Sometime later, Corey finally awoke, but strangely, he wasn't in his home. He was shackled to a chair in a dark, empty room. "Hello?!" he called out. "What's going on?! How did I get here?!"
"Good. You're finally awake."
A girl walked in. Strangely, she looked a lot like Corey, but with a few different details. She had longer hair that reached her shoulders and the skull on her beanie had a red bow on it. She wore an orange skirt instead of orange shorts, and she had black eye shadow. "Who are you?" Corey asked.
"Only I ask the questions," the girl said, speaking in a firm tone. "Now, how did you find the Pick of Destiny?"
"The pick of what?" Corey asked.
"The Pick of Destiny!" the girl repeated.
"As much as I like this change in routine..." Corey said. "I really have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, I see," the girl said. "You're playing dumb, aren't you, Crafter?"
"Crafter?" Corey repeated.
"So you've never heard of the Prophecy?" the girl asked. "Or the Gifted One?"
"No," Corey answered.
"Liar!" the girl exclaimed as she grabbed the front of Corey's shirt and pulled closer to him. He could hear her breathing.
"So... I'm probably getting interrogated," Corey concluded. "And since you must be the bad cop...there's obviously a good cop nearby."
The girl let go of Corey. "There is," she answered. "But we're not done." She spoke into a walkie-talkie. "You can come in, sis. The boy is asking for you."
An older girl entered the room. She had teal hair and oval-shaped glasses. She wore a sleeveless orange turtleneck, green shorts, and knee high socks, matched to smart black shoes. She nervously cleared her throat. "Hi," she said. "Feeling alright?" She held out a cup of water. "Need a drink?"
"Sure," Corey answered, starting to relax. "Thanks-"
"Too bad!" the younger girl exclaimed. She grabbed the cup from the older girl and splashed Corey with water. "Security cameras picked up this," she continued. A nearby monitor played an infrared recording of Corey. "You were found near the music studio with a strange object."
"Wh-What strange object?" Corey asked. "I never saw anything strange."
"Then why is it stuck around your neck?" the younger girl asked.
Corey realized what the girl was talking about. Somehow, the silver object he found was attached to a silver chain around his neck. But no matter how hard he pulled, the chain wouldn't break. "You have to believe me!" he exclaimed. "I have no idea how this thing got on my neck!"
"Sure," the older girl said. "I believe you."
"Really?" Corey asked.
"Oh yes," the younger girl said. "I 'believe' you too."
However, the older girl was starting to have doubts. "Uh... Carrie..." she told the younger girl. "Maybe we got the wrong guy..."
"Don't be ridiculous, Bernadette," Carrie replied. "He's obviously pretending to be stupid."
"No, the other girl is right," Corey said. "Just ask my...friends. I'm just some ordinary guy."
"Oh, we asked them, alright," Carrie said. She played the interview footage.
"I know Corey Riffin. He's that weird guitarist who work with us."
"I know that guy. All he does is mutter to himself and keep talking about sheep."
"We all have something that makes us special...but Corey is just plain nuts."
This went on for a half hour. Everyone Corey knew talked about how he was 'crazy' and 'insane'. And by the time Carrie turned off the monitor, Corey had an 'Oh Shoot' look on his face. "Just some ordinary guy, huh?" Carrie asked, fiddling with the remote.
Corey lost it at this point. "I'm not crazy!" he exclaimed. "Everyone else is! Mayor Mellow is doing something that's making everyone in town blind to the truth!"
"You're pretty smart for a boy your age," Bernadette said, still smiling nervously. "Mayor Mellow is going to paralyze everyone on Footlong Friday. I think it's to make everyone immortal..."
"Paralyze?" Corey asked.
"Nice going!" Carrie exclaimed sarcastically. "Now he knows the plan!"
"Sorry," Bernadette said. "Should we take him to the Killing Chair?"
"Yes," Carrie answered as she glared at Corey. "We should."
Corey found himself strapped to a wooden chair, unable to escape. "I'm innocent!" he insisted.
"Don't you worry," Bernadette said as she and Carrie left the room. "You won't feel a thing."
Corey was getting scared. He was getting framed for who-knows-what. But with nothing else to do, he closed his eyes and waited for the end. But instead, he heard: CRASH! POW! WHACK! WHAM! CLICK.
Corey opened his eyes. To his surprise, the robots monitoring the room were all destroyed, and he was freed from the chair. The red-haired girl from earlier had saved him. "Who are you?" he asked.
The girl smiled. "Someone you can trust," she answered. "Now come on. I'm busting you out of here."
By the time Corey and the girl escaped, Carrie and Bernadette returned. "Hey guys," Bernadette addressed the robots. "How's the killing going?" But all she and Carrie saw was a bunch of scrap metal discarded on the floor.
A few minutes later, the girl helped Corey get outside. "Now you stay here," she said, looking around. "I'll try to build a getaway ride out of nearby scraps."
"How are you-?" Corey began to ask. Then to his surprise, the girl started to pick up random items in the alleyway and convert them into motorcycle parts using some kind of magic.
"You can drop the dumb guy act," the girl said as she finished building the vehicle. "No one followed us here."
"Act?" Corey asked. "What act?"
When the girl was finished a few seconds later, she jumped on the motorcycle. "I think that should do it," she said. "Now hop on."
Corey had no idea what was going on, or who this girl was. But he was so happy with this change of routine that he happily got on the motorcycle.
"So... What exactly is going on?" Corey asked as the girl drove out into the motorway.
"I'm rescuing you," the girl answered. "You're the person mentioned in the prophecy. The Gifted One."
"Me?" Corey asked. "The gifted one?"
"You found the Pick of Destiny," the girl answered. "And the Prophecy states that as the one who found the Pick, you are the most important, most talented, most interesting, and most extraordinary person in the universe."
Corey looked at the silver object around his neck. "You mean this?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's the Pick of Destiny," the girl answered. "I'm Laney, by the way. Laney Penn."
"Is that your real name?" Corey asked. He never heard of any other girl with that name."
"Sure..." Laney answered. She sounded nervous for some reason.
"Really?" Corey asked. "Because it sounds like an anagram of Penny Lane-" He was cut off when they realized they were being followed.
"You drive," Laney said. Then she jumped out to take care of the robots.
As much as Corey wanted to see Laney fight the robots, he paid attention to where he was driving. And he loved it. The feeling of adrenaline in his bloodstream was amazing. It was such a change from his usual everyday things. In fact, he was completely unaware of Laney turning the motorcycle into a hovercycle and getting back in. The vehicle started to hover.
"Head for the secret tunnel," Laney said.
"That multi-colored hole up ahead?" Corey asked.
"Yeah," Laney answered.
Corey grinned and revved up the engine. "Then you better hold on tight."
ZOOM!
In only a few seconds, the hovercycle entered the tunnel and in disappeared, all in only a few seconds.
