DREAM OF LIFE (7271)
Directed
by Karina M.
7270/DoL ©2001 Justin Lo; S. Kinosamew
Little
rattles in the air and leaves prostrate on the ground,
I’m
here and standing on two feet as the world goes around,
Alone,
maybe, because I can’t see anyone,
Thinking,
maybe, because I yearn for fun.
I
smile and all I get back is an empty whistle,
I
laugh and all I get back is a cough-like rustle;
My
life I spend achieving,
But
no one appreciates it and I end up grieving …
Please
love me! I
Promise
I’ll love you back!
It’s
lonely with no one to talk to,
Meow,
And
I want you by my side.
I’ll
congratulate you,
And
I’ll sing with you,
And
I’ll paint the flowers for you,
I
just want you to stay with me
So
I can share my joys with you.
Joy
is nothing when I can only tell it to myself,
I
write it down, store it, and stick it on a shelf.
The
joy wants to unfold into the essence of heaven,
It
wants to bounce around, touching the sisters and brethren,
But
if I can’t speak and share,
I
become disheartened, filled with despair.
I
want to be kind to people, and to be generous,
But
with no one to personally care for, it all seems so superfluous …
Please
love me! I
Promise
I’ll love you back!
It’s
lonely with no one to talk to,
Friend,
And
I want you by my side.
I’ll
help you,
And
I’ll answer you with truth,
And
I’ll write your name ten thousand times
So
I can share my joys with you.
Please
love me! I
Promise
I’ll love you back!
It’s
lonely with no one to talk to,
Love,
And
I want you by my side.
I’ll
hug you,
And
I’ll write for you,
And
I’ll grow up for you,
So
I can share my joys with you.
You
open my eyes up to the world;
You
tell me that the leaves aren’t dead;
They’re
listening,
Listening
to me.
You
tell me that the world will love me
As
much as you do,
And
I believe you,
I
trust you.
Please
love me! It’s
All
that I could ask for.
Maybe
you’re lonely, too.
…
…
I
promise I’ll love you back.
Prelude.
“Ohhh! I’m late, I’m late, I’m late and Gurin’s
gonna smack me silly if I don’t get this antidote to him!” wailed a young woman
as she stomped on the gas pedal of her car as if it’d try a little harder just
to avoid a beating.
The
car’s poor exhaust pipe was already spewing out enough steam, for this was a
water-gas car that ran on hydrogen, and so it decided to just quit for awhile
and let the steam leak out at various other points along the pipe. The woman quickly steered off the highway
and flew onto the ramp. As the
green-light relieved the red-light of the duty of lighting the nighttime sky,
the woman continued along until she came to the hospital, and then she turned
and parked in the first space that she could find that was open; the parking
lot was congested enough full of cars and she couldn’t afford to waste her time
trying to find a better spot.
“Here,
Gurin: the antidote that you asked for,” she said, thrusting her arm forward,
holding a small bag.
“I’m
surprised that you still have your youthful strength. I thought you’d slow the pace when you had your kid.” Gurin laughed a little and drank the small
vial of liquid inside. “Yeah, good as
ever. Thanks.”
“Any
time,” replied the woman.
Outside, a policeman came up to the woman’s car and noticed, to his disgust, that it was parked in the disabled visitors’ spot.
“What
kind of heartless bastard would park here?
I’m gonna get mrmeow for this,” he growled, twirling out his ticket
notebook and writing a ticket for CD2400 ($300). “Let’s see how many times mrmeow’ll dare to infringe the laws of
Catliania and Emily the Great.”
The
woman exited the hospital and returned to her car and noticed a peculiar slip
of paper on her windshield.
“Oh,
my!” she commented when she lifted the paper and saw the fine. “I guess I have to pay up.”
She
drove over to the nearest police station to pay her fine and get it over
with. However, the station was off for
the night, letting the other stations take over, so the woman pulled out a set
of keys and let herself in. She came to
the desk of the manager of fines and wrote a check for the man, leaving a small
note and the ticket. After that, she
giggled a bit and then left, locking the door behind her.
The
next morning, the manager of fines sat down sleepily at his desk having stayed
up all night watching the men’s collegiate basketball championship; who
couldn’t resist watching University of Conodee and University of Newagon at
Catland, rivals for eternity, duke it out?
So he let his coffee cup clatter down and stared at his days’ work.
“Huh?”
he mouthed, looking at the little note.
After all, it isn’t every day that one gets a note with a million
dollars attached and little sorry note that says, “Oops, I guess I broke my own
law. Here’s my payment. Keep the change.
-
Queen
Emily I of Catliania.
“Hwa,
hwa, hwa, Emily-ména. That’s just sad!”
blurted Anna-mié, the Queen’s younger sister who was home from college for
winter break.
“I
know, but it happens. Anyway, enjoying
your time away from the castle?”
“Well,
more cute guys in a smaller area … yeah, yeah, I like it!”
Emily
just laughed and when her gentle waves of giggles ceded, she noticed that the
phone was ringing with great determination.
“Oh,
wait, Anna,” she said as she grabbed the phone.
“Yes? This is Queen Emily. What can I help you with?”
“Hello,
this is Nisuna. I’ve got some strange
news. The Oracle stones are saying that
we must locate and ‘rescue’ a boy by the name of ‘Justin Lo.’”
“And? Isn’t that just King Justin?”
“Well,
here’s the catch: the stones say that we must travel far to reach his world,
and that he is our creator.”
