Adventures In Parodyverse: Moving In, Part 3

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Moving In, Part 1
Moving In, Part 2

Adventures In Parodyverse - Moving In Part 3

    Visionary was lying on his bed late at night, staring at the ceiling, when he had this inexplicable sense that something was missing. He sat up and looked around. Did Kerry take something from his room? Or perhaps Sarah? No, everything seemed in place. Yet still, something felt missing.

    He picked up the remote control and turned on the television which was playing an old music video, it was one of those retro 80's music shows. He saw some Chinese girl in the video. He had a momentary flash of familiarity...until the video managed to offend him and then he quickly switched the station.

    He laid down again as he heard the voice of some hysterical cartoon character on TV. At least cartoons would be safe from turning into something traumatizing at that time of the night. He sat up again when it dawned on him that the cartoon he watched was FLCL and it was both violent and confusing to him. He sighed and turned off the TV, and then closed his eyes.

    "You don't even remember me, do you?" he heard a young girl whisper in an accented voice, reminding him of an Asian language like Chinese.

    Visionary raised his arm instinctively and hit the power button on the remote again, thinking that he had accidentally switched that music video back on. But tapping the power button only brought back FLCL and some discussion about wrinkles of your brain being smoothed out.

    Finally giving up, Visionary opened his eyes and sat up to deal with the television problem personally. He gasped at what he saw...a young Chinese girl with long black hair, dressed much like Kerry usually did, standing over him.

    "Aauugghhh!!!" he yelled, and backed up against the headboard. "How...how could you have just stepped out of the TV like that?" he asked. He had assumed that the girl was the same one from the video...and that she was planning to behave accordingly, only the remote wouldn't work. Or would it? He pointed the remote at her and clicked 'power' a few times.

    "What are you doing?" the Chinese teen giggled.

    "I barely know you." Visionary tried to back up further. "I...I can't just let you--"

    "I'm Liu Xi Xian," she told him. She turned sad as she added, "You used to know me. We were friends."

    Visionary calmed down and began to sympathize with the girl once he realized how sad his lack of recognition made her. She looked heartbroken. "Friends, you say?"

    "I used to lay next to you and talk to you about your problems, and mine," Liu Xi prodded.

    "We didn't--"

    "No. Never." She shook her head. "We are friends." She sadly corrected herself. "Were."

    Visionary began to look concerned now. He didn't remember anything she referred to. "What happened?" he asked softly.

    "The Hooded Hood happened," she told him. "I am not supposed to even be here. My presence can break the entire universe."

    "So why are you here?" Visionary asked.

    Liu Xi looked away from Visionary suddenly. "Because others depend on me. And--" she closed her eyes suddenly, and looked as if she were trying to keep from crying. "--I don't want to die forgotten."

    "It sounds like the Hooded Hood is taking advantage of your worst fear." Visionary reached over to the bedside table and extracted a tissue, which he handed to Liu Xi. "Looks like I'm going to have to put a stop to it."

    "What can you do?" she asked.

    "I'm not sure," he replied. "But outrage has carried me through more dangerous situations than this."

---

    "How did you get in here?" the Hooded Hood asked when he realized there were suddenly two people too many in his throne room. He looked directly at Visionary when he said that, his eyes glowing threateningly.

    "Outrage," Visionary replied cleanly.

    "You left your closet door open," Liu Xi added. "All sorts of monsters can come in here."

    "Indeed." The Hooded Hood leaned back in his chair, and gave Liu Xi an amused smile. "How are you enjoying your freedom?"

    "Freedom?" Liu Xi was confused by that reference.

    "Survival of the fittest," the Cowled Criminal explained. "I changed things so you were killed by the man who purchased you." He emphasised the next words. "You didn't get the chance to kill him."

    Visionary looked at Liu Xi, shocked. He took a step away from her.

    Liu Xi shook her head slowly. "I didn't mean to. He tried to hurt me."

    The Hooded Hood threw more fuel onto the fire. "Do you believe every man who seeks to be intimate with a tempting and sweet young woman deserves to be burned alive only for being slightly cruel?" He smiled as he looked at Visionary. "But she didn't tell you that part of her story, did she?"

    Visionary turned completely pale now as he looked from Liu Xi to the Hooded Hood.

    "And so the great Visionary loses his brilliant outrage," the Hooded Hood narrated. "Or perhaps he aims it at you now, Liu Xi?"

    "No!" Liu Xi practically begged as she stepped back away from Visionary. "I...I meant to tell you. But I couldn't. You're so...you're very sensitive. And you were sick. I didn't want to upset you."

    The Hooded Hood looked at Visionary sympathetically and simply said, "You may go freely, if you wish to have nothing to do with this."

    "Visionary," Liu Xi whispered sadly.

    Visionary just shook his head slowly and stepped backward into the darkness of Herringcarp Asylum.

