-Chapter 6

 

            Yoshata woke up bright and early the next day.  She first scratched her head, then rubbed her eyes and looked out the window.  It seemed that the weather improved from the day before; the sun was shining very brightly today.  Yoshata stretched herself and jumped out of her bed. 

            She walked over to the bed next to hers.  It seemed like Tiffany had won the fight over the bed, because Yoshata saw a pillow lying on the floor near the bed.  But where was Joey?  She tried to think of where he might have gone at such an early time in the morning.  She guessed that it was probably the breakfast room.  She looked down at Tiffany, who was spread out across her bed, drooling on the pillow just as she had accused Joey of the day before.  Yoshata thought that she should probably wake Tiffany up before she went to find Joey…but how was she supposed to wake Tiffany up without making her get extremely angry?  There weren’t exactly many ways to do that, either…

            Hoping her best that nothing seriously bad would happen, Yoshata began to concentrate hard.  Water began to form in her cupped hands.  Slowly and nervously, she tipped it over onto Tiffany’s face. 

            It had the almost exact effect that Yoshata expected.  Tiffany jumped up in her bed, startled.  She breathed rapidly in and out and shook her head around for a minute, then stopped and looked at Yoshata.  “Whoa…what was that?” she asked.

            “Um…” said Yoshata.  Then, without saying anything, she pointed down at Tiffany’s bed. 

            Tiffany looked at her bed sheets, which were covered in Yoshata’s water.  “…So that’s why I woke up…” she said lightly. Then she shrieked.  “Oh my gosh!” she said.  Then she looked down at where Joey had slept the night before.  She sighed with relief when she saw he wasn’t there.  She looked at Yoshata again.  “Look,” she said, “don’t you dare tell Joey about this.  I swear, if you do, I will tie your tongue in a knot and pluck your little yellow hairs one-by-one—”

            “Okay, I get it,” said Yoshata calmly.  “Now, um, we need to find Joey, right?”

            “Oh.  Right.  Um, one sec.”  After saying this, Tiffany grabbed the mattress of her bed and flipped it over.  “There,” she said.  She walked out of the room, and Yoshata, laughing as silently as possible, followed her. 

 

            Then ran down several sets of stairs until they reached the first floor.  Joey was exactly where they thought he’d be: in the breakfast room, stuffing his face with various types of donuts.

            Tiffany groaned and rolled her eyes.  She motioned for Yoshata to follow her again and walked into the breakfast room.  “Ahem,” she said loudly behind Joey’s back.

            Joey turned around to realize that Tiffany and Yoshata were behind him.  He realized also that Tiffany was dripping from her stomach down.  He pointed at her and laughed.  “Ha!  You wet the bed!”

            Every other Yoshi in the breakfast room turned their heads toward Tiffany, who was turning red, half out of anger, half out of how much she wanted to strangle Joey at that moment.  Slowly the other Yoshies left, some holding back laughter, some grumbling about leaving the room and how someone so old could “wet the bed”. 

            Eventually, Tiffany, Joey and Yoshata were the only ones left in the room.  Tiffany looked at Joey in the familiar face she almost always wore when looking at him.  “And so ends another round of ‘Publicly Embarrass Tiffany,’” she said with a heavy sigh. 

            “Oh, I love that game!” said Joey excitedly as he grabbed another donut off from the pastry rack.  Then his happy face disappeared.  Tiffany wore another familiar look on her face, and he didn’t like it.  She grabbed him by his shoulders and shook him hard.  “Will you ever stop?” she screamed.  “My gosh, I wake up at what—ten o’ clock?  And you already start to ruin my day!  I can’t believe I didn’t do this earlier, you—”

            “AHHH!” screamed Joey.  “Help!  Help!  I’m being physically abused!”

            The Yoshies that had just left the breakfast room turned around to look at Tiffany again.  Tiffany again stood, speechless.

            “One minute, one minute,” came a familiar voice from the lobby across the breakfast room.  “All right, clear the way!  Let me take care of this!”

            Tiffany let go of Joey’s neck and shoulders the moment she realized that it was Rian who was walking up from the Lobby.  Joey massaged his sore shoulders and neck and tried to look his meanest at Tiffany.

            “Oh, Tiff!” exclaimed Rian as soon as he walked into the breakfast room.  “I didn’t know you were awake this—”  Suddenly he began to snort in laughter when he noticed what Joey had so loudly proclaimed earlier.

            “…What?” asked Tiffany.

            “You wet the bed?”

            “I—what—NO!  I just…fell…in the sink!”

            “That is such a lie!” yelled Joey.  “I bet you just never learned how to hold—”

            Tiffany forced herself sideways, knocking Joey into the shelf.  Donuts, coffee, and several other types of pastries and toast spilled onto the ground.  Rian ran over to help them.  “Ouch, that must’ve hurt!” he said as he helped Tiffany and Joey up.

            “Oh, I’m sorry,” said Tiffany, “I must have tripped.”  She stuck her tongue out at Joey, who tried then to look even angrier with her. 

            “Well, anyway, what are you guys planning to do today?” asked Rian.

            Neither Joey nor Yoshata had thought of this yet.  The two of them looked at Tiffany, waiting for her answer.

            “Well,” said Tiffany, dusting herself off, “the three of us are going to enjoy a day in the city.  You know, stuff like the beach, the mall, the food court inside the mall…”

            Joey and Yoshata grinned and looked excitedly at each other.  This had to be one of the nicest things Tiffany had ever done during the entire trip.

            “…And then we’ll come back and spend the night here again!” finished Tiffany.

            “Wow, sounds fun,” said Rian.

            “Yeah…hey, do you think you can come?”

            “Heh, I wish I could, but I’ve got to keep working here.  I just hope that another crazy lady won’t numb me and throw me on the ground like the last one did.”

            “Well, I doubt that’ll ever happen again…are you sure you can’t come?”

            “Yeah, I’m real sorry.  Well, one day, I’ll have earned enough money from this job to retire to Navy Springs City!”

            “You mean that really rich city in the center of the island?”

            “Yeah.  I’ve never been there before, but I know some friends who say it’s like, five times as good as this…anyway, you guys have a whole day ahead of you to have fun!”

            “Yeah…well, I guess we’ll see you tonight at seven!”

            “Yep!  Well, bye, Jeff!  Bye Elmira!  And bye, Tiff!”

            “Um…bye…” said Joey and Yoshata.  And as they waved good-bye to Rian, they followed Tiffany to the elevator.

 

            Tiffany, not looking as excited as she did when began talking with Rian, slowly reached out to push one of the buttons on the elevator wall.  Joey and Yoshata were standing behind her, as excited as they were before.  As the elevator began to move up, Joey noticed Tiffany’s silence.  After a moment of silence, he asked, “Why are you doing this?”

            Tiffany looked back at him.  “Doing what?” she asked.

            “Taking us around the city!”

            “…Oh.  I dunno.  I just felt like it.”

            “Whoa…since when have you felt like doing nice stuff?”

            Tiffany didn’t reply.  She waited till the elevator reached its destination and opened the doors, then stepped out.  Again, Joey and Yoshata followed her.  They walked out the doors and into the eighth floor parking lot.  Tiffany led them to their SkyCar.  She opened her door and got in.  Joey and Yoshata did the same, both getting into the back seat.  “So,” asked Yoshata cheerfully, “where’s our first stop?”

            “We’re heading to the West Coast Beach!” replied Tiffany as she started the car.  They flew out of the parking lot and into the air above the city. 

