Breakfast came that day, and Parappa went through it without a hitch. It was a lucky first morning in prison, since the prison's cooks were serving bacon and eggs, which, if you remember, was his favorite. Right after breakfast, he was directed down a hallway to a large phone room. It had a flat screen TV mounted on one corner, showing the latest sports updates, gossip about celebrities (which Parappa feared that it would talk about him soon), and political turmoil across the country.
The rapdog was offered three phone calls a day. He had an idea of who he wanted to call on his first full day there. He would first call his father, Sunny, and then Peavis Knight. He dialed his father's home phone number.
Parappa heard his father's voice. "Hello, Papa Parappa speaking."
"Hey, Dad, how's it going?"
"Hello, Parappa! Haven't talked to you in a long time! How has the business been?"
"It's been going great, Dad. Thanks for asking. Listen, I, uh, need to tell you about something that happened..." Parappa began, hesitant of talking about his incarceration.
"What happened, Parappa?" Papa Parappa's voice was copious with concern.
"I was recently arrested and now I am in the phone room of Parappa Town Federal Prison. I was arrested for murder accusations because of something that happened two nights ago."
Parappa explained the who shebang from the car accident to this point. Papa Parappa listened without interruption. After the explanation, Papa sighed in stress.
"Well, I don't blame you for what you did that day. Every person on Earth has the heaven-sent right to defend themselves. Everybody knows that. And if someone is about to take your life and/or the life of someone very close to you, what exactly could you do? And if you didn't stop that guy, there's no telling what else he would have done with his firearm. That guy could have raped someone. He could have assassinated the governor. Heck, he might have toppled a nation because he lived another day. This is something I promise, Parappa. I will do everything in my power to help get you out of prison as soon as possible."
"Thanks, Dad. Where would I be without you? Talk to you later," Parappa acknowledged. He ended the call and went on to call Sunny. The phone rang on and on, but there was no answer. Parappa couldn't even go to her voicemail to leave a message. Strange, he thought.
One call wasted, and one more left. He had to call his favorite lawyer about getting him through this one. Not too many lawyers worked both as prosecutors and defense attorneys in Rodney County. He waited for something to come up. When he first heard Knight's voice, Parappa threw a party in his mind. But, the party died down soon after.
"Hello, sir or ma'am, you have reached the number of Mr. Peavis Knight, attorney at law. You've reached the only prosecutor and defense attorney in Rodney County, and you made a great choice in choosing yours truly. Unfortunately, I am unable to reach you at the moment, but please leave a message, and I will try to reach you ASAP," the voice said. Parappa heard a beep and then spoke.
"Mr. Knight, I desperately need your help ASAP. I already know you have heard about what happened, but I am innocent, I can assure you. Please respond as soon as you get this message."
His three phone calls were up, so he exited the phone room. After breakfast, he went to the gym to socialize and expel his frustrations. There were many men there, working out and doing aerobics and whatnot. There was an inside section, with weights and treadmills, and an outside section where there was a whole track for people to run on, a large field to play football and soccer, and half of a basketball court. Parappa paid special attention to the blacktop court, with chalk marking the lane, free throw and three point lines. The backboard was a shanty and old plastic one. The backboard square was made out of red tape, and most of it was torn off. The iron pole supporting the backboard was nearly completely covered with rust. The rim was rusty as well. The net was made of chains.
"It reminds me of my old home," Parappa said with a smile. He walked toward the court and picked up the basketball there. It felt recently inflated, surprisingly. Everything else needed renovation for b-ball players inside the prison, but at least the ball bounced perfectly.
The texture of the basketball triggered Parappa's muscle memory. He remembered shooting hoops all the time back when he lived in the shanty area of Parappa Town. He became pretty good at it, as well. The reason why he didn't move on to become a pro basketball player was that he preferred rapping for a profession.
He shot the ball from the free throw line. It was all net. The ball seemed to willingly bounce toward the rapdog. Immediately, questions of his future afflicted his psyche.
How long will I be here?
Am I going to die in this facility?
When is the court hearing going to occur?
