Oh, it's been a nice break from classes. I've been busy writing but mostly busy chilling out and enjoying the winter….it's been fun although the snow where I am isn't that good at making snowballs and my snowcat melted a while ago :(
Kanda: You are a strange person.
Me: That's already been established. Now, for the next chapter! And those of you who might be reading my other story for Tales of Legendia I am still working on it…I've just been paying more attention to this story. But I have not given up on writing it, and either tomorrow or the next few days I'll put a new chapter up. Ok, the characters, names, places, and the story of D. Gray Man I don't own. Enjoy! :)
Chapter Twenty Six - Release
The first thing Allen saw when he opened his eyes were tree branches against a clear blue sky. He tried to sit up, but groaned and fell backward in pain. His whole body hurt but mainly his left ankle, back, and left eye were big knots of pain. His gray-blue eyes stared up at the sky again and he saw that light pink and red streaks were spreading slowly over the sky as the light blue darkened gradually. That meant the sun was setting, though he still didn't know exactly what time it was, or where he currently was.
Wait. What happened to me? For some reason his mind was temporarily blank about recent events. Allen forced himself to try and sit up and as he did, he became aware that there was a strange pressure on his forehead. Even though his body sang with pain at the movement, the exorcist moved to a sitting position and saw a bright blur fall past his eyes. Raising his right hand quickly Allen caught the object in his palm and studied it. Blinking, he watched the thing shake itself and fly into the air. "Timcampy!" Allen exclaimed, feeling the name automatically come to his mind and he laughed as the Golem flew around. "Good to see you, too!" Timcampy made a growling noise and suddenly did a nosedive, landing a few yards away. The exorcist looked over at the Golem, blinked once, then let out a startled exclamation. Timcampy was sitting on someone lying on the grass. It was a kid, looking to be in his early teenage years, and Allen shifted to all fours and crawled over to him, dragging his injured leg behind him. Leaning over the person, Allen wondered why he was here, and began observing his physical features: light brown, messy hair, a black outfit, and it looked like he was injured. "Who are you?" Lightly fingering the kid's right arm, Allen realized shortly that it was broken. "And what happened to you?" Just then it struck him who this person was and memories of what had taken place flooded back.
"...Kisho," he muttered, shaking the teenager by his uninjured shoulder. "Can you hear me? You're not dead, are you?" He asked, staring hollowly at the kid's body. If he was dead, then....Allen tried to calm down and took a few deep breaths, leaned over Kisho's mouth, and waited to feel air escaping. After a few seconds he felt a light breath brush against his ear. Straightening his back Allen noticed that Kisho's chest was rising and falling and then lifted the kid's left arm and noticed that a toothbrush was clenched in his hand. He suddenly remembered Kisho attacking Tykki with it and wondered where he'd gotten it. Taking the item from his hand Allen put it in Kisho's pocket, then went back to checking for a pulse, and soon felt it beating against his fingers. To be sure Allen put his hand on Kisho's chest to feel his heartbeat, and when he felt the rhythmic beats against his palm and let out a sigh of relief. "You're alive....I thought that you'd been killed." A memory of the Heart fragment sending rays of light everywhere came back to Allen. "....Maybe the Innocence healed you...like it did for me. Well, you're alive." I need to figure out where we are now, though. Glancing about, Allen noticed suddenly that the sun's light was a little dimmer than before, and the sky was turning red and orange now—sunset. Further observing his surroundings Allen noticed they seemed to be at the edge of a forest, for just a few feet away a large expanse of trees stretched out a long way to his left and right. It wasn't anywhere that looked familiar; neither the Main Branch or the Asia Branch had trees like this around. But they were out of the Noah's Headquarters, and there seemed to be no immediate danger, which was all Allen wanted to know at the moment.
