed seeing the rich girl suffer while some even recorded it on their cell phones.
"Get off of me! Back! Back, you peons! Back! Keep your poor germs the hell away from me!" Heather snarled at them with red-eyed hatred and ire. "And YOU! Delete that footage or so I will destroy you!"
Despite his amusement, the boy recording nonetheless obeyed out of fear. With an infuriated huff, Heather brushed her hair back and lowered her anger down to a simple cold, steely gaze.
"Great. Now I'm gonna have to burn these clothes when I get home." She grumbled like the rotten child she was. "And I really loved this outfit, by the way. Come on, girls. We're out."
Swiftly turned right around, Heather stormed off snootily down the hallway with the trio followed behind her. With her finally gone now, all the friends shared a round of laughter themselves. Mei hugged her boyfriend and smooched his cheek.
"My hero." She teased with a beaming smile.
"Boy, that was the best face she's ever made!" Abby laughed the hardest, especially feeling validated after that crude insult about her weight.
"Oh yeah, because nobody talks to my queen that way." Rudolf agreed passionately and hugged his girlfriend, who hugged him back.
And suddenly, the bell rang.
A little while later, the gang was outside sitting on the bleachers of the school's football stadium where the team was practicing for the game tomorrow night. The girls were taking a break from cheerleading practice right now to sit with their boyfriends and chill out and get away from QRQ's for a second, especially since Heather is giving them more huff than usual.
On the field amongst the other players and the coach was Booker Chance, 17, the Alpha Male of the school with slick, smooth and neatly combed blonde hair, perfectly-sculptured face like a young Fabio and a big, bulky, muscular body that almost men would be envious of, exuding all matter of powerful masculinity and macho manliness. The douchey, self-absorbed and painfully vain quarterback of the football team, a national icon to the male populace, the pinnacle and epitome of everything modern man would ever want and hope to be, the ne'er-do-well son of the dean of the University of Toronto which he is expected to be attending in the future and - I shit you not - the boyfriend of Heather.
A match made in heaven one would say. Though, the more sensible of folks, like Kris and the boys, would commonly speculate that a relationship would be anything as the quintessential one it appears to all on a surface level.
For instance, Booker, knowing him, could only be dating the 'hottest and most popular girl in school' just to have something to show off to all his bros like a trophy and share delicious details about and Heather, for all anyone knows, could possibly be cheating on him, sleeping with other guys behind his back.
"Look at that himbo out there. He dumb as hell." Rudolf jabbed, pointing out to Booker doing some drills out on the field, while also showing off how better he is.
"This may sound like a lie, but I'll never understand what Paris Hilton sees in that moron, God forbid." remarked Stig, sharing a laugh with Priya.
"She must have a fetish for elephants." Abby snarled.
"We should probably move to the side." Roar mentioned, scooting to the left.
"Why?" asked Mei, giving him a weird look.
"You'll see."
Then they realized what he meant when they all jumped aside in no time when a runaway football came flying right at them after Booker had kicked it in their direction, intentional or otherwise. The football bounced off the bleachers and into the air, thankfully hitting nobody, but it still annoyed them all.
"Damn it, Booker!" Miriam shouted in anger.
"Come on!" Mei cried, all of them complaining.
"Let that be a lesson to you, dorks!" The obnoxious douchebag rubbed it in from below.
"I'll show you what a lesson looks like!" Stig thundered back, throwing the football right back at him, hitting him right in the head.
"Ow! Mind the smolder!" Booker growled, taking the football back.
"Jagoff." Mei grunted under her breath, shaking her head at the quarterback returning to practice. Then she turned to look at her boyfriend and said, "Okay, time to address the elephant in the room."
"Yeah, what?" He asked.
"But where outside." Rudolf corrected, but this earned him a punch on the head by Stig.
"It's about you and my mom." Mei elaborated for Kris. "It's been three years and I know you're being more easy going with her, but it seems to me like you're avoiding her."
"What makes you say that?" He asked, looking away.
"Well, you sometimes turn down her offers to help, you keep your responses short and simple when you guys talk and you struggle to maintain eye contact with her, you know, kind of like what you're doing right now because I just brought her up."
"Yes…" Kris droned, unable to deny it.
"She's really trying, Kris. I know it seems like too much, but she is trying." Mei informed him.
"It's not gonna be easy." He moaned.
"I know. I'm not trying to convince you to forgive her or get over the past. All I'm saying is to at least try to give her a chance." Mei reminded him wisely with a hand on his knee.
