Chapter 132
"My entire life I have waited for this moment," Lita said gathering up an apron, a pair of cooking gloves, and several cooking utensils.
"Today..I reach womanhood.." she said.
"Today, I...."
"You're competing in a bake off for heaven's sakes," her father said.
"DAD! You ruined the moment," Lita snapped.
"Sorry..miss..District Seven Semi-Finalist," her father said with a grin.
"This means a lot to me."
"I know it does dear, but I think you're overreacting."
"Maybe, but I've never gotten this far in a competition before."
"You've never competed against anyone before."
"So I'm doing pretty well wouldn't you say?"
Lita's father sighed.
"You remind me a lot of myself," he began. "Yes there I was in high school...."
"I've gotta go, I don't want to be late," Lita said and rushed out the door.
"Works every time," her father said with a grin. "I want to get her out of
the house, just start telling stories."
Lita was soon walking down the street. She noticed Steve leaning against a wall alongside.
"Oh hey, Lita, I just wanted to wish you luck," Steve said.
"Thank you Steve, I wish you could come and watch, but they don't let that happen until the finals," Lita said.
"Yeah, well..if you get there, I'll be there," Steve said.
"Glad to hear it."
"So what do you plan on making for them?"
"My boufet of Love."
"Interesting title."
"You know, when I make all those little goodies and put them toghether to make a balanced meal. I love it. It's simplicity, but it still requires talent. I considered it my trademark."
"I thought the little octopuses on the sticks were your trademark."
"No, plenty of people make those, I just combine several different tastes to make a good meal. That's the trademark."
"I guess it's great to have a hobby that you're good at," Steve said.
"Don't tell me you're envious."
"Well...the only hobby I've ever cared about is my rockets and they always exploded or crash, or get me in trouble with high ranking political officials," Steve said.
Lita smiled.
"But you like doing it," she said.
"I know, but I think I'll give it up. I need to find something to do that isn't as dangerous."
"I guess I agree with you, but you're good at sports."
"I know, but I like to have fun with them, my hobby is something I take seriously."
"You don't have to take a hobby seriously. Cooking is hard work, but I enjoy it."
"I know that, but I just need to find a better hobby that's all. But hey, this is a good day and all, we shouldn't worry about me and my petty problems," Steve said.
"You know Steve, this is the first time you've really shown any depth," Lita said.
"Oh.it is..wow...look at that huh..you never know what might happen," Steve said.
Lita grinned.
"I'm serious Steve, you're a deeper person then everyone thinks. There's nothing wrong with that. I'd like to hear more about what you think."
"Well..there's not much more than that," Steve said.
"Sure there is, I can sense these things."
"Oh..well..um..good.." Steve said.
"Why are you so nervous?"
"I don't know..I just feel like I should hit something."
"Why?"
"It just seems like instinct right now."
"Oh...that's odd."
"Don't I know it."
"Darrien, why do you think they make hot dogs so colorful?" Serena asked.
"Colorful..you mean the meat itself?" Darrien asked.
"No, the condo mints.." Serena said.
"Condements?"
"Whatever! If I get the idea, just let it go."
"Uh right.."
"You have red ketchup, or as I prefer to call it catsup!"
"Exciting," Darrien said.
"Then there's yellow mustard."
"True."
"And green relish."
"Uh huh."
"And white onions."
"Right," Darrien said.
"Hmm..am I forgetting something..shouldn't there be a blue thing."
"No Serena."
"Oh..well I guess I'm just caught up in the whole five colors of the Sailor Scouts thing."
"First I've heard of it."
"Well same here, but it would make sense, jeez, the hot dog would have been the perfect, food of the Sailor Scouts. Do you think we could put Blueberries on them?"
"No."
"I'll have to try it and see...but anyway..why do you think hot dogs are so colorful."
"I don't know. It just happened that way."
"There has to be another explanation."
"Well Serena maybe they didn't want ketchup and mustard to get mixed up, so they made them different colors."
"What about relish and onions."
"Well..they made them green and white to tell the difference."
"But why didn't they make ketchup and relish one color and then onions and mustard another. You can tell the difference because of texture can't you?"
"I suppose," Darrien said.
"See...now there's where it all breaks down," Serena said.
"Serena, just what are you doing?" Darrien asked.
"Making small talk why?"
"Serena, this isn't small talk."
"I was trying to talk to you the way an intelligent girlfriend should, but I didn't know what to talk about. I'd think you'd be more respectful of my efforts," Serena said indignantly.