A groan brought his attention away from the scenery and back down to Kisho, who was beginning to stir and as Allen watched his dark brown eyes opened and gazed up at him wearily. "Hey," Allen greeted him, feeling strangely lighthearted despite every hectic and trying thing that had happened recently, "how do you feel?" Kisho didn't respond for a while; he just groaned some more and closed his eyes. Allen almost started shaking him again but noticed that he was still breathing normally and didn't seem to be dying. After a while, the kid opened his eyes again and tried to sit up. Allen put a hand on Kisho's back and helped him get to a sitting position. "How do you feel?" The exorcist asked again. Timcampy flew around Allen's head once and then nestled in his hair. Kisho winced and cradled his injured right arm with his left.
"I feel...ugh....feel like....someone almost...beat me to death. And my arm...." He winced, then gingerly touched it and flinched in pain.
"It's broken," Allen said, frowning grimly. "And if it isn't set right now it will probably heal wrong and I don't know if there's a town with someone who could help nearby."
"So, what, you're going to set it?" Kisho asked, and Allen was taken aback by his harsh tone and distrusting stare, but guessed his mood was because his arm was giving him so much pain. And Allen had suddenly noticed even against Kisho's dark shirt that something deep red and wet was staining it.
"Well, unless you want Komui to have to re-break and fix it later," he said with a look of warning, remembering hearing somewhere that if a bone wasn't set right, it would never heal well enough so often doctors would break it again in order to set it correctly.
"You know Komui?" Kisho asked, interested, trying to forget what Allen said about the re-breaking. "I mean...how'd you know his name? Are you an exorcist too?" Allen was becoming very puzzled and he gave Kisho a concerned look.
"What are you talking about; of course I'm an exorcist. Did you get amnesia or something?" Allen questioned, raising an eyebrow at Kisho, who looked closely at him.
"I don't have amnesia. But if you're an exorcist..." The wariness was disappearing from Kisho's face, though he was still trying to inch away from Allen, who suddenly gripped Kisho's unhurt shoulder tightly so he'd stay still.
"Why are you acting like you've never met me before? And I just want to help you." Kisho was still struggling a little, and Allen had finally reached the end of his rope. "For God's sake!" He exclaimed in exasperation. "Are you sure you don't have amnesia?" Kisho nodded slowly, giving Allen a wary look. Staring at Kisho seriously, he asked, "You really don't know me?"
"I guess you look a little familiar, but I haven't seen you before."
"Allen Walker. Does that ring any bells?" Allen asked sarcastically and was again puzzled and annoyed by the reaction he got; Kisho's eyes widened disbelievingly.
"Allen? You're really Allen? But...." Allen covered Kisho's mouth and cut him off.
"I don't know what got into you, but you know it's me now, right?" Kisho nodded slowly, his expression now confused but less wary. "Alright. Then just let me check that injury and try and fix your arm." Kisho stiffened when Allen lifted his shirt. "You got attacked by an Akuma on the mission with Lavi, right?"
"Yes...."
Allen saw that bandages were wrapped around Kisho's waist. "What happened when you were attacked, exactly?" Allen asked, seeing that the dark wetness showing through Kisho's shirt had been blood like he'd thought and more red spots were spreading across the white bandages.
"An Akuma grabbed me with its teeth...it bit my side, and my leg. Then Tykki reopened that injury and broke my arm....my writing arm," Kisho fumed, despite the pain in his arm that was making him want to pass out. "My left arm's writing looks like cat scratch." He wished he could pass out so he'd be unconscious when Allen attempted to fix his arm.
"Right...well, the bleeding doesn't look too serious right now, but I need to fix your arm and use something to wrap it until we can get help somewhere." Kisho closed his eyes and his eyebrows dipped irritably. Slowly, the young teenager stopped cradling his right arm and took a deep breath. "I have an idea," Allen began to explain. "I'll activate my Innocence and use Clown Belt to bandage your arm when I'm done." Kisho had heard of Allen's Innocence and what it did so he nodded. "And since we're by a forest there are probably twigs for splints around here."
