"Rockin' to the rhythm, rollin' with the beat
Here we come, here we come, hold on to your seat!
Cheerful and pleasing, Cute and appealing,
Give it up give it up, can you feel the heat?
We're the girls from around the block
Gorgeous sweet and we love to rock,
Afraid of heights but we love to eat and talk! blah blah blah blah blah...
Mighty with the bass and quality guitar, with a beat, can't you see? MilkCan is in charge!"

PaRappa instinctively snoozed his alarm without even looking at his phone, and let out a tired yawn as he began to stretch his arms. He and Matt had stayed up for hours in Club Fun playing games, and in normal circumstances, he would have slept in. But he had promised his mom he'd be home as soon as he touched down, and didn't want to attract any attention, either. Slowly, the dog slid off the bed, and slid his feet into his signature red trainers, not having bothered to take his clothes off before going to bed, and walked over to Matt, who was still sleeping soundly.

"Hey, time to wake up, Matt," PaRappa said, shaking him gently. "We need to bounce before any paparazzos decide to show up outside."

The sheepdog grumbled sleepily as he began to stir. "Already? What time izit?" he mumbled.

"About nine-thirty," PaRappa replied easily. "I know it's crazy early, considering we were up all night, but we gotta go before we attract attention. Plus, my mom's probably making breakfast right now, and you know she'd have a plate of pancakes for you."

At the mention of pancakes, Matt came to his senses, and opened his eyes. "Mmm, pancakes," he said hungrily. "It's been a while since I had any."

PaRappa chuckled. "Then let's not keep my mom waiting. Let's freshen up, and get out of here."

After a few minutes of quickly freshening up, the duo made their way back outside, being extra careful to look out for any groupies or paparazzi lurking around. Once they were sure the coast was clear, they hopped in the Range Rover, and drove back onto the main road towards PaRappa's house.

"Heh, look at you," Matt said casually as they cruised down the street. "Ten years ago, if someone said you'd have to hide yourself from groupies and press, you'd have probably laughed at them."

PaRappa shook his head. "Nah, I already had to deal with it, being the hero of the Noodles incident, and all that," he replied. "I'd have been more surprised at being as successful as I am now, honestly. I honestly didn't expect myself to be much more than a local celebrity for the most part."

"Yet your talent and hard work paid off in dividends," Matt pointed out. "You're big time star now, touring all over the place, topping the charts, macking on all the pretty ladies..."

PaRappa snorts derisively at Matt's last comment. "Pssh, macking would be better than what's going on with me now."

Matt looked at PaRappa quizzically. "What's that supposed to mean?"

PaRappa sighed wistfully, not taking his eyes off the road. "A lot," he replied, his face turning sad. "More than I can explain in this car ride, honestly. I'll tell you as soon as we get some breakfast at my place, okay?"

Matt nodded understandingly. "No pressure if you don't wanna talk about it," Matt said, not wanting to potentially alienate PaRappa.

"No, it's fine, really," PaRappa said as he made a left turn. "I've been needing to let it out anyway, and I haven't been able to talk to PJ in depth about it."

"How's he doing anyway?" Matt said, wanting to steer PaRappa away from the depressing topic. "I know he's still eating well, if what Noodles said last night is any indication."

At that, PaRappa began to smirk. "'Eating well' is an understatement," he chuckled. "But he's doing fine. We've been running a recording studio out for a while now, but he mostly runs it, since I'm usually too busy touring these days."

Matt whistled. "You own a club and a studio now? Man, you guys really got it made."

PaRappa shrugs nonchalantly. "Nah, it's just a honest living," he said as if it was no big deal. "Really, if we didn't invest into the studio when we did, PJ would've been my tour DJ."

At that, Matt raised an eyebrow. "Then who was your DJ?" he asked. "I know you don't trust nobody but PJ on the decks."

"Eh, I mostly used backing tracks through the stage mixer," PaRappa explained. "Sometimes, MilkCan would play my beats live for me, but that was rare, cuz Ma-San would complain."

"It almost seems like she had a lot of friction with you just because you were there," Matt noted.

"Kind of," PaRappa replied. "Like I said last night, she wasn't too happy with me blowing up during their tour, but it wasn't the only reason. Nobody else outside of the band and myself knows this, but a lot of our beef had to do with Sunny Funny."

"What?" Matt gave his friend an incredulous look. "You're joking, right? I remember some of the girls back in the day being jealous of her apparent perfection, but not Ma-San!"

PaRappa sighed again. "Like I said, it's a lot to explain. I'll tell you once we're inside."

Soon, PaRappa's old house came into sight. He began to slow down his Rover, and pull into the driveway, when he saw a red car he didn't recognize parked next to his father's car.

"What the...?" the sheepdog uttered in confusion. "Who's car is that in our driveway?"