"Sorry.." Darrien said.
"Hey Ricky boy!" Mike said jumping over a fence into Rick's yard.
"What? And don't call me Ricky boy!" Rick snapped.
"I've acquired a useful skill," Mike said.
"What kind of useful skill."
"Watch this," Mike said and held up the arrow he had been holding. He swung back and threw it through the air. It smashed into the wooden fence and embedded itself there.
"Mike,...how'd you do that?"
"See...I've been practicing..you know that my attack..ahem..is that triton impale, so I thought if I was good at throwing stuff like that in human form, I might be able to be tougher or something, Artemas agreed, so I started out with this arrow..and look."
"But Mike..why do you care all the sudden?" Rick asked.
"Because, if I can prove myself in battle Mina will be overly impressed with me, and then she'll stop trying to find another boyfriend."
"She's actually trying to do that?" Rick asked.
"Well not directly, she's hoping fate will propel her into the lap of a hunk and then she can dump me," Mike said.
"Mike..if she is propelled into the lap of a hunk, thowing an arrow into a fence won't save you."
"This is just phase one."
"Oh I see," Rick said.
"Chad just stand right where you're standing," Raye said.
"Raye, I'm not sure about this..if you connect.." Chad said.
"I won't connect, I just need you so I can judge the distance, I'll pull up short," Raye said.
"I'm not so sure about that."
"Chad, I need a measurer."
"Fine, fine, but I just don't need to get hurt or anything."
"Don't worry," Raye said and and slid forward and leapt upward planting her hands into the ground and spining around with a kick. She finished and flipped back onto her feet.
"See..I didn't hit you," Raye said with a grin.
"Only because I stepped back three feet," Chad said.
"Oh...well....it wouldn't have hurt anyway," Raye said.
"Then why would you use it as an attack?" Chad asked.
"It would have hurt a little, just not a lot," Raye said.
"Oh, I see..." Chad said.
Mina meanwhile was leafing though Melvin's guide to dating.
"Mina?" Artemas asked.
"Yes Artemas," Mina said.
"Refresh my memory..do you..or do you not have a boyfriend?"
"Don't get so critical of me, Mike and I both know it's nothing more than good friendship."
"A good friendship in which you kiss several times."
"Hey, that's allowed," Mina said.
"Sure it is," Artemas said. "Mina, if you don't want to date him just say so."
"I will..as soon as I find someone else."
"Two timer!"
"That's not true. It doesn't qualify as two timing."
"What? Have you read up on the statutes?" Artemas muttered.
"Statutes? Artemas have you gone mad?" Mina asked.
"No, Mina, have you?"
"Of course not. I'm just a high school girl...hmm..he looks nice."
"Mina..you're hopeless."
"Where's there's love, there's hope!"
"Mina, you're just using propaganda to cover up the squalid underbelly of your romantic habits," Artemas said.
"Squalid underbelly?" Mina said, her eyes narrowing.
"Well maybe that's strong language, but it was just a joke anyway," Artemas said nervously.
"Romance is no laughing matter!" Mina said.
"Except when you're a participant," Artemas said. "Mina, you're just a hypocrite."
"There are broadly defined rules of love, I interpret them my own way as is my right."
"You're just abusing your rights that's all," Artemas said.
"You're just a cat! What do you know!"
"More than you! You forget I hung around the palace watching real romance Mina. I know the difference, naturally you wouldn't be expected to live up to it at this young age..but.."
"I don't want to hear this anymore," Mina snapped. "I'm trying," she said and walked out and ran down the stairs and out her front door.
"This didn't turn out right," Artemas said and ran down the stairs knocked open the nearest window and jumped out after her.
Of course what do I say to her. He wondered. Of course I have to find her
now, she ran away pretty quickly. Maybe by the time I find her I'll know what to
say, or she'll have calmed down one or the other. She's a very confused girl
when it comes to love. But maybe she's doing her best. I shouldn't have been so
high and mighty about it.
Meanwhile at the rented out building that was the site of the semifinal round of the cooking contest, Lita was waiting as some of her foods baked in a microwave.
Most of the peope here are cooking emacualate roasts in a stove, but if I did that I wouldn't have stood out at all, instead, I'll use my skill at spices and balance to impress them.
The microwave dinged, she pulled out the food and slid another small tray in and set the timer.
