The next day...
"WHOA! My head hurts!" Tracy exclaimed the next day. "Owww!"
"A word of advice Tracy, I think you should keep away from the alcohol." Astro said as he woke up.
"Who're you?" Tracy asked.
"Look we're all stuck in some weirdo other dimension." Astro explained. "I happen to be one of the people stuck with you." Tracy looked around and saw everyone still fast asleep. She looked at Astro again, then at the people sleeping then in the room around her.
"Whoa I'm having weird dreams..." She mumbled as she turned back into bed ready to go to sleep again.
"It's NOT a dream!" Astro said. "I should know, 4 people landed on me! Besides, do you ever feel hangovers in dreams?"
"Er...good point." Tracy replied. Just as they were talking. Rage woke up and yawned.
"Aw man, you guys are still here? Rage asked.
"You think we'd be anywhere else?" Astro asked.
"I was HOPING this whole thing would just be a dream." Rage said with exasperation. Just then Rage's eyes fell on Emi sleeping. He must've stared at her for a while because of what Astro asked him.
"You like Emi don't you?" Astro asked.
"No way! Dude, we're just friends. When she moved from So Cali I was the first person she met." Rage explained.
"Listen up you," Tracy said to Rage. "The worst mistake someone could ever make is to be late when it comes to love."
"Oh, so you WERE drunk yesterday." Rage commented.
"ARGHH, never mind..." Tracy said. Just then Emi woke up.
"Good morning!" Emi said with a yawn. Just as Emi woke up, Charmy woke up too.
"Hey, where's robo-dude and freaky chick?" Charmy asked seeing that they weren't there anymore.
"Who knows." Tracy replied. "HEY BALDY, WAKE UP!" Tracy yelled.
"AHHH. I'M UP I'M UP!" Boldo yelled. "Hey, you're not drunk anymore, right?" Boldo asked uneasily.
"OHHH!!! YOU GUYS ARE SOO MEAN!!!!" Tracy yelled.
"I was just kidding!" Boldo said.
"So...you're all awake now." The voice boomed. "Let's get started. Zukin. Konsento. Demonstration please."
"The name of the game is Dance Dance Revolution!" Zukin announced. "The object of the game is to dance...and have fun! The 'voice' that you hear is our boss. He will compliment or criticize your techniques. Konsento!! Show them the groove-gauge."
"Yes master." The monotone robot said and he pointed upwards to where a gauge was. The gauge was at zero.
"You are to fill up that gauge. The better your dance performance, the higher the gauge is filled. When the gauge fills up all the way, you will be freed from this other dimension." Konsento said without any emotion.
"This is surreal. I mean first we're warped to some weird, freakish dimension. THEN we find out that the way to get out is to DANCE? I mean, of all the ways to get out of some weird dimension!" Emi commented.
"I agree. This is way to weird..." Rage said.
"Yeah well like, we might as well dance because like, we don't have any other choice." Charmy said.
"I guess your right...but I feel like a total idiot. I mean this 'voice' is going to compliment or criticize me. Does anyone else find this weird?" Emi asked.
"Look, it's weird, but deal with it. We've got no other choice." Astro said.
"There's gotta be some other way out I mean--" Emi said, but Astro cut her off.
"Well there isn't any other KNOWN way!!!" Astro snapped. "And furthermore, stop complaining about this! I mean, we don't have another choice! Just drop it already!"
"Alright, alright...geez, you don't have to get so uptight." Emi mumbled.
"Don't yell at her for letting her feelings out. We have a right to be confused." Rage argued to Astro.
"Oh, so this porcupine head is going to argue with me now?!?!?!" Astro argued back.
"Hey!!!! DON'T...DISS...THE...HAIR!!!" Rage ordered.
"And what's Mr. Porcupine gonna do about it?" Astro said in a baby voice.
"I'll show you what Mr. Porcupine's FIST can do!!!" Rage yelled balling up his fist.
"You guys, like STOP!" Charmy screamed.
"Rage calm down..." Emi said gently. Emi's gentle tone made Rage relax.
"Yo, sorry man." Rage mumbled.
"Me too." Astro mumbled back.
"Now that we're all settled, why don't we start off now?" The voice said.
"So you're going to be our DJ?" Tracy asked.
"Correct Miss Tracy." The voice said.
"So what should we call you?" Tracy asked.
"How about...Mr. DJ?" The voice boomed.
"Alrighty then..." Tracy said.
"First pair!" Zukin said.
"The spacey, crazy duo...give it up for Charmy aaaaaaaand Astro!" The voice boomed in a very DJ-like voice. "Select a song!" The DJ-like voice said. A huge screen appeared with a HGUE selection of songs. Charmy gawked in wonder.