"Maybe your family has guests over?" Matt suggested.

PaRappa stared at the car for a moment, before shrugging. "I guess we'll find out who it is in a second." PaRappa pulled out of the driveway, and proceeded to park curbside. "It's probably General Potter, since he and my dad were always close."

"Are you and the General still on speaking terms, or...?" Matt asked as they hopped out the Rover.

PaRappa just shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know. I haven't talked to him since the last time I went on tour, but I doubt he has a high opinion of me right now."

Matt nodded, remembering how strict Sunny's dad was when she and PaRappa went on their first date together. "Well, as long as he doesn't order an airstrike on you, I think you'll be fine," he said, trying to make some light of the situation.

PaRappa let out a dark laugh. "Honestly, that's probably the least violent thing he could do to me."

It didn't take very long for them to reach the door, as PaRappa reached into his pants pocket, and pulled out his house keys to unlock it. But just as he began to slide the key into the lock, the door suddenly opened, revealing a redheaded lamb standing in the doorway.

"L-Lammy?" PaRappa stepped back in surprise. "What're you doing here?! I thought y'all weren't coming back for few more days!"

The lamb just smiled gently at PaRappa. No longer the super-timid rocker from years past, her appearance hadn't changed much from her high school days, still rocking her signature red shirt and sky-blue shoes, though she traded in her blue jeans for black ones. Her figure had also considerably filled out, though she tried not to draw attention to it.

"Nice to see you too, PaRappa," Lammy giggled. "The others are chilling out for a few more days in Matsurra City, but I was feeling homesick, so I caught a red-eye back home, and arrived a few hours ago. Your mom gave me a lift back from the airport, and invited me to breakfast." She glanced over at Matt, not recognizing him. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm Matt Major," Matt replied with a casual wave. "You might not remember me that well, since I moved, but I was one of PJ's and PaRappa's friends in high school."

Recognition blossomed on Lammy's features. "That's right, I remember you, now!" she said. "You were on the school's varsity basketball team, right?"

"Yep!" Matt answered affirmatively. "The top scorer, next to PJ."

"I still wonder how he could eat and sleep so much, but still have so much energy for the court?" PaRappa wondered aloud.

"One of the world's greatest mysteries," Lammy chuckled as she stepped aside. "But I think I've kept you out of your own house long enough; let's go eat!"

Matt and PaRappa nodded, and made a beeline for the kitchen, Lammy following close behind. "Mom, I'm back!" PaRappa shouted as he went upstairs.

"PaRappa!" his mother called out. "Where were you last night? You said you'd be here!"

"Sorry about that," the rapper replied as he entered the kitchen. "Someone leaked out I was back in town, so I crashed at Club Fun so I wouldn't draw a crowd here." Looking over at the table, he saw his sister Pinto and his father already at the table, and his mother at the stove. "Hey Pops, hey Pinto. How've you all been?"

"Perfectly fine, son, though it's much better with you being back home," Mr. Rappa said, smiling at his son.

"Especially since it means we don't have to put up with Joe Chin being such a major attention whore anymore!" Pinto exclaimed in relief, causing PaRappa to chuckle. At that moment, Matt and Lammy walked into the kitchen. Papa's eyes widened in recognition.

"Oh wow, Matt Major!" Mr. Rappa got up from the table, and walked over to Matt, wrapping him in a tight hug. "It's been far too long, my boy! How long has it been, ten years? What brings you back to PaRappa town?"

Just about," Matt said, returning the hug. "And it's good to see all of you, too! I came back because I wanted to take my Masters here; I'm just not sure what major I'm going to take yet."

"I'm sure you'll do perfectly fine, regardless," Mr. Rappa reassured. "Come on, grab a seat, all of you! I want to hear what you kids been up to all this time!"

"Preferably something that doesn't have to do with a certain entitled daisy," Pinto remarked, causing both PaRappa to give her dirty looks.

"Don't start with that, Pinto," Mrs. Rappa said sternly as the others took their seats. "PaRappa and Lammy are still dealing with the fallout of all that nonsense."

"Oh, the fallout hasn't happened yet," PaRappa said grumpily. "Once the rumours spread around town, and they probably already have by now, then it'll pick up speed!"

Lammy gently put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't let all of this get to you so much, PaRappa," Lammy said. "I know it's easier said than done when you're the one hurting the most, but she's not worth wasting your energy on anymore."

"And she's also not worth ruining your appetite over," Mrs. Rappa said, as she served her son some breakfast. The combined aroma of eggs, sausages, bacon, and pancakes gently wafted through PaRappa's nose, easing his mood a bit.

"Thanks, Mom," PaRappa said gratefully, smiling at her. "It's been a while since I had a good meal."

