The Essences Saga
Chapter 3
The Capital, Legazo City
"I've been meaning to ask you," said Moon as she walked down the path with her sister and Ninjisu.
"What?" asked Ninjisu without turning around.
"Well, if you're gonna be so rude about it... maybe I shouldn't ask you after all," said Moon as she crossed her arms and continued walking.
"Fine," said Ninjisu.
Moon started to get upset. She pulled out a handful of assassin spikes. She began to glare at Ninjisu with a psychotic look in her eye.
"Do you remember what happened the last time you decided to challenge me?" asked Ninjisu.
Moon stopped glaring; she just stared at Ninjisu in shock. Then she decided to ask him her question whether he was paying attention or not.
"Why did you tell us that we can't tell anybody about you and my sister being more than just a couple of friends, because you know I would really like to tell everyone that I come across that my little sister has herself a little boyfriend," said Moon as she made baby faces at Pearl.
Pearl began to get very angry. Ninjisu continued to walk with out answering. Moon waited patiently for an answer. Ninjisu continued to walk for ten minutes without doing so much as even letting out a deep breath. He was completely silent. Moon lost her patience. She jumped up on top of his shoulders and began to pound on his head. Pearl looked at her sister in shock. Then she began to try and wrestle her off of Ninjisu. Meanwhile, Ninjisu continued to walk as if there was nothing wrong, even though he had two thirteen year old girls wrestling each other while using his shoulders as their battleground. Once the Legazo City Gate was in sight the twins stopped their fighting and just stared at the enormous grandeur that was Legazo City Main Gate. Once they were close enough to see the two guards standing post at the gate, Ninjisu let out a sigh.
"Do you think they'll let us through like this?" said Ninjisu.
The twins got off of him and started to walk along side of him.
"Hey before we get to the gate, I want you to answer my question," said Moon.
"We're about to enter the capital, which is the biggest city in the nation. I am a wanted man. If your sister or you let on in anyway that her and I more than just allies, she will be the government's first hostage target. The last thing I want is to see her dead, to make it worse it would be my fault if you or her say anything about our feelings for each other," said Ninjisu.
"Ohhhhh...," said Moon as she started to think.
"Wait a second, if you're a wanted man, what in the world are you doing walking up to the main gate of the capital?" said Moon as she looked at Ninjisu in astonishment.
"You two are turning me in for the bounty. You'll collect the money and take it with you when you exit the capital through its northwest gate. Walk to the small village of Murray. It should come along your path if you follow the Northwest Pebble Road. I'll meet you there in three days," said Ninjisu.
"So you're gonna break outta jail?" asked Moon.
Ninjisu nodded his head. They three continued to walk. They eventually made it to the front gate, but once they were in clear view of the two guards began to scramble for the reinforcement bell. One of them rang it. Then they took their stance and waited for Ninjisu to strike. Ninjisu walked calmly up to the two soldiers with one of the twins at each side. When he didn't he attack, the soldiers became confused.
"What's the meaning of this?" asked the one who's legs were shaking tremendously.
"Answer quickly," said the one whose legs were scared stiffed.
"We're here to collect the bounty on his head," said Moon with pride.
Ninjisu could tell that she was really enjoying this, especially when she kicked him to one knee. Then she placed a foot on his back and laughed arrogantly. Ninjisu began to become very angry, but he restrained himself once he felt Pearl touch his shoulder.
"We found him, fought him, and beat him. Now we are here to receive out payment. Give us our money, put this man in jail, and then we will leave," said Pearl.
"You better do what we tell you. Otherwise, you'll face the wrath of the Nonfratu Sisters! HA! HA! HA! HA!" proclaimed Moon as she pressed down with her foot on Ninjisu's back.
"Wonderful, we'll have you escorted to the prison where you will collect your reward," said the guard who's legs were no longer shaking.
"This is great," said the other guard whose legs were no longer scared stiff.
One of the guards ran over to the gate lever and pushed it up. The giant gate opened slowly as a fleet of twenty soldiers and a captain were found on the other side waiting. They all looked on in surprise. Then they immediately place Ninjisu in the strongest restraints they had. Four soldiers began dragging Ninjisu away by the steel leash that they placed around his neck.
"What good will he be once they take away all of his equipment at the prison?" whispered Moon to Pearl.
"We have to trust him," whispered Pearl.
"I'm much more worried about them taking off his mask," thought Pearl to herself as she began to follow the soldier assigned to escorting them. Along the way to the prison, the soldier began to turn every few minutes to catch a quick glimpse of the girls.
"Do you like what you see, because we're only thirteen jerk? Or is it because you're trying to see if we really are twins, either way I would really recommend that you stop staring at us," said Moon irritated.
"Oh! It's nothing like that," said the soldier as he turned his head back around real quick and focused forward.
He began to scratch the back of his head and breathe very nervously.
"What is it now?" asked Moon further irritated.