"So many, like songs to choose from!!" Charmy exclaimed. "How about...like, 'Follow the Sun'?" Charmy asked.
"Show me your hottest moves!" The DJ said. The bright and chipper song started to play. Charmy and Astro started to dance with all they had. They were futurish popish dancers. They started dancing and by the time they finished they were sweating.
"Yo, is it really that hard?" Rage asked.
"Yeah. You feel compelled to dance to the music and soon...physical pain doesn't matter. It's more or less a type of physical pain eraser, but you can still feel tired when you're through." Astro said while panting.
"And in English that would mean...?" Rage asked.
"Next up! Give it up for E-mi aaaaand Rage!" The DJ announced. "Select a song!"
"How about...hmmm, "Dynamite Rave?" Rage asked.
"OK by me." Emi replied.
"Give it your best shot!" The DJ responded. The music blared and like Astro said, Rage felt like he had a need to dance. The vibes of the music seemed to flow through every vein in his body. Soon he was breaking to the hip sounds of "Dynamite Rave". He chose this song for a special reason...Emi's favorite band was Naoki. He realized just then as he watched her dance and as his body moved to the music, that he would give anything to make Emi smile. Her smile seemed to lighten up his day no matter what had happened before. He wanted so badly to be more than just a friend to her...maybe someday he would be...
The song came to an end and with the songs end, his hopes came to and end as he thought bitterly, "She doesn't like me...she likes Andrew." He wanted to be her boyfriend. Not just "close friend", but what could he say? He couldn't just come up to her and tell her. Besides, if the other guys find out he was rejected by "Andrew's Girl", he'd might as well be dead. "It's best to just grin and bear it." He thought silently.
"Phew! That was one workout!" Emi exclaimed.
"Uh...yeah..." Rage said distracted. He forced a smile and made a bitter laugh.
"Something wrong?" Emi asked.
"No." Rage said glaring as he turned away and went to talk to Boldo. Charmy saw this and walked up to Emi.
"Like, what's up with him?" She asked.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Emi replied.
"Call me crazy, but I think Rage like, has a major crush on you." Charmy said trying to be considerate.
"You're crazy!" Emi said while she started to walk away.
"Emi..." Charmy said.
"Look Charmy, the way he just looked at me...," Emi said close to tears. She would never forget that glare. Rage's eyes were shining and it seemed to pierce her heart like an arrow piercing an animal's flesh.
"Well, like, maybe that's because you have a boyfriend already and he feels there's nothing he can, like, do!" Charmy replied.
"Don't be stupid!" Emi responded with a single tear sliding down her cheek.
"Well un-fortunately that's like, the only thing I'm good at doing!" Charmy yelled. Then Charmy saw that Emi was close to tears. Emi was biting her tongue and willing herself to stop being so childish and yet, it seemed like the only mature thing she could do. She felt like a total baby for having her heart being ripped apart because of a guy. Charmy hugged her and apologized.
"I'm sorry, Emi." Charmy offered.
"It's OK." Emi said with her eyes watering.
Rage didn't know why he was walking to Boldo but he knew he could never look at Emi again. She looked so sad when he unleashed a silent fury towards her that he never knew he could unleash at Emi. He didn't say anything; he just gave her an ice-cold glare. He knew that he was never the best at controlling his temper...but never in his mind did he ever imagine being able to show her a single ounce of his hot-tempered side. What he had just done didn't show her an ounce...it showed her a gallon. What could he do now? He turned his head to see her and he saw her talking to Charmy with her eyes starting to water.
"Figures...that's what I get for being an ass." Rage thought.
"Next pair! Boldo and racy Tracy!" The DJ announced. "Pick your poison!"
"So many songs...so little time...how about "So Many Men?" Tracy said. Boldo shrugged and a slow song (courtesy of "Me & My") began to play while Tracy and Boldo showed off their moves. At the end of the song, Boldo and Tracy felt as exhausted as everyone else. Tracy took out some beer from a flask in her jacket. Everyone sighed as she drank greedily knowing that she would once again be drunk.
Emi and Charmy watched Boldo and Tracy dance and Emi discovered something that she never thought she'd ever discover before. It wasn't Andrew she liked...it was Rage. Rage and his crooked grin...Rage and his bad-boy attitude...everything about Rage. Once again she felt like crying...once again she willed herself to stop. When Tracy and Boldo stopped dancing, Konsento and Zukin started to dance. The cycle repeated: Charmy & Astro, Emi & Rage, Tracy and Boldo, Zukin and Konsento. It went about 3 times around. Every time Rage and Emi were going to dance, Rage didn't look at her at all. Every time they danced, Emi felt cold as ice even though she was sweating and her body was flaming with heat from dancing.