Are Sunny, PJ and the rest of them going to be affected by the mafia?
Meanwhile, a group of prisoners was playing football in the field near the basketball court. After an incomplete pass, one of them, a person with a basketball for a head, noticed Parappa alone in the basketball court. He nudged his friend, of whom that had an arrowhead for a cranium, and said, "Hey, is it that one rapper dude who just got convicted?"
The arrowhead person took a long look at Parappa. It was hard to recognize him without his beanie. But when the dog turned around and showed his face, the arrowhead answered, "I believe it is. Let's have some fun with him. Hey guys! It's Parappa!"
Three other strange creatures emerged from the group of football playing convicts and approached the rapdog.
"Hey, pretty boy!"
Parappa turned to find these five guys approaching him. After his previous experiences that were similar to this, he balled up his fists and prepared for any combat that might come about.
"How is the life of crime been treating you?" the basketball-headed convict said. The rest of the guys laughed. Parappa was still on guard, but he noticed something about the convicts. They weren't really threatening in any way. It was just a group of them that seemed threatening. In fact, they were teasing him as if they had known him for a long time. The one with a basketball for a head seemed familiar...
"Scott?" he inquired. Scott was looking for that all this time.
"Took you long enough to recognize a brother! What's good, bro?" Scott reached his arm and high-fived Parappa and slapped his back. The rapdog reciprocated. Scott was a friend of Parappa's from the ghetto of Parappa Town, and a true friend at that. He was basically the sporting equipment-headed version of PJ, friendly, loved rap music, and accepting of people like Parappa.
"Ah, not too badly, I'd say. Jail doesn't seem to be as bad as I thought. Of course, it still sucks to be imprisoned, but not as bad as they portray in the movies. What are you in for, Scott?"
The five other guys groaned as they remembered their act of crime. Scott then continued, "We all got caught for battery and accused murder, nothing too serious. That guy had what was coming for him, best believe that."
Scott's group murmured in agreement.
"What was the situation?" Parappa inquired. Scott laughed.
"I never get tired of telling this story. Okay, so what had happened was, we all were just walking from Big Kimp's place. We were all watching the Parappa Town Hoopsters game, sipping on 40's and playing dominoes. And these random punks just did a drive by on all of us! Luckily, we ducked in shock and pulled out our Uzis. We ain't hit anybody, but we drove them off. Almost everybody was safe. But, there were supposed to be six of us together. Our friend, Jay, was killed in the drive-by. We knew it was the mafia that got him, since they were going on a killing spree in our neighborhood. The next day, we found one of the mafia members, and we all kicked the mess out of him. We don't know if he was involved in the drive-by or not, we just knew he was part of it because of how he dressed. Anyway, we taught him that lesson and told him to tell his friends in the maf'. The day after that, a whole group of guys from the gang came to our house and started shooting up everything. What else would we have done, but defend ourselves? We defended our home and families in the only way we could. We had to finish all of the guys there. Of course, there's never a cop when we need one, so right after the 'Parappa Town Massacre,' as the cops called it, they caught all of us, and now we're here," Scott finished.
"The mafia got you into prison as well?" Parappa asked.
"What do you mean?" one of the guys there said.
"That was pretty much what happened to me," the rapdog began. He explained his situation to the ghetto inhabitants. Surprised, Scott raised an eyebrow.
"Now that's some bull cheese right there, man. We need to stop this mess immediately. Not only is it that they got another innocent person here, but they messed with the wrong brotherhood. They are also taking over the police department. Nearly all of the guards here work for The Master of Mandibles. Brandon, do you know if the plan can work with six people?"
Brandon, an orange cat-fox mix, mentally calculated the odds of success and the adjustments needed to get back at the mafia soon with Parappa in the mix. "It won't change much. And considering he had some experience with firearms with what he told us, I don't think he'll be holding us back any when it comes to that."
"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Parappa, this is my crew. Brandon, the brains. Manuel, the muscle. Donnie, the driver, and Sergio, the stealth. We're planning to bust out and get back at the mafia soon. I already know you don't like the mafia any more than we do. So, would you like to join in?"