"I don't doubt it, since you and MilkCan are always travelling all over the world," Mrs. Rappa said as she continued serving breakfast. "Do you lot even get any rest these days?"

"Not often, honestly," Lammy admitted, chuckling. "When your time is split between recording, touring, and ducking mobs of fans, you don't have a lot of time to rest. That's why we all decided to take an extended break from touring once we got back home."

"Sounds like you've had some interesting adventures abroad," Matt noted, starting to dig into his food. "Though I suppose that's nothing new for any of us. Even when I moved, I still kept getting wrapped up in so much crazy stuff, it felt like I never left."

"That's PaRappa town for you," Pinto piped up. "You can leave the town, but it won't leave you!"

"Too true," Mrs. Rappa sighed.

Mr. Rappa nodded as he finished sipping from his coffee mug. "How's Suzuki State been treating you anyway, Matt?" The inventor asked curiously.

"Not too bad," Matt answered between bites. Swallowing it, he continued, "I've mostly kept myself busy with sports, but I got hooked onto law and politics in my last year of high school, and majored in both in college."

"Both?" asked Pinto incredulously. "Wow, that must've been a heavy workload!"

"Honestly, my undergrad was the easy part," Matt said. "I was good enough that I could've gotten both of my Masters degrees early, but I needed college as a distraction."

Lammy nearly choked on her food in laughter upon hearing this. "I'm sorry, but what?" she says. "I've never heard anyone call any form of education a distraction. Not even the most studious of nerds."

"Yeah, well..." Matt hesitated, looking around the table nervously, before sighing in resignation. "Never mind, forget it."

PaRappa raised an eyebrow at Matt's reaction. "What's the matter? Does it have to do with Paula?"

Matt flinched at the mention of Paula's name, and look down at his plate in sadness, feeling the hunger in his gut being replaced with dread. I was hoping I could put this off until later...

"Wait, you mean Paula Fox?" Pinto asked. "Didn't you guys used to date?"

Matt sighed wistfully, not bothering to look back up. "Yeah, up until about a year ago."

"You don't have to tell us what happened, dear," Mrs. Rappa said gently, reaching over to rub Matt's arm. "Whatever happened is in the past, you don't have to dig it back up."

Matt shook his head. "No, no, it's fine," he said, before quickly correcting himself. "I mean, what happened between us wasn't fine, but I consider all of you like my second family, and I trust Lammy enough to talk about it as well." The sheepdog took a deep breath, trying to keep his nerves steady as he finally lifted his head to look at everyone else. "Like you already know, I dated Paula in high school, and we kept going into college. But something I had been wrestling with during college was my own sexuality, and I eventually realized I was gay."

Matt then preemptively threw his hands up. "And before you ask: No, I didn't cheat on her. I care about her way to much to have even considered it. Anyway, near the end of my junior year, I had decided to tell Paula first, since she deserved to know, obviously. That ended up being the biggest mistake of my life."

"She didn't take it well, I'm guessing?" Pinto asked.

"That's putting it gently," Matt sighed, slouching in his chair. "Long story short; not only did she knock my lights out after I told her, she accused me of using her, and outed me to the entire student body at the college out of spite." Matt rubbed his jaw as if it still hurt from thinking about it. "If it wasn't for my family, and my friends in the LGBTQ cacus I was a part of being so supportive, I would've died of embarrassment."

PaRappa couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What the hell? That doesn't sound like Paula at all!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, that's a total 180 from the Paula I know!" Pinto agreed.

Matt shook his head. "It was heat of the moment, but it's mostly my fault, since I had to break her heart in order to walk out my closet."

"Don't say such things, Matt!" said Mr. Rappa. "There may have been no way to avoid the sting of heartbreak, but if you had carried on with hiding it, she would've found out on her own, and that could've been worse."

"Somehow I doubt it," Matt replied sadly. "She's completely cut me off ever since I came out to her."

Lammy nodded, watching at Matt sympathetically. "I know what that's like," she said. "I was persona non grata with my fam for about a year when I told them I was dating Katy in senior year."

At that, Matt gave Lammy a disbelieving look. "Wait, you two are lesbians?"

"Katy is; I'm bisexual, myself," Lammy explained. "We dated for a while, but decided we were better off as friends, and also because we didn't wanna risk dissolving the band if we had a nasty breakup. Back then, I was already living on my own, but it was hard not being able to talk to my fam at all. PaRappa and his fam became my surrogate family for a while, and later helped me mend fences with my parents."

"And you're more than welcome to come to us for anything as well, Matt," Mr. Rappa said with a smile. "You're like a child of ours, as much as PaRappa and Pinto are."

"And you can come to me and the rest of MilkCan as well!" Lammy said, also giving Matt a reassuring smile.

