Ash
Ash rubbed his hands together.
He knew this wasn't a day for pranks with the tournament starting tomorrow, but who cares? He needed to relax. And he needed to be here to get Ike ready anyway.
Making sure no one was around, he shifted into Oliver and knocked on the door of Isaac's house.
The day before the tournament. It kept ringing in his head, he was that nervous. He had to win something. And it had to be the shapeshifter sculptures contest. He guessed there'd be two or three new kids as well, but his main rivalry would be the girl and her girlfriend from the year before. What was her name again? Katie? Well she wouldn't win this year. Guaranteed.
He tapped his foot, waiting for the door to open. He'd been talking to some associates of his, and managed to book the small concert for Hanson on the 28th of February. He'd have to tell Ike that too...
Isaac
Isaac opened the door.
"Hey, Oli," he said in surprise. "I thought you and Mi were with your uncle today?"
Ash
Ashley grinned as he made his eyes glow orange.
"Leroy would probably be out rounding up crims before the tournament tomorrow," he said, "and you are standing right here, so you're obviously not with him."
He returned his eyes to brown and looked down the street.
"I came to get you ready for the tournament," he said finally.
Isaac
"Very funny," Isaac said. "You know perfectly well I meant Miette."
He paused.
"I dind't know you could change your eyes orange," he commented. "Hmm, so, come to make me ready for the tournament huh? Well, I can use all the help I can get to beat that hydrokinetic at the shooting gallery. Hey, are you going in that?"
Ash
"Are you going to invite me in or give me the 3rd degree?" Ashley demanded.
"And yes, I'm going in the Shooting Gallery. I'm sure I told you that. I'm a something-kinetic, aren't I?"
He grinned.
"So can I come in or what?"
Isaac
"Yeah, sure you can come in," Isaac replied, moving out of the doorway. "So, where is Mi?"
Ash
"How the hell should I know, I'm not Oliver," Ash grinned, suddenly changing into Isaac.
He chuckled.
"Come on man, we need to practice!" he complained.
Isaac
Isaac opened his mouth as if to say something. Then closed it. Then opened it again.
"What is it with you and doing that all the time?" he asked. "Doesn't it get boring after awhile?"
As he said this he lead Ash to the rec room, which is what they usually used to practice in.
Ash
"Boring? Are you out of your mind 'back in five minutes'?" Ashley laughed, "impersonating people is never boring. Observe."
He shifted into Taylor.
"Oh Isaac, I've been trying to find the right time to tell you this for a long time..." he began in a ditzy voice, "and I know we're just brothers, but I think I love you more than a friend. Will you marry me?"
Isaac
Isaac started to give Ash a dark look, then thought better of it, took Ash's hands in his and looked deeply into his eyes.
"Oh yes Taylor, of course I'll marry you," he said. "But we can't tell Ash, at least not yet. Because we both know how much he pines after you, even if he does try to hide his homosexuality by proposing to a woman. I can't say I want to be killed in his jealous rage."
Ash
Ashley hesitated, the memory of Mindy sweeping his mind. He suddenly changed back into himself.
"It's... it's been almost a month Ike," he shook his head sadly.
He bit his lip.
"I'm beginning to think she just doesn't want to put up with me, or she doesn't want hybrid kids or something."
He rubbed his arm, then made his way into the room.
Isaac
"Hey, I'm sorry man," Isaac said, following. "Have you tried talking to her again?"
He sat down on a chair and gave Ash a concerned look.
Ash
Ashley just shook his head as he faced a wall.
"I don't want to contact her. If she doesn't want to talk to me or wants her space or something I don't want to intrude. She knows I'm here, she knows I'm waiting... for her decision."
He turned to Isaac and sighed.
"But I don't want to dwell on this subject. The tournament's tomorrow! Come on, let's get to work."
Isaac
"Okay. Work it is," Isaac said, rubbing his hands together. "So, I wanted to go over with you some of this stuff we've come up with for the sculptures. Now, we were talking modern, and motorcycles before... what do you say we really impress the judges and not just say 'motorcycle' but something more like 'Harley Davidson XL 883R Sportster'? I have a picture of it..."
Isaac looked around, found a display folder and flipped it open to the page. He grinned at Ashley.
"I love the internet."
Ash
Ashley whistled.
"Nice. Very nice," he grinned, "hang on, let me try."
He studied the picture for a moment, then shifted into his green goop and went over to the open area of the room. Then he began to model the bike. He began from the floor up, going from the wheels and stand up to the handlebars. It took him about 5 seconds to get it right.
After a moment of sitting there, he shifted part of the seat into his face.
"Imagine riding this around, make the whole neighbourhood jealous," he chuckled, "what do you think?"
Then he returned to the bike.
Isaac
Isaac studied the picture and Ashley critically.
"Yes," he said finally. "I think we have a dead-ringer here."
He rubbed his hands together in gleeful anticipation.
