A/N: I finally found a chunk of time just big enough for me to update something. And it might take a while for me to update after this, because I'm fresh out of ideas. I'll continue to consider the various ideas that reviewers have sent, however.
Because I like everything to be as accurate as possible, I'm going to Google a map of the Grand Canyon to consult while I write this chapter. It does help a bit that I've actually been there, but that was several years ago. So please don't kill me if I get something wrong! (Cowers)
Disclaimer: I don't own GX, and I think it would be very insulting to say that the Grand Canyon is owned by anybody at all.
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Shoji couldn't sleep. How could he when there was still that final boss to defeat?
At least he now knew what it looked like. And, he had to admit, it was a bit disappointing. It was really just your average stereotypical monster-the images in Shoji's imagination had been much more exciting.
But what the boss lacked in original design, it made up for in level of difficulty. Shoji kept having the darned thing almost beaten, only to stumble into a fireball or run out of ammunition for his own character.
Yet Shoji would triumph over this mass of pixels someday! He had to...he was the game MASTER! Yep, even better than Chosaku.
And with that happy thought, the game MASTER tried his best to go back to sleep.
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The next morning, there was no sign of that weirdo family. Apparently, they had gone their own merry way in the middle of the night. No one in the Manjoume family really pretended to be sad, although Mom did say she wished she had at least given those kids some breakfast.
The tow truck finally arrived, and Dad went with it to the repair shop, so he could drive the van back when it was fixed. While the rest of the family was waiting, Mom got out a map of the Grand Canyon and pointed out various attractions that they could go see.
"Just think about it!" Mom gushed. "We're going to see one of the world's most famous landmarks today! Think of all the history in that place...it said in the brochure that some of the lower rock layers were around before dinosaurs were! Isn't that amazing, kids?"
Shoji smiled at the thought of dinosaur tourists going to see the Grand Canyon (and of course, eating each other in the process and spilling guts everywhere).
Chosaku was less amused. He said quite loudly and sarcastically, "Oh wow. A hole in the ground. How exciting."
Mom started to say something back, but then was distracted by Jun yet again. The toddler had been experimenting to see whether sand was edible.
About half an hour later, Dad came back with the van, and the family set off.
This time, there were no more delays. They got to the Grand Canyon National Park in an hour.
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Shoji couldn't help but be a little excited. After all, this canyon was so deep that people could die if they fell in it and get blood everywhere! Of course, Shoji knew that there would be some kind of fence to keep that from happening, but it was still cool to just think about it.
But before they could see the canyon, they had to take a shuttle bus to reach it. It was too hot to walk all the way there, Mom said.
Most unfortunately, the bus was nearly as hot as the outside temperature. There was air conditioning, but there were so many tourists crowded in the bus that the air conditioning's effect was close to zero.
Shoji knew that it would be best to keep his complaints to himself. But Jun apparently did not know that. About halfway through the ride, he started whining for ice cream.
His shrill little-kid voice was soon grating on Shoji's nerves. He had to fight the increasingly strong urge to scream at Jun to be quiet.
Just when he thought he couldn't take it anymore...they were there.
Shoji did have to admit...this was a pretty neat place. The rocks were all sorts of colors that Shoji hadn't thought rocks could be. He saw pink, orange, red, and even some purple as he walked along.
At the bottom of the canyon was a river. Mom said it was called the Colorado River, and it had been the thing that created the whole canyon in the first place. It sure didn't LOOK all that powerful...it was just a thin bluish ribbon. But Shoji read on a sign that it was full of dangerous rapids.
'This would make an AWESOME video game!' he thought. He wondered why no one had come up with the idea before. Maybe when he grew up, he could make a game like that.
Shoji was still thinking about this video game when disaster struck.
Jun had almost forgotten about his desperate need for ice cream, until he saw a kid walk by holding an ice cream cone. His whining for ice cream started back up again.
For reasons Shoji couldn't fathom, Mom couldn't stand it when Jun suffered even this small amount.
"Okay!" she said. "Someone has to take Jun to the lodge to get ice cream. Can you do it, dear?"
She was talking to Dad, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Okay...what about you, Chosaku?"
Also nowhere to be found. Shoji could just barely see Chosaku and Dad a bit farther up, but there was no time to get to them. Jun was starting to scream.
It looked like Mom would be the one stuck with the task of fulfilling Jun's sweet tooth. Shoji would have been okay with being left alone, but Mom insisted that he come with them. Obviously, she thought Shoji was too young to be by himself.
No fair! Chosaku wasn't even two years older than Shoji, and he was left alone all the time. What did Mom think Shoji was-a baby even younger than Jun?
