Beauideal guards were one of the most interesting around. Often they were selected since they were avid fans of the stars. After becoming a guard, they were given the most intense and all-encompassing military and combat training funded by private individuals. An increase in muscle mass and extensive mental training were required before they could be given a job in their new field. The guards had to be equipped to take down rabid fans, angry beauideals, and occasional crazy people if the situation called for it, and mistakes were heavily scrutinized. Whether facing Needaimus, magic, or skilled martial artist, the guards needed to be able to win.
A typical beauideal guard wore matching black coats with black ties, which looked like a cross between a suit and a wizard's cloak. It was rare to see their eyes as they always hid them under dark sunglasses. Their faces were stoic, only allowing emotion when in the presence of their favorite star. The only color allowed on the uniforms were buttons with beauideal faces.
It was only due to the relative low number of guards and the fact they were all enthusiastic fans under oath to guard the beauideals, which kept other countries from worrying about the private army.
From down a long hall, Harlan and Fiona peaked out around a corner. A guard stood with his arms crossed and a frown on his face in front of a door to the backstage.
This particular guard went by Batty; all guards used nicknames when on duty. Three Dia Mond pins lined his neat uniform. He was a Netzian with a round, baby face. Slitted yellow irises would have been visible if his sunglasses had not covered his eyes.
“He looks mean,” Fiona whispered to Harlan.
“All Beauideal guards do,” Harlan replied as she spied down the hall. Batty was already aware of the two, but he continued to stare straight as if he was oblivious.
The duo retreated from the corner and discussed out of Batty’s view.
“I don’t think we can sneak past him; maybe there is another door?” Fiona asked. Harlan shook her head.
“There’s another one just like him at each door. We will just have to be clever,” she answered.
The two began to discuss potential plans with what they had available.
Batty, meanwhile, began to relax after the two disappeared. He figured they were two fans who eagerly wanted to meet a particular beauideal; it was common for him to see. What was more pressing to the guard was finishing his shift and getting to the audience for Dia’s concert-match. It was typical for guards to be given breaks during their favorite stars time on stage.
As he was gleefully thinking of his next break while still maintaining a stern face, Fiona zapped behind him. She had figured to lock on to the door behind the guard before retreating for ease of using her ability. Unfortunately, her ability marked her coming with a bright flash of blue light, which was not left unnoticed by the guard.
Batty immediately turned around, but Fiona teleported away from him before he finished. The guard only faced the closed door. He was not unwise, however, and spun around. Harlan had quickly closed the gap between the hallway corner and the guard, but she was not prepared for him to turn around immediately.
The green Zenotote had intended to strike the guard in the neck to render him unconscious, but the guard was too quick. He grabbed the hand that reached out to strike him and flipped Harlan over his shoulder. She crashed onto the floor with the door on one side of her and Batty on the other.
The guard quickly assessed. First, he noted Harlan’s Needaimus, then recalled two faces he had noticed before. Given the Needaimus and movement, he knew they were not fans and had to be on full alert for whatever abilities could come.
The guard cautiously flipped Harlan onto her stomach and twisted her arm behind her. He couldn’t be sure what her ability was and sought to use pain to restrain her movements. Then he began to scan the hallway for Fiona.
Batty had not realized that Harlan expected every movement he made and planned accordingly. She knew where she would land and how she would position, which put her in the perfect position to open the door with her scaly tail. As she opened it, Fiona popped out from around the corner. Batty was aware of the door opening and Fiona’s appearance. He quickly guessed what would happen next but could not stop Harlan and Fiona from disappearing in a flash of light.
The guard stumbled as his grip on the Zenotote scientist was lost. He quickly recovered and entered the backstage. The area was a long series of connecting hallways that led to dressing rooms for each beauideal. He quickly looked up, expecting opponents to drop down; when no attack came, Batty could only assume they had used the teleporting ability to flee swiftly into the hallway. He grunted as he pulled out a radio.
“This is Batty; two unexpecteds just entered the back. One Aqueenian girl, likely 14 or 15, and another Zenotote girl, likely 15 or 16. Both have Needaimus; one can teleport to some extent,” he reported.
“Batty! How could you let them slip by!” another guard echoed through the radio.
“Don’t worry, execute backstage plan 42, a second voice said.”
“Yes, commander,” Batty replied.
The whole forces of guards were immediately alerted to the intruder’s presence. While a number stayed at doors to keep more from entering, the remaining guards were rallied to hunt down the intruders.
Deep within the halls of the backstage, Fiona and Harlan came to a stop in front of a door. Fiona was breathing heavily while Harlan looked around the hallway. She had teleported Harlan and herself down the halls randomly to avoid the guard giving chase.
The Aqueenian princess discovered two things; the first was that she could not zap others as far as she could herself, which led to an increase in the number of times they had to reappear. The second was that rapidly moving someone and herself over a great distance could quickly cause overexertion.
Harlan could tell Fiona was exhausted, but she knew they had to keep moving before they got caught. As if to answer the Zenotote scientist's concerns, footsteps that sounded like a marching army began to echo down the halls in both directions. The guards had already caught up.
