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Description
It was a lovely day in Tremorton. Summer was right around the corner and all were eagerly awaiting it. The sun was high in the sky, birds were singing, the bees were—

"Surrender!" a voice cried out.

In the Tremorton Park, hiding behind a series of bushes, Killgore was practicing his famous "surrender" he would say to his "arch-enemy", Jenny XJ9.

His hideout was nothing more than a hollowed out log. Inside it were a series of pictures and files. Some were of XJ9, others were of her friends and others were of some of her enemies. He'd been studying them for a long time now. Trying to figure ways to finally defeat XJ9 by learning from the mistakes of others. The last time he made a mistake like that, he nearly lost his glory at the hands of Armegeddroid. But soon he would devise a new plan, one that would finally be too much for XJ9.

He was looking at himself in a broken mirror that sat on the ground nearby.

"Surrender, XJ9!" he said again. "No, no. Needs more emphasis." He cleared his throat and took a deeper breath. "SURRENDER, xj-9!"

He nodded with glee as he walked over and looked at his pile of papers with plans all laid out to use against XJ9.

"Soon, XJ9." He said rubbing his small claw together. "Soon you will know the power of Killgore! And all will know that I am a true villain to be reckoned with. One who all will fear!"

"Oh look." A man, who was with his wife and child said walking by with him. "It's Killgore."

"He's so adorable." The wife said.

"Bye bye. Cute little Killgore." The little girl said as they walked along.

"Gggrrr." The toy-villain grinded. "YOU WILL ALL FEAR ME!" he shouted at them.

He heard as they laughed.

"Just the cutest." The wife said in the distance.

Killgore went back to looking through his plans.

"Now let's see." He began. "Join a league of minor villains together? Nope." He tossed the paper with that plan away. "Use device to separate XJ9's pieces all across the globe? Nope." Tosses it away. "Infect with parasite-bot? Nope." Tosses. "Use evil army of XJ9 toys? Nope."

He tossed one plan after another away until he was left completely empty handed.

"Curses." He said, shaking his claws. He paced back and forth saying. "There is nothing left to use against XJ9. Everything from turning her sisters against her to a giant monster made of Jell-O has failed."

He stopped and looked at all of the papers on the ground. He dropped to the ground on his backside and slumped.

"Maybe Killgore should face the facts." He said "Perhaps Killgore will never be able to defeat XJ9. Maybe all Killgore is, is just...an adorable little toy." He finished by putting his head in his claws.

"Aw. That's a shame." A voice said. "And here I was hoping the mighty Killgore could help me."

"I prefer 'all-powerful' Killgore, If you don't..." he stopped when he realized someone was here.

He jumped up and pulled out a water-gun and dart-gun; both toys. He looked up and saw a figure standing on top of his log. The figure wore a simple smile on their face the whole time he talked.

"Who dares intruded on the all-powerful Killgore's lair?" he said pointing his toys at them. "All who do will be destroyed!"

"Easy now." The figure said holding their hands up. "I'm not here to fight you."

"Very wise of you." He said. "All should know to fear Killgore's wrath."

"Indeed they should." The figure said. "But I'm not like most others. I couldn't help but over hear your little predicament involving XJ9."

"If you intend to try and destroy XJ9 for yourself, then forget it. Killgore will  be the only one to destroy his arch-nemesis."

"I only wish to help you defeat her, not outshine you." The figure said as they lowered their arms. "I think, with my help, you can finally achieve your victory over her."

"You do?" Killgore asked as he kept his weapons on him. "Why should I trust you?"

"Because, the plan I have in store will be so great that not even the great XJ9 could stop it."

Killgore lowered his weapons and said. "Killgore likes the sound of that. Alright." He said holding his claw out. "Killgore will allow you to join him."

The figure lowered themselves and shook his calw saying. "Good. Now before we get started, we'll need to find a certain other enemy of XJ9. One who's been in hiding for some time now."

"Killgore might know where to find them." He said

He rushed into his log and pushed out an old cabinet drawer, broken off from the rest, with a series of files inside it. On the front of it was the painted the word "Wannabe-Villains."

"Killgore has been studying the habits of all of XJ9's foes. Even ones that don't show up as much, like the Mudslinger." He said proudly.

"Quite the productive fellow you are." The figure said before searching through the files. "Aha. Here we go."

The figure laid out the file and showed it to Killgore.