Parappa considered this. Was Scott's crew one of the gangs that his family tried to avoid when they lived in the ghetto? If he joined them, would he be forced to join the crew if they survived the revolt?
Scott seemingly read his thoughts. "Oh, relax. We're not like the mafia. We don't commit murder or anything. But, if you's gonna mess with us, well, be ready to get what's coming. And once we break out, you can continue going about your business in rapping and stuff."
Parappa shrugged and stuck out his hand. "I'm in."
Scott shook hands with the rapdog and accepted him in the operation. Brandon then explained everything that would happen in the next few days. It would involve stealth, taking firearms, cutting off power to the security cameras, and even pickpocketing. Once all the stealth aspects were done, it would become hell in the jailyard. Every guard in the vicinity not incapacitated would pull out automatics to stop the circumvention of the jailbirds. And there were over a hundred guards in this one prison. The chances of their escape was slim to none.
Parappa knew this, too. But, he would have done virtually anything to get back to the grind, to get back with his friends, and to get back with...
…..Sunny...
As the thought of his lover came to his mind, Parappa's eyes half closed as he daydreamed of the pretty flower. He tuned out everything that Brandon explained about other parts of the plan there. All he saw was Sunny with her back turned toward him. She turned to find Parappa once again, liberated from his incarceration. Sunny ran toward him and gave him a long embrace and an extended kiss. Parappa ran his fingers through her petals, making her laugh in pleasure.
As they finished the kiss, they looked at each other, happy to see each other again. Parappa then asked, "Did you miss me?"
Sunny spoke, "Parappa? PARAPPA!" in a male voice. It was enough to send Parappa back to reality. Brandon caught him day-dreaming and said, "I'm guessing you have everything in your mind now?"
"Uh, yeah, of course," Parappa said, unconvincingly. He blushed from his daydream earlier. Brandon looked at Parappa funnily. "Just make sure you follow our lead and listen to the things that we tell you. Be ready to adjust on the fly. And make sure that your bullets hit when it hits the fan. Comprende?"
"Comprende. Oh, look, it's me on TV," Parappa noticed. The TV was turned to Action News in the Morning, showing a picture of Parappa frowning. Ree Porter then started her report.
"From patron saint to penitentiary servant, Parappa the Rapper is now facing jail time for murder accusations after a recent gala concert celebrating his acts of heroism. If you remember from two days ago, the rapdog was known for his attempts to stop a local bank robbery inside Rodney County Bank. It was a valiant, but futile effort, as the alleged mafia members known as Phil "Chief Leaf" Cloros and Ian "Hollow Bone" Crane were able to retrieve all the money in the vault at the time. But luckily, Parappa made a withdrawal total of over twenty-thousand dollars and had the cash all in his pockets. When the mafia members left, Parappa let the bank have every red cent it gave him, walking away penniless. Surprising to find someone like him in jail, right? Well, two nights ago, after his gala concert, eyewitness reports say that they saw the rapper taken beside the road, offered him a record deal, and started assaulting the three businessmen there. In self-defense, one of the businessmen pulled out a weapon, practicing his Second Amendment right. But, Parappa turned and shot the defending businessman, murdering him. He was arrested yesterday at his own home, but not without resisting arrest multiple times. All we can do is wait for the court hearing on October 30 to see if the jury will find him eventually free or fried. We will keep you informed of the case right here. I'm Ree Porter, Action News in the Morning."
Parappa squinted his eyes in disbelief. "Man, that is some bull cheese, bruh! That is NOT what happened! If I didn't pull out a gun, I would've been deep-sixed!" he told the crew. They all nodded in agreement.
"This is why we hate the mafia, Paraps. If anybody does ANYTHING out of the ordinary, they will use everything they can think of to get you arrested because of something they did," Scott said. Then, someone said over the P.A., "Parappa, you have visitors in the visitor center. Please report to the said location immediately."
