-Chapter 8

 

            Tiffany awoke the next morning with the same “empty” feeling that Yoshata had felt the day before.  She turned her head to the table next to her bed.  On the table was an electronic alarm clock, which read “12:36 A.M.”.  Well, I guess Yoshata’s hope of “sleeping till twelve in the morning” came true for me, she thought without humor.  She got out of bed and left the guest room, yawning a few times on the way.

            She walked into the kitchen to find Yoshata sitting at the table and eating cereal; apparently Yoshata woke up just a bit before she did.  Yoshata looked up at her to acknowledge her entrance…things were still as quiet as they had been since Olivia had overcome them.  Hopefully, mornings for me won’t be like this for the next twenty years, thought Tiffany.  It was unusual for Yoshata to be so down…it seemed that she was in such a good mood for most of their adventure before this.  Obviously, things weren’t exactly the same without Joey, but they had a long time to think of some way to save him.  With that in mind, Tiffany even made herself a tiny bit happier.  She got a bowl, a few spoons, and a box of cereal; then she began eating.

            After she was done with her breakfast, Tiffany got up from the table and went back to her room.  At first, she felt like going back to sleep, but she changed her mind and decided to take the shower she had wanted for so long.  She went back to the kitchen. 

            “Um…do you have any extra stuff that I could wear?”

            “Uh, yeah…I have some stuff in the closet in my room.”

            Tiffany thanked Yoshata and ran to Yoshata’s room.  She opened the closet and pulled out one of her favorite combinations of clothes: green boots and a gray saddle.  She took these and a towel with her into the bathroom.

            Finally, she thought as she stepped into the shower, the first enjoyable thing about this day.  She reached over and grabbed some soap on the other side of the shower.  Still, the shower at the Orange Springs Hotel was better than this…oh…if only Olivia hadn’t been there last night…then I would be enjoying breakfast and a shower at the Hotel…and Rian would be there, too…if only that hadn’t happened…and better yet, if only Olivia hadn’t ever followed us…wait.  Wait!  THAT’S IT!  “Yes!” shouted Tiffany, and she jumped up—and hit the showerhead.  “Ow!  Stupid…thing…Yoshata!”

            She turned of the shower, opened the shower door, jumped out, dried herself, got her new saddle and boots on, and ran back to the kitchen.  Now that she had a wonderfully positive thought in her mind (and maybe also because she had just taken a quick shower), Tiffany felt like she was becoming more and more awake and excited every second.

            “Yoshata!” she said when she reached the kitchen.

            Yoshata looked up abruptly.  Her eyes widened, and she asked, “What is it?”

            “I know how we can save Joey!  Follow me!”  Then she grabbed Yoshata’s hand and yanked her out of the house. 

            Outside, the sky was more on the cloudy side, although the sun would shine through every now and then.  Hopefully there would be no rain today…Tiffany and Yoshata would need as little bad weather as possible.

            Tiffany led Yoshata to the intersection of Joey’s road and Strawberry Road.  Tiffany looked to the left and the right.  They were the only ones out on the road, and no one else could be seen near anywhere else outside, either.  She grabbed Yoshata’s hand again and pulled her to the left—on the road leading away from Joey’s house.  They ran back to the intersection of two more roads; this was very close to where Joey and Yoshata had begun talking before their adventure had begun.  To the right of this intersection was a forest, mostly composed of palm trees—a larger section of the same forest that Tiffany had brought Joey and Yoshata through.  This time it would only be Tiffany and Yoshata going through the forest, but just as before, Yoshata had no idea what Tiffany was thinking when she did this. 

            Yoshata knew that this time, the dark blue Yoshi in front of her was no stranger.  So she stopped walking for a moment to catch Tiffany’s attention.  When Tiffany stopped walking and turned around, Yoshata began to ask her a question.  “Where are we going?” she asked.

            Tiffany replied hastily.  “Do you remember what I told you about how Olivia got here?” she began.

            Yoshata nodded her head.  She was sure that Tiffany would have some big scientific explanation about what they were doing right now.  But if Tiffany’s explanation meant that they could save Joey, then it was fine by her. 

            “She traveled here by using her own time machine.  You also know that I followed her using my own time machine, and that you, Joey, and I all went back to 2023.  But do you remember how Olivia went back?”

            Yoshata thought about this.  It didn’t take long until it dawned on her.  It was so simple; how could she not have realized it before?  “…She followed us using a universe ripple, like you were talking about back in the city!”

            “So what do you think happened to her time machine?”

            “…Nothing.  Nothing happened to it!”

            “Right!  The only problem with Olivia’s ‘brilliant’ plan was that she had left a way for us to come back; she didn’t know it, but she left us a second chance!”

            Yoshata was getting more and more excited.  “And that means we can take her by surprise!  We’ll have Joey in no time!…But….”

            Tiffany looked at her, waiting for another question.

            “…Why didn’t she just follow us with her time machine?”

            Tiffany didn’t need to think about the answer to this one for long.  “Most likely because she didn’t know which universe we were headed to.  Unfortunately, she knew about the cross-universal ripples, and used the one we left behind to follow us.  And if I had known that her following us would have caused so much trouble, I might have killed her back at Joey’s house instead of just stunning her.  But it doesn’t matter…maybe it’s best that we find some other way to get her out of our way forever…I mean, she actually did have a point back at the Hotel.  Maybe time should not be meddled with…Olivia should’ve just found an easier way to stop the study of time travel; trying to kill the young form of Joey was both brutal and contradictory to her main objective.”

            The two had begun walking again.

            “So, why are we walking through this forest?”

            “Olivia probably used her time machine around this location—it’s really close to Joey’s old house, and it’s pretty well hidden.  If her time machine’s not here, then it’s probably nearby.”

            “And if it isn’t nearby?”

            “Then we have twenty more years to keep looking.”

 

            But they wouldn’t have to keep looking.  When they reached the other side of the forest, they found what they were looking for: Olivia’s time machine.  Not so strangely, it was the same model that Olivia had used to arrive at the Orange Springs Hotel before they had.  Its main purpose was changing all universes once one was changed, so Olivia had changed a lot when she sent them back.  Obviously, removing every possibility of Joey’s future existence was on Olivia’s mind when she had done this, but she wasn’t aware of the fact that she left another time machine back for her enemies.  And now Yoshata and Tiffany could use her great mistake to their advantage.

            “Okay!” said Yoshata excitedly.  “We found it!  Now let’s get in!”

            “No, wait,” replied Tiffany.  “We can’t do that yet.”

            “Well…why not?”

            Tiffany ignored Yoshata’s second question.  “Do Joey’s parents have a car?”

            “Uh…yeah.  But—”

            “—Okay then.  Stay here, and I’ll be back shortly.”  Upon saying this, Tiffany ran out of the palm tree forest and onto the road on the other side before Yoshata could stop her.  So Yoshata opened up one of the machine’s doors and went into the passenger seat to wait. 

            From the inside, this model did seem old; it had room for only two, its universe number display panel didn’t look at polished as the one in Tiffany’s machine, and there appeared to be more buttons and levers in this model than Yoshata remembered were in the newer model.  It looked a bit more difficult to use than the previous time machine used by Tiffany—and that one looked difficult to use to begin with.  Of course, she had confidence in Tiffany…so far, nothing proved too hard for her to do.

            About twenty minutes passed before Yoshata heard the sound of a car stopping near the end of the forest.  The sound of an opening and closing car door followed, and after that followed the sound of someone walking through the leaves.  Yoshata opened the machine door and stepped out.  Now she could see Tiffany running towards her.

