Nerima Park.
The group stood and watched as the Sailor Scouts did battle with the
fiend from the Negaverse. After a few moments of battle, the girls
emerged victorious as the strange man was spirited away to another area
of the park, or destroyed, it didn't really matter which. Carrot assumed
it was the former since Mr. Kon was so adamant about how expensive the
clones were to make.
The girls recovered quickly and were about to jump away from the small
group when Dr. West spoke up. "Hello girls, I'd like to have a word with
you."
They looked at him for a moment before jumping away and vanishing. "Good
work, surely they await us around the next corner," commented Jackson
dryly earning a small glare from the man.
"Don't worry, I think I know where to find them," said Carrot calmly as
he led the group onward.
"A video arcade?" said Jones with a doubtful look on her face.
"They are teenagers," replied West with a small shrug.
"Carrot is right, they should be here, if not we can visit their homes,"
replied Hugo as he walked into the building ahead of them.
Sure enough they found a large group of girls sitting together in a
corner of the arcade talking secretively. Carrot approached them first.
"It's nice to see you again, we asked you to stop earlier, but you just
kept going."
They all looked at him blankly and frowned. "Who are you? Do you work
for the Negaverse?" asked the shorthaired girl.
"Ami right? I'm Carrot Glace, these people are my companions, Dr. West,
Dr. Jones, Dr. Jackson, and Hugo; we were sent here by Mr. Kon," the
expressions on the girls faces changed in an instant. They seemed nervous
all of a sudden and immediately became silent.
"Are you afraid of Mr. Kon for some reason?" asked West patiently.
"No, not really, it's just a little unusual for them to send someone to
us," answered the cat that was sitting in the center of the table.
All of the team looked at it in shock but Carrot; he smiled at her and
nodded. "Don't worry, we're just here to ask some questions."
Jones looked around and noticed that the arcade was now empty, it took
her by surprise since it had been full only moments before. "What the?"
West started his work. "What's this Negaverse?"
"It's an evil place, they send their armies of Youma to drain energy
from innocent people in order to take over the world," supplied Luna.
The man nodded as he scratched off something on his pad. He had never
expected to do a psychological evaluation of a talking cat, and her five
magical girl friends. "Youma?"
"A Japanese devil, or monster," said Carrot, he looked towards the girls
again. "What about the inner senshi?"
Usagi perked up a bit. "You know about the inner senshi?"
"I'm an anime fan, and also the only person here without my doctorate,
well me and Hugo over there." He indicated the balding man who was
sitting over by the snack bar drinking coffee away from the group. Jones
smiled slightly and walked over to where he was getting herself a cup as
well.
The girls seemed to relax a little at this. "So you know about us?"
"Well, yea," replied Carrot simply. "You think the Youma attacks are
real?"
"They are real," replied Usagi defensively. The three men raised their
eyebrows slightly at this and said nothing.
Ami put her hand on her forehead and sighed heavily. "We know they aren't
really real, but they do take energy from the others in the city. We
fight them and stop them from doing it."
"So...the battles are real?" said Carrot as a slow comprehension crossed
his face.
"Basically yea," replied Makoto as she looked away from him towards the
other two team members. He nodded and thought back to the faces of all
the extras that they had passed as they walked through the little Tokyo.
"Something up?" asked West in confusion as he adjusted his glasses and
looked towards his two companions.
Carrot turned and saw the neutral look on Jackson's face as well. "I'm
not sure yet."
"This ain't quite what I expected," replied Jackson calmly.
"Thank you for your time," said the psychiatrist as he stood from his
chair and left the girls to their earlier conversation.
As they left the arcade a slight rain began to fall. "We could stay here
for a while," offered Hugo.
Jackson shook his head. "Not unless you want to spend the night." He
pointed at the sky behind them and indicated the large black rain clouds
approaching the island.
"Happens here all the time, it won't last more than a few hours,"
replied Hugo calmly.
"So what do you make of this Carrot?" asked Jones casually as she
stepped up next to him.
"I can't believe I didn't see it sooner. That old man had us all
fooled," muttered the man angrily.
"Uh, what exactly do you mean by that?" asked West as he suddenly became
interested in the conversation.
"He means that this isn't an amusement park," replied Jackson calmly.
"It was never intended to be one."