Parappa moved through the hallways of the prison. All he saw were white walls, several scowls and legions of law-breakers. He entered into a large room with two sections, one section for the prisoners and the other for the visitors. The two sections were separated by a glass wall and desks holding phones, which were the only way of hearing what was on the other side.
He found the panel closest to PJ, Sunny and Milkcan. As soon as the gang saw him, they clustered to that panel. Parappa grinned as he picked up the phone. PJ picked up the other phone and they began the conversation.
"Hey, guys! What's happening?" Parappa said, still grinning. Everybody started chatting at once, making it a cacophony of voices coming through the earpiece. "Hey, one at a time, please!" he requested.
Since PJ was holding the phone, he spoke first.
"Is everything OK in there?"
"To be honest, things aren't too bad in prison. I mean think about it, free food, less threats of being shot, at least I hope, and a wide area for me to play basketball or something. Plus, I met an old friend in here."
"What did he do?" Katy asked.
"He basically did the same thing as I did, only his event was much larger in scale. I assume PJ told you what happened," responded Parappa. Everybody nodded.
"Oh yeah, that reminds me, nice aim, bro!" Ma-San said. Everybody looked at her with a face that said, "Ma-San, don't say that in a prison!" Ma-San, for once, felt bad for a joke she made. PJ handed the phone off to Sunny. He knew that Parappa would want to talk to his girlfriend soon.
"Sunny, my love, how are you doing?" Parappa remarked suavely. He put his free hand on the glass, as if to hold hands with her. Sunny reciprocated, putting her hand right where Parappa had his.
"Not so good now, since we're on different ends of this glass. This is bull cheese that you were arrested, though. If you didn't pull out your gun, then..." the sunflower closed her eyes, fearful of the thought of dying right there, in a dark corner where nobody could see them. But, if worst were to come to worst at that place, she would very likely die with her boyfriend and go to whatever other realm death would take them to.
"I know. I tried calling Mr. Knight, but he didn't answer his phone, and they give us a limited number of phone calls a day. Tomorrow, though, you can be sure that I will try again. Have you tried calling him?"
"We used up all our phone's batteries trying to call him last night," Sunny said. "We only got one answer from him out of around a hundred. Ma-San called him, and this is how it went:
Hello?
Yeah, Mr. Knight? We need your help!
Okay, who is this?
As soon as Ma-San tried to reply, she heard a loud banging sound and then the call ended. After that, all the calls we tried were all put on voicemail. We gave up after about the hundredth call. Of course, I tried calling Dad to see if he could help us any. He knew of other lawyers, but they weren't even close to as good as Peavis Knight. And Knight almost lost that case. Now, the scales are ten times bigger. With Knight out of the picture, we're pretty much sunk." Sunny's shoulders slumped.
Parappa tapped the glass in heavy thought. If none were as good as Peavis, how would he get out of prison then? You just gotta believe, Parappa, he thought.
"Tell your dad to get the best man he can find. Have him or her investigate the crime scene to look for any evidence to help me in this case."
"Okay, I'll do that. But, how long will you be in here?"
"Don't know. All we have now is to trust and believe now. Sunny," his eyes delved into Sunny's, "I love you. Everyone, wish me luck and I'll keep you updated on things to come."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, keep the line moving, Casanova," a prisoner behind him said. Parappa noticed the prisoner side and the visitor side of the glass wall being close to full. He made a waving motion to his friends and left.
"Attention, cellmates! Shower time for prisoner numbers 000-300 will occur in five minutes. Report to the shower rooms immediately," the P.A. said. Parappa's eyes widened. How did he know which was his prisoner number? There wasn't a paper on his chest or anything. But then, he looked on the sleeve of his orange jumpsuit. 209.
He went to the shower rooms, where the guards gave him a towel and washcloth. He wondered where his bar of soap was. After fifteen minutes of looking to no avail, he shrugged, took off his jumpsuit and shoes and walked in. Briskly, Parappa traversed the wet tile floor, butt-naked and cautious. To his surprise, it was a large room with numerous stalls. And the soap was in an automatic dispenser. The age-old rumor of having to hold on to the soap for your psyche was nonexistent now!
