Dancing in the Stars (Guntz)
It's been about an hour since we took off from Volk. We were still in a low orbit around Earth, my ponytail floating freely behind me… with nothing but stars and distant galaxies as far as I could see.
…Okay, scratch that… I could make out the moon far off in the distance… though we couldn't fly towards it right away. I won't bore you with a detailed analysis on orbital physics, but essentially, we have to wait until Earth is between us and the moon, then our orbit can be adjusted to leave Earth's gravitational pull and get caught by the moon's.
Fortunately, the rocket had an autopilot that'd take care of that part. I already used the onboard computer to set our course, so all that's left is to land this thing later on.
For now, though, all we could do was wait… may as well see what kind of food we brought with us, try to make up for skipping breakfast… probably could see if there a manual or something for our spacesuits, too…
About half an hour later, the moon disappeared from our view, slipping past the top of the cockpit's viewport.
I took a quick glance at Klonoa, in the copilot seat – his eyes were closed, his head was tilted back, and his ears floated freely behind him. Though, he didn't seem to be asleep, for his face bore an intense look of concentration… like he was deep in thought again…
"Hey… Klonoa?" I asked.
"Yeah?" he responded, his eyes still closed.
"Alright if I ask what's on your mind?"
"Sure… it's just… is it alright if I ask you something? It's about your father again."
"Shoot."
He opened his eyes and turned to me. "Did you… sorry if this comes off as insensitive, but… in your nightmares… did you ever dream that… that Janga killed you instead?"
I tried not to look bewildered. "God, I… I can't say I have…"
With my next sentence, I let a bit of concern slip out. "How come? Did you have a nightmare like that?"
"Yeah… last night, I dreamed we were back in Breezegale… we had to tell Chipple and Popka about Lolo's death again…"
"And you died in her place?"
"Exactly… well, I wasn't sure if I was dead, but… I couldn't move or talk… I couldn't even breathe, though I didn't need to… I don't remember if my heart was even beating…"
His expression sunk further. "And the last thing I remember before I woke up, was seeing you and Lolo crying over me, your faces filled with despair… and hearing her say 'He died defending our dreams…'"
He paused for a moment. "You don't… you don't think she's trying to tell me something, do you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Before we regrouped this morning… Boris and I discussed our nightmares… he said his late mother would often visit Pango in his sleep…"
Right… I thought to myself. Pango told me the same thing last night…
"I wonder if Lolo's trying to do the same…" Klonoa continued.
"…Well, if she is, that'd explain your celebration dream…"
"Yeah…" he sighed. "If I have a dream like that again, I'll have to ask her myself, if I can…"
A while later, the autopilot fired up our engines again for a few minutes, adjusting our orbit. Given our course, we should be in lunar orbit in about six more hours…
I looked over at Klonoa again… he was staring out at the stars, a slight grin on his face. A few tears floated in front of him…
"Beautiful, isn't it?" I asked. "Our second time among them, too…"
"Yep…" he replied. "Had Lolo not been kidnapped and sacrificed, she… she probably would've thought the same thing…"
His grin faded… "Just imagine if she were still with us… we could've played in the stars without a care in the world…"
I sighed. "I guess that does sound exciting… I wonder if Pops would've enjoyed it, too…"
…Come to think of it, on our first trip up, Klonoa looked pretty happy flying around in the cabin… despite the danger his friend was in. Hmm…
"Do you… do you still want to?" I asked.
"Want to what?"
"You know, what you just said…"
I undid the straps on my seat, and pushed myself off. To demonstrate, I backflipped a few times before doing a handstand on my armrests.
"What do you say?" I continued. "Like your last time, no cares in the world?"
He closed his eyes, deep in thought once again.
"…Perhaps…" he eventually responded. "I don't really have anything better to do, so… I guess I could give it a shot…"
He reluctantly unstrapped himself and pushed off, still deep in thought as he hovered over his seat.
"So…" I began again, still upside-down. "How do you wanna begin?"
"Well… on our first return trip, I probably would've asked Lolo for a dance… imagine the moves we could've pulled off here…"
"Who says we have to imagine? Hold on… what kind of music's on this thing…?"
I reoriented myself and browsed the onboard computer, eventually finding the rocket's music library.
Let's see here… I thought to myself, scrolling through the various playlists. La-Lakooshan gospel, Volkan rock, Joilant's ride music suite…
Eventually, my eyes were drawn to one playlist in particular: Lephise's Greatest Hits…
"Lephise, huh?" Klonoa asked, now floating next to me. "Balue seemed to be a big fan of hers… wanna see what that's about?"
"Sure." I opened the folder and played the first song listed: Sign of a Hero. Almost immediately, a gentle acoustic guitar riff played on the cabin's speakers.
"Alright," I began, offering my hand to Klonoa, "shall I have this dance?"
"You bet." he responded, taking it.
We floated closer to the rear of the cabin. As Lephise's melodic voice rung throughout, we pushed off each other, flipping a few times before leaping off the side walls.
As the wind is flowing, it reaches to the end of the clouds…
A song that once was lost, starts echoing throughout the sky…
We flew past each other and stuck to the opposite walls, before flipping up to the ceiling and balancing on one leg.
By following my heart I'll be surely able to, navigate through all the shrouds…
And uncover my true future, to it, I will fly…
We pushed off the ceiling and flew towards each other again, this time reaching our arms out. Was… was Klonoa grinning again?
I'll pick up the pace, for a running start…
That's the Sign of a Hero…
Once we grabbed each other, the momentum caused us to spin around, our linked hands as the center point. We eventually let go, Klonoa flying towards the cockpit, and myself towards the back wall.
Each and every dream, that I have makes me stronger,
They push me to, become as good as I can…
Tomorrow morning when I wake up,
I'll do my best and I may create a miracle…
We pushed off and grabbed each other's arms again, now appearing upside-down to each other, the momentum making us do somersaults.
And if things get tough, and I have many setbacks,
I'll keep going with revisions to my plan…
We let go once more, both of us flying off and landing on the side walls.
Believe in my heart,
I'll become the wind, and rise up to, a distant dream…
We continued to fly around for another hour, with Klonoa ending up on the ceiling, and myself hovering an inch above the floor.
"Okay, Guntz…" Klonoa said, chuckling a bit. "I'll admit, that was pretty exciting…"
"Told ya so." I replied. "How much longer is this playlist, anyway?"
I floated back over to the onboard computer and paused the current song, before looking at the remaining time.
"So, looks like we've got about five more hours of music… should last us the rest of the trip…"
"I see…" Klonoa muttered, glancing out the cockpit's viewport. "…You know, I don't think we got a chance to fly around outside last time…"
"And you wanna do so now?" I asked, grinning.
"Yep."
"Sounds like a plan."
