-Chapter 2

 

            Joey looked around as the glass dome surrounding the time machine opened up, allowing everyone in to get out.  He was still on the same beach, in the same place he was just moments ago.  The beach looked the same, except for a few changes.  The pit in the ground wasn’t as large.  Several Yoshies were walking along the beach and swimming in the water, although none of them noticed the time machine appear.  The small forest of palm trees was gone; in its place was a road, with several cars Joey had never seen before speeding across it.

            “Whoa,” said Yoshata, shaking her head, “that was fun!”

            The stranger looked around for a moment, then whispered, “Success….”

            “So…” said Joey, still looking around, “…are we…?”

            “Yeah.  In the future.  Year 2023, to be exact.”

            “Okay, so we’re twenty years in the future,” said Yoshata, also looking around.  “Now can you tell us who you are and when we can go back home?”

            “Sorry I have to be so quick about this, but right now we don’t have much time,” the stranger said to Joey.  “My name’s Tiffany.  I was born daughter to you in 2012.”

            “Wait…” said Joey, tapping his chin.  “But…you’re my daughter…and that means….” His face lit up.  “You have to do everything I tell you!”

            “I do not!  You’re not my father yet!”

            “In this universe, I’d say I am,” Joey said back, still smiling.

            “Um…Tiffany?” interrupted Yoshata.  “When can we go back home?”

            Tiffany turned to Yoshata.  “I don’t know,” she said, “but we have to make sure Joey is safe first.”

            “Where will we take him?”

            “I have the perfect place.  Now quickly, follow me!”  She led Joey and Yoshata across the road by the beach. 

 

            Back at Joey’s house in 2003, the periwinkle Yoshi had just pushed herself up from the ground.  Her orange saddle had been blackened by Tiffany’s attack earlier, and one of her red boots was slightly ripped when it slid along the road.  She wiped the ash off her face and stood up.  She ran back to the front doorway of Joey’s house.  She looked down and saw the broken pieces of wood that used to be the front door.  Upon seeing this, she stomped her foot on the ground.  “I might’ve known!  It was his daughter!  She must have used one of those machines!  I can’t believe I—Wait.  Cross-universal ripples…perhaps…yes.  If I can just catch it before it implodes….” 

           

            After running through the same patch of palm trees Joey, Yoshata, and Tiffany went through, the assassin reached the beach.  Just as it was before Joey and his friends left, the beach was empty.  The assassin looked at the end of the beach opposite to where the pit was.  She could see a shiny white bubble floating to the left.  The bubble was getting smaller and smaller.  Thinking quickly, she ran down the beach and jumped headfirst into the cross-universal portal. 

            The cross-universal portal closed behind her as she fell towards a shiny white orb.  Suddenly, time slowed down.  She could remember experiencing this feeling when she traveled to this universe in the time machine she used…

 

            The assassin could finally breathe again as she fell out of the bubble and onto the soft, hot sand.  She had appeared behind a single palm tree out on the beach, and apparently no one noticed her appear.  She looked around the tree and noticed that her two enemies—Joey and his future daughter—and another she had never seen before.

            She knew that if she tried to kill Joey now, she would be seen.  She had to think of a different way to dispose of him.  But how?

            Joey and his two partners were now hiding their time machine behind several palm trees.  The assassin saw them walk across the road along the beach.  Then, they disappeared from sight.  It was now or never.  She ran as fast as she could, without catching anyone’s attention, to the palm trees that the time machine was behind.  The machine was a bit hard to find, but finally, it was hers.  “If I can just bring this back to the lab—”

            “Hold it right there!” came a deep voice from behind the assassin.  She turned around and saw three black Yoshies in gray uniforms.  Each held a small black and green gun.

            “I knew that this was what had made that radar disruption,” said the Yoshi to the left of the one speaking. 

            “All right, you are under arrest for improper time machine usage,” said the first Yoshi.  “Just a moment.”  He pulled out a small needle, which he quickly stuck into the assassin’s shoulder, then pulled out.  He emptied a bit of blood into a small box.  The box lit up for a moment.  When it stopped, an image appeared on its small screen.  The black police Yoshi studied it for a moment. 

            “Olivia Norton Yoshi, twenty-five years old, of 34 Apple Lane?” he asked her. 

            The assassin nodded, then, before any of the officers could react, pulled out her own green and black gun and shot all three of them.  The three of them fell to the ground, not bleeding or injured, but unable to move. 

            “She’s—got—a neuron—disabling—gun!” said the third police Yoshi, although he sounded weird not being able to move his tongue.

            Olivia was once again about to take the time machine, but this time a car very similar to a regular police vehicle stopped in front of her.  Several more police Yoshies jumped out and ran behind the car, getting their own neuron-disabling guns ready. 

            Olivia was easily out numbered.  Thinking quickly, she put away her neuron-disabling gun and pulled out a large black gun with panels sticking out near the front.  She pulled the trigger.  Some invisible force pushed the car backwards, carrying all the police Yoshies with it.  Olivia put her gun away and ran towards the street.