Kris knew she was right, but after all the trauma he's dealt with from Ming, it's really gonna take a lot more than a fixed guitar to bring any sort of peace between them and Kris already said so himself that it will take a while for him to let bygones be bygones. So despite him accepting her presence for Mei's sake, he's been keeping Ming at an arm's length.
Memories of the throes of his job at the temple keep coming back like an echo whenever he sees her and although he tries to shut those memories out, it's never enough.
Ming sat in front of the television at home, watching more Chinese soap operas. One she was watching was a man who was tormented all his life for no reason, but when one of his tormentors - a woman - comes into his life years later, he tries to rebuff her no matter how many times she tries to make things right with him. And watching this made Ming think hard.
For a time now, it really felt like Kris was keeping his distance and how can she blame him? For starters, they didn't start off on the right foot because of her hitting him below the belt right off the bat because of how much he differed from their family's customs and lifestyle and then there's his job. Things were worse for him. No appreciation for his enterprise, no feasible salary and no respect. Next was Tyler's party where the whole red panda hustle was discovered and Kris and her friends had to take the blame for it all and Mei just stood there, kept her mouth shut and let her mother strike him and fire him on the spot. Finally, the dreaded SkyDome event.
"Something wrong?" Jin disrupted her thoughts, sitting down on the couch with her.
"Nothing. Just thinking." Ming quickly said. "Okay, it's about Kris."
"What about him?" asked Jin.
"What about him? It's just…." Ming let out a sigh, lazily laying her hand on her arm. "I think he's trying to avoid me."
"Maybe you shouldn't try prying into his life so much. You know, try not to overstep boundaries." Her husband suggested. "Because he's not gonna move on unless you respect his space."
"I can't help it!" Ming defended, turning the movie off. "I've already made a mess of things before and I've worked really hard to help get him back to his family and friends."
"I'm sure, in time, he'll come to realize that." Jin informed her.
"But when, though?" She was beginning to sound a little desperate. "I'm trying to be there for him. But I can't do that unless he opens up to me more."
"Ming, please. After what he's gone through working for you and nearly missing out a year of his life, it's not like Kris is just gonna forget about all that overnight when you want him to. If he wants to come around, he will. Just don't force it, okay?" Jin came out with the most seriousness he's ever had.
Ming didn't always agree with her husband a few times before in the past, but he knew he was right. It's not exactly fair of her to just try to force Kris to forget about the past just because she wants to correct her mistakes.
"We need to take this one step at a time." Jin proclaimed.
"You're right. It's not right to rush things." Ming sighed with downcast eyes.
"Wahoooooooo!"
SPLASH!
And what a splash it was.
Because Abby made the biggest dive off the high-dive anyone's ever seen, even performing an athletic flip in mid-air then landing butt-first into the water and the splash was phenomenal. Everyone gave her a standing ovation from their sun loungers out on the deck. Mei wore a red two-piece, Miriam had on a green tank, Priya's was a yellow two-piece halter top and Abby had a purple one-piece since she's not allowed to wear a bikini.
Stacy was also there with her two friends, Lauren and Tiffany. Stacy was wearing a baby blue one-piece bandeau, swimming cap and goggles. There with them was the pink-haired goth girl that Stig casually hangs out with named Renata "Willow" Wrenley, 17, and her swimsuit was a black rash guard with hot pink sleeves and a skull and crossbones on the chest. Both she and Stacy had long since joined the 4*Townies along with Tyler. Sure, they all went to different schools now, but that didn't stop them from being together. Most of the boys wore swimming trunks while Stig had on a Victorian style one-piece bathing suit with black and white stripes. Abby and Rudolf were playing around in the water and swam from one end of the pool to the other underwater together.
Outside, a car pulled up with Lily as the driver who was chauffeuring Toshio to the pool for him while Vivian sat in the backseat. For his swimsuit, it was a black wetsuit with bluish-green accents, the same swimsuit he wears to his swim meets at school.
"You didn't have to do this. I could've walked." He matter-of-factly told his stepmother.
"I know, hon. But we live, like, fifteen blocks away. That's way too much walking distance." Lily corrected her stepson. "Besides, I really love doing this for you. It gives us a chance to be this close. Also, you're wearing that?"
She asked, pointing at his wetsuit.
"I don't have any other bathing suits and plus, I'm more comfortable wearing this anyway." Toshio explained while grabbing his gym bag containing his clothes as he was about to exit the vehicle.
