Rick
February 14, 1998. 1:12 p.m. The gym. Another valentine’s day… another day without a single valentine. Woe is me… Why can’t high school be more like elementary school? There, everyone got a valentine… It was so much nicer and more fair. Not like here. All the tough and mean boys get all the valentines from the pretty girls. Why don’t the girls here appreciate artistic and sweet boys? Mrgrgr… Relax… relax…
Anyway, I’m in the gym practicing with the JV basketball team. Well, they’re practicing. I’m giving them all the water they need. It’s an important job. More important than the players or even the coach. If it wasn’t for me, they’d all die of dehydration and they can’t even get the water themselves. They always ask me to get it for them… I’m so unappreciated I swear. I don’t even get a trophy or nothing.
“Rick!” Joshua’s voice rings out. “Look out!”
“Wha?” I turn my head only to have a basketball knock me in the noggin and send me tumbling to the floor. It hurt… I can’t see… and I’m crying, but… something… changed… My mind feels lighter, faster. Like my third eye just opened or something. I feel like my brain’s going super saiyan. An image appears in my mind… Sonic the Hedgehog… but fused with me… The two most powerful beings in the universe combined together… oh my goodness! Yes! I’ve found it! The perfect character! Rickichu! He has all the coolness of Sonic, but all the kindness and intelligence of me… And he’s not copyrighted, but he’s already very recognizable. Awww man he’s going to be so successful and popular. Movies, comics, merchandise, games… I’m going to make so much money off of him. I can buy a huge house, get a sweetheart, all the McDonalds and Coke I want, buy a second house made out of legos… and if there’s any money left over, I’ll give some to my mom. She deserves it.
“Rick… Rick!” Josh kneels above me and gently shakes my shoulder. “I’m so sorry, dude. Are you okay? Do you need to go to the nurse?”
“I. Am. More than okay! I feel fantastico!” I jump to my feet and begin running out of the gym. “You just gave me a bajillion dollar idea! Thank you forever!” I need to write all the ideas and design elements down… If I don’t, they’ll just crawl back into my brain and be lost forever.
Sejong
November 29th, 2007. 12:23 p.m. Riding bikes back into Rickville. We just rode past the city outskirts and are once again riding on some smooth suburban concrete. Over the fast food joints and card shops, I can see a massive building looming over us in the distance. I am going to assume that this is the Mal-Wart Angela talked about. I don’t know how we made it back so fast. Either the geography makes no sense, we got lost the first time, or Rickville is way smaller than it appears. Or all three. On our way back, Angela explained to us that Rick isn’t going to ‘merge’ our worlds per se, he’s just going to try and pull people into his world. I’m not too worried because Angela said he’d probably get bored halfway through and that she could always bring people back out. She’s been right on everything else so far. I have no reason to doubt her.
“So…” Vivian speaks up. “What did you guys see in that weird cloud dimension?”
“Vision of Rick.” Angela shrugs. “He just wanted to have a chat in a house made of legos.”
“Huh. Did he say anything funny?”
“Nope.”
“I see. What about you, Josh?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Fair enough.” Vivian shrugs. “What about you, Sejong?”
I feel my stomach shift out of place. “I would prefer to not speak of it…”
“Aaaw okay.” Vivian sounds disappointed.
“What about you?” I ask. “What did you see?”
“That’s none of your business.” she says with a smile.
“You know what? You’re right. It isn’t.”
We ride up next to the Mal-Wart and see poster after poster plastered against every car, wall, and window. “Come one! Come all!” it reads. “Test your might and kindness with the Blue Rickhaos Diamond Challenge! If you can find a working Dreamcast complete with controllers and proper wires and deliver it to city hall before my wonderful Blue Reginachu, I will give you the key to the city! Good luck!”
“It’s… just gonna be that easy, huh?” Angela shakes her head.
“Wait…” I examine the flier. The font size and type is inconsistent. The text is yellow on a bright blue background. The flier’s printed on office paper. I can feel the ink still dripping from this. “Why does he need us to buy a Dreamcast? Can’t he just make one himself?”
“He doesn’t understand how a Dreamcast works.” Angela wags her finger. “He’s never opened one up, read through the specs, or even touched one. He’s got no references or blueprints to make a functioning Dreamcast.”
“I see… So… where do we get one?”
“I know a store.” Angela grabs us by the arms. “Hold on tight.”
