Where Ever You Are, Goodnight.

The piano struck gentle chords. A violin joined with soft strings amplified by the speakers, yet a gentle opposition to the blaring of the baseball bat man. Asami swirled with the microphone and belted lyrics to the audience.

I’ve never seen the sunrise on a rainy day.

I’ve seen the ocean waves.

I’ve seen you in my dreams.

Captain Zarp pushed the angry creature back by its golf club. Its cartoonishly thin legs scrapped the pavement, then the grass, as it shrunk. The audience returned to Asami’s singing.

And wherever you are.

Where ever you are!

Where ever you are!

Good morning!

Ball-Ball-Ball-Baseball wasn’t done yet. A left hook slammed Zarp off to the side into the trees. It was smaller now, but it sung its song loudly while pushing through the crowd. Each audience member struck by its golf club lost to a new beat.

Ball-Ball-Ball-Base-Bowl!

You know it’s over now.

You’ll become my dancing cow!

I’m the one you call when you want it loud!

My AI brain is thumping

The algorithm pumping

Gonna tell you what to think

Original thoughts we’re dumping!

Zarp stumbled out of the forest licking their wounds. But a giant mackerel materialized in their hands. They slung it over their shoulder and flew through the crowd, slamming into the monster.

Asami continued singing from the heart uninterrupted. The simplistic dancing from the monster’s song calmed as more people listened appreciatively. The audience, at the very least this audience, turned away from the thumping bus.

A single tear drop does its part

to make an ocean wave

whether you’re standing next to me

or oh so far away

And wherever you are

Good day!

The stars all come together.

The moon shines dimly bright!

Thinking about you brings me quiet delight.

And wherever you aaaare

Because wherever you are

Where ever you are.

Goodnight.

On the finishing note, Asami picked Yuki off her shoulder and hugged her, “That was beautiful, did you come up with that on your own?”

“It was something I was saving for you.”

They kissed on stage, in front of their live audience, to clapping and whistles. A rain of confetti burst from the sky with the assistance of alien technology.

The old man coughed, but noise from the bus drowned it out.

The baseball bat monster slammed into the bus, against the side of the speaker. He put his thumb in his mouth and blew to inflate his size. The people weren’t too concerned with this because he looked like an automated party float. The beat thumped as the gleaming golf club missed swings at Zarp, who floated with their legs folded.

Ball-Ball-Ball-Base-Bowl’s song started again. Oddly twisted green rabbits poured from the back of the bus. They smacked people over the heads with golf clubs. At least twelve of them were brain whacking the audience over to their side of the lot. The giant golf club swung over Zarp’s head, bashed their skull, and sent the alien vessel into a small crater. Twisted rabbit creatures pushed civilians out of harm’s way.

“Zarp!” Yuki peered over the trailer, “We’re getting curb stomped by those ugly things!”

“Are we really going to sing our way out of this?” Asami scratched her head as she clung to the microphone, “They’re going viral.”

“This isn’t even entertainment anymore,” Yuki pointed to the old man in the camel hair coat, “You sent whatever that thing was to attack us. You broke the rules.”

Ashes from a cigarette scattered across the ground as he coughed in response, “We almost reached critical mass. Cry about it sweet heart.”

The crazy distorted rabbits bashed against the trailer, threatening to tip it over. The musical equipment bolted against the ceiling of trailer. Yuki slipped into the small hole she made earlier. Teeth clenched the distressed acid eaten steel. Claws pierced painted sheet metal as she climbed back atop the shaking trailer. Her body served to stabilize Asami.

By the crater, someone cried that the ground was broken, that it wasn’t a simple magic trick, but few listened. Zarp forced themselves from the crater and floated to the trailer. A gravity wave shot distorted anthropomorphic rabbits into sky. They rained down, splatting across the pavement in gooey piles. Both Zarp and the baseball bat monster batted a stray rabbit threatening a cowd member.

“At the very least, you’re concerned about protecting human life,” Zarp panted.

The baseball bat monster smirked, “We protect our intellectual property.”

The golf club swiveled to hit Zarp across the chest, again. They flew through the garage door of the loading bay. A man-sized hole now in the thin metal door. The monster loomed larger as it returned to its main focus, taking out the impromptu band atop the trailer.

“Asami, cover your ears!” Yuki screamed.

Zaap gave a thumbs up in response. One his longer arms reached to insert plugs in Asami’s ears, first the right, then the left.

The bat monster smirked, “Your record label had a good run, but it’s time to break-up the band,” it readied one final swipe of its golf club to clear his opposition off the trailer.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” Yuki screamed into a microphone, “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Intellectual property!”

The violent noise made Asami cringe. The blast blew the creature back. The top of the bat popped with a hissing leak. While air hissed out of the monster, the goopy remains of green rabbit boys pummeled the bus. Asami found herself in a short black skirt with ivory lace and rock t-shirt printed with a guitar on fire. Bursts of fireworks launched from behind the trailer. Yuki blasted the lyrics with a voice that belied her doll size.

“We have to take lead!

We have to set the score!

If you’re not sure

Then our culture won’t belong to us no more!

Do you hear what their saying?

Understand they aren’t playing?

They want to own your brain

Your thoughts they get to slayin!”

Asami joined in with an epic guitar solo before Yuki jumped around singing the chorus. She wasn’t screaming, but her voice remained firm as she belted out the lyrics quickly. The proper amplification of the song vibrated the baseball bat man and his remaining green rabbits. Confetti burst from one rabbit’s head. Ball-Ball-Ball-Base-Bowl crawled back atop the bus, exhausted. His form melted back to the DJ in the black suit, who slumped over his equipment.

“It’s the end of our world

Our inner thoughts are getting hurled

They take our thoughts

And sell us our minds

Can’t you see it’s driving us blind?

A mosh pit formed while Asami played electric guitar, Zaap rocked the drums, and Yuki belted the lyrics to a rhythmic punk rock song. The crowd that had been brain de-buffed earlier either walked away, or joined the trailer crowd for the rock finale.

The old man in the camel hair coat finished his cigarette as the music continued. He coughed saliva against his sleeve while twirls of smoke arose over his beret.

An assistant armed with a machine gun strapped to her back whispered in her boss’s ear, “What should we do sir. Govtech AI is corrupted. It’s playing their songs on loop now.”

The cigarette hit the pavement and got crushed by a boot as the old man coughed, “We have no choice but to retreat for now. There’s going to be hell to pay. But at this rate they could completely corrupt our programs. Looks like the Valerexixians won’t be going extinct just yet. Hmmmm, I want to retire anyway. File out!”

Yuki finished her song to see off the agency’s retreat, “Thank you everyone! Thank you! This has been a fabulous event. But I must be going soon! I’ll never forget you!”

She realized she was crying again.