However, Shoji had no time to protest as Mom grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the park rest area.
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Well, at least Shoji was allowed to wait outside the refreshment stand by himself. He supposed that this was better than nothing.
So he sat on a bench and waited. It was taking a while for Mom and Jun to come back...Jun was probably taking forever to choose which flavor of ice cream he wanted.
So there Shoji sat, absorbed in his plans to make a video game where aliens invaded the Grand Canyon, when a strange sound distracted him.
It was a weird kind of sucking sound. He knew he'd heard it before, and recently too, but it took a while for him to place it.
Then, the same time he felt a small hand touching his bare knee, Shoji remembered what the sound was. It was the sound of a kid sucking on a pacifier.
Shoji looked down.
There, looking right back at him, was a little boy about Jun's age.
The kid was enthusiastically sucking on the aforementioned pacifier, and was holding some sort of square object in one hand.
Shoji wasn't quite sure what to do. The kid had practically appeared out of nowhere, and his constant, almost worshipful gaze was starting to freak Shoji out just a tiny bit.
"Um...hi?" Shoji said tentatively first in Japanese, then in English.
The kid made some sort of sound that was muffled by the pacifier, then moved a bit closer. His eyes had not left Shoji's face.
Shoji continued, "Um...are you looking for something?"
The toddler nodded and still didn't stop his staring. Shoji noticed that the kid's eyes were an odd color...sort of a dark gray.
It was pretty obvious to Shoji that this kid had somehow wandered away from his family, so he decided that he'd have to baby-sit for a while, whether he like it or not.
Five minutes passed. The only noise that either of them was making was the consistently loud pacifier-sucking coming from the toddler.
Then, abruptly, the kid held out something to Shoji. It was the square object that Shoji had spotted before. And it was something that Shoji would not expect a two-year-old kid to carry around.
"Hey kid...is this a calculator?" he asked.
The kid nodded for the second time.
Well, this was obviously the most thoroughly loved calculator Shoji had ever seen. It was festooned with teeth marks, and the paint on some of the number keys was almost worn off.
This was certainly a weird kid. Really...how many two-year-olds even knew what a calculator was?
Shoji tried to pretend that this was the most amazing object he had ever seen. Mom always had to lavish similar praise on any toy that Jun showed her, so as not to hurt his feelings. Shoji didn't even know if two-year-olds had any feelings to even be hurt, but he decided to just play it safe.
Then, just when Shoji was about to hand the calculator back over, he heard a shout in Japanese:
"Look, Mommy! There he is!"
A girl of about five ran over to Shoji's bench, followed closely by two people who were soon revealed to be the kid's parents.
"THERE you are, Daichi! Just where have you been all this time-we were looking everywhere for you!"
The kid (who Shoji now knew was named Daichi) had no answer for this other than the usual pacifier sucking.
Once the woman had gotten Daichi into his stroller, she turned to Shoji.
"Thank you so much for looking after Daichi for us!" she said. "He does tend to wander off on his own, so it's nice to know that someone was taking care of him. But really...I guess we should be keeping a closer eye on him. He's just so wrapped up in his own little world...I swear, one of these days he's going to run out of the house stark naked and not even realize it; he'll be too absorbed in his own big important thoughts!"
The dad replied, "Okay, dear, I think that may be exaggerating just a bit..."
The mom shrugged, and then remembered that Shoji was still there. She took out her wallet and said, "Really, we can't thank you enough...we'll even pay you for your trouble!"
Shoji reassured her that that wouldn't be necessary. He saw no need to tell them that he had hundreds of dollars just for wasting on cheap souvenirs.
The family thanked Shoji again.
Shoji then remembered that he was still holding the calculator, so he gave it back.
The woman looked impressed. She said, "Wow, you must be special...not everyone gets to meet Mr. Calculator!"
All Shoji could do was shrug, and the family went on their merry way after thanking Shoji one last time.
No sooner had they left than Mom and Jun came back. Jun's face, hair, clothes and hands were all smeared with chocolate ice cream.
Mom apologized for being late, saying that it took a while for Jun to find a flavor of ice cream that he liked. Leave it to Mom to buy Jun several different cones of ice cream if he didn't like the first one!
By the time the trio met back up with Dad and Chosaku, it was late afternoon, so they decided not to do any more sightseeing.
Shoji was fine with that. He had had more than enough adventures for one day!
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A/N: Okay, sorry if this chapter sucks...I'm writing it when I should maybe be in bed. Well, at least I got Misawa's cameo into the story...and some foreshadowing as well. And now, I am going to post this chapter, maybe wait a bit for the first review, then finally go to sleep!