"Are you sure about this?" Killgore asked. "This one hasn't been seen for so long. How can they help?"

"Don't worry." The figure said. "It'll all work-out in the end. Trust me."

********************

Inside the Wakemen house, Jenny (XJ9) Wakemen awoke from her sleep.

She yawed and looked out to see the bright sun high in the sky. She hoped out of bed and looked at her calendar.

"Today's the big day." She said looking at the date circled in. "Graduation! I can't believe it."

She hurried out of her room and went downstairs to the kitchen.

"Hi mo..." she began before seeing her mother wasn't there.

Jenny began to look around before hearing noises coming from the basement.

"Mom?" she called down.

There was no answer, but Jenny still heard noises. She slowly walked down the stairs into the old musty basement. It was hard for her to see without a light on, but so far all she could make out were the piles of old gadgets and knick-knacks an trashed bots and experiments of her mother's.

"Hello?" Jenny said before hearing the noise again.

It sounded like a ruffling sound coming from one of the piles. She slowly crept towards it as the sound grew louder and louder. Jenny came closer and closer until...

"Moring, dear!"

Jenny screamed for a moment as she blasted the pile of junk with one of her laser-guns that came from her arm. She looked at the smoking pile of what was left to see her mother, Nora Wakemen, standing there. Her dress was covered in ash from the blast, as well as her face and hair.

"Oops." Jenny said, retracting her weapon and giving an awkward laugh. "Sorry, mom."

"XJ9." Nora said, rubbing the ash from her front. "Is there a reason you came down her and nearly disintegrated me?"

"Well I didn't know where you were."

"Oh." She said. "Well I've been down here trying to figure for what to bring up to my new storage area."

"New storage area?" Jenny said, raising her mechanical-eyebrow. "What new storage area?"

"Why your room, dreary." Nora said, cheerfully. "Once you're off to college, I'll need the extra space."

Jenny dropped her eyebrows and said. "Gee. Good to know it won't go to total waste."
Nora saw this and turned to her robot-daughter.

"Oh, Jenny." She said. "You know I'm proud of you for this. I'm just trying to make the best of it." She began to tear in her eyes. "My little girl's going to college."

"Oh mom..." Jenny said seeing this and smiling. "it'll be alright."

"I know that." She said clearing her eyes. "I'm just so proud of you. You'll be off to make a better future for yourself, while I'll finally have enough wok-space to complete my experiments. Could you give me some light, dear?"

Jenny nodded before her eyes lit-up like two light bulbs in her head. Wherever she looked, the light would follow.

"That's better." Nora said. "Now why don't you take that pile there, while I take this one here." She pointed both of them out.

"But mom," Jenny began to interject. "It's my graduation day. Shouldn't we both be getting ready?"

"This will only take a moment." Nora said as she was already starting to look through her pile.

She noticed the large suitcase opened nearby. Inside was an old Skyway Patrol uniform, a few lazer-guns in different sizes, a badge, and even some old pictures of a younger Nora standing with a group of other scientist.

"Wow." Jenny said looking at everything inside. "What's all this?"

"Oh that's just all my old souvenirs from my time at Skyway." She said. "I was thinking of using your closet to keep that in."

As Nora was looking through a separate pile of junk, Jenny looked through the case. She pulled out one thing after another. One gun, the helmet to the uniform, another gun, another gun, an old communicator, a pair of boxers. She stopped when she saw something hidden underneath the stuff inside. She managed to dug through until she pulled it out.
I was a metal lock-box. It was small, but was still big enough for Jenny to hold in both hands. It was black and dirty with age and rust here-and-there. There seemed to be words that were once painted on the front, but were now mostly warn out with age. The only letters Jenny could see were N, T, L.

"Hey," she said looking at it more. "what's this?"

Nora looked and saw what Jenny was holding. "Oh...th...that." she said walking over and taking it from her. "I was looking for that. I...I thought I'd lost it."

"What's inside?" Jenny asked.

"Oh...nothing you need to worry about, honey." She answered, keeping a smile on her face as if she was hiding something.

Jenny raised her eyebrow in suspicion but then the door knocked.

"I'll get it." She said before zipping up the stairs.

Once Jenny was gone, Nora looked at the box. A feeling of old, bad memories raced through her mind and she stared at it. After a moment she placed it back in the suitcase, along with everything else pulled out, and locked it.