 

            “Well, Miss Norton, it looks like we’ve finally caught you,” said the black police Yoshi from the front seat.  It seemed that the police Yoshies had tricked Olivia into landing on their car.  They had arrived in the hotel just moments after Olivia had de-neuroned Rian.  After reviving him, Rian told them that the periwinkle Yoshi they were looking for had gone to the eighth floor.  Then Rian ran as fast as he could up the stairs.  Knowing that they would never be able to get to Olivia in time by using the elevator, they got an idea.  They ran out to the parking where they had left their police department’s SkyCar (the police force in Orange Cataract City were, of course, paid better than almost every other city’s police force) and drove up to the sky just below the eighth floor balcony.  They were about to send someone up to stop Olivia, but then they saw someone—not Olivia—fall off the balcony.  Then, as quickly as this individual fell, he was caught by another Yoshi on the balcony one floor below the one he was just thrown off of.  A short bit of time passed, and then they a saw a crimson beam and an explosion occur at almost the same second.  And, just as they hoped, Olivia fell onto their car.  They quickly drove away and pulled her into the back of the car after they were past the hotel.  “Now, it’s time that we ask you some questions,” continued the black Yoshi in the front seat.

            Olivia looked up past the metal grid and at the Yoshi speaking to her.  “Go ahead…” she mumbled.

            The black Yoshi in the driver’s seat looked at the other black Yoshi next to him.  “Okay, you talk with her.”  The Yoshi he was talking to nodded and looked back at Olivia.  “All right,” he began, “We’ve seen you following a group of two blue Yoshies and one sky blue Yoshi in a stolen SkyCar.  Who are they?”

            Olivia scratched her foot as she heard the question.  “Them?” she asked.  “They’re assassins.  They—they want to kill me.  I had to stop them first…”

            “Then why does it seem that they’re running away from you?  And that you appeared to be chasing them?”

            Olivia scratched her foot again.  “There’s something really important about these three…you don’t understand…”

            “You didn’t answer my question.  What are you trying to do by following them?”

            “They’re not supposed to be here…they’re not even supposed to ‘be’ right now.” 

            “What’s going on?  Was this what that machine on the beach was for?  Answer me!”

            Olivia continued to reach down to her shoe.  Then, beginning to smile, she pulled off her shoe.  She pushed in a hidden button on the top of the shoe.  A bright flash of light followed, and the Yoshi that was speaking to Olivia was momentarily paralyzed by the de-neuron shoe.  The Yoshi driving the car gasped and slammed on the auto pilot button.  He pulled out his own de-neuron gun, but Olivia got him first.  He fell into his seat, unable to move.  “I bet you wish those guns weren’t invented now,” Olivia said. 

            “Th’ duhs uh thill lucked!” replied the police Yoshi driving, trying to make the best use of his tongue. 

            Olivia laughed as she pushed another hidden button on her shoe.  A small antenna slid out from the front of her shoe.  She searched around a moment for another button.  She found it.  After aiming the shoe at the steering wheel, she pushed the button.  Immediately, every door was unlocked, the windshield wipers were on at high speed, the horn continued sounding at a constant rate, and the car began to move up and down through the air.  She was free. 

            Fortunately for Olivia, the SkyCar she was in was drifting only a few feet above the ground at this point.  The two black Yoshies in the front seat of the car were going to regain their movement soon, so she had to hurry.  She kicked open the door near her.  The door swung open, and she got ready to jump.  There was a small black car below her; now was the perfect time.  Olivia jumped out of the police car and landed with a -thud- on top of the black car.  She looked back up at the police SkyCar.  They would start pursuing her soon.  She also guessed that whoever was in this car would have heard the noise coming from above and look to see who it was.  She was right.  A gray Yoshi slowed down and looked up at her through the window.  “What the—hey, lady, get off my car!”

            Olivia jumped off the car and onto the road.  At the moment, a large traffic jam was holding the cars in place, so she was able to run across the road with a bit of ease.  She hopped on one foot until she got to the sidewalk.  Then she pushed a button on her boot, making it go back to normal, and put it back on her foot and began running even faster than before.

            She found that she was in a wide park behind an elementary school.  The trip from the hotel to where she was took about hours by car alone, but for her to walk all the way back to the Orange Springs Hotel would take up to a day.  She had a long way to go; she needed some other means of transportation.  She needed something faster…she needed a car.

            There were, of course, many cars on the road directly in front of, all in a position vulnerable enough for her to steal.  However, there were two problems presented in this.  One, the traffic jam would hold her as vulnerable to the police as the owner of the car would have been to her.  And two, the traffic jam would slow her down; she needed to find a more open road to drive on.

            Time was running out.  Olivia ran across the park and the road in front of it, criss-crossing through different cars.  A small bridge ran above the busy road, with much less traffic than the road below it.  She ran up a grassy hill until she reached the road above.  She looked to her right.  A sign near the road showed the route of the road.  After thinking for a moment, Olivia found that this route would lead to the center of the city.  Now she just had to wait for a car.  Her chance came.  A green van was driving straight, about to go across the bridge.  Olivia jumped into the middle of the road.  As expected, the driver slammed on the brakes.  Olivia didn’t move out of the way, waiting for the driver’s response.  A few more seconds passed, and the driver, a small mushroomer, stepped out of the car.  “Hey, could ya get off the road?  I have to get to a plane going back to the MK, and I’m already late as it—hey!  Let go of me!”

            Olivia tossed the mushroomer down the hill angrily and stepped into his van.  “I hate those mushroom people,” she grumbled as she slammed the door behind her and turned on the car.  She slammed on the accelerator and drove away.

            “Hey!” shouted the mushroomer as he climbed back up the hill.  “Argh, these Yoshies tick me off!”

 

            Tiffany and Yoshata stood, in the hot sand of the beach, waiting for Joey.  “Joey, could you please hurry up in there?  These sandals are starting to really hurt my feet!”

            “Just wait one second!” Joey shouted back. 

            “Joey, what is taking you so long, already?  It’s only a swimming saddle, for goodness’ sake!”

            “Not just that!  These waterproof boots are a pain, too!” 

            “Just quit complaining and get that stuff on before I come in there!”

            “Just quit threatening me, and I might!”

            “Look, neither me nor Yoshata took half the time you’re taking!”

            “That’s ‘cause you’re girls!”

            “What kind of excuse is that?  The swimwear is exactly the same!  Now get out here!”

            “Fine!  Sheesh, you sound like my mom…” Joey grumbled as he walked out of the dressing room.  He was wearing a blue waterproof saddle and gray waterproof boots, and he was holding his old saddle and boots.

            “See?” asked Tiffany.  “Was that too hard?  Now let’s grab a spot in the beach before they’re all gone!”  She ran across the sand, with Joey and Yoshata following her. 

            They reached a spot with very few other beachgoers on it.  Tiffany opened up a few chairs and set them on the sand.  She reached into the small bag she set by the chairs and pulled out tanning oil and sunscreen.   She squirted a small bit of the sunscreen into Joey and Yoshata’s hands.  They both rubbed it on their bodies and faces.  When they were finished, Yoshata asked, “Hey, Tiffany, are you going to come swimming?”

            Tiffany looked up as she grabbed the tanning oil.  “Not right now.  I’m gonna get a tan…maybe I’ll come swimming later…”

            Joey and Yoshata shrugged and ran off to the water, leaving Tiffany behind to get her tan.  Meanwhile, Tiffany relaxed in her chair and began reading the instructions on the container of tanning oil. 

