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Mother is Visiting is a questionably canonical prelude to Three Days from Kokotomo, written and drawn by Jay Epps.
Plot
Serena is waiting at the beach when her friend Chris happens by. They chat only briefly before being surprised by her mother Lenore emerging nude from the ocean. Serena sends her mother up to the car and makes excuses to Chris, then joins her mother at the car and drives them to her apartment. On the way Serena tells her mother that her father is re-marrying that very weekend.
When they get to Serena’s apartment they meet her roommate Chrissy, who is comfortable with nudity and with Lenore being a mermaid. Serena calls her father and he quickly agrees to come over. She and Chrissy step out to give them some privacy. Lenore tells him that the Dagger of Thyrsis is on land and will soon be sold at auction; she begins to explain the story behind it but is interrupted by a ninja bursting through the window and attacking them. He overpowers Eric but Serena fights back with a magical siren cry.
Just then Chris was coming by and he rushes in to see Serena being attacked; the two of them distract the ninja long enough for Eric to get the drop on him with a shotgun. Eric tells both of them to get out and find Serena, on the grounds that his lawyer will get him out of any legal problems.
Chris calls Chrissy’s cell phone and they agree to meet at the local mall. As the young women discuss the situation they spot half a dozen ninjas already at the mall. The black-clad group is confronted by a security guard on a Segway and one of them charges the guard with a knife, only to be thrown across the arcade by a siren cry from Serena.
This alerts all the other ninjas and the girls try to flee; fortunately they encounter a short fat kid who laconically remarks, “Hate ninjas. Trouble. Always trouble.” He warns the ninjas to knock it off lest he bop them with his lolipop. They do not take this seriously and are quickly laid out by a blast of lightning. He is no more distressed by the arrival of the rest of the ninjas.
Lenore and Chris arrive at the mall to see running ninjas and Lenore, realizing they’re after Serena, runs to engage them. A mysterious man appears and tells Chris that she’ll be fine – and that he’s the author! While Lenore beats up ninjas the author explains that the plot has wandered considerably from his original plans; Chris is confused but not distressed by the breaking of the fourth wall.
The story picks up again in Three Days from Kokotomo, where Mr. Montimbar has arranged for Kaza and Gwenna to return home from Kokotomo Island on Lenore and Serena’s boat.
Behind the scenes
Read online
The story is available online.