Green Day and the Mosh Pit Full of Teenies

Green Day and Tré’s Lost Cymbal

Chapter 2: Green Day and Tré's Lost Cymbal

Aska the Wicked Ass Goalkeeper and Leisha the Person of Many Phobias made their way back outside of the concert at Telstra Dome, quickly making their way to their motorbikes which were hidden behind a rubbish skip. They put on their black leather jackets they had left there that had a strange logo which consisted of 'AT's' written in red, spiky letters.

Checking no one was watching, the two girls got on their bikes and rode off into the night.

***

An hour later, Aska and Leisha pulled up in front of a house in Melton. Parking their bikes out the back, they made their way inside where they saw a girl with long brown hair, black converse and thick, black eyeliner sitting at a computer. When she saw Aska the Wicked Ass Goalkeeper and Leisha the Person of Many Phobias she made a 'peace' hand sign before turning off the computer and getting up. The girl's name was Becky the Girl of the Peace Hand Sign.

"Hey you guys!" said Becky, "you must be hungry from all the teenie-fighting, want something to eat?"
"D'you have any rice?" Leisha the Person of Many Phobias asked with a tired voice, "cause I could really do with some rice. I love rice. It's yummy. Mmm"
"Sure, how about you Aska? Becky asked, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, just a drink thanks" Aska the Wicked Ass Goalkeeper said sleepily.
"Waddya want Aska? We got water, coffee, orange juice, tea, beer, Pepso... "
"Pepso?" Aska said in a confused voice. "Don't you mean 'Pepsi'?"
"No, I mean Pepso. Haven't you heard?" at the shake of Aska's head, she continued. "AT's has put out a new drink for all its agents; we were issued a crate last week."
"Oh okay, I'll try one of those then" said Aska. Becky passed the Wicked Ass Goalkeeper a bottle, it had the 'AT's' logo on the label as well as info about the drink,

"Pepso is the latest in the AT's teenie fighting food range. It restores energy and gets rid of any teenieness you may have picked up while fighting teenies. It also has a great fresh taste and comes in diet (with no sugar, for the health conscience AT's), lemon (for that added tang) and 'Plus' (for that extra boost)."

Aska shrugged and took a sip, letting the strange-but-good-tasting drink slide down her throat.

"Ahhh" said Aska in the style of a soft drink commercial "that's some good teenie fighting product there."

Leisha the Person of Many Phobias held out her hand and motioned for Aska the Wicked Ass Goalkeeper to hand her the drink.

"Meningococcal" said Aska warningly but Leisha just shrugged and took a sip. "fine, just remember to pace yourself; you always drink too fast and then you feel sick and you waste good drink, like that time you had that Pura Classics Choc-Honeycomb and you threw-"
"Here's you rice Leisha" said Becky, holding out a steaming bowl. Leisha glared at Aska before taking to bowl happily from Becky, "thanks".

***

Back at Telstra Dome all the fans had cleared off and the guys of Green Day were backstage with a round of celebratory beers (actually just Mike, Tré, the Jason's and Ron; Billie was still fixing his hair).

"I'm gonna go get my bass back from the Mosh pit, then I'm gonna go back to the hotel," said Mike, getting up and yawning.
"Yeah, I think I might go back too," said Tré, finishing off his beer and putting the bottle down on the table, "I'll just go and get Billie."

The three walked through the now deserted Idiot Zone, stepping around all the plastic cups and glow rods until they got to the centre of the mosh where their instruments lay. Picking up his bass, Mike turned and started walking slowly in the direction of the band's bus. However, when he didn't hear anyone following, he turned around again.

"C'mon guys, I'm tired and-"

Billie was comforting Tré who looked on the verge of tears, Mike hurried back over to see what the problem was as Tré started crying.

"Woah, woah, woah what's wrong?" asked Mike
"Look." Tré sobbed and pointed to his drum kit, "th-the crash. Somebodies has taken my crash cymbal!"

Mike just looked at Tré strangely.

"Uh, can't you just buy a new one?"
Tré looked up and shook his head, "that wasn't just any cymbal; that was my lucky cymbal. Aska the Wicked Ass Goalkeeper and Leisha the Person of Many Phobias personally signed that! It's irreplaceable! Unique! One of a kind! Exclusive! Matchless! Distinctive! Inimitable! Et cetera!"

Billie blinked dumbly at the now 33-year-old drummer; those were some big words!

"Oh" was all Mike said.
"But then, who took it?" asked a very confused Billie Joe.

Tré rounded Billie Joe with an annoyed look on his face.

"If we knew that, we wouldn't be standing here, would we Billie Joe?"

Billie blinked twice then his face screwed up; like a little kid when they are about to cry. Mike quickly went over to Billie and gave him a hug.

"It's alright Billie Joe, Tré didn't mean to shout at you; he's just upset. Shh" Mike patted Billie's back (carefully avoiding messing Billie's hair) while looking over Billie's shoulder to Tré, using the Green Day Secret Code Language© to tell him "he doesn't understand Tré, and he's very sensitive".

Tré just sighed at his best friend's sensitiveness and nodded; Billie could be so difficult sometimes.

"We need to report this, Tré,"said Mike, trying to bring the attention back to Tré's lost cymbal." A cymbal signed by Aska the Wicked Ass Goalkeeper and Leisha the Person of Many Phobias could be put to bad use in the wrong hands."

Tré nodded in agreement while Billie sniffled.

"Who do we report it to?" asked Billie in a small voice, "The police?"
"The FBI?" asked Tré.

Billie and Tré both looked at Mike for the answer; after all, Mike was the smartest; he was the only one who graduated from high school.

"No, the police are for normal crimes, such as DUI and indecent exposure." Mike looked at Billie, who giggled and turned red, "and the FBI wouldn't understand the importance of this, no, this is a job for the AT's."

Billie and Tré gasped.

"The AT's?" said Tré in awe. "You mean, the secretive, underground teenie fighting service that only elite and smart musicians have contact with? Whose agents are so well trained that they go unnoticed everywhere? Who protect real bands and concerts from the ever increasing teenie population? Who are rumoured to be more powerful than the FBI?"