After ten seconds of horrible spinning, we plop back out in front of Angela’s laptop and begin our quest for a Dreamcast.
Angela
November 29th, 2007. 5:04 p.m. Went to good ol’ Salvaged Games. If you need rare, weird, old, or imported games. That’s the place to go. Haggled with the dude there, got a Dreamcast, Pokemon Yellow, and a pirated copy of School Days, ate some lunch, took a little nap, rubbed one out, then went back into the breach. Just to be safe, I teleport us back to the Rickville entrance with the big fancy gates.
My team takes a while to lie down.
“You okay?” I cradle the Dreamcast box in my arms as if it were my baby.
“Yeah… just…” Josh holds his stomach. “Give me a sec.”
“Aw come on. Going into technology can’t be that bad, is it?”
Sejong sounds like a little bit of vom just escaped his stomach. “It is that bad… how are you not nauseous?”
“Guess it’s because of my Tech.” I shrug. “It must protect me from nausea or something.”
“I see…” Vivian gets up and rubs her stomach. “This may be a dumb question, but why don’t you just teleport us into Rick’s office? Why’d we have to go on this goose chase?”
“I tried.” I shake my head. “He has some weird firewall blocking it. I can’t make any sense of it.”
“I’ll take your word on that.” Vivian groans and closes her eyes.
Soon enough, the rest of my team gets up and follows me into the city. Just a short twenty minute walk later, we’re across the street from city hall waiting for the traffic light to let us cross.
“Hey, Angela.” Vivian speaks up. “Isn’t there supposed to be some kind of hedgehog to try and challenge us?”
“Huh… you’re right. Wonder what’s keeping them.”
“Maybe they’re still looking for a Dreamcast.” Vivian shrugs.
The crossing light turns green and we begin crossing the street. “Eh, could be.”
We get to the outer fence of City Hall. Somehow, it looks even more ornate than last time. Actually, wait no. Ornate’s the wrong word. It’s just the same building, but bigger. The fence has a big speaker, a big red button, and a tv screen built into it.
I press the button and Rick’s face appears on the screen. “Yeeeees? How may I help ya’ll?” he unwraps a razor and starts dry-shaving his beard off.
Josh screams and recoils. His voice had to go through at least four octaves. “Jesus Christ! Dude, what are you doing!?”
“Eh?” Rick tilts his head, but doesn’t stop grinding the razor against his chin. Looks kinda like someone taking a chisel to a chunk of ice. “I’m giving my beard a shave. What’s it look like?”
“Get some cream or water or something!” Josh looks ready to pull his hair out. “Or at least shave after a shower!”
“No no.” Rick shakes his head with the razor stuck in his beard. “Don’t need the cream or a shower. Axe body spray is the only shower I need.”
“Dude… for once in your life, take some advice. Get some after shave, learn to shave with the grain. Your shave’s going to be super uneven and you’re going to get a bunch of ingrown hairs and even more acne. Proper shaving technique isn’t hard. Do yourself a favor.”
“No.” Rick glares at Josh and resumes shaving in short, fast motions on his cheek. Blood and loose hairs start dripping down his face. “Now what are ya’ll doing here? I’m a busy man.”
I show the Dreamcast box to the camera. “I got your Dreamcast. Now let us in.”
“Eeeh!?” Rick nearly falls off his chair. “Impossibru! Open the box!”
“Aight.” I open the box and show him the console, wires, and the hideous controller. “Tested it and it works fine, somehow. Now open up.”
“Right away!” Rick pushes a button and opens the gate.
I close the box up and we walk in.
Just after the gate closes behind us, we see a blue hedgehog in a catholic school skirt that’s far too small with big bunny ears that bounce with every step she takes. She’s running frantically with an array of shopping bags on her arms. “Wait! WAAAAAAITTT! The contest isn’t over yeeeet!”
“Blue Reginachu?” The TV display rises out of the fence and rotates so that it can face both us and the hedgehog. Rick raises his voice three octaves. “I appreciate your mighty and noble effort, but you’ve already lost. You need to learn how to be a better loser. Nobody likes a sore loser.”
“Just shut up.” I rub my temple.
“No, father!” Blue starts shaking the fence. “I have what you asked of me! Please! Please! I can still win!”
“Well… okay…” Rick groans like a child being told to brush his teeth. “Go on. Show me what you got.”
Blue pulls out a Dreamcast box. “See? It’s exactly what you asked for.”