The water rushed out of the shower head and hit an alleviated animal artist. His privacy was still secure with him. All in all, he had a not-so-stressful day so far. But he had much more than shower stories to be wary of. Later in the afternoon, he was moved to the interrogation room. To his surprise, he found plenty of light in it, with a few chairs around a desk in the center of the room. It didn't seem threatening in any case, so he sat down in front of the desk. He then found a security camera that zoomed in on him for some reason. It was then where he caught the scent of a familiar smell, one that became all too familiar because of the recent incidents. The odor of blood then clouded his nasal cavity. After doing more investigating, he found dried blood on the top of the desk and onto the linoleum floor below. A shiver went down the rapdog's spine.
The interrogator came in, a white human being in a business suit. He carried two suitcases inside the entrance of the room. Also about him were gray hair and a scowl permanently plastered onto his countenance. At the sight of the rapdog, he introduced himself, "Ah, Parappa, good to meet you. My name is Vick Northrup, and I need to talk to you on something. I believe you know exactly what we will be talking about..."
"Yeah, I have a pretty good idea as to what an interrogator would want to discuss with me at this point. Cut to the chase, Northrup," Parappa said bluntly. Even he was surprised at his own tone. Parappa was generally a nice person to all he talked to, but his experiences were taking its toll on him. The last time he thought he could trust a businessman was the last time he shot a gun at someone, which, in turn, led the white dog here.
Northrup's expression was unchanged as he sat down. He opened out one suitcase and slammed down a dossier that needed updating, according to him.
"Let's see, you're 18, turning 19 in Halloween. Seems a bit unlucky, but that's irrelevant. You come from the projects of Parappa Town, moved over here when you were eight years old, and became the reason why we named the town after you. Ever since you moved here, you were willing to do community service for no pay whatsoever and also became one of the biggest celebrities in the city. This town worshiped you, son. And for what, so that you can disappoint everybody by committing this MURDER?!" Northrup exclaimed. At the last statement, it seemed that he was trying to get everybody in the prison to hear him. Regardless of whatever he was trying to do, Parappa frowned at him.
"You're getting all worked up for a crime I didn't commit. I haven't murdered anyone."
"Bull crap you haven't. You were caught on tape. Everyone in the world can see you pulling out that .44 revolver and killing the businesscat right after you and your girlfriend assaulted them. What was your motive?"
"There was no 'despicable motive' that you would have other people believe. If you would let me explain and not make a one-man soap opera of this interrogation, I think you'll get the answers you'll need. Only problem is, I have a feeling it's not about getting real answers that will help establish real justice here, but really about getting me to admit something, recording this present conversation on tape, and altering the order of my statements so that it would seem like I-" Parappa caught himself. This was exactly what Northrup wanted. He was about to finish by saying "...so that it would seem like I murdered that businesscat," but if he did that, then his future would be cancelled.
"You what?" Northrup entertained the idea of getting Parappa to continue saying what he was going to say. Parappa's heart raced with quick thoughts. Mentally, he sorted out a list of things to say and things to not say. The latter list was getting bigger by the second. The former list, not so much. He did find an adequate list of alternatives to say in this "interrogation" of his, so he was all set for now.
"Ah, let's move on to the first question you're supposed to ask me," Parappa kept his poise. Northrup knew what Parappa was doing and engaged in the little mind game. Afterward, their minds connected together was a high speed tennis match, each participant briskly returning the "tennis ball" to the other one.
"Did you kill Mr. Livington?" (the cat that pulled out the gun, didn't name him until now)
"Yes."
"Why did you kill him?"
"I shot him in self-defense."
"Self-defense? You're telling me that the cats attacked you two?"
"That's exactly what I'm telling you."
"What events led to your killing of Mr. Livington that day, Parappa?"