            “Okay,” said Tiffany.  “Help me get the machine into their van.  I’ll explain when we get there.”

            So Yoshata picked up the back of the time machine while Tiffany lifted up the front.  They ran as fast as they could with it until they reached the road at the end of the forest.  Sitting there was Joey’s family’s car—a light blue van, about two years old, with enough seats for about seven Yoshies.  And it looked like they would need more room than just the trunk for the time machine.

            “Now, I’ve already lowered the back seats, so we just need to open the back door of the car and squeeze this thing in.  I’ll open the door.”  Following her words, Tiffany threw open the back door of the car and helped Yoshata push the machine in.  The task was relatively easy, but it was not all.  “Let’s get into the car,” Tiffany said.

            Yoshata closed the back door of the van and ran around to its right side.  She opened the door and jumped into the passenger seat, then got into her seat belt.  Tiffany pulled out the keys to the van (which she had somehow managed to steal) and started up the car.  She began driving.

            “So…what’s going on now?” asked Yoshata as Tiffany turned down the road.

            Tiffany kept her eyes on the road as she spoke.  “Our trip is going to be pretty long.  First, we’re going to stop at your house to get everything we need.  Then we’ll head off for Orange Cataract City.”

            Yoshata was surprised.  “Why are we going there?”

            “We have to.  Just like the model I used to travel back in time, this time machine can’t travel from place to place—it can only travel from time to time and from universe to universe.  That means that we have to go to the place we’re looking for before we set up the time machine.”

            “So where are we going to set up the time machine when we get to the city?”

            “Well, I don’t know that yet.  But I’ll think of a good spot when we get there; right now, we just have to worry about getting to the city without getting caught for stealing a van.”

            Yoshata sighed.  Once again, it looked like their journey had to continue with some sort of crime involved.  And even though stealing a car wasn’t right for any reason, everything could be explained once they saved Joey.  If only there were some easier way to get from here to Orange Cataract City in 2023, thought Yoshata.  She turned back to Tiffany.  “Tiffany, why can’t we just go forward in time here and then find a SkyCar to drive to the city?”

            “That’s a good idea, but we can’t do that.  If we were to go forward in time enough to have time to get to the city, we would be there at the same time as we just were.  Since all of our experiences already exist in that time, our going back now would cause some change in our previous experience, which might cause some change now—it results in a sort of ‘feedback’ in time, which can become very dangerous regarding the universes.  What we’re going to have to do is take the day-long trip to Orange Cataract City—after stopping at your house to get supplies—and then use the time machine.  It might be a good idea to get a good night’s sleep before we go back to save Joey, so we should stay at a motel the night we get there.  Overall, the trip will take one day and one night—that is, today and tonight.

            “…And here’s your house.”

            The van screeched to a stop at Yoshata’s house.  Tiffany opened her door and jumped outside.  Yoshata did the same.  “Hurry!” said Tiffany.  “We have to be as quick as possible, before Joey’s parents come here and find that we stole their car!”

            “Wait—we?”

            Tiffany led her into the house.  Water marks from Tiffany were still faintly imprinted in the hallway carpet, and Yoshata’s breakfast cereal was still on the table.  Yoshata was tempted put away the bowl before the milk in it had gone sour, but Tiffany wanted them to be quick with getting everything they needed.  So Yoshata followed her to the other side of the kitchen.

            Tiffany opened up the refrigerator and looked at all of its contents.  “Do you have a cold container to keep some of these things in?”

            “Uh…no, sorry.”

            “Shoot!  I guess we can’t bring any of this stuff…so, moving on….”  Tiffany closed the refrigerator and ran to the pantry.  Tiffany opened it and thought carefully about what foods to take; obviously, she didn’t want to rob her friend of all her food (although she had found it in herself to steal her grandparents’ car…).  She grabbed a few breakfast bars, a box of cookies, a bag of chips, a box of crackers, and a few packets of peanuts.  She handed them to Yoshata and told her to put them in the back of the van, with the time machine.  While Yoshata ran out of the house with the food, Tiffany ran to the kitchen counter and grabbed two apples out of the fruit bowl sitting there.  She held onto them and ran into Yoshata’s room again.  When she got there, she opened up the closet and pulled out two pairs of saddles and boots.  She ran back to the kitchen, where Yoshata was back and waiting.  “Here,” she said as she handed the apples and clothes to Yoshata, “put these in the back of the car.”  Yoshata did so.

            When Yoshata came back into the kitchen, Tiffany started towards the door.  “I’m going back to the car.  Get any money that you might have that you think is enough for our trip—I’ll meet you past your driveway.”

 

            Yoshata ran out of her house and towards the van, holding an envelope above her head.  She jumped into the passenger seat and shut her door behind her.  The car started moving immediately.

            “How much did you get?” asked Tiffany when she saw the envelope in Yoshata’s hand.

            Yoshata buckled her seat belt and replied, “About thirty dollars.  It was all I had that I could spend.”

            “Okay…that should do for getting gas on the way.  As for where we’ll be staying for the night, don’t expect anything big; I only have fifteen dollars.”

            Yoshata was fine with this.  She was mostly worried about what would happen tomorrow—or if they would ever make it to experience tomorrow.  She was sure that both she and Tiffany knew the consequences to a car theft, and she could only hope that their situation then would not repeat itself now.  Of course, it was somewhat relieving to know that they didn’t have to worry about Olivia chasing them with the police.  And maybe the police would be less of threat because of Olivia’s absence.  Maybe they wouldn’t even come after them…although she didn’t like to say it to anyone, she thought that Joey’s parents were quite oblivious at times.  And not only that—they constantly teased her about her hair.

            When she thought back, even Tiffany had said something about making fun of her poof of yellow hair—it was just whether she was actually being serious or not that confused her.  From her perspective now, she could clearly see that Tiffany had only used that remark to get her to follow her and Joey to the future.  And right now, she was glad that Tiffany had brought her on this adventure.

            Her thoughts moved on, this time on the future.  Yoshata had confidence that Tiffany would surely bring them to Olivia and Joey—and hopefully rescue Joey and find a way to put Olivia back where she belonged—but what would happen after all that?  Tiffany had never told them anything about that matter, and they had never asked.  What happens after you finish what you came to do in another universe and time?  Will we forget about everything that happened?  Could it be possible that there was some other time travel-related phenomenon Tiffany had not told them yet?  Or what if she just didn’t want to tell them that she would have to leave them in the end?  Maybe I should just ask her.

            Tiffany was in the process of thinking of a plan for tomorrow when Yoshata began to speak.  “Tiff,” she began, “if we make it back here with Joey—”

            “I assure you: Everything will be back to normal.  Everything.  You can—and probably should—both go on with your lives as if this whole thing had never happened.  That is, provided we do make it back with Joey.  And at the moment, I’m trying to plot out tomorrow’s events in my head.”

            Yoshata was beginning to think that Tiffany had some sort of power that allowed her to finish others’ sentences with brilliant accuracy.  With her question basically answered, she asked, “What do you have so far?”

            “Well, I’m thinking that once we wake up, we’ll get back in the car and take it—along with the machine—to the location outside of where the Orange Springs Hotel will be at a later time.  What we should probably do next is use the machine there and stop Olivia when she comes out the door.  Does that sound like a plan?”

            “Yep!”  Yoshata was surprised.  If it was all going to be that simple, stopping Olivia and getting back Joey would be as easy as stopping at the drive-through of a fast-food restaurant.  In fact, it seemed a bit too simple; her few past encounters with their enemy were enough to tell her that Joey’s periwinkle-colored captor seemed just as determined as they were.  Anything could happen tomorrow—or even today, in the case of the police.  But so far everything seems to be fine….

