Chapter 3...
Parappa Rappa was wandering the city aimlessly, he was covered in blood, hell, his hands were soaked with blood, his vision was becoming blurry, exhaustion has taken its toll, the last thing the young pup saw before he collapses into unconsciousness was a strange silhouette in front of him.
(Flashback, Parappa's POV)
Parappa now in his hellhound form, was following a trail like a bloodhound using senses to track his prey, after a long while, it led him to a warehouse. The sound of growling fills the air as he charges at one of the windows and breaks through it by jumping through it, the sound caught the attention of the men inside and they ready their guns and goes to investigate. Parappa quietly keeps a low profile, waiting for the opportunity to strike, the moment came when one of the crooks walked past him and he sneak up behind him and grabs him and drags him into the shadows and tears him apart, and the process was repeated on the other criminals one by one while the dog avoided gunfire. The meerkat came out of his office saying...
"What's the fuck's going on here, guys?! Who is it?!"
"We don't fucking know, the fucker's too damn fast!" one of the crooks shouted as he runs off to continue his search.
The meerkat hears gunshots and then the screams of his coworkers and tearing of flesh, then it was silence as he wanders the warehouse looking around frantically in a wave of paranoia in which he shouted out...
"I don't know who you are, but when i find you, you're dead!"
What he didn't notice is that the hellhound is behind him nearby as the creature growls before springing its attack, the meerkat quickly turns around in time to see the demon pouncing toward him.
(End of Flashback)
Parappa gasps as he awakens from the sound of a gunshot and the meerkat's scream from his nightmare, after a few seconds of breathing to calm down, he asked himself while rubbing his forehead...
"What happened? Ugh, my head..."
Parappa looked around and sees he was in what appears to be an infirmary, he felt soreness in his left arm when he moved it, he was about to get out of bed when he hears the door open and coming in the room was a familiar blue haired human woman wearing a pink fedora hat, red glasses, pink unzipped shirt, yellow dress, and white shoes.
"Sister Gon." Parappa muttered.
"Parappa, thank goodness you're awake." Sister Gon said feeling relieved. "I was looking for you last night when your father called me and said you didn't come home, i saw you stumbling around covered in blood and you appeared to have grown some hair."
"Hair?" Parappa asked.
Sister Gon took out a hand mirror from her purse and lend it to Parappa for him to see his reflection, he was once bald in which he wore his beanie cap all the time, now he has blonde hair, like his sister. Parappa then said...
"Whoa, this is weird." Parappa gave the mirror back to Sister Gon and asked her. "Hey uh, where are we?"
"This is the infirmary inside Sunshine Refuge, it's a shelter for cherubs who were banished from heaven." Sister Gon answered his question. "I brought you here and asked my friend Peppy to help treat the gunshot wound you had on your arm."
"Cherubs? In Parappa town?" Parappa asked confounded Sister Gon nodded, but Parappa couldn't believe her words. "That's just..."
"Oh, it's not ridiculous, young man." A man's voice cut the dog boy off. "There is a heaven, believe me."
Entering the room is a slightly tall male swan cherub wearing a white robe.
"Ah, shit." Pariah cursed. "Just our luck to wind up in a place full of fucking cherubs."
"My name is Peppy, i'm the faith healer of Sunshine Refuge, pleased to meet you Mr. Rappa." the cherub introduced himself. "You should be pleased to hear that you are free to leave soon, i didn't see any injuries beside your arm. But before you do, however, might i ask if you remember anything yesterday, like who attacked you or anything?"
"No, my mind's all fuzzy." Parappa groaned, then he remembered the fire. "Mom... she..."
"Died in the fire yesterday?" asked Sister Gon. "Yes, i know, Chief Puddle gave us the terrible news."
"Oh my, yes, a terrible tragedy it was." Peppy added. "I'm terribly sorry about your loss, Parappa, you have my condolences."
Upon hearing those words, tears slowly leaked from Parappa's eyes as he muttered...
"Mom... I couldn't save you... I'm sorry."
Realizing that Parappa was about to cry Peppy said...
"Oh, you poor boy, please take your time, your father will be here soon to pick you up."
"But first we need to talk to him and make some arrangements." Sister Gon added as she and her cherub friend left the room, leaving Parappa alone to break down crying, after a while, the crying stopped and Parappa called out to his hellhound self...
"What the hell really happened last night?! What is it you're not telling me?!"