“Huh? That makes no sense whatsoever. Our solar system was born no differently
than any others ….”
“That’s
where you’re wrong, Emily. I’ve known
this for some time. You see, we’re
actually … imaginary characters.”
“Then
how do we go about rescuing him if he’s in the real world?”
“He
has breathed enough life into us that we can go and interact with him actively
now. Other people will see us, but only
he can be affected by us,” said Nisuna.
“Then
what are we waiting for?” asked Emily.
“Actually,
nothing. I’ve got all our stuff over
here. Fifteen years is too long a time
to be apart.”
“Yeah,
I remember 7256. Wild year, huh?”
“You
were a major factor that added to the wildness,” commented Nisuna.
“Let’s
just get going. Who else is coming?”
“Juliya,
Justin, Jessica, Meow-Meow, Meowy, and Sara.”
“What
about Henry and Alice?”
“They’re
busy.”
“O.K.”
“Bye.”
“Hello.”
Meanwhile,
the real Justin Lo was at home, drawing character sketches for his next story,
Dream of Life, Episode 10 of the Catleya Saga.
He felt that it would be the only way for him to defeat his greatest
fears and move on with life. Little did
he know that his friends would soon be visiting him.
The
eight travelers, Nisuna, Emily, Juliya, Justin, Jessica, Meow-Meow, Meowy, and
Sara boarded their cramped spaceship that would take them across thousands of
lightyears to get to Justin.
“Why
just one person?” asked Emily. “Can’t
we save everyone on that planet?”
“No,
we can’t. Remember, we’re imaginary?”
“Oh,
yeah. That’s right.”
“Ooooh,
boy. This is going to fun,” drawled
Nisuna as she flopped onto a makeshift couch, taking up one too many seats.
“Meow! Get off my seat!” shrieked Sara.
Nisuna
crinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue, saying, “But I’m tired! I don’t have to move.”
The
other passengers promptly plugged their ears and rolled their eyes. Fun indeed.
The busy streets of Chapel
Hill were just a tad bit more busy than usual, for eight shady characters sort
of popped through a planar warp and landed on the sidewalk.
A boy eyed the bunch and an
older boy decided that it would be a better use of his eyesight to eye, or
rather ogle, a particular female cat.
Sara looked around nervously, noticing the indecent boy.
Sara hissed and began to
approach the boy but Nisuna motioned her aside, walking up the boy, who had
switched he gaze to the really cute goddess.
Nisuna frowned and swung her conscience-hammer, connecting directly with
the boy’s guilt nerves. He wriggled in
the pain of guilt and apologized profusely to Sara and Nisuna.
“I always get people to
shape up, no?” asked Nisuna, taking her “I’m the goddess of goddesses” pose,
which, strangely enough, when coupled with her wonderful proportions, tended to
make people shape down a lot more than her hammer made people shape up. Oh, well, you try, don’t you, Nisuna …?
The younger boy walked up to
Sara.
“Are you a cat?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Do you sing like a cat?”
Sara scowled and asked,
“What are you trying to imply about my wonderful voice? I dare you to say that I howl like a boot.”
The boy just blinked, trying
to figure out how boots howled.
“Nevermind,” added Sara when
she couldn’t quite figure out how boots howled, either. “Anyhow, I’m Sara Kinosamew, the cutest and
loveliest cat pop singer you’ll ever meet.
Nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too. Um … you’re not much into being humble,
hmm?” the boy asked.
“Considering what I just
said, not really. But I’m not a
complete airhead or anything, so I can back myself up pretty well. And I am damn cute, you have to admit that.”
“Yeah,” the boy said. “Can I get your autograph … or your picture
… or both?” he asked meekly.
“Sure. Let’s get onto that wall so that Justin or
Juliya can use mrmeow’s camera get us both where no other people are in the
way.”
Sara pranced up the ten foot
wall with one leap. The boy just stood
there.
“Maybe this isn’t such a
good idea,” murmured Sara.
She descended and landed silently. By this time, everyone was staring at this
silly cat-girl. What was she trying to
accomplish? This was emphasized by the
fact that Sara was now in the middle of the street. She noticed several cars coming towards her and she started
running on all fours to outrun the cars.
<Fast,> thought the
boy. <She could get the mile in 3
minutes, easily, at that clip. I never
noticed her muscular strength before.
Are all cat-people like that?>
Meow-Meow and Meowy leaned
against the wall and talked to each other as Sara bounced back and forth around
the town.
“Um, Meowy. About her marrying into our family ….”
“It’ll be O.K., Meow-Meow, I
promise. She’s a smart one; she just
pretends to be dumb.”
“She sure likes pretending.”
“Let’s hope so.”
After
subduing Sara with ice cream and bringing the little boy with them for the time
that the boy’s parents were shopping, the group stopped by the forest.
Sara
began to speak, “Sorry about whatever mess I caused. I’ll sing a song for you.”
<Oh,
no. A pop love song,> thought the
boy.
As the music starts, I begin
to dance,
I forget, and I know little
of what I do.
I lose myself
And I feel so great, but at
what cost do I smile?
As green mosses sweep down
the crevices in the wall,
I’ll grab a bunch and let it
trace my body.
It tugs my waist and I’ll
let it dance with me
And I feel so great, but at
what cost do I smile?
Tomorrow I’ll have to work
again,
But every day I work ‘til
dusk.