Mike nodded.

"AT's? What does that stand for?" asked Billie.
"Ah, that's a question no one knows the answer to. It is commonly thought to stand for 'Anti Teenies', but then, there is still the apostrophe between the 't' and 's' that remains unexplained." Mike looked thoughtful for a second before shrugging. "That is a question for later, for now we need to concentrate on getting Tré's lost cymbal back."

Mike started to walk to the car park.

"Where are you going?" asked Tré.
"To phone the AT's of course. Let's go back inside."
"Wait!" said Tré in a shocked voice, "you have contact with the AT's?"
"Like you said before Tré, 'only elite and smart musicians have contact with'; I think that means people that have graduated from high school, don't you?" Mike looked very smug at this, "now get your stuff and let's go."

Hoisting his guitar strap up his shoulder a little more, Mike walked over to the car park with Billie and Tré following close behind him.

***

Once Mike, Billie and Tré got back to their hotels, Mike quickly sat down on the edge of his bed, picked up the receiver and started to dial the AT's number. Billie and Tré watched as he muttered "1800-2374-3663" under his breath while he punched in the number.

*MIKES POV*

One ring and someone picked up.
"Hello, you have reached the AT's call centre. For general enquires, please press 1. To report an infestation of teenies, please press 2. For a list of anti teenie products, please press 3.To make a complaint, please press 4. If you are currently surrounded by teenies and would like to leave a message to your loved ones in case of death, please press 5. To find your local AT's branch, please press 6. To report a teenie hideout, please press 7. If you have realised you have dialled the wrong number, please press 8. To report an attack, theft, or attempted murder by a teenie, please press 9. To speak-"
"Finally, bloody under funding." I jabbed the 9 button.
"You have selected to report an attack, theft or attempted murder by a teenie, please hold. Your call is important to us."

I groaned as the tinny, electronic music came out of the phone. I looked up at Tré and Billie. "I've been put on hold."

Billie giggled but Tré looked as if he might break down in tears again. I was about to say something when somebody at the other end picked up.

"Hello? This is Becky the Girl of the Peace Hand Sign. What appears to be the problem?"
"Oh hi," I replied, "We've just had our crash cymbal stolen by who we suspect are teenies."
"Alright sir. And your name is... ?"
"Dirnt, Mike Dirnt of Green Day. But it was our drummer, Tré Cool, whose cymbal has been stolen."
"Do you know of any reason as to why a teenie would want to steal Mr Cool's cymbal Mr Dirnt?"
"Uh, we, well, I think it's because it was signed by Aska the Wicked Ass Goalkeeper and Leisha the Person of Many phobias. It's very special to Tré and us. They saved our real fans just a few hours ago."
"Oh, okay sir. I'll have Aska and Leisha come around to you in a few minutes. If you could just give us your address and they'll be on their way... "

*END MIKES POV*

***

Becky turned to face Aska and Leisha, who had just finished discussing the finer points of the 'wu-tang'.

"That, on the phone just then, was Mike Dirnt, guys."
"Mike Dirnt?" Aska and Leisha asked in unison.
"Yeah, he said that Tré's cymbal has been stolen by teenies. I told him I'd send you two round there right away."

Aska and Leisha got to their feet and grabbed their utility belts.

"Call Jaz and tell her to meet us there."
"Already done" said Becky with a smile "I set Mike's hotel address into your bikes AT's-GPS©. You're all set to go".

Aska and Leisha pulled up into the Rydges Hotel car park in a few minutes, where they were met by a girl with long, dark-brown hair and a camo-print AT's jacket.

"Hey guys," said the girl, "I've been watching for any teenies but it seems all clear around here; we're not being watched".

Aska and Leisha nodded and proceeded through the large glass doors of the Hotel.

The three girls reached Mike, Billie and Tré's room and knocked on the door, which was quickly pulled open by a very concerned looking Mike.

"Thank god you guys are here." he said "I think Tré is about to have a panic attack, come in, come in."

The three girls walked in and Mike quietly shut the door.

"This, by the way, is Jaz the Rockin Drum Player with Spirit. She's an AT's scout; her job is to track and watch teenies." Said Leisha. "But anyway, tell us what happened after we left."

Mike, Billie and Tré quickly explained what happened to the three girls, who wrote down the details in their notebooks.

"Okay," said Jaz, "this definitely looks like a teenie job, but it wasn't organised by a teenie; they wouldn't have known which cymbal to take. It looks like someone knew what they were doing who masterminded the theft, and got teenies to do their dirty work."
"But how do we find it?" asked Tré, who looked up at Jaz sadly.
"Ah, that's the easy bit. When Aska and Leisha signed the cymbal, they would have used special AT's pens that have special AT's microchips in the ink. We can just put the chip code into the compu-"
"Um... Jaz?" said Aska in a quiet voice, making Jaz look up at her. "We didn't use our AT's pens. We used normal marker pens. Um... yeah, the microchip thing won't work"
Jaz looked at Aska and Leisha crossly

"Why not?" Jaz hissed as Aska and Leisha looked at their feet. "You know it's AT's regulation for their agents to use their products only. This would be a whole lot easier if you had just-"

Jaz stopped as Tré burst into tears, which in turn made Billie burst into tears. Mike walked over to his friends and gave them both a big hug as Billie sniffled into his shirt.

"Mike... what are we gonna do now? I can't play without that cymbal. It just doesn't feel right without it"
"I don't know Tré," Mike sympathetically patted Tré's head "they didn't teach me this when I graduated from high school, we have to let the AT's sort it out."

Billie sniffled again and Mike patted his head without thinking, causing Billie to cry harder and roll around on the floor, "My hair! My hair!"

"Well," said Jaz, trying to draw attention away from Billie, "there is nothing more we can do here, so we'll head back to our secret AT's station and work on the theft there. We will get Tré's lost cymbal back, we promise. Call us if anything happens".