“Oooh that’s a very nice box.” Rick cheers. “Open it.”
After some hesitation and weird noises, Blue obliges and opens it. The box is empty.
“Blue.” Rick groans.
“Don’t worry!” she laughs. “This next one will knock your socks off, father!” She pulls a Dreamcast out of one of her bags, but it looks shiny and soft. Almost like it’s made of dough. “I spent all night making this for you! It’s a Dreamcast made out of Crayola Model Magic!”
“Ooooh!” Rick licks his lips. “Does it play games?”
“Nope!”
“Then what’s the point!?” Rick yells. “NEXT!”
Blue recoils and drops the model, causing it to bounce off the ground and crack. “Of course! Um! Uhh…” she starts rummaging through her bags and pulls out a Genesis. It’s painted blue and yellow with the words ‘For the Best Fatehrr Ever’ written by the cartridge slot. It looks like it was painted with watercolors by a drunk fourth grader. “What do you think!?”
“I already have four of those!” Rick pulls out a Genesis from under his desk that has a similar color scheme, but looks even worse. “And the ones painted by me look so much better. Did you put any effort into that at all?”
“Y-yes…” Blue starts crying. “I… I always give 100%. Just like you told me too.”
“Oh. Just. UUUUUGH.” Rick rolls his eyes and finishes shaving. There’s still patches of beard left. He chucks the razor aside. “Look. Stop crying. I know women are supposed to cry, but it’s really annoying right now.”
“Please, Father! Let me in! I’ll do anything to make up for my loss!”
“Anything?” Rick tries to wiggle his eyebrows.
“Anything!” she falls to her knees and starts begging.
“Alright.” Rick smiles as the gates open. “Why don’t you wait on your bed and we’ll dish out your punishment after I get my Dreamcast.” he blows a kiss to her.
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“Thank you, father!” Blue gets off her knees and runs in through the gate.
“Hold up.” Josh holds Blue by the scruff of her neck and looks up at the camera. “Dude, be real, do you bang these things?”
“Eh?” Rick flicks some hardened blood off his neck. “Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?”
“So… you’re just okay with incest?”
“Josh.” I hold his hand. “Don’t question it. Let’s just get this over with.”
“Of course I’m okay with incest.” Rick peers into the camera. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Vivian starts chuckling again. “Oh man, you’re just the gift that keeps on giving aren’t you?”
“I want to leave…” Sejong looks like he’s trying to recede into his own skin.
“Because it’s disgusting.” Josh grits his teeth. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so mad before… not gonna lie… he’s kinda hot when he’s pissed.
“Hey. Hey.” Rick points at the camera. “There is nothing wrong with incest. Who hasn’t dreamt of having sex with their parents? I’ve had dreams of doing the deed with my mother. Granted, I never acted on them. Incest lets parents teach their children how to better satisfy and pleasure their future sweethearts. The schools can only teach so much and NOBODY wants to end up being a 30 year old virgin with rage. I know that huge, enduring pain all too well…”
“Aight. Cover your ears.” Josh pulls out his gun.
Me, Vivian, and Josh all cover our ears.
Josh just pops Blue in the back of the head. No words. No blood. No gore.
She just plops to the ground, flickers, and turns into a blue diamond.
“Aaaaw.” Rick groans for a second before shrugging. “Aw well. Guess I’ll just have to make another one.” he sighs. Again. “Anyway, get that diamond and enter my domain. Challenges and puzzles unlike ya’ll have ever seen await you.” Rick blows a kiss to us and the TV screen shuts off.
I gather the diamond, approach the front door, and begin slotting all the other diamonds into divots on the wall.
“Wait.” Vivian holds my shoulder. “I want to try something.”
“Go ahead.”
“Give me your backpack.” Vivian’s smiling ear to ear. “I need something to hold.”
“Alright. Go nuts.” I sling the pack off my shoulder and hand it to her. “Gonna try and clip through the door?”
“Yeeeeeup.” Vivian starts jamming herself against the wall. Jumping, crab walking, shoulder checking. If there’s a way to collide with a door, she’s tried it. Upon walking backwards into the corner of the door with the backpack hugged tightly to her chest, she stutters for a moment before dropping the backpack and being launched up into the sky at incredible velocity.
The three of us look up at her. I’ve counted fifty missisippis and she’s still up there. I don’t know if she’s going up or down at this point.
