The Carnival

[Piper Juunanagou]

As Piper watched Kaden walk off to find whomever he’d been searching for, she couldn’t help but feel as if she’d made a terrible mistake in letting the man leave. After all, a shockingly large part of her had desperately hoped that the courier wouldn’t leave at the end of the ride. Nevertheless, Piper had mastered her poker face many, many years ago, and thus, she managed to stand there with there with a fake smile on her visage as Kaden vanished around a bend down the pathway.

You are a blithering idiot, Piper. You had a perfect shot, and you just blew it.

Unable to offer a witty rebuttal to her snide, self-deprecating thoughts, Piper let out a heavy sigh as her strength ebbed away and her façade of joy gave way to the sadness welling beneath it. Frowning heavily, the woman diverted her eyes from where Kaden had left, and in doing so, she found herself staring at a large, colorfully decorated stand position just a few paces down the cobblestone walkway. Figuring that anything was a healthier alternative to standing around cursing herself out, Piper trudged down the path and dipped under the two velvet ropes that would have served as a queue in the event that there was suddenly a surge in patrons.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Piper mumbled beneath her breath as she looked up at the convenience stand. The wooden frame that served as the store’s façade was decorated with poorly painted facsimiles of Pikachu. The border of the wooden storefront was dotted with dramatic lightening bolts and several bizarre, foreign characters that Piper had never seen before.

“Welcome, would you care to purchase a Pikachu plush for 5 monies?” The robot inside the relatively small stand inquired as Piper advanced toward his store. Looking into the wooden store, the woman noted that there were several plush recreations of the vengeful rodent who had been converted into a car. Unlike the actual Pikachu, the stuffed toys all had giant smiles and cute, innocent eyes.

“Sure, why not,” the blond responded, figuring she had more than enough monies to spare after managing to edge out the rest of the competition in the previous round.

“I’m sorry,” the robot replied. “You have no monies to spend.”

“What? That’s ridiculous,” Piper shot back as she popped her pager off her belt and glanced down at the screen. Just as the robot had informed her, she had a big whooping zero before the word monies. “Damn it,” the soldier rasped as she clipped the tiny device back onto her belt. If this had been any other situation, she would have simply swallowed her pride and carried on with her business. Unfortunately, the fact that Piper had been kidnapped and trapped in a carnival had served to unhinge a great deal of her inhibitions.

“I have a new form of currency that I’d like to introduce,” Piper said as she lifted her gauntleted hand. With a sparkling hiss, rivulets of energy began to coalesce in front of the woman’s extended arm.

“What currency is that?” The robot inquired, seemingly oblivious to the orb of red energy coalescing just a few inches away from his face.

“I think you’re going to love it, because…” Piper whispered as the energy ball shot forward. The concentration of ki erupted through the robot’s polished, immobile teeth and then promptly exploded. The interior of the stand was subsequently littered with twisted, charred pieces of shrapnel, and then, without a processor to keep its appendages responsive, the robot collapsed into a lifeless heap.

“…Because I know I will,” Piper finished her remark as she leaned over the two planks of wood that constituted the counter of the stand. Reaching up, she yanked one of the plush Pikachus down from the ceiling. With a victorious smile, the woman tucked the three-foot toy under her arm and turned her back to the broken robot. Glancing to her left, the woman noticed a black cat scamper between two nearby tents. Chuckling at the fact that Gamer had coded animals into Kill Town, Piper dipped under one of the velvet queue ropes. When she popped back up on the adjacent side, she caught some movement in the corner of her eye and looked over to see an almost identical cat scamper between the two exact tents.

Wow, that’s some really weird—

“Thank you for your patronage!” The robotic voice from behind the woman startled her enough to nearly cause her to jump out of her skin. Turning sharply, Piper noticed that the machine she’d blown up a few beats earlier was standing and waving at her as if she hadn’t just blown his head apart. Even more bizarre, the empty spot from which she had grabbed her Pikachu had been replaced by another plush toy.

…Déjà vu. The woman finished her thought from earlier as she looked down at her stolen Pikachu. I hate this place. She thought as she looked into the lifeless plastic eyes of the plush toy.

Despite the fact that it was a poor replication, the woman couldn’t help but smirk at the silly, oversized rodent. Even if he was nothing more than a lot of eloquent programming, the actual Pikachu—for all his very violent and deranged ideas—had been a remarkable soldier. And in Piper’s mind, the best way to honor a fallen soldier was to send him plenty of company, and the blonde couldn’t think of any better pal to send to the hereafter than Gamer.

Looking up away from the inanimate toy, Piper noticed a large black building jutting up from the skyline. Apparently, the woman had failed to notice the tall structure whilst meandering around Kill Town. Unlike the vibrant big tops and the neon lights that adorned each and every single water and thrill ride, the large building was relatively inert. Piper could see that it was mainly windows, and the majority of them seemed to be either tinted or sporting rather thick curtains.

Anything’s better than wandering around aimlessly waiting for opportunity to fall into your lap.

And just like that, Piper vanished in a swirl of blues and whites. An instant later, the soldier rematerialized on the roof of the oversized structure. Although she still wasn’t sure where she was, it was obvious she wasn’t close to the amusement park or the adjacent midway. Was this perhaps part of the shopping district?

Or maybe this is some sort of administrative building… Even though the thought was far too optimistic to hold any sort of truth, it succeeded nonetheless in imploring the woman to jog over to the nearby roof access door and bust it down with a swift, sturdy kick. As the door swung inward—its midsection bowed by the impact—Piper couldn’t help but grin. Maybe this was what she needed to keep her mind from dwelling on all the unsettling things that had happened in the last several hours. In the event of a worst-case scenario, at least the senseless destruction would mean a little more busy work for the man-child trying to play God.

With a grin on her face, Piper descended the metal staircase and busted through the steel door at the bottom of the very first landing. The hallway door let out a violent screech as it was ripped off its hinges by the excessive force the woman put behind her boot. Unfortunately, the soldier felt little remorse as she waltzed over the twisted steel corpse and onto the drab carpeting that lined the dimly-lit corridor.

So where am I? With that question still lingering in her head, Piper took a few steps to her left before she ran across a small metal sign mounted on the off-white wall. ‘Kill Town Hotel – Top Floor’ … Son of a bitch, this is just some stupid hotel. With a groan, Piper smacked her palm against the sign, prompting it to bend inward with enough force to splinter the plaster of the wall behind it.