"Bye, big brother." Vivian chirped from her seat.
"Bye, Vivi." Toshio addressed her by his nickname for her.
"And remember to call me when you're ready to leave, understand? You have your phone with you?" Lily started speaking to him like she was his mother and she might as well be since she's married his father.
"I always do." Toshio waved his cellphone for her to see. "Bye, mom."
The woman was more than pleased and moved to hear the boy refer to her as his mother even though she was his stepmother and because of that, she grabbed his face to give him a shower of kisses on his face like a mother would to her child, effectively making him squirm while trying to sound uncomfortable by her show of maternal affection. Vivian even giggled at this.
"Okay, okay. I love you, too." Toshio wrestled out of the car, blowing her a kiss. "Bye, see you."
"Have fun, sweetie-pie!" Lily called out.
Afterwards, Toshio met up with the rest of his friends at the deck, putting his stuff on his lounger. Unbeknownst to him, Stacy took instant notice of the boy and hid her face to shield her blush from view. The girl has had a small crush on the boy ever since they first met at the movie everyone went to together as a group. It was a scary movie (which everyone said to their parents was PG rated just to avoid suspicion) and Stacy wound up sitting next to him and whenever she got scared, she'd cling to Toshio out of fear and the boy gladly held her close to him and it was that moment that felt feelings toward Toshio.
"You guys got here early." He noted.
"We're always ready for a good summer dip!" Miriam answered proudly.
"Well, I hope you guys are ready to watch the master." Toshio smirked as he made a dash for the high-diving board as he has done many times before, climbing all the way to the top and made the most impressive high dive - even more impressive than Abby's - and made a tiny splash. And with that, everyone cheered for him while Stacy unknowingly cheered the loudest for him, though Abby looked a bit jealous by how far more adept the Japanese boy was than her in high-diving.
"Not that impressive." She mumbled to herself.
"You should really see him at the swim meets. He's like a goddamn demon, that one." Rudolf expressed fondly.
Toshio resurfaced for air and swam over to lean on the edge of the deck where the gang was located, right next to Abby and Rudolf.
"So what's everyone doing this summer?" He asked.
"Well, me and the girls are heading for summer camp once school goes out on Friday." Mei started the conversation off.
"Yeah, there's gonna be lots of fun stuff to do over there." Priya backed her friend up. "Hiking in the woods, campfire songs, archery, arts and crafts, that sort of thing."
"Hope you don't run into any bears." replied Rudolf.
"Don't worry, they probably have ways of keeping those guys at bay." Mei waved off with confidence. "I'm sure the bears are more afraid of us."
"Ooh! I hope we go ziplining!" Abby bellowed with violent excitement.
"I don't think so." Miriam shook her head, not liking that idea. "I don't like gliding across a line 20 meters above the ground while hanging from it."
"You should at least give it a try." Roar urged her encouragingly.
"But what if I fall from the line and break my neck?" Miriam complained with a panicky glint in her eyes. "I can't spend the rest of camp with a fractured bone or two."
"Trust the counselors and you'll be fine. They should be better prepared for anything like that happening and to keep it from happening." Her loving boyfriend rubbed her shoulder, calming her down.
"Well, me and my family are going away to a ski resort in British Columbia this June. We'll be skiing, snowboarding and I hear they have cute-looking lodges up there." Stacy came in next with an adorable smile.
"Really?" Stig scoffed at her. "You're gonna go someplace cold during the hottest season of the year?"
"Why not?" She shrugged. "It's a nice touch, I think so."
"I'm thinking about practicing some witchcraft this summer." Willow droned. "Stig's been offering to show me and Carter a few spells."
"If you ask me, she'd make a fine sorceress or witch one of these days." The goth boy smiled, complimenting her. "Though, I only know a few magical skills at the moment. I'm still learning myself."
"Whatever works is fine by me." acknowledged the goth girl, smiling somewhat.
"Well, I know what I wanna do this summer." Kris smiled with something in mind himself.
"Oh, really? What's that?" Mei asked him.