Jenny reached the door and opened it. Standing there was Brad Carbunkle, her best friend and neighbor.

"Hey, Jen." He said. "Ready for the big ceremony?"

"You know it." She said. "This is going to be so awesome."

"I hope so." He said rubbing the back of his head. "My parents are coming and right now the biggest concern is that Tuck doesn't go crazy with the video-camera."

Suddenly both of them heard the sound of Tuck calling over from the Carbunkle house.

"HEY, BRAD," Tuck yelled over "SHOULD I USE A TRIPOD OR JUST TRY THE WHOLE THING HAND-HELD."

Brad groaned with annoyance.

"ALSO WHAT SORT OF LIGHTING DO YOU THINK WE'LL NEED?"

"IT'S OUTSIDE, TUCK!" Brad yelled back. "YOU WON'T NEED A LIGHT!"

Jenny giggled a bit at this. "Looks like he's just as eager for the day."

"I think he'll be more interested in the food they'll be serving afterwards."

She laughed at this and even Brad chuckled a little.

"So have you decided on a College yet?" she asked him

"Not really sure yet." He said. "My mom's saying I should follow in her footsteps and  go to her college, but then my dad keeps saying how he wants me to go somewhere where I can make something out of my life. He's even saying I should go back to Skyway Patrol if it means a good future. What about you?"

"I haven't really decided either." She said rubbing her head awkwardly "I mean there're plenty of options sure, but then I'm wondering if I shouldn't be too far from mom and the rest of Tremorton. I mean what if there's trouble?"

"Don't sweet it so much, Jen." He said. "I'm sure little old Termorton will be fine. I'm just worry about all the ladies I'll be leaving behind."

She gave a friendly "Hmph" before saying "I'll bet they'll be crying they're eyes out...with joy."

He gave her a look that said. "Yeah, yeah. Keep talking." But still with a friendly smile on his face.

"You know," Jenny began "we could always try and go to the same college together. I mean, that way we won't have to worry about staying in contact with each other."

"Oh sure." Brad said, while starting to show an awkward smile on his face. "That's I good idea. Saves on phone bills to be sure."

Both began to give awkward laughs before Tucker called out again.

"BRAD," he yelled "WHAT SORT OF FILTER SHOULD I USE?"

He rolled his eyes before saying. "I should go. Need to get ready." He walked off while calling back. "See you there, Jenny."

"See you there." She called back before giving a brief sigh.

Suddenly she head a horse and carriage coming close. She looked to see an all too familiar carriage coming up to the house. It was the one her aunt Wisteria rode around in all the time. She was sitting at the front with the reins of the horse in her hands.

"Hello, Jenny." She waved as she stepped down. "How's my niece doing?"

"Hi, aunt Wisteria." She said waving back to her

Suddenly from the back of the coach, Glen, Jenny's swamp mutant cousin rolled out. He hit the ground with a sloppy flop before getting up.

"Cousin Jenny!" he said holding his arms up

"Cousin Glen!" she said doing the same.

The two ran to each other and slapped into a big hug. Some of Glen's slime soaked onto Jenny, but she didn't mind. Both laughed as they hugged.

"So glad you could both make it." She said.

"Me too." Glen said. "I always wanted to see what a graduation was like." He notices that some of his goop was on Jenny...again. "Oops. Sorry."

"Not a problem." Jenny said as she turned her hand into a squeegee and wiping it away.

"Oh such and what a gorgeous day for a wonderful occasion." Wisteria said as she walked up and hugged her niece.

By this point Nora had walked out and seen who had arrived.

"Oh joy..." she said with a less than enthusiastic tone "...the family circus has arrived."

"Hello, Nora." Wisteria said walking over to her sister. "It's so nice to see you again. I just had to come after you called about Jenny's special day."

"Yes." Nora said in the same tone. "But just remember to mind yourself, Wisteria. This is a graduation, not one of your peace rally's where everyone wants to hear about the balance of the spiritual universe of chakra and the like."

"Oh, Nora," she said back "you always have to keep things so technical."

"Have you at least brought something nice to wear?" she asked her. "And I don't mean something you made out of nothing but dandelions and fig-leaves."

"Well of course I did." Wisteria said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Good." Nora said before looking to Jenny. "Come along, XJ9. We need to get ready ourselves."

"Right, mom." She said before looking to Glen. "Come on in. You can wait while we're all getting ready."

