Chapter 7:

Dream Role

Tari never had much experience voice acting. The closest she had was imitating Coconut Boy's voice while she was playing Ultra Jump Mania, or really, just any main protagonist of the games she plays. But that poor director needed help, and his sister was unable to perform due to her sickness. Both of them looked in pretty bad shape, and though a part of her was suspicious of how easy it was to enter their apartment and she didn't know these people that well, the android's kindness got the better of her, and now here she was, in her apartment with a legit movie director. Or at least, he looked legit. He did give her his card.

"Tari," said the director, "again, I cannot thank you enough for your willingness to act in my movie."

"It's nothing, really, mister…um…" said Tari as she checked the card, "Eric von Strategy Guide."

"Now, then," explained Eric, "here's your motivation. You play the lovely Lady Ventosa. Ventosa is the love interest of the main character, a generous superhero who always puts others before himself."

"What a good role model," complimented Tari. "Kids could really learn from him, and I can relate with him."

"You sure can," said Eric under his breath. "Anyway, for this scene, toward the end of the movie, the bad guys found out Ventosa is a witness to their plans to blow up the orphanage, and they have to kill her. Now you're trapped in a pit of quicksand, begging for help as you sink. I will record you as you cry for help."

"Ventosa will survive, won't she?" asked Tari worriedly.

"Sure, sure," said Eric rather dismissively as he got his recording device ready.

Tari prepared herself as well. She was ready for anything.

"Okay," said Eric, "go."

"Help!" cried Tari. "I'm sinking in quicksand! Help! Help me!"

Eric got Tari's cries for help on his recording device, but felt like he could go a little bit further.

"That was pretty good," the enthusiastic director complimented, "but I think you can give it just a little bit of feeling. Let's go again."

Eric once again got his recording device ready, and was about to record the excited gamer girl again.

"Okay," said Eric, "once more with more feeling. Go!"

"Help me!" cried Tari with slightly more feeling. "Please help me! I'm sinking in quicksand!"

"Come on," said Eric, "you can give more feeling than that. Just imagine your favorite game is burning in the fireplace."

Quickly, the startled android's eyes lit up in shock, and she gave her most passionate take yet.

"HELP!" she cried. "I'M SINKING IN QUICKSAND! HELP! HELP! HEEEEELP!"

With all of Tari's takes on his recording device, Eric took the time to applaud her for such a wonderful performance.

"Bravo!" he cheered. "That was the best take yet!"

"It was pretty intense," admitted Tari.

"Let's play it back," said Eric.

The director and the android played the recordings back on the recording device.

"Help! I'm sinking in quicksand! Help! Help me! Help me! Please help me! I'm sinking in quicksand! HELP! I'M SINKING IN QUICKSAND! HELP! HELP! HEEEEELP!"

"You can really tell each one is more intense than the last, huh?" observed Tari.

"You did an amazing job," complimented Eric. "Old Senb—I mean, Eric von Strategy Guide will have his movie finished in no time."

"Well, I'm glad I could help," said Tari as the two shook hands. "If you ever need anything else from me, my door is always open."

"Oh, that won't be necessary," reassured the young director, "since you're dreaming right now."

"Huh?" asked the confused android.

Suddenly and right on cue, Tari felt someone behind her covering her face with a cloth that had a weird smell, and before the unsuspecting android knew it, she was being overwhelmed by the smell of chloroform. The gamer girl barely had any time to see the chloroform attack coming, and she couldn't really struggle her way out of it, both because she hated fighting and due to how strong the stuff was. As in, only a second or two of inhaling it was all that was needed to put you out. She couldn't even get a very good glimpse of who was doing this to her, but it vaguely looked like the sick girl this was supposedly meant for, now wearing glasses, a ponytail, and having much clearer skin.

"This is all a dream," she whispered. "This is all a dream."

Once she let go, Tari was left wobbling in her last moments of consciousness, unable to stand properly and sporting a dazed, goofy smile on her face. She was leaning toward the supposedly sick girl as she fell, who managed to catch her just before she hit the floor.

"This is all a dream," she whispered again as she gently laid the drugged android down to the floor.

