Adventures In Parodyverse: The Awakening Part 4 (UT#274-276)

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Adventures In Parodyverse - The Awakening Part 4 (UT#275-276 tie-in)

    "That was...different," Jay Boaz admitted as the car he was driving headed from a Chinese restaurant where he and Liu Xi Xian had dinner, toward Larry's Bowl-O-Rama. "Good different."

    "Most Chinese restaurants serve American style Chinese food," Liu Xi explained.

    "That's probably because the menu is a little...shocking...at a real Chinese place."

    She smiled at that. "But it was good, once you trusted me."

    "Was I right to trust you?" Jay asked a little suspiciously.

    Liu Xi nodded. "I don't like exotic seafood," she said. "It is like caviar. People eat it because it's a delicacy, but it's awful. You can trust anything I eat."

    "Oh good." Jay relaxed quickly as he pulled into the bowling alley parking lot. He looked at the building and seemed surprised. "I can't believe they're actually open."

    "Entertainment places are usually open during a crisis. People need their escapes." Liu Xi climbed out of the car and led the way to the front door of the bowling alley. Fortunately she was dressed nearly appropriately in dark blue jeans and a sweatshirt, but she hoped the staff would be too distracted to notice that she had white canvas sneakers.

    As Jay passed the counter with Liu Xi alongside, they noticed that while the bowling alley seemed to be open - it was brightly lit - no one was bowling, and no one was at the counter. It wasn't unusual for a single staff member to be working alone in the evening, so Jay assumed he was taking a break somewhere. He took a scorecard and placed enough money to cover both their entry fees on the desk. At least that one staff member would feel safer with two more people there.

    "Why did you want to go bowling?" Liu Xi asked him while he led her to one of the lanes.

    Jay shrugged. "It's fun. And I guessed that you wanted to hang out for an evening so I'd become more comfortable around you. This is something I feel comfortable doing."

    "Oh." Liu Xi laughed nervously. She took the bowling ball handed to her and held it up for a moment, noting its weight. She flipped it around a couple of times before realizing there were holes in it, and seemed perplexed at the sight.

    "You've never been bowling before, have you?" Jay asked with an amused smile.

    She shook her head and grinned sheepishly.

    "That's okay, I'll help you." He pointed down the lane closest to them. "The object is to hit the pins as close to center, but not dead-center, as possible so they all get knocked over."

    "I know that part," she told him. "I've seen it on TV."

    "Oh." Jay moved a few steps closer. "I guess you need to know the 'how', then. You have to kind of half push, half throw the ball so it skids partway down the lane. It has to have a perfectly straight spin so it keeps going the same direction or it skids off to the side. Watch, I'll show you."

    Liu Xi stood behind Jay as he picked up his bowling ball and rolled it quickly down the bowling lane, knocking down seven pins quickly. "Wow," she whispered.

    "Now you try," Jay suggested.

    She nodded, and stood in the exact spot where he began, holding the ball with both hands. She looked at him for approval for a moment before placing her fingers in the holes...and then she took two rapid steps forward and let go of the ball...

    ...it crashed to the wooden floor and skidded about halfway before turning violently, bouncing out of one gutter and clipping the outer pin before tumbling into the ball return.

    "Oops," she nervously giggled.

    "It's okay, you'll learn. Once we start keeping score I'll tell you about picking up the spare."

    "Can I ask you a personal question?" Liu Xi asked suddenly.

    Jay nodded, half listening as he wrote his name and Liu Xi's on the score card.

    "You look at Zdenka's picture on your desk and sigh. You think about her a lot. But you haven't tried to visit her."

    He glanced up at her, seeming saddened by what she said. For a moment, it looked like he was going to tell her he didn't want to talk about it. But he had to talk to someone. "I think about it," he whispered sadly. "I think about it a lot. But I have responsibilities here and she has responsibilities there."

    "Oh, stop. You're afraid." Liu Xi accused as she leaned over him. "You're not sure what you will see if you visit her, and you don't want your heart broken."

    "Are you trying to discourage me?" he asked, almost a little sadly.

    "No," she lowered her voice to a more gentle tone. "I want to tell you not to be afraid. That you should see her, you should delegate your responsibility here if you have to, to see her. They will understand. Stop breaking your own heart, Jay."

    He slouched a little and bit his lip. "I feel a little foolish," he whispered. "Before tonight, I thought that--" He looked at Liu Xi apologetically. "I mean, you're a pretty and exotic young woman, and you've made no secret of the fact that you like me. You even kissed me once. I thought that this whole thing tonight was an attempt to try and get closer to me. And here you are pushing me closer to Zdenka. I feel so embarassed by what I was thinking."

    "It's Dream's fault," Liu Xi joked as a smile creeped slowly into her expression, "His talk before you left about getting a chance tonight to 'fill your needs'."