***

Aska, Leisha, Becky and Jaz sat around the kitchen table, their notes scattered across the surface.

"So... " sighed Leisha tiredly.
"Yeah, exactly," said Becky, "this really isn't enough to go on right now."
"Ugh, it's late," Aska groaned and rubbed her eyes, "and we got to go to the simple plan concert in two - (Aska looked down at her watch) - well, one day to watch the teenies, so we should really get some sleep. We can work on this tomorrow."
"Mmkay." Jaz got to her feet, "who's turn is it to take the emergency calls tonight?"
"I'll do it" Becky said, getting up and moving over to the computer desk, "I'll wake you if anything comes up."

Aska, Leisha and Jaz nodded, and headed off to their sleeping quarters.

***

"Earplugs? Check. Binoculars? Check. Stun Guns? Check. Non-Convertor409© chips? Check. Nets? Check. Flares? Check. Pepso? Check." Aska looked up and over to Leisha. "I think this bag is all packed. How are you going?"
"Yep, I got the radios, headsets, laptop, MP3's, cameras, disco balls... yeah I'm all done"
"Jaz, you already set up the hideout, right?"

She nodded.

"Okay, let's head down there now"
"See you around Becky! We'll keep you updated over the radio and web-cam."

Aska, Leisha and Jaz waved and Becky 'peace' hand signed back.

"Good luck!"

***

Jaz pointed Aska and Leisha over to where the hiding spot was as they rode around the back of Rod Laver arena, hiding their bikes behind some big industrial bins.

"Hey guys, the last report says that simple plan haven't arrived yet, but there are already a few people lining up, mostly teenies by the looks of things"
"Okay, we'll go check it out in a second," Leisha said, "We gotta dump our stuff first though."
"Yeah, the hideout is over this way." Jaz led Aska and Leisha through the car park and up through an air-vent, which led them to a small room in which they could see the stage and the majority of the floor space.
"What is this place?" asked Aska, with an impressed look on her face. "It's perfect for watching teenies."
"We call it 'The Lookout', Sam the One With Gravitational Pull found it a while ago for watching over some boy-band concert, we've used-"

A muffled scratching sound was coming out of the air-vent, and a girl with shoulder-length light brown hair and a red AT's jacket dropped out of the vent, landing neatly on her feet.

"Speak of the devil" said Leisha, "hi Sam!"
"Hello!" she said, walking up to the window and peering outside, "it's seems like ages since I've been here. It hasn't changed."
"Yeah, it's a great spot, you did well finding it."
"Ah, don't thank me, thank my mutant teenie powers."
"Mutant teenie powers?" asked Aska with a curious look on her face, "no one told me about that."
"Oh, I got them a while back," said Sam in a casual voice, "when I first started serious teenie fighting... to make a long story short, we were at a big music festival - Big Day Out I think - and there was this real fan, surrounded by about 15 teenies going on about how he had insulted their favourite celebrity. They were closing in for the kill, so to speak, just as I got there. I dived into the group with another AT's agent and he managed to get the kid out to safety, but the teenies grabbed me and pulled me back into their group. I was surrounded by mutterings of "LyK oMgZ u R lYk SoO tRy-HaRd X-cOrE!!!1" and "LeAvE uS aLoNe YoU gOtH!!111". They managed to overpower me and they pinned me against a wall. The other AT's I was with fired a stunner beam at the leader of the teenies, but the beam hit one of the teenie's poser badges, went through another teenie then hit me, knocking me and the teenie out. When the beam went through the teenie, it must have picked-up some of the teenieness and passed it on to me."

Aska's eyes widened in shock, before she shuddered, "that's like my worst nightmare".

Sam shrugged, "it took a while for me to get used to it, but now I find it highly useful. I can really think like a teenie - in the non-'OmGzZ!!!12' way - and I don't need any earplugs or Non-Converter technology."
Aska nodded before turning back to the window and looking down at the stage and the fans.

"Looks like the roadies have finished setting up, it should be starting soon."
"Ok, "said Sam, "everyone get ready; Leisha set up the web-cam for Becky."

Leisha quickly pulled her laptop out of her bag and plugged in the web-cam and microphone.

Jaz picked up her radio, "come in, Becky. Can you see?"

"Yep," came Becky's I can see the stage clear and-wait, I think something went wrong with your computer, Leisha. You've gone offline or your computer turned off... "
"Oh, Leisha... " said Sam sadly.
"You really need to get that computer sorted out Leisha" agreed Aska.
"ARGH!" screamed Leisha in frustration. "Sam lets use yours for now."
"Ok" said Sam, reaching into her bag and pulling out her laptop. "Switched on... connected and... Ok, Becky can you see now?"
"Crystal clear, and is that the band just offstage that I can see? Looks like it's starting."

The four girls turned to look out the window, sure enough, the teenies down on the floor started going wild as five people ran onstage, one grabbing the mic and screaming into it.

"How are the fans of Australia's favourite punk band' tonight?" came a whiny voice.
"Oh god" was the response of the four girls in the room, plus Becky over the radio.

The large crowd of teenies cheered loudly, and you could even hear shouts of 'YoU'rE lYk So ToTaLlY hOt!!11' and 'I lUv U!!!13'

"That's what I wanted to hear!" shouted Pierre, "Aussie Aussie Aussie!"
"Oi! Oi! Oi!" came the reply from the crowd.
"How dare he uses our chant in his annoying, whiny accent" said Leisha through clenched teeth.
"Calm down leish, we mustn't let the teenieness get to us." Said Jaz, who looked rather disgusted.
"I know, I know, but he's just... ugh he's just so infuriating."
"That's why we're here Leish. Cause he's a teenie leader. Of course he's infuriating."
"Ooh look, they're starting," Said Aska.
"Great" muttered Leisha.
"Everyone got their Non-Convertor409© chips?" asked Aska.
"Yep, we're all plugged in and ready."
"Good."

The four girls turned back to looking out the window, as simple plan started playing one of their stupid, irritating songs. The teenies on the floor were going crazy jumping around and screaming. It looked like a giant, rippling sea of pink.