 

            Olivia was finally able to see the Orange Springs Hotel in the distance.  She turned off the radio and looked closer at it.  It seemed a long way away still; it would take her hours to get back…and right now she was already going thirty miles per hour over the speed limit.  As she was looking at the skyscraper in the distance, another thought came into mind.  Why hadn’t the police tried to get her by now?  Perhaps it was because she was currently hidden in someone else’s vehicle.  But she knew that that idiot mushroomer would find the police sooner or later and tell them of everything that had happened.  Of course, the police she had escaped from thirty minutes ago should definitely have recovered their movement by now, and there was a possibility that they could find her first.  Or maybe it would be a mix of both possibilities.  She continued to think about this, watch the hotel slowly draw nearer, and watch the road, all at the same time.  She was now driving down to the freeway, which had many more cars than the road she was just on, but was no longer jammed with traffic. 

            Unfortunately for her, it was a fact that wherever there were many cars on a freeway there would be police cars in various places.  She was still going over the speed limit, and the driver of a police car a bit behind her noticed.  The sirens began to ring and the police car accelerated.  Using an electronic linking system built into each police car, the police Yoshi spoke into his microphone, which Olivia heard through her car’s sound speakers:  “Please pull your car off the road.  You’re going twenty miles per hour over the instructed speed limit!”

            Olivia looked through her rear-view mirror to see that a police car was catching up to her car.  Many of the cars were clearing out of the way from the police car, which gave Olivia a straight path to speed away on; however, a toll gate was ahead of her and getting closer.  It looked like she would have to drive through it.  She pushed the accelerator again and began to go faster.  “Pull your car off the road,” the voice coming from the speakers repeated.  Olivia tried to turn off the sound, but it became clear that this electronic linking device could override the sound speaker controls as well as speak through them.  “Please, pull your car off the road!” 

            Olivia ignored this command and continued driving in the direction of the tool gate, getting faster and faster every time.  She looked back for one brief moment at the police car behind her.  A police Yoshi in the passenger seat of the car was looking out of his window, yelling into a loudspeaker what sounded like, “Get off the road!”  Olivia looked back at the road.  The tollgate was getting closer and closer…

 

            SMASH!  The two police Yoshies saw a wooden gate break into tiny pieces as the green van broke through it.  The first Yoshi didn’t say anything and continued watching the road and driving quickly but carefully.  The second Yoshi pulled his head and hands back into the car.  “I don’t think she heard me,” he said.

            “Shoot,” came the other officer’s reply.  “This blasted link system might not be working, but still…what kind of idiot ignores speed limit signs anyways?”

            “Probably one of those mushroom people,” grumbled the other police Yoshi.  “They think they’re so much better than everyone else in this world and don’t have to follow simple orders like a speed limit—”

            Just then there was a light beeping noise, and a voice came onto their speakers:  “Guys, we’ve just gotten word that Olivia Norton Yoshi—”

            “You mean that crazy anti-time machine extremist who’s been committing those crimes in about five places?”

            “John, let me finish!  Now, last night we finally got her, as you should know by now.  But, she attacked us with a hidden weapon and escaped again.  This is getting me worried; it’s obvious now that she wants to kill someone. 

            “After we recovered from her attack we met a mushroomer who told us that a periwinkle Yoshi in what looked like her twenties attacked him and stole his car.  This has gotta be her.”

            “What did the car look like—”

            “John, must I remind you again?  The car was a green Yoyota Illusion with the license plate code ‘462151’.”

            “Whoa, an Illusion?  Those things are way old!” exclaimed the driving Yoshi called John. 

            The other police Yoshi who was sitting in the passenger seat laughed.  “Heck, yeah!  Those things were manufactured in 2016, right?”

            “That isn’t at all important, Ern.  Look, have you seen anything that matches my description of the car?”

            John looked at the car speeding ahead of them and felt like an idiot.  “Uhhh, yeah…it’s right in front of us.”

            “Good!  Where are you following her?”

            John gave him the route they were on and in which direction they were heading. 

            “Thanks, we’re all coming; whatever you do, make sure she stays in your sight.  This time, nothing she can do’ll get her out of our grasp.”

            The speakers made a fuzzy noise, then became silent.  Ern looked at John.  “You heard what he said!  Follow that car!”

 

            Tiffany by now was a bit brown as well as her regular dark blue color.  She took off the sunglasses she was wearing when she saw Joey and Yoshata running to her across the sand, both dripping and wet.  “Tiff, we’re ready to leave now,” said Joey.  “I got salt in my eyes and nose, and it really stings!  And we’ve been here for about an hour!”

            Tiffany sat up.  “We’ve only been here for thirty minutes.  Now just give me…ten more minutes.”

            “Well, what are me and Yoshata supposed to do for ten more minutes?  C’mon, you said you’d come swimming!”

            “I can’t, it’ll sting my skin!”

            “But you said!”

            “Just go make a sand castle or something!”

            Joey and Yoshata looked at each other, then shrugged and walked over to the sand to start piling up the sand.  Tiffany watched them for a moment, then put her sunglasses back on and returned to the relaxed position she was in before. 

 

            Olivia looked back at the cars behind her.  She was going seventy miles per hour, which was currently thirty-five over the speed limit.  She was in front of this chase, so she had to maneuver around every other car in front of her extremely carefully.  She quickly turned to the left of a large truck ahead of her.  Looking ahead, she could see the hotel.  She could see a tiny bit more of it now, but she still had a long way to go.  Then she was interrupted by the sound of the police Yoshi’s voice coming through the speakers again:  “Olivia Norton Yoshi, pull over your vehicle now, or we’ll have to force you off the road.” 

            “Oh, really?” mumbled Olivia, although she knew no one could hear her.  She looked into her rear-view mirror again.  There were only two police cars chasing her at this moment, so this wasn’t exactly a big threat.  She was approaching a small road going in another direction; that would probably make her escape easier, but she needed to keep on the highway.  She passed by the small turn and continued speeding down the highway.  She realized that ahead of her was a completely straight path.  She pushed her accelerator harder and zipped through the straight path, going between several cars.  She looked back to see if the police had repeated what she did.  They did.  And they seemed to be getting closer.

            John the police Yoshi was attempting to drive close enough to Olivia’s van in order to knock her off the road.  But he had to be careful; getting to the left side of Olivia’s car would mean that he’d have to not be in the way of a lot of cars.  He looked to his right across his partner, Ern, and saw that the other police car was using the same strategy as them, but going to the other side of Olivia’s car.  John hoped that this would work; they had no one driving behind Olivia.  And he hoped that their friends in the SkyCar, as well as anyone else who could help, would come soon. 

            John pulled a pistol from his side and gave it to Ern.  “Ern,” he said, “when the guys in the other vehicle pull up to the other side of Norton, open your window and shoot at hers.”

            “Why would I do that?”

            “Just do it; you’ll see why soon—now!”  

            Ern quickly opened his window.  He pulled out the pistol John had given to him and aimed carefully.  The target he was aiming at wasn’t that hard to hit at all; but he hoped that he would hit the center.  It seemed that it happened at the same time; both of the windows of Olivia’s van shattered into pieces and flew into the car and onto the road. 

            Olivia looked to the left, then to the right.  In both directions, she saw the same situation:  A black police Yoshi in the front seat preparing a de-neuron gun.  The one in the left car looked quickly at the one in the right, who she noticed was nodding.  They both held up their guns and began firing.  Flashes of green light and zipping noises were filling the area, but they hadn’t yet hit her.  Olivia continued leaning back into her seat while holding both hands on the steering wheel.   She needed a weapon desperately—if only she could reach her weapon-shoe!  Then something hit her.  But it wasn’t an idea; it was a de-neuron blast to her arm.

