Tsubasa: Mysterious Version
Desert City
Energy flowed continuously as the power cables glowed, illuminating its path across the sandy landscape as nightfall neared. The gang followed the path of those power cables, letting the whitish-pink light guide them until finally reaching the city region. Tiny flickering lights in the distance proved that there existed a city not too far ahead from here—the evidence of an energy-powered society. Mokona still felt Sakura's feather energy within the cables, even after the gang ventured away from the powerline tower an hour ago, so they figured that the energy distributed within those cables had something to do with Sakura's feather in this world.
Heading towards the city, they hoped that there would be someone there that could satisfy their curiosity and even answer their questions.
- - -
Guards, armed with swords, watched a small group arrive from the desert, and they stopped to greet these five strangers. "Hello and welcome to the humble City of Avanah."
"Thanks," said Syaoran, carrying the Mokona.
Another guard took notice of this and said, "Hey. Excuse me but… is that a… ah… a moogle?"
Syaoran looked at Mokona in his hand, and then looked at the guard bewilderedly. "Eh?" Sweating bullets, he and the rest of the group felt nervous because none of them knew what "moogle" was.
"Never mind," said the guard. "Move along."
The gang strolled through the town gate and proceeded into the dusty streets of this stony city. Surprisingly, there existed many shops and other establishments. People from all walks of life roamed the streets, shopping, doing chores and running errands; kids chased each other playfully while others jumped rope or rode bicycles. Booths set up along the side of the streets were owned by ambitious merchants, men and women that sold various items and produce, and even quick-made food like stir-fry and roasted chickens and gourmet ramen dishes. The places were endless.
The gang weaved curiously through the moving crowds of people.
A woman cried out in panic, "Thief! He stole my purse!"
Bump! Bash! A quick-shoving man ruthlessly knocked away bystanders, pushed his way through the crowds to escape with the purse fast.
"Thief!" she cried hysterically. "Get him! Somebody get my purse! Please!"
That thief rushed past the gang with blurring speed, turning some street corner before sprinting down the alley and hopping up a stack of storage crates to reach the rooftops. Guards chased after him with swords drawn, angrily pursuing the thief, but it appeared he got away.
Syaoran felt heroic at the moment. Fired burned in his brave heart. He took off, running, speeding fast down that alley, leaping up to the roof from that same stack of crates. He landed upon the top of a building, seeing the speedy thief hop from one building to the next.
"Damn, he's fast!" Syaoran chased after him, leaping over the spaces between buildings to catch the thief.
The thief traveled higher, realizing that some stranger was tailing him. However, the quick-minded thief released a handful of caltrops before leaping through a window. Smash! Shards of broken glass scattered in all directions before surrendering to gravity.
Nearing the edge of this rooftop, Syaoran stopped quick and screamed. "Ouch, ouch, ouch!" he cried, hoping on one foot to yank the thorny piece of metal lodged underneath his shoe. This slowed him down much, and the thief apparently got away.
Kurogane glanced up, noticing something moving in the air just above. A little man, the thief actually, appeared walking in midair high above the streets. Gazing with keen eyes, Kurogane noticed the thin and hardly noticeable thread cable the thief used to travel across this wide street from above like a tightrope.
"Ninja?" said Kurogane, bunching his eyebrow with suspicion. His ninja instincts told him to do something about this. Kurogane rushed away fast.
Surprised, Fae turned to with bewilderment and cried to that sprinting Kurogane, "Hey, where are you going?"
Kurogane glanced back, still running. "To catch a thief."
Fae smirked, remaining with Sakura and waved. "Happy hunting!"
Syaoran, after leaping through the broken window, surprised some romancing couple (a second time) before saying, "Sorry." And he rushed out the apartment door, which was apparently kicked down by the hasty thief. Syaoran reached some spiraling staircase, rushing up them quickly, only to find another door kicked down before he reached the rooftop. There he looked around and finally spotted the clever thief. That thief was almost to the other side of the street high above while tightrope walking on some metal thread. Syaoran rushed after him, cleverly running along that metal thread to cross this wide space over the streets below, but the thief stopped and turned to see his purser approaching.
The thief had an idea, deciding to run back to this end of the thread and cut it with a sharp combat knife.
Syaoran stopped fast. "No!" he cried, shaking his head rapidly. "Please, no, no, no, no!"
The little thief snickered and nodded his head just as rapid, grinning devilishly with the huge shiny knife in his hand. With one swing, the tightrope snapped!
Syaoran dropped fast as gravity claimed him, swinging his arms widely and screaming hysterically as he plummeted to the crowded streets below. Before falling three stories down, a pair of gentle arms caught him in midair. The shining smile of Fae's handsome face calmed him.
"Not to worry, friend. I got you."
Syaoran quit sweating bullets and smiled his thanks.
Fae glided through the air by the power of his magic, reaching the building top where the thief had cut the tightrope. Unfortunately the thief was long gone. Fae and Syaoran looked left and right, searching everywhere for the thief, but they saw no one.
Meanwhile, the thief slowed his sprint, traveling down some hallway with a building, glad that he got away. The city guard could not catch him, but those mysterious strangers were something different. He jogged towards the end of the hallway, looking back over his shoulders to make sure he was not being followed, but then he ran blindly into something hard.Thump!
The thief fell back on his butt, shaking off his dizziness before glancing up, realizing that some black-clad stranger stood towering over him with arms folded.
Kurogane gave him a ruthless glare of stoic warning. "Where do you think you're going?"
He little thief's eyes widened crazily, "Ack!"
With a sword this time, he unsheathed his weapon after hopping to his feet. Kurogane loved a good challenge, unsheathing his souhi sword nicknamed 'Blue Ice'. Their swords swung and clashed, creating sparks on impact as they fought. The thief proved to be swift and skilled in swordsmanship, not at all relenting. Kurogane instinctively fought back, applying his ninja mastery.
The thief, quicker than lightning, even performed fantastic somersaults in the air while swing his sword—striking and blocking. He even flipped through the air and attacked while hanging upside down.
Kurogane defended himself with sword blocking, wondering, "How the hell does he do that?"
The thief landed upright, continuing this speed-blurring swordplay, but Kurogane finally parried, flinging that sword from the thief's hand. Thwang! Its blade lodged into the wall nearby. The thief gasped, surprised and panicked, unsheathing his combat knife. Unfortunately for him, Kurogane executed a limit break, striking the thief with a burst of ice magic. The ice blast hurled the thief backwards, slamming him into a wall before entrapping his body within a block of ice, which stopped him, cold.
The stolen purse had dropped to the ground before Kurogane noticed it and picked it up.
- - -
The gang gathered after stopping the thief, meeting with the woman that had her purse stolen. Thanks to Sakura, the woman became calm by her kind and friendly words, for the Princess assured her that her friends would stop the thief. When the three males returned, the woman thanked them. She even dug down inside her purse and gave Kurogane payment for defeating that pesky thief. He dropped the payment in his hand and walked away smiling, first waving to the gang "Bye-bye" before vanishing down the crowded street.
Everyone watched curiously as Kurogane glanced down at the shiny small orb sitting in the palm of his hand. "What the hell is this? A marble?"
Syaoran looked at it closely. "Maybe that is the form of currency in this world."
Kurogane shrugged and tucked it in his pocket.