We are getting close to the climax of this world, I'm pretty sure a lot of you are probably thankful for that too. There is a reason for all this though, Sora is steadily weakening and coming close to a break down! Let's get this Show on the road so all of you can watch what happens next!
Warnings: Extremely unfair justice system here folks. There is no such thing as a utopia of coarse.
.o.0.o.
The next day, the trio head off again towards the blue city in the distance. When they get to the city known as Arcadia, they see what you would expect of a bustling city: tall buildings, people lining the streets, there are even trams reminiscent to those of twilight town only they hovering over the tracks.
Sora, though familiar with tram systems thanks to experience and Roxas' memories, feels his jaw drop as he gawks at the city. It looks like some kind of futuristic utopia; the streets are clean, everything seeming like it's doing what it should, even the people with their cat ears and tails look like they fit perfectly into the environment. It's a vast change from the primitive lifestyle of the Catagarians.
Though even as the city looks like a technological paradise, there's some kind of undertone to it that makes Sora uncomfortable and it's not just because he grew up on an island. He's been in Tron's world twice and even if he isn't really tech savvy-- far from it if he is being honest-- he is familiar with a setting like this. No, there is something wrong with this picture, but Sora can't figure out what it is even if his life depends on it.
"This sure if a big city huh?" Goofy remarks with the same awe Sora had felt a few moment's ago.
"Yeah, you think we should find the leader of this place?"
Sora turns to look at his friends as he says this, only to see Donald with a wary face.
"I don't know Sora, we don't wanna get lost here."
"Well, maybe if we ask someone they can point us in the right direction," replies the brunet with a grin. Donald glances at him exasperatedly.
"We need to be careful Sora!" Donald warns, "we could get into a lot of- WHACK!" Sora runs off before Donald can even finish.
Sora runs up to the nearest person he sees, which happens to be a woman, and taps her shoulder, "excuse me miss, could you-"
"AHHH!! THIEF!" The woman screams, causing Sora to jump back in shock.
"Wha?! No I'm not-" the woman isn't listening.
"GUARDS! THIEF! MUGGER! HELP!" She cries as she begins swinging her arms trying to hit Sora.
"I'm not doing anything! Would you please stop?!" Sora says, raising his voice to be heard as he tries to defend himself from the hysterical woman.
It all happens in a blur after that.
Men in white uniforms come seemingly out of nowhere and the next thing Sora knows he's eating asphalt, his hands being forced behind his back as he gets shackles and even a muzzle put on him. Donald and Goofy try to help but they end up being overwhelmed before they get roughly thrown into a cage. The cage and the brunet get thrown in the back of a van, Sora struggling and Donald squawking the entire time.
"We didn't do anything! Ya' gotta believe us!" Goofy pleads.
"Where are you taking us?!" Donald say flapping his wings angrily.
"Quiet!" One of the guards snaps, "or we'll muzzle you too."
Donald continues to holler obscenities until blue symbols light up on the frame of the cage and Donald literally gets the shock of his life. He falls to floor out cold as the symbols disappear.
Goofy and Sora's eyes widen at this. Goofy audibly gulps in nervousness while Sora glares daggers at the back of the guards heads, 'so much for being friendly,' he thinks bitterly.
"You know if you wanted to you could easily break these chains."
'I'm not breaking out, this is all just a huge misunderstanding,' Sora counters, 'these guys are the police of the city, if we wait it out and explain what happened then we can fix this.'
"What if they don't give you a chance to explain, hmm? They've muzzled you, you won't be able to explain right now and if they actually do give you a trial and yet they never remove it..." The Voice trailed off, not needing to add anymore to that.
'Then...' Sora sighs through his nose, 'I'll deal with whatever I must...'
.o.0.o.
After some time of riding in silence, Sora finally feels the van stop. The back doors open and Sora get dragged out along with the cage. The guards lead the trio to a tall building and they walk in, Sora not having any time to get a good look at anything as he gets pushed along.
After standing uncomfortably in an elevator for what feels like an eternity, they finally get to a room that looks somewhat like a court room. There is a row of people lining the back wall, obviously representing the judges. When Sora looks up he sees a balcony with people leaning over it and giving him harsh glares. Everything is pure white, making Sora get a bad feeling though he can't recall why, the only color in the room being the people's black robes.
