Chapter 13:

Reunion & Runaways

Tari and Belle's #1 priority was to let everyone at the memorial service know that the girl they thought was dead wasn't dead. For their convenience, the car that they would use to get to the service was parked next to Game Go. And they knew this was the car they were looking for because it came with the option of driving with a game controller instead of a steering wheel—the type of car that only comes from Silica City.

The girls hopped inside the vehicle for the ride they were sure would clear up the misunderstanding created by Senbo and Aibo. Since Belle called shotgun, she was driving. And Tari understood—Belle didn't make the laws. The redhead connected her wireless controller to the car, started the ignition, and they were on their way.

"Don't worry, Tari," the redhead promised. "We're gonna fix this."

The android felt reassured as Belle drove them through the streets of Onett. They both knew their way around these parts, and since they memorized the location of the memorial service, they could find it no problem. It was a bit far from where they lived, but they knew they could make it there as soon as possible if they gave it some gas. But not too much gas. Belle was tempted to just zoom through the streets to get to the memorial service, especially given her experience with racing games, but she knew it was best to obey the speed limit if she didn't want Mr. Monitor on her ass. And if Mr. Monitor wasn't on her ass, Tari would nag her until the sun died down if she went too fast.

With that said, Belle was able to swiftly navigate the streets with her controller as if this were a driving level in her video games, even with the speed limit in mind. Thankfully, they weren't in that much of a hurry. Tari definitely wanted to lift her friends' spirits with the revelation that she was alive ASAP, but there was plenty of time before the memorial service closed. It wasn't like they were rushing to stop a handsome prince from marrying an evil woman or anything like that—although that was what it felt like.

After a good ten minutes or so of driving, Belle was now approaching the town in which the building they were seeking was at. Now all that was left was looking for the building itself—a task Tari was able to fulfill relatively quickly.

"There it is!" she cried.

Thanks to the android alerting her, Belle was able to find the memorial service building as well. She was a bit impressed her rival was able to find it as fast as she did. But then again, finding objectives and goals was in her AI programming—probably the one good thing the crazed Dr. Sheridan had going for him.

At last, the girls were parked outside the memorial service, which, of course, was packed. It was a massive bitch to find an empty parking space, but thankfully for Belle's temper, she found one. And good thing, too—Tari wanted this terrible misunderstanding cleared up sooner than later.

The memorial service had almost as many people in attendance as the funeral. Apart from the usual attendees, Saiko and her band showed up to play the song for Tari they spent the better part of the day rehearsing for. Jeeves was also there, which is a tad unusual, since he usually doesn't show up in person that much during the gigs he booked the band for. But he made an exception tonight, because he wanted to pay his last respects for her like everyone else. That many people cared about Tari.

Meggy didn't have the time to change out of her police outfit when she was drumming. Then again, it wasn't exactly inappropriate for the well-established cop-in-training to be wearing her uniform while she was in the process of finding her close friend's murderer. The former Inkling hadn't told Saiko of Senbo's break-in yet, nor has she reported the incident to Mr. Monitor. She decided that she would do both as soon as the band finished their song. One the mourners would surely be familiar with.

"No, I need one more chance

I won't go on with this

There's only one more heart to lose

Let it be my own

I'm left with what I see

What it feels to me

That feeling doesn't go away

Not gonna change my mind no

I'm not left with a choice

You can't make me use my voice

And there's no time

Time is always then

I'll be gone when you can see my face and close that open door

And go

All the lies

Lies that it's okay

Sure that you can choose a side but there's no going home

I know"

The song was suddenly cut short at the loud sounds of the front doors swinging wide open, and a normally quiet girl's voice shouting as loud as she could. When everyone turned around, they couldn't believe their eyes, and let out a gasp in unison.

"I'M ALIVE!" shouted Tari. "I'M ALIIIIIIIIVE!"

As you would expect, everyone was shocked to see the girl this very memorial service was for was, in fact, alive. Already, people began murmuring things to each other, from speculations of a resurrection to concerns of a zombie apocalypse, even wondering how good their brains would taste.

With Belle accompanying her, Tari walked down the aisle to meet the mind-blown faces of all the mourners for her own memorial service. Their murmuring of ghosts, robot clones, and other things were making her uncomfortable. Her rival noticed this, and put her human hand on her shoulder, nonverbally telling her not to let it get to her, and they kept walking.

"Hi, guys," greeted Steve as the girls passed him.

But as shocked as the attendees, the band, and the band's manager were, the one who was the most shocked by this unexpected turn of events was Saiko. She was so surprised by this that she dropped her guitar in shock. Somehow, this didn't break it. Not that she cared right now.

"Tari?" she asked. "Is that you?"

"Yes, Saiko," confirmed Tari as she slowly walked toward the young rock star. "It's me. In the flesh. Well, flesh and metal."

"Tari, my God, what happened?" asked Meggy. "We all thought you were dead!"

"Golly gee," said Belle sarcastically, "we haven't noticed."

"Hey!" blurted Shroomy. "That's my line!"

Even though Tari was taking her sweet time making it to the stage where Saiko's band was playing, the anime girl wasted no time getting off the stage and running up to her friend. The android knew what Saiko's intentions were, so she picked up the pace herself, and before they knew it, they were embracing each other with tears in their eyes.

The young rock star was usually a stickler for personal space and hated being touched, even for hugs. But tonight, she made an exception, for obvious reasons. After all, it's no secret she was affected the most by Tari's supposed death.