I’m working for my dream
So that I don’t have to
forget everything just to smile.
When the sun tickles my pale
yet mellow skin,
I feel the little bubbly
feeling and I brush myself with the moss.
And then if I look at the
world all over again and I remember
Then maybe, one day, I can
smile without forgetting.
If fate can be defeated
And destiny defied,
I’ll climb that moss and
stand atop the summit
And I’ll smile … and hope.
“Like it?” asked Sara, putting her microphone back into her right-back pocket of her cut-off denim shorts.
“Yeah. It wasn’t about love?”
“What
made you think it would be?”
“Well
….”
“A
lot of my songs are about love. But
this one I wrote for a movie that had nothing to do with love so I didn’t write
about love. It’s just too bad I never
got to sing it. I sang the opening
theme for that movie, though.”
“If
you didn’t sing it, then it isn’t really yours, is it?”
“But
I wrote it.”
The
boy’s eyes widened. “You wrote the
lyrics?”
“The
song and the lyrics, of course.”
“Wow,
you’re amazing.”
“Thanks.”
<Not
many pop singers can write intelligent songs these days.>
The
eight, after leaving the boy to his parents, headed toward Justin’s house. Along the way, they encountered a homeless
man walking down the street. As could
be expected, Juliya rushed over to him and gave him some money.
“Where
did she get the local currency from?” asked Emily to Justin.
“I
think she brought some gold bracelets to sell,” suspected Justin.
“But
I thought we couldn’t affect anybody except Justin.”
“Maybe
we were wrong, Justin. Maybe the real
Justin made us so real that we could interact as independent beings,” suggested
Emily.
Justin
sat down on a wooden log at the edge of the bike shoulder of the street and
thought.
“Not
many people’d be giving me money these days,” said the man to Juliya.
“Why
not?” she asked, innocently as ever.
<The model girl,> thought Justin.
<Wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone were as kind as Juliya?>
“People
think that all we do is go and use this money to drink or shit like that.”
“I
guess some people would, though. I’m
trusting that you can do something better than spend this on … shit and
stuff. Right?” asked Juliya.
“Yeah. Thanks,” said the man, continuing his
stroll.
“What
a pitiful world,” said Juliya.
“Apparently, people are giving up on compassion because the other end
fails to do the right thing.”
“Time
for my hammer,” said Nisuna.
Justin
barged into the conversation. “Guys,
forget it for now. I think I’ve gotten
it all straightened out. Look at your
watch.”
Juliya,
Nisuna, and Emily looked at their watches.
Meow-Meow and Meowy looked at their furry arms. Sara tried to find her cell phone in her
shorts, but failed. The three who
actually had watches nodded their heads.
“Time
is stopped,” said Juliya.
“But
how can people move around when time is frozen?” asked Emily.
“This
is a dream. Time is still passing, but
very slowly.” Justin stopped for a
moment and then repeated, “We are in a dream –”
“-
and it’s Justin’s dream. It’ll only be
a few minutes long, but it’ll serve as a month-long rescue and rehab sort of
project,” finished Nisuna. “Let’s get
going then. We don’t have forever.”
Sara
looked over at Juliya’s watch, whose second hand creeped too slowly for
fast-paced Sara to notice. “It sure
does seem like we have forever.”
Jessica,
Juliya and Justin’s 15-year-old daughter, just sat down. <Why am I not speaking as much as I
usually do?> she wondered.
“Where
are we trying to go?” whined Meowy,
shooting a look of contempt at the general direction of his fur. The South isn’t pleasant for furry creatures
that come from a cooler climate.
“Don’t
complain,” said the snow leopard, Meow-meow.
“You have nothing to complain about.
Nothing at all!”
Nisuna
stared a little at her map before lifting her face and aligning the world
around her with the map that she had now memorized. “The house is right over there,” she motioned, swinging her arm
out to point, barely missing Emily’s face.
“Watch
it,” warned Emily.
“Where?”
asked Juliya, who had been caught up in the elegant breeze and the smell of an
exotic countryside.
“There,”
repeated Nisuna; this time, both Nisuna and Juliya pointed toward the house,
and their hands sandwiched Emily, who promptly stomped off towards the
house. “Stupid violent people,” she
muttered, not realizing that cars do not stop for pedestrians very often in the
real world. She heard a screech and she
jerkily leapt twenty feet into the air with ease, landing back down after the
car had passed. The drivers said
nothing and swore to say nothing, because nobody deserved to know about weirdos
who somersaulted like grasshoppers in the middle of the road. Emily was quite frustrated by now, and with
good reason, so she clenched her fists and ran over to the house, pounding the
doorbell until it got sick and quit ringing.
Justin,
being the only one at home, tiptoed down the stairs and looked suspiciously at
the figure standing behind the door. A
smiling queen turned the face him and he nearly fell off the stairs in
surprise. <Emily? What in the world is going on here?> he
thought to himself. <No way, no way,
no way.> He was hesitant to open the
door with to a complete stranger, despite the fact that she had an uncanny
resemblance to his character sketches.
The rest of the group caught up with Emily with relative ease, Juliya
and her family via the sidewalk, Nisuna gliding by air, and the cats racing
through the grass of other peoples’ yards.
Seeing
his most wonderful creation (Juliya) standing out there, he couldn’t deny his
temptation to open the door any longer.
The eight froze, erect, for a few seconds after Justin opened the door.
“How
can I help you?” asked Justin to a lot of familiar faces.