 

            For the first hour of their trip, everything was fine.  The time was 2:11, according to the car clock.  Through the hour, neither had said too much, and things were pretty uneventful, save for a couple quick snack breaks.  After some time, she got bored and decided to spend the rest of the hour strategizing for what might happen tomorrow.  She wanted to be ready for anything Olivia would throw at them—even though she was sure that Tiffany would tell her to stop “worrying” if she knew.  She wasn’t sure how Tiffany was so confident in whatever her plan might be…Tiffany didn’t seem too worried at all, and she would be in more danger than Yoshata if something happened to Joey.  It was yet another “talent” that Tiffany had.

            Right now, Yoshata had covered a few different situations, but the main precaution she had in mind for all of them was for one of them—preferably herself—to remain on the outside of whatever car Olivia was using (and they’d have to find it first, obviously).  That way, while one of them went into the Orange Springs Hotel to catch Olivia, the other would wait near her escape vehicle.  And if Olivia tried one of her other tricks by going to another car, whoever was at her car could stop her before she got away with Joey.  And if everything went even closer to the plan, Olivia wouldn’t have a chance to get out of the Hotel, and they’d win right there.  But again: knowing Olivia, it probably wouldn’t be that easy.

            And their continuous troubles with the police force didn’t stop either; after only five minutes, Tiffany could hear the familiar—and annoying—sound of sirens.  Not being able to look back long enough to take a good look, Tiffany asked, “That’s not by any chance an ambulance, right?”

            Yoshata, who was already looking back, replied with a simple “Nnnope”.

            “Well, there’s a surprise.  And I think you know the drill.”

            “Tiff, we don’t even know if they want us to stop.”

            “Okay, we’ll give it five minutes.  And if they don’t pass us, then I hope you know what to do.”

            Yoshata was pretty sure she knew what to get ready for.  And, after the five minutes were up, the police car had done nothing but position itself behind them on the road.  Tiffany was right again.

            “Pull your car off the road!”  A police Yoshi had stuck his head out of the window of the car and began to shout to them.

            Tiffany spoke as if this were no real problem (although by now, they were used to this routine).  “Ready?” she asked Yoshata.

            “Almost,” Yoshata replied.  After deep concentration, her eyes started to grow light blue.  She let the blue ice beam shoot from her eyes and to the car behind them.  The car quickly decelerated, its entire front half iced over.  Some cars behind and around it stopped where they were on the road.

            “Don’t get too comfortable,” warned Tiffany, once again using her special “mind talent”.  “That ice should melt soon, and they probably have more cars coming anyway.”

            “Um…okay.

            “…Will it be that easy every time they come, Tiff?”

            “Well, I doubt it.  It’s not much different now than it was back when we were with Joey…except maybe for the fact that we don’t have the advantage of vehicle flight, and the police might not have as much helpful technology as before.  All in all, I’d say it’s just about the same as before—you’re mostly the reason we make it out of these messes.”

 

            For another hour, there was little action (other than a few quick chases like the one they had first encountered) and more talking.  Yoshata and Tiffany had started talking about the story of their adventure, starting, of course, at the very beginning.  Yoshata had Tiffany skip the rather long section about how she had taken her father’s time machine to the past; she and Joey had already heard that entire part from Tiffany already.  What Yoshata wanted was to fill in every part of the story that she had not experienced.  Tiffany wanted the same from Yoshata, so that she could make sure there was nothing she didn’t know.  This ought to pass the time, she thought, and waited for Yoshata to begin.

            “Okay,” Yoshata started.  “I remember Joey and I talking about the whole idea of time when we were walking back to our houses.  I’m pretty sure that we brought it up when Joey showed me a recent quiz of his from school—what he got on it wasn’t a very good grade, either—and said that he wished he could’ve changed it, not knowing how he could’ve missed such obvious answers.”

            “Well, anyone who really cares about their grades would wish that after getting a bad grade on one of their assignments,” Tiffany interrupted.  “And so after he mentioned that, you got into the discussion?”

            “Yeah.  It got more detailed as we moved along—farther away from the topic of Joey’s quiz, too—and we got into stuff like whether fate exists or not, and if we could control it.  It seemed to make sense.”

            “And why not?  That’s actually pretty close to the real concept.  Anyway…keep going.”

            “Our conversation stopped once we reached the intersection of our roads.  I went down Strawberry Road to my house after saying ‘bye’ to Joey.  That was the last time I saw Joey until you came about ten minutes later.”

            “What happened until I came back?”

            “Nothing really important.  Once I got to my house, I had a quick snack, then thought I might draw or watch TV.  It was pretty uneventful until I heard a scream and a loud noise—kind of like a gunshot—followed by another gunshot-like blast.  I had turned on the TV, but I was in my room drawing at the time, so I thought that the noises had come from the TV.  And I’m sure you know what happened next: I went to my door hearing a loud knock.  When I opened the door, I was shocked to see some dark blue Yoshi I didn’t know holding Joey and threatening to kill him unless I came with her.  I told her that I doubted she would really do that, and then she made fun of my hair.  That’s how you got me to come with you…and you didn’t really think my hair was funny, did you?”

            “…Um…no.”

            “…Okay.  But what do you think would have happened if I hadn’t come with you and Joey?”

            “I don’t think we would have made it very far without you—especially Joey; by the end of the first day with me, he’d probably make a promise to himself to never to have kids.  So it’s a good thing you were with us to keep us from really hating each other.

            “Of course, in any case, I would probably stay at your doorstep until you decided to come with us.  But it makes me wonder: if Joey and I did go back to the time machine without seeing you first, would we have made it in time to prevent Olivia from jumping in the cross-universal ripple?”

            “The ripples disappear after a while, right?”

            “Yeah…roughly five minutes after they appear, if no other time travel occurs at the same location.”

            “Then maybe you would have kept her from following you…but couldn’t she just find the universe you were in by using her time machine?”

            “Yes, but not easily.  It would take her a very long time to figure out which universe we had gone to—it would be close to impossible if you consider every possible universe she could have gone to.  She probably would’ve given up.”

            “I see.”

            “Okay, please continue.”

            “After you got me to come with you, we went through the woods and to the beach where the time machine was waiting; you know just about all of what happened from there, don’t you?”

            “Yeah…and there’s really not much I can tell you, because you and Joey were with me for most of the time after that.”

            “Oh.”

            Tiffany looked at the dial for the amount of fuel still in the car.  It was almost completely in the “empty” zone.

            “…And it looks like it’s time for us to stop and get gas for the car,” Tiffany said.  “I think I see a gas station a small distance ahead—”

            “—Tiff…how are you going to get the gas if your privileges card isn’t valid now?”

            “Simple!  I’ll just tell them that it’s your car and that you sent me in…I mean, you look old enough for it to be believable.”

            The van slowed to a stop at the side of one of the pump stations.  Tiffany opened the door next to her.  “You stay here while I fill up the car,” she said.

            “Yeah.”  Yoshata stopped Tiffany from jumping out the door.  “And you know how to do this, right?”

            “What do you think I am, an idiot?” Tiffany replied half-jokingly.  “Just fill it up and pay inside.  I mean, we could skip the last step and get away with it, I’m sure—”

            “Nooo.  We have enough trouble with car theft as it is.”

            “Whatever you say.”  Tiffany had already stuck in the gas pump and was intently watching the meter.  “Twelve or fifteen dollars should do it.  What do you think?”

            “Let’s go with twelve.” Yoshata was looking out the open window of the driver seat door.  “Maybe we can get some stuff to eat with the other three dollars.”

