Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I'm drinking a strawberry slushie from Trinity Cyber Cafe and eating a Milky Way Midnight and tomorrow I'm going to Waterworld and my NSYNC CD is blasting and the neighbors are banging on the floor! THE ROOF! THE ROOF! THE ROOF IS ON FIRE:D

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the Mineral Town peoples except Nikki, so now that I'm admitting that, DON'T SUE ME!

Chapter 8 - Trauma in Town

Kai woke up in the Mineral Town Clinic with a horrible headache. "What...? What happened?" he muttered, looking up at the ceiling. Elli came around the corner a second later, looking worried. "Oh, thank the Harvest Goddess! I don't think Popuri would have been able to take it if you had died on her!" Elli said in one breath, helping Kai to sit up and handing him a glass of fruit latte. He took the cup and looked up at Elli. "What happened? Why am I here?" Kai asked, sipping from the glass of latte. "Well, you and Nikki had that drinking contest over at the bar," Elli began, "She outdrank you, but you almost died from having so much alcohol in your system! Popuri called the Doctor on her cell phone, and he arrived just in time with an ambulance. He got you here and put you on life support, but you were stuck in a coma for about 30 hours. Popuri is taking care of the restaurant while you're here. I'm afraid you'll have to stay here for about a week longer, though..." Kai looked out the window and sighed. A phone rang from Elli's desk. "One second..." she said, and she ran off to answer the phone.

Popuri stood behind the counter of the beachside cafe, phone in hand and a worried expression on her face. "Mineral Town Clinic," Elli's voice said from the other side of the phone.

"Elli? It's me," Popuri said, twirling the cord of the phone around her finger.

"Oh, hi, Popuri!" Elli said in a cheerful voice, "I suppose you're calling to check on Kai."

"Yeah," Popuri answered. "Well, I'm happy to say that he's gotten out of his coma!" Elli said happily. "You're shitting me!" Popuri shouted, a wide grin spreading across her face. "No, I'm not! He's awake!" Elli said, and Popuri could almost hear her smiling on the other end. "OHMIGOD! THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!" Popuri shouted into the phone, "Ouch! Jeez, I expected you to get excited but watch the yelling!" Elli said in an exasperated voice. "Sorry, but I'm just so excited! I'm gonna go tell my family!" Popuri said, and she hung up immediately, grabbed the keys, locked up the cafe, and sprinted to the Poultry Farm.

Rick sat at the table, reading an R.L. Stine book and sipping a Coke. Lillia stood behind a polished wooden counter, looking out the window Gotz had put in for her. She was surprised to see Popuri running towards down the street towards the farm, smiling widely. A few seconds later, Popuri came bursting through the door, panting from running so much.

"Mom! pant Rick! pant Kai woke up! He's alive!" she shouted.

Rick, who had just begun to take a long drink of Coke, sprayed a mouthful of it onto the table.

"WHAT!" he screeched, staring at Popuri as if she was telling them that she had decided to be a lesbian. "Fuck! Already!" he said, grabbing a napkin and wiping up the Coke.

"Oh shit, don't start on me about how he's a complete baka and that we shouldn't be together, Rick!" Popuri snarled, glaring at her overprotective brother. "Well, he is and you shouldn't!" he snapped, throwing away the wet napkin. "I can't believe you! You just can't admit that you don't want me to be happy!" Popuri shouted, tears welling up in her eyes. "I want you to be happy, just not with him! Just look what he did two nights ago!" Rick screamed. Popuri glared at him. "I'll get you for trying to come between me and Kai, Rick..." she said, then she turned and ran out the door, sobbing. What the three of them didn't know was that Nikki had listened in on the whole conversation. She stifled a laugh (Sin: One along the lines of MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA and so on...) and scribbled down on a piece of paper "I told you I'd get you back, big brother..." It would be useful later. She stuffed the paper in her pocket, stood up, and ran off toward her farm.

Popuri arrived at Mineral Beach and looked out at the sea. She longed for her brother to let her go, to let her be free. The waves crashed in, bringing with it seaweed... small fish... a dead body... a--WAIT! Rewind that! Popuri stared at the body that had just washed up onto the shore, and screamed. It was Zack. She didn't remember starting to run, but the next thing she knew she was running faster than she ever had to the Mayor's house. She burst through the door and fell on the floor, sobbing.

"Mayor! It's Zack! He's been murdered! Mineral Beach!" she screamed, and she passed out at the mayor's feet. The mayor looked at Harris, then ran as fast as the fat guy could go, the police officer trailing after him.

"Holy Harvest Sprite..." the Mayor said as he looked at Zack's body. It was only distinguishable by the clothes because the head had been ripped off, but he had been stabbed in the stomach severely. Harris felt like retching on the white sand.

"Who could have done this?" the Mayor whispered, going closer to Zack's corpse.

NIKKI VISION!

I stood in front of the mirror in my bathroom and smiled at the dark angel staring back at me. She smiled back. I was wearing three coats of black lipstick and red contact lenses to protect my identity, along with black denim jeans, a tee shirt with the symbol "Z?" on it under a black leather jacket, shit-kicking boots (Sin: Which I am insanely jealous of! She gets Nny's shit kicking boots and I don't! v.v), and a black spiked choker.

Nice outfit, Nikki! What's the occasion?

I smiled as Samara appeared next to me in the mirror. "I picked my next victim," I replied.

"Oooh, interesting!" a voice said, and a girl almost identical to Samara appeared in the room.

o.O "Uh, who are you?"

"Oh, sorry, I don't believe you've met me yet, Nikki! My name's Lanette, and I'm Samara's sister," the girl Lanette said, and she reached out and gave me a big hug. Again, o.O

"Sorry," Samara whispered to me, "but Lanny's a little 'special' sometimes." I laughed. "Hey, I heard that!" Lanette said, and we all laughed. I looked at the clock on the wall. "Oh shit! I gotta go soon!" I panicked, and I ran down the stairs in the back room to the Nny's torture rooms. "Okay, a scythe, a ginormic katana, or some hooks..." I pondered for a second, then grabbed the hooks off the wall. "Weeeeeeeee! Time to kill!" I squealed like a little girl about to go to Waterworld, and carrying the hooks, I ran out the door.

Rick walked past the lake where the Kappa lived and stopped at Mother's Hill. He sat down on the damp grass and stared up at the stars. He heard someone approaching, and turned to see someone standing in the shadows, but it was too dark to tell who it was.

"The stars are beautiful, aren't they?" the person said, and he could tell it was a girl.

"Yeah, they are..." Rick said, looking back up at the sky. He heard footsteps, and he knew that the girl was coming towards him.

"Sometimes I wish I could go over them... Just go somewhere, anywhere, where you don't have to worry anymore..."

"Yeah..."

The girl was right behind him now. "Well..."

"Well what?

Then he felt the worst pain he had ever experienced in his back. He tried to scream, but a hand clamped over his mouth. "Don't scream... Soon you'll be over the stars..." the girl said, and she pulled the hooks down his back, causing his back to split open, revealing lots of bone and... well, you get the idea. She pulled the hooks out and turned Rick around so he could face her. She smiled at him as she brought the hooks down into his chest and did the same thing she had done to his back. He coughed up blood and leaned back, dead. She smirked psychotically and pulled the note out of her pocket, leaving it next to the bleeding Rick.

I told you I'd get you back, big brother...