They walk him up to a platform surrounded by four large crystals, just slightly taller than Sora himself. They take the muzzle off and shove him into the center of the crystal before he can even say anything, so when he tries to talk no sound comes out of his throat. He looks around and sees the crystals light up, an almost invisible barrier forming between them.
'So I can't talk, and I can't move. What kind of trial is this?' This almost reminds Sora of Wonderland with Alice and the Queen of Hearts; he only hopes that the judges will be more open minded to his words, but considering he can't talk of his own free will...
Someone walks up and stands next to the platform Sora is on, looking through papers in a large blue folder and acting as if Sora wasn't even there. 'Is this my lawyer?' He thinks wrinkling his nose.
"The tribunal shall begin now!" The second to middle judge booms, "we have the accused, a lion shifter by the looks of it, who has been caught trying to harm a defenseless young woman."
"That's not true!" Sora tries to say, but instead he only mouths it. The woman speaking the accusations continues.
"We have Florancis, representing the woman, Miss summers," she motions towards a woman that Sora had missed off to the side "and Clayport, representing the accused."
The woman in the middle, the head judge Sora figured, leaned down and glared the brunet in the eye, "the crystals around you will force you to speak only truths, try to lie or resist and you will be electrocuted. Now, state your name."
"Sora, your honor," he says, finding he can speak now.
"And what is your age?"
"Seventeen ma'am," Sora replies, trying to be polite.
"Are you aware of the charges against you?" The judge says monotone.
"Yes ma'am, bu-" his voice cuts off.
"Then we shall get on with it," she says dismissively before looking at Florancis, "tell us the victims side of the incident."
"Gladly most high," Florancis walks infront of the judge table, "the victim was simply minding her own business when this ruffian and his companions, attacked her in broad daylight with the intent of doing her harm."
Sora stomps his foot, mouth moving in outrage but unable to make a sound in his defence. The women in the the room ignore him.
"The victim in question tried to defend herself, but this thug managed grab her, holding her down. If it wasn't for the city protection stepping in he could have done far worse."
'I was wrong, this is WORSE than Wonderland! At least during that time I could talk!' A soundless growl escapes him; the only way Sora knows he is growling is the vibrations in his throat.
"Does the accused have anything to say?" The judge asks.
Sora waves his hands frantically and the judges give him an unimpressed look, "Yes?"
"I didn't do anything wrong!" Sora exclaims as fast as he can.
"Oh really?" Florancis says smirking slightly, "then please, tell what happened criminal."
Sora grits his teeth at the condescending tone before taking a calming breath; he can't lose his temper here.
"I was just asking for directions and the woman freaked out. She tried hitting me and I was just trying to hold her off, I wasn't trying to steal anything and I wasn't trying to hurt anyone."
Sora stood confidently after he finished his explanation, when suddenly the four crystals surrounding him light up a bright white and he cries out in pain; he falls to his knees as the energy surges through him, wrapping his arms around himself in an automatic attempt to fight the pain off.
"Aha! So the accused is a liar as well!" Florancis says in a smug fashion, "obviously your attempts at getting away from justice are not going to work here criminal!"
"I'm not- AHHH!" Sora grinds his teeth as the current becomes stronger, the pain so bad that he doesn't notice the blood oozing from the side of his mouth. He collapses completely to the ground, twitching every few seconds from the after shocks of his punishment.
"We've heard enough," the head judge says, "Has the jury reached a verdict?"
Whispers are heard from the balcony above, the words too indistinct for Sora to understand in his pain; though the judge nods.
"Very well, for the crimes of assault and evading justice, we sentence the accused to twenty years of fighting in the arena."
Sora comes out of his own would at that as he hears the gavel come down with a tone of finality. The crystals dim and guards come over to take him away.
"Wait a minute! I'm innocent! Please you gotta believe me! I'm the key-" the guards muzzle him before he can finish his sentence.
They drag Sora away with him struggling all the way, his protests muffled as the doors to the elevator close.