She then took some of her ingredients and began to mix them to make special sauce she was going to put on top of it. Minutes later she was done. Most of the others were finishing up as well. And soon the judges were moving from dish to dish. The head judge stopped at her table and glanced at the dish. Lita stood there nervously.
"Tell me Lita..what makes you think that this can compete with all these baked goods?" the judge asked.
Lita paused a second.
"Because you can't always eat baked goods, sure they're good to eat, and I make a lot of them, but some people like variety, and they want to try something different. That's what I've made here."
The judge nodded slightly and tasted a piece.
"This is good," she said. "We shall see..won't we?
The judge then moved on to others foods and the other judges came by.
She wasn't giving me a hard time, she just wanted to see if knew why I cooked what I did. She could tell. Lita thought.
Soon the judges came back to her table.
"You're a finalist," the judge said.
"Uh..thank you," Lita said.
"It's quite ambitious of you to break from tradition, I like that. Half the people here made the same thing and all the same way...that may be a sign of good ability, but not creativity. A master chef either has to be perfectly consistent everytime they make a dish, or artistic with what they create. The greatest master chefs can do both. At least we know you have half of that equation..congratulations."
"Thank you....again," Lita said.
Soon she was heading out the door of the building with her cooking materials. She looked around to see if anyone was walking by before letting out a large whoop.
"Heh..so you did well," Steve said popping out of a bush.
"Hey," Lita said.
"Well..I wanted to see what you're mood was before I bumped into you," Steve said.
Lita grinned.
"I'm a finalist," Lita said.
"That's great. I suppose I could tell you I knew you could do it, but you know that," Steve said.
"Yes, I do, but thank you anyway," Lita said.
"So..now that you've cooked, how about I take you out to dinner?"
"Where?"
"Anywhere you want, provided I don't have to change."
Lita started laughing.
"I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you," Steve said and then pitched forward.
"What is it!" Lita said.
"What do you think!" Steve said and groaned, he began to glow.
Lita jumped into the bushes and hoped no one saw her. She then pulled out her power stick and transformed. Steve was becoming a large bulky titan in front of her as she stepped out.
"You know, normally we decide to become scouts when this happens, I like this body," the Steve creature said.
"Uh oh," Jupiter said.
"Yeah, you bet uh oh is right, because I can do this," Steve said and jumped into the air. His massive body rolled into a ball and dropped towards her.
"Yikes," Jupiter said and leapt out of the way. Steve landed and made a crater about five feet deep in the street. He then looked out of the hole with a stupid grin on his very large face.
"Hi ya!" he said.
"Jupiter Thunder Crash!" Jupiter shouted. The attack smashed into Steve and hit him. But he just stood there.
"You know what. I think I'm immune," Steve said.
"You're what?" Jupiter said.
"Sure..you hit me..and I took it..."
"Oh.."
A shock shot through Steve and he let out a shout and started jumping around.
"Yikes...that was a delayed reaction if there every was one," he shouted. Jupiter sighed and jumped forward and threw her fist at Steve's head, which was about twice it's normal size. Her punch hit him right in the nose. He let out a shout, but grabbed her before she could land. He swung her around by her leg and threw her down an entire block. She smashed into a car and let out a shriek of pain before rolling off it. Steve went charging down the street, the ground shook. Jupiter staggered out of the way and leapt onto the roof of a nearby pharmacy, holding onto her stomach.
Steve jumped into the air and went for the roof. Jupiter turned and started running as he hit the roof and started following her.
How is the roof holding up all that weight? She wondered.
Steve leapt at her, she jumped onto another roof. Steve pitched forward and fell several feet into an alley forming another indentation in the ground as he hit. Jupiter fell to one knee on the roof and tried to catch her breath. Ten seconds later. Steve leapt up again and grabbed onto the roof's edge to pull himself up. Jupiter raced forward knowing her attack's delayed reaction wouldn't help her. Steve pulled himself up to the edge and was barreled into by Jupiter who leapt onto the pharmacy roof again to follow through. Steve pitched forward and landed on the ground again.
"Jupiter Thunder Crash!" She shouted and hit Steve. He was just standing up. She leapt back to the other roof and winced, a tear fell from her eye. Steve leapt into the air and was shock by the delay as he did so, he couldn't concentrate and fell back down.
I have to do this now..if I don't he's got for me good. She thought. I'm losing my strength.
"Jupiter..Thunderclap......."
Steve pulled himself up onto the rooftop again.