“Ummm
… we’re here to resc …,” began Juliya before she trailed off, realizing the
absurdity of what she was saying. She
was not one to make a fool of herself, being the self-conscious and sensitive
woman that she was. However, Sara was
quite another story.
“We’re
here to take you back to our planet,” she said matter-of-factly.
“So
you’re here to kidnap me?” Justin asked nonchalantly, or at least appearing to
do so.
“Pretty
much,” said Nisuna. “Except it isn’t
quite kidnapping if you want to come, right?”
“But
I can’t go. I have too much work to do
for school,” Justin argued, preparing the shut the door on these strange people.
“Give
us a chance, Justin. We’re really here
to rescue you,” pleaded Nisuna.
Something just clicked at that moment.
Perhaps it was the way Nisuna’s halo started to get tired of sitting up
there and began to glide around while glittering, or maybe it was Juliya’s
sad-puppy face, but in any case, Justin knew that these creatures were
authentic.
“Yes,
I understand. Let me get my stuff, OK?”
said Justin.
“Score!”
cried Jessica, who hugged Justin. “Bro,
you hurry up, OK? We don’t have much
time.”
“Gotcha,”
said Justin, rushing upstairs to grab his stuff. Justin just blew his family and home a kiss goodbye and took his
duffelbag downstairs.
Meowy
simply nodded and led the group out to the streets. Some people scuttled away, some stopped and stared, and some just
whistled on. A tree bent down to talk
to Nisuna, who was right behind Meowy.
“Hi,”
greeted the tree.
Nisuna
was a bit startled, but did not show it at all. “Hi,” she replied. “Do
you need something?”
“Well,
maybe you could get me a cup of water.
I’m downright parched.”
“O.K.,”
accepted Nisuna. She threw a little
sand into the sky and rain came down, watering the tree.
“Thanks,”
said the tree. Nisuna smiled and walked
on, feeling her ego get a little boost.
The
group reached Emily’s spaceship with relative ease, and it had not been touched
by anything but bacteria. Nisuna sent
the bacteria on their way, for it simply would not do to have alien bacteria
killing off the population back home, nor would it do to “sanitize” the area and
cause the god of bacteria great anguish.
“Are
we goin’ or what?” chirped Jessica, who seemed to be back in her normal
mood. Of course, she never let her
problems show; she simply acted nice and cheery like she was expected to.
“Yeah!”
everyone yelled as they hopped in.
Emily took controls and maneuvered a safe escape from the Earth’s
atmosphere. Earth Justin looked around
nervously.
“Looking
for anything?” asked Jessica with a childish look of curiosity.
“Just
making sure I didn’t forget anything,” said Earth Justin. He looked a little stressed, but he knew
that this was normal for him so he didn’t really stress out about it.
Jessica
gleamed and reassured Justin, “It’ll be fine.
We’ve got everything you’d need on this ship and at home.”
“You’re
… my daughter, right?” Earth Justin asked.
“Well,
sorta – I mean you aren’t my dad but my Justin is. I think we should act like siblings, not like parent to daughter,
like, you know.”
Earth
Justin grimaced and probed, “Do you need
to say like, like, that many, like, times?”
“Naw,
I’m just playin’ with you. You know,
what’s it like to be real? Is it …
comfortable, or maybe painful?”
“It’s
OK, I guess, but it isn’t very fun. I
never put much thought to that subject before … but being real is kinda rough
and saddening.”
Jessica
let her head fall a little. “Since
you’re like a brother, do you think I could to talk to you – in private?”
“If
you trust me to that extent,” said Justin, shrugging.
“Yes,
I do; and I’ll call you Bro from now on to get rid of the confusion, ‘K.?”
Jessica
led Justin over to her quarters and gestured for him to sit on a small armchair
next to a TV.
“Um
… I was just wondering what you think I should do,” Jessica began.
“About
what?” interjected Justin.
Jessica
glared a little and then lightened up.
“Silly, if you don’t interupt, I can explain things more clearly. You see, I’ve been having problems lately
with who I am. I’m not like other
people, I’ve realized. And I can’t
stand being myself.”
“Why
not?” asked Bro intently. <She
sounds just like myself,> he thought.
“Well,
it has to do with Mom and Pop, you know.
They’re really nice people – really – but they’re both
overacheivers. They want to push me
beyond my intellectual capabilities.
I’m smart and I get good grades but that isn’t enough for them.”
“Then
tell them to lay off. Have you spoken
to them about this before?”
“They
don’t understand, Justin, because they felt that they had to be pushed that way
when they were little and now they try to push me. It hurts, Brother.”
“You
can cry if you want.”
Jessica
laughed a bit and gave Justin a strange look.
“What made you think I wanted to cry?”
Bro
just sat there pensively, looking to be carefully scanning his thoughts to
piece together a response. “I cried the
last time I talked about feeling the same way you did. It made me feel better.”
“You
go, man! That’s natural, but I don’t
need to cry right now. I just don’t cry
much, at least not externally. But I
don’t know … I don’t feel so good right now.”
“I
think you should let yourself off the hook.
If Justin and Juliya really are pinning you up there, just … take off
your shirt and jump down … no sick things implied.”
“Yeah,
I know what you mean … but how? I ask a
lot out of myself. I want to keep up my
friendships – I’m outgoing even though I am a little geeky and boyish (like
most of the girls Justin comes up with).