            “And ignore all the food we got from your house?  Nah.  Believe it or not, three bucks is important when you’re on a tight budget like ours.”

            “Believe it or not, I think you were the one who just suggested driving off.”

 

            “Ma’am?”  Tiffany was standing at the counter of the gas station convenience store, just getting the attention of a light green Yoshi.

            “Oh!  Didn’t see you there.  Hi!”

            “My older sister over there filled up our van over there—Pump Four.”

            The green Yoshi quickly glanced out the window next to her.  She turned back and tapped on the keyboard in front of her.  “That’ll be it?”

            “Yep.”

            “Okay, twelve dollars, please.”

            Tiffany reached into her pocket and pulled out a ten and a five.  She laid the money onto the table, and the Yoshi at the desk took it and gave back three dollars.  “Have a nice day!” she said.

            “You too,” Tiffany murmured, and she ran out the door.  She didn’t doubt that this just might be the last nice day she might ever have.

 

            Another uneventful hour back out on the road…4:19 now…no problems so far.  We’re on the right track and should get there on time.  But we still have all night before we get there, and Yoshata better not fall asleep.  Tiffany was driving very carefully now and was acting like she was paranoid, often making quick glances at the car clock and any signs that the van might go by.  And every once in a while, she would turn to look at the time machine.  The one that Olivia used to get us here—to get me here in the beginning, she thought.  But lucky for us, she’s an insane idiot who believes in murder over reasoning and can’t remember very well.  But she’s still tricky, and Yoshata and I will have to think carefully; although we can save Joey in many universes if we succeed, we pretty much have only one chance to do this.

            The van went under another sign above the road.  The next city on their path to Orange Cataract was Grapefruit Harbor (a small seaside town that wasn’t quite as commercialized as Orange Cataract but still had a few good stores, in Tiffany’s opinion), twelve miles away.

            At the speed we’re going, it should be a little over twelve minutes…fifteen to sixteen minutes is my guess.  Tiffany turned and said those thoughts to Yoshata.  Upon hearing this, Yoshata looked at the speedometer.  It was currently pointed at “45”, so Tiffany was about right.  Fifteen minutes down out of maybe 480, Yoshata thought.  I guess this isn’t too bad.  And how much longer do we have before we need to get gas again?

            Yoshata guessed it would be about six hours before they would have to stop again.  She was close enough.  By late 9:00 or early 10:00 P.M., they would have to stop again—and after that, two hours more before they would be in O.C. City.

            And after that…then we can stop Olivia for good.

            As she began to think about that, Yoshata caught a faint sound coming from behind her.  If it was what she thought it was, it wouldn’t be good. 

            “Hear that?” Tiffany asked.

            Yoshata nodded.

            “Sirens…and not just one set, from what I hear.”

            “I’m ready.”

            “You’d better be.”

            Two cars approached from behind them.  There were three lanes on the interstate road; one was on the lane they were on, directly behind them, while the other took the lane just next to it.  Tiffany was right: there was more than just one set of sirens.

            “There are two,” Yoshata told Tiffany in a tone that said You probably already know this, but I’ll say it anyway to pass the time.

            “Yeah.  And that means you’ll have to be twice as prepared.  Plus, they’ll probably be smarter than the last ones.  Be careful.”

            That’s what I’ll try to do, Yoshata said as she opened her window.  As she stuck her head out of the window and concentrated, the blue light began to appear in her eyes again.  From the other recent experiences, Yoshata decided that this was probably the best way to deal with the police force without severely hurting anyone.

            But the Yoshies in the police cars clearly did have an idea of these tactics—upon seeing the sky blue Yoshi’s head pop out the van window, they both hit the brakes of their cars and steered away at considerably quick speed.

            Her first shot of ice missed.

            Upon seeing that the sky blue Yoshi had missed, the police car drivers accelerated again.  They came closer this time, but they saw the Yoshi initiate her attack again.  The car on the middle lane steered to the right, and was out of the ice beam’s path just in time.  The left car, however, was stuck in its lane and was frozen nearly instantly.  For the police Yoshies in the right car, it was a good thing that the roads weren’t too packed today.

            Her second shot stopped one car.  “That’s one down, Tiff,” she said.

            “No time for that now,” Tiffany replied quickly, still concentrating on the road.  “Make sure that it’s two down.”

            Yoshata nodded and began concentrating again.  She was still remembering to keep careful; if she wasn’t, she and Tiffany might severely punished—in fact, they very likely would, there was little doubt there—and at the same time become more distant from saving Joey again.  Of course, they would still have twenty or so years to try again…but they had gotten far already, and having to start all over would be an extreme disappointment.

            She fired her freezing beams, but missed.  Darn!

            The police car had steered to the rightmost lane when she had fired the ice beam; it was a clear shot for Yoshata now, as long as she aimed straight between the middle and right lanes.  They wouldn’t have a chance.

            But at that moment—almost as if it were just to show Yoshata that she had been wrong—a black police Yoshi hand came out of the window on the driver’s seat of the police car.  It was holding a gun.

            This particular gun had not been the de-neuron gun she had become accustomed to, unfortunately—they hadn’t been invented yet.  This gun was the kind that most police Yoshies of Yoshata’s time had used when they really needed to.  It was the kind that shot actual bullets; and the police Yoshi driving the car had enough skill to drive with one hand and hold the gun with the other.  He fired.

            At first she had thought that he was aiming at her.  But no…police don’t just shoot you, just like that.  That thought relieved Yoshata a bit.  But that was until she realized that part of the van’s trunk had been shot.

            Tiffany stopped focusing on the road for a moment to look at her sternly.  “You’re gonna have to do better than that,” she said, “because we can’t afford for that back door to open.”

            Yoshata did as she was told.  She looked back out the window and saw the police car.  It had driven back to the middle lane while she was distracted.  But maybe I can still get them, she thought, and began to concentrate.

            Her concentrate was broken when she heard another shot—the back window of their van had just received a new concavity.  Luckily, the window had been thick enough to keep the bullet from going at high speed into the van and Olivia’s fragile time machine.  But not so luckily, Yoshata’s concentration was altered instead of broken; her eyes were beginning to glow red.

            Normally, this wouldn’t happen to Yoshata, even in an accident.  She had gained almost absolute control over her powers a few years ago, so by now she had been able to control herself under circumstances much like this one.  However, there was something that Yoshata hadn’t gained excellent control of when it came to her powers: stress.  The idea of what might befall her friend if the time machine were destroyed caused to her to lose a lot of control of her concentrated powers, and her worry changed her concentrated energy from ice to fire.

            Yoshata hadn’t been able to stop herself in time.  Fire like red-and-orange beams shot from her eyes and hit the police car behind them straight at its hood.  This would have been sufficient…but the beams cut even farther into the metal.

            There was a blast of the same colors as the heat rays hit the engine.  Whatever happened to those inside the car couldn’t have been good; but Yoshata barely had time to think of this herself.  Fragments of metal were spewed with the explosion, going every way and hitting the few other cars on the interstate road.  One piece was flying so fast that she didn’t know it at first.  But when Yoshata had realized that a rough chunk of car metal was flying in her direction at a rather dangerous speed, it was too late; she only had enough time to cover the lower half of her head.

            Tiffany heard all of this happening and only spared a single glance when she heard the blast.  She was about to ask the sky blue Yoshi next to her what she just did.  But moving quicker than she could speak, a piece of the police car’s hood—but only a dull-edged piece, thank goodness—hit Yoshata’s forehead.  Yoshata hadn’t even been able to cover her whole face…but fortunately, the metal fragment hadn’t been headed in her exact location (or Yoshata’s head might have had a piece of metal protruding from it).  Nonetheless, she started breathing quickly and heavily, a line of blood beginning to form on her forehead; she fell down shortly afterwards, apparently unconscious.

