Act ll Deadly Fashion

Apprentice
Act II: Deadly Fashion

Tallie couldn’t think straight. Meeting Elle and Chanson and defeating the giant pumpkin monster only happened a week ago on Halloween Night, and she had images of the event replayed over and over in her dreams. Tallie’s mother, Sarah, was starting to worry about her.
“Tallie, are you feeling okay, you haven’t been eating and you seem very tired. Has anything happened at school?” she asked.
“Yeah, mom, I’m fine. There are just a lot of things going on right now,” Tallie replied. Before Tallie’s mother could say anything else, Tallie grabbed her lunch headed out the door. Tallie headed out to the fields of wheat, where she arrived at an old yellow tent. The tent had many drawings on paper taped to the opening of the tent. Next to the tent was a half of a log for sitting on next to a cooking pan and a small grill.
“Monique, time to go to school!” shouted Tallie.
“Okay! I’m almost ready; give me a minute!” replied Monique, as Tallie heard the rustling of clothes and other paraphernalia. Monique came out of the tent wearing a snow white dress with many white carnations tied to it. Many braids were tied into her hair, and her glasses shone in the sunlight.
“Let’s go,” said Monique as they headed back into town.
“So Tallie, what was up with that Jack-o’-Scaryton on Halloween? That was so-”
“Wait, Jack- o’-Scaryton? What the heck is a Jack-o’-Scaryton?” said Tallie as she stopped walking.
“That’s the name I gave that pumpkin creature. Everything deserves a name, doesn’t it?” said Monique. Tallie said nothing else and walked to school. When they arrived at the lockers, Joetta ran up to the girls.
“GUYS, I’M GOING TO BE A FASHION STAR!” she screamed. Then she painted like a dog. “Sorry… and had flashing words all over it. It read”
Hey YOU! Are YOU ready to be the next biggest fashion star of tomorrow? Let that dream come TRUE TODAY! Sign up NOW for the Le’Fashion Mall Fashion Show! The Grand Prize Winner will receive a trip for four to Los Angeles and have their work displayed at a real Fashion Show! She/he will also receive $100,000 cash spending money. Good luck to all of you!
Tallie glanced over and read the flyer, they both smiled as they thought about if they won. ‘Wow, a trip to LA, maybe my parents are there’, thought Monique. ‘Hey, I can do a lot of things with $100,000 dollars,’ thought Tallie.
“So Tallie, Monique,” asked Joetta. “Would you two mind being my models?”
“YEAH!” shouted the two girls. “All right, we’re going to be FAMOUS!”
After school, Tallie raced to the Haunted Mansion. She was told to go there every day by Chanson to come there for lessons on how to improve her magic. Her parents thought that she was going to some sort of study group. Tallie raced up the stairs and entered the room where Chanson was. Tallie was told she was to transform into her apprentice outfit so she wouldn’t be mistaken for a wandering person. Tallie took her necklace off and raised it into the air.
“Apprentice Chrysalis!” she shouted as her clothes faded away and were replaced by her witch outfit. Her Wand of Destiny came from a flash of light and Tallie raised it. “Chanson, it’s me, Tallie. Come out!” In a puff of smoke, the empty bat cage was filled with a tiny black bat with beautiful, lavender wings.
“Hello Tallie how was school today?” the bat asked.
“It was fine, but there is the coolest thing I need to tell you about!” she replied.
“Let’s save it until after practice,” Chanson said. “Now we’ve been working on the fire spell. You were lucky that your first monster had a hollow head, but I doubt that there will be another pumpkin you’ll have to fight, so we have to focus on releasing the magic from your staff. Start kindling the fire inside your body. Think of the warmest memory you can think of. “Tallie thought of the time she was on her sixth grade ski trip, in which everybody had hot chocolate around a huge fire. “Now, when you have the memory, channel the warmth to your arm.” Tallie felt the temperature in her arm rising. “Now when you think it’s ready, release the fire by saying the magic word; Feu.” Tallie was ready, so she aimed at a wall and screamed, “Feu!” Instead of a blast of fire, all she got was a small, red spark.
“Err… Why can’t I ever get it right? I’ll never get this right! I’m hopeless!” Tallie shouted.
“No, no, Tallie. You were doing it right. You followed all of the steps right except for the first one. When I told you to think of your warmest memory, you thought of one that couldn’t support the power of the intense heat of fire. Try again and think of a warmer memory,” said Chanson. Tallie tried and tried again, each with a warmer memory, and the tiny red sparks became small, golden flames.
“Don’t worry, Tallie; you’ll get it. We can take a break now. So why were you so excited about school today?” Chanson asked.
“Well,” said Tallie as her wand disappeared into a flash of light. “My friend Joetta is entering this fashion design contest and I’m going to be a model for her!”