 

            Tiffany led Joey and Yoshata down Strawberry Road.  After walking past several houses, including the former Yoshata’s house, they reached a medium sized house.  It had a light blue roof and white walls, two floors, a front door with a small window in the middle, a nice driveway to the garage, and a little mailbox reading, “Joey.”

            “Hm…” said Tiffany, eyeing the mailbox, “we should get ‘and family’ painted next to that sometime…oh well.  Just wait a second…I’ll be right out.”

            Tiffany left Joey and Yoshata to stare at the house. 

            “Whoa.  And I’m gonna have this house?” asked Joey.

            “I guess so,” said Yoshata.

            Tiffany opened the front door of the house and walked through.  After she walked in, Joey could hear a voice much like his, except it seemed to be a tiny bit deeper. 

            “Huh?  Aren’t you supposed to be at school, Tiff?”

            “Um…yeah…But I suddenly had a craving for donuts!”

            “Ha ha!  That’s my girl!  Hm…you know, I could really go for some donuts and a milkshake just about now…ah, what the heck!  Just don’t tell your mother!”

            “Whatever, Dad.”  Tiffany was backing out of the door, making motions with her hands to Joey and Yoshata.  They did what she motioned and hid behind a bush.  Joey watched as his twenty-year older self walked out of the house and along the sidewalk.  He noticed that his older self was taller (obviously), was wearing yellow boots and a jet black saddle, and had a little bit of black hair on his head—something that he most likely inherited from his father.  He was humming a very unusual tune that Joey had never heard before.  After her father walked around a corner, Tiffany waved to Joey and Yoshata, who got up and walked into the house.

            “You know, I just got a sudden craving for donuts and a milkshake—” began Joey.

            “—Just shut up…” Tiffany pulled Joey through the hallway to a door.  She opened it up and threw him in.  “Okay,” she told Joey, “you stay in my room.  If you need anything in another room, make sure no one is in the house, then go.  We can’t risk your future self seeing you.”

            “Why not?”

            “Because I’ll get grounded till I’m eighteen years old!  Anyway, Yoshata and I have got to leave to find some weapons…if the assassin followed us here somehow, we have to be prepared.  I’m going to leave a note on my door so no one will come into it.  And if I come back without Yoshata, don’t unlock the doors to let me in.  And above all, don’t leave the house.  Okay?”

            “Okay.”  Joey nodded.

            Tiffany opened the front door, locked it, then took Yoshata with her and closed the door.  Joey stood, alone, for a moment.  Then he left Tiffany’s room and looked at the note she left on the door.  It read,

 

            Tiff,

                 I decided to put a new coat of paint on the walls in your room.  Please don’t go in there until I get back.

           

            Love,

                 Dad

 

            “Well, that sounds reasonable,” said Joey.  “Hm…I wonder what’s in the kitchen?”

            He walked through the rest of the hallway and into another room.  This room had large diagonal windows through which the sun could shine.  There were beautiful plants in the corners of the room under the sun windows, one which had nothing but leaves growing on it, another that had small oranges growing on it.  Directly under the sun windows was the counter.  Behind that, and just out of the sunlight, was an oven, and next to that was the dishwasher.  In another corner of the kitchen was the refrigerator.  Above that were a few cupboards.  And directly to the right of the refrigerator was a large cabinet. 

            Joey walked over to the refrigerator and opened it.  He found some 1% milk and pulled it out.  He placed the milk on the counter and closed the refrigerator.  He opened up a cupboard and pulled a small glass cup out.  He poured some milk into it, then put the milk back into the refrigerator.  Then he opened the large cabinet and searched around for something to eat.

            “Hmm…” he said as he searched through the food, “cookies…breakfast bars…popcorn…oooh!  Biscotti!”  Joey pulled out a white, chocolate-covered, hard cookie (the best description I could think of for Italian-ish treats…) and ripped off the plastic wrapper.  He ran back to the counter and began dipping it in the milk.  “Mmmmmm….”

 

            Meanwhile, Yoshata and Tiffany were walking through a large mall, searching for the Home Security Store.  When they entered the mall, Tiffany said that she had once gone shopping with her father in this same mall and had seen that store.  But then, she added that it had been seven years since she last saw that store, so it may have been removed from the mall.  Yoshata hoped it hadn’t been.

            “…What does it feel like meeting your own father at just about your age?” she asked.

            “It feels kinda weird,” replied Tiffany, “except for the fact that I can laugh at his behavior.  It just seems so different and less mature than my real dad’s.”

            “So, he’s more like a brother than a father?”

            “I wouldn’t know.  I’m an only child.”

            “Oh.  Well—Hey!  I found it!”  Yoshata pointed at a store called, “The Home Security Store.”

            “Excellent!  Now let’s see what we can find!”

            The two of them walked into the store.  A brown Yoshi was standing behind the counter.  He smiled and asked, “How many I help you?”

            Tiffany didn’t smile back.  “I need to buy a de-neuron gun, and one re-charger,” she said simply.

            “Ahh, I’m sorry—” began the brown Yoshi, but Tiffany held two cards in his face.  The brown Yoshi looked at both of them for a moment.