It’s hard to balance that with my desire to learn and to be ranked
number one in my class.”
Bro
scratched his head and said, “Study with your friends. It’s the way Justin and Juliya coped with
their mess when they were little. Go
and watch a movie with them over the weekend and focus on your classes during
the weekdays. There are times that you
can sacrifice for friendship, like watching TV or lying there in bed after the
sun reaches its peak.”
“It’s
not easy like that, you know,” muttered Jessica.
“Sheesh,
I know whatcha mean, Sis. I think
that’s part of the reason why you guys came to ‘rescue’ me.”
“Um-hmm,
probably so. Well, don’t tell Mom and
Pop about this, OK?” Jessica implored.
“Sure
thing, Sis,” replied Earth Justin as he left for the main bridge.
Jessica
got up and opened her mouth as if preparing to say something, but she never got
anything out before Justin was long gone.
A
small wimp of a wind fluttered about its business when it was swept aside by
more vicious winds emanating from a particular piece of metal flying through
the wind. The view from the bridge
became clearer and clearer.
“Wow
… you don’t get to see this every day,” commented Earth Justin.
Juliya
walked up to Earth Justin and smiled at him warmly, like a mother. “I just wanted to tell you that you’ll be
staying with us in the palace. You get
room #406, which is on the 4th floor, sixth room as you go down the
corridor from the main left-wing elevator.”
“Sure,”
said Earth Justin.
“Also,
don’t fall for any of the girls on the planet, cuz none of them are real,”
Juliya warned.
“Sure,”
said Earth Justin.
“Here’s
some spending money, so you can go and get comfortable with this place before
we get to work, yes?”
Earth
Justin stared at the lump of $60,000 Conodee Dollars. “What’s the exchange rate?”
“$48
Conodee to one USD, as of last week.
The value’s going up pretty quickly, what with the good economy.”
“OK,
thanks.”
Sara
wandered around as the ship began to land.
A loud screech jolted most people who were wearing seatbelts while it
sent Sara straight into the ceiling, her claws tightly embedded into the metal
frame.
“Don’t
mess up my ship, girl,” said Emily.
Sara
just twitched her nose and jumped back down, pouncing to the window. Little droplets of water were still there
from passing through the clouds. Her
nose ran into the window and she rubbed it a little. “La-la-la,” she hummed as she wiped the window with her paw,
making it even harder to see through.
Emily
concentrated on her landing, straining to ignore Sara. Meow-Meow and Meowy were sound asleep, and
they would occasionally shed a fur and make Earth Justin sneeze. When the ship landed, Meow-Meow and Meowy
were still sound asleep, now snoring.
Earth Justin and Sara were staring out the window, Emily was wiping her
brow, Nisuna was trying to call her sister, Justin and Juliya were hugging each
other, and Jessica had passed out from dizziness.
“Ack,
Sis!” cried Earth Justin when he looked at the seat next to him.
“She’ll
be fine,” said Emily. “It happens a lot
to her. She has a sensitive body.”
“OK,”
said Earth Justin as he calmed down.
“Could
you carry her to the car?” asked Emily.
“Probably
not,” said Earth Justin as he proceeded to put his arms below Jessica’s
shoulders and knees. She was
surprisingly light, though she did not seem to be very slim – rather, she was
of average size. Earth Justin didn’t
complain one bit, though, and he still struggled a bit, for his strength was
quite insufficient.
“You
should try learning some martial arts,” said Sara. “Meow-meow-type, of course.
Cats are the masters of all forms of fighting!” The cat grinned and crossed her arms.
“Ookay,”
said Justin, “maybe when I have time this weekend or something I can study
under you.”
Sara
smiled and ran away, leaving the remaining eight to find their cars. When Juliya, Justin, and Jessica found their
car, they waved to Earth Justin. Earth
Justin gave quick goodbyes to the others, knowing that this would only be
temporary. The four J’s got into their
car and left for home.
“So,
what am I supposed to do here?” asked Earth Justin.
“Well,
Bro, I think that you’re supposed to release yourself from certain bonds that
lock you from the outside world, like your bond to this world, for instance,”
explained Jessica.
“I
am not leaving this world behind!”
growled Earth Justin.
Jessica
cringed and said, “Well, if that is so, maybe you need to find another solution
before we make you forget about this place.
But that’s definitely not it.”
“What
else is there, Jessie?”
“Well,
you must also defeat your greatest enemies: your negative emotions.”
“Yeah,
right,” said Earth Justin.
Jessica
made a serious face and asked, “You do consider them your worst enemies, yes?”
Earth
Justin just sighed and looked down, as if that would let him see into himself
more clearly.
“You
have a boyfriend?” asked Earth Justin spontaneously.
“Nope,
no way; there’s no way I could ever have a boyfriend … not ever.”
“Why
such a strong denial?”
“All
the guys I like … they’re like me … not ready to give up time for a
relationship. Like you, I guess.”
“Oh,
well, somebody’ll notice you when the time is right, and don’t you turn that
guy down just because you gotta study or somethin’, OK?”
“Yeah,”
said Jessica, shaking hands with Earth Justin.
“Where
do you guys want to eat?” inquired Catleyan Justin from the driver’s seat.
“Anywhere’s fine,” said Earth Justin.
“Yeah,
what he said,” said Jessica.
“You
bored?” asked Jessica. “I have a CD
player and stuff if you want to use them.”
“Nah,
I’m fine.”
