“It is friendship that unites us, friendship that defines us, friendship for which we fight. But the time will come when every magical girl must face her final boss—and that, she must face alone.”
—Grease Pencil Marionette
I’m reasonably pleased with the current state of the draft of chapter 20 of Jake and the Dynamo, which for some reason is longer than any of the other chapters thus far. I’ll be passing it on to my writer’s group shortly.
In this long-awaited chapter, Jake’s girlfriend Chelsea finally makes her appearance. No guarantees that the following passage will actually be in the final draft of the chapter, or whether it will be in this form, but anyway, here we go.
I don’t know what anyone else thinks, but I think Chelsea’s hilarious.
Chelsea responded to his display with a slow, condescending clap. “My boyfriend is a veritable encyclopedia of useless skills. Useless skill number five hundred and sixty three: really good dancer. Right above ‘can list vital stats on every known dinosaur.’”
“Says the fighting game princess,” Jake muttered as he finished inputting his name.
Chelsea sighed. “That’s why you’re out of money. You spent it on a complete Land before Time collection, didn’t you?”
“No. I already have a complete Land before Time collection, thank you very much!”
“Then was it Dino-Riders?”
“Nope. Already got it.”
“Cadillacs and Dinosaurs?”
“Got that one, too.”
Chelsea put a hand to her forehead again. “Oh my frickin’ Princess. It was Dinosaucers, wasn’t it?”
“Are you kiddin’ me? Dinosaucers is to Dino-Riders what Gobots is to Transformers. And … and I already own it.”
Chelsea shook her head. “I declare you to be a lost cause. Ralph, what do you think?”
“It’s true,” said Ralph. “He is never going to get a girlfriend.”
“The case is terminal, Jake,” said Chelsea, “but we may be able to revive the patient if you, like, promise to find some cash and take me to a frickin’ movie next weekend.”
“All right, all right. Fine. What movie do you have in mind?”
“Kung Fu Schoolgirl Nun Prison Break IV. They say it’s, like, even better than the first one.”
Jake rubbed his temples. He felt a slight headache coming on. “Couldn’t we maybe see a movie that doesn’t involve schoolgirls kicking monsters in the face? Because that’s sort of become my real life.”
