"I hope you don't mind the extra people, guys," Dre said as they all walked farther into the living room.
"No biggie, guys. Make yourselves at home. We're going to be doing each other's nails in a minute." Ian paused as he was taking a seat on the love seat, looking shocked at Toney. "Kidding, man. I'm only kidding."
"I hope you were," he said, plopping down on the couch. He turned his attention to Rose, patting on the extra space in the seat. "You wanna take a seat?"
"I don't think so. I'd rather- hey!" Dre swiftly slid into the armchair.
"Sorry, dude. First come, first serve." he said, grinning.
Sighing, she sat down beside Ian. "Let's set some ground rules. If you even consider touching me in an intimate way, I will make sure you regret it."
Michael strode behind the sofa and rested his arms on the backrest, looking at the screen. "So, who's all playing?"
"Right now, just me, Kim, and Dre," Megumi said as she tossed her controller to Dre.
"Who said I was playing?" Dre asked, arching a brow.
Megumi simply grinned as she said, "I did. Anyone else want in?"
"Sure," Ian sighed as he raised a hand, "since my original plan got shot down before I could even say it."
~~~~
Ten minutes passed as they began playing, and Dre had already reduced Megumi's lives from ninety-seven to fifty-one. "Dre, oh my God, stop dying!" The group began laughing, excluding Dre.
"You know how much I suck at this, Megumi," Dre said with an edge. "I grew up on Sonic, not Mario."
"They are both basically the same," Michael said. "The only difference is one moves faster. If anything, your reflexes should be much sharper due to the speed difference. That is, of course, if you didn't suck at Sonic, too."
"Shut up."
"Oh, Kim," Megumi began after a moment, "have you talked to your crush yet?"
Kim went red as she dropped the controller. Every eye had shifted to her. "You have a crush? May I ask who it's on?" Rose asked.
"No one was supposed to know," Kim said in a low voice. "His name is- er... Richard. We go to school with him in Prescott. I haven't been able to talk to him as much as I used to, though."
"Oh, that's easy," Megumi said, unpausing the game. Everyone went back to playing. "Just talk to him the way I talk to boys." Dre lost another life. "Ke'Undre Wolf, stop playing like such garbage!"
"Leave me alone!" Dre said, feigning sadness.
"Er... I think I'll pass," Kim said.
Time passed since they've started playing. "You play pretty well at this game, Ian," Rose said. Ian seemed too focus on the game to notice that her tone had lightened.
"I've played Mario games to death when I was younger. I still play from time to time, but I'm too busy with school to play."
"You're still in school? Are you still in high school, or have you began college?" Rose asked, a look of expectancy in her eyes.
"High school still. I started school late, so I'm a year behind what I'm supposed to be in." He shrugged. "It won't really matter much once I start going to college."
"You're also thinking of going to college?" Loyalty may have been right all along. I may have had Ian figured the wrong way. He's probably too focused on the game to stick to his other persona.
"Of course. Life's too short to sit around and let it go to waste. If my rap career don't go anywhere, I'll at least have my teaching career to fall back on, be a positive role model to those who don't have any, you know?"
"Wow." Rose looked dumbfounded. "That's very admirable of you, Ian."
Ian shrugged. "What about you? Do you have any plans for your future?"
"I hope to become an artist, or at least an art curator."
"Cool, cool. Do you have any finished artworks?"
"Yes, I do." She said, beaming. "I would be more than happy to show you, if you would like to see them."
"Sure. Sounds good." I need to speak to Ian while he's distracted more often.
"Très bien," Rose said with a smile.
A bell chimed throughout the house. Megumi paused the game as Toney barged into the living room, looking as if he had just woken up. "Were you all expecting some more company?" The group looked around at each other before shaking their heads.
Rushing to the door for his trusty bat, Toney peeked out of the curtains. "It looks like a car's out here. A pretty expensive looking one at that." Rose perked up, looking over her shoulder towards Toney. "Oh, look at that. An old woman's on her way out."
"Is she wearing a white tuxedo with a green tie and a green feather behind her ear?"
