Clash's Revolt

Chapter Seven – An Unlikely Team

“Raya, have you seen Jerrica this morning?”
Kimber emerged from one of the Starlight Mansion’s many bathrooms, her red hair wrapped up in a towel. “I thought maybe she wasn’t up yet but her room’s empty.”
“No, I haven’t.” Raya, her towel over her arm and her curly hair in two tails shook her head. “I just woke up…have you asked Aja and Shana?”
 “Noone’s seen her.” Kimber frowned. “I searched the whole house before my shower and I couldn’t find any sign of her. Even the girls haven’t seen her.”
“Perhaps she went early to Starlight Music?” Raya suggested.
“Yes!” Kimber snapped her fingers. “That must be where she’s gone…I didn’t think of that.” She grinned. “She must have gotten in pretty late last night, so I guess I thought she’d take a lie in. I know I wouldn’t get out of bed that early when I was my own boss!”
“Jerrica likes to keep things up to date and we’ve been away so she probably wants to check things with Joanie.” Raya shrugged. “I wonder how her meeting went last night. We have not heard anything of it yet.”
“I hope for all our sakes it went well.” Kimber frowned. “Ah well, I guess we’ll find out soon enough. I’ll go dress and then I’ll phone Starlight Music and ask her.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyone would think Jerrica didn’t need sleep! A tour all over the country and she’s still up at the crack of dawn to get her tax returns done!”
Raya laughed.
“That’s Jerrica.” She replied. “I will see you later, Kimber. Good luck!”
Kimber hurried down the corridor to her bedroom, dressing quickly and then heading down to the main lounge to dial the number of the music company she and her sister had jointly inherited from their father Emmet on his death. Though Kimber’s share was equal to Jerrica’s, Jerrica did most of the work, for despite her musical ability Kimber was a flake in the organisation department.
“Who you calling, Kimber?” Aja glanced up from her magazine.
“Raya thinks Jerrica might have gone to Starlight Music.” Kimber explained as she waited for the phone to be picked up. “I bet she did, too. You know what a workaholic she is!”
“Yeah, we should’ve thought of that.” Shana grinned wryly. “She always did have too much responsibility for her own good!”
“Hi, Joanie.” Kimber turned her attention back to the phone as her sister’s secretary answered the call. “Is Jerrica there, please?”
There was a pause, and Kimber frowned.
“She isn’t? But…are you sure, Joanie? She’s not here and we assumed…” there was another pause, then, “Well, okay. Thanks, Joanie. Let us know if she calls in, won’t you? Bye.”
Slowly she set down the receiver.
“She isn’t there.” She said quietly.
“Not at Starlight Music?” Aja looked surprised. “So where is she, then?”
“I don’t know, but I bet the Misfits are involved somehow.” Shana grimaced. “Not content with trying to screw up our tour by trying to supplant Raya, now they’ve abducted Jerrica, too.”
“Jerrica or Jem?” Kimber demanded. “We can’t go over there and demand to know where Jerrica is if it’s Jem…”
“The letter Jerrica had asked for her, not Jem. I think we’re safe that it’s Jerrica they’ve taken.” Aja interrupted.
“But why?” Shana demanded. “This is silly! When are those creeps going to give up?”
“Well, I say we go find out.” Aja’s eyes narrowed. “We’re all pretty sure who’s behind this stunt, so why don’t we go and drag the truth out of them?”
“You sure we should?” Shana asked.
“Well, I’m going. Come on, Aja, lets go.” Kimber was already halfway to the door. “Shana, you tell Raya what’s going on when she’s done getting up, huh? The girls are all gone to school so they needn’t know anything yet.”
 “Kimber’s right. We can sort the Misfits out.” Aja nodded her head. “We’ll take the roadster, it moves at speed.”
“Well, we would if it was here.” Kimber opened the front door, stopping dead.
“What?” Aja came up behind her. “Not here?”
“Nope. Look. Driveway’s empty.” Kimber indicated.