    "You heard that, eh?" Jay asked. He looked away a little, making it apparent that he was embarassed to have had that conversation with Dream, even as one-sided as it was.

    "I'll give you a little hint about me." Liu Xi sat in the plastic chair next to Jay at the little desk and folded her hands into her lap. "I'm not a schemer. If I say I want to take you out for fun that is what I am doing. If I wanted to sleep with you I would ask for it. I am not afraid to ask for things."

    "That's...reassuring, I guess," Jay replied. He turned around abruptly when he heard a loud crashing noise, and nearly gasped at what he saw.

    The bowling alley had just been invaded by a small platoon of Avawarriors.

---

    Lara Night turned completely pale as she entered the Lair Mansion and saw something that terrified her at first, and then relieved her. "Dream, is that really you?"

    "The one and only!" Dream exclaimed. He stood still and looked over Lara's black and white costume before running toward her and and hugging her tightly. She hugged him in return.

    "I...heard that you were killed." she whispered. "And I sensed that it was true. How...?"

    "You're a California girl, you should understand," he joked. "I just rode the wave of chaos and it brought me back here!" He shrugged and smiled brillantly, and asked, "So do I get a kiss for coming back?"

    She half giggled, half smiled. She happened to look down, and noticed that when Dream ran toward her he somehow brought them both airborne, and they weren't falling. They were sort of drifting downward. She checked within herself to see if she might have been causing it without paying attention...and her smile disappeared as she realized. "You can fly now?"

    "Oh yes," he beamed proudly.

    "That's so cool!" Lara exclaimed. "It's one of my favorite things! Now you'll know what it feels like too."

    "I have to get a running start or jump to do it, though, and I can't fly for long."

    "You'll learn. At first I used a lot of energy too, and I was so unstable I could fall at any moment."

    "Really?" Dream asked.

    Lara nodded and smiled. "It's like surfing, just like you said. You start out wiping out all the time and getting beaten by the waves. Then you learn, and it's easy."

    "Thanks so much Lara." He hugged her again, and kissed her right on the lips...for several seconds. "You're still really hot you know."

    She seemed stunned at first, but then laughed. "Dream...I got kind of a...reputation the last time--"

    "You really care so much what people think?" Dream asked.

    "Not really." Lara shrugged and took a half-step away from him. "But I'm trying to make a first impression, you know? It's really not easy among the Lair Legion."

    "That's why I gave up caring a long time ago." Dream smiled slyly.

    "But hey, after some spending some close time with you I think I understand you better than a lot of people do." She shrugged again and smiled. "So it was worth it, even with the reputation it earned."

    "I'm happy you have a more open mind than most people who drop by," Dream noted, still smiling. "You California surfer girl hippie you."

    Lara giggled at that. "Is this where I call you a bubblegum chewing sex princess?"

    "Princess?" Dream asked.

    "Yeah." She shrugged slightly. "It sounds better than prince."

    "I can live with that on one condition," Dream quipped. "You have to buy me a tiara."

    She laughed out loud, and once she caught her breath she asked, "You're not serious. That would look stupid even on me."

    "But you're not the bubblegum chewing sex princess," Dream pointed out.

    "Okay, smartass," Lara gave him a false frown. "How is Jay doing?"

    "He went bowling with Liu Xi. I think that was just an excuse to show her his balls."

    Being used to his sense of humor, Lara cracked a smile, but didn't laugh. "That's cool," she said. "He needed a break. First week as Lair Legion leader and the world comes crashing down. Literally."

    "After a couple hours...uh--" Dream purposely coughed loudly in the middle of the sentence. "Bowling...he'll be in a much better mood."

    "Yes, well, speaking of which--" Lara nodded toward the hallway, where April Alice Apple was standing and chatting with someone. "--looks like you have some bowling to do too."

    "Ohh yeah, tonight's a league night!" Dream announced, actually loudly enough for April and whoever she was talking with to hear and look their direction. He didn't seem to care, though. "I'll see you around, Lara."

---

    The Avawarriors at the bowling alley didn't last long against an elementalist who commanded the very power of nature. By the time Jay pulled his Rockets cap from his backpack, all twenty of the Avawarriors had been frozen solid in the absolute coldest ice he'd ever seen. When he reached out to touch it his fingers hurt from the chill.

     "Wow," he whispered as he inspected Liu Xi's handiwork. He jumped back when the ice started to crack internally. "They're getting out," he announced.

     Liu Xi waved her hand, and the block of ice and all the Avawarriors were gone. She walked over to the center of where they stood, holding the pencil Jay was using to keep score in the game, and began carving a symbol into the icy residue on the wooden floor with the eraser.

     "What are you doing?" Jay asked.

     "When they defrost they will come back," she explained. "The gateway is still open. I am closing it." Once she finished drawing the symbol, she stood and touched the pencil, turning it into cold iron. She slammed the iron pencil into the center of the symbol and jumped back. There was a bright flash and a rush of wind like an explosion...and all that was left was the iron pencil, a burned symbol, and a scorched area of wood around it.