"Same with me and PJ, of course," PaRappa added, patting his old friend on the back

Matt, visibly moved, was at a loss for words. He and PaRappa had always been close, but he had no idea how highly he and and his family thought about him; not to mention Lammy, an almost complete stranger, selflessly offering to help out as well. He wanted to cry tears of joy, but held them back as much as he could.

"Th-thank you, guys," he managed to choke out as he pulled himself back up. "Dunno what I'd d-do without any of you."

"Anytime, bro," PaRappa replies. "It's like I always say, you gotta... what the hell?" PaRappa cuts off his catchphrase when he notices the dishes on the table rattling violently.

"Huh?" Mrs. Rappa uttered in confusion as she watched the plates dance around the table. "Saul, you didn't leave one of your inventions on, did you?" she

"No, I haven't been in my workshop since yesterday afternoon!" Saul exclaimed, trying to hold down as many plates and cutlery as he could. "I have no idea what's happening!"

Soon, a loud rumble could be felt throughout the house, causing everything to shake. Everyone screamed in fright, and held onto the table and their chairs for dear life.

"What the hell is happening?!" Matt shrieked. "Earthquakes never happen in PaRappa Town!"

"Because it's not an earthquake!" Lammy said, pointing towards the window behind them. "Look!"

The group did as they were told, and were surprise to see a giant tank lumbering up the streets of their neighbourhood. Despite its size, it somehow managed to avoid crushing any cars parked on the curb. PaRappa's heart fell into his gut when the tank began to slow down in front of his house.

"Please, for the love of God, don't let it be who I think it is," PaRappa prayed desperately as the rumbling began to stop.

"What? Who'd casually drive a friggin' battle tank through the city streets?" Matt asked.

"Sunny's dad," PaRappa groaned.

"...Oh."

Soon, the rumbling stopped completely, and General Potter could be seen crawling out of the tank, and making his way towards the Rappa's house. PaRappa sunk low into his chair in dread. "Kill me now."

"Relax, PaRappa," Mrs. Rappa said, slowly getting up from the table. "Even if he knew you were home, he's not going to ship you off to the target range because you left Sunny."

"That's what you think," PaRappa muttered. The door bell rang in a high pitch, but to PaRappa, it sounded like a funeral bell.

Mrs. Rappa sighed at her son's over reactive mind. "I'll get the door," she said as she headed downstairs.

"It's not gonna be as bad as you think, PaRappa," Lammy said. "General Potter is stern, but he's fair too."

"Unless you upset his only daughter," PaRappa points out.

"Whatever happened to 'I gotta believe!'?" Matt asked.

"I do believe, Matt. I believe I'll be sent back here in a box."

"Now you're just overdoing it, big bro," Pinto interjected. "Even if General Potter wanted to hurt you, he wouldn't, because of his friendship with dad. You're gonna be fine."

Before PaRappa could voice a rebuttal, his mother came back into the kitchen. "PaRappa, Potter asked if he could speak to you alone."

PaRappa sighed in resignation, and slowly pulled himself off his chair. "I suppose I can't fight my destiny," he moaned.

"You're gonna be fine, son," Mr. Rappa said. "Potter may be upset, but he's not a vengeful man."

"Yeah." PaRappa didn't sound convinced. "Listen, I'll meet you guys at Beard Burgers later, okay?" He said to Matt and Lammy.

"You got this, man," Matt reassured confidently. "Don't let irrational fears get to you."

"And we'll always have your back every step of the way," Lammy said, wrapping PaRappa into a hug. "I know you can believe in that."

PaRappa was surprised by the hug, but returned it nonetheless. "I know you guys would. Anyway, I shouldn't keep the General waiting. I'll see you guys later."

"Good luck, PaRappa!" Lammy said as she broke the hug.

"Be sure to come back later, son!" Mr. Rappa says. "We got a lot of catching up to do!"

"Will do, Pops!" PaRappa said. He walked over to his mom, and kissed her on the cheek. "See y'all later!"

Everyone said their goodbyes as PaRappa disappeared from the kitchen, and made his way downstairs. It wasn't long before PaRappa was face to face with General Potter. Or, rather, face to chest. He was still a tall, intimidating man, rarely seen out of his army fatigues. And while PaRappa had grown significantly over the years, he was nothing compared to the General, arguably the tallest man in PaRappa town.

"PaRappa," the General said, his voice deep and commanding.

"G-general," PaRappa stuttered, trying to keep his nerves steady.

"Come with me." General Potter turned on his heel, and began walking towards his tank. PaRappa took a deep breath, and followed the General closely.

Okay, maybe this might not be so bad, PaRappa thought to himself as he approached the tank. As long as it's just us, and Sunny's nowhere around, we can have a nice, civil chat, and I can explain my side of things. There's nothing to worry about; I just gotta...

I gotta... I... Oh, who am I kidding, he's gonna kill me!