“So wherever Jerrica went last night, she never got to drive home.” Aja looked troubled. “Come on, there’s always the van. We can look for the roadster later.”
“I’m right behind you.” Kimber responded. “Lets go sort those idiots out once and for all!”

 * * * * * * * * * * *
“All right already, shut up with the knocking, will ya?”
Roxy padded down the main stairs of the Gabor mansion, tying her dressing gown around her waist, a scowl on her face as she headed to the front door. She had been awoken by the pounding and had realised with a curse that Matilda, the Gabor’s housekeeper was taking the weekend off. Her room was closest to the staircase, and though she had tried to ignore the pounding it seemed that whoever was at the door was not willing to give up so easily. Finally, with a grunt of frustration she had rolled out of bed, pulling on her dressing gown and sliding her slippers onto her feet as she went to answer the door.
Another barrage of knocks greeted her as she reached the door and she yanked it open, glaring at the offenders. What she saw did not cheer her mood any, and her expression darkened as she registered the fact that it was actually two Holograms who had disturbed her sleep.
“What the heck do you losers want?” she demanded. “It had better be good – I was trying to sleep!”
“We want to know what you’ve done with Jerrica.” Kimber put her hands on her hips. “And it’s half past ten – you should be up by now, anyway!”
“Jerrica?” Roxy stared at the keyboardist as if she’d lost her mind. “What the heck are you talking about, you stupid idiot? Why would Jerrica be here?”
“You tell us.” Aja folded her arms. “All we know is that she didn’t come home last night, and that she had a very suspiciously Misfit-like letter calling her to the beach hut.”
“What’s all the racket down here?”
Before Roxy could respond Jetta’s voice came from behind her, and her fellow Misfit turned, shrugging her shoulders.
“These idiots are talking nonsense about Jerrica being here. I don’t know what the heck they’re on about.”
“Jerrica, huh?” Jetta lounged in the doorway. “Look ‘ere, girls, we ‘aven’t seen Jerrica, and that’s a fact. But…when did she go missing?”
“Like you don’t know!” Kimber retorted. “Stop messing around, Misfits! We want her back – game’s over! We all saw your little note about the meeting at the beach hut.”
“Note?” Jetta looked startled. “Wait a minute…you got a note?”
“Yeah…and don’t pretend to be surprised.” Aja nodded. “You know full well…”
“Oh, shut up for a minute, will ya?” Jetta looked irritated. “Listen up, you stupid Holograms. We’ve nothin’ to do with Jerrica’s disappearance, in fact, it’s the opposite. You see, we ‘ave a little problem of our own. Pizzazz went to the beach ‘ut too last night…and she didn’t come back. We went down there to get ‘er and she’d vanished. We ‘aven’t seen or ‘eard head nor tail of her since!”
“What?” Now Aja looked taken aback. “You’re… for real?”
“Brilliant, Jetta, tell ‘em everything why don’t you.” Roxy snapped.
Jetta shrugged.
“Cool out, Roxy. Fact is we both seem to be one short.” She turned, heading towards the main lounge, but pausing in the doorway. “Guess you girls better come in…it might be we can ‘elp each other out.”
“Jetta?” Roxy stared at her companion. “You cracked? Inviting Holograms into Pizzazz’s Dad’s house?”
“I told you, cool out.” Jetta retorted. “Go get Stormer, huh? We got to get to the bottom of this.”
And with that, she was gone.
Exchanging confused looks, Aja and Kimber stepped inside the Gabor Mansion, pushing the door shut behind her and heading in the direction Jetta had gone.
“This had better not be a trap.” Aja muttered to her companion in an undertone as they entered the lounge. “I don’t trust these guys any more than I can throw them.”
“Me either.” Kimber responded. “But what can we do?”