            Fortunately for her, de-neuron blasts only affect the area they are fired at, unless they hit the head or spine.  The head and spine are, of course, the central area of the nervous system and if disabled will freeze every other nerve path.  The blasts are only tiny, because a full blast can stop the cardiac muscle, which would stop the victim’s heart, which would kill him. 

            Olivia saw the police Yoshies in both cars recharge their de-neuron gun.  They began to fire again.  She began to panic.  If she didn’t do something, she would never get back to that hotel!  But it was too late.  There was more noise and flashing lights.  They hadn’t hit her other arm yet.  And she wouldn’t let them; she had a brilliant idea.  She looked back into her mirror once more.  She was in luck; there was no one behind her.  So before another shot was fired, she slammed on her brakes. 

            The police Yoshies couldn’t stop in time.  In their rush of firing their de-neuron guns, the driving Yoshi of each car had shot the other in the head.  They could no longer keep their feet on their accelerators, so the cars began to slow down.  Slower…slower…

            The car that was on Olivia’s right began to swerve out of control.  It slid across the road and stopped in the middle of the road.  This caused the oncoming cars to either make a sharp turn out of the way, or to crash.  Many took the latter against their will, and this caused even more cars behind to do the same.  Meanwhile, the car that was on Olivia’s left began to shift to the left of the road.  The car would’ve slid onto the other side of the highway, which would have caused extreme chaos, but fortunately, this car had someone in the passenger seat.  Ern, thinking quickly, turned the car back on the road.  He gently pushed John out of the driver seat and jumped into it himself.  He stopped the car in its place and pulled a re-neuron charger from his side.  He pointed it to his partner’s head.  When the center button glowed, he pushed the button.  John jumped up as his nerve paths were unfrozen.  He began rubbing his already aching head as he sat in the passenger seat.  He looked into his window and saw their enemy driving around the car wreck.  “Ern!  There she goes!  Hurry, step on it!”

            Ern slammed on the accelerator.  He swerved around the car wreck as well as several different cars.  While he was beeping his horn and motioning for every other car to move, John grabbed a microphone and began to speak into it.  He gave a report of the accident that had just occurred minutes ago.

            “Another one?” came the fuzzy voice of another police Yoshi.  “These are happening all over, and we’ve been sending officers everywhere!  Where is that insane woman headed?”

            “We have no idea,” John replied into the microphone as he continued rubbing his head, “except maybe the Orange Springs Hotel.”

 

            About ten minutes ago, Tiffany, Yoshata, and Joey had left the beach.  Tiffany’s skin was sort of brownish-blue, with the exception of the place her sunglasses were before, which made her look a bit funny.  Joey and Yoshata didn’t know where Tiffany was driving them, and neither had asked yet.  The three of them had dressed back into their regular clothes and left the swimming clothes and towels in the back of the car.  Right now, Joey was rubbing his eyes (which were still stinging from the salt in the water), Yoshata was thinking about where Tiffany would take them next, and Tiffany was keeping her eyes on the road, occasionally looking behind her to see what Joey and Yoshata were up to. 

            Finally, Yoshata decided to break up the silence.  “Hey, Tiffany, where are you taking us?”

            Tiffany kept her eyes on the road, but replied, “Well, it’s about time you asked.”

            Joey rolled his eyes.

            “We’re going to the Orange Sunset Mall,” Tiffany continued.  “It’s a real great place, with lots o—”

            “Does everything here have the word ‘Orange’ in its name?” interrupted Joey. 

            “Shut up!” yelled Tiffany as she quickly turned to look angrily at Joey.  She turned back around and began talking to Yoshata again.  “Anyway, it’s really big, with lots of stores.  I went there once with some friends—”

            Joey coughed the word, “Rian” as she said this.

            “I can’t hear you,” sang Tiffany, a bit angered.  Then she began talking to Yoshata again.  “As I was saying, we went there one time, and I saw it myself.  The place has everything—clothes stores, sporting goods, computer and video games, as well as other electronic devices; toy stores, candy shops, weapon stores—and we might want to stop at one of those while we’re there, just in case—restaurants here and there, I think there’s a couple pet shops there too…and they have one of those places where you can make your own little stuffed Yoshi too—I don’t think there’s anything that you can’t get at that mall.”

            “Okay, that sounds fun,” began Joey, “but do they have donut shops?”

            Tiffany sighed.  “They have three.”

            “…If I ever have another kid, you’re going to be my most loved.”

 

            Olivia was making sharp turns past cars, vans, and trucks, taking a second to look back after each turn.  She thought that she was free once she cut past a gray car and was ahead of most of the traffic, but she was wrong.  Behind her was a police car, damaged quite a bit but still in good driving condition.  Its sirens and lights were still working, as they were on at this moment.  Why is this happening? She thought angrily.  They’ve lost me in every other situation, and in those situations they could easily have gotten me!  So why do they persist in this extremely hard situation?

            As she was thinking, a voice that was rather familiar to her in through her speakers.  “Miss Norton, you should already know this by now, but pull your vehicle off the road.  We have you surrounded; there’re three cars behind you and we’re above you right now.  So I repeat:  Pull your vehicle off the road.”

            Olivia looked back as soon as she heard this.  The voice in the speakers was correct; two other police cars must have come from a different road…and the car above her could only be the police department’s SkyCar that she escaped earlier.  She looked back at the speakers.  The police Yoshies in the police SkyCar must have left their microphone on, because the radio was still muted.  Then she heard the voice come back.  “All right then,” it said, “we’ll just have to take you by force.”  There was a fuzzy noise, then the radio came back on. 

            It didn’t take long for Olivia to figure out what was about to happen.  Her car began to rock violently and a loud screech came from above her.  She was sure that if she could see what was above her, she would see the police SkyCar slowly dropping and hitting the top of her van.  She knew that this couldn’t knock her off the road, but then something happened that could.  The car on her left had driven closer to her and was ramming her to the right side of the road.  At the same time, the car behind her remained in place, in case she tried to pull off the same thing she did earlier, and the car to her right stayed right next to the one behind her.  She was trapped.  But then she had another idea. 

            “If they have me cornered,” Olivia began as she unbuckled her seat belt and got up from her seat, “they’re moving me right now.”  Holding her left foot on the accelerator, she took her weapon shoe off her right foot.  She examined it for a moment, then punched in a couple hidden buttons.  The bottom of her shoe became a completely different surface.  Olivia pushed it down onto the accelerator.  The shoe stuck to the ground, holding down the accelerator.  Having done this, she jumped to the back of the van.  She had to hurry; any minute now, the police in the car next to her would see what was happening. 

            She reached the very back of her van.  Her remaining shoe was giving her a bit of difficulty, so she took it off and threw it behind her.  She looked at the car behind her.  She knew that what she about to do was dangerous, but it was better than being knocked off the road and arrested.  Slowly, she opened the door at the back of the car.  She had to jump.  She prepared to leap out of the back of her car and onto the car behind her.  The police Yoshi driving the car noticed this, but was too late.  Olivia landed on his front window with a “thud”.  Quickly, she moved out of the way so the driver could see the road.  And now all that she had to do was get inside the car.  But how will I do that? She thought, as wind beat hard on the back of her head.  She looked around, trying to find something that could possibly help.  There was, of course, nothing but the moving road and the other cars, so it looked like she would have to do this on her own.