Tari would be getting her relaxation after all, but not in the way that she expected.

With the gamer girl out like a light, Eric took off his beret, sunglasses, and fancy suit.

It was Senbo in disguise, and the assailant who knocked Tari unconscious was Aibo.

"Eric von Strategy Guide?" she asked skeptically.

"Hey," said Senbo defensively, "I was trying to be creative. She's a gamer, geddit?"

Aibo could only roll her eyes as Senbo rushed to her aid and helped her lift the drugged android onto her bed, opening up the comforter for her to lie in. Once that was done, the couple used their strength to plop her onto the bed and get her into lying position, then covering her up with the comforter to make it look like she's sleeping.

"Now that phase one of Operation: Saiko's Guitar is complete," said Aibo, getting back to the matter at hand, "we can move on to phase two."

"I'm working on that," said Senbo as he searched around Tari's apartment. "Just gotta find Tari's phone."

Aibo joined her boyfriend in looking for the phone they needed for the next step in their operation. It didn't take them long, as the phone was in the charger, on a small table in a corner of the room.

"There it is!" exclaimed Senbo as he pointed to the phone.

Without wasting anymore time, Aibo ran up to the phone, took it out of the charger, and dug through Tari's contacts to find Saiko. Senbo, meanwhile, was preparing his recording device to play Tari's cries for help. Finally, Aibo found Saiko's contact number on Tari's phone. All they needed was one push of a button, and they would be able to call her. But first, the scheming couple figured they had enough time to share their final thoughts before they carry out phase two of the plan.

"This is it, Senbo," said Aibo. "We're going to drive Saiko out of her house so you can play her guitar."

"I'm cuing up these recordings to Tari's most passionate cries for help as we speak," said Senbo as he was doing exactly that.

"And I have a quicksand pit to throw that fake Meta Runner arm into," said Aibo.

"I'm so close to playing that guitar," said Senbo excitedly, "I can almost taste it!"

"Senbo," said Aibo, "'til death do us part."

"Yeah," agreed Senbo, "let's meet in Hell."

And with that, the couple shared a final kiss on the lips before Aibo ran out of the apartment, leaving Senbo alone to cue up his recordings before he called Saiko. As he did, he couldn't help but stare at Tari's unconscious body with glee and excitement.

"Time to make you a star," whispered Senbo to the sleeping android.

Not much was going on at Chateau de' Saiko. With no upcoming gigs in the near-future, all she had going for her was lounging on the living room couch and staring at the ceiling, contemplating existence. Though something she was used to doing, it still wasn't the most exciting activity.

Of course, that was about to change.

Before the young musician knew it, the phone was ringing—with "Darkest Hour" as her custom ringtone, naturally. It was right next to Saiko, so she could pick it up easily. After glancing at her caller ID, she realized it was Tari calling her, making her feel relieved that it was someone she trusted. She was probably inviting the young rock star to another one of Mario's wacky get-rich-quick schemes. Another fun adventure should bring some excitement in her life, so she answered the phone.

"Bichitaru residence," she said.

"HELP! I'M SINKING IN QUICKSAND! HELP! HELP! HEEEEELP!"

Saiko's eyes immediately widened in horror. That was indeed Tari—and she was in trouble.

"Tari!" she said, horrified. "I'll be right there!"

Quickly, Saiko hung up and rushed to her friend's rescue, not even bothering to shut the front door on her way out.

Senbo could hear the clear distress in Saiko's voice the minute she promised what she thought was Tari that she would be there. He could tell how panicked she sounded, which made him quite excited. Happily knowing the plan was working, he wasted no time putting the phone back in the charger and rushing to Saiko's undoubtedly unguarded house to finally play her guitar.

Parked outside Saiko's house was her motorcycle. And not just any motorcycle—the one she used to save Mario's life with that time he was choking on hot dogs. And now, she was going to use it to save someone else's life. She hopped onto the vehicle, and off she went to the quicksand pit Tari was supposedly sinking into. It wasn't that far away from where she lived, at least not with a little pedal to the metal. All she could do was hope she wasn't too late.

"Don't worry, Tari," she said worriedly, "I'm coming to save you!"