Chapter 8: A Partner for the Ball

[Jun]

"Good thinking!" Jun remarked, still keeping her smile intact. "Well if we're gonna 'ask' them we should start now. I doubt the Dotnas would just volunteer the information without dragging it all out."

Jun started walking out of the infirmary, waving goodbye to a harried-looking Dr Kadowaki, who looked snowed under by her work.

As she walked towards the elevator, she had to stop and gawk. The small crowd was still there, although it was reduced in size to earlier when she passed them by. There was a lot of smoke, and the elevator appeared to have its doors blown off its hinges.

"Yeah, you heard me, Balamb Garden!" A familiar redhead shouted at the crowd.

Hadrian?

"I'm crazy about Blaze Sanaku here! She's crazy about me too, so crazy she wants to rip me apart! Damn she's hot and blazing right now!" He continued, shooting a glance at the guys. "And I'm asking her to the Ball btw. I'm HER date so stay away from her, you wolves!"

Huh? She could only think that one word in confusion.

"What the hell happened here?" She approached Lawric and Deo with thinly veiled shock. "Terrorist attacl?"

[Gemma Ridean]

Gemma slammed the door shut, still fuming over what had happened during lunch. Looking around her room, she suddenly felt exhausted and nauseous, and slumped into her reading chair. Minutes ticked by as she attempted to will herself to fall asleep. Finally she settled for staring at the framed picture of the Shumi chemist, Giuanni Razumikin, on the wall above her bed.

What an awful looking thing...Why on earth did she have that picture???

Shifting her head, she spotted her copy of "Ethnobotony Studies of Trabia Canyon" sitting in her bookshelf. She had picked it up at a book signing over a month ago, and had yet to read it. Getting up, she grabbed the novel and began to flip through the first chapter.

"Beginning in the last two decades, the study of ethnobotony, or the study of the indigenous plants and herbs, in Trabian region sparked world-wide interest upon the discovery of the "Namassus Orphylius" which..."

She chucked the novel aside.

Her head was reeling. What was wrong with her? This wasn't her. The normal Gemma Ridean would never cause a scene in the middle of a crowded room.

Rubbing her temples to ease her throbbing headache, she sat on the floor cross-legged, and began to practice breathing as instructed in her yoga class.

Closing her eyes, she chanted. Deep breath in.....And out....Deep breath in....

Feel the air rising through the lungs....

And out...

After repeating this for a few minutes, she was starting to feel a bit better. Calmer at least. Feeling slightly at ease, she stood back up and looked around the room, wondering what she should do next.

The yellow feather was looking rather tempting. Within minutes, Gemma was dusting her desk, wiping her windows and re-organizing the furniture in her room and soon, she was beginning to feel the sweet sense of self-satisfaction.

Well, at least some habits never die.

[Jax Ridean]

Deliberately making "mmmm noises" as he munched on the precious strudel, Jax swallowed the last crumb and burped. Loudly.

"Didn't you hear the story about the boy who ate the gingerbread house and got fattened up for a witch's dinner???" Rayden shouted, his whole face turning red with fury.

Jax shook his head. "Actually no. You see, MY mother never had to worry that her son might become a human blimp."

[vanesse]

Vanesse looked at Jax. She and Jaime were there at the table with them, and he ignored them. Gemma even stormed out of the cafeteria. Did Zacke and Hadrian tell them to ignore the Opps too? No, that was just her being paranoid and childish. She hoped.

"Hey, I'm here too, you know?" she said jokingly. "Are you guys alienating the Opps now since we...nah, nevermind." She heard about the gingerbread house fairtytale Jax and Rayden were talking about. Hansel and Gretel? Why on Earth were they talking about this?

"Umm, what did you guys do to Gemma? She just stormed out of here."

[waterlily43]

Rayden grunted and pointed his thumb at Jax with a gruff "Ask him" at Van's question about Gemma storming off. He was simply too agitated to utter any more words without letting off a string of curses, and well, that's no behaviour to display in front of the ladies.

