THE STORY OF DAVE AND TACO CHAPTER 3

Somewhere, deep in the city of Shanghai…

B..But Guy fieri-San, please don’t take-a mein father’s poptarts!” As the shivering, scared anime girl began to cry, the giant fieri monster let out a huge roar that broke every window in the city.  The skies rained shards of glass and the echo shook the ground.

“Like, hey man, did you guys just hear that???” “Yes Scruffy, how could we not hear that!?” Taco said in an annoyed tone.  “Wait, Taco, what’s that?” Dave said, pointing to the thick snow falling in the distance.  “Like, wait, how’d the Koreans get snow in summer?” “Whoa, do you think they have a sacrificial cult dedicated to the snow goddess?”  Taco sighed.  “This looks like trouble, both of you brace yourselves” and Taco began fabricating a forcefield around them as they flew in towards the Shanghai skyline.

“This just in folks, strange things in Shanghai this morning after Guy Fieri’s evil twin brother escaped his underground death chamber and is now rampaging in Vietnam!  And now reports of a flying dog accompanied by a man and a young boy, more on the trouble in Chinatown after the break, this is Jean Billings with channel 96 news”

Suddenly there was a loud bang and a bullet hole where Jean Billings’ face once was, the TV screen went black, the man in a suit fired round after round until his gun was empty.  He’d be damned if the dog got as far as Tokyo without him . “WHAM!” He kicked the door open, reloaded his gun, and ran to his car to get to headquarters, he had to warn the others.

“TACO LOOK OUT!!!” Dave and Scruffy both yelled, forgetting about the force field. Taco’s eyes snapped open, one of the shards of glass got through, but stopped just inches away from Scruffy’s n****e.  “Whew, that could’ve been worse than the time I stubbed my toe at comic con!” Scruffy said in relief

“Dave we need to get to the ground, I don’t know how long I can hold up this force field, make sure nothing hits Scruffy when we land!”  “I’m on it Taco, but what should we do about the rain of shattered glass, possibility of being crushed by falling buildings, the giant evil Guy Fieri thirteen blocks to the north-east, or the papercut I got last Tuesday that still hasn’t healed yet?”  

Suddenly Taco felt light headed, “Wait a minute… Dave you never worry about the future.”  “Oh right, what I meant was you bet Taco! Come one Scruffy, we’re gonna go fight this giant!” The two of them ran off like usual, but something still didn’t feel right, it was like Taco was watching everything from someone else’s eyes…

The thought was cut off by another loud crash, he had to act fast.  Taco zipped up into the sky, on his way to see where Dave and Scruffy went.  When Taco got there people were screaming, the giant was eating everything in sight, and Dave was giving Scruffy the wedgie of a lifetime trying to get the lasers pointed the right direction.  “Scruffy!  Dave! Run!”  “Aww c’mon Taco, we almost got him that time!”

But now the giant noticed them, and his great fist came crashing down on a parked ice cream truck next to the group.  Dave saw the poor remains of the ice cream, scattered dead in the street, and a look of pure rage rose in his eyes.  Dave's breathing grew ragged, he ripped off his shirt, and screamed as loud as he could before throwing shirt to the ground and charging.  “DAVE NO!”  Scruffy and Taco called after him, but it was too late.  Dave ran straight up a pile of rubble, took a great leap, and soared through the air with his fist pulled back, bouncing off the evil Fieri’s belly AND HIS FIST MADE AN IMPACT LIKE A WRECKING BALL INTO THE GIANT’S FACE.  There was a massive flare of pink flame and the evil Guy Fieri was gone, Dave landed onto the sidewalk feet first and left a web of cracks.

“DAVE! DAVE! DAVE!” The survivors cheered, Taco began to bite his fur nervously.  “Like, yo Dave let’s go grab some frozen yogurt to celebrate!”  “nah...Make that Blue Bell”  “BLUE BELL ICE CREAM! BLUE BELL ICE CREAM! BLUE BELL ICE CREAM!”  And just then, an ice cream truck pulled up to the corner, Dave’s eyes lit up with excitement and he ran up as fast as he could.

Right as he got to the truck, a man in a Suit struck Dave with a taser, pulled him into the back, and like magic, they were gone as soon as you blinked.

The suited man’s smile stayed in Taco’s mind for a moment, like he wanted to be seen, almost as though he was taunting, daring him to do something about it.  

Taco couldn’t hear himself think over the uproar of the crowd, the air was overwhelmed with thousands of people screaming and heartbrokenly weeping.  He needed to get away, to think, to come up with a plan.  Taco scurried between the feet of the mob, trying to not get trampled while he searched for shelter.  Finally he came across an empty orange juice carton in an alleyway and curled up in it’s wet, sticky embrace.  Now that his eyes shut Taco felt his consciousness shift, a feeling like when you stand up too fast and your head starts spinning, this was a good sign.  A few more shifts and he was in the void, nothing outside could wake him until he was ready to leave, now he hatched the plan.  On the outside, his little body twitched and fidgeted as he worked out every possibility, solved all the loose ends, calculated every action, communication, and thought process of everyone involved.  Time slowed for Taco.

In the streets the people’s mourning of Dave only intensified, until someone shouted out over the murmur.  “HEY!”  Everyone parted, looking out to see it was an ordinary guy in a hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts, sandals, and a pair of walmart sunglasses missing one lens.  “WHILE WE CRY AND LAY IN THE STREETS THEY’RE DOING GOD KNOWS WHAT TO HIM!” Their sadness grew, but now they were all listening.  “If we sit here and go home at the end of the day we might feel better, but I won’t feel better until we DO something!”  Someone clapped once, and in a matter of seconds they erupted, cheering and roaring in a new hope that just a few words had reaped from complete despair.  Someone brought him a crate to stand on, later it would be replaced by a platform of bricks, a makeshift podium, stand, and later a stage in a grand amphitheater. But right now, it was just one man, one empty crate, and one angry mob.