“What’s up, Jetta?” At that moment Stormer, with Roxy in tow arrived, Stormer still brushing her long curls out into something which resembled her normal style. She had risen early, unable to sleep for worrying about Pizzazz, and had shut herself away at the top of the house in the little soundproof room she always used to write, but her anxieties had caused a writer’s block and she was only too glad of Roxy’s interruption. “Kimber! Aja! What are you doing here?”
“We’re looking for Jerrica.” Kimber replied. “She’s missing…Stormer, is Pizzazz really missing too?”
“Yes…she is.” Stormer’s eyes became big as she remembered her find the previous night. She and Kimber had a strong rapport that had survived the band rivalry, and so at her friend’s words Kimber’s suspicions melted away. She now knew that the Misfits were telling the truth.
“So what’s going on, then?” Aja demanded. “Jerrica and Pizzazz…what idiot would put them together in a cell somewhere? And why?”
“Well, I think it ‘as something to do with the Rock Festival.” Jetta looked grim. “We thought you might know something that could ‘elp us out, too. We searched out the whole area where they were meant to meet and we saw the Roadster there…but we didn’t see any Jerrica or any Pizzazz.”
“So what do we do?” Roxy demanded. “We’re missing our singer, how’re we gonna put on a concert without Pizzazz?”
“Yeah, our music isn’t ours without her vocals.” Stormer nodded, sinking down into a chair.
“We’re down one too.” Kimber pointed out. “What about us?”
“Your forgettin’, Hologram, that it’s your manager and not your lead singer that’s gone AWOL.” Jetta said acidly. “What’s to stop you putting on your set?”
“We don’t perform if Jerrica’s in trouble.” Aja said firmly before Kimber could say anything that would give the game away. “In any case, Jerrica organises all of the behind the scenes stuff. We need her.”
“Well, maybe…maybe we should work together to find Pizzazz and Jerrica, then.” Stormer suggested tentatively.
“Us work with them?” Roxy wheeled on her companion. “You gone nuts?”
“The Rock Festival is only a few days away, we’ve got no time to argue about it.” Stormer explained. “Maybe…we can help each other?”
“I don’t think we ‘ave a choice.” Jetta said with a frown.
“You serious?” Roxy demanded.
“Well, Stormer’s right. We only ‘ave a few days.” Jetta shrugged. She glanced at the two Holograms thoughtfully. “I don’t like it any more than you…but what else can we do?”
“I guess…we don’t have any option either.” Aja said reluctantly. “Do you guys promise, though, that if we team up to find Pizzazz and Jerrica there’ll be no funny business?”
“Us?” Jetta smiled. “Would we?”
“Get real, Jetta, we’re not fooled.” Kimber snapped. “We’re only going to team up with you guys in this if you promise that you’ve nothing to do with Jerrica’s disappearance and that you don’t doublecross us the moment our backs are turned, all right?”
“Kimber’s right. If we’re going to do this we need to know you’re not gonna bail on us.” Aja nodded.
“All right already.” Roxy rolled her eyes. “Cool out, will you? You guys are no fun.”
“We promise, Aja.” Stormer spoke solemnly. “We need each other.”
“This is temporary, mind.” Jetta said sharply. “Don’t think we’ve gone all sweet on you or anything. We just want Pizzazz back in time to do our set.”
“Okay, then it’s a deal.” Aja said finally. “Kimber, go back to Starlight Mansion and get Raya and Shana…bring them back here, huh?”
“Sure thing.” Kimber nodded, heading towards the front door.
“Stormer, go with her.” Roxy glanced at the synth player. “You’re at least dressed and I don’t like the idea of trusting those Holograms one inch.”
“Sure, I’ll go.” Stormer nodded before either Aja or Kimber could protest the obvious injustice of this statement. “Oh, I hope we can figure this whole mess out in time! Let me just go get my coat, and I’ll meet you outside, Kimber!”
Once in the Holograms’ van, Stormer sent Kimber a troubled look.
“I’m glad I came with you – I wanted to talk to you but I didn’t want Roxy or Jetta to get suspicious.” She said. “It’s about Jerrica.”