    "No," Liu Xi quietly kneeled on the floor and cried. She lost everything, and now she lost her best chance at getting help...all because she was afraid to tell a friend what she'd done. But then she realized that she was giving up...and she couldn't, not to the Hooded Hood.

    She looked up, still teary-eyed, and frowned angrily at the Hooded Hood. "Give me my life back," she said.

    "Interesting," the Hooded Hood spoke. "You have lost all of your leverage. You have nothing. You shouldn't even exist, but you continue to do so out of sheer stubborn will. And yet you ask me for something you clearly have the power to take back yourself."

    "Give me back my life!" she warned more loudly, shaking as impatient anger began rising within her. "Give it back or I will--"

    "Kill me?" the Hooded Hood asked. "I assume you've heard a lecture about that from your friend Lara Night."

    "I don't care!" she yelled at him angrily. "Change it back!"

    "If I change things back," the Hooded Hood warned her calmly, "You will have to face the consequences. I will not help you any longer. The next move will be yours...you will be indebted to me."

    "No!" a loud voice interrupted. It was Visionary...he hadn't left after all. And now he was approaching the Hooded Hood, sitting on his throne. "You will give this girl her life back or so help me--"

    "I'm sure you have many things in your past you don't wish to experience again," the Hooded Hood calmly retorted. He had barely the time to lean back as Visionary walked right up to the throne and stood over him.

    And then Visionary slapped him hard across the face. Not enough to harm the Hooded Hood, but definitely enough to surprise and shock him.

    "Ah. The outrage has returned," the Hooded Hood whispered as he gently rubbed his cheek. "Shame it is so ineffectual in execution." His throne suddenly was always far away from Visionary, and then he looked at Liu Xi. "You have a choice to make young lady. What will it--" He noticed Visionary lifting a large table in the room and moving toward the Portal of Pretentiousness.

    The table was thrown, but by the time it reached the Portal, it was never there to begin with.

    "Brute violence," the Hood shook his head slowly. "The last resort of the desperate."

    "Stop, stop." Liu Xi held Visionary back as he lunged at the Hooded Hood again. "You will only hurt yourself." She looked at the Hooded Hood. "Very well. I will take your offer on one condition."

    "Which is?" the Hooded Hood asked.

    "When you wish to collect that favor...you will not have me harm anyone. Including me."

    The Hooded Hood pondered that for a moment. "Agreed," he said, and his voice seemed to distort as everything began spinning so Liu Xi had to close her eyes.

---


    When Liu Xi reopened her eyes she was at the lair of the Manga Shoggoth, and he was calmly watching anime.

    But Liu Xi was used to that. "Are you watching Hyper Doll again?"

    The Shoggoth shifted slightly, presumably to give Liu Xi his full attention for the moment. 'I've been pondering the role of 'star earrings' as a catalyst causing a lack of human empathy.'

    "This again." Liu Xi sighed impatiently. "There is no role, it's just funny. Like hitting someone with a guitar in FLCL."

    'Does that not force a human to see musical notes?' the Shoggoth asked.

    "You see something, but they aren't musical notes." Liu Xi giggled. "I came to ask you if you sense anything strange about...me."

    'Slightly,' the Manga Shoggoth moved closer. 'I may have to do a closer analysis.'

    Liu Xi nodded, she knew what was coming next. She closed her eyes and mouth tightly, and took a deep breath to hold it. She stiffened as the Manga Shoggoth's gelid mass enveloped her quickly. Each time that happened it was frightening at first, but she knew she would be safe...she trusted him, even though he was still unfamiliar with just how fragile humans are.

    'You were in the presence of some very dark elder magic,' he directly told her mind.

    'Yes,' she thought in return, knowing her mind's energy could be received while the Shoggoth had her enveloped. 'I discovered that elemental magic is more powerful.'

    'No...not more powerful. Incompatible.'

    Liu Xi worried about that, wondering whether the Shoggoth was trying to summarize an abstract that were difficult to understand or whether he was using the word incorrectly.

    The Manga Shoggoth sensed that and tried to explain. 'You could harm him because his magic didn't protect him from yours. The reverse is true as well.'

    That caused her to worry some more. 'Did he harm me? Am I going to be sick like Visionary was?'

    'Are you familiar with the human immune response?' the Shoggoth asked.

    Liu Xi nodded internally, but didn't really move.

    'You elemental magic cannot exist in the same place as his dark elder magic,' he explained. 'The elemental magic is well rooted within you. There is no place for the dark elder magic there.'

    She breathed a sigh of relief, even in the gel somehow. 'Then how am I different?'

    'Picture human antibodies,' the Shoggoth explained. 'When a human is exposed to a foreign body, antibodies are produced.'

    'Can I save Visionary if he becomes ill again?' Liu Xi opened her eyes, ignoring the sensations that flooded her from within the goo.

    The Manga Shoggoth didn't answer at first. He released Liu Xi intact from the gel, settling her gently on the floor. 'It will help you with any dark elder magic encounter,' he said, 'protecting you. But the results may be unpredictable. There are too many variables. Many more than I can easily account for.'