"Guys," said Aska halfway into the second song, "am I hearing things or is there a tapping noise coming from somewhere around here?"

The other girls all closed their eyes and listened carefully for a second, before nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, there is," the other three girls said.
"Good, I'm not hearing things then. Well, actually I am, cause otherwise I'd be deaf, but I meant 'hearing things' as in my brain making things up, like schizophrenia, but what I mean is I'm not hearing-"
"We know what you meant Aska" cut off Jaz and Leisha.
"Oh, ok then, just I wasn't sure that's all. Cause if I was deaf, I wouldn't hear anything at all... "

Jaz and Leisha just looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"But anyway, what is that noise? anyone see anything? What about you Sam? Sam?"

Aska, Leisha and Jaz turned to look at Sam, who had gone pale in the face and was looking at her feet.

"Are you ok Sam?" asked Leisha in a concerned voice.

Sam slowly shook her head, and continued looking at her feet. The others followed her gaze and their eyes widened in shock.

"S-Sam, why are you tapping your foot to the beat?" asked Jaz in a quiet voice.

Sam looked up at the three girls, speaking with a scared voice. "I'm not doing this on purpose... my foot is tapping... by itself."

Aska, Leisha and Jaz all gasped, looking shocked.

"Guys" came Becky's voice over the radio, "it looks like this song is ending now."

Sure enough, the song ended, and Sam's foot slowly stopped tapping.

"Phew" she said with relief.
"That's not normal," said Aska, "something is making you tap your foot... and that's not normal."
"I dunno... " said Sam, "I'm gonna go down there and take a closer look. Hand me an invisibility cloak."
"It might not be safe" warned Aska, "what, with all those teenies down there."
"It's alright; I have my mutant teenie powers to help me. I'll be fine. And its not like I'm going to fight them all single handed or anything."
"Ok, if you're sure... we'll keep an eye on you from up here"
"I'm sure" and without another word, Sam walked over to the largest window, opening it wide enough so she could climb out.
"Good luck!" said the others as she attached her grappling hook to the edge of the window, covering herself with the invisibility cloak and clambering out.

The others reached for their special AT's goggles - which enabled them to see through invisibility cloaks - and watched as Sam quickly made it to the ground just as the next song started.

She quickly darted along the pathways around the middle of the floor, where most of the teenies were gathered, often darting behind bins and barriers to avoid bumping into people and raising their suspicions.

"Wow! She's quick," noted Aska in an impressed voice.
"That's because her mutant teenie powers help her detect teenies, enabling her to anticipate their movements," said Leisha, "and she is called 'Sam the one with gravitational pull'."

What the last bit of that comment had to do with Sam being quick, Aska had no idea, but she just nodded and smiled.

Sam had reached the front barrier and was nimbly climbing over it. She dropped to the ground on the other side of the barrier and clambered onto the very side of the stage, just where the frame for the rigging was. Careful not to pull any cords out, she climbed onto a monitor then onto the complex metalwork until she was halfway up the side. She attached her grappling hook for support and looked back down at the stage, her foot beginning to tap again as the music started.

Looking over the whole band for a minute, Sam could see nothing suspicious or at least nothing that would cause the tapping of her foot. She picked the radio off her belt and put it to her mouth.

"Guys, I can't see anything funny looking here, apart from the band, I think I need to get closer to find anything."
"Don't go closer till you have backup Sam, there are a lot of teenies there, ready to defend their idols." Came Leisha's voice back over the radio.

Sam continued to look over the band, until someone standing out of view to the audience on the side of the stage caught her attention.

"Well, well, well" said Sam into the radio. "If it isn't 'Australia's Prince of Punk' himself, Lee Harding."
(A/N: God I hate typing that, damn Smash Hits. If you don't know who he is, Google him.)
"Isn't he wanted by the AT's or something?" asked Aska.
"Yeah, I think so... " replied Sam, "Becky, can you run a check?"
"Already doing it" said Becky, "and yes, he's wanted on charges of falsely using the title 'Punk' and singing a political song without knowing the meaning."
"Fucker" said Aska.
"Exactly," said Sam, "should I bring him in?"
"No, wait till we come over, we're coming now."
"Ok then, I'll start moving over to the other side of the stage."

Sam unclipped her grappling hook and started to climb up to the top of the rigging, so she could move across the top to the other side.

"Looks like the song is ending, Sam" came Jaz's voice through the radio, "be careful while the crowd isn't distracted by the band."
"Yep, I know," Sam replied, "I can see and hear the band you know, Jaz."
"Just trying to help" said Jaz a little defensively, "wait, what's Pierre up to?"

Sam and the three girls back in The Lookout watched as Pierre motioned for the crowd of screaming teenies to be quiet then pulled the microphone out of its stand and started to walk up and down the stage.

"While we've been over here, we heard about a great new punk singer I'm sure you all love... I know I do! Wanna know who I'm talking about?" he didn't wait for an answer, "Here's a hint: he was on that great show Australian Idol... "

The teenies begin to scream and chant 'LEE! LEE! LEE! LEE!'

"You got it! And he just happens to be standing backstage... COME ON OUT LEE!"

The teenies started going crazy, screaming and clawing at each other to get a better look at him as he jogged onstage. This time his hair was red, blue, pink and green and he was wearing a black t-shirt with a gold 'DC' logo on it, as well as his usual ugly wristbands and thick, poser eyeliner.

"HEY GUYS!" he shouted, making the teenies go even more nuts.
"Get over here" said Pierre, gesturing with his hand for Lee to come over to him, putting his arm around his shoulders like they had known each other for ages. Lee was grinning like a... teenie meeting their idol.
"Now, you may be wondering why Lee is here... "said Pierre, the crowd of teenies quieting down again, "we invited Lee out here to sing Untitled with us!"

The crowd went impossibly wilder.