“What about Jerrica?” Kimber asked, flicking the indicator on to turn onto the main road. “Do you know something I don’t?”
“I don’t know where she is or who has her…I wish I did, because I’m certain it’s the same person or people that took Pizzazz.” Stormer replied. “But when we searched the beach hut last night, Kimber, I found something.” She reached into her pocket. “The other Misfits don’t know I have them, but I thought you should take them now.”
“The Jemstar earrings!” Kimber exclaimed, only just keeping her attention on the road. “Okay, now I’m really worried! If Jerrica doesn’t even have these then we can’t ask Synergy to help us track her…and Synergy can’t help Jerrica, either.”
“That’s what I thought. And without Jerrica or Synergy there is no Jem, so you guys are in the same mess as we are.” Stormer nodded. “We really have no choice but to work together.”
“Well, if we pair up, and I s’pect we will, to make sure there’s no mischief, I want to pair with you.” Kimber said firmly. “Least I know you won’t doublecross me.”
“Of course not.” Stormer replied. “But I don’t think Jetta or Roxy will mess you about, either. Though they won’t say it, I think they’re both pretty worried about Pizzazz. Jetta especially. They’re pretty close, you know, for Misfits. And without a leader we’re all feeling kinda lost.”
“Well, I’ll take your word for it.” Kimber laughed. “The Misfits and the Holograms working together…that’s outrageous!”
“Maybe.” Stormer replied. “But like Jetta said, there isn’t a choice. This Rock Festival is a big deal…neither one of our bands can afford to miss it.”
“Yeah.” Kimber frowned. “Feels weird that for once it isn’t you guys sabotaging us, you know.”
“Feels weird we’re not.” Stormer admitted. “Jetta said we’d been outdone at our own game…I think that got her worse than anything. Being out-manipulated. She’s the master manipulator, after all.”
“Seems weird that she’s taking the initiative and agreeing to team up with us.” Kimber commented. “Roxy didn’t like it much, did she?”
“Jetta and Roxy have never gotten along. It’s kinda sad, actually, because it’s not really Jetta’s fault Roxy hates her so much, and Jetta simply resents Roxy’s behaviour without knowing what it’s about.” Stormer sighed. “I hate it when they squabble, and they do it a lot.” She shrugged. “As for Jetta taking the lead, though…well, comes as no surprise to me, Kimber. I don’t think you realise how much of an influence she has over the band. She’s the only person I know who can stand up to Pizzazz as an equal and not be shot down in flames for it.”
“To be honest, Stormer, I wouldn’t care if Pizzazz stayed lost.” Kimber rolled her eyes.
“That’s not nice.” Stormer chided her friend. “Pizzazz is as much a human being as Jerrica, you know.”
“She is? News to me.” Kimber giggled. Despite herself Stormer smiled.
“Well, you know what I mean. And I am worried about her. I know she can be anti-social, but still, the Misfits aren’t much if she’s not there. Jetta’s right, we don’t have a choice. For once the Misfits and the Holograms have a common enemy and it’s up to us all to solve this thing, before the Rock Festival.”
 
 

Chapter One: Clash
Chapter Two: Deception
Chapter Three: On Tour With The Holograms
Chapter Four: The Next Stage
Chapter Five: Jem?
Chapter Six: Trapped!
Chapter Seven: An Unlikely Team
Chapter Eight: Laying Plans
Chapter Nine: Letter From The Desert
Chapter Ten: Jetta's Hunch
Chapter Eleven: Some Outside Help
Chapter Twelve: Kimber's Dilemma
Chapter Thirteen: The Great Escape
Chapter Fourteen: Fire!
Chapter Fifteen: Repercussions and Rock and Roll
Chapter Sixteen: The End Of An Era

(The Misfits and Holograms and other animated Jem characters are copyrighted to Hasbro Inc. All characters who do not appear in Jem episodes are my own creation. This story is copyrighted to E.A Woolley (2001)