"Actually no. You see, MY mother never had to worry that her son might become a human blimp." Jax replied nonchalantly, and Rayden swore he did it deliberately to rile him up. Just as his aggravatingly loud "MMMM" did.


Rayden opened and closed his mouth indignantly. He couldn't find anything to rebutt Jax with. He turned to Van with the same indignant expression.

"This guy here has unscrupulous designs on other people's food! He just took my last apple strudel without asking!" He pointed at Jax. "I may be a walking stomach bag but at least I PAY for the food. LEECH." He nodded at Van's plate. "Make sure you don't leave your food unattended with this guy around, you might not be so lucky next time."

Jaime made a weird face at him. All this fuss over an apple strudel?

"It's just one stupid piece of dessert. It's not as if you haven't inhaled half the entire food section with your Hurrican Rayden sweep." She smirked. "You haven't tried slaving over the stove for a bunch of constantly hungry guys. That should change your perspective much." She gazed into thin air, as if recalling some distant memory. "I remember me and Van had to practice stuffing pancakes into our mouth so that they won't get demolished by the guys before we could get a bite ourselves." She sniffed nostalgically, before throwing a grin at Van.

[Lawric]

"What the hell happened here?" Lawric turned at the sound of Jun's voice. "Terrorist attack?"

He noticed the stained shirt she'd passed by them in earlier had since been switched out for a clean one. This one was a long-sleeved v-neck in a pastel shade of blue. The color suited her.

"Ahh, if you consider Deo a terrorist, I guess." he grinned, glancing over at Deo. He looked back at Jun. "I guess the girl named Blaze was stuck in the elevator. He blew it up to get her out."

[waterlily43]

Just as Lawric finished speaking to Jun, and just as she started opening her mouth to comment, a shriek pierced across the air, followed by a sudden assault on her back from behind.

"IT"SSSSS JUN KUROKI!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE I CAME INTO SO MANY OF THEM IN ONE HOUR! NYAHAHHAA WAIT TILL I TELL THE TRINITY FANCLUB I CAME INTO SKIN TO SKIN CONTACT WITH JUN KUROKI!"


An extremely bizarre-looking creature...well maybe it was a cadet by the looks of his uniform...was attaching itself to her by glomping with one arm around her neck while rubbing it's cheek against her...once-clean baby blue shirt. What the hell? Who's this...ugh my shirt!

"Get off me!!" She tried shrugging him off, but he only tightened his grasp while shrieking in her ear.

"NOT TILL I'VE LISTENED TO THE FAMED JUN KUROKI NAG-ATTACK! IT'S THE NUMBER ONE ON RINGTONE DOWNLOADS! HAVE YOU HEARD IT BEFORE? OH LOOKIT YOUR HAIR IT'S SO SOFT AND SHINY!!"

The cadet reached out to touch her hair, coating it with a layer of slimy blood when he touched it.

"Don't touch me..." She was swinging between bursting out in tears from sheer horror and grossness, and ramming a foot up his ass, but she couldn't attack a cadet even though she was ready to throw him to outer space. And her foot would get irrecoverably damaged. Her shirt felt sticky, and she positively swore that there was slobber on her neck.

I just escaped from one b-grade horror movie to another... She whimpered inwardly to Sapphy, who was all but breathless with insane cackles.

Her temple vein throbbed and her gaze shot around wildly for help, shrugging extremely violently but failing to get the tumour-like cadet off her back.

[Lawric]

Lawric frowned at Melvin, his expression a mixture of horror and shock. He obviously meant no harm, but jumping onto her back and slobbering all over her neck, getting his blood all over her and her sword... he had definitely crossed a line. Jun was struggling violently to get him off, and he held onto her like a deranged spider-monkey. It was practically physical assault.

/TO BATTLE!!/

Skadi had a way of re-junctioning herself, her will being stronger than Lawric's. His jaw clenched in annoyance, and he chose to ignore her intrusion for the time being.