"ZAP!" Jupiter shouted and threw a crackling disk of lightening at Steve. It smashed into him and knocked him off the roof and into the opposite alley wall. Jupiter quickly pulled out her power stick and aimed it at him.
"Jupiter Healing Power!" she shouted and healed Steve. She then blacked out.
When she woke up she was in human form lying in on a bed. She looked up to see her father and Steve standing over her.
"Wha..happened," Lita said.
"You...fell..." Steve said. "They've done some tests, Lita, you should be fine in a few days."
"Steve said you were protecting innocent people by trying to fight off one of the monsters," her father said. "I'm proud of you, but you should have left if to the professionals."
"How long have been out of it?" Lita said.
"Just an hour, the doctors kept you sedated while they did some of the tests. But they've given you something for the pain," Her father said."We're trying to track down your friends, but it isn't that serious thank goodness."
"Uh..listen.could I talk to Steve alone," Lita said.
"I'll be right outside," her father said.
"Lita..I'm so sorry," Steve said.
"It's okay Steve..it happens..I know you didn't mean it."
"No..I just..I hurt you, I didn't mean to do it, and you're hurt..badly.."
"Steve..it's all right," Lita said.
"I could have killed you," Steve said.
"Calm down Steve," Lita said. "I don't blame you...listen...I need you to get a hold of yourself, you're the one who has to cheer me up remember."
"Yeah..you're right..I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry...it's okay Steve, with this whatever it is going around it can be expected."
"I know Lita, I'm sorry..but listen..why don't you talk to your dad and all, I'll try and find the others," Steve said.
"All right, thanks,"Lita said.
"Sure," Steve said sporting a brief grin.
Her father came back in as Steve left.
"I talked to the doctor. He'll come by soon and tell you your condition, but it's just a few bruises, it'll heal," her father said.
"That's good, hey, I've been hurt before," Lita said.
"Yeah, you lead a rough lifestyle," her father said. "But hey..that's what I like about you. I think that's what your boyfriend likes too. Still..Lita...did you have to rush into battle like that?"
"Well..there were innocent lives at stake."
"But they say this monster was dangerous."
"The monster was Steve."
"What?"
"He was transformed somehow."
"I see..."
"Dad, he had nothing to do with this it turned him evil or something."
"I know..I know..what's been happening," her father said. "I don't hold him responsible...but Lita..you didn't have to risk yourself."
"Dad, I'm Sailor Jupiter," Lita said.
"You...you are?" her father said in shock.
Lita nodded.
"You're not joking?"
"No I'm not."
"I see, I think I'm going to sit down.." her father said.
Artemas had found Mina, in the spot Mike had shown her a while ago. She was staring out at the harbor.
"Mina?"
"Go away Artemas."
"No, I want to apologize."
"Apologize?"
"Yes, I shouldn't have said what I did. It was wrong of me to do it."
"You mean it?"
"Yes."
"Well...I can understand why you said it."
"You can?"
"Yes. Artemas, do you want to know the truth?"
"Of course."
"I love Mike."
"You do?"
"Yes, I love him, but like a brother Artemas, not like a boyfriend. I like to be around him, I like to talk to him, to hear his jokes, heck to come up here and just watch the harbor..but..I don't think I should date him. But if I don't...I might lose him for good."
"So you're torn in two directions aren't you? You like Mike, you want to be friends, but if you don't date him you're afraid he won't want anything to do with you."
"Yeah, exactly."
"Mina, you have to talk to him, if you don't you could hurt him more."
"I don't know if I can yet. I can hold of finding someone else until I can."
"Are you sure?"
"Artemas, I'm a teenage girl, it's natural for me to look at other guys. Mike knows that. He's checking other girls out all the time."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, listen..it's good that we talked, but I think I know what I have to do for now..just wait until I'm ready," Mina said.
"Okay," Artemas said. I just hope you've thought this through entirely.
"So..quite a bruise there ey..Miss. Nelson?" the doctor said.
"Don't worry..you'll get the best of care, I'm an expert at treating teenage injuries, I recently had three patients with major injuries all about the same time."
Bet I know who they were. Lita thought.
"Don't worry, we'll get you fixed up," the doctor said.
CHAPTER 119 CHAPTER 120 CHAPTER 121 CHAPTER 122 CHAPTER 123
CHAPTER 124 CHAPTER 125 CHAPTER 126 CHAPTER 127 CHAPTER 128
CHAPTER 129 CHAPTER 130 CHAPTER 131 CHAPTER 132 CHAPTER 133