"I was thinking that maybe you could do some sort of trick as a motorcycle and, in the middle of it, turn into the next thing. Any ideas?"
Ash
Ashley took a second to shift back to himself kneeling on the floor.
"Well..." he began, "if you want to be complete show offs, I could take you over a jump and change mid-air into a sports car or something."
He grinned deviously.
"We could always start with a dirt bike and work our way up to this baby, then hit the cars."
Isaac
Isaac's eyes glittered.
"Oh, I like it," he said. "I like it. This is gonna rock. I have a few more vehicles here, but were there any you wanted to put in?"
Ash
"Maybe a Yamaha XJ 400D?" Ashley suggested, "go old style, they love it. Well, they did last year."
He scratched his nose, and then went back over to Ike to help look through the book again. Planning continued for the next few hours.
"So..." Ashley began afterwards, "been practicing for the kinetic contests?"
Isaac
"Absoulutely. I am going to win something this year. Y'know, other than the scultures," he grinned.
Ash
"Really," Ashley drawled, "you know, considering we win the sculptures."
He clenched his fist at the thought of Katie, the girl who'd beaten them last year.
"Well, at least I have a chance with the speed. I'm down to about 5 seconds for a road train," he grinned.
Isaac
"Five seconds? A road train? Dude! You'll win the biggest shape for sure," Isaac said in approving awe.
He took a large sip of his water.
"And as for last year, well, I don't think anyone has won as many years in a row for that before. So we messed up on that one shape. We won't think year, and we'll kick butt."
Ash
"I dunno..." Ashley shook his head, "here was that one guy that had a road train with a trailer last year. I'm thinking of maybe doing a road train then a motorhome with one of those trailers with a car on the back... or a couple of dirtbikes."
He grinned.
"I'm going to remind myself of the If Only set at the rate we're going. I'll think I'll start off smaller though, some kind of intricate thing, then build up to the road train."
He chuckled.
"What else are you in again?"
Isaac
"Well, the kinetic shooting gallery, of course and Mass Destrcution. I was thinking about entering Conjuring, but I can't really do anything that spectacular with my atom manipulation."
Isaac smiled.
"Miette's going in a few. Her uncle was able to get her in at the last minute. She's a little nervous though, on account of never being at a tournament before. But then neither has Oli, and he's seems to be doing okay. That's why there' with him today. He's showing them the tournament hall and explaining how everything works and stuff."
Ash
Ashley shook his head in disgust.
"Man, you haven't asked her out yet, have you? I wish you'd get on with it. You talk about her like she's the most wonderful thing in the universe."
He hesitated, then grinned.
"How about i get Zac onto you?"
Isaac
"I will have you know that not only did I ask her out on a date, but I took her out on said date last night," Isaac replied smugly. "The classic dinner and a movie thing. We saw Star Trek. And yes, we did actually watch the movie."
He grinned.
"Zac already asked me about that. So there is no need to get him onto me."
Ash
"Just because you've been out on a date doesn't mean you're boyfriend and girlfriend," Ashley said after a long time staring at Isaac's grin.
"Ask her out, go on! Once you've done that I can get onto pestering you to get engaged... wait... did I say that out loud?"
He grinned deviously as he stood up and walked to the centre of the room they were still in. He shook his arms as if to get ready for something, letting them turn to rubber.
Isaac
"Oh c'mon Ash," Isaac complianed. "I mean, yeah, Mi and me have known each other for years (Mi and me, ha ha), and yes I do like her - a lot - but for all that time, we were both hiding things. Okay, well, we both admitted we were hiding things, like the fact that we never told each other our names or anything, but you know what I mean. And a lot of out internet friendship was based on being silly. There is so much we don't know about each other. And heck, I don't even know what she feels about me."
He sighed.
"And I know that one date doesn't make us boyfriend and girlfriend. I know that. But did it ever occur to you that the odd date might be all we have? She does live in England you know. I don't know if a long distance relationship could really work out between us."
Ash
"Come on man, it's obvious what she feels for you. Someone said the eyes are a window to your soul," he put two fingers up to his eyes to demonstrate, then shifted his eyes burrowing into his head - his body following through until he was laying on the ground.
"If you can look into her eyes and tell that she doesn't at least like you somewhat, then you can call me a liar. Until then, take my word for it."
Isaac
"Dude! Don't do that! That's so freaky!" Isaac winced.
He gave a little shudder.
"So, did you want to continue practicing? Or do you have other things to do? I for one plan on exercising my teleptahic muscles all day."
Ash
Ashley grinned. He loved freaking people out. It was fun to do with humans, as long as you had a telepath around that could block their memory...
"I think I'd better practice for speed then... unless you wanna use your telekinesis on me and make me an art form," he grinned, spreading his hands in a 'come get me' manner.
Isaac
Isaac gave Ash a dry look. Then, with merely a thought, Ash was floating in the air, and being squished into a little ball.
"This arty enought for you?" he asked.