“Wow, sounds like Joetta has a busy week ahead of her. I wish her the best of luck,” replied Chanson. “Look at the time. I think this session is over. Tallie, you may go.”
“Thanks, Chanson!” shouted Tallie as she changed back into her regular clothes.  “See you later!”
The next morning, when Tallie and Monique got to school, one of the tables in the courtyard had Joetta sitting at it. Her hair was standing in all directions and she was wearing the same clothes she had on yesterday. Her eyes were tired and had dark bags under them. She was scribbling away on a sketchbook. Tallie and Monique rushed up to her.
“Jo, are you okay?” asked Tallie. “I tried to call you last night and, uh, Joetta, you smell awful.” Indeed she did smell awful. She smelled like a mix of cheese-flavored chips and fountain pen ink.
“Sorry guys, I’m just excited about the fashion contest. I mean, I can become famous off this! I just, I need to…” said Joetta, but said nothing else after falling asleep. ‘RRRIIIIINNNGGGG!’ rang the school bell. Monique waved at Tallie and walked off to first period.
“Wake up, Jo, umm, Jo?” whispered Tallie as she nudged a sleeping Joetta. But they soon turned into shouts. “Wake up, Wake up Joetta! We have to get to class!” ‘Wow, she must’ve been working since this contest was announced. It looks like she’s not waking u,’ thought Tallie. “Okay, Jo; nighty-night.”
Later that night, Joetta was still drawing after she arrived home. Her pen was scratching at pieces of paper until the pen stopped working. Joetta started to scream and hit her pen to the desk.
“AHH! I’ll never win this contest!” she screamed and she through her pen at the wall, which snapped in half and left a dent in the wall. A stray cat outside whimpered outside Joetta’s window; she opened the window. “Get off my roof! Can’t you see I’m trying to work?” The cat hissed and leaped off and landed gracefully onto the grassy floor. Joetta returned to her desk. She put her head on her desk, where she immediately fell asleep.
Unfortunately, Joetta forgot to close her window. A dark, silhouetted, snake-light creature slithered across the floor to the broken pen. The broken pen was engulfed with darkness. The pen changed from a blue pen to a black pen, and the dent in the wall disappeared and was a replaced by a fixed wall. The pen magically sprung to life and crawled across the room. It crawled up Joetta’s chair and onto her desk. It rested itself into Joetta’s hand. The pen became lifeless again as an eerie red glow filled the room.
The next morning, when Tallie was just waking up by the blast of her alarm clock, she saw a figure sprinting across the dirt road. Tallie quickly finished getting ready for school and chased after the figure. The two ran into the school. When Tallie finally got a chance to catch her breath, the figure turned. It appeared to be Joetta, but this Joetta wasn’t the girl that Tallie had become good friends with. This Joetta had glaring red eyes and it looked like she hadn’t slept for days. Her hair looked like it wasn’t washed and looked all greasy.
“Umm, Joetta, are you feeling okay? You look terrible,” said Tallie, glancing at Joetta’s strange attire.
“Oh, sorry Tallie, it’s just that I’m so inspired now! I’ve made so many new designs! I feel like I‘m going to win this contest!” replied Joetta, excitedly. Then, Joetta raced off to tell the English teacher. ‘Awe, I’m really happy to see her so inspired,’ thought Tallie. ‘But she needs to wash her hair.’ An hour later, right before the bell rang; Monique arrived at the school and panted like a dog.
“Thanks,” said Monique sarcastically. “For waking me up.” Tallie shrugged her shoulders as the two walked into school.
At lunch, Monique and Tallie picked a table to sit at outside and started to study for their Marine Biology test. Joetta walked up to them, sat down and pushed some of the girls’ books away.
“So this is what I think you should wear Tallie; it’s going to-” said Joetta quickly, but was interrupted by Monique.
“Jo, we’re trying to study for the science test. Can you show us these designs later?” asked Monique. Joetta ignored Monique’s words, and went on with her designs.
“Joetta, you have got to stop!” shouted Tallie over Joetta’s monotone voice. She glanced up. “You look terrible, you smell really bad, and you’re driving us crazy!” Tallie tried to grab Joetta’s pen so she could take a break. The moment she touched it, she felt a jolt of pain go though her arm. She retreated.
“Don’t…touch…my…pen…” Joetta murmured, then gathered her pictures and walked away. Monique watched Joetta walk away while Tallie inspected her throbbing arm.
The day of the fashion contest arrived, and Tallie, Monique, and the other boys and girls that agreed to be Joetta’s models weren’t the least bit excited. When the contest started, Joetta started to push people out.  But the remaining people in the back room decided to protest.
“Joetta, on behalf of me and all of us, we have decided that this contest has gone to your head and you should give it a rest,” said Monique, and a few people cheered at her words.