"Great," Kisho grumbled sourly, then looked slightly apologetic. "Sorry. I'll probably be yelling at you while you're setting it, so I'll just say thanks now." Allen nodded, and looked away.
"Can you stand up?" He asked, and Kisho stood with the help of Allen and leaned against a tree that was behind him. "Great," Allen said, then without giving any warning activated his Innocence and used Clown Belt to tie a startled Kisho to the tree until he was completely immobilized except for his right arm, which Allen held in his hands as he studied the bruised and swelling arm for a few moments. "I think this is actually good."
"Yeah," Kisho panted, winded from being knocked against the tree suddenly, "really good." Allen gave him a look as he caught the sarcastic tone.
"I mean," Allen said in slight annoyance, "it seems like a clean break, so it's easier to deal with than if the bone was poking through your skin. And sorry for not warning you, but it'll just be easier for both of us the less you thrash around." Kisho sighed, nodding, seeing the sense in Allen's reasoning. "It'll hurt—I'm sorry—but that's better than having it heal wrong." In trepidation, Kisho nodded, trying to brace himself for the pain. "Alright....here we go." Allen pressed his fingers into Kisho's skin a few times, trying to feel where the break was, and Kisho bit his lip as spears of pain shot through his arm. Suddenly Allen thought he felt the spot where his friend's bone had broken in half and began pulling and pushing the arm alternatingly. Kisho yelled in agony as the pain in his arm suddenly increased and jolted through his body.
"Oww....I....aaghh....stop it!!" Kisho cried, half in a fever, trying in vain to struggle against the Clown Belt. Allen's eyes widened but he tried to calm the pain-stricken teenager down while he kept readjusting the bone as best he could.
"Hey, I'm almost done! So just stay with me until then." But Kisho didn't appear to be listening. "Kisho, listen—before why didn't you recognize me?" Allen asked, trying to bring up something that would distract Kisho from the pain setting his arm was causing. The teenager opened his eyes halfway and moaned, then took a deep breath and struggled to answer.
"Y-your...aaahh....h-hair....and...." Kisho gasped out, then stopped straining against the Clown Belt and went still. It appeared that he'd passed out from the pain, although this made Allen's job easier and he continued moving Kisho's arm, trying hard to set the bone. A few minutes later the exorcist was beginning to give into the panic welling inside him, since he had no idea if he was setting it right, when suddenly he felt and heard a slight click and the teenager's arm finally looked like it was at a fairly normal angle again, though it was still swollen. Holding Kisho's arm with his left hand Allen looked around urgently and saw a pile of twigs a few yards away.
"Hey, Timcampy, go get a twig for me, got it? One that's straight and long enough." The Golem flew from the top of Allen's head, sniffed around the twig pile for a few moments, then bit one in his teeth and shot back to the exorcist who caught the twig as Timcampy dropped it. Setting it firmly but carefully against Kisho's arm, he used another strip of Clown Belt to wrap around it and hold the twig in place. Then, holding the broken arm with his right hand, Allen used his claws to cut the Clown Belt strip and finish wrapping, then tucked the loose end under a section of the makeshift cast. Then he used Clown Belt one last time to make a sling for Kisho's arm, and when he was satisfied it would hold, he cut the strip and supported Kisho as he released the teenager from the tree. He deactivated his Innocence and knelt down, turned, and picked Kisho up so he could carry him piggyback style. Hardly believing he'd actually set a bone with no medical experience, Allen began walking along the forest's edge, keeping his eyes and ears peeled for any danger. But he was also thinking about what Kisho had said right before he'd passed out. "What about my hair?" He mumbled quietly to himself, thinking that if it was still long he could have checked to see what was strange about it.
