And so, Kiko and Sora start off on their journey. The dune buggy isn't quite like her mother's Toyota Avalon, with a lack of any shock damping or padding in the seats. In fact, it's downright cramped and uncomfortable. It must take buns of steel to sit in this thing for hours. As they merge onto a dirt road, Kiko can't help but think back to earlier. Riku didn't even so much as acknowledge Kiko on the way out. He just kept steady, unbroken watch over Chou as she slept across the seats. She provided a haunting mental image for Kiko, with her green outfit completely soaked and her breaths shallow and sporadic. And to think that this is all Kiko's fault. She is mad at the movies for making her believe that all one needs to get out of a state of shell shock is a statement of authoritative encouragement and a slap across the cheek. Why would the movies lie to her about something so damaging like that?
"Anything you want to talk about?" Sora asks, a bit of concern in his tone. His prying is starting to get on Kiko's nerves.
"What's so bad about this planet, anyway?" Kiko asks, "The way everybody talks about it, I was sort of expecting there to be a lot of poisonous plants that smell like pizza or something."
"It's better if I show you," Sora states, not sounding like he really wants to talk about it. Well, so much for Kiko's burning question. Time for more awkward silence between the two of them.
The town starts to gain some texture as the two draw near. It has a rather odd architecture, with lots of wood, steel, copper, and unidentifiable patchwork. Holes perforate the buildings, each with what appears to be a story behind it. Some are smashed, some are crudely cut, some are bullet holes, some are completely clean to a precision that no human could ever approach, and some are still glowing. The four story limit to the buildings don't look like any long standing tradition, instead appearing as though they were completely torn off not too long ago. A couple buildings appear to be on fire, but just a casual fire that doesn't spread, consume, or do much of anything indicative of a real fire. The streets overflow with acidic green and orange substances flowing into the steam emitting sewer drains. Nobody is visible just yet, but the sounds of metallic clangs, screams, and explosions fill the air from well off in the distance.
"You might want to breathe through your mouth," Sora suggests.
"Well, okay..." Kiko says, starting to get worried. The utter chaos ahead is worrisome, not just in its potential to injure or kill Kiko, but also in how casual it looks. There are no response teams anywhere, no sign of any attempt by construction workers to repair the damage, and definitely no military presence. It's as though nobody even cares what's happening out here. Is there a major crisis going on right now?
Sora and Kiko drive through this wrecked portion of the city, avoiding streets with wandering robots smashing stuff. Kiko is growing more worried with each street they drive down, but Sora seems entirely casual and carefree. Seemingly, to him, this city is just a huge annoyance, with broken bridges everywhere and a lots of stuff he doesn't deem to be worth the trouble to fight. It's starting to creep Kiko out. Is he really so confident in himself that he's willing to drive in an open top vehicle right into the heart of madness? So confident in his ability to protect others that he doesn't even need to warn Kiko of anything?
Eventually, the two of them turn onto a block leading to a walled in section. Two giant, spindly robots built out of dirty pipework, oil drums, and plastic tubing are standing guard. They have two giant cannons reminiscent of anti-aircraft artillery from World War I at the end of each arm, with the ends of the barrels blackened and cracked. Their heads consist of cylindrical oil drums with a couple hastily drilled in lens for eyes arranged in an asymmetrical pattern. They give this sort of creepy green glow from both behind the lens and underneath their chests, as if the iron isn't opaque enough to contain it. Two huge piles of cylindrical scrap metal lie on either side of the robots, their origin and use indeterminate. The gate is made out of rusty steel girders and busted up grates, with bundles of wires draped over them and a neon sign that says 'Welcome to Safehome 33'. The wall on either side is made out of white, decaying concrete with the occasional chunk showing a bent girder within. Lots of multi-color spills are splattered all over, appearing to be haphazard decorations at best.
"Okay," Sora starts, parking the buggy on the sidewalk by a nearby building, "We're going inside the wall. You packed your guns and knives in that case, right?"