            The car suddenly jerked just as she was about to move nearer to the window.  The Yoshi driving the car was beginning to move away from the back of her car, and he was headed for the right side of it.  She looked behind her back (which meant she was now facing forward) and saw that the other police car that was to her left was slowly pushing her stolen van off the road.  After they had knocked her car off the road, the SkyCar began to drift nearer and nearer to her.  Olivia knew that normally, at least one of the cars would stop and follow her car, but they must have been informed that she wasn’t even in her car. 

            The SkyCar came closer and closer.  Thinking quickly, Olivia scrambled up to the top of the police car she was on.  She sat there nervously as the SkyCar adjusted its position until it was next to her.  The window was opened, and the police Yoshi that was driving pulled out his de-neuron gun and began firing. 

            Olivia slid out of the way as the other police Yoshi began firing, too.  She slid too far, and began to slip down the window.  She got up enough to crawl and rubbed her newly acquired friction-burn.  She waited for the police Yoshies to begin recharging their de-neuron guns, then she crawled back onto the top of the car.  She didn’t know if she would make it; the police Yoshies to her right had finally recharged their guns and were about to fire, and the police Yoshi in the car she was on top of had just opened his window and was firing.  Without anything else to do, she slid down the back window and landed on the trunk.  The three police Yoshies around her began to recharge their guns again, giving her more time.  She had to move; this wouldn’t work forever. 

            Fortunately, since her van had been taken care of, the police cars and SkyCar had slowed down quite a bit, and other cars were able to go the same speed.  At this moment, a silver car was driving close behind the police car Olivia was on, and it was her salvation.  She got ready to jump again.  She pushed off from the police car and landed on the sliver car just before it got out of the way.  The driver was just as shocked as the police Yoshi had been when Olivia landed on his front window.  He turned into the nearest exit off the highway and screeched to a stop in a parking spot at a nearby restaurant.  He threw open the door and walked up to the periwinkle on the front of his car.  He began to speak to her, but she picked him up and threw him sprawling backwards.  He remained standing, and after regaining his balance, began to run back up to her.  Olivia ran around to the side of the car and opened the door.  She had almost closed it, but the former driver of the silver car had managed to hold it open.  And as they struggled with this, the police SkyCar flew over several trees and towards them.  The SkyCar lowered to the ground and a black police Yoshi jumped out and landed hard on the ground.  He ran towards Olivia with his de-neuron gun out.  While he was doing this, the light green Yoshi that was holding the door open was kicked away from the door by a periwinkle Yoshi’s foot.  The door was slammed shut and locked.  He had to stop her.  The police Yoshi ran after the silver car as fast as he could.  When he caught up, he jumped with the greatest force he could muster and landed on the back of her car.

            “Hurry, get in,” shouted the Yoshi driving the SkyCar to the light green Yoshi.

            The light green Yoshi did as he was told and jumped into the back of the police SkyCar.  He closed the door, and they were back in the air. 

            The only police Yoshi in the car now was the one that was driving.  As he elevated the SkyCar, he began to talk to the light green Yoshi.  “So, what’s your name?”

            “Darren,” replied the light green Yoshi.

            “Hey, Darren, I’m Pedro.  Was that silver car yours?”

            “Yes, it was, until that idiot lady stole it!”

            “Don’t worry, I’m very sure that we can get it back.  Would you by any chance have your lock-unlock remote?”

            Darren reached around in his pocket for a moment.  Then he pulled out a small remote-like object held on a key ring with no keys.  Pedro the police Yoshi looked back for a moment to see this, then turned back around and nodded.  “Okay,” Pedro said, “Here’s what we have to do…”

            The other police Yoshi, who was currently on top of Olivia’s new stolen car, was trying his best to climb to the right front door of the car and remain on the car at the same time.  Once he got to the door, everything else was supposed to go smoothly.  But this wasn’t going smoothly for him right now; Olivia was trying everything she could to knock him off, and she had almost succeeded every time.  Right now she was attempting to throw him off the car by continuously driving up and down a sidewalk’s edge.  He was bouncing up and down on the hard surface of the car, and he was almost about to fall onto the road.  But he couldn’t give up.  He struggled to climb closer to the back window.  He reached out his right arm to find a place to take hold.  Feeling around, he found a small opening and put his fingers into it.  He then reached out his other arm and grabbed the opening with that.  He pulled himself forward, squinting to keep the wind from drying his eyes.  He slowly moved to a half-standing position and pulled himself up to the top of the car.  From here, he looked around for the police department’s SkyCar.  He saw nothing but colored blurs zipping in another direction.  “This is getting dangerous,” he said to himself, although the sound of traffic drowned out his voice.  “They’re supposed to be here by now, and if they don’t, this lady’s going to get me seriously killed!”  He continued looking around, this time more carefully than before. 

            “All right,” said Pedro the police Yoshi to Darren, “you know what to do.”  He pushed a button, opening the window to the right of the light green Yoshi.  “Do it!”  Then he slammed his hand on the middle of his steering wheel.  The car horn sounded, and the black Yoshi on top of Olivia’s silver car looked up in their direction.  Darren saw this, pulled out his lock-unlock remote, aimed carefully at his car, and pushed the “unlock” button. 

            The police Yoshi on Olivia’s car heard the noise of a car being unlocked.  That was the second signal; he had to hurry.  Moving quickly, he lifted his right hand over to the unlocked front passenger seat door and opened it.  He grabbed hold of the top of the car and swung into the seat next to Olivia.  Immediately she turned her head to see him. 

            The two sat in silence for a moment, simply staring at each other.  But the police Yoshi broke this silence and made the first move.  He pulled out his de-neuron gun and aimed it at Olivia’s head.  Olivia continued facing him, with a look of nervousness appearing on her face.  She looked back to the road periodically and kept one hand on the steering wheel.  Then, just as fast as her adversary had moved, she hit his hand with such force that he let go of his gun.  The gun was flung backwards out the open door and onto the road.  It was then that the police Yoshi realized that he had left his door open.  He proceeded to close it, but a car from behind then came rushing by, flinging the open door off the car and sending it flying.  The police Yoshi almost immediately saw this as an advantage to Olivia; all she had to do was push him out the door.  He realized that this had also become apparent to Olivia.  She aimed a punch at him, beginning the fight.

 

            “Let’s go in here,” said Tiffany as she pointed at a home security store similar to the one at the Grapevine Gate Mall.  Right now she was standing in a hall of the Orange Sunset Mall, holding two boxes of new saddles and one box of new boots.  Yoshata was standing next to her, holding nothing but the chocolate shake she was drinking.  Joey was at the donut store across the hall, happily taking a tray of donuts to a small table. 

            Yoshata stopped drinking her shake and nodded.  She followed Tiffany into the store, wondering what excuse Joey’s daughter would have about why he wasn’t with them.  When they entered the store, she saw Tiffany put down her boxes, pull out her M.L.W.D. card and the twenty-year-older Joey’s credit card, and start speaking to the red Yoshi at the counter.  A few moments passed, and the red Yoshi nodded and handed her a de-neuron gun and recharger.  Tiffany thanked him, put the small box with her weapon and recharger on top of her three other boxes, and picked them up and left. 

            “Well, that was quick,” said Yoshata as she threw the now empty plastic container of her chocolate shake.  “So now what?”

            Tiffany looked over to Joey, who was cramming half of his donuts into his mouth, then back to Yoshata.  “Well, we’ve been to just about every good store here now, and Joey’s been to all three donut shops, so I guess we’re done with the mall.”

            “Well, you and Joey seem to have gotten everything you want, and so have I.”

            “…Yeah, but all you got was a chocolate shake.  Are you sure that’s all you wanted?”

            “Yep!”

            “…You know, you’re almost as strange as Joey.”