    "What did the Hooded Hood retcon?" she finally asked. "Do you know?"

    Before Liu Xi got her answer, she realized that she was now standing inside a cabin in the conceptual place known as Leumria, and the Manga Shoggoth was with her.

    'I know about your deal with the Hooded Hood.' the Shoggoth told her. 'He agreed not to force you to harm anyone. But you did not specify reluctance to harm places.'

    Liu Xi frowned, and then dropped her face into her hands. "I'm sorry. I'm so stupid. I thought I was smart but I'm stupid."

    'No,' the Shoggoth corrected her. 'You are smart...because unlike people locations are replaceable...usually. The Hooded Hood would never agreed to a more restrictive provision involving places as well.'

    "This place," Liu Xi whispered, "Is not replaceable. Its inhabitants depend on its existence for their own existence."

    'Correct,' the Shoggoth said. 'Then you know what I have to do. And what you have to do.'

    Liu Xi nodded sadly. "I must not return here again until my debt is paid."

    'Out of respect for what you call sentimental reasons I give you one last opportunity to say good bye to everyone in Lemuria.' the Shoggoth said. 'You are free to extend your last stay for that purpose as long as you like.'

    "I don't think that will be necessary," she said. She was looking out the open door of the cabin, where the Caphans, a group of children, and many other inhabitants of Lemuria stood to greet her and say goodbye. "But I thank you for giving me this chance."

    'And I thank you for remembering to preserve what is important,' the Manga Shoggoth told her. With that, he vanished back to his lair, and left Ebony in his place.

    "Shall we say goodbye to everyone?" Ebony asked, sounding as if she were choking back sadness herself.

    Liu Xi nodded. "It's not forever," was the first thing she said when she stepped outside into the small crowd. "I promise I will see you all again someday."

---

    It was late in the evening when Visionary returned to his quarters for some peace and quiet. He shuffled into his bedroom and fell onto the bed purposely, closing his eyes to savor the relaxation. Then he noticed warmth in the bed next to him. He looked over, and Liu Xi was lying and staring at the ceiling silently.

    "I thought they gave you a bigger bed?" he asked.

    "I wanted to talk to you," Liu Xi explained. "Because I am indebted to the Hooded Hood I cannot return to Lemuria. It is too dangerous."

    Visionary sighed. "I'm sorry. I wish I could have done more to help you. I felt so...useless."

    "No," Liu Xi smiled. "You were very useful. You annoyed the Hooded Hood so much he agreed to my deal quickly so you would leave."

    He pondered that for a moment. "Really? I was actually useful?"

    "You are always useful to me." Liu Xi sat up and leaned on one arm. "I don't talk to anyone else like this. I'm happy you decided to help."

    "I wonder why the Hooded Hood didn't just retcon me," Visionary wondered.

    "He can't," Liu Xi explained, "Your existence prevents a powerful enemy of his from reappearing. Then he'll have much more to worry about than a slap in the face."

    "That was pretty good, wasn't it?" Visionary smiled.

    "I nearly laughed," Liu Xi told him, and she smiled as well. "It was at that moment I realized," she added, "You are a true hero." She frowned for a moment and asked, "Do you think less of me now that you know what I've done in my past?"

    He shook his head. "I...wasn't there, so I can't really judge. But I know who you are now and that's enough for me." He sighed and change the subject back again. "If I were stronger I could have really hurt him," he said.

    "Maybe you're not physically the strongest in the Legion," she said, "But you are strongest where it matters." Liu Xi smiled and added, "Stop denying you're a hero because you couldn't knock out the Hooded Hood. You did more than anyone else to help me, and for that I am forever grateful."

    Visionary smiled too, and nearly blushed as Liu Xi leaned forward, hugged him tightly, and gently kissed him on the forehead. She then slid off the bed and waved quickly. "Good night friend," she said. "Talk again tomorrow?"

    "You know? I actually look forward to it," Visionary said as he watched her leave the room.

    He picked up the remote control and turned on the television which was playing an old music video, it was one of those retro 80's music shows. He saw some Chinese girl in the video. He had a momentary flash of familiarity...until the video managed to offend him and then...

    Visionary almost changed the station, but got a strange feeling of deja vu. He shook his head and turned off the power to the television, leaning back in his bed to enjoy the quiet.

    "Yes, I remember you," Visionary whispered to himself as he remembered the vague question that seemed to pop up in his mind at random. "I always will."

-- Story written and copyrighted (C) 2005 by Jason Froikin, and may not be
-- reprinted without permission.
-- Lara Night (C) 2005 by Jason Froikin, all rights reserved
-- All other characters property of their respective owners

Post By Anime Jason Sat Aug 20, 2005 at 12:01:14 pm EDT	Subject Adventures In Parodyverse: Moving In, Part 3

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