“Think I should get her?” I ask.
“Nah.” Josh cackles. “Let’s wait till she starts falling.”
“I’ll give her fifty more mississippi.”
Fifty more mississippi have passed and Vivian is nothing more than a small speck in the skybox. “Alright.” I crack my knuckles. “I’m getting her. Wait here.” I activate god mode and teleport up to where Vivian is. “You okay?”
“WOOOOOOOO!” Vivian looks like she’s falling upward. She’s been spinning, posing, doing a bunch of cool tricks, and is overall just enjoying her time.
“Alright. Alright.” I hold her hand. “Time to go down to earth.”
I teleport us down back in front of the front door.
Vivian’s hair is a mess, her clothes are in disarray, her eyes are wide, but she looks the happiest I’ve ever seen her.
“Are you okay, Vivian…?” Sejong asks.
“Have you ever wondered what it’s like to fall upward with an utter disregard to terminal velocity?” Her already wide smile grows wider. “I have… and it is glorious. Also, I totally clipped past the door. We didn’t need the diamonds after all.”
Josh
November 29th, 2007. 5:16 p.m. Rickville City Hall Interior. The inside of this place looks way different than the last time we were here. It looks like someone hadn’t cleaned it for four months. Pizza boxes and soda bottles line the hallways. Box after box of video games and toys line the walls in clear glass cases. Come on, dude… is it too much work to make a janitor? Angela’s been sprinting down the hallway ever since the front door opened. I think it’s the fastest I’ve ever seen her run. Thankfully it isn’t too hard to keep up with her tiny legs. Vivian and Sejong are keeping up just fine. Sejong’s not getting winded like he used to. Good for him.
“Angela…” Sejong sweats. “How long is this hallway?”
“I don’t know!” she barks. “Just keep running!”
We run and run and run… and run… and run… How the hell is this place so long? We’re not even turning corners; we’ve been running straight the whole time. Nothing’s attacking us either. Is this the work of an enemy Tech? Is he conspiring with anyone?
“Hey, Angela.” I ask. “Do you think Rick could be conspiring with anyone? It could be possible that we’re in some kind of illusion Tech.”
“Pfffft.” Angela blurts out laughing. “Dude, no one would want to work with Rick. Why would anyone want to work with Rick? He doesn’t have any money or charisma.”
“Right… then how long are we supposed to keep running?”
“Until we find Rick.” Angela bursts forward at a speed I didn’t think was possible.
After another five minutes of running, the interior design of the hallway changes drastically. The bougie carpeting and gaudy wall decorations get replaced by metallic plating and admittedly cool neon lighting. I can even see a light and a little elevator at the end of the tunnel.
“Oh god…” Angela sighs.
“What’s wrong?” Sejong asks.
“This… this might be something.”
“What do you mean by that?” Vivian asks.
“Just… just let me show you.” Angela leads us to the end of the hallway and presses a small button under a bright blue light on the wall.
whrrrrrr
The floor beneath us begins to rise up and elevate us up three floors. When the elevator stops, we find ourselves in some big blue metal platform at one end of a large colosseum. The stands surrounding us are filled to the brim with hedgehogs, copyrighted characters, and screen after screen of advertisements. I look below us and don’t see concrete, wood tiling, or grass. It doesn’t look like any kind of sports field. It’s black with some grey lines dividing it into a grid. Across the field is a similar platform painted crimson. Rick’s standing on it and blowing kisses to the crowd.
“Angela…” Vivian starts to smile.
“Yeah?” she sighs.
“Are we playing Yu-gi-oh?”
“Would appear so.” Angela’s lips start to curl into a small smile.
“YEEEEEEAH!” Vivian roars to the ceiling. “LET’S FREAKING GO!”
Angela
November 29th, 2007. 5:31 p.m. Rickville City Hall Duel Arena. Rick continues bowing to a crowd who has now started throwing stuff at him. Roses, chocolates, stained underwear, you name it. Thankfully the stank hasn’t reached us. Yet.
Rick pulls out a microphone from the platform and shouts into it. “Citizens of Rickville! Are you ready for a good game of duel monsters!?”
“YEEEEEAAAH!” The crowd roars back.
“THAT IS WHAT I LIKE TO BE HEARING! IN THIS CORNER, WE HAVE THE TRUE AND HONEST, SMART, KIND, ULTIMATELY GENEROUS MAYOR OF RICKVILLE: RICK COBB!”