"Ok." Glen said as she followed Jenny and Wisteria in. "You wouldn't happen to have any mulch, do you? I haven't eaten since we left on for the ride."

At least an hour went by before Jenny was fully ready.

She looked at herself in the mirror to see what she looked like in her black graduation outfit. Her gown was big enough that it reached the ground and her pigtails were down to the side of her head so the cap could fit on top.

"XJ9." Nora called from downstairs.

"Coming." Jenny said as she walked out.

Once she reached the stairs, she looked to see the rest of her family waiting down below.
Nora was dress in an outfit similar to what she normally wore, but it had some black designing around the bottom of the skirt and no buttons on the front. Wisteria was wearing a flowing purple and green dress that looked like it blended into a nature background. Her hair was hanging out and down more now. Around her neck was her spirit crystal, and in her hair was a white flower. Glen only had a dress collar with a bow-tie around his neck.

"Oh Jenny." Nora said. "You look absolutely fantastic."

Glen snapped a shot of her with a camera he was holding, before Wisteria said "Come now, everyone. We don't want to be late."

She and Glen went out the door before Jenny pulled her mother back.

"Mom." she began "since you let aunt Wisteria come to graduation, do you think you could..."

"I know what you're going to say, XJ9," she cut her off. "and the answer is still 'no'. Your sisters are staying off."

"Oh but mom," Jenny began "They're family."

"It's going to be enough of a handful with the family we have." Nora whispered to her. "Now come on. I want to get a good seat when he get there."

Jenny silently agreed before following her mother out the door, closing it behind.

********************

In the city of Termorton, the many citizens walked about they're lives. One in particular was being watched by two pairs of eyes.

An old women was slowly making her way through the passing people. She seemed frail and weak as she walked with her green dress, grey hair and glasses over her eyes. Soon she made her way into an alley way. She looked around to see no one watching and began to change. Her features shifted and morphed until she old woman now looked like a younger, healthier and more attractive women. Her hair was now blonde and her dress was a dark purple.

"You can change your face into any you wish, and yet you still hide in the dark." A voice said.

The woman looked to see a figure standing a few feet away from her.On the figure's shoulder was Killgore.

"Who are you?" the woman asked.

"I think the bigger question is: who are you?" the figure asked

"But we know who it is." Killgore said. "It's the exo-skin that XJ9 once used to..."

"It was rhetorical, Killgore." The figure said, holding his fingers up to his eyes and rubbing them.

"Oh. I see." Killgore said before the figure looked back to tee exo-skin.

"Ho...how did you know?" the woman, or rather the exo-skin, asked

"My little friend is very resourceful." The figure said pointing out Killgore. "But I think the bigger surprise is that you've been wasting your time in hiding, when you could be trying to extract your revenge on XJ9."

"You think I haven't tried?" the exo-skin said in a somewhat angered tone. "Ever since she threw me off of her, if been trying to find the right opportunity to strike. But all the time, one thing after another happens. Jenny's saving her friend from a bunch of space bikers. Jenny's trapped on some Cluster planet. Jenny's in the middle of a stinking fashion war. It's become more and more annoying that I think there's no point anymore."

"But what if I could give you that opportunity?" the figure said. "What if I could offer you what you always wanted. To finally have your vengeance on XJ9? Or better yet: what if I helped you get her back, so that you could be bonded to her forever?"

The exo-skin began to ponder on this, rubbing her chin as she did. She wasn't sure if she should trust this stranger, but then again his offer seemed too good to pass up.

"I'm interested." The exo-skin said.

"Excellent." The figure said. "Now, if you are in, then what I'll need you to do first is bond with me."

"What?" it asked

"I need a proper disguise in order to get close enough to XJ9 without drawing attention. And given how you've evolved to change any form you want, that shouldn't be hard should it?"

"You make a good point." It said. "Plus this old man's body I've clung to for so long is beginning to smell.

"Then we have a deal?" they asked, holding their hand out.

The exo-skin reached out and took their hand. "Deal."

Then the exo-skin began to move around until it was detaching itself from its current host. It slithered and crawled up the figures arm and it latched on. Once it was fully off, the exhausted body of Mr. Mezmer fell to the ground.

"Oh my aching tookus..." he said before passing out again.

The exo-skin finally formed onto the figure and the disguise was formed. Both of them, including Killgore, began to laugh as the plan was starting to go as planned.