"Ok, we wait till the end of the song then we get him when he goes backstage" said Aska, who was running along the pathway around the main floor with Jaz and Leisha, all under invisibility cloaks, towards the main barrier as the band started playing again.
"C'mon, c'mon we only have a few minutes to catch up with Sam guys" urged Aska.
"No shit," replied Leisha.

The three girls reached the front barrier, quickly jumping it and climbing onto the stage, just as Sam had a few minutes earlier.

"Ok," Jaz said, "we wait above the stage and as soon as he heads offstage, we drop down and grab him."
"Sounds good" said Leisha, Aska nodded in agreement.

They quickly scaled the rigging, climbing across until they were above the middle of the stage, and met up with Sam up the top.

"Nice view" joked Leisha.

No one laughed.

"Sounds like the song is ending," noted Jaz, "get your hooks ready."

The song ended and the four AT's attached their hooks to the rigging, ready to drop down and follow Lee.

"Make sure your invisibility cloaks don't fall off, we don't want a teenie uprising," said Aska.
"We know," said Sam, "stop worrying."
"Sorry"
"Um, why hasn't Lee left the stage guys?" Leisha asked, bringing Aska and Sam's attention back to the task at hand, "don't tell me he's doing another song."

Sure enough, not half a second after Leisha said it, Lee put the microphone back to his mouth.

"Now we're gonna do one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite bands," said Lee, "You saw me do it on idol, here's... HOLIDAY!"
"Oh shit" said Aska as simple plan struck the opening chords.
"What?" said Leisha, Sam (whose foot had started tapping again) and Jaz, looking up at Aska.
Aska paled considerably; "Non-Convertor409© chips don't protect against real band songs... not even if they are covered by teenie bands."
"Shit," said Leisha and Jaz.
"Do we have any earplugs?" asked Jaz.
"We're too close to use-ohhh" Aska groaned in pain as her unprotected ears were hit by a wave of teenieness. She slipped forward, almost loosing her grip.

Jaz and Leisha also groaned in pain, holding their ears and almost slipping off the rigging.

Sam's feet we're tapping overtime, but she was the only one unaffected by the teenieness.

"Sam... you got-argh! You gotta call... help," groaned Aska, "we... can't ohhh hold on... "

Sam scrambled to reach for her radio, "help! We need help at the simple plan concert. AT's down, I repeat we have AT's down. Emergency backup required."

Aska cried out in pain, falling back and slipping off the rigging, only her grappling hook stopping her from falling. There was a gust of wind and her invisibility cloak was blown off, leaving her in full view of the teenies below.

There were shouts of 'LyK oMgZz!!1 LyK tHeReS a PeRsOn HaNgInG fRoM tHe RoOf!!111'.

Sam leaned down and grabbed Aska's hand, pulling her back up onto the framework and covering her with her spare invisibility cloak, but the crowd had already noticed and some of them were looking up where the AT's were hiding.

"Becky! Tell backup to hurry!" whispered Sam urgently into her radio.
"They're almost there!" replied Becky, "hold on!"

The band was only halfway through butchering the song at this point, and there was no sign of them stopping. Aska, Leisha and Jaz were almost passed out from the teenieness, their hands firmly clasped over their ears. Sam the only one not affected by the teenieness thanks to her mutant teenie powers.

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind hit the arena, almost blowing the four AT's off of the rigging, the wind was followed by a throbbing sound coming over the noise the band was making, and a shadow fell over the teenies in the crowd. Slowly, a large black military helicopter came into view, it had the AT's symbol painted on the side.
Two agents, dressed in black jumpsuits and helmets, obscuring their faces, leaned out of the side of the helicopter and started dropping AT's Teenie-Tranquilizer Smoke-bombs© into the crowd. The teenies immediately started screaming and running around in fright, eventually falling to the ground as the tranquilizer took affect.

By now, simple plan (and Lee) had stopped playing and were retreating towards the back of the stage. The stop in teeniefied music caused Aska, Leisha and Jaz to groan in relief, slowly taking their hands away from their ears.

"My ears... " came the pained voice of Aska, her eyes shut in pain.
"My brain... " said Jaz in a similar voice.
"My head..." whined Leisha, whose hand went to the lump on her head she had gotten from walking into a meter box last time she was at Aska's house.

Even in the pain they were in, Aska and Jaz giggled at Leisha, who groaned in protest; "WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO MOCK ME? DO I HAVE A SIGN ON MY FORHEAD THAT SAYS 'MOCK ME' IN BIG LETTERS?"
"Yes." The two girls replied in unison.

The helicopter was slowly moving towards the back of the arena, dropping more Teenie-Tranquilizer Smoke-bombs© into the thick crowd of teenies.

"I hate to interrupt your little Laugh-at-Leisha session guys," said Sam in a serious voice, "but if you haven't noticed, simple plan and Lee are re-grouping below us this very second, and knowing their teenie-powers, they could wake up those tranquilized teenies with their music any minute. We need to get down there, NOW."
"Right, sorry," said Aska, putting her serious face on.
"Let's go then!" said Jaz.
The four girls attached their grappling hooks and swung over the edge of the rigging, slowly lowering themselves down onto the stage below, while trying to keep their invisibility cloaks on.

"Right," Aska whispered to the others as their feet touched the ground, "we don't want to startle them, so we have to do this very carefully. To stop them playing, unplug their guitars then try and stun them with AT's Teenie Tranquilizer-Darts©. Sam you take the most poser one, I think he's called David... you know the one with the black hair... the bassist. Jaz, you take the ugly bald one, I'll take Pierre's mic cord, and Leisha can do the other guitarist."
"Ok" they whispered back, quickly moving over to their targets.

Slowly creeping forward, under their cloaks, the four managed to reach their targets, leaning forward to unplug the three guitars and the mic, and turning back to re-group. But, as luck would have it, Lee (who was standing next to where Leisha was hiding) took that very moment to start singing 'Wasabi' quietly to himself.

Leisha groaned, and dropped to her knees, covering her ear with one hand while franticly trying to turn on her MP3 with the other.