“They’re faster than the guards in Quenth,” Fiona said through heavy breaths.
“Beauideals cause an increase in motivation,” Harlan muttered as she looked around. With few options available, she grabbed Fiona by the arm and ducked into the room they stood by.
As the door shut, Harlan came face to face with two familiar beauideals.
Two pointed ears twitched as the beauideal Kitten stared at the duo with a comically surprised face. Off to the side of the room, Scarlet sat on a couch with wide eyes.
Harlan and Fiona looked back and forth between the two beauideals for a moment. The sounds of the guards’ footsteps were quickly growing in scale.
Kitten frowned as she opened her mouth, but Harlan acted quicker.
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The Zenotote quickly produced a board from her suit and presented it to the pointed ear beauideal.
“A signature, please,” Harlan shyly asked.
She had prepared something to sign beforehand to set up a story of passing as fans, but she was secretly glad Kitten was the beauideal she could ask. The green Zenotote bore a small, smug smile as she considered showing the signature to Rheba later.
“Oh, a fan!” Kitten went into her beauideal mode as she clapped her hands together,” Of course, I’ll sign.”
Scarlet sat on the other side of the room with her eyes squinted. She glared at Fiona, who tried to look in the other direction shyly.
Kitten took notice of the red Aqueenian’s staring after finishing her signing. She leaned around Harlan and looked at Fiona.
Banging at the door soon followed.
“Guards, open up!” echoed from the closed door.
Kitten squinted her eyes, and then a devious smile went across her face. She grabbed Harlan and Fiona by the arms and maneuvered them across the room to hide them under the vanity. Afterward, she threw a blanket over her and began applying makeup. To justify the cover, the beauideal deliberately poured some cosmetics on the sheet to appear messy.
At that moment, the guards burst through the door with Batty at the head. They looked all around the room. Scarlet looked away from the guards without a word while Kitten smiled in their direction. Those that were fans of the beauideals shivered as they saw their favorites.
“Can I help you?” Kitten asked in a sugary sweet voice.
“Some intruders snuck in, and we have reason to believe they came this way,” Batty replied.
“Intruders! Oh my, I haven’t seen any, but I wish you luck!”
“Kitten’s such an angel!” one guard whispered from behind.
“No, you fool, Dia’s the angel!” a fan of the winged Aqueenian snapped back.
Batty grunted and glared at the feuding guards. They snapped to attention and nodded to each other to say, ‘we’ll continue our argument later.’
“Well, sorry to disturb you,” Batty said. The guards began to shuffle out and continue their search for the intruders. Kitten didn’t remove the blanket until the dressing room door was firmly shut.
“Why did you do that?” Scarlet asked in a low tone. The pointed ear Netzian made a laugh which resembled an ‘ohohoho’ before responding.
“For fun, of course!”
Harlan and Fiona carefully navigated out from under the vanity. As the Zenotote scientist brushed her clothes off, the Aqueenian princess spoke up.
“Thanks for your help!”
“Anything for a fan!” Kitten replied in kind. “Now, to sneak out of here, you just need to–“
“Actually, we need to find the beauideal Dia. Do you know where she is?” Fiona interrupted.
Harlan froze and stared at the blue princess in shock. Kitten’s face turned from happy to sullen in a flash.
“Dia, huh?” she said with a low growl shaking her voice.
Harlan’s slitted eyes darted around the room between the others as she tried to think of what to say to break the tension. It was considered treacherous to mention another beauideal when asking for an autograph, as Harlan had done moments before.
Fiona punched her flat palm with her Needaimus bonded fist.
“Yeah, and we have some business to attend with her,” the Aqueenian princess added. Fiona had not meant it, but her actions suggested enough for Kitten’s face to soften. Harlan let out a deep sigh of relief as she saw a way out of the treachery.
“Dia killed her father, you see,” the Zenotote scientist explained. She didn’t like giving up crucial information about their mission, but she liked the idea of her favorite beauideal, believing she wasn’t a loyal fan less. Fiona looked at Harlan with shock while Scarlet made an ‘ah-ha’ expression.
“You're Princess Fiona,” the red Aqueenian whispered. Kitten was the only one who heard, and she jumped in shock.
“A princess! Here in my changing room!” the pointed ear Netzian gleefully said. Fiona looked slightly uncomfortable, but her time in Horizon had let her get used to the princess role enough to go with the flow.
“Yes, I am the second daughter to the late Jolon Whitlock.” Fiona channeled everything she recalled from her classes, which wasn’t much, to speak politely and curtsy.
“Amazing!” the bright-eyed Kitten said, “And the rumors were true after all!” she added.
“Rumors?” Fiona asked.
“Of Dia killing a foreign leader! I always knew that biaskylo had it in her.”
“Kitten, language!” Scarlet whispered only loud enough for the pointed ear beauideal to hear.
“So what do you plan to do? I recommend a shoulder throw followed by drilling your elbow in her stomach!” Kitten happily suggested.