"They offered me a record deal, I declined, I found a revolver falling from the suit of Timothy. It was the same style of revolver that local mafia members use in this town. Could have merely acquired the same model as the mafia members and just wanted to practice his amendment right and coincidentally got the same gun, but highly unlikely for a great amount of reasons. Harvey attacked me by having me in a headlock. Sunny ducked under the blow of one of the cats and defended herself against two of them. While she did that, I escaped the grasp of Harvey and kicked the crap out of him with the help of Sunny. I picked up the gun that Timothy dropped from his suit, this being as well for a number of reasons. Livington was still conscious and made one last attempt to kill either me, Sunny or both of us. I heard him pull the hammer back and pulled the trigger. Now I'm here because I was falsely accused."
"You said that they offered you a record deal?"
"Yes."
"And you decide to kick the crap out of them for that! It makes no sense! All they wanted was to make more money with you! You could be living in a primo penthouse, an amazing apartment, an honorable abode! And yet, you choose a life of crime. What makes you so confident that people will believe your claims for you being innocent?"
"The people here know me. They know I wouldn't murder anybody. If I were to kill someone else, it would be for rightful protection."
Northrup squinted and clasped his hands, his index fingers together and pointing up. He let his chin descend onto his thumbs. He considered something else to use against him. On the other side of the tennis court, Parappa was checking his racquet for any damages and prepared himself for future volleys. After Northrup didn't say anything for quite some time, Parappa served the ball.
"Now, when is the court hearing to prove me innocent?"
Northrup's eyes widened. He brought up his second case and set it on the table. He opened it to expose many photographs and documents about Mr. Livington, Parappa, the incident, and the problems of the Republican Party inside the county. Why would that be there, Parappa thought.
"Well, we have an overabundance of evidence to prove you guilty. The court hearing is on October 30, at 9:00 A.M. The jury has already been picked for that day. Five days from now, you'll have your fate decided for you by a legally-bound jury, most likely leading to the rest of your puny little life inside this prison. I have no further questions."
"I have another one. What makes you so confident that the jury is going to find me guilty? What, do you use your buddies in the mafia to influence the innocent citizens of this city to think bad things of any person you'd want, and bribe every cop you could find in order to make sure this person is incarcerated? And what was it that the mafia wants of me, Northrup? Can you tell me that?"
Northrup only smirked in evilness. He closed his briefcases and left the room. "Have a nice five days, Parappa," he smugly acknowledged before slamming the door. Parappa exited the other door. This is going to be harder than I thought, the rapdog muttered in his mind.
. . .
Back in PJ's house, PJ, Sunny and Milkcan were checking out the news for any updates on Parappa's new court case that was bound to occur. Of all the people there, Sunny was the most stressed. She grabbed the hem of her pink and blue dressed and rolled it around her index finger. She sat on the couch, her laptop exposing many search results for "Parappa the rapper new court case." Everyone else searched for decent lawyers around the city via the Internet, calculating possible costs of said lawyers, while Ma-San flipped through numerous TV channels on PJ's TV. The court just had to be explained somewhere on TV.
"Found anything yet, Sunny?" PJ asked her. They have looked for countless hours, only to find a lawyer that was way too far for her, the lawyer, to be working effectively on the case.
"Unfortunately, no. And I have no idea why we can't get any access to Peavis Knight..." she sighed. She began thinking of other ways to get Parappa out of prison, but the number of possibilities seemed to decrease by the second. Her mind wandered off and she thought of how Parappa could have gotten into this mess. I remember when we first met. I was in third grade, but it wasn't in school. It was a winter day after our Christmas play rehearsal. I first saw him in the rehearsal, and he looked so cute...
"Hey, Sunny! This is the wrong time to be having a fantasy sequence! They're talking about your boyfriend right now!" Ma-San said. Everyone's attention was diverted to the boob tube.
"Hello, Parappa the Rapper fans. As you may know, your favorite rapdog has been incarcerated yesterday on a murder charge of an event that happened two nights ago, where he shot and killed Mr. Livington, a worker in the local Acme Animal Records music producing company. Details have just now been leaked from Parappa Town Federal Prison. Parappa will face his next court hearing on Saturday, October 30 at 9:00 A.M., EST. This hearing will be televised right here, on Action News Today. It will be between Parappa and the state of Rodneyana. Rumors have spread being about how Kyle Hedgefirth will be involved in the case, about how the potential mafia might be involved inside the entire case, and about Parappa's early life inside the seedy part of Parappa Town. I'm Ree Porter, Action News Today."
