*cracks knuckles*
huehuehuehue
------
It had been another week, and something seemed to be going down at the Plaza today. Mostly assumed because Boxman was planning rather wildly. Jenny didn't really care much about finding out what it was, til he finally announced it.
"So, after a week of stalk--I MEAN, researching what everyone at the Plaza has been somewhat excited about for tonight. And, APPARENTLYYYY, they're having a nice little prom in just an hour!"
Jenny blinked, interested for once. Prom? She hasn't been to a prom in a while. Probably because she's not popular back home.
"SO, I've--" "A prom?!"
Raymond interjected, making Boxman jump.
"And they didn't even bother to invite
me! Those mongrels.." he growled.
Jenny was surprised that Raymond would be so excited about something like a prom, but thinking about it more, it honestly fit his personality.
"..er, yes, well--" Boxman was cut off by his robo-son grabbing him by the shoulders and looking him in his eyes passionately.
"Father! I beg of you, let me take this mission. I'll be the party crasher that all of my
lousy siblings
wish they could be!" his words got growls from his siblings but his father seemed very satisfied by Raymond's enthusiasm.
"Why, of course I'll let you go, Raymond!" he laughed, patting his son's shoulder. Raymond gasped happily.
"Thank you, Lord Boxman!" he gave his creator a tight hug, making him wheeze.
"B-But don't forget--" the villain let out a cough, "you have to bring Jenny along with you so she can learn how," he coughed again, "t-to be a less p-pathetic Plaza destroyer."
Jenny blushed. She didn't care about the actual mission anymore. But this chance to have a date with Raymond? Was this a dream?
Though she was slightly disheartened by Raymond's reaction.
"What? B-But, coach-dad, she might hold me back from reaching my full party potential.." he looked at Jenny awkwardly, and she just flinched, looking away.
"Her awkwardness isn't compatible with me, father. Please..?" he whispered to his dad, but he wasn't having it.
"Listen, Raymond, I understand she's...not that good at being bad. BUT she can learn if she watches you! Besides, it's prom, son. It's customary to have a date!" Boxman pushed his reluctant son to Jenny, who was probably close to overheating.
"You'll be leaving tonight. Get ready, alright?"
The two nodded, and watched as Boxman and the other robots left the room. They walked to Raymond's room in an awkward silence for a few minutes, before he sighed, turning to her.
"Okay, Jenny, I'm just gonna make this clear. Whenever we get to the prom,
please don't take away from my spotlight, alright?"
Jenny smiled nervously, "Oh, um, sure. I won't get in your way."
"Great, but I'd also like it if you, hm, maybe played support? Just be a part of my cheer squad, alright? I'll need the motivation tonight, after all~"
Jenny's smile fell more, and she sighed a bit, "Uh, sure.." This party was really making him..bossy. And slightly unpleasant. But maybe he was just stressing over making a perfect party crash for his dad.
"You
do have a fancy outfit, do you not?" he turned to her from his closet, which was filled with a surprising amount of clothing.
"Oh, uh..." Jenny thinks, before transforming. Her hair shifted to form a ponytail held by a mechanical bow, and her clothing extended and locked together, forming a dress. Two sleeve-like slabs of metal came out as sleeves. Her shoes stayed the same, though.
"D-Does this look fancy enough?"
Raymond hummed, looking the outfit up and down.
"..this'll do." he turned back to his closet to pick an outfit, "Be a dear and go get our box ready, will you? And be quick, we leave in an hour."
Jenny flinched a bit. Well, she was going to be excited about this mission, but his general attitude was bothering her quite a bit already. She had a sinking feeling that she wouldn't enjoy this "date" as much as she thought. Giving a disappointed look to him while his back was turned, Jenny went to prepare for another mission.
--
Well, it was time.
Jenny stood there, waiting for Raymond, who was busy fixing his hair or something. And who complained about being quick so they could leave earlier? Hmmm.
Finally, her "handsome date" arrived, and while he did look gorgeous, Jenny was less than pleased with how he was acting tonight. So pompous and....well, that is kind of his personality. Nevermind. Not saying anything to the other, Raymond got inside of his (admittedly cool) rose box, Jenny getting into one of the plain, traditional boxes. They were soon transported, being launched into the sky and towards the prom.