“I could care less of what all you people think. All I know is that you people should shut up before I get really mad,” growled Joetta, with her dark eyes scanning the room. No one in the room moved. The room started to shake.
“FINE! I DON’T NEED ANY OF YOU!” Joetta screamed. The sketchbooks she brought to the show came to life. The pages ripped themselves out and started to whirl around Joetta’s body. All the kids in the back room started to scream. Joetta’s appearance changed. Her skin changed into a pale green color and her hair became a head of yellow-green. Her outfit consisted of many colors with black spots all over. Her eyes glowed red and yellow.
“PREPARE TO LOOSE YOUR SOULS, YOU TINY LITTLE CREETONS!” the monster wailed. She grabbed a blond-haired boy and took him towards her face. She opened her mouth and started to inhale. A shining light poured out of the boy’s mouth. It appeared to look like a jellyfish. The monster swallowed the light and threw him across the room. He didn’t move. Tallie, who had just arrived at the mall, saw Monique burst from the back room onto the runway. The enormous creature chased after her.
“I know what I’m calling you! I’m calling you Mode!” screamed Monique as she was being chased across the runway. The reporters and photographers started to scream and run away. But most were caught and had their jellyfish-shaped light sucked out of their mouths.
“That creature’s sucking everybody’s souls!” shouted Tallie. “I have to do something!” Tallie ducked behind the food court. She took out her blue medallion from under her t-shirt.  She raised it.
“Apprentice Chrysalis!” she cried. At the call the swirl on the medallion grew into Tallie’s pointed witch hat. She placed the hat on her head, and light poured out and engulfed her body. Her black dress and cape appeared. She landed on the ground, where she summoned the Wand of Destiny.
“HI YA!” she shouted as she charged toward the creature and bashed it in the back of the head. The monster flew back and screamed. Her head mended itself. She wailed and flew over to Tallie. As the monster grew closer Tallie turned her wand into the Staff of Destiny. She raised it and thought of a warm memory. She channeled it to her Staff and shouted.
“Feu!” she screamed. Luckily, the blast was powerful enough to protect Tallie from the creature’s mouth.
“OKAY, LITTLE GIRL, TRY THIS!” she wailed. She raised her hand, which consisted of a pair of scissors for a thumb and a marker for a pointer finger. She pushed her hand towards Tallie. It unleashed a gust of wind, containing an army of scissors, pens, thread, and fabric. It blasted Tallie’s body and she collapsed.  When she regained consciousness, she saw that her attire had been changed by the monster’s attack, and Tallie took no damage. Her long, black dress changed into a small, red trimmed dress. The arms had been cut off and were replaced by ribbon tied to her elbows and transparent cloth extending past her hands. Her long black boots were changed into flaming red high-heels, and Tallie’s hair was freed from the tiny brown bun and had run free through her witch’s hat. Okay, good news: I just got an awesome new outfit. Bad news: I can’t this of a memory warm enough to burn this fashionista. As Tallie thought this all the remaining people who have not had their souls sucked out were trying to get out of the mall. Tallie was getting ready to try to blast the monster again. She had channeled the fire into her staff when she bumped into someone trying to get out. Suddenly, and inferno filled her body as Tallie touched the person.
“FEU!” Tallie screamed, unleashing a whirlwind of fire. It hit the monster, and she fell to the ground. Tallie gasped as she saw the burnt remains of the creature trying to fight. Tallie turned around to see who bumped into her. Monique was shocked to see what great power she had caused by bumping into the Apprentice. Tallie immediately aimed her staff at the creature.
“Awaken the light beneath!” she said. A jet of white light charged at the creature. The monster’s body started to peel and flakes of it disappeared into nothingness. All the souls the creature had swallowed were released and returned to their rightful bodies. When the light faded, the remains of the monster consisted of a sleeping Joetta and her broken pen, which then released a ball of black smoke. The smoke screeched and it disappeared. Monique ran to Joetta.
“Thank God she’s okay. Thanks for saving all of us. What should we call you?” asked Monique.
“Umm, call me, the Apprentice.” Tallie replied. And she headed out the door.
“Oh, also, nice outfit!” Tallie heard Monique shout as her voice disappeared into the distance. When Tallie arrived at the Haunted House, Tallie told about her first mission by herself.
“-and then I defeated the monster, which Monique called Mode.”
“Ah, the French word for fashion, interesting choice. Speaking of Monique, you said something happened with her at the fight,” asked Chanson.
“Oh yeah, when I was getting ready to attack, she ran into me and unleashed a lot of power. It was like she-”
“No, it couldn’t be. Anyway, I bet we can return your costume back to normal. All I think we need is a fabric spell and I think that should do it,” said Chanson
“I think I’ll keep this outfit, it may have been an accident, but I like it, a lot.”