Description
It was a lovely day in Tremorton. Summer was right around the corner and all were eagerly awaiting it. The sun was high in the sky, birds were singing, the bees were—

"Surrender!" a voice cried out.

In the Tremorton Park, hiding behind a series of bushes, Killgore was practicing his famous "surrender" he would say to his "arch-enemy", Jenny XJ9.

His hideout was nothing more than a hollowed out log. Inside it were a series of pictures and files. Some were of XJ9, others were of her friends and others were of some of her enemies. He'd been studying them for a long time now. Trying to figure ways to finally defeat XJ9 by learning from the mistakes of others. The last time he made a mistake like that, he nearly lost his glory at the hands of Armegeddroid. But soon he would devise a new plan, one that would finally be too much for XJ9.

He was looking at himself in a broken mirror that sat on the ground nearby.

"Surrender, XJ9!" he said again. "No, no. Needs more emphasis." He cleared his throat and took a deeper breath. "SURRENDER, xj-9!"

He nodded with glee as he walked over and looked at his pile of papers with plans all laid out to use against XJ9.

"Soon, XJ9." He said rubbing his small claw together. "Soon you will know the power of Killgore! And all will know that I am a true villain to be reckoned with. One who all will fear!"

"Oh look." A man, who was with his wife and child said walking by with him. "It's Killgore."

"He's so adorable." The wife said.

"Bye bye. Cute little Killgore." The little girl said as they walked along.

"Gggrrr." The toy-villain grinded. "YOU WILL ALL FEAR ME!" he shouted at them.

He heard as they laughed.

"Just the cutest." The wife said in the distance.

Killgore went back to looking through his plans.

"Now let's see." He began. "Join a league of minor villains together? Nope." He tossed the paper with that plan away. "Use device to separate XJ9's pieces all across the globe? Nope." Tosses it away. "Infect with parasite-bot? Nope." Tosses. "Use evil army of XJ9 toys? Nope."

He tossed one plan after another away until he was left completely empty handed.

"Curses." He said, shaking his claws. He paced back and forth saying. "There is nothing left to use against XJ9. Everything from turning her sisters against her to a giant monster made of Jell-O has failed."

He stopped and looked at all of the papers on the ground. He dropped to the ground on his backside and slumped.

"Maybe Killgore should face the facts." He said "Perhaps Killgore will never be able to defeat XJ9. Maybe all Killgore is, is just...an adorable little toy." He finished by putting his head in his claws.

"Aw. That's a shame." A voice said. "And here I was hoping the mighty Killgore could help me."

"I prefer 'all-powerful' Killgore, If you don't..." he stopped when he realized someone was here.

He jumped up and pulled out a water-gun and dart-gun; both toys. He looked up and saw a figure standing on top of his log. The figure wore a simple smile on their face the whole time he talked.

"Who dares intruded on the all-powerful Killgore's lair?" he said pointing his toys at them. "All who do will be destroyed!"

"Easy now." The figure said holding their hands up. "I'm not here to fight you."

"Very wise of you." He said. "All should know to fear Killgore's wrath."

"Indeed they should." The figure said. "But I'm not like most others. I couldn't help but over hear your little predicament involving XJ9."

"If you intend to try and destroy XJ9 for yourself, then forget it. Killgore will  be the only one to destroy his arch-nemesis."

"I only wish to help you defeat her, not outshine you." The figure said as they lowered their arms. "I think, with my help, you can finally achieve your victory over her."

"You do?" Killgore asked as he kept his weapons on him. "Why should I trust you?"

"Because, the plan I have in store will be so great that not even the great XJ9 could stop it."

Killgore lowered his weapons and said. "Killgore likes the sound of that. Alright." He said holding his claw out. "Killgore will allow you to join him."

The figure lowered themselves and shook his calw saying. "Good. Now before we get started, we'll need to find a certain other enemy of XJ9. One who's been in hiding for some time now."

"Killgore might know where to find them." He said

He rushed into his log and pushed out an old cabinet drawer, broken off from the rest, with a series of files inside it. On the front of it was the painted the word "Wannabe-Villains."

"Killgore has been studying the habits of all of XJ9's foes. Even ones that don't show up as much, like the Mudslinger." He said proudly.

"Quite the productive fellow you are." The figure said before searching through the files. "Aha. Here we go."

The figure laid out the file and showed it to Killgore.

