Chapter 19

New friend, or foe?

Chapter 19, titled Ellene Andy, is the nineteenth chapter in Audition's KP The Series. Kim & Ron suddenly find themselves working under a new supporter who does nothing but making their life difficult - trouble rises up as usual, and this time Ron has had enough with they way things work he had to go ahead and change his future, on his own.

Storyline

One month has passed and everyone's back to work - today, Mr. Damon announces that the Audition Manager Team will move to Ocean Beach and everyone should go check out the new office. Kim is excited, but Ron is not because he is informed that the new office is exactly the same with their Los Santos HQ. Leo confirms this after they arrive at WK Chalk Hotel, and Kim wonders which idiot came up with this idea. Apparently their new supporter who donated money for this buliding, Ms. Ellene Andy, wanted it to be like this so Mr. Damon has no choice. Kim then heads upstairs and meet her new boss - the conversation doesn't sound so friendly at first, but Kim breaks off and head to work anyway. Ellen then informs Kim that she no longer needs to worry about social events - she will take it over so Kim just needs to fill up weekly reports, a "lighter job" like Ellene says. Kim however finds it more like demontion, having to do desk-job like a beginner. Soon, Ron arrives after Leo informed him that he is free from events handling too - he doesn't find it offensive but Kim does, and she is really sick of this. Kim then leaves the office and drive around to cool off - she really doesn't want to stay here much longer, as people are giving her and Ron less and less respect, despite that they have been contributing for this world for so long...

As Kim drives past Ocean Beach, Henry is seen heading to his car and driving to Vice Point to meet up with Andreas - turns out, he was the one asking Ellene to come to Vice City as an old friend, and this move effectively tires out Kim & Ron's patience. Their next step is to force Kim to retire from her job - once she is tired enough, Henry will mess up her delivery job so her salary will get cut. This involves setting up a traffic accident - because Kim knows their face, they will need an actor to do the job. Henry choose Heloise Flora, who just moved into town last week and is hungry for job, any job. That said, Andreas entrusts the operation to Henry, and ask him to not fail this time. Henry quickly heads off to meet with Heloise, who just spent her last dimes, and offers her a role in his "upcoming movie". To ensure Heloise is coming, Henry hands over a c$1000 deposit, knowing that she will not refuse since she needs to make some money real quick...

Two weeks later... Kim appears to be quite tired of the heavy amount of reports - she manages to finish them all and reports to Chad Garlik just in time. However, this is not the worst news yet - Chad tells Kim that due to Vice City growing so fast lately, Mr. Damon has decided to cancel monthly reports and replaced them with weekly reports. Now, they have to write and deliver 4 reports per month instead of just one like before - Ron is a bit worried that Kim will get overwhelmed, but she just decides to take them on by herself since Ron gets no money for these works at all, so she doesn't want to bother her boyfriend for nothing. This makes Ron even angrier, especially since Kirstein and VCPD still wasn't able to clear his name so he can get paid again. Kri only gives him another promise, which he doesn't buy anyway. Later on that night, he calls Kim to inform her that the truth is very near - however, Kim is too sleepy to keep up so the conversation ends quite early. Kim leaves her desk and head to bed to change clothes - meanwhile, Jim & Tim are discussing on their newest invention downstairs, and Tim decides to go ask sister about testing it for him. As Jim goes to Kim's room however, he finds his sister falling asleep before managing to put on new clothes - those report works must really drain her energy so much he thinks...

Eventually, the report day has arrived and Kim is to handle it herself - Mrs. Anne however, noticed that Kim heads off without taking her usual morning shower due to time shortage. Also Kim appears to be quite exhaused - right after leaving Starfish Island, she crashes head-on with an oncoming Sabre, which happens to be Henry and Heloise who's driving to Vice Point. Henry blames Kim for not reading traffic light but Kim is pretty sure that she saw green at that time. Regardless, Henry insists solving it at VCPD Station, while Kim is not exactly free to do so. She has to go there in the end, and things didn't turn out good for her as Kirstein can't verify her claim. He refuses to let Kim takes the blame and attempts to solve this matter to the end, trapping Kim at VCPD station while she really need to deliver the reports.

Later on, Ron notices Kim is not coming to pick him up - his car is still out of order so he has no choice but to walk to the office. Thankfully, Chad comes along and give him a lift - he guesses Kim is attending the usual meeting where they submit the weekly report, and this week she's on double-duty thanks to Chad working outside. Inside, Ron finds out that Kim was late on delivering her report - Mr. Damon couldn't care less what happened to her, and he simply followed the rule, cutting her salary in half this month. Both Ron and Leone are very upset, yet Ron doesn't want Kim to - so, he asks Leone for help with the old "hiding the truth" trick, which Leo accepts. Eventually five hours later, Kim was released, and Monique gives her a ride to her office - it's so ridiculous that the traffic tech is at fault here, yet she has to stay inside for so long. It's already lunch break - Kim can only hope that Mr. Damon goes easy on her with this late delivery. However, Leo stops her, saying that Mr. Damon is busy so nobody's allowed inside. Kim insists that she has to deliver this week's report, and Leo states that he will do it for her, then grab the briefcase and run inside before she could react.