His hair had been long a while ago, but ever since an Akuma had seen it as an opportunity to grab and swing him around by it, Allen had vowed that if he lived through that he'd be sure to keep his hair short from then on. He had survived, obviously, and Kanda—who had been paired with Allen on that mission—had offered to cut it with Mugen after the mission was over but Allen had of course turned him down and later given himself a haircut, using the transformed claws on his left hand. The downside was that his hair looked like Timcampy had decided to haphazardly chew it all off, and even though it had been a while since that mission, Kanda still brought the incident up whenever he could. The swordsman's favorite taunt in particular was asking whether or not Allen had donated the leftover hair to be made into old men's wigs. Lavi would sometimes join in on the teasing, which annoyed Allen and even Kanda. Since then, though, Allen's hair had evened out slightly and now just barely reached the bottom of his ears.
As he walked Allen found that despite his injuries he felt pretty good. His sprained ankle was slowing him down a little—the thick bandage the Noah had put on his ankle were causing him to walk a little awkwardly—but it was something Allen was grudgingly thankful to the Noah Clan for. They'd put a brace for the sprain and bandage for the cut on his left ankle, and the pain of both injuries wasn't that bad anymore. It seemed they'd also done something to treat the burn on his back from an Akuma bullet, for it wasn't throbbing as much. Still following the edge of the forest, Allen started scanning the area for a town or a body of water. He soon spotted the latter and eagerly walked up to it, moving pretty fast even though his leg was slowing him down. Kneeling awkwardly at the lake's edge, the exorcist looked into the water's surface and gazed at the image of himself he hadn't seen for years.
His reflection looked so unfamiliar after years of seeing himself with white hair and the red scar over his left eye that at first he didn't believe it could be him and thought that he must be seeing things. He was startled to see himself the way he'd been as a kid all those years ago. But gradually the exorcist realized that this reflection was really him. Bit by bit Allen realized that he must have given up on even seeing himself like this again, must never have thought his curse would go away....never thought that he'd be forgiven for what he'd done to Mana. But the lake plainly showed Allen that his hair was brownish-red, and his left eye was now exactly the same as his right; the red pentacle and scar were gone. The only thing of import Allen saw was Timcampy still curled up in his brown hair...it felt strange looking at it and even thinking that his hair was brown, not white, and also that his eye really wasn't cursed anymore. Finally Kisho's strange reactions towards him made sense...Allen looked completely different, and the only person who'd seen him with his original hair color had been Mana....and probably his parents, but they'd abandoned him as a baby and he doubted they'd recognize him now.
For a moment Allen felt dismayed, since without his cursed eye he couldn't tell who was an Akuma, but he suddenly remembered that Lavi had told him most exorcists had to get along without knowing who was or wasn't an Akuma...and Hevlaska had told him not to worry. Allen inhaled deeply, then let the breath out. He could handle this—plus, it seemed a small price to pay for getting rid of the Fourteenth Noah that had almost taken over his mind and body. Even better than that was the fact that Allen finally knew that Mana had forgiven him, and loved him, not because he'd had his brother's memories.
"The Heart fragment got rid of the curse...and the Fourteenth Noah. I'm...back to normal now. And I won't have to hurt any of my friends..." Allen murmured, then jolted when a voice spoke close to his ear, but he quickly realized it was Kisho who seemed to have woken up.
"Wha....what's going on?" Kisho asked, but Allen could tell he was actually more asleep than awake.
"Nothing," the exorcist replied, then stood and turned away from the lake. "I said we should find somewhere safe to stay...if we can, that is. With luck there's a non-Akuma infested town nearby...and I can ask which country we're in."