"Are you sure about this?" Killgore asked. "This one hasn't been seen for so long. How can they help?"

"Don't worry." The figure said. "It'll all work-out in the end. Trust me."

********************

Inside the Wakemen house, Jenny (XJ9) Wakemen awoke from her sleep.

She yawed and looked out to see the bright sun high in the sky. She hoped out of bed and looked at her calendar.

"Today's the big day." She said looking at the date circled in. "Graduation! I can't believe it."

She hurried out of her room and went downstairs to the kitchen.

"Hi mo..." she began before seeing her mother wasn't there.

Jenny began to look around before hearing noises coming from the basement.

"Mom?" she called down.

There was no answer, but Jenny still heard noises. She slowly walked down the stairs into the old musty basement. It was hard for her to see without a light on, but so far all she could make out were the piles of old gadgets and knick-knacks an trashed bots and experiments of her mother's.

"Hello?" Jenny said before hearing the noise again.

It sounded like a ruffling sound coming from one of the piles. She slowly crept towards it as the sound grew louder and louder. Jenny came closer and closer until...

"Moring, dear!"

Jenny screamed for a moment as she blasted the pile of junk with one of her laser-guns that came from her arm. She looked at the smoking pile of what was left to see her mother, Nora Wakemen, standing there. Her dress was covered in ash from the blast, as well as her face and hair.

"Oops." Jenny said, retracting her weapon and giving an awkward laugh. "Sorry, mom."

"XJ9." Nora said, rubbing the ash from her front. "Is there a reason you came down her and nearly disintegrated me?"

"Well I didn't know where you were."

"Oh." She said. "Well I've been down here trying to figure for what to bring up to my new storage area."

"New storage area?" Jenny said, raising her mechanical-eyebrow. "What new storage area?"

"Why your room, dreary." Nora said, cheerfully. "Once you're off to college, I'll need the extra space."

Jenny dropped her eyebrows and said. "Gee. Good to know it won't go to total waste."
Nora saw this and turned to her robot-daughter.

"Oh, Jenny." She said. "You know I'm proud of you for this. I'm just trying to make the best of it." She began to tear in her eyes. "My little girl's going to college."

"Oh mom..." Jenny said seeing this and smiling. "it'll be alright."

"I know that." She said clearing her eyes. "I'm just so proud of you. You'll be off to make a better future for yourself, while I'll finally have enough wok-space to complete my experiments. Could you give me some light, dear?"

Jenny nodded before her eyes lit-up like two light bulbs in her head. Wherever she looked, the light would follow.

"That's better." Nora said. "Now why don't you take that pile there, while I take this one here." She pointed both of them out.

"But mom," Jenny began to interject. "It's my graduation day. Shouldn't we both be getting ready?"

"This will only take a moment." Nora said as she was already starting to look through her pile.

She noticed the large suitcase opened nearby. Inside was an old Skyway Patrol uniform, a few lazer-guns in different sizes, a badge, and even some old pictures of a younger Nora standing with a group of other scientist.

"Wow." Jenny said looking at everything inside. "What's all this?"

"Oh that's just all my old souvenirs from my time at Skyway." She said. "I was thinking of using your closet to keep that in."

As Nora was looking through a separate pile of junk, Jenny looked through the case. She pulled out one thing after another. One gun, the helmet to the uniform, another gun, another gun, an old communicator, a pair of boxers. She stopped when she saw something hidden underneath the stuff inside. She managed to dug through until she pulled it out.
I was a metal lock-box. It was small, but was still big enough for Jenny to hold in both hands. It was black and dirty with age and rust here-and-there. There seemed to be words that were once painted on the front, but were now mostly warn out with age. The only letters Jenny could see were N, T, L.

"Hey," she said looking at it more. "what's this?"

Nora looked and saw what Jenny was holding. "Oh...th...that." she said walking over and taking it from her. "I was looking for that. I...I thought I'd lost it."

"What's inside?" Jenny asked.

"Oh...nothing you need to worry about, honey." She answered, keeping a smile on her face as if she was hiding something.

Jenny raised her eyebrow in suspicion but then the door knocked.

"I'll get it." She said before zipping up the stairs.

Once Jenny was gone, Nora looked at the box. A feeling of old, bad memories raced through her mind and she stared at it. After a moment she placed it back in the suitcase, along with everything else pulled out, and locked it.

