Shorty's Birthday Party
~Part 2~
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Comet had gotten Shorty's e-mail message a week before the party. She had then immediately gotten in touch with 13 other dancers. Although some (or most) of them were reluctant, Comet made them all practise their rollerblading skills and worked out a dance routine for them to perform. This was Comet's birthday present.
Outside Shorty's mansion, on the main road, Comet and the 13 other dancers performed what they had been practising for the past week. Mind you, since they only had a week to practise, they weren't at all good. But their costumes drew more attention and so the audience would be more appalled at the outfits than the performance.
The music came from a large boombox which Comet had set down next to the main gates of Shorty's mansion.
The costumes were stretchy different-coloured outfits with coloured tear-shaped cardboard stuck to their heads (use your imagination, please).
"What is that?" Shorty yelled out to Comet, whose costume was a striking blue.
"We're the birthday cake candles!" Comet yelled back.
"Cake?" Hamm said immediately.
"I can't see it," Heat said, as if he was supposed to be seeing a shape of an umbrella in an abstract painting.
"They don't look like candles," Strike said, his lips curving into a smirk. "They look like circus clowns with bad hats."
"Not funny," Frida said, embarrassed to think that her own sister would come up with such a great idea, but outrageously humiliating costumes.
"Looking good, Dad!" Gas-O shouted to Bi-O, who was unfortunately at the front of the troupe.
"How embarrassing," Bi-O muttered to McLoad, who was behind of him.
"He looks good in that colour," Gas-O said thoughtfully. "Should wear it more often."
"Dark green?" Kelly made a face. "Awful. His head is already green, why wear green clothes?"
"Hiro-kun! Capoeira! Pinky!" Kitty-N called out with enthusiasm.
Hiro was wearing white, Capoeira was in a blue costume, and Pinky was a pink candle. The three of them (or four of them, if you count Capoeira as two) turned away from Kitty-N with embarrassment and tried to concentrate on their dancing.
"Columbo!" Shorty screamed. "That's where you've been all this time!"
Columbo was also a dancer. A forest-green-coloured candle, if you want to be exact. Columbo just squeaked in reply, humiliated. He muttered some mouse words to himself, and I'm afraid these words have to be censored.
"Let's go!" Comet yelled.
"Where are they going?" Heat asked in confusion.
"Don't be stupid," Gas-O said. "They're forming a circle."
"Stupid? How'd you like to be flamed?"
Kitty-N stepped in between the two. "Just how long have you guys been arguing?"
"Three seconds."
"Oh yeah?" Heat shook a fist at Gas-O. "I'm gonna get you real good after this party's over."
"You think? I don't, you loser!"
Kitty-N turned away, rolling her eyes. It was useless.
Back to Comet's birthday present, Comet and the other dancers were forming a circle. They rollerbladed round and round, and still managed to maintain the circle shape. The astonished audience watched and clapped.
Then the dancers stopped moving around. The circle stayed, and Comet moved into the centre of the circle, where she performed some of her own moves. At the same time, a short remix of "Magic Tower" played on the boombox.
Then Comet returned to her position in the circle, and Pinky moved into the centre of the circle. Pinky then performed her own moves. "I Know" played on the boombox.
One by one, the dancers moved into the centre of the circle, and performed their moves to their theme songs. The dancers who had two theme songs, danced to both of these songs with both their old and new moves.
For the Grand Finale, all crowded into the centre of what had been the circle, formed an arrow shape pointing to Shorty, and yelled out, "Happy 14th, Shorty!". The music ended at the exact same time.
"That was beautiful..." Shorty murmured with a tears in her eyes.
"Lovely," Kelly commented. "Love the costumes."