As reluctant as he was to get this kid's blood and slobber and other... juices, on him, he couldn't just stand by and do nothing to help Jun. Lawric balled his hand into a fist and punched Melvin square in the face, breaking his glasses and--unintentionally--his nose. Melvin's grip around her shoulders immediately slackened and he fell backwards onto the ground with a yelp, holding a hand to his face.

/AHH KI KI KI KI KI KIIIIIYA!!/

Lawric's frown deepened with annoyance, and he unjunctioned Skadi for the second time today. He turned to Melvin. "What's wrong with you?" Lawric said, glaring and shaking the blood and drool off of his knuckles. He placed his clean hand down on Jun's shoulder and ushered her a few steps away from Melvin. "I didn't realize you guys had a fan base..." he muttered, glaring back at Melvin.

[waterlily43]

Jun didn't need any ushering. Immediately she put as much distance between herself and the freak as possible. She gazed up at Lawric with a swelling mix of gratitude and admiration. She didn't know which had a heavier factor but the man just prevented her from being drowned in the groupie's slobber. If groupie was the correct term for her attacker, that is.

Friggin' lunatic's more like it. She narrowed her eyes at Melvin, unconsciously trying to hide behind Lawric's bigger frame.

Melvin dropped to his knees, trying to find one of the lenses of his spectacles, which had fallen to the ground when Lawric broke it and his nose with his punch. Blood dripped from his nostrils onto the marble floor, creating messy red circles that was beyond disgusting.

"Oh for crying out loud! Wipe yourself off the ground!" Jun finally couldn't stand it anymore, her naggy instincts overtaking any self-preservating ones.

Melvin looked up esctatically.

"SHE doesn't mind! She nagged at me like I asked! SHE CARES FOR ME SHE LOVES ME! Right Jun? Can I call you Jun?" Melvin scrambled onto his feet and started advancing towards Jun.

[Lawric]

"SHE doesn't mind! She nagged at me like I asked!" Lawric stared at Melvin. "SHE CARES FOR ME SHE LOVES ME! Right Jun? Can I call you Jun?"

Much to Lawric's repulsion, Melvin scrambled to his feet and started coming at Jun again. She had positioned herself sort of half-way behind him, and he found himself standing between the two of them. He stared at Melvin, wondering what he was going to do to the guy next. He wasn't a fan, he was rabid. And if he was willing to take a hit like that and still come back for more...

He glanced down over his shoulder at Jun, who was staring at Melvin with an almost feral look on her face. She clearly did not want him anywhere near her.

"Isn't there a Disciplinary Committee for this kind of thing?!" he whispered urgently, his gaze returning to Melvin. Physically hurting him was doing absolutely nothing to stop him, and Lawric didn't want to beat up on the guy anyway. It was gross.

Lawric glanced around quickly, his mind racing. Someone help us! He spotted Stardust in the vicinity. Hey, that must be the girl Zacke mentioned...

Melvin paused in his advance, following Lawric's gaze in the direction of Stardust. It took a split-second for him to notice her, and once that happened, his eyes widened and he emitted a gleeful shriek, changing direction. "STARDUST INFINITY!!" He slipped in his own blood on his way over to her, his face slamming into the tile. He coughed and pushed himself up, laughing and snorting as he scrambled to get at her.

"AM I A LOWLIFE?!!" he asked excitedly, spitting blood on the front of her shirt when he spoke. He fell to his knees in front of her and grabbed at the fabric of her pants, jerking psychotically. "PLEASE SAY IT!! PLEASE CALL ME A LOWLIFE!!"

[Blaze Sanaku]

HAHAHAH HADRIAN. I LOVE CQ XD

---

Blaze scoffed, completely buying Deo's comeback. At least now she knew what Deo was talking to Melvin about over there. But something was still.... off place. Like the looks of confusion and wide-eyed fear on Deo and Hadrian's faces beofore they were quickly covered up with confidence and haughtiness.

Blaze looked worried when Lawric asked, "Deo, don't you have a date anyway?" Who the hell would want to go with Deo? She figured if people wanted to go with Deo and her, things must be getting pretty desperate. She was suddenly aware that Hadrian was yelling.