    "Learn that from Xander?" Jay asked.

    She shook her head. "Ebony. Please don't stare at the symbol, it's very dangerous. I can't help you if you become trapped in your mind."

    "Maybe we shouldn't leave it here--" Jay stopped mid-sentence when Liu Xi looked at the burned area, and instantly all evidence of what took place vanished. The original wood pencil, unable to stand on its own, fell over and rolled a bit.

    Jay kneeled down and picked up the pencil, inspecting it quickly. It seemed perfectly normal. He looked at Liu Xi and raised an eyebrow. "Liu Xi, why won't you join the Juniors? We can really use someone like you."

    She frowned and then bit her lip. "I would feel like...I have been held back in high school," she explained. "They are all younger than I am, and I have nothing in common with them."

    "The Juniors are about learning our methods, Liu Xi, not about learning your powers. Some of them have already mastered their abilities...but they need to learn restraint and responsibility."

    "You think I am not responsible?" Liu Xi asked.

    "That's not what I meant," Jay corrected. "I don't mean taking responsibility for yourself. Taking responsibility for others. Learning to look after your teammates, to work together smoothly, and ultimately take responsibility for protecting those who can't protect themselves."

    Liu Xi looked at Jay seriously and replied, "But I've done that. On my own."

    "And I applaud that, Liu Xi. I'm very proud. But I want you to be even better."

    "You want me to? Personally?" she asked.

    "Yes, I do," Jay sighed deeply, and sat down at the small desk at the end of the alley. "Look, you were right. My first week as leader has been hell. The world's gone crazy, the Parody Master is threatening our extermination. It's too much for one person. It's too much for ten. And we've been having more and more of these uber-powerful beings coming for us lately."

    Liu Xi looked concerned as she sat next to him and faced him.

    "We've lost a lot of allies who had the kind of power to help counter these kinds of threats. The 'bad guys' are getting stronger, and we're getting weaker. Quite frankly, we need someone to help tip the balance a little." He looked at Liu Xi with pleading eyes, conveying that he was actually honest.

    Liu Xi sighed deeply, and looked at the floor for a moment. "I'll think about it," she whispered. "But in the mean time," she added as she looked up again, "I will try to help whenever you ask. As a favor to you."

    "That's all I ask," Jay repeated. "That you think about it."

    She nodded once and smiled, and then picked up the pencil on the desk. "Now tell me how to keep score so we can play."

    Jay smiled before he began explaining the finer points of the game.

---

    "There is one more thing I think about." Liu Xi spoke to Jay some more as they arrived back at the Lair Mansion after concluding their game. They learned after finishing playing that the Avawarriors had forced the one employee on duty to flee outdoors, and they found him out there as they were leaving.

    Liu Xi was left in a fairly good mood after seeing just how relieved the clerk was that not only did they dispose of the Avawarriors, but they paid for their game as well.

    "What's that?" Jay asked.

    "It's kind of personal." She shrugged. "But you opened your heart to me about Zdenka so I owe you this much. If you wish to hear it, that is."

    "Go ahead." Jay followed Liu Xi up to her attic rec room silently and watched her close the door. He looked around and noted the telescope and cushions.

    "I told you about my first...intimate experience," she whispered, trying her best to be discrete and delicate about it. "I'm a little afraid that my next will be the same at the hands of the Parody Master."

    "The Lair Legion won't let that happen," Jay replied. "Your friends won't. I won't. So don't worry about it anymore."

    "I know...kind of," she said with a slight shrug, "It's just easy to be afraid. I keep myself seperated...and I feel so alone sometimes. It's difficult to truly feel protected."

    "You treated me so well even when I was unsure about your intentions and a little hesitant," Jay pointed out encouragingly. "You've earned some protection."

    Liu Xi suddenly stepped forward and hugged him tightly. "Thank you for this evening," she said. "I know I arranged it for you, but I also feel energetic and happy." She paused for a moment after letting go of Jay, and she smiled. "I won't be able to sleep yet so I'm going to stare at the moon for a little while. You may join me if you wish."

    Jay thought about the stack of work still on his desk. It was becoming uncharacteristic of him to procrastinate so badly. Even so, he shrugged and slid into the large purple cushion facing the window, next to where Liu Xi had just settled in, as he said, "Sure."

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2006 by Jason Froikin, and may not be
-- reprinted without permission.
-- Yuki Shiro designed by Jason Froikin, based on designs by Masamune Shirow
-- Liu Xi Xian and the Psychic Samurai are original design by Jason Froikin
-- Lara Night is an original creation by Jason Froikin

Post By Anime Jason Sat Jul 01, 2006 at 11:50:55 am EDT	Subject Adventures In Parodyverse: The Awakening Part 4 (UT#274-276)

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