Jenny reached the door and opened it. Standing there was Brad Carbunkle, her best friend and neighbor.

"Hey, Jen." He said. "Ready for the big ceremony?"

"You know it." She said. "This is going to be so awesome."

"I hope so." He said rubbing the back of his head. "My parents are coming and right now the biggest concern is that Tuck doesn't go crazy with the video-camera."

Suddenly both of them heard the sound of Tuck calling over from the Carbunkle house.

"HEY, BRAD," Tuck yelled over "SHOULD I USE A TRIPOD OR JUST TRY THE WHOLE THING HAND-HELD."

Brad groaned with annoyance.

"ALSO WHAT SORT OF LIGHTING DO YOU THINK WE'LL NEED?"

"IT'S OUTSIDE, TUCK!" Brad yelled back. "YOU WON'T NEED A LIGHT!"

Jenny giggled a bit at this. "Looks like he's just as eager for the day."

"I think he'll be more interested in the food they'll be serving afterwards."

She laughed at this and even Brad chuckled a little.

"So have you decided on a College yet?" she asked him

"Not really sure yet." He said. "My mom's saying I should follow in her footsteps and  go to her college, but then my dad keeps saying how he wants me to go somewhere where I can make something out of my life. He's even saying I should go back to Skyway Patrol if it means a good future. What about you?"

"I haven't really decided either." She said rubbing her head awkwardly "I mean there're plenty of options sure, but then I'm wondering if I shouldn't be too far from mom and the rest of Tremorton. I mean what if there's trouble?"

"Don't sweet it so much, Jen." He said. "I'm sure little old Termorton will be fine. I'm just worry about all the ladies I'll be leaving behind."

She gave a friendly "Hmph" before saying "I'll bet they'll be crying they're eyes out...with joy."

He gave her a look that said. "Yeah, yeah. Keep talking." But still with a friendly smile on his face.

"You know," Jenny began "we could always try and go to the same college together. I mean, that way we won't have to worry about staying in contact with each other."

"Oh sure." Brad said, while starting to show an awkward smile on his face. "That's I good idea. Saves on phone bills to be sure."

Both began to give awkward laughs before Tucker called out again.

"BRAD," he yelled "WHAT SORT OF FILTER SHOULD I USE?"

He rolled his eyes before saying. "I should go. Need to get ready." He walked off while calling back. "See you there, Jenny."

"See you there." She called back before giving a brief sigh.

Suddenly she head a horse and carriage coming close. She looked to see an all too familiar carriage coming up to the house. It was the one her aunt Wisteria rode around in all the time. She was sitting at the front with the reins of the horse in her hands.

"Hello, Jenny." She waved as she stepped down. "How's my niece doing?"

"Hi, aunt Wisteria." She said waving back to her

Suddenly from the back of the coach, Glen, Jenny's swamp mutant cousin rolled out. He hit the ground with a sloppy flop before getting up.

"Cousin Jenny!" he said holding his arms up

"Cousin Glen!" she said doing the same.

The two ran to each other and slapped into a big hug. Some of Glen's slime soaked onto Jenny, but she didn't mind. Both laughed as they hugged.

"So glad you could both make it." She said.

"Me too." Glen said. "I always wanted to see what a graduation was like." He notices that some of his goop was on Jenny...again. "Oops. Sorry."

"Not a problem." Jenny said as she turned her hand into a squeegee and wiping it away.

"Oh such and what a gorgeous day for a wonderful occasion." Wisteria said as she walked up and hugged her niece.

By this point Nora had walked out and seen who had arrived.

"Oh joy..." she said with a less than enthusiastic tone "...the family circus has arrived."

"Hello, Nora." Wisteria said walking over to her sister. "It's so nice to see you again. I just had to come after you called about Jenny's special day."

"Yes." Nora said in the same tone. "But just remember to mind yourself, Wisteria. This is a graduation, not one of your peace rally's where everyone wants to hear about the balance of the spiritual universe of chakra and the like."

"Oh, Nora," she said back "you always have to keep things so technical."

"Have you at least brought something nice to wear?" she asked her. "And I don't mean something you made out of nothing but dandelions and fig-leaves."

"Well of course I did." Wisteria said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Good." Nora said before looking to Jenny. "Come along, XJ9. We need to get ready ourselves."

"Right, mom." She said before looking to Glen. "Come on in. You can wait while we're all getting ready."