Once there, their boxes opened up and bloomed, respectively. Jenny looked bored whilst Raymond did three consecutive poses in a row.
"How dare you all have a party, yet not invite me? The
Prince of Ponache?!" he sounded genuinely offended.
Jenny rolled her eyes, then seemed to notice a lot quicker than he did that this party...was crap. But as soon as Raymond noticed, after a small ramble Jenny didn't bother listening to, he lowered his arm cannon, staring at it in surprise.
"...this is horrendous." he sighed in disappointment, "..well, it seems this party is already crashed. Come on, Jenny, let us return and await another day."
Said robot picked up a small whimper, looking over to see that it was Rad. Was this his party? Oh, poor guy. Jenny looked at him sympathetically. She got a small idea,
"Hey, uh, Raymond? Why don't we go ahead and try to make this party more exciting..?"
The robot in question turned to Jenny, "Please, hon, we can't fix something this horrendous. Besides, we
wreck things, we don't
fix them."
Jenny felt a tinge of frustration, "But isn't a fun party better than a boring one? You like parties, don't you?"
"Only if they have a competent host running them." he chuckled, looking at Rad as the alien whimpered again, flopping onto his back. Jenny felt bad, and wanted to help, even if she had to get Raymond involved.
Looking at him with a serious expression, Jenny stayed put. Raymond's eye twitched.
"Jenny, please. Get in your box."
"I'm not leaving until we spice this place up! I've been to one too many parties to let something like this slide!" She said, "And besides, why should I listen to you? You've been treating me like crud since we heard about this party! You may have a pretty face but definitely not a pretty personality." she crossed her arms. Raymond glared at her and she glared back.
"Alright then, how do we settle this pointless arguement?" he stepped up to her.
"How about.." Jenny grinned, "a dance battle?"
Raymond gasped a bit, "A
dance battle? ..." he grinned deviously, "Now, THAT'S more like it!" he laughed as the two jumped apart, Raymond was beginning to stretch as Rad and KO came up to Jenny.
"Jenny, are you sure about this?" KO asked, looking at her in concern.
"Yeah, I mean, this could ruin my party more than it would fix it.." Rad said, obviously concerned about his rep. Normal Teenage Stuff.
Jenny waved them off, "No way, guys. I think I've got this in the bag. Just leave it to me." She snapped at Enid, who had come back to life due to this snap.
"DJ Fireball! Give us a song that's good to dance to."
Enid grinned, reviving herself as she yanked a CD out of her chest. Flipping it over, it landed and begun to play a song. Oh, yeah, this was perfect.
As the song began, the two of them did some basic moves, nothing all that special or experienced, but the song picked up and a literal battle commenced. The two got up in each other's faces, before attempting to either kick each other or land a punch on the other's stomachs. Both of them landed a few hits during this time, before jumping back.
Jenny ran at Raymond and begun to spin, shooting laser blasts at him, all of which he dodged or deflected, doing a shuffle and attempting to literally sweep her off her feet with a low kick. It landed, but Jenny did a handstand, then jumped up, managing to somehow stick to Raymond's chest, but promptly flipping him into the air with her, slamming him down. Shaking it off, Raymond got up, doing a few fancy spins and moves, eventually shooting lasers out from his hands after taking a few bouncy steps.
Jenny got hit by some of them thanks to stumbling from the landing, but dodged the others by spinning around in place, then stopping and shooting three small missiles at him. Since they came a bit too fast, Raymond got hit, being sent back. Chuckling, he did a few spins, releasing a few fired up baseballs from his chest. Seems he kept the sports gimmick. Jenny tried dodging some, but others came a bit too fast for her. The last one, Jenny formed a bat from her hand, and with a quick electric charge, she shot the both blazing and staticky ball back at him. Raymond ended up getting smacked right in the face, stumbling back. But, after shaking it off, he grinned.
"I see, you're not that bad." his compliment made Jenny blush, but it quickly faded when he laughed, "But let's see if you can handle..THIS!" tearing off his old outfit, he revealed..
a..70s disco outfit? She had no idea. But somehow this made a few literal chicks squeal in excitement, and Jenny stare in annoyance.