The crowd goes wild.
Rick points to us. “AND IN THE OPPOSING CORNER WE HAVE THE SLANDEROUS, NO GOOD, NOT CHEROKEEAN, INGRATEFUL, GAAAAAAAAY FALSE PROPHET: ANGELA COBB AND HER CRUMMY COHORTS!”
The crowd erupts into boos.
“Yeah yeah!” Josh shouts and beckons the crowd. “I’m sorry, I can’t hear yoooou! Rickville sucks!”
The crowd gets even more loud. Some rocks are thrown our way, but none of them come even close to hitting the platform.
“Hehehehe.” Josh cackles and sits down on the platform’s railing.
Rick continues. “In order to protect the sanctity and importance of Rickville from the intruders, I will be playing them in a game of duel monsters in order to determine the fate of the city! Angela, dear sister, do you accept my challenge?”
“Course I do.” I laugh. “You couldn’t even beat the second graders at lunch when we were in middle school.”
“That doesn’t count!” Rick spits into the camera. “They were cheating! They were activating trap cards when it wasn’t their turn!”
“Alright, buddy. Aight. What are the rules? What deck am I using?”
“Standard rules. 40 cards each. 2,000 life points. You use the deck you had growing up, but you gotta go second!”
“Fine by me.” I shrug. “Always preferred going second anyway.” A deck of cards materializes on the game board in front of me. For the uninitiated, the game board just looks like a little 2 x 7 grid for playing card games.
“Then let us begin the game! It’s time to du-du-du-du-du-du-du-du-DUEL!” Rick claps and begins drawing cards from his deck. A large display in front of Rick’s platform reads ‘2,000 LP’.
I do the same and look at my hand while waiting for my turn. Pretty good first hand… Man-eater Bug, Mirror Force, Swords of Revealing Light, Mystical Elf, and Mystical Space Typhoon. Not bad… not bad at all.
Rick beats his chest and slams down a card. “I summon Regina the Female Twin in attack mode!” A giant rule 63 version of Rick materializes on the field in front of us. Same shirt. Same jeans, but a lot slimmer and doesn’t hurt to look at. She won’t stop playing with her titties or winking at the audience. “And then I play Pot of Greed!”
“Pot of Greed!?” Vivian starts chuckling. “What does it do!?”
“What do you mean you don’t know what Pot of Greed does?” I turn to Vivian and blurt out laughing. “Don’t even talk to me if you don’t know what Pot of Greed does.”
“Okay but…” Sejong looks like a lost puppy looking for his master. “What does Pot of Greed do?”
Rick draws two cards from his deck and adds them to his hand. “Then I shall play Graceful Charity!” Rick draws three cards then discards two. “Ugh!” Rick rolls his eyes and slaps his stomach. “Fine! Then I shall summon Right Leg of the Forbidden One!” Rick slams down the card, but no monster appears. “WHAT!?” Rick keeps trying to slam the card down. “Why isn’t it working!?”
“You said standard rules, Rick.” I shrug. “You can’t summon two monsters on the same turn. That’s against standard rules.”
“You’ve got to be joking. Ugh. Fine. Regina the Female Twin! Attack Angela’s life points directly!” Rick points at us.
Regina does nothing and just keeps flirting with the audience.
“What are you doing!? I said attack!”
“You can’t attack on your first turn if you go first. That’s standard rules.”
“What!?” Rick’s voice fluctuates between three octaves. “When did that get added to the rules!?”
“Since launch.” I yawn. “Can you please end your turn?”
Rick bares his teeth at me and growls like the animal he is. “Fine. Go! Your turn!”
“Kay.” I draw Ante. “Ohoho this is going to be fun. I play Ante. Reveal the highest level monster card from your hand.”
“Okalee dokalee.” Rick reveals Right Leg of the Forbidden One.”
“Cool.” I show him Mystical Elf. “Mine’s higher level. Throw your card away and take 1,000 damage.”
“WHAT!? No! That’s cheating! No way is that card real!” Rick stomps his foot and throws the leg into the graveyard.
“It’s real.” I shrug and put Mystical Elf back in my hand. “Not my fault you wanted to play with 2,000 points.”
“Just continue with your turn…” Rick chomps his teeth. “I will win soon enough.”
“I play a monster face down. Your turn.”