"Yeah," Kiko responds, turning to face Sora, "I should leave it here, right?"
"No," Sora responds, sliding up and standing on his seat, "Arm yourself with them and hide them under the coat."
"What if they find them?" Kiko asks, "They're even looking at us right now."
"That's the idea," Sora responds, hopping off the side onto the sidewalk, "They consider anybody that comes in apparently unarmed to either be too stupid to survive or obviously packing something really dangerous. So, we go in fully armed with normal weapons and they won't even bat an eye at us."
"Well, if you say so..." Kiko responds, sliding out of her seat and grabbing the case from the back. She undoes the latch, takes out the fully loaded belt, and puts it on. She hops out of the buggy, walking alongside Sora towards the twin sentries.
Suddenly, the twin sentries spin in place, aim their cannons, and start firing loud shells at a steady rate. Kiko was worried that she was going to die, but a couple shells and some screeching noises reveal that they obviously aren't the targets. Turning around reveals a giant three story creature alien creature, its features indescribable as each shell detonates inside of it. Sprays of glowing orange liquid paint the surrounding area, much of it melting right through the buildings. Tortured screams from multiple voices cry out from the creature as it gets round after round put into it, an appendage blown off with each explosion. After twenty seconds of forward struggle by the creature, the last bit of structure finally explodes, leaving behind a flaming pile of orange bones and pieces of flesh. The corpse randomly ignites after everything settles down, leaving behind another casual, non-expanding flame. Kiko turns around again to find the robots back in their original positions, a couple hovering helper robots reloading their cannons and the piles of scrap beside them about two meters taller. The realization that the piles are their expended shells is rather creepy.
Kiko lingers behind a little as Sora continues walking towards the robots. She quickly runs to catch up, now worried that the robots are going to recognize them as a threat and unload a similar barrage. As the two of them approach the gate, a small floating orb of a robot approaches them.
"H-h-hello and welc-c-come to Sa-a-afehome thi-i-irty th-th-three," the robot stutters in a vaguely British accent, a lot of interference and distortion in its voice, "What is-s-s the pur-r-rpose of you-ou-our visit-t-t?"
"Political business," Sora states. With that, the robot starts showering them in piercing rays of green light. Kiko does her best to not let fear get a hold of her in spite of her desire to just run away as fast as possible.
"Ah, th-the male h-h-has a hi-i-igh magical in-in-index," the robot states, "and-d-d the fema-a-ale has two-o-o kinet-t-tic wea-ea-eapons wit-t-th ten rou-ou-ounds each, six-x-x reloa-oa-oads, and two bla-a-ades-s-s. Thr-r-reat index: could ki-ki-kill up to ei-ei-eighty-y-y people effor-or-ortlessly-ly-ly. You bo-bo-both pass the ins-s-spectio-o-on. Wel-el-elcome to Sa-a-afehome thi-i-irty th-th-three." With that, the robot hovers back into an enclave in the wall before deactivating.
"...what was that?" Kiko asks in disbelief.
"Not a whole lot works the way it should here," Sora states, walking inside the gate, "Anyway, a few rules. Don't touch anything, don't talk with anybody, and don't even make eye contact. Ignore all offers that are made and don't stop walking for even a second."
"Okay," Kiko responds, walking alongside Sora quietly.
The inside of the walled section is a lot cleaner than the outside, but still stained with a lot of oil. Lots of people wearing lab coats are wandering around, most of which are looking at their clipboards as they walk around. Some are carting around either lots of mechanical parts or lots of chemicals while others are escorted by more innocuous looking robots or alien creatures. Sora and Kiko walk through to the next street, an open market full of stands. Lots of chatter is going on as people negotiate with each other for the parts they need, using what appears to be the barter system. Walking through gets tons of offers from all the stands.
"Fresh cogs! Come and get them!" shouts a man standing beside a metric ton of clockwork gears.
"You two look like you need a robot helper!" one man standing beside a whole bunch of sparking, malfunctioning robots states.