            Tiffany had seen—and felt—enough pain like this during their adventure to not get very worried about it.  She rubbed her own head to signify that.  She would have to stop the car and begin applying pressure to Yoshata’s forehead wound immediately.  She turned off the road and stamped her foot on the brake.

            “Oh, gosh,” she said as she turned toward Yoshata.  The sky blue Yoshi’s wound was giving off more blood.  “Ohgoshohgoshohgoshohgoshohgosh…this isn’t good….”

            Hopefully this will stop as quickly as mine did, she thought as she applied as much pressure as she could to Yoshata’s forehead.  This could add a lot of time to our trip….

            Yoshata, meanwhile, was feeling a lot more alive than unconscious, mostly due to a very peculiar dream she had fallen into….

 

            Lots of dreams feel like they’re real.  But not many of them feel like they were real when you’re still thinking about them after you’ve awakened.  Yoshata’s dream was like that.

            She was standing out in the streets of Orange Cataract City.  Looks like we made it, she thought.  And it looks like it’s twenty years later.

            Indeed, the city was twenty years older.  It was late night in the city…about midnight, maybe, in the early fall of 2023.  Cars—and a few not traveling on the ground—were everywhere on the road behind them, despite the fact that it was probably midnight now, and their lights were flashing briefly as each sped onward through the city.  It hurt Yoshata’s eyes to try to watch the lights, so she turned around.

            She saw the Orange Springs Hotel behind her.  She waited for a few nice drivers to stop their cars and let her go across the road.  No such luck…so she walked over to the intersection of two roads where a traffic light (for the ground-bound cars only, of course; transportation without traffic seemed to be the whole point of SkyCars, as Yoshata saw it) had just turned red.  She ran across the road quickly.  There were no other pedestrians at this time of night…just cars and the guys who just like to drive them late at night or something.

            It was starting to drizzle lightly; Yoshata thought that this might later become heavier rain.  I mean, it fits with what Tiff and I are about to do, she thought.  Then she realized that she didn’t know where Tiffany was.  Maybe she’s already at the entrance waiting.  Yoshata ran up to the front doors of the Orange Springs Hotel.  She was hoping that she wouldn’t be too late.  Although she didn’t know it, this was like Tiff had thought earlier: Although we can save Joey in many universes if we succeed, we pretty much have only one chance to do this.  And hopefully, one chance would be all that they needed.

            She reached the front doors.  Much to her dismay, there was no one waiting for anyone there.  The only person inside this part of the building was Rian, who was apparently sleeping at his desk, and Yoshata didn’t really blame him for doing so—when she, Joey, and Tiffany were here earlier (that is, before Olivia captured Joey and sent them away), they were just as tired.  And she also had no idea why any hotel would expect to have people check in at the middle of the night.

            After deciding that she should enter the building, Yoshata slowly pushed open the glass doors, being careful not to wake up the sleeping Tiffany’s friend.  Maybe Tiff went in here, she thought.  It seemed logical; perhaps Tiff had decided to go inside the building and stop Olivia in there.  That way, their enemy couldn’t find another way out.  She walked into the breakfast room.

            The mess made by Joey and Tiffany the last time they were in that room was gone by now.  I don’t even know why I would have expected it to still be here in the first place, Yoshata thought to herself, then laughed quietly.  I mean, it’s a five-star hotel.  But one of the reasons she was thinking this was probably because she was remembering a lot of stuff at one time, beginning with what had happened in this room.

 

            They had begun rather early that morning (so long as free continental breakfasts were considered early, that is).  Joey had laughed at Tiff because he thought that she had wet the bed…and that was pretty funny, considering the fact that it was Yoshata who had started that in the first place, and that it was really Yoshata’s magic water that had caused Tiffany to think that something worse had happened.

            After they had eaten and had that little episode, Tiffany had begun to seem really nice to them for some reason; she had said she was going to take them on a short tour of the city.  Although Rian couldn’t come when Tiffany had invited him, Tiffany had still seemed pretty excited.

            It was like fast-forwarding in time, starting at the beginning of yesterday.  Kind of like quickly flashing through scenes on a DVD movie, only getting a few small ideas from what fully happened.

            They had gotten in the SkyCar—it was still intact at this time, but wouldn’t be for long—and had zoomed off towards their first destination.  The first destination had been the beach…the West Coast Beach, if Yoshata had remembered correctly.  That had been pretty fun, with swimming and all, but Tiffany had done nothing but tan while they were there.  So after what seemed like an hour and fifteen minutes—Tiffany had told them that it had only been about forty-five minutes—they had left for their next stop: the Orange Sunset Mall.

            In Yoshata’s opinion, the mall had been a lot more fun than the beach.  While they were there, Tiffany had gotten a few boxes of clothes and a few things in case Olivia had found a way to get them, Yoshata had bought nothing but a chocolate shake, and Joey…well, it wasn’t much of a surprise that he had been over in another store eating donuts to his heart’s desire.  Yeah, the mall was fun.

            Fast-forwarding…skip the long SkyCar drive…aha!

            The arcade at Tangerine Plaza.  That one had been really cool.  Snack bar…three floors of arcade games to play, from their time to the year 2023…that had been fun.  Except maybe for the fact that Tiff had rushed them out before they could even try half of the games.  The memory of the arcade wasn’t very big…they had spent too little time there.

            That was when they saw Olivia again.

            As they were leaving the arcade, someone in a police department’s SkyCar had knocked Tiffany out of the way and had grabbed Joey.  As she and Tiffany were chasing after her, they both an extremely good idea of who that “someone” was.  The police cars on the ground had also been chasing after the one in the air, which had made the situation even more disastrous.  However, by the end of that chase, they had retrieved Joey, temporarily stopped Olivia, and lost Tiffany’s stolen SkyCar, as well as a lot of her happy feelings for the day.

            Fast-forward….

            After long moments of walking and getting a short taxi ride, Tiffany’s head wound from their earlier collision had healed and she was in a moderately better mood.  However…

            Fast-forward again…

            …By the time they had arrived back at the Hotel—literally only a few minutes before now, if the events were listed chronologically—they were too tired to stop Olivia when she ambushed them.  And when that had happened, they were separated from Joey.  Although she hadn’t had any idea where Joey even was at the time of their separation, she was sure now that Olivia had found him and was planning to do terrible things.

            Fast-forward…fast-forward….

            It hadn’t been very long ago, as Yoshata thought about it.  Yesterday, about twelve hours ago, more or less, she and Tiffany had been on the road.  They had been carrying Olivia’s forgotten time machine in a van stolen from Joey’s parents.  It had been another long journey from their city to Orange Cataract…about eight to twelve hours.  There had been a couple of short police chases (it’s what happens when you steal a car; she, Tiff, and Joey would know, too) and a stop at a gas station, and shortly after…

            Fast-forward….

            …She had awakened.  She had fallen asleep during the drive, and there had been no trouble.  But Tiff had shaken her till she woke up.  “We’re here,” Tiff had said, and she had pointed up at a vacant motel in front of them.  And she had been right: they had been in the O.C. City of 2003.

            More fast-forward….

            And although she had had trouble sleeping that night from her long daytime nap, Yoshata had been confident and not in the least bit sleepy the next day.  It’s time, she had thought.  Time to save Joey.  Tiffany had led her over to the light blue van.  And when they had both entered the van…

            Pass the drive…fast-forward….