"You've gotta be kidding me." she glared, "Fine, if you're changing your form, I'll change mine!" she transformed again, her hair doing a sort of bob-like style as a metallic flower on a headband formed in her hair. Her dress looked different, sleeveless this time around, as a necklace found itself being formed around her neck. She dispensed a scarf from her mouth, hanging it around her shoulders. The crowd 'ooh'd at her transformation.
She didn't pay enough attention to notice, but this seemed to impress even Raymond, who was staring at her for a short moment. He eventually snapped out of it, clearing his throat and getting in a stance once more.
The battle continued, with the two throwing multiple punches, laser attacks, and at one point, Jenny made it onto his head, doing a momentary tap dance on his face before flip-kicking off. Wiping his face off, he didn't realize Jenny had formed a spinball-like armor around her, and was descending down to him with it. Raymond narrowed his eyes, before shooting three large laser blasts at it. The armor deflected the blasts, and they shot a few things around the party, including the disco ball. It exploded and created dust, causing Raymond to have to squint.
Looking up, he saw the armor come off to reveal Jenny, doing multiple poses that she probably saw from a fashion magazine. She did about ten in a row before getting in position to kick him, grinning down at him. Frozen in slight awe, Raymond watched as she descended.
"..she
does kind of have a..certain something." his face lit up in admiration, but before he could get over it, Jenny's kick met his face, and he was sent flying into one of the tables. Groaning, he didn't have much time to comprehend what had happened before the end of a laser gun was pointed at him.
Jenny smiled down at him victoriously, "How's that for an exciting party?"
Raymond felt his cheeks heat up but he ignored it, "...hm, I suppose it wasn't..abysmal." he cleared his throat. She smiled, genuinely happy tonight as the crowds clapped and cheered for the performers. Raymond seemed to enjoy the attention, too, chuckling quietly.
Jenny offered her hand to him, and he blinked, before simply getting up and fixing his clothes.
"Well, I suppose we did kind of..wreck things around here.." he observed the many things they knocked over or shot whilst battling.
"..let us return to Boxmore, I've had enough of this party anyway." he walked off, Jenny following until she got pulled over by Enid and Rad.
"That was AMAZING, Jenny!" KO exclaimed, giggling excitedly.
"Yeah, you're better at dealing with those goons than we are. Probably because you have to deal with their crap weekly, but.." Enid laughed, shrugging, "Nice job." she gave the robot a fistbump.
"AAAND, thanks to your shenanigans, people are actually having fun again! So, uh, thanks, f-for saving my rep." Rad smiled bashfully, rubbing the back of his head.
"..you looked really cool, too, by the way. JUST A FRIENDLY COMPLIMENT, I swear!" he laughed nervously. Jenny gave him a cheerful smile, hugging him.
"Glad to help!" She pulled away from the momentarily surprised Rad after hearing her fellow robot's annoyed "ahem."
"Gotta go, see you around!" waving, she ran to Raymond, who crossed his arms while walking back to Boxmore with her. The two didn't speak to each other until they were almost there, when Ramond spoke up.
"..I...must admit, that..that was pretty impressive, that battle. You might not have shined as much as I did, but, uh, you
did shine." He said, clearly not used to (genuinely) complimenting someone. At least, heroes. Jenny, not exactly expecting it, blushed lightly, but smiled.
"Eh, I think you probably shined more. Thank you, anyway." she said casually, making Raymond flinch and stutter a bit.
"O-Of course I did! I just, er, noticed that you had a bit of a shine to you, as well!" he laughed "confidently," avoiding her gaze. Jenny smiled shyly. Guess the party just riled him up, after all. At least, his more pompous side.
As they arrived at Boxmore, Jenny, like with Shannon, could tell he was getting increasingly nervous to tell his report to his dad. And, she planned to cover for him again, like with Shannon. Despite their less than pleasant attitudes at times, Jenny felt there was something,
something deep down in them that she could help bring to fruition. She'd help them even if they didn't know they needed it.
--
"AGAIN? You retreated AGAIN?!" Boxman exclaimed in anger, growling at his slightly frightened robot.
"I've made it clear many, many times before, that YOU. DO. NOT. RETREAT. No matter WHO comes into your path, you PRESS ON and WIN!"