"Shit!" she swore to herself as she tried to make sense of the jumble of cords and earphones, yanking the knots apart. "Fuck it!" she hissed, giving up on her MP3 and covering both her ears, she jumped to her feet and kicked Lee between the legs. Hard.

Not surprisingly, Lee stopped singing as he doubled over with pain, but the kick had also made Leisha's cloak slip off and fall to the ground.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" hissed Aska, as simple plan looked up in surprise and anger at the Person of Many Phobias. The band slowly turned to face her, one of them helping Lee stand up properly again.
"Wait... " one of them said in a whiny voice, "I've seen you before... "

The four girls watched as his face screwed up in confusion, realisation slowly crossing his face.

"You're that girl who punched one of our fans at the Big Day Out in March for 'wearing a tight, pink Ramones shirt', aren't you?"
"Yes," was Leisha's answer.

They took another step forward.

"And I'll punch them again if they dirty the Ramones' name again!"
"Let's get her!" Said Lee in a high, exited voice.
"Uh-oh" said Jaz, as simple plan and Lee lunged towards Leisha.

Aska, Jaz and Sam pulled off their cloaks and jumped to Leisha's side, the four girls dodging the lunge by simple plan and Lee and rounding on the band.

"I HATE YOU!" screamed Jaz, jumping at Jeff, the bald guy from simple plan and punching him in the gut. "I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!"

Aska, Leisha and Sam watched with bemused faces as Jaz continued to scream abuse at him before remembering the rest of simple plan were trying to attack them. Aska turned to Lee and Pierre, Sam turned to the bassist, David, and Leisha turned to the remaining guitarist: Sebastian.

"IV'E HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR WHINY VOICES!" screamed Aska, tackling Pierre and Lee to the ground in one go.
"YOU GIVE BASSISTS A BAD NAME!" Sam screamed, running at David.
"I JUST HATE YOU ALL IN GENERAL!" Leisha screamed, lashing out at Sebastian.

The stage was a flurry of arms and legs, both sides trying to get the upper hand in the battle for real music.

"Ha ha!" yelled Aska in a triumphant voice, as she gave Lee a jab to the face, causing him to pass out cold. Pierre paled; he was on his own.

Jaz was still yelling her hate-fuelled insults and comments at Jeff, who was putting up a good fight. It seemed that Jaz was trying not to touch him too much, not surprising though, considering she had seen a video of him in the shower, "he's not bald all over, y'know".

Sam had the upper-hand on David, who was slowly backing to the edge of the stage. Sam glared at him, before connecting her fist with his jaw. "That was for having a heart grenade sticker on your bass", WHACK! This time her foot collided with a certain area between his legs. "And THAT was for wearing a pink, girl-cut Green Day T-shirt!" David fell back off the stage and into the gap between the stage and the barrier. Sam jumped down after him and pulled out some AT's teenieglue© , which she used to glue his try-hard bangs in front of his eyes so he couldn't see.

Leisha wasn't doing so well, already weakened from hearing Lee sing 'Wasabi', she was loosing energy, and was being pushed backwards by Sebastian.

"That'll teach you to mess with us and our fans!" he sneered, lunging for her, she dodged and climbed onto a monitor as he circled around underneath her like a very try-hard shark.

Then something caught Leisha's attention.

Chuck, the drummer, who no one had noticed was not in the fight, was trying to sneak up behind Jaz, who was still fighting Jeff.

"Look OUT!" screamed Leisha.

Aska spun around, following Sam's gaze until she saw chuck, who was now only a few feet from Jaz. Without a second thought, she pulled one of her drumsticks from her belt and hurled it at him, the flurry of movement caught his attention and he managed to duck, the drumstick missing him by less than half a pie, flying past him towards the drum kit and hitting the Crash with a loud... "CRASH!"

But the crash wasn't the only thing that made a noise, there was a loud tapping sound coming from near the edge of the stage. Everyone turned to see Sam, who had paled again as she looked down at her foot.

"I TAPPED!" she screamed in fright. "MY FOOT TAPPED AGAIN!"

That was when Aska and Jaz noticed chuck who was back at his drum kit, fiddling with something with his back facing them.

Both girls grabbed for a drumstick - Aska grabbing her second stick while Jaz grabbed both - and aimed for chuck.

"Got it!" he cried, taking a cymbal off its stand and turning at the sound of the three drum sticks whizzing through the air. He held up the cymbal like a shield and the sticks clattered harmlessly against it, "crash, crash, crash!"

"Tap, tap, tap."

Sam gasped in fright as her foot stuck the floor.

Leisha was looking between Chuck and Sam, as realisation dawned on her face.

"It's the cymbal! Its TRÉ'S LOST CYMBAL!"

There was a gasp from each of the AT's.

"RUN CHUCK! DON'T LET THEM HAVE IT!" screamed Jeff, who was immediately elbowed in the stomach by Jaz, winding him.

Chuck ran. Sam, who was the only AT's left without an opponent, ran after him.

Seizing the chance, Sebastian grabbed Leisha's ankle and pulled her off the monitor, causing her to land on her shoulder and cry out in pain.

"Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah" taunted Pierre in a sing-song voice, making Aska cover her ears in pain.
"Back up! We need back up NOW!" screamed Jaz into her radio, as Jeff straightened himself and took a lunge at Jaz.

Chuck and Sam reappeared a moment later, Sam still chasing Chuck and the cymbal.

"Shit!" swore Sam, as she saw all her friends loosing against simple plan. This was not looking good for the AT's at all.

Ahead of her, Chuck stopped and spun around, holding a drumstick in one hand and the cymbal in the other. Sam skidded to a halt in front of him.

"Whack!"

Chuck hit the cymbal with the stick, making a tinny, metallic sound because he was holding it.

"Tap!" went Sam's foot.
"Whack!"
"Tap!

Chuck smirked as Sam desperately tried to move, but her tapping foot was putting her off balance, making her wobble on the spot.

"This is what you get when you mess with the plan" sneered Chuck.

