Never Look Back Part II: Looking Away

Chapter VI

Shanna

Music: Beach Bowl Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy

When we all saw the light, it was blinding and we had to cover our eyes. When it disappeared, Sean, Sam, Elle, and I were on a beach. It took a while for my eyes to start functioning properly after the light. When they finally did, Sam yelled, "ALRIGHT! TROPICAL GETAWAY!"

We then walked around, exploring for a little bit. I asked someone where we were, and he replied, "Um, the Sonoma Coast in California. You okay there, little girl?"

I then got it. I whispered to the others, "We were teleported to a beach in California!"

"But how?" Elle asked.

"Beats the heck out of me."

We then explored the area of where we were. I grabbed some stuff for us to eat and while I was heading back, I saw Sean doing the hula with a bunch of other people.

"Sean, get away from these people," I said, pulling him away. He looked at me sadly.

"Listen, I know it may be fun here, but we're on a mission, and there's no time for distractions. We need to be aware at all times. And besides, the monsters may come out any time now-"

I was interrupted by a small rumbling.

Sean

Music: Cosmic Clones from Super Mario Galaxy 2

While the ground beneath us rumbled, I grabbed Shanna's hand in fear. Then all of the monsters popped out of a crack in the ground. At first, I thought the people wouldn't notice, as they didn't seem to mind, but then one man yelled, "Look! There's a bunch of strange creatures flying about!"

I was too busy focusing on blasting these monsters to death to pay attention to anything else. Beside me, Shanna was doing the same as I was. So were Sam and Elle. The people were also too busy freaking out and leaving to notice us, which was good. We would've drawn a lot of attention.
As we blasted away at the monsters, however, I did see a few people staring at us from the sidelines, gaping. Most of them assumed that they were imagining things and continued on. But I saw one man give us a wink, a thumbs-up, mouth, "Good job", and then leave. I assume the man was familiar to Shanna, because she looked ready to faint.

"Is that the Bill Gates dude you told us about?" I asked.

She was a bit distracted, but she nodded in reply.

This mission just gets weirder and weirder.

Sam

Music: Ending from Gradius Deluxe Pack

Whoa. Did I see just Bill, congratulating us on our work? I gotta give him credit for supporting us, but I also want to sue him for stalking.

Anyways, after the battle, Shanna sat down in sheer misery. I'm a very good person to rant feelings to, and so is Elle, so we went over to her. We sat down next to her and Elle asked, "What's wrong, Shanna?"

She, at first, didn't reply. She just sat down, crying. Then, she managed to say, "This adventure is really asking a lot from me. With all these monsters around, tormenting us to no end, it puts a lot of stress on me! I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to do this in the first place, and these monsters decided to target us of all people! I just want to be back home, with everything the way it was before these monsters came- no, before these dreams came!"

Elle then blurted out, "Well, speak for yourself! You don't have to move in two weeks- that is, if we even make it back to our actual home! And yes, I might move!"

For the next minute or so, the two girls sat there, crying. They were confessing all sorts of unrelated stuff, and I just sat there, thinking, God, please kill me now. Elle was my girlfriend and Shanna was my (female) best friend, but they both can tick me off sometimes.

Music: Crisis 4th Movement from Parodius Da! Arcade

Right after the two calmed down, a line of monsters came from a corner, traversed the area we were in counterclockwise, and trapped us in a circle. When they were about to finish the circle, they advanced for us. Luckily we had little to no trouble destroying them, but there were A LOT of them, so it took a little while.

Music: Boss! It's Parodius! from Parodius Da! Arcade

After they were all destroyed, a huge monster appeared. It had one eye and looked like a cyclops. so I'm guessing it is a cyclops. It just stomped around, punching whenever it could. Every time we hit it, it grabbed the spot where it was hit and groaned.

While fighting it, I accidentally shot it in its one eye. That probably isn't good.

Elle

Music: Dino Piranha (Fast) from Super Mario Galaxy

The cyclops went BALLISTIC. It let out a huge scream, and Shanna, Sam, and I hid behind the nearest building.

The cyclops, clearly agitated, grabbed its eye, starting screaming, and stomped all over the place. Sam and I thought this was absolutely hilarious, so we burst into laughter. Shanna thought differently. She said, "Guys, he's destroying the place!"

I replied, "I don't care! This is funny!"

Shanna then went out and yelled to the monster, "HEY YOU!" The cyclops looked Shanna's way and then saw Sam out of peripheral vision.

Uh oh.

The cyclops charged for Sam as fast as it could, which wasn't very fast, and Sam darted like a madman. "Sam!" I screamed, following him. Eventually, Sam accidentally tripped and fell (which, knowing him, isn't a surprise), which gave the monster just enough time to capture him. Luckily, when he stopped, Shanna and I were ready. We blasted away at the cyclops until he fell to the ground. I ran up to Sam and hugged him as hard as I could.

Music: Victory from Final Fantasy

It was then that I realized the amount of people around near the buildings. They all started applauding for us. I assumed we were being thanked for our hard work.

I can take being famous for a while. Now to wonder what the others are doing...