“Grrr…” Rick pulls another card and smiles. “There! I play Pot of Greed again!” he draws two cards. “Oh yippee another Pot of Greed!” he draws another two cards. “And then I’ll play another Graceful Charity! And then another Graceful Charity!” Rick looks real smug until he finishes drawing and discarding cards. “You’ve got to be kidding me… aaaaaagh. I play the Virgin with Rage.” A chibi, angry version of Rick materializes and starts punching and kicking at the air. “And then I attack your face-down monster with Regina!”
Regina giggles, runs over to the face-down card, and kicks it. She falls over and clutches her foot.
“What!?” Rick kicks his platform.
“The monster was Mystical Elf.” I flip the card face up. “You take 700 damage.”
“I… I need to be more cautious from now on… I cannot afford to lose here! All my friends and followers on Myspace.com are believing in me!” Rick wipes his forehead and points to me. “Your turn!”
I draw Magic Cylinder and place it face down immediately. All he has to do is attack me once and I win. Assuming he doesn’t luck out and summon Exodia first… I can’t really do much else, so I’ll just play Man-Eater bug face down and end my turn. “Your turn.”
Rick pulls a card and smiles. “I sacrifice Regina and Virgin with Rage to summon the Rickichu Zord!” The two monsters on Rick’s side of the field dissolve and combine to create a giant robot that’s painted to look like Rickichu. It looks so similar to existing intellectual properties that I’m not sure I can describe it without getting sued. This entire arc is going to be a pain in the ass to whoever has to adapt it. “With an immense power of 3,500, I can destroy your Mystical Elf with ease! Rickichu Zord! Attack Mystical Elf with all your might!” The robot begins charging up a chest laser.
“Magic Cylinder.” I flip my trap card face-up and two giant plastic cups point towards the robot.
The robot fires a laser into one cup and it goes out the other. The laser shoots through the robot and engulfs Rick’s podium. The display in front of Rick’s platform now reads ‘0 Life Points’. Confetti shoots out from my platform and triumphant, totally copyrighted music starts to blast throughout the stadium. The audience stares at Rick in silence for a moment before turning to us and begins cheering. “Wooo! Angela! An! Ge! La! An! Ge! La! We love you! Behold! The new Yu-gi-oh champion of Rickville!”
“What!?” Rick claps to try and get the audience’s attention. “No! What are you citizens doing!? You’re not supposed to praise the false prophet!”
“She beat you in duel monsters, Mr. Mayor.” a hedgehog in the crowd calls out. “Whoever is the duel monsters champion runs the city.”
“What!? What nincompoop wrote that rule!?”
“You did, sir… It’s the fourth Rickville Commandment…” A hedgehog pulls out a document from god-knows-where and chucks it to Rick.
Rick somehow manages to catch it and reads it. “Lies…. lies lies lies lies lies!” he throws his hands into the air. “Rickichu Firestorm!!! I call upon thee to purge the unloyal from this sacred city!” he claps and fire erupts from the stands. One by one the hedgehogs are evaporated into nothing more than ash and bone. The skulls look pretty funny. It looks exactly how you’d think cartoon animal skeletons would look like. Big skulls, giant eye sockets, giant hands.
Rick turns back towards us and points. “I’m going to my office now… You’ll have to face off against my Elite Four if you want to catch me, villains… God-Jesus… I can’t believe I lost to a nig-”
“WHOA!” Me and Josh raise our voices.
“Bro. Seriously?” Josh starts to laugh.
“What?” Rick tilts his head like a drunk puppy. “I can say that. I’m half black.”
“No…” I shake my head. “Rick… that’s not how it works.”
“Why not?” Vivian asks. “I mean, you and him share the same parents right?”
“Yeah, but I’m the only black kid.”
“Can I say the n-word?” Sejong raises her hand.
“No.” I glare.
Sejong turns herself black. “How about now?”
I feel my brain implode and I start to laugh. “Alright, you know what?” I reach into my bra, pull out a coupon, and place it in Sejong’s hand. “Just for that, I hereby grant you one N-word pass. Use it well.”
“Outstanding.” Sejong smiles and pockets the homemade coupon.
“Anyway… sister.” Rick points to me. “After you defeat my Elite Four, come and fight me. There, I shall earn my right to say the n-word. Peace.” Rick floats up through the ceiling and a small elevator platform appears in the center of the stadium.
We hop out of the platform, get on the elevator, and begin ascending through the ceiling.