Earth
Justin looked out the window at the beautiful world around him. Everything settled into exactly the right
place, a pristine landscape, built by his own imagination. Where was this?
“OK,
we’re home!” exclaimed Jessica as the group marched into the palace.
“Ah,
Jessica, do you need anything?” asked an administrator.
“Hmm? I don’t believe so … thank you, though. How are the finances working out?”
“Very
well, Jessica. Would you like to look
over the current calculations?”
“You
can leave that to Mom and Dad. I’m
gonna show Bro over here the town, OK?
Good look on the treasury.”
“Yes,
Jessica,” said the administrator as the two bowed to each other. Jessica grabbed Earth Justin’s hand and led
him to his room (#406 for those of you who forgot).
“You
get ready, Bro. I’ll wait for you
downstairs in the reception room,” said Jessica hurriedly. She ran down the hall and disappeared down
the stairs. Earth Justin threw his bags
into his room and slumped down onto his bed.
<I’m
really tired,> thought Earth Justin, <but I don’t want to make Jessica
wait too long. Maybe I’ll take a short
na-.>
Justin
went down with face in the comforter, snoring away. Jessica, meanwhile, was busy watching the latest episode of
Nisuna mew Norime, so she didn’t give Justin’s lateness any second
thought. Soon, dusk came and Justin was
still fast asleep, drooling all over the silken comforter. Nisuna stepped in to take a peek and had the
courtesy to lift his head and wipe up the yicky mess.
<Just
a little kid,> thought Nisuna as she flew out of the room.
Jessica
walked over to the kitchen to watch her mom cook dinner.
“Jessie! Weren’t you supposed to show Justin around
town?”
“Ohh!”
shouted Jessica, realizing that she had forgotten all about Justin. “Well it’s his fault for not coming
down. He must be pooped, so I’ll wait
till tomorrow.”
“Whatever
you say, Jessie.”
Jessica
rushed upstairs, calling out Justin’s name as she did so. <I hope he’s alright. It’s not like him to take his time … at
least that’s what I think.>
“Bro!”
called Jessica.
Nisuna
decided to take matters into her own hands and broke into Justin’s room, shaking
the young boy.
“Hey,
dude, wake up!” she said, her halo lighting the room.
“Umf
… too bright … turn it off, turn it off,” groaned Justin, still half-asleep.
“Wish
I could, but you’ll have to put up with it.
After all, it is part of me.”
“Huh?”
said Justin, puzzled.
“Sleepyhead,”
muttered Jessica as she saw that Justin was perfectly fine, albeit a little red
in the eyes and completely out of control of his mouth. “Let him rest, Nisuna.”
“Yeah,”
said Justin, falling down. Nisuna’s
grip on his hair made falling down a little painful. “Yeeouch, you idiot! What
are you doing?!”
Jessica
looked at Nisuna and deadpanned, “So much for respect for a goddess, right?”
“Hmph,
I guess I’ll just stoop down to his level, then,” said Nisuna with a wicked smirk. She began to tickle Justin until he was
laughing uncontrollably, forcing Nisuna and Jessica to fall down, giggling
hysterically. Jessica, fortunately,
landed on soft rug; Nisuna, unfortunately, whipped her head right into the
local chair.
“Sheesh,
Nisuna, you could be a little more subtle about waking me up.”
“One’d
think I didn’t even try,” said Nisuna, rubbing her head after colliding with
the chair.
“You
OK, Nisuna?” asked Jessica.
“As
good as ever – I’m resilient, you know; if I could take on five swordsmen plus
the Head-Demoness of the Underworld, I’m sure I could take on a chair.”
“Whatever
you say, Nisuna,” stated Jessica, poking Nisuna on the head out of impulse.
“Ow
ow ow ow. Hey, I didn’t give you
permission to touch my head! It hurts …
damn,” cursed Nisuna, noticing a little bleed of white energy.
“Need
a Band-aid?” suggested Justin.
“Yes,
please,” replied Nisuna. Justin reached
into his duffel bag and removed a small bandage.
“Here,”
said Justin.
“Thanks
… ow ow ow ow,” spat Nisuna.
Jessica
and Justin left to go eat downstairs while Nisuna tried to exit via the sky
except that the ceiling was in the way.
The makeshift siblings heard a crash followed by some cursing from a
familiar Queen of the Heavens who had just made contact with a chair earlier.
That
evening, Earth Justin ate rather quietly, which was quite in contrast with the
restlessness within himself. He was
dying to explore the world, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask Jessica to
show him the sights and sounds of the city at night. Jessica spared Earth Justin the trouble of asking when she
finished dinner early and announced that she was going to take Earth Justin
over to the mall. Of course, he was a
tiny bit worried – and only this a fraction of a percent of the total
worriedness that he had originally felt upon embarking on this trip. This miniscule hesitation, though missed by
Jessica and her parents, signified the fact that Earth Justin really hated
shopping; of all things to do in the city, he’d save shopping for ‘tomorrow.’
Well,
Earth Justin just tagged along because he couldn’t afford to infuriate his
newfound sister. They left and were
immediately face-to-face with the center of the bright night-time city. People and cats rushed about, transactions
were made in various languages; the signs in the city were bilingual by law,
for whether or not the nation was of humans, it always had to have its signs
readable by the cat population of the world.
Jessica
led Justin without touching him, for she feared that others could misunderstand
their relationship or something of that sort.
