WELL, I just finished posting this on the other site when I discovered Gatchamania's back! Anyhoo, I pulled a slip of paper out of the big medicine bottle that thinks it's a jar, and it said: School So put on your thinking cap and head to the top of the class!

A little one-shot this week. I will continue with The Naked Wednesday once my head stops spinning. (There's this weird virus going around that gives you nausea and vertigo, and it seems to be at its worst when I'm trying to negotiate the computer monitor.) Anyway, a little one-shot... Keyop has tutors for most classes, but the team psychologists have him attending some classes at an educational institution full of ISO brats so that he can learn to socialise properly. Keyop suppressed a sigh as he watched Marcie Connell's mom explain what life was like as a paramedic. Of all the classes the team psychologists had to insist he attend, home room was probably the worst. Keyop tried to comfort himself with the thought that a good proportion of the adults attending Parent Career Day would be obliged to salute him when he was in his G-Force gear, but it didn't really help. Marcie was looking smug as her mother finished talking. Keyop wished he could throw down a smoke bomb and vanish like a ninja when Mr Jackson cast his gaze around the room and looked straight at Keyop. Mr Jackson checked his list and arranged a kindly, probably-meant-to-be-sympathetic look on his face. "Keyop Anderson," he read out. "Do you have a parent here today?" Mr Jackson was obliged to move out of the way of the door to avoid being hit by it as a latecomer burst into the room without knocking. As the teacher recovered his balance he drew himself up. "Good morning. Are you here for Parent Career Day?" "Yeah," Jason said. "Sorry I'm late. I'm standing in for Doctor Anderson. He got called away to a meeting." Keyop stopped wishing he could throw a smoke bomb and began wishing that the ground would open up and swallow him, instead. Jason was going to ruin everything! Mr Jackson gave Jason a disapproving look. "It must have been an important meeting," he said. Jason went very still and gave Mr Jackson the kind of look that made Spectra commanders start to sweat. Keyop leaned forward in his seat. Maybe this was about to get interesting. "The Secretary of Defence thought it was," Jason said levelly. Keyop watched Mr Jackson. Yep. He was sweating. "Well," the teacher said, struggling to recover control of the conversation. "You're just in time, mister...?" "Major Jason Anderson, Galaxy Security," Jason said. He didn't extend a hand. Keyop was aware of a subtle shift of position as several of the attending parents instinctively straightened up. Keyop began to suspect that maybe, just maybe there were advantages to being enrolled in a prestigious military school after all, since nearly every student had at least one close relative who was serving or had served in the ISO. "Who's that?" Keyop heard Marcie whisper from her desk to his right. "My brother," Keyop whispered back, sticking to his cover story. He folded his arms. Jason would now bore the class with a bland repetition of his cover story, how he worked for Galaxy Security Research and Development and couldn't go into any details, because everything was classified, blah, blah, blah. "Hi," Jason said, having been waved to the front of the room by Mr Jackson. "I'm Keyop's brother, standing in for our father, who is the most boring man in the galaxy, so be glad he couldn't make it today." Or any other day, a rebellious corner of Keyop's mind snarked. "I have a really dull day job working for Galaxy Security," Jason continued, "but I'm also a semi-professional race car driver. What do you guys want me to talk about? G-Sec or race cars?" Keyop glanced around the room as his classmates made the obvious choice. As Jason began to talk about racing, Keyop settled back in his seat. His classmates were all watching Jason and listening to him, and when Keyop glanced to his right, he noticed Marcie giving him a frankly admiring stare. Keyop turned his attention back to Jason, who smirked at him, having noticed the interaction. Keyop figured he was probably going to owe Jason a favour, but in the meantime, maybe home room wasn't going to be so bad after all.

Way to go, Jase! You're bound to be considered the best speaker of the day.

Go Jason!!!

And then Jason hangs out in the teachers' room during recess, and meets a cute teacher, who of course then tries to kill him...

// "Why are you shaking your fist at that Gatchamaniac, Jason?" asked Mark, perplexed. Jason was usually very good with the fans... too good, sometimes, with the female ones, he thought darkly. Jason had the grace to look abashed. He muttered something. "Sorry, what?" "She called us an old-school anime!"//

DT -- *snigger*

DT: Good one! I don't know how relevant this is to modern-day education (do they still even have these particular things at schools nowadays?) but it just popped into my head and onto the keyboard. The mecha began to move. With its weight seemingly balanced on the single hind support, the two front supports swung forward. Remote-controlled jets wobbled and veered slightly from their courses. The unmanned fighters arced in unsteadily and opened fire. The mecha remained undamaged as the rear support swung forward to propel it along the street. As the UCAVs swept in for another run, coloured cylindrical missiles shot forth from the featureless black face of the mech and destroyed the planes. "There they go," Tiny said. "I dunno why the Air Force even bothers with those things. They must have some kinda 'unlimited replacement' clause in the defence budget or something!" "Did you notice how unstable they were?" Princess asked. "Yeah," Jason said. "The operators were probably laughing too hard to concentrate." The G-Force team clustered around the pilot's console aboard the Phoenix and watched as the giant blackboard took another stride down the main street of Center City. "What was Zoltar thinking?" Mark wondered aloud. "Forget that," Jason said, "what was he smoking?" "Ahem!" Princess flicked a finger at the back of Jason's helmet. "It's okay," Keyop said. "Seriously, if that thing's the result of smoking weed, I'm always going to say no to drugs!" "Enough with the comedy routine," Mark said. "Let's get down there and beat that thing back to Elementary School."

GGO, when I read this I immediately thought of an old Aussie classic childrens show . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7W5mP0xi0Y and a particular character's famous phrase . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRE8-zz7dXE

And of course I can remember that Mister Squiggle was on immediately before BotP on weekday afternoons on Aunty, so we'd get home from school and tune in to Channel 2, and we'd be obliged to watch the last few minutes of Mister Squiggle prior to BotP starting. That was a bloody long time ago.

DT: LOL GGO: Half expecting the team to graffiti the board

Jinpei hugged himself tighter as the wind sliced through his coat. It was late October, and an unusual cold snap had hit Utoland. Some had speculated that this might be a sign of what the upcoming winter would be like. He fought against the wind to get the front door of the Snack J open. But once he was inside...ah, bliss! The warmth wrapped around him and gave him a welcome hug. Jun was behind the bar, and Ryu sat in his usual spot. "Well?" Jun asked Ryu. The Owl finished off the contents of a coffee mug. "It's interesting." "Good enough to add to the menu?" "Why not?" Jun noticed Jinpei then. "Would you like to try some Aztec-style hot chocolate?" "Would I!" the boy cried as he dashed over to the bar and hopped up onto a stool. "I've got to warn you," she said as she prepared the drink, "this isn't what you're used to --" "Who cares?" Jinpei replied, "Chocolate is chocolate!" "So you know everything about chocolate?" Ryu stifled a chuckle. "Call me Professor Chocolate." A steaming mug was placed in front of him. He lifted the mug and deeply inhaled the steam. Something seemed different...nah, it had to be his imagination. He slurped and -- "You screwed it up!" "No she didn't." Ryu replied. "It doesn't taste right!" "The Aztecs didn't sweeten their chocolate -- they added spices." Jun calmly explained. "Well, Professor," Ryu cried, "looks like you've just been schooled!"

EW: LOL

Haha, EW. Definitely a hot chocolate for grown-ups rather than for a kid with a sweet tooth. Wonder what they'd make of pumpkin spice latte?