Thanks for reading this! The corresponding chapter of the public domain Don Quixote translation that I'm using is at {www. online-literature. com/ cervantes/ don_quixote/ 13/} (cut and paste inside the {funky brackets}, and remove the spaces to get the correct web address).

The Parting Scene between Dan and the Woman outside the Manga Café
Chapter 9

We ended the last chapter with a minor cliffy. Perhaps you remember that Dan had rescued the swirlishes and now planned a ruse to make the Chairman of the Game Consortium (that's Kildare's dad) believe that Whirl Thirteen had been terminated.

Lucky for you, we don't have to wait ten years for the next chapter! But if you recall, my original source of this story terminated the scene abruptly.

This completely irked me. I was enjoying this brief little tale. To have it be cut off so suddenly - - believe me when I tell you that I was beyond disappointed. I thought that maybe someone would have adopted the story rather than let it languish. As a matter of fact, I realized that such a great story couldn't have been just dropped.

That just drove me crazy, because I just wanted to find out the rest of the story! I wasn't in the mood for a One Shot any longer. Then I had the thought that my original source must be missing some really important parts of Dan's story. What if there was an interesting romantic subplot that I was missing out on completely? Even without romance, Dan is, liek, by far the most astounding and complex character ever. That's my opinion, enyway.

Last night, I thought about it all night. But I must have slept some time, because I had this crazy dream. I was taking this trip for the holidays and I just kept on driving, and driving, and I never got anywhere. Eventually I realized that I was in Toledo, Ohio, but I was trying to get to Montreal. After driving in circles around the city, I decided to check in to a hotel. It was a weird dream, I know. And then I couldn't get any sleep - - yes, this was part of my dream! So in my dream I went down to the business office part of the hotel and surfed the internet. In my sleep! *LOL* Anyhoo, I dreamt that I found a manga version of Dan's story on deviantART.

That's when I woke up. I really woke up, not just in my dream. And I got online for real. I don't know why, but I searched "Dana and Dan Q" on deviantART. I was elated when I found a Dan Q manga online! My only disappointment was that it was written in Japanese, which I don't read. Sure, I do read some Chinese characters – kanji or 汉字, which I guess would be 漢字 in Japanese. But I Googled up an app that can translate even words inside pictures. I don't know if it's a beta or what, but it's totally awesome.

Well, enough of my going on and on about this. The manga scans were totally awesome. I found the sketch of the woman waiting outside the café, and another of Dan's provocative pose … he can be really good looking when he's drawn right! Well, the girl who met with the woman outside the café was named Sachiko. And in the background was a sketch of Rok, the bicycle-Ducati hybrid. It was just as I'd imagined it. It was sort of this run down bike but it was morphing into a sleek road rage Streetfighter. Amazing! And the drawing of Kildare in the manga looked almost like a twin of Dan. Sometimes the manga called Kildare "Dildare." I figured it was a tolerable discrepancy. Besides, my philosophy is that as long as a story gets things right, it's a good story.

As for cultural imperialism, I don't have anything that I could say about it. Besides, I'm a US citizen who was born in Japan on an airbase when the United States occupied Japan. So I'm not going to say anything about the manga being written in Japanese. Although, if I tried to be funny, I suppose I might be able to write something simultaneously insulting and witty. But no, I digress.

Enough with the author note. Let's get back to the scene from last chapter, which I can write now that I've read the Dan Q manga …

Before Dan could get a word out, Sachiko made pouty lips and said, "Mister tough guy. Beats up one alien and thinks he's a champion."

All that did was piss Dan off. He stood nose to nose with Sashiko and raised his voice. "I was not talking to you."

Sashiko was speechless. So the woman stepped forward. She took Dan aside and spoke softly in his ear. In this way they quickly came to an agreement. The woman would report that she had killed Whirl Thirteen and claim the prize from the Chairman. It was no coincidence that she had the ability to alter the memories of any witnesses so that they would corroborate with her story.

Before the woman could leave with the silent Sashiko, Dan kissed her cheek and whispered, "Send my regards to Dana."