The low, throbbing sound above them and the sudden rush of wind told her back up had arrived. She looked up hopefully to see if anyone had been deployed to help. Instead, she saw a short, lone figure - dressed in an all-black AT's uniform with dark hair sticking out the bottom of their helmet - who was leaning out the side of the chopper. The others in the chopper came into view as it descended, and she noticed they were treating the person with obvious respect: this was someone with power.

Sam watched as one of the others handed the figure a box, then retreat back into the shadows as the figure leaned forward a little and throw the box towards Sam, who was alarmed to see little wings and engines appear on the box, as it turned to avoid Chuck seeing it (he was far to preoccupied going on about how good 'the plan' was). The box-plane was now directly behind Chuck, and heading straight for Sam, who braced herself to catch it. It knocked into the back of Chuck's head, causing him to stop hitting the cymbal and rub his head and allowing Sam to regain her balance as she caught the box. Quickly, she retreated behind a monitor and opened the box, knowing that this may be the last chance she had to get Tré's cymbal back. Hope rising, she peered inside...

"Oh... " she trailed off as her hopes vanished.

There, inside the box of was a pair big, odd coloured, scratched up old Converse Chuck Taylor's.

She lifted them gingerly out of the box by their worn-out laces and inspected them with a disappointed face. She felt like she had let Green Day - and good music in general - down.

Then she noticed the slip of paper inside the box. Curious, she lifted it out.

To my agent,
These are my AT's
Magic Odd-Coloured Converse© for use against Teenies.
They are the only ones in the world, so use them well.


The note wasn't signed, and didn't explain how they worked.

Stuffing the note into her back pocket, she pulled off her own black and red converse and pulled the AT's Magic Odd-Coloured Converse© (one fluro green and one tartan) onto her feet. For a second, they felt much too big for her, then, to her astonishment, they shrank down to fit snugly around her feet.

Heartened by the little magic display, Sam the One With Gravitational Pull took a deep breath and stepped out from her hiding place. Chuck was where she had left him, with the same gloating look on his face.

"So you finally decide to come out" he said, not noticing Sam's change of shoes.
"I would never let you get away with stealing Tré's cymbal" she shot back at him, her voice full of confidence.

He just pulled one of his poser faces (the one where he looks like he's eating something really sour) and raised a drumstick above his head, holding the cymbal out. He gave her one last look before bringing the drumstick down to meet the cymbal with a loud "WHACK!"

Nothing happened.

He tried again, hitting the cymbal harder.

Still, nothing happened.

He looked up at Sam with shock and fear, before flinging the cymbal at her like a Frisbee and running in the opposite direction.

Using a technique she had been taught at AT's training school©, she stepped to the side and caught the cymbal mid-flight, quickly pulling an AT's All-Purpose Collapsible Cymbal Bag© from out of her pocket and slipping the cymbal inside and laying it on the ground, before chasing after Chuck.

She hadn't gone far when she saw Chuck's heels dash around a corner. She sprinted after him, pulling out a large, lime green tortex pick out of her back pocket called 'Toothpick'. She rounded the corner, Chuck now directly in front of her, she flung her pick at him, it whizzed through the air and hit the back of his knee, causing his knee to buckle and him to topple over onto the floor.

Rushing to the sprawling body of Chuck, she grabbed his arms and tried to get him into an arm lock. Just as she thought she had him under control, he spun around and pushed her to the ground, stepping up to her with an angry, poser look on his face. He raised his foot above her head. Sam put her arms up to cover her face and shut her eyes...

"FREEZE!" came a strong voice from Sam's left.
"Huh? Jason's here?" she asked in a confused voice, her eyes still closed.
"No, 'FREEZE' with a 'z', as in, 'STOP'" replied the voice.
"Oh, okay then" said Sam.
"STOP!" came the voice again.

This time, Chuck looked up and Sam chanced a look towards where the voice was coming from.

There, a few meters down the hallway, was a squad of five AT's, with full teenie-combat gear on, who all had their Teenie Blasters aimed at Chuck. Looks like reinforcements had arrived.

"Step away from Sam the One With Gravitational Pull."

Chuck stepped back, his arms raised above his head.

"Good, now lie on the floor, face down" said the same AT's.

Chuck complied without objection. Sam swore he had turned white (well, whiter than usual) with fear.

Quick as Leisha the Person of Many Phobias running away from dried white-out (one of her many phobias), the AT's surrounded Chuck, three of them handcuffing him and hauling him to his feet, marching him out of the building.

"You okay?" asked one of the remaining AT's (the one who had spoken first).
"Yeah, I'm fine" said Sam, pushing herself off the ground and dusting herself off.

She turned to see the other remaining AT's member checking the ground for evidence using his AT's Teenie Crime Scene Examiner 16©.

"All clear" he said to the first AT's member, who Sam recognised as a sergeant by double safety pins on his jacket.
"Are-are the others okay?" she asked suddenly, I hint of worry in her voice.
"Yeah, they're all fine, simple plan and Lee have all been arrested too"

He pulled off his helmet and jacket, revealing a worn out t-shirt with a yellow 'Nimrod' dot on it. Sam's face instantly turned red in a blush.

"Oh. That's good." She said shyly.
"Indeedy it is."
"Yes."
"Yep"
"Sure"

An awkward silence followed (also another of Leisha's phobias).

"Uh... shall we go and back to the others now... ?" trailed Sam.

The sergeant (whose nametag said 'Nimrod Man') nodded, before turning and walking back down the hallway, Sam following a short distance behind.

***

"You're okay!" came the voices of Aska the Wicked Ass Goalkeeper, Leisha the Person of Many Phobias and Jaz the Rockin Drum Player with Spirit as Sam came into view behind Nimrod Man.
"Of course!"

The four girls jumped around excitedly before noticing a different AT's coming towards them.

"Uh... there's someone out in helicopter three who wants to see you four... and you need to take the cymbal with you... " He said, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.
"Uh... ok" said Jaz, as Aska picked up the cymbal and put it in her bag, leading the way to several helicopters and weaving through them.

They found helicopter three guarded by two AT's, who nodded at them and let them pass without a word.