"Not bad dancing, either," Frida said, refusing to be really impressed with her sister's work.
"Where's my birthday present?" Shorty suddenly demanded.
Comet was rollerblading towards Shorty and heard this remark. "That WAS my birthday present!" she exclaimed, insulted.
"Oh."
"I'm exhausted," Michael Doi complained in his girlish voice.
"How exactly did you get here, anyway?" Gas-O asked, looking around.
"Yeah, where's the bus? Or limo?" Heat also looked around.
"We rollerbladed all the way here," Hiro commented.
"You poor things," cooed Kelly.
"Was that a birthday present from all of you?" Shorty asked the dancers, disappointed.
"Well, I didn't think you were old enough," said Pinky in her deep voice, "but I got you a cute outfit."
"Cute?" Frida whispered to Kitty-N, a skeptical look on her face.
"I got you a cassette tape," Hiro offered.
"Very nice," Strike said, already bored.
Columbo, with a squeak, proudly showed Shorty a box labelled "electronic mouse".
"That was smart of him," Kitty-N observed.
Capoeira presented Shorty with a very large signboard. They had decided not to give their most valuable signboard, but instead their largest.
Tsutomu handed Shorty a professionally-wrapped birthday present (with a signed card), cried, "Happy birthday!" and ran out of the area, apparently heading for the bus stop.
"Where's he going?" Shorty complained.
"Something about attending to a Miss Monroe," Comet said with a shrug.
Michael Doi, McLoad and ChiChi & Sally each gave Shorty a PlayStation game (and one from ChiChi and one from Sally). Michael Doi was beaming. "Last minute presents, I brought them to the mall and they chose what they wanted to get you," he said.
"Sensible gifts," Frida commented.
Robo-Z Gold, with a haughty annoying computerized noise, presented a brochure of New York.
"He was going to destroy New York, but decided not to. He picked up the brochure on the way out," Comet explained.
"Well, it's very colourful," Shorty commented with crushed hopes.
Pander had a beautiful painting of a panda to give to Shorty.
"A relative of his painted it," Comet said. She had queried the 13 other dancers before. Don't ask me how she got Robo-Z Gold and Pander and the others to explain anything.
Burger-Dog had a burger to spare.
Bi-O gave Shorty a small model of a ship.
Sushi-Boy gave Shorty - what else? - sushi.
"This is great!" Shorty exclaimed. "Presents and presents and presents!"
"Cake," Hamm reminded Shorty.
"Let's eat!" Kitty-N exclaimed again. She was known for repeating things.
"But I haven't opened my other presents!" Shorty whined.
"Are presents all you care about?" Gas-O said, feeling irritated.
"No presents, no food," Shorty said, crossing her arms.
"Quick, open those other presents!" Hamm urged.
Hamm was the first one to re-enter the house. Everyone else followed him in, thinking, 'Typical'.
"This is my present," Frida said, pointing to a small wrapped package.
"Sweets," Shorty said, ripping it open. "Good."
"Mine?" Heat asked eagerly.
Gas-O patted Heat on the head. "There, there, boy, calm down."
"A bikini," Shorty said, as soon as she had unwrapped the present and seen the photo on the box. "Nice."
"Why the negative comments?" Kelly said.
"Did I sound negative?" Shorty said as she unwrapped Kitty-N's gift - a kitty bank. "Pretty," she commented, and went on to the next gift.
Comet held up the kitty bank. "Do you have this in a shape of waitress?"
"Shape of a...?" Kitty-N shook her head. "It was discounted - 1% off, I seem to remember."
"This looks promising," Shorty said greedily, holding up Hamm's wrapped present. She quickly unwrapped it.
"A burger-making machine?" Frida was holding back a laugh.
"If you don't like it, give it to me and I'll get you another present," said Hamm.
"Nah, I might need it after all," Shorty said. "It's hard to make burgers manually."
"Darn it," Hamm groaned.
"Three presents left," Robo-Z said suddenly, monotonously.
"You can count," Heat said in surprise.
"So can you, what a surprise," Gas-O said.
"He can talk!" Pinky exclaimed, staring at Robo-Z.
"That IS a surprise," Kelly said, not seeming very surprised.