            “My father wanted me to get them for him.  He really wanted some donuts, and the line was really long, so he told me….”

            “I understand,” said the brown Yoshi after sliding both cards through a small box-shaped machine.  He took a small green and black box, as well as a green and black gun.  He handed them to Tiffany, then gave her back her cards.  Tiffany thanked him, and she and Yoshata left.

            As they left the store, Yoshata was staring at the two cards Tiffany had.  “How did you get that guy to let you buy the stuff?  Normally, no excuse would ever let any kid buy a gun!”

            “I’ve got a M.L.W.D card.”

            “Huh?”

            “Mature Living and Wise Decisions card.  Children, beginning at fourteen years old, can choose to take a special test that calculates their maturity and ethics.  If you get a perfect score—which is why so few kids get them—you get lots of wonderful privileges.  First, you can buy things for adults, like cigarettes and weapons, as long as you make sure that you’re really getting it for them.”

            “…But you lied.”

            “Let me continue!  Anyway, in addition to that, you can take a driving test, and if you complete that, you can even get to drive.”

            Wow.  But what was that other card you had?”

            “Oh, that was my dad’s credit card.”

            “Well, that’s not being very responsible!”

            “…So?”

            “…I’m telling Joey when we get back.”

            Just as Tiffany was about to say something, a dark green Yoshi ran by screaming.  “Someone’s gonna hit the mall!” he cried.  Almost everyone but Yoshata and Tiffany began to panic. 

            “Get ready,” warned Tiffany, “this might be her.”

            Yoshata didn’t need weapons to be ready.  She held her hand open, and a flame formed on her palm.  Tiffany held up her de-neuron gun.  Then, following that, there was a scream.  Tiffany and Yoshata looked towards the back entrance of the mall and saw a single police car crash through the glass doors, followed by several others.  Tiffany jumped into a store and out of the way, and Yoshata quickly threw a ball of fire at the car.  Unfortunately, this only slowed the car down; Yoshata had to think of something else.

            Then she got an idea.  She tried hard to concentrate.  After a short moment, sparks began to appear at her fingers.  Concentrating harder, she forced electricity into an open window of the car.  There was a loud bang, and the car spun around and around until it hit a wall.  The vehicles behind it weren’t able to stop in time, and also hit the walls.

            Yoshata saw someone step out of the first car.  It was just the one Tiffany expected:  Joey’s assassin.  She saw the assassin pull out a small black and green gun similar to the one Tiffany had bought earlier.  When she realized that the assassin had her gun aimed at Tiffany, she shot heat beams through her eyes at the periwinkle Yoshi.  She slightly missed her target’s hand, just hitting the skin on her arm and the car behind her.

            The assassin immediately gripped the singed skin on her arm.  She turned her de-neuron gun to Yoshata’s head and fired. 

            Tiffany watched as Yoshata fell to the ground, unable to move any of her body.  It was up to her.  She turned around and fired her own de-neuron gun.  She hit the assassin’s left leg, paralyzing it.  Aiming carefully, she fired at the other leg.  The assassin’s other leg became paralyzed, and she fell to her knees. 

            The assassin put her de-neuron gun away and pulled out a red and black gun.  She aimed at the place Joey’s daughter was hiding behind and fired.  Fire formed at the front of the gun and blew toward Tiffany’s hiding spot.  It began to go up in flames. 

            Tiffany too put her gun away and ran over to the front desk of the security store she was in.  She jumped behind the desk just as flames were shot at her.  She skimmed along the rack of guns until she found one with a light blue tip.  She pulled it off the rack and aimed it at the car directly behind the assassin.  She pulled the trigger. 

            The light blue gun worked like a machine gun, rapidly firing sparkling cyan bullets.  The car behind the assassin began to steam and emit smoke.  The temporarily paralyzed periwinkle Yoshi looked at this, and her eyes widened.  The car made a loud noise, then exploded into hundreds of pieces.  This caused a chain reaction with the other cars, with each one also exploding.

            Tiffany ran around the burning remains of cars until she reached Yoshata.  She pulled out another gadget.  This was an odd-looking device that looked like a computer mouse, minus the cord.  It also had much smaller buttons.  The button in the center was dark red and glowing, and read, “Activate.”  She placed the device directly on Yoshata’s head.  When she did this, the button turned dark green.  Then she pushed the button.

            Yoshata jumped into the air as if thousands of sparks flowed through her body.  “YYYYYOW!”  she screamed.  “What was that?

            “Re-neuron charger,” replied Tiffany.  She noticed several Yoshies with filming equipment walking into the mall.  “But we have to leave, now.” 

            She grabbed Yoshata’s hand and pulled her into one of the cars still in decent condition.

            “Where are we going now?” moaned Yoshata.  “I’ve got a huge headache, and I doubt a ride in a car will help.”

            “We’ve got to get back to Joey,” said Tiffany as she started up the car.  “She’s going to get better.”

            And apparently Tiffany was right, because someone was digging herself out of the wreckage.

 

-End of Chapter 2



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