"Well it's just hard to believe two young girls like yourselves could defeat the man responsible for the Bronco City Massacre," said the soldier without turning around.
"The Bronco City Massacre?" asked Pearl.
Yeah, you've never heard of it. Well, he did cause it when he was only eight years old," said the soldier.
"So we were only five when it happened," said Moon.
"Right," responded Pearl.
"Anyways, it was really gruesome. I don't think anyone who was old enough to remember it will ever forget it. An entire army fleet wiped out by one little kid and half a city taken with them in the explosion of power that came like a mad tidal wave out of him. To thank he was that strong at the young of an age. He must have gotten twice as strong at least, especially since he's twice as old now. He hasn't exactly been taking a vacation from his mass murdering either, so that could only speed up the growth of his incredible power," said the soldier.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Pearl.
"You mean him not taking any kind of vacation?" asked the soldier.
"Yeah," said Moon.
"Well, after the Bronco City Massacre, he fled into the desert. The Emperor sent two entire fleets after him. They were out there for four years. Then when their weekly progress reports stop coming, the emperor sent out his two Elite Bodyguards. They went looking for two fleets of soldiers. Instead he found a grave for every last one of them," said the soldier.
"They were already buried when the elite bodyguards got there?" asked Pearl.
"Yeah, every last one had there own tombstone. In fact, after the elite bodyguards got back and reported what they had found, the emperor declared that area of the desert: Stone Head Desert. He named it that because all the tombstones were rocks. Some say that the rocks were the very things that he threw at them to kill them. Others say that he felt guilty, and gave them all a proper burial. But the most common belief is that he did it to mock the emperor. He wanted the emperor to find two entire fleets of his men wiped out by one little kid. The scariest thing is that he must have killed them all at once since the graves were all lined up like a war marching formation. It was like they were just marching along not expecting to be attacked at all, let alone being wiped all at once. It gives me nightmares just thinking about it," said the soldier as he shivered.
"That's terrible," said Moon.
"Yeah...," said the soldier.
"He couldn't have done that, he just... couldn't...," said Pearl as she began to lose focus on her surroundings and focused all of her thoughts on Ninjisu.
"Did he do anything else after that?" asked Moon.
"The emperor decided to let him run; thinking that if he made the bounty big enough bounty hunters would take care of him. Or at least keep him busy, so that he wouldn't attack innocent people in any other villages, towns, or cities. If he has that kind of power, I'm sure glad the two girls strong enough to bring him down on are on our side," said the soldier as he chuckled a little bit.
The three of them all remained completely silent for the remainder of the walk to the prison. They finally arrived and were immediately escorted inside.
"These are the two girls who brought him in," said the soldier as he walked up to the collection's desk.
"Well, they should be happy to know that they are now the richest commoners in the entire empire," said the woman behind the desk.
"Really, did the emperor actually raise it again?" asked the soldier.
"Indeed he did, just yesterday," said the woman behind the desk.
Pearl and Moon stepped forward. Pearl's mind was still wondering, so Moon helped him over to the desk where they were greeted by a smile from the woman behind the desk.
"Very good work you two. Your reward is 1,000,000 Lozes. It will be given to you all at once, or you can come and make withdrawals from it whenever you would like. It's up to you," said the woman very nicely.
"We'll take it all right now," said Moon as she tried to get her sister to come to.
"Very well then, here is the key to the safe it's stored in. You can have as much of it as you would like. Now remember not to lose that key. There are only three like it. I have one for my inspections and inventory. The emperor has one, and now you two have the third. Take care of it, just in case you change your mind about taking it all now," said the woman as she handed Moon the keys.
"Th-Thanks," said Moon as she helped her sister walk towards the hallway that the woman was pointing to.
The twins walked into the hallway and made their way to the room at the end that was labeled with same numbers on the key in Moon's hands.
"What's the matter with you?" said Moon once they had gotten to the store.
"I'm sorry... I just... I can't believe Ninjisu could do those things," said Pearl.
"Well Ninjisu is a pretty strong guy," said Moon as she put the key in the lock.
"I don't doubt his strength, but how could he bring himself do to such horrible things," said Pearl.
"Pearl, who cares? He's our friend, not to mention he especially likes you. Like you said... we have to trust him... we just have to," said Moon as she turned the key and opened the door.
Inside they saw the stacks of Lozes that filled the room from corner to corner & floor to practically the ceiling. For a second both of them were overcome with incredible guilt. Then they both remembered that it was Ninjisu's choice to be turned in. All they could do now was have faith in his escape plan. They asked the soldier on guard duty (the other one had already left to join up with the others that were escorting Ninjisu to his maximum security jail cell) to bring them some bags for them to put the money. The guard helped them get the money in the bags and helped them load it into an extra large wheelbarrow. Then the girls waved goodbye and exited Legazo City through the northwest gate. They didn't look back.
"You better not let us down," thought Moon.
"I love you," thought Pearl.