“You’re a grumpy old man?” Gigi giggles.

    “Patriarch’s not grumpy,” Ent says.

    “I wasn’t talking about Patriarch, he he,” Gigi teases.

    “Alright, Gracie, don’t make me change my mind about that credit going to next school year.”

    Elsewhere, with the restoration almost done, Jocelyn finds her own joy as she watches her husband Darius sparring a little with their Owan as Mr. Meyers was highly impressed with his son’s finishing move.

    “So, whenever you get a pretty little girlfriend to defend, she’ll be more than well taken care of.  Just don’t get cocky or you’ll get your face kicked in by a veteran like me, heh heh.”

    “Oh, yeah, Dad?  I may not be an Infinite anymore, but you might be sorry if you let your guard down.”

    “Pff, whatever,” Jo mumbles as she enjoys her goofy son’s effort.  She then looks around to see if there’s anything else to take care of.  She sees the rest of her family finding things to do while she spots Kammy making this community work into a cute little date with Paul.  Let’s listen to their conversation as they pick up trash and rubble together.

    “So, we’ve talked enough about school,” Kammy says to her man.  “What’s on your mind about what just happened?”

    Giving this some thought, Paul pauses to confess a feeling he got watching her on the battlefield, as well as when she voiced her opinion to Mr. Rug earlier today.  “Kam, I want to break up.  Right now.”

    “W-what?!  Why would you say that?”  She’s stunned.  This is out of the blue.

    “Well,” he says, trying to keep his composure, “watching you today, it doesn’t seem real.  I just can’t believe that someone like you would really be my girlfriend.  It made me think of when we first started dating.”  He looks at her with a goofy smile.  “I kinda’ got the idea to break up long enough to ask you out again because the wave of excitement in hearing you say you like me hits me harder than a blast from Baby Z.”

    Realizing what this dope is trying to say, she pulls out the aforementioned weapon and holds it in his face.  “Look here, you nerd.  Don’t go scaring me like that.  I’ll tell you a million times, Paul Mercury, that I like you immensely, even if you want to give me a heart attack sometimes.”  This makes the goofball giggle.  After this, Kammy breaks out her “Yuri eyes” and says in a more alluring tone, “I’ll be eagerly awaiting your graduation next year, Mr. Mercury, helping you every step of the way until you’ve finished school.”  Paul almost faints.

    The work is officially done, allowing everyone to get ready for the costume party.  The kids are all begrudgingly going with Duplica’s plan to dress as the Guardians, and while everyone else is dressed more like the modern renditions of their heroes, Faye decides to go with a uniform Missy wore around the time of Ultimax that included a helmet so clunky, it’s the reason I decided not to bother taking a picture of the group’s costumes.

    Arriving on Juniper, the first thing everyone notices is the stares Doug is getting for dressing as the Ultimate Maximum.  He’s not wearing a helmet so everyone knows it’s just him, but it’s still creepy.  “It was just my little way of reminding Cat of the love I have for her, even at her worst.”  It’s still creepy.

    And every time Doug says this, Catherine adds, “This right here is why I altered the nightly Bible reading between Doug and I for his week off.”

    “Oh?  What did you change it to?” is the common responds.

    Each time, Mrs. Rug replies with a mischievous smile, “Song of Solomon.”

    “Mom, it was awkward enough the first two times,” Ent complains.  “Now, it’s just creepy.”

    “Marriage is honorable,” Paul begins to quote, though he technically agrees with Entoni.

    “Fine, I’ll stop embarrassing you!” Cat agrees.

-Next Page-

-Previous Page-