"What the hell are you talking about?" cried Hugo in shock. "My
investors spent a lot of money on this place..."
"They wasted their money then," replied Carrot calmly.
Jones shook her head, "Then what are we doing here anyway?"
"That's what I haven't figured out yet," replied Jackson as he glanced
around even more nervously than he had before.
"We'll find out soon enough," agreed Carrot with a sudden calm on his
face as he pulled his hat down over his eyes with a scowl. Almost as an
afterthought he pulled the gun from behind his back and loaded a clip
into it before placing it back into the front of his pants where he could
easily reach it.
"When did you get that?" asked Hugo nervously.
"He lifted it from the armory, wasn't exactly cautious about it either,"
said Jackson with a smile on his face.
"I know Kon saw me take it, I wanted him to know how safe I felt in his
little park," answered the man coolly.
"So what do we do now? You seem to be running this show," said West
calmly.
"I know more about the characters than anyone else, but if worse comes
to worse, Dr. Jackson is in charge; he knows more about survival than any
of us," Answered the man coolly.
"S-s-survival?" said Hugo nervously.
"I don't think it will come to that, don't worry. For now I say we keep
going as if nothing is wrong," Carrot pulled the keys out of his pocket
as they neared Nerima again and the car came into sight. "As for the rest
of us, we keep quiet about this. Mr. Kon might not know that we are on to
this place yet."
"On to this place? I'm still not sure what you're talking about, but I
don't like it," said Hugo with a slight waver to his voice.
"Hopefully we'll be off the island before anything goes really wrong, if
we get off in time, I seriously suggest that you never come back here
Hugo. This place is a death trap waiting to happen, Mr. Kon isn't smart
enough to realize that and he's going to push his luck until it's too
late." Carrot opened the door to the car and got behind the wheel.
Immediately after they were all sitting inside the car the screen
flickered on revealing Kon's smiling face. "How are you enjoying the tour
so far?"
"It's certainly interesting," said West casually.
"Excellent, I had hoped you would think that," said the old man.
"I do have a few more things I'd like to do before we leave the island,
but for now I think we'll just take a basic tour of the island.
Especially since it's raining," said Carrot with a smirk on his face.
"Yes, well I understand that, you can get some more work done later,
after all you do have four more days here. Try to relax and enjoy the
trip," the screen flickered off leaving them sitting quietly.
"Boy, that just killed the mood didn't it?" said West with a strange
smile on his face as he sat back in his seat and hummed to himself.
"I wonder if they have an Evangelion area? Possibly in the future area?"
said Carrot as he started the car.
"Evangeline?" asked Hugo with a confused look on his face.
"Giant robot show," answered the man casually.
"We looked into it actually, but unfortunately it wasn't practical for
an island this size," said the lawyer with a shrug. "It would have
brought in a lot of revenue, but probably not enough to offset the cost
of building something that size."
"Pity," said Carrot without really meaning it, in a way he was a little
relieved. The Tyrannosaurus scene from Jurassic Park played through his
mind with Unit 01 and it didn't go nearly as well as it did in the movie
for him and his companions.
"Tell me something, what exactly are we going to accomplish by driving
across the island in the rain?" said West casually as he glanced out the
window.
"Planning our day for tomorrow's tour," replied Carrot with a shrug.
"The old man never told us exactly what shows he had created here, so it
would be a good idea to scout a head since we can't really wander around
in this weather."
"Fish didn't agree with you either huh?" quipped the man casually as he
lit a cigarette and rolled down the window about an inch.
"Not really, I'm kind of hoping we can postpone dinner a little by
driving around a bit," admitted Carrot jokingly.
"I thought it was good," said Jones completely oblivious.
Jackson rolled his eyes and sighed as he waited for the ride to end.
"Where the heck are we anyway?" He noticed the city had given way to a
much more jungle like atmosphere in an alarmingly short period of time.
Carrot smiled as he pointed to a familiar looking valley just off the
road. It was filled with a large number of springs with varying lengths
of bamboo shoots jutting up from the waters. "China." I doubt we'll find
much here though.
Chin smiled as he watched the cars on the monitors, "Where exactly are
they?"
Genson brushed a few crumbs from his shirt and frowned. "Going through
the China block, they should hit the ancient European area in about
twenty minutes or so."