"Where are those other two presents?" Shorty asked, ignoring the talk about Robo-Z.
"At the bottom of the box, of course," said Gas-O.
Shorty took out the badly-wrapped package. "Strike?" she said.
"Ahem, yes," Strike said, grinning.
Shorty raised her eyebrow and unwrapped the package with a bit of difficulty. Finally she came to an awful-looking box.
"Where'd you get this thing?" said Shorty.
"Open it already!" Comet exclaimed, her mouth full of watermelon. She had been raiding Shorty's refrigerator.
Shorty opened the box. Inside was something wrapped in tissue paper.
"I bet you stole that tissue paper," Heat said to Strike.
Strike held up both of his hands. "Bought it with my own money."
"Why're you putting up your hands?"
"'Cause I chose to do it that way," Strike said as he put his hands back down.
Shorty gasped as she unwrapped the tissue paper. Inside was a gun!
Everyone else gasped and backed away from the gun.
Strike chuckled. "What're you all so afraid of? It's not gonna shoot by itself, is it?"
Heat let out a nervous laugh. "Ah, yes, perhaps we should... er..."
Shorty stepped forward and cautiously held the gun in her hands. "Strike?"
"You can throw it away if you want to," Strike said. "It was worthless, anyway. Couldn't shoot properly. So I took out the bullets."
Suddenly Gas-O burst out laughing through his gas mask. "Sissy," he taunted Heat.
"You were afraid too! You were hiding behind the curtains."
Gas-O blushed behind his gas mask.
Shorty tossed the gun into Heat's hands, who screamed.
"What's this present?" Shorty took out a professionally-wrapped present.
"Tsutomu's," said Comet.
"Oh, yes." Shorty unwrapped the present. "An orange."
"Very nice," said Hamm, still hungry.
"Last present!" Shorty exclaimed.
"When will we eat?" Hamm asked impatiently.
"That's my present you haven't opened yet," Gas-O reminded Shorty.
"Quick!" Kitty-N exclaimed, sounding as impatient as Hamm. She, too, had become hungry.
Everyone crowded around Shorty as she slowly unwrapped the present.
"This... is awesome..." Shorty said, slowly for once.
She held up two PlayStation CDs, one named "Bust A Move: Dance Rhythm & Action" and another called "Bust A Move 2: Dance Tengoku Mix".
"Gas-O, where'd you get this?" Kelly asked, awed.
"I found it in a store, of course."
"Well, how could there be such a game, anyway?" Kitty-N asked.
"Some guy heard about the dance contests and made two PlayStation games based on the contests," said he. "And the characters are based on us."
"Look, that's me on the cover!" Shorty exclaimed, pointing to the cover of the second CD.
"And there I am," said Heat proudly, pointing to the cover of the first CD.
"There I am," said Pinky.
"There I am," said Kelly.
Robo-Z also pointed to the first CD, looking strangely proud on his non-emotional face.
"Food!" Hamm exclaimed.
"Okay, okay, time to eat," Shorty said.
"Finally!" Hamm said, relieved. "I was starving!"
"I don't have to eat those Oreos, do I?" Strike said to Shorty.
"I can order pizza, if you want."
"Yeah, pizza!" Heat yelled.
"Let's eat!" Kitty-N exclaimed for the third time so far.
Everyone crowded around the table (trying not to look at the Oreos), and Shorty ran to call for pizza.

And so everyone ate cake, argued over the Bust A Move games, thanked Hamm when he ate three-fourths of the Oreo cookies, gobbled down the pizza, and regretted eating the cake because it wasn't that good anyway.

THE END

P.S. Gas-O and Heat had big fight in Shorty's kitchen later that evening, when they were supposed to be helping cleaning the kitchen (everyone raided the fridge after eating Shorty's cake and the pizza, and made a big mess). Nobody won. Gas-O burnt the rest of his hair off, and Heat was sick after being in the tank for too long.

---this story typed by Hazirah M.---
---May 2000---
---at [email protected]
---at http://www.angelfire.com/ego/saya238/argue/---
---go away---
---you must be really bored---
---go already!---
---I'm going first---
---bye!---

P.P.S. Yes, it was not a very good story. I admit it.