"You really want to know?" Pariah asked the rapping dog. "Fine, instead of being killed by the hitmen who started the fire, mom gave up her life to save us. You were a sobbing mess, but it wasn't long before the sadness became anger, and your mind craved for revenge. That anger is the reason I took control and killed those motherfuckers."
"What? You made me killed those men?" Parappa pondered.
"Yeah, so don't feel guilty about that, they deserved to die." Pariah replied.
"I never killed anyone in my life, you fucking asshole!" Parappa yelled. "Why did you do it?!"
"They worked for a sinner overlord and i couldn't let them hurt anyone else." Pariah told his good self. "She sent those men to kill one of her "stars" who wanted out of the music gig, they started the fire to keep anyone from escaping, and you know what happened to mom, can't say the same about the bitch they killed, though. Besides, killing those bastards is the least we can do for her."
"Sinner? Overlord?" Parappa questioned.
"Sinners are demons who originated here on earth, if they committed sins before they die, they go to hell, hence the name sinners." Pariah explained. "While down there, they try to acquire power by any means necessary, once they have enough power, they are elevated to Overlords, and right now, this overlord is trying to get more power to plot a takeover, so we need to..."
"No!" Parappa cut the hellhound off. "Whatever it is, i want no part of it, i don't need any more blood on my hands."
"You have no choice." said Pariah. "She knows we killed her goons, and she'll be onto us. There's a shitstorm hitting the town soon and we need all the help we can get, like it or not, mom's gone now, and our family will face hard times, and if you're going to help them out, you'll have to do everything you can, some of the things you gotta do might be against the law, but it has to be done."
"Parappa, is that you?" A male voice called out. Parappa turned his head at the entrance and saw his best friend, PJ Berri.
"Hey, PJ." Parappa greeted as PJ walked toward him and said...
"I thought you didn't have hair."
"Well, i'm surprised too and frankly, i have no clue where it came from." said Parappa. "So, what's up, PJ?"
"We all heard about what happened to your mom, I'm really sorry. Also, i came to return this to you, found it in an alleyway nearby."
PJ handed Parappa his signature orange beanie cap. Parappa said "Thanks." to his friend as he took it and put it back on his head.
"I'll talk to our boss at Club Fun and see if he can give you some time off, but please know that we got your back whenever you need it, ok?" Was PJ's last words before he pats Parappa on the shoulder and left the infirmary.
Quick Note: I forgot to mention this in the last chapter, but in this story, Parappa works two jobs, During the day, he works at Techtom's game store (From "Parappa gets a job", the fourth book of the RodneyFun Comic Collection) and at night he works at Club Fun as the Bartender/MC.
"After i got out, our family arranged to have mom cremated and we held a memorial service with her co-workers at Sister Gon's chapel." Parappa explained the aftermath to his friends.
Inside the chapel, Parappa Rappa was sitting on a pew alongside his father Papa Parappa and sister Pinto, behind him were his friends, PJ Berri, Sunny Funny with her father General Potter, Katy Kat, Lammy Lamb, Ma-San, Matt Major, and Paula Fox, across the room were Chief Puddle, his wife Anne Tambourine (from the anime) and several members of the Parappa Town Fire Department. Parappa was deep in his thoughts about the words of his hellhound self as Sister Gon took the podium to begin her sermon, the memories of the tournament he entered, his battle with his future self, The Undeath, the assassins inside the burning building and the gangsters inside the warehouse haunted his mind, but what really disturbed him greatly is when he daydreams that his house was on fire and he rushes inside and looked all over for his dad and sister only to find his mom in the kitchen standing next to the sink.
"Mom?" Parappa called out to her as he cautiously walked toward her, Mama Parappa turned around to face her son and said...
"Oh Parappa, why did you do it? I traded my life to save yours and you..."
Parappa gasped as he saw his mom being engulfed in flames, she walked toward her son while she's still burning and said as Parappa backed away from her...
"You became a criminal, a murderer, a monster..."
Parappa kept backing away until he tripped and fell on the floor, he looked up and saw his mother approaching him, her flesh dissolving from the flames as she grabbed him and hoist him up close to her face as she said...
"I raised you better than this, you are a disgrace to our family!" The flames around her spread to Parappa, burning him as the head of Mama Parappa turned into a flaming skull as she screamed in a demonic voice...
"I WISH I NEVER GAVE BIRTH TO YOU!"
The skull opens its jaws and was about to bite Parappa when he snapped out of his nightmare with a scream. Everyone in the chapel looked at him, Papa Parappa was at the podium speaking about his memories he has with his wife when his son's scream interrupted him, he decided to cut the speech short with a "Sorry folks, please excuse me." and returned to his seat next to his kids, he asked Parappa...