"Are you okay?" Saiko asked tearfully.

"Of course I'm okay," Tari tearfully replied. "I've never felt better in my life."

Everyone watched in awe as the girls hugged and cried, happy to be reunited—though at least one attendee was in awe for a different reason.

"KiSs!" chanted Bob. "KiSs! KiSs! KiSs!"

Incensed by the Garo totally ruining the moment, Saiko took it upon herself to throw her signature hammer at him, making sure it lands on him in a direct hit, all while never letting go of Tari or looking at Bob.

"Ow, My OvArIeS!" he cried.

"What on Earth happened that made you all think I was dead?" asked Tari as soon as they let go of each other.

"I got a call from you," explained Saiko. "You were saying you were sinking in quicksand."

At the mention of that last part, the android looked rather perturbed.

"Quicksand, huh?" she said.

"But when I got there," continued Saiko, "all I found was your arm. Your Meta Runner arm, anyway."

"Puh," scoffed Swagmaster. "That could have been anyone's sexy robot arm."

"Swag's right…for a change," concurred Chris. "There's a store we know of that sells fake Meta Runner arms. Maybe the one you saw sinking was a fake?"

"Even so," said Whimpu, "that still doesn't explain where Tari's voice came from."

The android's face became red from embarrassment throughout the entire discussion of the "murder" that took place. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and spoke up.

"Um…I might have an idea about that," she said. "I…kinda fell asleep earlier today and dreamed that I was helping a nice young director with his movie. His sister was sick, so I filled in for her. I was pretending to be sinking in quicksand for this person. And then they knocked me out with chloroform as soon as I was done. At first, I thought it was an amazing dream, because of how late in the day I woke up. But after all this, I'm starting to think that dream…wasn't really a dream. Maybe that chloroform…was real?"

"That would explain your dizziness during those motion control sections in the Lost Island," interjected Belle.

The more Tari explained her "dream", the more the wheels in Saiko's head began to turn as she tried to put the pieces together.

"Young director…sick sister…" she muttered.

As the wheels in the young musician's head continued to turn, flashbacks began to show up in her head. She remembered how she forgot to shut the door in her rush to rescue Tari. She remembered that there was a scoundrel that would have done anything to get his hands on something that was rightfully hers to begin with. Finally, she remembered said scoundrel having a girlfriend accompanying him, who tried shaming her for not letting him have what didn't belong to him—making it easy to view her as an accomplice.

It was all starting to make sense. And that was the worst part, given Saiko's temper. The anime girl was getting more and more riled up the more she thought about the crime that was committed. Her hands were clenched in fists of rage, and she was breathing and hyperventilating, at the concern of everyone else watching. All she could do was scream one word. No, one name.

"SENBO!"

Saiko's screams of vengeance on the would-be musician have fallen on deaf ears, as he was nowhere near her vicinity to hear them. But then, how could said screams reach the bus stop he was currently waiting at from the memorial service? Both locations were simply too far away from each other—and that was what Senbo was counting on. The farther he was away from the people that were onto him, the easier it would be to start his new life.

But of course, he couldn't start his new life by himself. He had to wait for a very special someone in his life if he was going to run away with her. How much longer would he have to wait? That, he didn't know. All he knew was that he was all packed on his end and ready to go. The stop was closer to Senbo's house than Aibo's, so she would have to meet him there once she was all packed.

Senbo was starting to get worried about his girlfriend. He was worried her parents caught onto their escape plan and stopped her from getting any further from her house. The bus wouldn't be here for another three minutes or so, and if Aibo wasn't here by then, he wasn't getting in it.

Fortunately for their future as runaways, there was Aibo, walking to the bus stop with her packed suitcases. It was dark, so it was harder for people to see what they were up to and where they were going.

"Were you followed?" asked Senbo worriedly as soon as his lady made it to the stop.

"Don't worry," reassured Aibo, "my parents still think I'm asleep."

As luck would have it, they were just in time, as they could see the bus approaching the stop.

"You stole some money from them?" asked Senbo.

"As we agreed," replied Aibo.

At last, the bus made its stop, and the door opened. The couple wasted no time getting into the bus while carrying their luggage and the money they stole. After paying the driver, they moved to the furthest back row with their luggage. The bus took off as soon as they took their seats, and they could already feel the adrenaline coursing through their veins.

"We're actually running away from home," said Aibo excitedly.

"I know," said Senbo, "isn't it great? We don't have to worry about separation, or our parents, or school, or any of our responsibilities. Of course, there are other things we would need to worry about on the run. Food and money when we run out, where we're going to take our showers…but it'll be cool, because we'll be braving through it together."

"I'd like to see mom and dad try to separate us now," boasted Aibo. "I don't even think I'll miss them too terribly."

"And why should you?" said Senbo. "They've always been strict with you."

"No argument there, cutie-pie," concurred Aibo. "They don't treat me as well as you do."

"I still can't believe they think I'm a bad influence on you," said Senbo. "If I were a bad influence, would I do this?"

At that moment, the would-be musician decided to cut the chit-chat and give his lady the biggest kiss on the lips he had ever given her, which Aibo gladly returned, leading to probably their most passionate making out yet. Even more so than the one they had after their planning of Operation: Saiko's Guitar. If that makeout session taught them anything, it's that battle plans do teenage hormones a huge favor. But they didn't know the adrenaline from running away from home and the authorities could also do the job.

This was going to be a wild ride, to say the least.