“Kitten! We should report her to the authorities!” Scarlet whispered back.
“No way! Do you know how many times she went off script and beat me! No, retribution is needed,” the pointed ear beauideal said with a sinister grin.
As the exchange happened, Harlan sadly looked at the ground. She knew beauideals personalities were not necessarily accurate to their real ones, but she had not expected the sweet Kitten to be so violent and the violent Scarlet to be so shy. Her image was shattered, but the conversation continued without care for Harlan’s feelings.
“How about a gut punch to bring her to her knees!” Kitten happily suggested. She had been making one violent suggestion after the other, which only made Harlan and Fiona more and more uncomfortable.
Scarlet had quickly made her way across the room and tried to convince the pointed ear beauideal to let up.
“Please, Kitten, come back to reality!” the red Aqueenian pleaded as she gently tried to shake the Netzian girl to her senses.
“Or maybe we can all gang up on her and…” Kitten droned on with her plan to take down Dia.
Fiona looked to Harlan for help on what she should say, but the green Zenotote was too shocked at Kitten’s actual personality to notice the blue princess. After her attempt failed, Fiona figured it would be best to spit something out.
“So, we really would just like to go see Dia,” she interrupted Kitten.
The Netzian’s ears perked up.
“Of course, we should go see that biaskylo ourselves!” Scarlet let her head hang as she shook it.
Kitten grabbed Harlan and Fiona’s arms around the wrists while clearing her throat.
“Come on, let’s go say hello to Dia!” she said in a voice that sounded an octave higher than her previous. Her face had become a friendly smile that looked so different she might have been confused with another person. “Come on, Scarlet, you should get ready to go out!” Kitten said in her stage voice.
Scarlet made a small sigh before her expression changed to a smug look. She glared at the three who stood in front of her.
“Well, what are you standing around for! Get out of here and stop polluting the air!” she shouted at the trio.
“Oh, Scarlet, you’re always so mean,” Kitten said with her ears drooped and tears in her eyes. Harlan happily nodded as she saw the beauideals as they were in her mind. Fiona’s mouth was wide open, she looked to the Zenotote scientist in shock, but they were quickly pulled out the door by Kitten before any words could be exchanged.
Kitten happily skipped down the back halls, and Fiona and Harlan kept close just behind her. Scarlet stomped and grunted behind the trio.
They quickly encountered some guards who were still ruthlessly searching for the intruders. They had split into groups of two and were planning to leave no stone unturned. Naturally, they stopped Kitten and the group when faces that matched the intruder's descriptions came into view.
“Is there a problem, Mr. Guard?” Kitten asked in an innocent voice. Her eyes were wide, and her ears drooped. Fortunately for her, the buttons on the guards had her face on one and Scarlet’s on the other.
“So… Sorry to interrupt,” the guard with the Kitten button stammered, “but these two… match the description of some… intruders.”
“Intruders! Oh dear!” Kitten held her hand over her mouth in shock. “I don’t know anything about any intruders. These two happen to be some up-and-coming beauideals we are mentoring!”
The guard with the Scarlet badge looked intensely at Fiona. He shook his head.
“Sorry to say, you’re never going to beat Scarlet in a concert-match.”
“I… I’ll do my best?” Fiona gave her reply.
“Well, we must be going now, but I hope to count on your continued support!” Kitten quickly added before pulling the duo away.
“Wait a moment!” the Scarlet button guard said with narrow eyes. Kitten, along with Fiona and Harlan, froze. The guard turned to his favorite beauideal, “Would you be able to….”
Scarlet sighed and glared at the guard.
“Hah? Do you want some attention when you ought to be working? You poggly! Perhaps I should drag you by the ear to report to your superiors! Maybe a quick kick to the shin to get you to shape up!” she snapped at him.
The guard looked like he had been shot, but a happy, creepy smile lined his face.
“Thank you,” he replied.
“Your so strange.” The group heard the Kitten button-wearing guard say to the other as they walked away.
As they got out of the guard's hearing range, Scarlet made a small whimper and rubbed her eyes.
“Why can’t I have one normal fan,” she lamented in a small voice.
“You just have to keep trying! Someone will come along!” Kitten said with sparkles in her eyes to the red Aqueenian girl.
“Biaskylo, I don’t want to hear anything from you!” Scarlet snapped after returning to her stage persona.
“Scarlet’s a little grumpy today; maybe she’s got a tummy ache,” Kitten retorted. Her eyes flashed a hint of deviousness as she looked at her fellow beauideal. Scarlet grunted and looked away. Though Fiona and Harlan had no way to be aware, Kitten had once given Scarlet a laxative to humiliate her in a public gathering. The red Aqueenian knew the words were a warning to dial back her harsh persona’s remarks on the pointed ear Netzian.
Fiona and Harlan followed Kitten’s lead as she continued to move through the backstage. It wasn’t long before they reached a door with Dia’s name printed in shiny letters. Kitten rolled her eyes at the sight of the beauideal’s name and knocked on the door.