"Come buy my mysterious artifacts!" a woman by a large pile of jewelry and artwork shouts towards Sora and Kiko, "Get two ancient tablets and I'll throw in a philosopher's stone free!"
"Do you want superpowers?" a man standing beside an upright body sized capsule asks, "Come get my treatment! Guaranteed super strength, with potential super speed, invulnerability, and flight. Side effects include nausea, light-headedness, occasional fiending for flesh, and incontinence."
"This place scares me," Kiko whispers to Sora, "What was everybody worried people would do besides run away?" Sora starts to respond, but Kiko rams chest first right into a short guy.
"Oh, pardon me," the guy starts, "Say, you're an attractive lady."
"Um, thank you," Kiko responds politely, not really thinking about it. Not really the best way to follow up something like that.
"I can tell you're unsatisfied with your love life, though," he starts, "When I accidentally rammed into your breasts, my machine picked up your pheromones. You're after somebody, but he isn't recognizing you for the fine young woman you are."
"Get away from me, you pervert," Kiko responds.
"I invented this love potion," the man starts, "Guaranteed to make any man wild for you."
"I said get away," Kiko repeats, trying to get around him. He keeps moving in to block her, taking out a vial of pink liquid from his vest.
"It's in beta, so it's free of charge," the man starts, "I haven't had any test subjects yet, but the theories are solid. It uses ground feylinus sacks and pearl extract, with some cherry flavoring to make it go down. All you have to do is-" Kiko pulls out one of her guns and shoves it against the man's temple.
"I don't have to do anything," Kiko starts, an icy chill in her voice, "You, however, have to get the hell out of my way and stop following me."
"Well, okay," the man says in a snippy tone, walking to the side, "Fine. If you're going to be that way, I don't want you in my study!"
"Good bye," Kiko says, walking forward and holstering her gun. Sora, having politely restrained himself, follows alongside her.
"You're never going to mate with anyone if that's your attitude, young lady!" the man shouts. Kiko shudders a bit at that statement, the words piercing her. She and Sora keep walking down the street, quite a few people less willing to shout towards them after seeing that display.
"I'm proud of you," Sora states.
"For what?" Kiko asks, "That man was a creep."
"A lot of people come here and actually accept these insane offers," Sora starts, "They usually either die or get horribly mutated. There's always something that is just too irresistible."
"I wouldn't take a love potion from a total stranger," Kiko responds, "I'm not stupid." Or that desperate, Kiko omits.
"Well, we're not that far from city hall," Sora says, "Anyway, you're my assistant. If you're asked anything, tell them you're not allowed to talk. Try and sound like you're lacking in brains."
"Shouldn't be too hard," Kiko responds.
"Thank you," Sora responds.
The two of them walk around the street corner to find a four story tall building with marble pillars and a one story stairway out front and a dome up top. At each street corner is a sentry just like the ones outside the gate, watching outwards at a diagonal angle. On either side of the doors leading inside are two more sentry robots, looking stoic as ever. Out of all the buildings, it is easily the cleanest and least damaged. It looks almost out of place amongst the backdrop of the dirty, damaged city. Kiko could easily imagine this building in Hometown. As Sora and Kiko walk towards it, they hear a voice from a nearby alleyway.
"Hey, brother, can you spare a screw?" the man asks. Kiko doesn't even bother to turn her head to look at him as she continues walking. "What, am I invisible to you?! Can't even spare a single piece of scrap to help me with my latest robot?! Well, screw you! Screw all of you! You philistines! No, wait, I didn't mean that! I'm sorry! I promise that my robot design will sell! No, don't throw me out to where all the lunatics are! I swear, I'll contribute to society! Let me go! Let me go! No, not the stun rod! Anything but the stun rod! NooooOOOOoooOOOoooOOO!"
"What was that about?" Kiko asks as she walks up the stairs with Sora.
"Ignorance is bliss in this screwed up world," Sora says, sounding completely unfazed, "Anyway, we're here to see the mayor. Just let me do the talking."
"Okay," Kiko responds, walking inside with Sora.