At the end of the day, Ron leaves the office with Monique - he is glad that Mr. Damon wasn't angry with Kim, but Monique wonders if she still got salary cut or not. For that matter, Ron is sure that it didn't happen - the money was handed to him so he gives it to Monique, asking her to forward it to Kim later on. It's a bit weird as they usually got paid via bank transfer - Ron claimed that the system might be broken or something, but Monique doesn't buy it. Nevertheless, she delivers the cash to Kim along with her concern anyway - Kim guesses she'd better question Ron about it later. For now, Kim has to meet up with Goku and pays him for car repair service. Later on, she drops by North Point Mall for some shopping, meeting Vio on the way. Mr. Hans also notices Kim bought much less than last month - he guesses she's having financial trouble, just like Ron. Transley also complains that Ron broke his promise of buying her a discounted shirt, despite the fact that he still ensured he'd do it yesterday. Something's obviously wrong - Ron should still have the c$1000 leftover from the last time - how could he go broke so fast? Knowing that it's useless to ask Ron, Kim goes to the twins instead - the device Jim showed her last time could help. He takes the chance to offer a full version for his sister, which contains much more features - that means some tips, Kim know. Thanks to it, she was able to sniff out Ron's SMS conversation with Jenny, detailing what happened and how he handled it. Feeling guilty for spending all of his hard-work money this afternoon, Kim seeks her mom's advice, and Mrs. Anne told her that the best way to redeem this is to earn back that cash via working. While the usual music-related stuff will attract attention, Mrs. Anne believes normal labor works will be fine, just like the old time...

Eventually Kim comes to accept that she will take a part-time job outside Vice City to earn money to pay Ron back - this means taking a 2 weeks off, too, and it could be a good revenge for Ellene, who has been nothing but a nuisance for her. Ellene sure isn't so happy, but Kim uses her own word against her, stating that Ellene should just take responsibility for a lead supporter. Monique however, isn't so sure that Kim should just leave quietly, but Kim knows she has to, after Ron lied to her in the first place. She tells Monique not to let Ron know, but Monique does so regardless - of course, she makes sure to inform Ron that he was at fault her for that clumsy trick of him, and it's best to let her be for now. Without anything to do in the next two weeks, Ron is asked by Leo to help managing Made By Me event - that was originally Ellene's task, but due to Kim deserting for the next 2 weeks, Ellene has no choice but to take over her desk work, leaving MBM opened for people like Ron. Although, all he has to do is keep some submitted artworks over at his mansion till the event deadline - as Ron drives past the office, Jim & Tim are seen strolling across the street, and they soon setup a Job Wanted poster, recruiting people to help testing their new inventions. Jim is confident that a simple experiment for c$1.000 will attract lots of people, and in the end they will make at least c$50.000 more - not bad for one busy day's worth.

Later on that night, a girl comes to apply for Jim & Tim's work - she's in dire need of some quick cash and doesn't mind any weird expirement at all. Tim then hands her a pink cap and asks her to go to sleep for 10-20 minutes. She does so, and receives her payment as Tim promised. He then rejoins his brother inside - their memory chip worked as they expect, recording a person's memory into a video diary. Jim thinks they don't need to ask, everything's pretty much accurate - however, he does take notice that this girl was the one involved with Kim's accident. Through some unusual evidence revealed in her memory, the duo concludes that Henry was the one messing with sister, so they should be able to uncover this by approaching Henry.

The next day, Jim & Tim seek Chad for help - though reluctant, he agrees to distract Dan at the Planning Department so Jim & Tim can sneak in. They approach the security room and take a fingerprint sample with their portable scanner - now all that's left is to somehow acquire Henry's for comparison. Later on, Henry is seen telling Heloise that the film was put on hold (now that his plan has completed) - after leaving her, he jogs around Little Haiti, when he's suddenly hit by a football thrown by Tim. Tim asks for his ball back, and Henry does a hard throw, knocking out Tim in the process. That was not in their plan and Tim is obviously not so pleased, but at least they've got Henry's fingerprints - Jim did a quick compare and it's a match, which mean Henry indeed messed up the security cameras on Ocean Beach to stall Kim during that accident. The twins then go to VCPD Station and hands Kirstein their investigation result so he can arrest Henry. Kirstein agrees to do his duty, and whilst Henry insists he didn't do nothing wrong, the court eventually judges him guilty after verifying Jim & Tim's evidence - thus, he has to pay remedy to both Kim and Vice City for vandalism and causing accidents.

In the end, Jim & Tim are very satisfied that not only their sister got back her loss income but she actually got a bonus of c$4000 over it - they tell Ron that since the sitch has been solved, Ron can call sister and tell her she won't need to work anymore. Ron agrees and heads off for a walk - he comments on financial problem when bumping into Heloise by chance. Heloise asks for a ride to Ocean Bay Marina and Ron accepts - they then continue talking about "financial issue", and Heloise eventually reveals her story to Ron. It seems that after all she's done, she is still c$1000 short to save her house - the time is up, so Heloise guesses she just gotta accept her fate and go back. Feeling sympathy for Heloise, Ron offers to "buy" her off for c$1000 - this surprises Heloise, but Ron quickly explains that by "buying", he meant he's gonna throw her into his comic as a side character, and the money is for her permission. The deal is successful, and Ron later on tells Kim about it - she understands why he made that decision and doesn't have any complain. Ron also informs her about Jim & Tim's work, admitting his little scheme in the process - while Kim accepts his apologize for tricking her, she also insists to work off the money she blew away instead. She then hangs up and get back to her Pizza Boy, delivering one piece for Katz at Venice Beach. It seems that most of her friends in Los Santos understand her concern and decide to give her orders just so she can finish her job and go back to Vice City soon.

(To be continued)