"Good, tell me when they get there, I have a special surprise I want
them to see, I'm sure they'll enjoy it." The old man cheerfully turned
away from the screen and hummed to himself as he walked over to a
terminal and picked up a telephone. After a few moments someone on the
other side answered. "Yes, I have a job for you..."
Carrot frowned as he looked at the gas on the dashboard of the car and
found it near half full. "What's wrong?" asked Jones impatiently from the
back.
"Damn foreign cars," muttered Jackson as he reached for the door and
opened it. He hesitated for a moment as the rain suddenly increased. "Son
of a..."
They had been this way for several minutes, after reaching the medieval
period the car had mysteriously just shut down.
Carrot sighed and smirked as he looked back at the three passengers in
the back seat. "You know, in this scene of the movie, the lawyer dies."
Everyone turned towards Hugo causing the man to laugh nervously.
"Please don't say things like that," he whined pathetically.
"What are you worried about, I get screwed here in the book and the
movie," quipped West casually.
Jackson snorted in amusement and was about to jump out of the car when
the screen came on revealing Kon. The old man smiled at them warmly as
usual, Jackson closed the door and sat back in his seat again.
"Well, it seems you've figured out my park Mr. Glace, I didn't expect it
of you of all people," said the old man.
"What's he talking about?" asked Jones angrily.
"This isn't a park at all, it's a testing ground," said Jackson calmly
as he looked up at the confident smirk the old man was giving them.
"Very true, I was hoping to get your opinions and research without
trouble like this and send you on your way," replied Kon.
"What's the big deal? So you make guards for people, I mean, who
wouldn't want a super powered martial artist as a guard dog? I don't see
why this has to be so secretive," snapped Hugo angrily. "We could make
millions off of this, and it's legal!"
"You're right, but that's not what he has this place here for is it Kon?
What better place to raise a private army than an island disguised as a
theme park," said Carrot calmly as he watched the old man very carefully,
even Jackson looked surprised at this revelation.
"Too true Mr. Glace, I had hoped you would help me come to a better
understanding of these creatures psychologically and physically, after
all you are all the best in your respective fields," said Kon as his
glare became almost malevolent.
"What do you plan to do with us?" asked Jones with a heavy shaking in
her voice.
"None of this information can leave the island yet I'm afraid, and we
don't have the proper facilities to hold you here..." said the man with a
shrug.
"So, we just become test subjects for his little experiments," said Hugo
as a horrible dawning crossed his face.
"You do catch on quick," said the old man calmly.
"How did you find out we knew, the only microphones I saw are in this
car," said West tensely.
"The only ones you saw," agreed Carrot, "but you saw the control room,
he has camera's everywhere, it wouldn't surprise me if this place was
bugged as well."
"Excellent Mr. Glace, perceptive to the last," said the old man with a
chuckle.
The man turned and snapped at the screen. "I swear Kon, if this park
doesn't kill you, I will!"
"I'm afraid you'll just have to come and get me, I doubt that will be
possible after tonight," said the man with a mock sadness in his voice.
Carrot slammed his fists into the steering wheel as the screen flicked
off leaving them alone in the steadily growing darkness. "Damn! I knew I
should have just stayed home!"
"So, now what do we do?" said West with a heavy sigh.
Jones let out a gasp of shock as her champagne glass shook creating a
ripple in the liquid.
Hugo froze in place and stared at it in shock. "Oh Jesus no!"
"What was that?" asked Jackson coolly as his face suddenly became very
hard and serious.
An audible impact could be heard as the glass shook again. Hugo looked
like he was about to go into hysterics as West and Carrot stared out the
window at the large black mass that stared at them through the window
with a glowing yellow eye bigger than their heads. It blocked the road in
front of them and moved quickly by the car, Carrot saw a flash of horn as
the creature rushed by and moved along the side of the vehicle.
"What do we do now? We run," said Carrot with a strange humorless smile
on his face. In the back of his mind he couldn't quite grasp the irony of
the situation he was in.
TBC....
Oh, I know you hate me for this one. The park is more than it seems, but
there is still much to be revealed. Some of it you'll be expecting, some
of it you won't. In any case, things just took a sharp turn from the
Novel this was based on, and it only goes down hill from here as the
Island is plunged into total chaos. Wheee, good fun from here on out.
C&C to: Carrotglace@juno.com
URL: Http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/fountain/3203