            …They had arrived at the future site of the grand Orange Springs Hotel.  At this point, they had taken the time machine out of the van for use.  When they had both gotten inside, Tiffany had entered the coordinates.  Yoshata had had no clue as to how she knew how all this worked, but it didn’t matter.  Because when Tiffany had pushed the special green button, they fell into darkness—darkness filled with what seemed like infinite silver orbs….

 

            …And then she had appeared here.  Here in Orange Cataract City, now in 2023.  It had worked.  But where was Tiffany?  Where had she gone?  She was supposed to appear here with me and with the time machine….

            And for that matter, where’s the time machine?  Yoshata looked back through the doors she had entered through as she thought this.  She found nothing at the place where she had appeared.  Nothing and no one—no time machine and no Tiffany.  Now she was beginning to get worried.  What if something went wrong?  What if it malfunctioned and I was the only one who made it here?  What if Olivia was expecting us to take her time machine?  What if Tiffany isn’t going to ever come back?  What if Olivia does win because I didn’t have Tiffany to fight me?  And where is Olivia?  Where is Joey?  Where is Tiffany?

            No longer concerned with surprise-attacking Olivia, Yoshata ran out the doors of the Orange Springs Hotel.  She was back outside; she had to find that time machine, and she had to find Joey’s future daughter.  She ran to the spot where the sidewalk connected with the road and looked across.  No.  There was no time machine on the other side of the road, no Tiffany where they were both supposed to appear, no Olivia, and no Joey with Olivia.  This was it.  They weren’t there.  She turned around, only hoping that maybe she would find Tiffany and the time machine or Olivia and Joey.

            She did.

 

            “So here you are!” said Olivia’s cold voice as the sky blue Yoshi turned around.  Yoshata felt a sudden surge of both relief and worry.  With Olivia was Joey; he appeared to be unconscious— and probably was, since something bad was supposed to happen if he died.  However, Yoshata was worried because her enemy’s voice sounded as if she had been expecting her to come back.  Oh no, Yoshata thought.  She did leave the time machine for us!  Now Tiffany’s gone or dead and Olivia’s about to kill Joey in front of me!

            Of course, Olivia didn’t have the intention of doing that.  “Here you are, back at this place, waiting for me again!  But I don’t have time for another stupid chase.  So get out my way; I’ve never meant anything against you, it’s just that I have to finish this job and you’re in my way.  You know I don’t want to hurt you—it’s why I sent you back in the first place, when I could’ve just killed you both.”

            Yoshata gathered up the strength to speak.  “That’s not true!  You’ve already killed Tiff and now you’re going to kill Joey!”

            “How did I kill that brat?”

            “You knew she would use the time machine!  You killed her on purpose!  You’ve planned it all along, haven’t you?”

            “I didn’t kill her!  It was likely just the faulty controls in that outdated machine that warped her!  And you know what?  I’m sorry!  But do you see what these things are doing?  They are the real danger!  And you all heard me—you all knew!  So do you realize that the only way other people can be protected is by following the example laid out by your friend?  Do you realize that this all has to be ended back where it began?”

            Yoshata was still dumbfounded.  She watched the periwinkle Yoshi walk around her and go to the middle of the road she had just crossed a few minutes ago.  That periwinkle Yoshi was still holding the blue one—her friend, and the only one she had left in this adventure. She tried hard—as hard as she could in her condition of sudden state of increasing worry—to concentrate.

            Nothing happened.

            No fire or lightning in the palm of her hand, no icy blue or fiery red-orange colors appearing in her eyes.  Nothing.

            Olivia was smiling now as she stood across Yoshata on the road.  There were no cars there anymore: for some reason, all cars on the ground and in the air had just disappeared.  The periwinkle Yoshi seemed a bit nervous…she may have been thinking of what was about to come.  “It won’t work,” she said, and her smile began to fade.  “Not here.

            “There’s a time for everything.  A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to part with; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace; a time to heal…and a time to kill.  You’ve kept—it’s time to part with.  You’ve have your time—now it’s time to kill.”

            “You can’t do this!”

            “Watch me.  I know what I’m doing, and it must be done.  The time has come for it.”

            “No!  You’re trying to make that time happen now!  Haven’t you known that you’ve had to use a time machine yourself to end this?”

            “Ah…that is the amazing paradox in all of this.  And worst of all, you’re right: I do, in fact, have to use time machines to destroy the leader of their invention.  However, because of the means I’ve used to get here, I won’t even remember what I’ve done here, once I’ve done it.  It’s all going to end right here; and back in every universe that’s affected, everything will be for the better.  And how can you not wish for that?”

            “…There’s always a better way to do things like this.”

            “Oh?  Well I’ve tried—me and every other person against time travel—and nothing works. I’ve come to the conclusion that in our day and age of 2023, and any time beginning at about 2010, it would be too hard to breach the security of the time travel study building.  I was somewhat relieved when I had caused you to come here; you see, with your escape from me drawing the attention of several police forces, it was easier to get past that security while they were busy with you.  If I had only brought a virus file with me, maybe I could have slowed down a lot of the production and study of time machines.  But this was the only alternative I knew; I have to do this, or else all of my work will have been worth nothing.”

            “No!  Look, I…I understand that the use of time machines should be prohibited; you’re right about it not being safe.”

            “Then why did you follow me using a time machine?  I could’ve changed it, like I’ve been saying!”

            “Because Tiffany—” she stopped for a moment when she said that name.  “Because Tiffany and I had to fix what you were trying to destroy!  There…there has to be a better way to do this!”

            “Well, I’m afraid there isn’t!”  Olivia’s shouting had begun to wake up some of those sleeping in the hotel building.  “I’m far older than you, and I should be the one to know what to do about this!  So don’t you tell me what to do!”

            “…You—you’re crazy!”

            “Maybe I am!  But I don’t care!  Because what I’m about to do will change the universes…the universe of all universes!  And it’s too late for you to stop me!”

            But for Yoshata, it wasn’t.  As soon as she heard the sound of a loud horn blaring—it was likely a truck (but who would know?—it might be a bus; it didn’t really matter)—she knew for sure that Olivia was seriously going to kill herself with Joey.  Yoshata had absolutely no idea why—maybe it was because she had no weapons, and she would probably survive no matter what she did—but she just might have time to stop it.  She ran from where she stood towards the road on which Olivia was standing and holding Joey.

            As Yoshata charged forward towards her, Olivia grabbed her and threw her to the sidewalk.  The light blue Yoshi was about to get back to her feet, but a bruised periwinkle foot held her down.  “And one more thing,” the foot’s owner said.

            Whatever had made the blaring horn noise—it turned out to be a truck, Yoshata noticed—was getting ever closer.  Olivia continued: “You’ve caused me so much trouble since my task’s beginning.  This should be enough to repay me for my good cause…but if it isn’t….”

            The truck was about seven seconds away from her now.  Whoever was driving it hadn’t noticed what was going on and that someone holding anything someone was standing directly in his path.

            “…This won’t be over.”

            Yoshata turned back and jumped away as it happened.

 

            When she turned back, there wasn’t even a speck of evidence suggesting that a truck had just hit and killed two Yoshies.  At first she felt terribly sick…after that, she felt the addition of terrible sadness.  She was alone now.  All alone.  Tiffany was no where to be found, Tiffany’s father—her friend—was dead, and even the only other person she really knew this whole time—her enemy, Olivia—was dead.  And to top it all off, she had no way of going back home.

            Sick and sad.

            Sick and sad and alone.

            Sick…sad…all alone.

            She sat down at the sidewalk and began to cry.

