Adventures in Parodyverse - Saving the Future Part 15.1

    Lara Night sipped the tiny cup the Psychic Samurai offered her, gingerly.  The smell caused her to wrinkle her nose as she raised the cup to her mouth - and then she discovered that it tasted exactly as it smelled.  She made a disgusted gagging noise and then groaned as she put down the cup.

    “It seems sake doesn’t agree with you.”  Chiaki Bushido noted with a slight laugh.  

    She was sitting on her knees on the carpet, wearing a black Asian styled robe next to a coffee table.  Her robe had red and white flowers on it.  They were both in a very nice hotel room in Paradopolis - Chiaki had fairly decent hiding places all over town, and possibly all over the world.

    The blonde Lara was also wearing a similar robe - she borrowed hers from Chiaki.  Lara’s was white silk and had a print of colorful flowers.  Only while Chiaki was barefoot, Lara kept her socks on, which looked a little odd, but that was her style.  She sat leaned to one side on the carpet across from Chiaki.  They were both in the process of waiting for laundry to finish drying.

    “Okay, maybe worrying about my energy talents going out of control isn’t the only reason I don’t really drink.”  Lara admitted.

    Chiaki picked up her own sake and sipped a little more.  “You must sip it slowly, it’s a taste you will acquire.”

    Lara’s eyes moved to the bottle sitting on the table.  It was firmly sealed, but hadn’t been returned to the kitchenette.  She made a quick observation about that.  “You aren’t planning to get drunk are you?”

    “No.”  Chiaki answered with resolve.  She smirked a little then, and added, “You’ve only seen me drunk once, Lara.”

    “Yeah.”  Lara shrugged.  “I’ve only seen you drink once too.  Until now.”

    Chiaki looked skyward, still holding her tiny cup but not drinking.  “I had a lot of...pain on my mind.”  she explained calmly.  “I suppose I still have quite a few worries, but they’re no longer fresh.  I’ve come to terms with them.  What do you worry about?”

    Lara smiled briefly, wondering how Chiaki knew she had a few things to worry about, though she tried to be cheery and upbeat most of the time.  “It’s...I don’t know.  It’s a feeling I get when I come to this universe.”

    “Which is?”  Chiaki put down her cup and focused her attention.

    The blonde sighed and sat back.  “Where I come from, the universe is perfectly content to keep going, perpetuating itself.  This place...I get the sense it wants to die, and we’re the only ones keeping it alive.  Not you and me, I mean, us and the Lair Legion and everyone else who’s helping.”

    The Psychic Samurai nodded in agreement.  There was a long pause while Lara stared at her, trying to read something into the silence.

    “You feel it too, don’t you?”  Lara finally asked.  Her question implied a lot more than it said, and the Asian Samurai knew it.

    Chiaki didn’t respond at first.  She sipped out of the small cup again, paused, and put it down.  “I suppose...someone had to discover my secret.  I’m...glad it was you.”

    “So what is it?  A voice?  A gut feeling?”  Lara prodded further, feeling happy that Chiaki responded.

    The Samurai’s smile was gone.  She picked her sheathed sword up off of the carpet and gently deposited it on the table between them.

    “Your sword talks to you?”  Lara asked.

    That amused Chiaki.  She smiled again for a moment, and then shook her head.  Then she slid the sheath down partway and gently tapped on a small Japanese character symbol at the top of the blade.

    “It’s the symbol for dream.”  Chiaki explained.  “Not Foxglove...though it’s an interesting coincidence at that.  The point is I had a nickname before I left Japan, while I was in training as Samurai.  I was called The Dreamer.”

    “That wouldn’t be a compliment here.”  Lara noted.

    “Yes.”  Chiaki acknowledged with a chuckle.  “It’s not much of one there either.  I was called that because I could be completely unfocused and daydreaming...and I was a lot...yet still knew what everyone around me was doing.  I was too afraid to tell anyone how I knew.”

    “To this day?”  Lara guessed.

    Chiaki nodded.  “To this day I have told only Jay the story, while I was dating him.  Even Akiko wasn’t told.  As for your first question, Lara...the universe isn’t trying to die.  It’s being killed.  By so many at once that it will die if they aren’t stopped, one by one if necessary.”

    “It’s because he’s missing, isn’t it?”  Lara’s eyes told the Psychic Samurai what she meant.

    The Asian nodded slowly.  “It’s because, as you predicted Lara, the departing of the Hooded Hood left a power gap that so many are rushing to fill.  Only the Hooded Hood cared about preserving the status quo, about sustaining the universe, and these others don’t.”

    Lara picked up one of the jelly-filled pastries on a plate in the center of the table, transferring it to her napkin to dissect it.  Those were the only desserts available in the hotel lobby so late at night.

    “You know,”  she said, “back home I’m supposed to be some kind of cosmic peacekeeper, to try and preserve the status quo and sustain the universe.  I always wondered why Shema showed me this place.  Maybe it’s because she knew it needed help more than my home does right now.”