Without answering her, Kris reached into his bag for a moment and took a few seconds of searching before fishing out exactly what he was looking for. It was a black advertisement flier for something that looked to be death metal related. On it were gruesome, gothic illustrations with giant bold words in a gangly, Satanic-style font and it read thusly as follows;
DEATHFEST
BLACK METAL FESTIVAL 2005
Montreal, Quebec
~
DAY 1:
S/ash
The Devil's Rejects
Deth-Wysh
F**kpig
DAY 2:
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
The Kursed Ønes
Tears of God
Fallen Angels
DAY 3:
Witches' Coven
Blüdgasm
Mǫrdrhaus
Nörthfölk
~
JULY 10, 11, 12 2005
Bell Centre
"Deathfest. Coming to Montreal in July this summer." The boy explained to them, showing everyone the flier. "And it's where Nörthfölk will be performing live on stage."
"Oh my god, seriously!?" shouted Rudolf incredulously.
"Why are you just not telling us this?!" Roar shouted, bursting with the same hyperactive energy at the Inuit boy.
"I wanted it to be a surprise." Kris exclaimed.
"What's Nörthfölk?" asked Stacy, raising an eyebrow.
"It's a Norwegian black metal band the boys really love." Priya answered with a fond smile.
"Let me see!" Stig peeped as he took the flier from his brother to read it over with excitement of his own, while Roar and Rudolf, who jumped out of the pool, peered over his shoulders. However, Stig's smile disappeared as he announced with a deadpan, "It says the age limit is 20 or older."
"What?" cried Kris with despair, taking it back to give it a good once-over, faltering with disappointment.
"I mean, it's going to be if F**kpig is involved." Roar shrugged.
"Excuse me?" Willow snorted thinly at the crude band name.
"Yeah, they're not that great." Stig muttered with his usual monotone.
"Sorry about that, Sparky." Mei comforted her boyfriend before taking the flier to see it for herself and then said, "But hang on, it also says that teens under the age of 20 must have parental guidance to attend."
"Really? Awesome!" Rudolf cheered, relief washing over him.
"...and the price of admission is $800 each."
"Oh!" Rudolf facepalmed while the others groaned in anger.
"Well, I'll just have to ask my mom about it and see what she thinks." sighed Kris with resignation. "Within reason, she'll probably recommend that I take up a temporary summer job. That is if we're all going. Me, Stig, Roar and Rudolf and anyone else that wants to go."
"Well, I believe I know somebody who might be able to help you with that." Mei mused, eyes wandering playfully.
"I don't know. I'm not really for that again." Kris spoke, unmoved, knowing full well who precisely she was referring to.
"Come on, it's the least she can do for you." She implored.
"Well, you won't be around to use your red panda to hustle people for money like we did for 4*Town." Stig reminded her sardonically.
"Then you boys could work summer jobs too, then." suggested Miriam.
"Tempting offer, but not exactly tempting enough." The dark-haired teen turned down.
"Anyways, if I do end up having to temp, I will not promise that the temple isn't going to be my first choice." The Norwegian boy, staying true to his own promise.
"That's fine. I'll respect that." Mei resigned. "But still, it wouldn't hurt to at least ask."
Even though he won't say it to her with gusto, Kris has no plans in going back to working at the Lee Family Temple again if it means working for Ming as her cashier. It was already a living nightmare having her as his boss when all she ever did was boss him around and pay him less no matter what and tear into him almost every single day like he's some sycophantic plebeian.
So it was justifiable for him to be hesitant and reluctant to go back to working there after he's already been fired from that place for the most ridiculous of reasons.
There's just no way he's going through all that again.
Summer break is almost here in Toronto! Now everyone is in high school three years after the previous story. For everyone's age in this entry:
Kris - 18
Stig - 17
Roar, Rudolf, Mei, Abby, Priya and Miriam - 16
And we have brand new faces joins us this time, including the QRQ's, led by the obnoxious Heather Druud who is a major thorn in Mei's side and also Booker Chase, the stereotypical "Chad". Because it's not a classic high school tale without the mean and vain queen bee character or an obnoxious doughboy jock character since stories based around high schools are mostly built upon overdone cliches and tropes. And as far as we're concerned, Kris has been building walls around him when it comes to Ming since he technically hasn't forgiven her just yet. But this story will be all about Kris learning to forgive and forget one way or another. One other thing is that I've based Heather's trio of friends on the Spy Girls from the 2019 movie, Uglydolls.
And the name of the high school - Jack Curtiss was one of the pseudonym for the artist Jack Kirby, one of the creators of Thor from Marvel Comics, other being the scripter Larry Leiber and the one and only Stan "The Man" Lee.
Next Chapter: School is out, Mei and the girls leave for summer camp and Kris attempts to work as a temp to raise enough money for him and his friends to attend Deathfest.
Next Update: June 23, 2023