 

            She had a headache.  She was feeling dizzy.  She hated both.  What am I gonna do?  she thought, and almost said it out loud.  What did it matter, anyway?  She was alone here, with the only person she just barely knew in the lobby of the building behind her; and he probably wouldn’t be able to help her for very long.  And being without any help or money seemed the least of her problems at this time.  How will I get back?

            Forget that…how could I live knowing everything that just happened?

            At that time, almost on cue, a familiar—a somewhat serious, but at the time, comforting—voice called after her.  “Yoshata?” it asked.  “Why are you sitting here, sobbing your eyes out?”

            The light blue Yoshi turned immediately.  Could it be true?  Could it be possible?  Could it be…?

            It was!

            “Tiffany!” Yoshata shouted.  She wiped her eyes and, with a faint smile, rushed towards her.

            “I saw what happened.”

            Yoshata’s smile disappeared.  “…Why didn’t you stop her?  She…and Joey—”

            “No.”  It wouldn’t have taken Tiff’s mind-reading abilities to know what Yoshata was thinking.  “They didn’t.”

            “But—but she did it right in front of me!  You saw!  She got hit—they both did—by a truck!”  Yoshata was becoming extremely confused at this point.

            “No, they didn’t.  If they did, would I still be standing her in front of you?”

            Yoshata’s face lit up a tiny bit, but she was still perplexed.  “But…but how?”

            “It’s not real.  Or at least I hope it isn’t.  But maybe we have another chance.”

            “I still don’t under—”

            “Wait.  What’s that on your forehead?”

            “What’s what—”

            “Ugh, it looks really bad…did Olivia do that to you?”

            Yoshata felt her forehead.  As if her nerves suddenly realized what was happening, she felt a jolt of pain where she touched her wound.  She pulled her hand down to look at it.  No blood…the wound must’ve been dry.

            “You oughtta fix that.  Here.”  Tiffany reached her hand out, meaning to touch Yoshata’s forehead wound.  Yoshata would have stopped her from doing so—because it hurt—but she suddenly couldn’t.  Her forehead stung as Tiffany’s dark blue hand touched it—in fact, applied pressure to it.  Then, the dark blue Yoshi reached out with her other hand and grabbed her shoulder.

 

            Yoshata jolted upward, taking a deep breath as she did so.  She looked around, left and right.  Her forehead stung again.  She was still rather dizzy and still had her headache, but it was easy for her to realize exactly what had just happened.  It was a dream, she thought.  Just a…wow…my head feels like it’s gonna explode…and why isn’t the car moving…and where’s Tiff?

            She brought her hand to her forehead again.  It still stung really badly…and it was still dry.  But she could tell that it did bleed just recently…what happened?

            “Oh, thank goodness you’re awake,” said a voice from behind her.  Yoshata turned around.  Strangely, she had not realized that Tiffany had put her hand on her shoulder.  Just like the dream, she thought.  But it was so weird…no fade-out or anything, just jerking awake when something happened in my dream and in the real world.  But…Joey and Olivia….

            “I thought that it almost might’ve been it for you,” Tiffany continued.  “You got hit in the head with a piece of what I think was part of that police car’s hood.  You were bleeding like crazy, so I had to stop the car at the side of the road and make sure that that wound wouldn’t get worse.”

            It was all coming back to her now: Yoshata had accidentally burnt the engine of a police car, causing it to explode, and causing one of the pieces of debris to fly in her direction and hit her.  I must’ve gone unconscious…it must’ve been pretty deep, too, because to have been dreaming while I had this cut in my forehead….

            “Tiff,” she said, looking through the window on her side of the van.  The only thing to see out that window was the forest, which seemed to go a long way with this interstate road.  “How long have we been here?”

            “See for yourself,” Tiffany said in a tone sounding much more disappointed.  She turned Yoshata toward the car clock.  It now read “5:32”—So it’s been about an hour….

            Yoshata turned forward in her seat.  “We better go now, then.  We’ve spent a whole hour of our time, and I want to get to Joey as quickly as we can.”

            “We do still have twenty years before anything happens, you know.”

            “I know, but I just really want to get to the city sooner…I’m pretty tired and I have a headache, and I guess I just want to go to sleep.”

            “I can see why,” said Tiffany.  She was looking at the wound on Yoshata’s head as she was starting up the van.  The wound had fortunately been shallow, so there was no real damage done to Yoshata’s forehead.  But I bet I would have a headache, too, if it had happened to me.  “But you can try to sleep while I’m driving, if you’d like; the whole movement thing helps me sleep, as long as I’m not driving.”

            “Well, I’ll try.”

            Tiffany began driving the light blue van back onto the road.  It had been a miracle that they there were no police Yoshies around for that hour.  Well, not where they were; Tiffany had seen one or two pass by in the other lane.  Good thing we were close to the ground, she thought as they entered the interstate, approaching the speed about ten miles per hour above the speed limit.  5:35 P.M. now.  We’ll be in luck if we make it by midnight.

            Yoshata was thinking along the same lines (despite her attempt to sleep), but something else always entered her mind in the middle of any of those thoughts.  It was usually either the pain from her forehead or something from the dream she had that was caused by the pain in her forehead.  Five-thirty-something, she thought, glancing at the car clock.  Maybe we’ll get there by twelve…or at least I hope so.  It’s this stupid headache…I wish it would go away so I could sleep!

            But then, what if I have another dream?  It was so strange…and scary….

            She remembered her talk with Olivia when Olivia stood on the road, holding Joey.  “There’s a time for everything…” she had said.  “…You’ve kept—it’s time to part with.  You’ve have your time—now it’s time to kill.”  And apparently, it had been.  She had killed Joey.  That can’t happen, Yoshata thought.  I can’t—I won’t—let it happen, and I know Tiff won’t let it happen either.

            Something had gone wrong then—the time machine had—but it wouldn’t this time.  When we get to the city, Yoshata was thinking, we’re going to use that time machine the very next morning, and it will work.

            But she couldn’t help thinking: What if it doesn’t?

            And what if it didn’t work?  Crazy as that dream was—and it really seemed to fall apart near the end, Yoshata thought—it was so real; and Olivia’s personality, as well as everyone else’s, didn’t seem to falter.  The periwinkle Yoshi had said that she hadn’t rigged the machine—“I didn’t kill her!  It was likely just the faulty controls in that outdated machine that warped her”; Yoshata remembered all too clearly still—but…if she had…it just made Yoshata start to really think.  Perhaps Olivia was a lot more insane here than she was in the dream; Yoshata wished she could remember, but her mind had done good work in blurring the memory of the assassin over the last day.  Tiffany had, in fact, agreed with Olivia on the subject of time machines…and when Tiffany agreed with someone, the other person had usually said something seriously true.  At least, that’s what Yoshata’s opinion was.

            “It’s all going to end right here,” Olivia had said in her dream.  She was talking about Joey’s supposed future, of course.  “And back in every universe that’s affected, everything will be for the better.  And how can you not wish for that?”

            And how could Yoshata not wish for that?  Obviously, her intentions were far from Joey’s death; but she was sure that she did want universes to be safe.  If something like this (mis)adventure would ever happen again, Yoshata was sure she would rip her hair out.  So yeah, she thought.  I guess I agree with Olivia too.  And I guess that Olivia’s not so insane after all…just determined.  Really, really determined.  So that means that while we’ll still have to stop her from killing Joey, she probably wouldn’t have fixed the time machine to kill us.  Besides, maybe she didn’t even have the knowledge or tools to do that!  The thoughts brought her a bit of relief.  Just a dream.