            Just as Tiffany said this, Joey walked up.  “Well, all done!  I think that one had the best donuts!”

            “Sure,” replied Tiffany sarcastically.  “Well, since we have everything we want here, our next stop is the arcade at Tangerine Plaza!”

            “Hey,” said Joey, “I thought you said that this mall had everything!  Why doesn’t it have an arcade?”

            “Well, what mall that you know of has an arcade?”

            Joey and Yoshata replied, “The Yoshi City Mall!”

            “Oh.  Well, if I’m correct, they replaced that with the Capital Mall about five years ago.  Now let’s go!”

            Joey and Yoshata quickly followed Tiffany as she walked out the main doors of the Orange Sunset Mall.  Soon, they had reached the spot where their SkyCar was parked.  Tiffany unlocked the doors and let everyone get in.  She closed her door and started up the car.  Then she set off for Tangerine Plaza.

           

            The Hotel was in full sight now; it would only be about thirty minutes till Olivia would be there.  She took a second to notice this before she continued blocking the police Yoshi’s punches with her free hand and trying to hit him with her own.  He was becoming a great challenge; perhaps it was just the confined space of the car that was the cause of this.  But Olivia had a strange feeling that she was being followed by even more of her enemies.  If she could just get them to lower the SkyCar, she could steal that and make it back to the center of the city in half the time.  But, She thought, the only way for me to accomplish that is to stop this car.  And if I do that, I don’t think I’ll even have a chance to get to the car.  There must be some way….  She was looking at the police Yoshi she was fighting.  Then she had it; he was the key.  But this would take some careful concentration. 

            Pedro and the officers in about four other cars watched as the silver car pulled onto the side of the road.  They knew she would give in soon.  Now they would just have to get her into their custody, and if she was tired already, then that would be a cinch.  Slowly, every police car turned into the slightly slanted dirt path where Olivia’s car was.  They got out before she did, because she didn’t seem to be getting out of her car for some reason, and pulled out their charged de-neuron guns.  Anxiously, they waited for Olivia to get out of her car.  They heard the noise of footsteps on dirt, then turned and saw a barefoot periwinkle Yoshi holding a black Yoshi in uniform.  She was holding him by the neck as a shield.  They raised their weapons, when she shouted, “Don’t shoot—you’re not gonna get me!”  She held up her “shield” to them to show this.  She knew what they were going to do next; she would have to do what she needed to do first.  Just as she expected, half of them charged towards her while the others remained with their guns ready.  She too charged, but towards the SkyCar.  If she could make it, then whoever was inside it wouldn’t be much trouble.  She was almost there.  Flashes of green like she had seen many times before were emerging from the tips of the police Yoshies’ de-neuron guns; it seemed like they would stop at nothing to get her…

            Darren the light green Yoshi watched from his back seat as the Yoshi who had stolen his car swung open the door near the driver seat.  She threw aside the police Yoshi who used to be in the passenger seat and closed the door behind her.  She pushed a button and the doors were locked.  He stared, wide-eyed, as several other police Yoshies piled onto the Skycar in an attempt to hold it down.  This seemed to work for a short moment, but the Yoshi in the driver seat began to give the SkyCar elevation and then made a sharp turn to the right, forcing most of the police Yoshies off the car.    This being done, she began to fly higher at a faster rate.  Darren looked out the window behind him.  He saw the police Yoshies running into their cars and starting them up.  It looked like they were going to continue chasing this car now.  He had to get out; this was the Yoshi that stole his car and was involved with several other dangerous crimes.  But he wasn’t sure that she had even noticed that he was in the car with her.

            This was verified almost immediately.  Olivia stopped and landed the SkyCar on the side of the road and unlocked the doors.  She pulled out the pistol she took from the police Yoshi that she had used as her shield earlier.  She turned around and aimed it at Darren.  “All right,” she said, “if you want to live, get out of this car now.”

Darren hesitated.  “But my car—”
            Olivia aimed the pistol and shot the seat Darren was on.  He took her warning and quickly leapt out of the car.  Olivia watched him leave, then locked the doors again and began to elevate the SkyCar again.  Once she was back in the air, she began speeding straight forward towards the hotel.  It would only be a matter of minutes now…

            Darren watched helplessly as the SkyCar zoomed off into the distance, headed for the center of the city.  It looked like he’d have to get a ride; and to get the attention of the police, he’d probably have to do something crazy, like stand in the middle of the road as they came driving up.  But that obviously wouldn’t work, Darren thought.  Especially not on my part…Wait, here they come…maybe if I wave my hands around in distress, they’ll see me and stop.

            And it worked; one police car stopped and asked him to quickly come in.  He did, and before he could even close his door, they sped off.  He pulled his seatbelt over his chest and buckled it in, then asked, “Why are we going so fast?  I know we need to get this Olivia lady, but this is dangerous, going at this speed!”

            The black police Yoshi in the passenger seat turned back to face Darren.  “In the vehicle she’s stolen, she has a huge advantage—no roads.  And because of that, she could get to her destination in half the time we can—about fifteen minutes or less.  We’ve gotta go as fast as we can.  If we do, we just may be able to catch up with her.  The disadvantage of having a SkyCar is their newness; the manufacturers paid more attention on making a flying car than a fast one, and thus, the car has a low top speed.”

            “Makes sense.”

            “Yeah…now sit back, ‘cause we’re headed for the Orange Springs Hotel!”

 

            Joey, Tiffany, and Yoshata walked through the arcade slowly.  The building had three floors, each one filled with arcade games, new and old.  It was filled with other Yoshies of many different ages.  Joey and Yoshata looked left and right at the blinking lights and screens in awe, while Tiffany simply walked with them, looking as if this was nothing special.  “So,” began Joey excitedly, “what’re we gonna play first?”

            Yoshata looked back with excitement in her face, too.  “I don’t know…there’s so much here!  Hey, Tiffany, have you ever been here before?”

            “Well, I knew exactly where the place was,” Tiffany replied sarcastically.  “So what do you think?”

            “Okay…so what do you think is the best game?”

            “Well, how should I know?”

            “Well,” interrupted Joey, “if you’ve been here before, you’ve probably played a game, right?”

            Tiffany looked at him, annoyed.  “As a matter of fact, no.  The reason I came here was the other half of the bottom floor—the snack bar.”

            Joey replaced his sarcastic look with a happy one.  “There’s a snack bar?” he asked excitedly.

            “Yes…” began Tiffany, “but haven’t you already eaten enough?  The food isn’t free, you know!”

            “Well, is it a sin to still be hungry?”

            “Well, it’s a good way to die young!”

            “Well…so?  I’m eating anyway!”

            Tiffany sighed and said,  “You know, I thought that you came here to play the arcade games!” She was given no reply except for Joey’s rushing toward the snack bar, so she ran after him with Yoshata behind her. 

           

            After Joey had ordered all the food and drinks his heart desired (at the moment), he ran back to the table where Tiffany and Yoshata were seated.  He passed Yoshata some snacks and a drink, then passed Tiffany her drink, and kept what was left.  He began to eat quickly, still anxious to start actually playing the games.  Tiffany watched him with her regular expression of confusion mixed with disgust and sipped her drink.  “You are a mystery,” she said, still watching him, “seriously.”

            Joey looked up at her, his mouth full.  He swallowed quickly, and replied, “Well, you’re Tiffany.  Need I say more?”

            Tiffany sipped her drink again.  She looked at Yoshata and asked, “How can you even live near him without going crazy?”

            “Oh, come on,” said Yoshata.  “You probably just see him differently because he’s your dad…and I think he’s done with his food.”