"I'm crazy about Blaze Sanaku here! She's crazy about me too, so crazy she wants to rip me apart! Damn she's hot and blazing right now!" he was bragging loudly to the cadets around him. Some of them looked concerned. Others shook their heads sadly, as if to say Poor guy doesn't know what he's getting himself into.

Blaze's temper was rising, she was starting to get that maniac, homicidal look in her eyes. Steam was practically pouring out of her ears. Hadrian seemed to sense this as well for he yanked her into a near empty corridor and ... bribed her?

"Wait, don't hurt me just yet. If you go with me, I'll buy you anything you want and get you a new gold fish." He blurted out before Blaze could start throwing out the punches and insults.

Blaze stared at him quizzically. Anything I want??

"And...I'll tell you something good." He added for good measure. Now Blaze's interest was peaked. Damn Hadrian, he barely knew her but he was playing her quite well. Bribery worked very well on Blaze.

"Something good??" Blaze asked, then cleared her throat to make herself sound less interested. "I mean... sure, when you put it that way, yes. I'll go with you." she said in a very un-Blazeish polite way.

Just when Hadrian seemed ready to put his guard down Blaze's hand flashed foward and slapped him hard across the cheek. "But THAT was for calling me patootie." Blaze slapped him again. "And for Killer! Did you know he mutated into a gigantic monster and ATTACKED us because YOU taped him to Polaris's door?! And those so called blow-up dolls... that was a joke right? It better be a joke." Blaze narrowed her eyes and reached behind her back slowly, but all she took out was a mere pen.

"Here's my dorm number." She scrawled on his hand, "Don't even think about being late and you'd better know how to dance. Well." Blaze capped the pen and walked away, leaving Hadrian standing there.

[stardust]

HAHAHAHAHA XD *cough hack wheezes*
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While Jun was busy getting along with Melvin, Stardust was staring at the elevator. It was clearly thrashed with holes shot through it. There were also claw marks like a wild bear was trapped inside. Some SeeDs were already gathered around it doing repairs. It was obvious the elevator was out of order again, and it would take another ten minutes for it to be working again. She didn't have enough patience for that.

Whoever did this... She hoped he gets struck by lightning. They had to find another way to get underground.

"Jun---" she stopped midway, surprised to see her hiding behind some unfamiliar guy from the Opps. Stardust's eyebrows creased when she thought she saw the person Jun was scared of was Terry.

She watched as Terry ran towards her and said, "AM I A LOWLIFE?!!" He spoke and didn't hand her a note. Since he could speak, Stardust found out that it wasn't Terry, but some random SeeD who looked like him. "PLEASE SAY IT!! PLEASE CALL ME A LOWLIFE!!"

"W-what are you talking about?" Stardust replied, alarmed.

"REMEMBER WHEN YOU AND MS. SANAKU WERE SERVING PUNCH AT THE LAST SEED BALL?? I WAS THE ONE WHO DRANK ALL OF THE LEFTOVERS!! IT TRIGGERED MY DIABETIC RESPONSE AND I WAS SICK THE NEXT DAY!" He paused to breathe. "BUT I JUST HAD TO LIVE THROUGH IT AND GET TO THIS DAY THAT YOU WILL FINALLY RECOGNIZE ME AS A LOWLIFE!! CALL ME A LOWLIFE!"

"Hey! Someone put a straight jacket around this fool and bring him to the infirmary. He's badly hurt." Mareni, the head of the Disciplinary Committee, commanded one of her subordinates.

"Noooo, I'm not done yet!! What are you doing?!" Melvin struggled when two muscular SeeDs hooked their arms on both sides of his shoulders. "YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING GORILLAS! UNHAND ME!!" They started dragging him towards the direction of the infirmary. "MS. KUROKI!! MS. INFINITYYYYY!!! HELPPP!!!!" He reached towards them with tears welling in his eyes as the distance between him and them widened.