"Y-Yes, I'm so sorry, coach-dad..b-but! W-We did actually, um, do some property damage! Oh, and it might've hurt a few heroes whenever we battled, s-so it's not really a total failure, ri--" Raymond was quieted by his father's glare.
"JENNY!" Raymond's eyes widened as he looked at the girl.
"W-Wha--" but he was quieted by her, as Jenny gave him a soft smile, before looking at Boxman sternly.
"I'm assuming that you
also encouraged this retreat, seeing as last time that was
also your suggestion?"
She nodded, "Yes."
"B-But--" "ENOUGH, RAYMOND! Go sit in the corner until we're through."
The robo-teen frowned, going and sitting on a tiny stool in the corner.
"You know, Miss
XJ-9, keep this terrible performance up, and I might postpone your ship's repair to one year. I'm keeping true to my word and working on it while you're out, but if this keeps up, I might just discontinue the repair and KEEP you here until you prove that you're worth helping." he leaned forward, "You don't want that, do you?"
"I don't mean to be disrespectful, sir, but I am capable of fixing my ship myself, but since I was in a nigh helpless position at the time of my crash, I accepted any help that would make this process go faster." she narrowed her eyes, "Like I said before, I'll take matters into my own hands if you refuse to help me."
"Ohh, a sassy one, aren't we?" Boxman grinned, "Yes, I understand you might be capable of it, but just as you are capable of repairing it, we are capable of DESTROYING IT." he laughed, "One command, and I can have that ship demolished in an instant." he leaned back, "It would be a shame if you had to work on a completely new ship
alone, now wouldn't it~?"
Jenny's position faltered, and she clenched her fist.
"...Fine."
"But, I won't be that cruel just yet. Your punishment is simply 2 weeks of janitorial AND manual labor. Not only will you be taking care of messes, but you'll fix every little problem we have here." he giggled, "Oh, and the best part? Your five minute break, is now a fifteen second break!" he laughed exaggeratedly as he spun in his chair.
Whilst Jenny was nodding along to Boxman's commands, Raymond felt..unusually guilty. She was being forced to do this all because of her (in his opinion) foolish idea to cover for him. Why did he have to feel this way about someone he was mostly indifferent to in the first place?
Afterwards, the two were shooed out by the bossman, and made their way to sleep.
"...that was idiotic, what you did." Raymond started, and Jenny scoffed.
"Gee, thanks. You're welcome for saving you from an incinerator." she said, sighing and looking down.
"I could've handled it okay. We get scolded by him all the time, anyway. Why did you do that?" he looks at her, and she looks up.
"Isn't it obvious? I didn't want you to get into more trouble." Jenny says, "I wanted to help you."
Raymond was in a bit of shock.
"But...I don't...you care for us even after we've been treating you like this?" he seemed confused, "I..I don't get a hero's way of thinking."
"I'm not necessarily sure it's just the
hero's way of thinking. I think it's more like a...friend's, way of thinking." she said, seemingly making him cringe.
"Friends?" he stared incredulously, "I didn't think you considered any of us...er, fit to be friends." he shook his head, "None of us really considered having friends. It stands against everything father taught us. You know, evil things."
Jenny stopped in front of her room.
"Well, I could say the same thing to you. I don't know if any of you consider me a friend because we can differ so much." she smiled, "But, even with your bad attitudes or alignment, I have a bit of a desire to help you all. I feel like you need it."
"I.." he put a hand on his chin, "..I don't really think we do..do we?" he mumbled, "You're...a very confusing girl." Raymond looked at her, with a brow raised. Jenny giggled, going into her room.
"I get that a lot." and before she shut the door, she peeked out at him.
"Oh, and, thanks for a nice time tonight. I actually really liked the battle. Also, you're a good dancer." she winked, before shutting her door.
Raymond stood there for a little while, before blushing and kind of hurrying off to his room.
"..she..is really confusing." after he reached his door, however, he smiled a bit, "..b-but I suppose...I could get used to it."
--
raymond seems more fond of jenny than shannon
maybe because i ship themregardless though, she's possibly made another robo buddy, yaaaay
also my neck hurts again