            “And only he would get it done that fast….”

            “Okay!” said Joey, as he crumpled up his last snack wrapper.  “Let’s go to those arcades!”

 

            Olivia’s SkyCar zoomed high above the streets of Orange Cataract City.  She had gone a great deal faster than Tiffany had, and was almost at the Orange Springs Hotel.  She looked into the mirror above her to see if anyone had caught up; they hadn’t.  She turned back and grinned.  It would be long now…

            The police department’s SkyCar lowered quickly onto the parking lot of the hotel.  Olivia jumped out of the door nearest her and landed lightly on the ground.  She ran to the doors, hoping that no one would recognize her.  She reached the glass doors and looked through them.  No one she remembered seeing was there.  Casually, she walked in, making sure not to draw attention.  She then walked up to the front desk to discover that she had missed someone in her search around the room—the orange Yoshi with purple hair that she had attacked the night before!  Much to her dismay, he had apparently become aware of this, too.  He was eyeing her very carefully, then asked, “Have I seen you before?”

            Olivia looked back to see if anyone was watching them.  Then she turned back to the orange Yoshi, and with a smile on her face, said, “Yes.”

            A look of shock appeared on Rian’s face when yet another de-neuron gun was held up to his face.  The periwinkle Yoshi calmly asked him where Tiffany and her two “friends” were, although she still had a devilish grin.  “They’re not here,” he replied quietly.  “They left earlier today to go around the city!”

            “Playing games, huh?” asked Olivia.  Her grin disappeared and was replaced by anger.  She fired her de-neuron gun, then sprinted off to the elevator just as the other Yoshies in the room were discovering what happened. 

            The elevator made a ding! and opened up for Olivia.  She stepped out and rushed to Room 243.  She didn’t bother to knock; Olivia simply kicked the door open.  Upon seeing that the orange Yoshi was correct—no one was here—she clenched her teeth and pounded the wall with her fist.  She ran back to the elevator, pushed one Yoshi away, and stepped in.

 

            Meanwhile, Joey and Yoshata were enjoying themselves by playing every arcade game they could, while Tiffany stood behind them and kept an eye on them (that is, particularly on Joey).  The first thing they noticed about the arcade games was that most of them were games they had never seen before—the bottom floor, as Tiffany had said, contained the newest games.  And this meant that there were twenty years of games that they were going to catch up with.  As for Tiffany, she couldn’t care less, and continued drinking her soda in small sips to make sure it wouldn’t deplete.  However, by the time Joey and Yoshata were only halfway done with the bottom floor, Tiffany became impatient and rushed them to the next floor.  “We have to hurry,” she said.  “We have a few more places to go before it gets late!”

            “But we’re not even halfway done with our tokens!” protested Joey.

            “Well, you can save ‘em for another time!”

            “What other time?  Haven’t you become aware of the fact that I don’t normally live at the same time this arcade is here?”

            “Well then, save them till it does get built!”

            “Oh sure…well, Yoshata and I are going to see how many arcade games we can play before you drag us out again…”

            “Yeah, whatever!”

 

            After about thirty minutes, Tiffany had to force Joey out of the building and into the parking lot.  Joey was annoyed because he still had about a fourth of his game tokens still left, and Yoshata was predicting how the upcoming argument would turn out and wondering if it would affect Tiffany’s bit of extra niceness.  She looked ahead at Joey and Tiffany.  Unfortunately, they were fighting just like she expected.  She looked up and saw that the Orange Springs Hotel wasn’t very far from the arcade building.  Then, looking at the sky, she saw the slightly orange-ish colors; it was getting late.  As she began to think about where Tiffany would take them next, she heard the familiar sound of sirens coming towards them from a distance. 

            Ahead of the three came a SkyCar that apparently belonged to the Orange Cataract Police Department.  It was going extremely fast—normally, this wouldn’t be odd, of course; however, this SkyCar wasn’t in any pursuit of a car.  After that, the sounds of sirens were getting even louder, and about four or five regular police cars could be seen going at the same speed as the SkyCar.  The SkyCar came closer and closer to them…

            What happened next occurred so fast that no one was able to react to it in time.  The SkyCar swooped down and knocked Tiffany out of the way.  The passenger-side door was opened quickly and a periwinkle hand grabbed Joey and yanked him into the car.  Tiffany was too busy clutching her severely bruised head, and Yoshata took a moment too long in deciding whether to help her or Joey first.  She made the decision to run to Tiffany’s aid when she saw the Skycar’s door close.  She quickly picked up Tiffany and carried her over to their SkyCar.  Tiffany was stuffed into the driver’s seat of the car, while Yoshata ran around and entered through the other door.  Nervously, she shook Tiffany.  “We have to get Joey!” she shouted.

            Tiffany looked back at her.  She, too, was nervous.  She nodded and quickly moved her hand off of her forehead and onto the steering wheel.  Yoshata saw that the spot Tiffany had removed her hand from had been bleeding; that SkyCar must have hit her hard.

            The blue SkyCar rose up into the air.  It rotated, then propelled off in the direction the police department’s SkyCar had gone.  The other police cars zoomed by only a few seconds afterwards.   It became apparent that they too were chasing the police department’s SkyCar.  Tiffany looked back at the cars behind them and was aware of this.  This only made her more nervous.  She was still able to drive, but she couldn’t help thinking about whether Joey would live through this, and…if he didn’t, what would happen to Yoshata and herself.  She glanced at Yoshata, and saw that she was just as anxious about this.  Then, looking back ahead, she saw the back of a black and white SkyCar.

 

            Joey squirmed and cried helplessly in the passenger seat of that very same SkyCar.  Olivia had finally managed to get him out of his daughter’s protection, and it seemed like she really didn’t want to mess up this time.  She did well in keeping Joey in one place; she had tightened a seatbelt over his upper body.  However, she realized that with Tiffany and the police following her, she would have to find either a better time or a better way to finish the job.

            Much to Joey’s dismay, she did.  Olivia pulled out a de-neuron gun and shot Joey in the head with it.  Of course, this didn’t kill him, but it left him vulnerable.  Olivia looked back again, then turned back and looked at Joey.   “All right, it’s time,” she hastily.  “Because of you and your interfering daughter, I’ve gone through more trouble than I had before I used your machines to stop you—I might have ruined my life!  You don’t know what I’ve had to go through—I’ve been chased because of—of stupid assumptions, and then I went back to that hotel, just to find that you weren’t there!  I had to squeeze your whereabouts out of that idiot at the front desk, and after that, I realized that I wasted precious time, and the police were after me!”

            Joey’s only reply was a whimper.  Olivia paid little to no attention and continued.

            “But that’s all going to be over…and once you’re out of the picture, everything will go the way I planned.  Life will no longer have the fear of having your past or future destroyed!  And this is why I have to end this now.”  This time she didn’t bother to look back.  Olivia pulled out a knife and gripped it tightly.  She lifted it high…This is it, she thought. 

            But then something stopped her again.  A loud bump! forced her hand, as well as the knife, straight into the side of Joey’s seat.  Burning with rage, she turned around and saw exactly what she thought: a blue SkyCar.  Whoever was driving it—and Olivia was sure she knew who—must have rammed her SkyCar in the back.  She hoped that no severe damage was done to the propellers in the back; they were what moved the SkyCar.  But she wouldn’t let them do this…not without a fight. 

           

            “Good,” said Tiffany, “I think we damaged one of the back propellers.  We’re going to get Joey back, I know we will!” 

            “But,” said Yoshata, still nervous, “what if we don’t?”