Justin understood and acted in accordance. The mall was not far away, and Justin soaked in the glory of the
sky and the stars which were barely visible.
“You
look like you want to stall here for a bit,” noticed Jessica. Justin just straightened up with wide eyes
and shook his head, earning a strange face from Jessica as she brushed the
subject aside.
The
two entered the large mall largely unnoticed by the population there, and only
a few people actually recognized their princess for she dressed like another
citizen – no crown, no extravagance – just a sleeveless T-shirt with the latest
abstract art feature from the museum on it and glossy-looking gym shorts. This was quite customary of this day and
age, for the superequality amendment by Emily made a year back, adopted by the
Catleyan United Nations board, advocated equality for all in public and
demanded equality for all in legal and governmental situations. The law was the same – for animals, plants,
gods, and anything else that could register to be a citizen. Observed by all, it was obvious that the
royalty and supernatural forces would just have to take it in stride, and to
tell the truth, Jessica couldn’t stand wearing the royal garment anyhow; unlike
in Newaegun, where it had long been tradition for women to wear loose pants, it
was from Gonosan, and that from Aegunese, tradition for women to have to wear
very awkward-fitting dresses and scarf-shawls.
So,
very few people took notice of Jessica and Justin as they entered the
perplexingly-designed conglomeration of buildings which were pasted together
with aerial walkways (the ground, of course, was pure road. Even the trees had to live on the
buildings). Jessica led Justin to a
store, and Justin shuddered.
“Oh,
cut it out,” scowled Jessica. “I’m
taking you to check out our electronic technology, not some clothes, OK?”
“Oh,
phew,” said Justin, relieved and a bit embarrassed. Jessica hit him lightly on the shoulder and led on. “Ow,” said Justin halfheartedly.
“That
didn’t hurt, you wimp,” said Jessica.
“I
was saying that for my shirt!” protested Justin.
Jessica
stared at Justin and at his shirt and said, “You’re as weird as I am.”
The
two arrived at ‘Electronic Mastery, your one stop for Sasika’s blessings,’
Sasika being the wily goddess of modern technology and cell phones.
“What
a strange way to put it,” said Justin while Jessica, who was used to such
casual religious tie-ins, just shrugged.
Justin
nearly fainted when he saw the 65,536 bit game consoles, and the petabyte hard
drives.
“What
year is it again?”
“For
us it’s 7271, but that doesn’t mean much because our year 0 wasn’t like yours –
ours marks the end of the old regime of the humans and the beginning of cat
domination. So, our modern history
essentially starts with the year 0 while yours starts with 3000 or so BC. We’re not that far ahead of you – we’re on
the equivalent of maybe 2200 AD for you, except we’ve figured a more important
things out. For instance, we’re
perfectly stable now in economy and population – 0% growth worldwide and an
equal rate of inflation and wage increase.
And we have a system of checks and balances between the natunata and the
gods, so morality is ensured. So, even
though we are only two centuries ahead, we’re millenia ahead in terms of
advancement of ‘perfection,’ if you could call it that.”
“I
see. Well, do you have any suggestions
on what we do here?”
“Get
a computer for your room, maybe,” said Jessica. “Or you could play some demo games; doesn’t matter to me. If you get hungry just get me – I’ll be over
there – the food court’s out the store, to your right, and down a long way.”
“OK,
I’ll see you later then.”
Jessica
skipped over to the magazine section to try and figure out how to best upgrade
her computer, but she had scarcely opened the cover when a loud snarl from
behind her startled her into dropping the magazine on the ground, ripping it.
“Here,”
she said in a daze, throwing some money at the cashier to pay for the damaged
magazine. The cashier danced around to
catch the coinage and managed to halt a split before it could do something
discomforting to her miniskirt.
<That girl is crazy,> the cashier thought before throwing the
money into the cash register’s drawer, which was hungry for money – why else
would it open its mouth and stick out its tongue so far?
“Hey,
girl, you forgot your change and your receipt!” the cashier said, starting to
chase Jessica. After all, if she didn’t
follow the girl, Nisuna might whack her on the head and that would be
unpleasant indeed.
Justin
noticed the two and started to chase them, not realizing that he had not let go
of the video game controller and was now nearly breaking the plastic case that
enclosed the console.
“You
idiot! Drop the controller before you
cost me another $300. That dang thing
keeps getting smashed about!”
Justin
let go as commanded but still had a game in his hand which he had neglected to
put down when he started to play the demos.
Now, Jessica was following some creature, followed by a cashier, Justin,
and a worker, all running like madpeople.
The
monster was, in actuality, simply the personification of the emotion of anger,
represented by a monster and a girl who rode it. It rampaged around, wreaking havoc on the poor civilians who
tried to deter it. They threw umbrellas
and smoothies at it, but it simply ate all these items up. Jessica called the police with her phone and
waited in a narrow corridor. The
cashier, Justin, and the worker squeezed in next to her.
Nisuna
descended from the heavens to try and get the disturbed spirits out of there,
but they were of extraordinary strength and Nisuna realized that she could not
handle these spirits on her own. Even
Faxu warned Nisuna that by approaching the creatures, she’d essentially be
screwed (of course, Faxu used more offensive synonyms, but one is expected to
censor the Head-Demoness).
The
monster noticed Jessica and Justin and began to approach their hideout.
“Quickly! Into this door!” directed Jessica, flinging
open a door for the other three to go in.
They shut the door and soon heard shots being fired.