"Saturday?!" everyone said at the same time. They couldn't believe that a court hearing would be such a short time after someone's incarceration, especially if the person was accused for murder.
"Do we have enough time to find a lawyer in time for this?" Katy asked. Nobody answered, since they had no idea.
"Wait! Kyle Hedgefirth is a a defense attorney, right? Maybe there is a chance for him to help us!" Sunny said. "Look him up on the web!"
PJ typed Kyle Hedgefirth's name in the search engine. Many results popped up, but in a millisecond, all relevant results disappeared. Now all they could find was results to a fanfiction called Parappa the Rapper: The Infamy.
"Whoa, what just happened? And, what in the world is this? Somebody is making a fanfiction about this entire event?" PJ asked. After clicking the link, he found every event that happened from the first concert mentioned to right now. The entire gang found the whole situation unfold with every word typed.
"This is unreal...Wait, WHAT?! EVERYTHING I'M SAYING IS ON THIS FANFICTION! IT'S ALMOST AS IF..." Ma-San began.
"...We are being controlled by someone in another dimension...Discovering this phenomena on the Internet could change the course of history forever, and we could be rich and bail out Parappa for good...But forget about that, we need to find out about Kyle's number!" Sunny said.
"Doesn't anybody realize that the links for Hedgefirth's website disappeared right before our very eyes?" PJ asked everyone there. As if on cue, PJ's black laptop seemed to turn off. All the gang could see was black. Then, Kyle Hedgefirth's face was easily visible to the gang.
"Hello, lovelies. I see you are trying to reach me and request my assistance for the upcoming Parappa case." They saw Hedgefirth in a red business suit, his hair recently done in a combover style. He smugly smirked as he used a wooden nail file while streaming his face. Somehow, he hacked into PJ's laptop.
"How, what, why...What? How did you do that, Hedgefirth?" PJ asked.
"Well, I shall make two long stories short. First long story, I'm not helping you. I've decided to join the Charlatan in his endeavors. Second, with me joining the Charlatan, I now have the ability to do whatever I want when it comes to computer technology. So, that means, any device that connects to the Internet via wifi I can easily hack into. Like this!" Hedgefirth pulled out a laptop that had nothing but a black screen with dark red text. He pressed the enter button.
For a while, nothing happened. Then, everyone found their phones vibrating simultaneously. When they checked their phones, all they saw was a red screen. Lammy sensed danger in this event occurring. She opened the living room window and yelled, "Throw them outside now!" She led by example by tossing them out the window.
Everybody quickly followed through until they were completely cell phoneless. In mid-air and outside in the gloomily dark evening sky, they all detonated. The entire group glared at Hedgefirth, who didn't wipe off his smug grin.
"Hahaha! Oh, it pays to do stuff like this. But yeah, have fun not having a lawyer, my lovelies. And, if you know what's good for you, you won't be involved in any way, or else we'll deal with you the hard way, yada yada yada. Hedgefirth out."
The defense attorney disappeared from the screen, making it show the search results page again.
"Okay, what just happened? One minute we're searching for a lawyer, now we almost die by exploding phones?!" Sunny said.
"Well, it would sure seem like that, wouldn't it?!" Ma-San sarcastically explained.
"Well, that's it, then. We're eternally screwed! Parappa's now going to die by the chair because we don't have any more lines of defense! Could this day get-" Sunny caught herself. All the things that happened ever since the Hedgefirth internet search seemed to happen supernaturally. She didn't want to jinx anything for herself or her friends.
Katy got an idea. "Wait, maybe my dad can help us!"
"Is your dad secretly a lawyer?" PJ asked.
"No, but he's a cop, and he works with law. It's a shot in the dark, but it's the only thing we can do at the moment. I'll have him try to sway the jury with any tactic he can. And, I'll also ask him to keep Parappa out of the electric chair as long as possible. We need as much time to try to fix this."
