You Are the Best You

I was kind of wishing I had something other than my fancy suit on, but there wasn't really time to change now. My scarf was wrapped around my head, so only my eyes were showing. That was pretty much just so I could escape from the people in the restaurant... They were pelting me with spoons and loaves of bread. Talk about issues..

My eyes narrowed as I took in the situation. Nya, my date, was stuck in the front seat of a roller coaster. She seemed to be tied in there by heavy chains. I wasn't sure what tying her to a roller coaster would really accomplish, but Pythor and the rest of his stupid snakes seemed particularly pleased with themselves.

Pythor gave Skalidor a small nod, and the Constrictai general pulled the lever that started up the roller coaster.

"Later, alligator!" Pythor called back to me in his British accent. "Let's go."

I scowled as he motioned for the rest of his snake friends to follow him. It was bad enough turning into a snake, but now they were making jokes about it? I wanted to go after the purple snake and his minions, but the roller coaster was already leaving the platform.

As fast as I could, I ran over to the tracks and swung myself into the seat behind Nya. She looked behind her and stared at me.

"What happened to you?!" she asked, looking worried. I climbed onto the side of the roller coaster car, holding onto the chains tightly.

"What happened to you?" I asked before looking up at the track. Oh great... There was a giant tear in the track near the end of the roller coaster, and there was a huge ring of fire right before the tear. My eyes widened.

"Gah! We have to get you out of here!" I yelped, trying to yank the chains off. They wouldn't budge.

"Were you bit?" Nya's voice came from in front of me. I looked back up. Apparently she had seen my tail. "Take off your headscarf!"

I grimaced a little and closed my eyes, shaking my head. "I-I'd prefer not... I wasss meaning to tell you, but I didn't want it to ruin the date..."

"Ohhh, that's so sweet..." She smiled at me before turning back to the tracks and struggling with the chains. "Hey!" she exclaimed, looking back at me. "You were the first in your Lil' Scouts group to get your knot badge, right?"

I blinked. Oops... "Yeah, about that.." I mentally kicked myself. "I made that up jussst so I could impresss you. I wass never in.. Lil' Scouts."

Nya's eyes widened. "You weren't?" Suddenly her attention snapped back to the track. "Hold on...!"

"What, you have an idea?" I asked hopefully.

"No," she screeched. "Hold on!" Looking back at the track, I almost leaped out of my skin. We were already on top of the first giant hill, and we were getting ready to streak down it.

Fortunately, I managed to swing around and plant myself into the seat next to her just in time. The roller coaster reached the tip of the hill, and started flying down the track. I let out a few yells as we plummeted down the track. We went up and down a few times before the track calmed down, and we weren't going so fast.

Wait... wasn't something missing? I patted my face a couple times before realizing that my headscarf had fallen off, leaving my scaly, reptilian face bare. I turned away from Nya, not wanting her to see me like that.

"Ah--! Don't look at me, I'm a monsssster!" I frowned a little. "Though I hate the sssamurai.. Where isss he when you actually need him?"Well, here goes nothing...

I stood up as high as I could in the racing coaster and cupped my hands around my mouth. "Sssssamurai, help! Help, Ssssamurai!" I yelled at the top of my voice, hoping that stupid samurai would hear me.

"Jay?!" Nya gasped, a small tremor in her voice. "I don't think the samurai is coming.."

I sat back down and gave her an incredulous look. "Why..?"

She looked away from me, looking like she was scared about something."Well... this might not be the best time, but I haven't been totally honest either..."

I watched her worriedly. "What isss it?"

"Ah..." She glanced back and forth, looking totally lost for words, before looking back at me. "I-I'm the samurai!"

My mouth dropped, and I gasped. She was..? But.. That couldn't... Wha--? Nya was already looking away again, and I couldn't see her face.

"You're the samurai?!" I exclaimed, raising both my eyebrows. I glanced back at the roller coaster and realized that we were getting closer to the circle of flame.

"Gah!" I yelled. "We're running out of track!"

"Jay!" Nya broke in. She was looking at me again. "If anything horrible were to happen, I want you to know that you don't have to wear cologne, or pretend to be anything that you're not. Because I like you best when you're you."

Then she kissed me on my cheek. My eyes went out of focus as warmth spread though my entire body, and my jaw dropped. She-- I couldn't move. She.. kis-- I couldn't even blink. Wh-- What--

"Your face... It's returning back to normal!"

I finally snapped out of my trance, and glanced down at my hand. I leaned away from Nya a little and rubbed my head sheepishly. "It's just like you said.. You must have raised my heart rate..!"

Nya just smiled at me. The roller coaster went through a big loop, but I barely noticed. She had.. kissed me..

"Whatever happens next," she told me softly. "Just remember..."

We were getting dangerously close to the ring of fire and the ruined tracks.

"You are the best you."

Something in the pit of my stomach flipped. She just wanted... me? The silly inventor.. born in a junk yard? She didn't want any perfect guy.. she just... wanted... me.

"You are the best you."

My blood went cold, and a deep inner peace washed over me like a wave. I could feel electricity running through my whole body. I rose slowly out of my place in the roller coaster car. Light was pouring out of every ounce of my skin.

"What's happening?" Nya's voice came from far away.

In a big flash of light, my suit disappeared and my ninja gi had taken its place. I put up my fist and saw how bright I was glowing. Then I looked back at Nya.

"My true potential," I said excitedly, yet calmly at the same time. Suddenly I realized how close we were to the fire. I knew what I had to do.

I disappeared in a blinding flash of light, and reappeared floating in front of the coaster. I mustered up all of my strength and started pushing against the roller coaster as hard as I could. Electricity was running through the entire car, but luckily it wasn't hurting Nya.

Nya...

I shoved harder against the coaster. It was slowing down, but all I could think of was the fire that was only a few feet away from us.

"Nyahh... gah.." I grunted as I gave one final heave, and the roller coaster slowed to a stop. I looked behind me. The fire was only inches from my feet.

"Heh.. ha..." I giggled in relief. Every part of me was now aching with the strain of pushing so hard, and adrenaline was still pumping through my body. I rested my head on the car and let out a sigh of relief. It was... over.