“The
situation is under control,” reported a man with a deep voice that shook a bit
when he fired his submachine gun. “It’s
a biggie, for sure. Think we should
call the gods to help us?”
“Nah,
don’t do that. They don’t need to be
bothered on trivial matters like this.
There’s nobody near those two monsters, right? I’ll throw a bomb to send it flying.”
Jessica
started to sweat and decided to try and find a way out the back of the room
that she had entered. The room turned
out to be a restroom, namely, the women’s restroom. One woman was combing her hair and screeched when she saw Justin
and the worker standing there, breathing quickly and sporadically in terror.
“Shut
up!” Jessica said with as loud a whisper as she could manage. “There’re two big monsters out there.”
“Oh,”
said the woman offhandedly. “That’s no
big deal,” she said as she strolled elegantly toward the door.
“Two
fuckin’ big spirits from Hell!” screamed Jessica, trying to convince the woman
not to commit suicide.
“Yeesh,
young lady, clean up your mouth. It’s
as dirty as the air in here.”
“Yeah,
it does smell like crap in here,” said Jessica with a cute girly smile, holding
her nose.
The
woman shook her head and bounced to the ceiling when she heard a bloodcurdling
roar from right outside the bathroom.
“I … think … I’ll … take my time … my curls aren’t exactly right, you
know. Yeah, that’s it … so I’ll just …
stay here!” she stammered, taking out her comb. Justin and the worker were searching furiously for somewhere to
hide – from the potentially angry women in the bathroom rather than the
monster.
“You
guys, calm down. It’s an emergency, so
no one cares. Besides, didn’t you
know? All the bathrooms are unisex in
this mall. Pretty controversial but
superequality, right?”
“Oh,”
said Justin.
“Yeah, that’s right,”
remembered the worker. “I knew
that. It’s just that most of the people
in here are women.”
“Sir,” said Jessica in
monotone, “there was only one person in here before us, and that was that woman
who was combing her hair. That doesn’t
count as being ‘most.’”
“Still a majority, I say,”
breathed the worker, looking proud.
“One ta zero in favor of the women.
I say we blast through that wall over there.” The worker pointed at a random spot on the far wall.
“Give it a shot,” said the
woman, leaning against the sink, inadvertantly soaking her jacket which went
with the rest of her suit.
The worker rammed the wall
with all his strength but only a tile from the ceiling fell. The plop was enough to make the worker happy
and he said, “See? It is possible.”
Jessica just walked up to
the wall and cried some strange incantation of sorts before slamming her fist
into the wall, a ball of cool blue and pale yellow energy ripping the wall
apart, revealing …
…
the food court!
“I’m
starving,” said Justin and the worker in unison. The cashier remembered her purpose and stuck out her hands at
Jessica, one with the change, the other with the receipt.
“Oh,
thanks! You went through a lot of
trouble to give this to me, huh?” she said, looking at the objects now in her
hand, but the cashier had fled, running and tripping as she went.
Justin
and the worker tried to buy out the food from the fastfood restaurant that was
right in front of their faces, but Jessica grabbed Justin and the woman with
the comb grabbed the worker by the collar and the poor starving men were left
whining as the women threw them across to safety.
<Men!>
thought Jessica. <Cute and
completely useless.>
Justin
and worker had enough grace to get up and run blindly in opposite directions,
both headed for a wall of sorts. Justin
banged into a wood panel and bruised himself while the worker ran through a
plastic boundary between the mall corridor and a store and landed on a
styrofoam figure meant to advertise clothes.
Jessica
nodded and the two women split up to check on the local idiots. Justin was fine and hugged Jessica,
whispering to her that she was the best sister that he ever had. The worker mumbled something about
hamburgers and got hit by the woman’s purse.
The four now began to flee, and the storeowner of the clothes store, too
startled by the orange tendrils of the monster to care about what had occurred
at his store, fled with his employees.
The mall was in chaos and people’s wails and clicking feet were
interspersed with short rounds of gun fire.
However, guns did little to stop the monster. Jessica and company met up with a hundred other people who were
pounding on the dead end of the mall to try and escape.
“Do
that cool magic thingy again,” said the worker.
“It’s
called a martial arts energy (or chi) blast, man,” Jessica corrected. She attacked the wall and it fell to its
knees. “Let’s get out!”
The
group immediately regretted listening to Jessica, because the monster had grown
so large that it now engulfed the entire parking lot and was closing in on the
people. They rushed back inside to be met
by another tendril of the monster. The
woman atop the monster cackled maniacally, just like villains were supposed to,
but she had the eyes of a deeply troubled soul trying to find a job that would
serve as penance.
“Why
do you hate us?” asked Justin.
The
monsters just growled; the scene was interrupted by several gods and goddesses
dressed in police uniforms.
“At
your service!” they said.
They
started attacking with energy, trying to send the monster back home. A large phoenix landed near the people and
about a dozen were able to escape.
Jessica’s party and a few other people remained for the second
ride. The monster was unbelievably
strong and was able to nick a few of the gods, but it was not strong enough to
seriously damage any of them. What was
soon realized, though, was that it was getting stronger.
Justin
wondered to himself, <Was I brought here to be rescued, or to rescue these
people?> He sat down and closed his
eyes, meditating.
“Justin,
you OK?” asked Jessica with great concern, the wind blowing her parted bangs
into her eyes to cover her teary eyes that had not yet begun to leak.