"Ok." Glen said as she followed Jenny and Wisteria in. "You wouldn't happen to have any mulch, do you? I haven't eaten since we left on for the ride."

At least an hour went by before Jenny was fully ready.

She looked at herself in the mirror to see what she looked like in her black graduation outfit. Her gown was big enough that it reached the ground and her pigtails were down to the side of her head so the cap could fit on top.

"XJ9." Nora called from downstairs.

"Coming." Jenny said as she walked out.

Once she reached the stairs, she looked to see the rest of her family waiting down below.
Nora was dress in an outfit similar to what she normally wore, but it had some black designing around the bottom of the skirt and no buttons on the front. Wisteria was wearing a flowing purple and green dress that looked like it blended into a nature background. Her hair was hanging out and down more now. Around her neck was her spirit crystal, and in her hair was a white flower. Glen only had a dress collar with a bow-tie around his neck.

"Oh Jenny." Nora said. "You look absolutely fantastic."

Glen snapped a shot of her with a camera he was holding, before Wisteria said "Come now, everyone. We don't want to be late."

She and Glen went out the door before Jenny pulled her mother back.

"Mom." she began "since you let aunt Wisteria come to graduation, do you think you could..."

"I know what you're going to say, XJ9," she cut her off. "and the answer is still 'no'. Your sisters are staying off."

"Oh but mom," Jenny began "They're family."

"It's going to be enough of a handful with the family we have." Nora whispered to her. "Now come on. I want to get a good seat when he get there."

Jenny silently agreed before following her mother out the door, closing it behind.

********************

In the city of Termorton, the many citizens walked about they're lives. One in particular was being watched by two pairs of eyes.

An old women was slowly making her way through the passing people. She seemed frail and weak as she walked with her green dress, grey hair and glasses over her eyes. Soon she made her way into an alley way. She looked around to see no one watching and began to change. Her features shifted and morphed until she old woman now looked like a younger, healthier and more attractive women. Her hair was now blonde and her dress was a dark purple.

"You can change your face into any you wish, and yet you still hide in the dark." A voice said.

The woman looked to see a figure standing a few feet away from her.On the figure's shoulder was Killgore.

"Who are you?" the woman asked.

"I think the bigger question is: who are you?" the figure asked

"But we know who it is." Killgore said. "It's the exo-skin that XJ9 once used to..."

"It was rhetorical, Killgore." The figure said, holding his fingers up to his eyes and rubbing them.

"Oh. I see." Killgore said before the figure looked back to tee exo-skin.

"Ho...how did you know?" the woman, or rather the exo-skin, asked

"My little friend is very resourceful." The figure said pointing out Killgore. "But I think the bigger surprise is that you've been wasting your time in hiding, when you could be trying to extract your revenge on XJ9."

"You think I haven't tried?" the exo-skin said in a somewhat angered tone. "Ever since she threw me off of her, if been trying to find the right opportunity to strike. But all the time, one thing after another happens. Jenny's saving her friend from a bunch of space bikers. Jenny's trapped on some Cluster planet. Jenny's in the middle of a stinking fashion war. It's become more and more annoying that I think there's no point anymore."

"But what if I could give you that opportunity?" the figure said. "What if I could offer you what you always wanted. To finally have your vengeance on XJ9? Or better yet: what if I helped you get her back, so that you could be bonded to her forever?"

The exo-skin began to ponder on this, rubbing her chin as she did. She wasn't sure if she should trust this stranger, but then again his offer seemed too good to pass up.

"I'm interested." The exo-skin said.

"Excellent." The figure said. "Now, if you are in, then what I'll need you to do first is bond with me."

"What?" it asked

"I need a proper disguise in order to get close enough to XJ9 without drawing attention. And given how you've evolved to change any form you want, that shouldn't be hard should it?"

"You make a good point." It said. "Plus this old man's body I've clung to for so long is beginning to smell.

"Then we have a deal?" they asked, holding their hand out.

The exo-skin reached out and took their hand. "Deal."

Then the exo-skin began to move around until it was detaching itself from its current host. It slithered and crawled up the figures arm and it latched on. Once it was fully off, the exhausted body of Mr. Mezmer fell to the ground.

"Oh my aching tookus..." he said before passing out again.

The exo-skin finally formed onto the figure and the disguise was formed. Both of them, including Killgore, began to laugh as the plan was starting to go as planned.