"What's wrong, son? A bad dream?"
"It was terrible." Parappa muttered trying not to cry.
"Tell me about it, freaked me out too." Pariah agreed with Parappa.
After the service, The Rappa family went home, later that evening, Parappa was sitting on the floor in his bedroom, deep in his thoughts once again, his eyes soaked with tears having cried a couple of minutes ago, that is until he looked at his reflection on the mirror along with his hellhound self who was leaning on a wall behind him. Parappa already called his other boss Techtom and told him about his mother's death, Techtom understood his best employee's grief and told him to take his time and come back when he feels better. Throughout the week, Parappa being a good big brother, focused on spending time with his sister Pinto until one day, Parappa was about to go to the kitchen when he heard the doorbell rang, he goes to the front door shouting "I got it!" to his father and sister and opened it to find no one there, he poked his head outside and looked around then he looks down and saw two small rectangle packages laying on the doormat, Parappa picks up the packages and closes the door then went upstairs to his room and placed them on his bed. Parappa opened the small rectangle package with the tag "To Parappa" and saw an angelic like dagger similar to the one he received from the cloaked stranger only it came with a sheath, on the bottom was a note, he picked it up and read it...
"May this blade of the exorcists protect you from the demons of the underworld,
P.S. Read the back."
Parappa turned the note around and saw another message that reads...
"You will be called soon. Until then, beware, they will be watching."
After Parappa read the note, the paper caught fire as if was by magic, the dog dropped the note and quickly stomped on it in an attempt to put out the flame, fortunately, the fire fizzled out shortly leaving nothing but a tiny pile of ashes as Parappa heard footsteps and quickly hid the dagger under his pillow as his bedroom door opens, Parappa turned and saw Pinto who she asked her brother...
"Who was at the door, big brother?"
"No one, but there were some packages outside." Parappa replied honestly. he turned around and picked up the small package with the tag "To Pinto" on it and turned back to his sister and said... "I believe this one here is for you."
Pinto took the package and said "Thanks" to her brother before leaving. As soon as she left, Parappa retrieved the dagger under his pillow and placed it in his pocket just in time to hear the doorbell rang again, he returns to the front door and opened it to see Katy and Sunny in front of him.
"Oh, hey girls." Parappa greeted.
"How are you feeling?" asked Sunny.
"Still down, but i'll manage." Parappa answered the sunflower's question in a somber mood, Katy then told Parappa...
"Listen, me and my band got a gig coming up tonight and i was wondering if you like to join us, Sunny will be there, too."
"Thanks, but i don't feel like it." Parappa turned down the cat and was about to go back inside when he felt a hand on his shoulder, that hand belonged to Sunny who said...
"Parappa, please, we just want to cheer you up, we're all really worried about you, you know you can rely on us for help if you need it."
"Come on, just go with them, i been listening to your mommy issues and crybaby bullshit all week and i'm getting sick of it." Pariah insisted throwing an insult at his depression.
Parappa lightly growled upon hearing the demon's word, but sighs and said...
"Okay, i'll go. Better go get the van."
Katy takes out a key from her pocket and gives it to Parappa saying...
"The show's at 8 P.M."
"All right." Parappa made a note. "Good thing i renewed my license after the whole noodlization biz."
"Yep." said Katy as she leaves.
"See you tonight." said Sunny as she joins her friend. As soon as the girls are gone, Parappa sighs, and was about to go inside when he heard a man's voice...
"Hello, Parappa."
Parappa turned around and saw an adult brown furred dog man wearing an orange uniform and a cap that reads "Delivery Express" in front of him.
"Oh, hello." Parappa greeted.
"I have a package for you, i need your signature." said the delivery man.
"Who's it from?" asked Parappa as he writes his signature on the form.
"A guy named Prince Fleaswallow." The man answered as he takes the form back and said... "Thanks again, have a nice day."
The delivery man left and Parappa went back inside the house. A couple of hours later, underneath the Rappa family house, a big secret door opens up and coming out is a purple van with the Milkcan label painted on each side, driving the car is Parappa himself. Katy and her band bought a van for their gigs after the noodlization incident, they also got permission from Parappa's dad to store their tour van into his secret garage. Parappa drove the vehicle to the city to pick up his friend and her bandmates.
To Be Continued...
Author's Note: We got more to come in the next chapter, like new faces so stay tuned.