    “You won’t be able to destroy them alone.”  Chiaki warned, guessing what Lara’s next thought was.  “Probably not even with my help.  Don’t you worry that your bravery is misplaced?”

    “Yes, very much so.”  Lara replied earnestly as she ate a piece of her jelly soaked snack.  “I mean, I don’t want to die trying.  But maybe...maybe I’m supposed to learn how to leverage the power I do have.  Use my brain, you know?  Do kind of like the Hooded Hood did before he vanished.  Very little power, and a lot of smarts.”

    Chiaki sipped some more sake.  “I see why you try to understand the motivations of the Office Holders.”

    “Because they’re doing the job...that sometimes I feel like I’m supposed to be doing.”  Lara acknowledged.  “And if that’s true then I’m not being fair to them, having all this potential and wasting it.”

    The Samurai put her cup down again.  “Then why did Lisa try and keep you occupied and out of the Chronicler’s way?”

    “Yeah.”  Lara whispered distantly, as she looked toward the window.  She nodded slowly.  “Yeah, there’s something I’m missing here.  Something...I feel like it should be obvious to me.”

    Lara then noticed that Chiaki seemed amused by what she said.  “Okay, spill it Chiaki.  What do you know?”

    “Lisa’s distraction led you to me, didn’t it?”  Chiaki supplied.  “Perhaps that means the answer is with me.”

    “And that is...?”

    That’s when Chiaki’s amused smile disappeared, and she looked down at the table.  “I don’t know.  I’m sorry...the answer eludes me as well, and I too feel as if I should know.”

    There was another long pause between the two.  Then Lara said, “I hope the fate of the universe isn’t up to us, because everyone would be so screwed.”

    Chiaki laughed, and Lara followed suit.  “Fortunately,”  Chiaki said, “I doubt it’s all up to us.  Most fortunately.”

    “No kidding.”  Lara agreed.  She raised a piece of the jelly filled pastry to match Chiaki raising her cup.  They both laughed again.

    “Speaking of screwed,”  Lara changed the subject, “What happens when someone finds out about your big prison break?”

    Chiaki put down her cup again.  “There was an explosion at the prison just before the escape, yes?  And then the fire alarm went off.”

    “That’s what the news said, yeah.”  Lara agreed.

    The Psychic Samurai seemed rather satisfied with herself as she explained further.  “The Baroness smuggled in and placed German made shaped charges around the Safe early during her imprisonment, in case she needed to escape.”

    “So they’ll think you heard the explosion and pulled the fire alarm.”  Lara guessed.  She smiled and nodded slowly.  “That’s pretty clever.”  But then her smile vanished.  “Doesn’t that mean you’re framing someone who’s innocent?”

    “No.”  Chiaki replied.  “Only creating doubt.  If they question me, I will admit to pulling the fire alarm but not to placing explosives.  The Baroness will admit to placing the explosives but not detonating them.  We will both be telling the truth, and neither of us can be fully implicated without serious doubts.  And there’s zero chance of us having worked together on it.”

    Then Lara changed the subject again, smirking as she said, “You sound like the Hooded Hood, with this complicated plan that wraps up everything in a neat package.  I wish I could do that.”

    “I always did appreciate the Hooded Hood’s foresight, as evil as he was.”  Chiaki admitted.  She lowered her voice to a whisper as she said, “Lara, I know you have the rare talent to see a truly big picture.  Big like the cosmic office holders can.  You just have to allow yourself to do so.”

    “Yeah?”  Lara asked.  Then she thought about that for a moment.  “What good would it do though?”

    “It would keep you out of trouble, most importantly.”  Chiaki noted.  “Secondly, the next time you must confront the Chronicler you’ll know as much as he does.  Knowledge is power, Lara.”  She took one last sip of sake before setting the cup aside.

    “Is that why you told me your secret?”  Lara asked after a long pause.

    Chiaki leaned back and smirked, but didn’t reply.

    “Ohhh, I see.”  Lara smirked too, and nodded.  “So what will you do if this whole prison break catches up to you?”

    The Psychic Samurai looked up thoughtfully for a moment, but couldn’t really come up with an answer.  “I suppose I’ll have to depend on friends for support.  Or flee the country.”

    Lara gave her a saddened look of pity.  “I won’t let it come to that Chiaki.  Jay’s your friend too, I’m sure I can convince him to help.”

    “If you can manage that.”  Chiaki replied.  “I’ll be in your debt forever.”

    “Not much faith in him?”

    Chiaki frowned and looked down again.  “The only time he and I fought while we were dating was about Akiko.  I’m sorry to say, when it comes to unwavering justice, Jay’s loyalty is not always with friends.”

    The always positive Lara’s heart sank, and her smile disappeared.  She never anticipated hearing that from someone so close to him.  She brought that smile back to try and lighten the mood again.  “Well then I’ll just kick his butt if he won’t help.”  she joked.

    Chiaki caught Lara’s smile and laughed.  “Make sure I have a front row seat for that,”  she replied.

TO BE CONTINUED?

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2008 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