            Tiffany’s tone became more nervous.  “If that should happen, we’ll know.  Although it’s only speculation, some time scientists have said that the person like me would disappear, and any knowledge of that person and anyone else’s connection with him would be erased.  You should know that by now—”

            “Watch out!”

            SCREEECH!

            Tiffany’s head bumped into the window to her left, knocked by the force of the other SkyCar bumping into hers.  She rubbed her head with her free hand, then looked over to the other car.  She had to fight back.  She quickly made a right turn and rammed into the other SkyCar.

            This activity continued between Olivia and Tiffany for some time.  While the police cars below were carefully driving around the city in the attempt to remain under the two clashing vehicles, the SkyCars were changing their vertical position every two seconds and ramming into each other.  Eventually, only two police cars remained near them, and Tiffany and her enemy had begun using other methods of attack.

            “Quickly!” shouted Tiffany to Yoshata.  “Freeze her window shut!”

            Yoshata did as she was told.  Concentrating hard, her eyes turned blueish again, and she froze Olivia’s window.  She looked back at Tiffany.

            “All right!  Now melt it with your heat beam!”

            Again, Yoshata did what Tiffany said.  This time, her eyes glowed red, then emitted a crimson beam.  The ice slowly cracked and melted, making the window slightly crack as well.  Tiffany gave Yoshata her next order.  Yoshata once again did what she was told and kicked the cracked window in.  Now it left an opening for Tiffany to shoot into.  After looking out of the front window, Tiffany pulled out her de-neuron gun and aimed it at Olivia.  She knew she couldn’t shoot; Olivia was driving that car, and Joey was in it, too.  But she had to see if this would work anyway.

            Olivia grinned at her—a sign that this most likely wouldn’t work.  “Go ahead!” Olivia screamed over the noises of the traffic and the wind.  “Shoot me!  I’ll live, but I doubt your little friend will live to tell about it!”  She pointed to Joey, who was squirming and screaming in fear. 

            Tiffany closed her eyes in frustration.  She had to find another idea.  But what? She asked herself.  She was sure that the only reason Olivia hadn’t murdered Joey yet was because her weapon was stuck in the side of Joey’s seat, and if she were to pull out another weapon, she would get attacked first.  So it seemed that as long as she stayed near Olivia, nothing would happen…but the problem of saving Joey would still not be solved!  She had to do something.  “Yoshata,” she said.

            Yoshata turned her head around.  “Yes?” she asked.

            “I need you to stay in the car and drive while I get Olivia, okay?”

            “No, wait!” said Yoshata.  “I don’t know how to drive this!  You stay, I’ll go!”

            “No, Yoshata—” began Tiffany, but it was too late.  Yoshata had opened her door and jumped out. 

            Yoshata climbed up to the top of Olivia’s SkyCar as quickly as she could.  She had to do this right…otherwise, it would be the end of their adventure, and the end of Joey.  But her anger toward Olivia was burning inside of her; she was determined to save Joey!  She mustered both her anger and her energy.  Her eyes glowed a deep red color, and they glowed redder…redder…redder….

            An explosion directly above his head told Joey that Yoshata had come to save him.  He squealed with joy; however, Olivia was far from excited.  She made a quick reach for the knife in Joey’s seat.  Sadly for her, her attempt to attack Yoshata was prevented by both Yoshata and Tiffany—Tiffany shot her knife-wielding hand with her de-neuron gun, and Yoshata froze the knife with her ice ray.  Next, Yoshata jumped into the hole she burnt through the car’s roof and landed between Joey and Olivia.  She pulled up the seatbelt restraining Joey, burnt it with her heat vision, and jumped back up through the hole in the car’s roof. 

            Olivia wouldn’t take another defeat.  With her remaining movable hand, she reached over to the small control panel and pushed the small blue “Auto-Pilot” button.  This changed the SkyCar’s air position noticeably, and it meant that Tiffany would have to become parallel with them again.  While she was doing that, Olivia struggled to pull herself up through the hole in the roof.  By the time she made it up, the blue SkyCar had almost come low enough to pick them up, and Joey was slowly recovering and was almost halfway mobile again.  As for Yoshata, she turned her focus off of Tiffany and onto Olivia just in time.  She prepared another heat ray, but this time her actions were not fast enough; Olivia made a quick duck and pulled the back of Yoshata’s leg forward, forcing her to trip.  So when Yoshata’s heat ray was finally fired, it zoomed off into the sky.

            “Guys!” screamed Tiffany as she lowered her SkyCar.  She caught their attention.  “Quick!  Get down!”  After saying this, she lowered her car even more, which confused Joey and Yoshata.  But when they looked forward, they saw what Tiffany was talking about—A bridge was just ahead, and it didn’t look like their heads would clear it if they remained standing.  It seemed that Olivia also noticed this, because she quickly jumped to the lowered back of the SkyCar and got down as low as she could.  Yoshata copied her and told Joey to get into the car and turn off the auto-pilot.  Although Joey would have normally asked what this would change, a bridge was heading his way, and he didn’t want to lose his head.  He jumped back down the hole in the car’s roof and turned off the auto-pilot.

            The SkyCar cleared the bridge just in time, but was now drifting straight toward a curved bridge that was turning away from a slightly shallow entrance to the ocean.  In addition to that, the SkyCar was now out of Auto-Pilot Mode (which meant that it was beginning to slow down and not turn by itself), and Joey had never even learned how to drive a regular car.  He was in the middle of trying to think of a solution when from he saw Yoshata, standing on the other side of the front window, motioning for him to come back out of the car.  He did so, and when he reached the front of the car, he saw Tiffany, in her SkyCar, also motioning for them to move.  Tiffany opened the door for them and shouted for them to come in.  She pulled Joey in first, then Yoshata.  They all shouted for joy for their narrow escape.  Yoshata looked back to taunt Olivia, but realized that neither she nor her SkyCar were there.  She slowly turned back toward Tiffany, wondering what happened.  As she was about to ask, the sound of breaking glass and bending metal caused her and the two others to shake in surprise and look up.  All they could see through the broken window in front of them was a black-and-white SkyCar with broken thruster propellers. (Thruster propellers were what moved a SkyCar upwards.) It was only able to move forwards…and they soon realized that the same was happening to them.  “No!” shouted Tiffany.  “We can’t stop or turn—nothing!  We’re falling!”

            “But we’ll crash right into the water with Olivia!”

            “Forget Olivia!  Keep Joey safe!”  Tiffany quickly pushed Joey into the back seats and quickly buckled him into a seatbelt—she did it just in time, but then—CRASH!—SPLASH!  The force of the impact sent Tiffany back to the front of the vehicle, while Yoshata was saved by an airbag and Joey was barely harmed because of the pressure of his seatbelt.  The damage done to Tiffany, however, was a bit greater; her forehead had begun bleeding again, and her back was bruised.

            Yoshata quickly unfastened her seatbelt and rushed to Tiffany.  “Tiffany—” she began, but was cut off by a sharp “Shut up!” from Tiffany.  Tiffany slowly got up, trying to put pressure on her wounded forehead.  “Get him,” she commanded Yoshata.  Yoshata nervously did as she was told.  She brought Joey back to the front of the car, just as the sound of sirens filled the area.  “Let’s go.” She said.

            “But Oliv—”

            “NOW!”

            Yoshata opened her door, letting water slowly creep into the wrecked car.  She carried Joey as far away from Olivia and the police as she could, with Tiffany staggering behind them.  Yoshata ran as fast as she could while holding Joey….

            It wouldn’t be an easy trip back to the hotel….

 

-End of Chapter 6