            Of course, thinking that didn’t just end the matter.  Yoshata didn’t end up sleeping for the next six and a-half hours (not even shortly after, either), because, like an annoying song would keep someone thinking about it all the time, the dream and what might happen tomorrow kept her thinking.

 

            Exactly 12:00 A.M., according to the clock in their van.  Whoop-de-doo, thought Tiffany as she began to slump in the driver’s seat.  Midnight and we’re already a grand halfway through the city…and no vacancies! 

            Her eyes had begun to get somewhat tense after the long ride, her head tired, and the van…well, the van looked like a dump on wheels.  Just about the only thing in the back of the car that wasn’t littered on was the time machine.  There were one or two apple cores Tiffany could spot, and the wrappers everywhere seemed innumerable.  

            It had happened over the entire trip, of course.  Between leaving with the snacks and money from Yoshata’s house to the stop at the gas station not long ago, Tiffany and Yoshata had filled the van with about seven and a-half dollars on gas and had eaten about ten dollars worth of snack food.  So, needless to say, at this point, the back of the car was filled with wrappers.

            But did it really matter?  I mean, I’m not the type who says “Who cares” about everything, thought Tiffany, but it’s not like we’ll need this car after tomorrow anyway.  We’ll head to the future site of the Orange Springs Hotel, and it’ll be time to save Joey!  But I hope everything works out, and that that cut on Yoshata’s forehead won’t get in our way tomorrow.  I doubt that it will, but still…Olivia’s able to make advantages out of a lot of things, for some reason.

            They passed by several different motels—each one, unfortunately, packed with parked cars.  Tiffany read them in her mind.  No vacancy, no vacancy, no vacancy…darn!  Is there any such thing as a vacant motel around these parts?

            Well, it’s just our luck…it’s starting to look like we’ll have to sleep in the van.  And that won’t be very good for us.

            The reason that it wouldn’t be good was because anyone on police duty tonight—and knowing the Orange Cataract City of 2023, it would be safe to judge that there would be quite a few—might see the license plate of that light blue van.  They might realize that that van was the van stolen back in another city by some dangerous Yoshies—maybe escaped criminals—who had ended up killing the drivers of one police car and causing major traffic problems on the interstate highway at the same time.

            Yeah, thought Tiffany, almost laughing despite her sleepiness, that makes it sound a lot worse than it is.

            But if those on police duty should chance upon that discovery, they might see an added bonus: the two “criminals” sleeping in their van, with no protection but locked doors, which could easily be broken by a couple officers.  Then those two could be taken into custody, and be kept from their goal—and who would give even the slightest bit of a care as to what it was if they were criminals?—for quite some time.

            That was the reason that kept Tiffany from suggesting that they sleep in the van.  So with that choice eliminated, it seemed that they had to find a motel or some place of shelter.  Because, with a motel, it was easier to blend one’s vehicle in with all the others there.  And, as an added bonus for them, the police would likely take a different, perhaps safer, approach, as to avoid “panic” from the others staying at the motel.

            But in order for that plan to work, they would have to find a stupid motel.

 

            12:32 P.M.—Tiffany’s attitude was getting worse as she got sleepier.  She was grinding her teeth now, still on the hunt for a motel with a vacant label.  The light blue van that had once belonged to Joey’s family was turning yet another corner in the vast road network of O.C. City.  They had recently come close to a mid-section of the city: an area where many things (such as motels) aren’t too expensive but are still just about everywhere to be found.  Yet Tiffany had still found nothing in spite of this.

            She looked at Yoshata.  The sky blue Yoshi appeared to be sleeping.  Perhaps the wound stopped hurting? Tiffany wondered.  She hoped it did.  But just as much, she hoped that would soon find a vacant motel—a single vacant motel is all I ask!

            And her request was, at that moment, fulfilled.  Ahead on the road, she could see a motel—not a very bad one, either, by the looks of it; they got lucky—a vacant motel, thankyouthankyouthankyou!  There weren’t many free parking spaces, but there seemed to be enough for a few other cars to fit in.  The lights in the office were on, so someone was likely in there; whoever might leave their motel open past midnight wasn’t anything Tiffany cared about at the moment—they could finally sleep!

            Tiffany tapped Yoshata.  Yoshata’s eyes opened wide when that happened.  But she didn’t seem to really have been asleep, by the look of her when she woke up…it was probably that “half-sleep” that people sometimes get when they’re trying to sleep in a place like a car: like when you close your eyes, and you feel like you’re fast asleep (it’s almost dizzy-feeling), but you wake up so easily and so much sooner than real sleep that your realize that you couldn’t have been fully asleep.  Tiffany thought that that was what had happened to her friend.  But they were about to go back to sleep, anyway, right?

            “What?” asked Yoshata, her voice sounding as if she had something caught in her throat.

            “I found a spot.”

            “You mean a hotel?”

            “Yeah.  You can stay in here while I get us a room.”

            “…Okay.”

            Tiffany left the car and ran across the parking lot.  Yoshata noticed out of the corner of her eye that it was lightly raining outside.  Just sprinkling, though; nothing serious.  Hopefully it would end by tomorrow morning.

 

            Yoshata had almost fallen half-asleep again, but she sat back up in her seat when Tiffany came running back to the van.  The dark blue Yoshi was holding keys to Room 12.  Upon seeing this, Yoshata checked the doors.  Theirs, Number Twelve, was two doors away from the registration office.  Tiffany opened the passenger side door, to the right of where Yoshata was sitting.

            “Okay!”  There was a sound of some type of triumphal glee in Tiffany’s voice.  “Come on out; I’ve got the key!”

            Yoshata unbuckled her seat belt and got out.  Her forehead still stung a bit…but it’d probably feel better when she got to sleep in their room.

            “Now, before we go in, I’m gonna need you to help me pull the time machine out of the van.”

            “…Why?”

            “Because we need it to be safe with us in the room, in case police somehow find our car.  In that case, we’d have to quiety sneak away with the time machine before they got into our room.  Now come!”

            Yoshata opened the van’s back door.  She and Tiffany grabbed the old time machine model and pulled it over to their door, being very careful not to let it drag across the ground and make noise.  Tiffany gave all of the weight to Yoshata while she unlocked the door.  Then they went inside.

            The room, like the hotel, didn’t look too shabby.  A lot of things were a semi-dark blue shade, like the carpet, the covers on the two beds, the window curtains, and the wallpaper (which also contained some goldlike patterns).  Yoshata jumped over the bed closest to the wall where the enterance was.  She slipped under the covers instantly, even though she didn’t look as sleepy now as she did before.

            “I’ll be right back,” Tiffany said, and she left the room.  Yoshata watched her through the window; Tiffany had gone out to close the back door of the car.

 

            Their room was filled with pitch-black darkness.  Yoshata was still too hard thinking about tomorrow to sleep, and right now the electronic clock on their desk read “1:18”.  Yoshata wasn’t necessarily scared about their showdown tomorrow, but she was definitely feeling anxious.  And, of course, there was the constant thought of the dream.  Maybe I should tell Tiff tomorrow, she thought.  Then she dismissed the idea.  It was only a dream, and she reasoned with herself about it not long ago.  Joey’s assassin, Olivia, may have been somewhat obsessed with her quest, but she was not insane, and she did have honor somewhere in her.  It was very unlikely that she would have set up the machine to hurt anyone who tried to use it.  It was even more unlikely that the two Yoshies would not be surprising her tomorrow.

            …I’ve gotta stop and go to sleep, Yoshata said to herself.  Or else I might end up as obsessive as Olivia.

            She fell asleep less than five minutes later.

 

-End of Chapter 8