"You're not going to be alone. I think we should all go to Katy's dad and ask for him to help us," Sunny said. Everybody concurred. It was around six o'clock when this conversation happened. Officer Kat worked long hours on the police job, even longer since the discovery of the mafia was made. But at this rate, they would do anything to help the doomed rapdog.
. . .
"And that's why we need your help, Dad. Can you please help us?" Katy said. The entire gang was inside Officer Kat's living room. He just got off of work and got home, so he was still in his full uniform. Katy just explained the whole situation to him. The company all sat in a couch across from Katy's father.
Officer Kat's face showed a distressed look. "Look, sweetheart, I know exactly what happened. I believe that Parappa is innocent. But, that would make us have a very unpopular opinion. All the people in the city who believe that Parappa isn't guilty and want the best of him are very likely in this room. It's my job to establish justice in the town. I highly doubt they will allow someone like me to be directly involved in the case. Besides, all the investigators have collected every piece of evidence they could find, and none of it could help Parappa."
Katy's eyes became moist. She jumped out of the couch and knelt directly in front of her father. "Please, Dad, there must be something you can use to help him!" Katy looked at him directly in the eye. The sight of her daughter in complete distress tormented him.
Hey, since she moved, it gives me a little more room to sit, Ma-San thought as she took Katy's old spot.
It's about time I got out of this trap, Officer Kat thought. He reached inside his shirt. He pulled out a microphone and broke the cord that connected to it.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Cops wear wires nowadays? Dang, O.K., who turned the tables on you? Do criminals now have large squad cars with canine units?!" Ma-San exclaimed.
"You'd be surprised at what criminals do nowadays. But that's not important. I have something I need to tell you. The mafia has paid me to turn somewhat of a blind eye to the investigation. They knew that I've known Parappa for so long, that he would never kill someone with malice aforethought. They paid me very good money to shut up about everything since two weeks prior to the event. But I feel that since you are all adults, you have the right to know this."
Sunny and Katy gasped.
"What?! Parappa's life was bought with money?!" they both said.
"Not exactly. The way they paid me was that they let you and me both live, Katy. But, ever since they 'paid' me, I've been thinking of a way to circumvent the mafia. But, the way I'm thinking of has a very good chance of death. The mafia's power has reached an all-time high now, so they're monitoring and manipulating a bunch of things in the city now. If I try to say anything about it, they will most likely kill me. But, if you rebelled, they won't see it coming. Here is the plan."
Officer Kat explained in detail how to save Parappa from an electric death in about the same manner as Scott explained his plan to get out of jail to Parappa. The plan wasn't too complex, but the scary thing was, somebody had a very good chance of getting hurt. But, they were going to stop at nothing in order to save a friend.
"I want you guys to come here tomorrow so that I can show you how to shoot a gun. It's my day off tomorrow, anyway. Now, get some rest," Officer Kat said, dismissing them to whatever place they slept at nights. Almost everyone went outside, thanking Officer Kat for his willingness to help them save Parappa. Katy, however, stuck around for something. She got up and gave her father a grateful embrace.
"Thanks, Dad! I love you!"
"I love you too, sweetheart. Now, in case I am unavailable to help you when the day comes, I want you to be the leader of the plan."
"What are you talking about? I couldn't lead a police-like operation! I never had any experience-"
"Nonsense. What does your friend Parappa say? You just gotta believe. And, your family has been part of the police and/or military force for seven generations. This sort of thing is in your blood. Now, I won't say that you should automatically become part of the police or military force because of this, since you've already begun your career in music. You have the right to do anything you want. You know this. However, I believe that you have the audacity, the bravery, the leadership to carry out an operation like this. Okay?"
"All right, Dad. I'm doing this for not only Parappa, but you as well."
Katy made her farewell and walked inside her car. When everybody separated into their separate homes, none of them, not even PJ, got any sleep that night. It was a big day for them tomorrow, and the anticipation was a mixture of an eternal alarm clock and an incessant rooster that night.