The four girls hoisted themselves up into the helicopter and looked around for whoever wanted to see them. After looking around for a few seconds, they spotted someone in the back corner with their back to them. Whoever it was had thick, blonde hair that was frizzed up into a giant fluff-ball. They were also sniffling rather loudly, like a little kid.

"Uh... hello?" said Sam, a little confused.

The figure spun around, wiping his nose on the back of his sleave, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Billie Joe!" cried the three girls, who were all a little shocked to see a blonde Billie Joe.
"Oh! Hey guys... "
"What's wrong Billie?" asked Leisha in a concerned voice, "why are you crying?"
"M-Mike and Tré, they told me that, that-that my hair was stupid.

Billie let out a badly stifled sob.

"Oh Billie... " sighed Leisha, walking forward and giving him a hug.
"T-They don't appreciate how much work goes into this!" he said, gesturing to his hair, "I have to brush it, and straighten it, then spike it, and condition and moisturise it occasionally too! It takes a lot of work to look like this!"

All four girls rolled their eyes.

"Have you done sulking yet, Billie Joe?" came a voice from outside the helicopter.

There were heavy footsteps and the AT's turned to see Mike and Tré heading towards them.

"Oh, hey guys," said Tré, who still looked slightly depressed.
"Hi!" coursed the girls.

Mike looked over to Billie and sighed, before going over to him and taking over hugging duties from Leisha.

"Bill, I didn't mean your hair was stupid as in 'ugly', I meant stupid as in 'we don't really need to hear about it again'. You know I'd never call your hair 'stupid'.
"At least not while he can hear" muttered Tré to the four AT's, who laughed.
"Here" said Mike, handing Billie a tissue, who wiped his eyes carefully so he didn't mess his eyeliner. "You okay now?"

Billie nodded, hugging Mike, "thanks Mikey."

Mike stood up and turned to the four girls, "thanks for getting simple plan for us guys, finally they're off our backs."
"Heh, no worries," said Sam, brushing off his thanks.
"Actually, there is something we wanna show you guys... " said Aska, reaching into her bag and pulling out the AT's All-Purpose Collapsible Cymbal Bag©, handing it to Tré, "open it"

Tré took the bag and gasped as he unzipped it, the shiny metal of the cymbal catching the light.

"YOU FOUND IT! YOU FOUND MY CYMBAL!"

He pulled it entirely out of the bag, holding flat at his eyelevel so he could inspect it for any damage. Done checking, and seemingly satisfied that there was nothing wrong with the cymbal, he set it down on a seat and rushed forward to give all four girls a hug, even Aska, who usually hates hugging people, returned the hug warmly.

"Your welcome" said Jaz with a grin.
"So everyone's a big, happy family again now?" came yet another voice behind them, making everyone turn around to see who was speaking as Adie walked towards them with an amused smile on her face.
"Yep!" said Billie, who was also smiling.
"Hi Adie," said Mike, smiling at her before turning to the AT's. "Uh, AT's, this is Adie, Adie, this is Aska the Wicked Ass Goalkeeper, Leisha the Person of Many Phobias, Jaz the Rockin Drum Player with Spirit and Sam the One With Gravitational Pull, who are all members of the AT's teenie fighting organisation." He gestured to each girl as he introduced them.

Adie was looking at Sam's odd converse with an amused look on her face.

"Nice Chucks", she said with a grin.
"Yeah, they're pretty cool... "
Adie smiled, and then turned back to the three Green Day guys, "Rob said we're leaving soon, so we gotta get ready."
Okay," said Mike, "give us a minute."
"Sure" said Adie, turning back to the entrance of the helicopter, "well I guess I'll see you girls around sometime... so till then, bye," she gave a small wave, the four girls waving back before heading out of the helicopter.
"We better get ready too then... " said Tré, "thanks again for helping us... for getting my cymbal back."

He stepped forward and hugged all four girls before heading out of the helicopter.

Billie also stepped forward, grinning and hugging the girls, then turning to the entrance, "BYE!"

"I'll see you soon... maybe" said Mike, stepping forward and hugging Sam, Leisha, Jaz and...
"Uh, Aska... you can let go now... " said Mike, as she returned the hug.
"Oh, oops... " said Aska sheepishly as she let go of Mike and darted back to the others.
"Well... bye," said Mike, doing his famous wink before turning out of the helicopter.
"Bye!" said the girls.

***

"Ahh, finally we can relax" said Leisha, taking a swig of Pepso.

The four girls were now back at the house in Melton, chatting with Becky about the concert and just relaxing to the sound of Green Day coming over the stereo.

Sam walked past with a fresh can of tuna and sat down on the couch next to Leisha.

"Dammit, there's something poking into my arse," she said, standing back up and reaching into her back pocket, from where she pulled out a scrunched up piece of paper.
"What's that?" enquired Aska, who was sitting on the floor tapping her drumsticks on her knees.
"Dunno... " said Sam, un-scrunching the paper and smoothing it flat on her thigh. "Oh! It's the note that came with the AT's Magic Odd-Coloured Converse©. 'To my agent, these are my AT's Magic Odd-Coloured Converse© for use against Teenies. They are the only ones in the world, so use them well'." She read out loud.
"Wait, did you just say 'to my agent'?" asked Jaz.
"That's what it says here" said Sam, inspecting the note again.
"Then, then doesn't that mean that the leader of the AT's gave you that, if it says 'my' agent?"
"Hey wow... I think she's right" said Becky.

All five girls looked stunned.

"Cool!" said Aska, "anyone want another round of Pepso?" (You can tell Aska has a very short attention span, being a drummer and all... ).
"Yep!" they all said.

Aska got up and walked over to the mini-bar, pulling out five Pepso's and handed them out.

"Here's to the AT's finding Tré's lost cymbal!" she said, raising her bottle.
"To the AT's!" they all said, clinking their bottles and taking a sip.
"Let's just hope we the world of teenie fighting quietens down a little now... " said Becky.
"Yeah, like that'd ever happen" mumbled Aska under her breath with a smile.