Toney paused for a second. "Wait, how'd you know?"
"That is my butler," she said as she stood up. She grinned, looking at the stunned faces of her team. "Well, I suppose that it is time for me to go."
"You have a butler?" Michael asked, wide-eyed. "Did anyone know about this?"
"I did!" Keiko said excitedly. "Rose told me at school."
"I think that might have been something you should have shared with all of us, Keiko." Ian responded.
Rose laughed in her hand. "It has been a pleasure guys. Mr. Gladestone," she said, bowing her head at him before she walked out of the door. An elegant, all-white Mercedes was parked in the driveway, its golden grille glimmering slightly under the moonlight. Her butler waited at the rear door, bowing as she opened the door.
"Thank you very much, Ms. Francesca."
"My pleasure, Miss Rosemarie." She shut the door before briskly making her way to the driver's seat and driving off. "Pardon me for asking, Miss Rosemarie, has your relationship with your group members improved any?"
Rose rested her elbow on the door's handle, watching the Gladestone house recede as they drove into town. "Yes, I believe so." She smiled, giggling to herself as she looked at the lights zoom by. "And I wouldn't trade them for the world."
~~~~~
"Dude, is it eleven already?" Dre asked with a yawn after making their group get game over for the seventh time. "We gotta get moving. We got school tomorrow."
"Yeah, yeah," Ian said as he stood from the couch. "I guess me and Dre are heading out. You guys need a ride home?" he asked Michael, Kim, and Keiko.
"Don't worry about it," Megumi said after she yawned. "I'll take 'em home. I gotta get some more blueberry muffins since my idiot of a brother forgot to replace mine. You guys be safe getting home."
"Sure. You two," Dre grinned. "See you guys later," he said before he and Ian left the mansion-like house and silently made their way to Ian's car.
"Yo, Dre?"
"Hm?"
"What the hell just happened in there?"
"What do you mean?" Dre asked as Ian cranked the car over.
"Did you notice that Rose was talking to me in there? Like, she wasn't disgusted by me or anything. What in the world did I say to her?"
"I donno. I was too busy getting verbally slaughtered by Megumi. Ask her about it tomorrow."
"Eh, I guess so."
They both rode through downtown with only the stereo keeping the car from being totally silent. "Oh. Dad wanted us to talk to him when we get home. He said that he was going to give us something when we get home that'll get us stronger."
"Dad's not going to give us steroids, is he?"
"You know, mom asked the same thing whenever dad said that." They both laughed as they passed the library, turning left on Woodberry Road. "I don't know, though. He really didn't go into much detail about what he was going to give us. He just said that it'll get us stronger."
"What do you think it is?"
"I think it's a gem that'll enhance our elemental powers. Who knows, he may even tell us the secret on turning Super Saiyan."
"Huh?" Ian laughed, turning right onto Moncrief Street. "You need to lay off the anime, bro."
After they drove into the driveway, Dre jumped out of the car before it came to a complete stop. He jumped the stairs and rushed inside, almost forgetting to turn on the lights in the living room. Fortunately he remembered, since there were two large tubs in the middle of the room. There was a note on the top of the tubs.
"Damn, bro. Didn't even wait until I stopped the car," Ian stated as he walked up the steps. "What are you standing in the doorway for?"
"Dad left us some tubs." He picked up one of the notes on a tub. '"Since you guys forgot to come home in time, I'll leave these in a place where you can't miss them,"' Dre read as Ian opened one of the tubs. '"Inside are special training attire that Ichi crafted for us when we were Voyager Journeymen. You are to wear these for a full week and not take them off unless your are showering or going to the bathroom. Each day, I want you both to run at least two miles either before you go to sleep or after you wake up. Good luck. Dad."'
"Some clothes?" Ian said in outrage. "Dad was going to give us some damn clothes to get us stronger?"
"Ichi made them, so it can't be too bad."
"Can't be too bad? Look at this-" Ian cut himself off as he pulled on the clothes.
"W-what is it?"
Ian stared at the clothes for a moment beforelooking up at Dre, mouth agape. "These clothes weigh a ton."