Stardust stared blankly at him, not sure how to react. They had a fan? Someone admired her? She was weirded out, but since everyone she came across at Garden hated her to the core, this was new. She didn't show it, but she wasn't annoyed. Afterall, he wanted her to call him a lowlife. She had always thought that people would be better if they admit that they were lowlifes.

She could still hear him though he was almost out of view. "I LOVE YOU, TRINITY GANG!! I'LL KEEP YOUR FANCLUB AROUND FOREVER! I'Ll never forget this---!! Ahhh you damned jughead, my camera!"

With that, Stardust's grumpy mood settled down and looked around at the familiar faces around her. Diwata was laughing uncontrollably.

What was she going to say again? The place quieted down for a few second now that Melvin was gone.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Omg XD You guys rock, I giggle like a fool everyday whenever I read the new posts XD
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PAK!

Wide eyed in surprise, Hadrian's gaze changed from Blaze to the wall once he got slapped. And he thought he almost got her favor.

"But THAT was for calling me patootie."

Hadrian turned to face her again. "What's wrong with patoo--"

PAK!

He blinked a couple times to see his gaze now facing the opposite wall. That was second in a row. This girl...! He tried to move his jaw to check if it was still movable. Were the bones of her palm made of metal? He shook his head, cupping his cheek and jaw as he looked at her again.

"And for Killer!"

Killer? He almost forgot about the goldfish.

"Did you know he mutated into a gigantic monster and ATTACKED us because YOU taped him to Polaris's door?!"

H-huh? He didn't know if Blaze was still angry, but he was sure she was starting to crack jokes now. There was no way that dead fish would turn into a monster and attack.

"And those so called blow-up dolls... that was a joke right? It better be a joke." Blaze narrowed her eyes and reached behind her back slowly.

Hadrian smiled nervously and stepped back, lifting his hands up. "No, no, now that, that was a joke. Melvin was just smoking gysahl greens. You saw him a while ago, didn't you?"

He had to remind himself why he suddenly dug himself into this. Why? Because this crazy chick was about to---

"Here's my dorm number." She grabbed his hand and scribbled something on it.

"Hm?" No knife?

"Don't even think about being late and you'd better know how to dance. Well." Blaze capped the pen and walked away, leaving him standing there with a blank look.

He read the numbers on his palm.

666? Her dorm room was number 666? It totally made sense. No wait, this isn't a six. Her scribble was a little messy. It was 668.

Hadrian placed a hand over his eyes and chuckled. 666? Who would make that their room number? He didn't know. Maybe only him.

From a blood thirsty maniac to an easy-to-bribe girly, this Blaze Sanaku...

"What a weird girl...." He wondered what was it about her that got Deo so shaken up. Heaving a sigh, he picked his laptop on the ground. "Now then, time to do some hacking." This would be interesting.

[waterlily43]

Ahhh man I forgot Jun disarmed herself >.< Gotta edit my earlier post
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Jun experienced a huge rush of relief when the Discplinary Committee Head turned up and 'escorted' Terry Melvin away, shaking her head when the cadet continued shrieking about his fanclub and whatnot.

"They should dismiss him on grounds of insanity." She crossed her arms at the chest. "Keeping him around would compromise Garden's security. Although he might come in handy as a biological weapon."

The crowd had started to disperse even more, leaving only a few of them standing around.

Jun turned around to speak with Stardust.

"Hey, woman, looks like the elevator isn't going to work for a while...we might have to use the emergency staircase." She began, but started to notice a peculiar smell wafting into her nose, and it came from the direction of her back and neck.

Her stomach lurched with nausea. There was probably a hotbed of bacterial and microorganisms boogieing on her neck right now..She needed to get out of this shirt. And a 100 degrees shower. Pronto.

"Stardust, I need to change. NOW." She cupped a hand over her mouth, making involuntary retching motions and forcing them to subside. Her face turned a queer shade of green. "That freak got his saliva and blood all over me. And he got you too!" She pointed at Stardust's wifebeater, which was flecked with spots of blood. Another nausea wave assaulted her. "Meet you outside the dorms in twenty minutes!"

She ran towards her dorm as if her pants were on fire.