"Sounds great," Kisho mumbled, and Allen rose to his feet and set off again. Kisho's head was resting on Allen's left shoulder and slow breathing in his ear indicated that he was asleep. Allen sighed and kept walking along the forest's edge, searching for a town while keeping his ears and eyes peeled for any danger. After about three hours of walking, the sun was beating down on Allen and sweat was pouring down his face and his shirt felt damp and sticky. A few minutes ago he'd looked up and seen the faint outline of buildings and was heading quickly towards them, but the next step he took his legs buckled and he fell forward onto one knee. Panting heavily Allen tried to stand but just collapsed again. "That's....it...I need to...rest..." He wheezed, and managed to crawl into the forest a bit until he found a patch of shade. He set Kisho, who was still asleep, against a tree and then reclined against the bark of a tree opposite Kisho's. Timcampy flew around and began flapping his wings in Allen's face and he sighed as the breeze cooled him off a tiny bit. "You're lucky, you know that....always hitching rides on my head..." Allen stretched a leg out and nudged Kisho's shoe with his a few times, and soon Kisho stirred and opened his eyes. "You look a little better than before. How are you doing?" Kisho yawned, then sat up straighter and looked around.
"I feel better—my arm still hurts, but...." he noticed the sling and bandage around his arm, "it's better than before....thanks." Allen grinned and nodded.
"Really? I must have done a good job, then."
"Yeah." Glancing around Kisho asked, "Where are we?" Allen shook his head.
"I don't know, but there's a town nearby, and after I take a rest I'm going to head for it again. Do you think you can walk there this time?" Kisho nodded.
"Yeah, I think so. Thanks for...." Kisho yawned, "carrying me." He finished, rubbing his eyes, but was looking more alert with each passing second. Allen nodded once.
"Yeah," the exorcist replied, frowning slightly in thought. "You still know who I am, I hope."
"You're Allen. But I really didn't know it was you for a while there...you looked strange with brown hair," Kisho commented, remembering. "So how'd that happen? The mark that was on your eye, I mean." Allen answered but gave an abridged explanation.
"I was cursed—the scar and my eye were part of that curse. The Innocence got rid of the Dark Matter that it was made up of. Make sense so far?" Allen asked, and Kisho nodded once.
"Yeah," he replied, agreeing, then asked curiously, "But what happened to your hair?" Allen gave him a look.
"I dyed it," he answered and Kisho raised his eyebrows, then laughed.
"Really?" he asked sincerely, but was grinning.
"No, not really!" Allen snapped. "My hair was brown before my eye got cursed," Allen sighed, holding his face in his hand. "Wise guy..." he muttered, then took a breath and explained, "You brought the Heart Innocence fragment, gave it to me....remember that much?" He paused to make sure Kisho was following him, and saw that the past events were coming back to the teenager.
"Yeah...I remember. I gave the Innocence to Timcampy and he tunneled through the ceiling looking for you. If I could communicate mentally with you, and sense that you were around, I thought if Timcampy had it he would be able to go find you. And I'm glad I sent it with him, because that Noah guy...." Kisho's eyes suddenly flew wide and he grabbed at his heart. "Wait a second...how am I not dead? Or am I still going to die?" Allen leaned forward, held out a hand and shook his head quickly, trying to calm him down.
"You're not dead, and you're not going to die. The Heart destroyed that Tease and healed you." Kisho looked up and took a deep breath.
"You think so?" He asked, sounding immensely relieved, and Allen sighed and reclined back against the tree.
"I know so," Allen replied, tilting his head back to gaze up at the sky. "My Innocence did the same thing for me a long time ago when Tykki used Tease on me. There was a hole in my heart but my Innocence sealed it up and saved my life." Kisho looked taken aback.
"Whoa...and...the Innocence did the same thing to me, too?" He asked in wonder, putting a hand to his heart, feeling dizzy with relief that he was alive.
"It must have...otherwise, I don't know how you're still here," Allen replied, then closed his eyes and was dozing comfortably when he heard Kisho saying his name. Opening his eyes halfway Allen yawned and asked tiredly, "What?"
"Allen....um....sorry," Kisho said abruptly, lowering his head. Allen was more than a little puzzled.
"Why are you apologizing?" Kisho didn't raise his head.
"I got caught back there, and if something had gone wrong, we would both have been done for. I didn't really plan things out, so I messed up again." Allen shook his head and gave Kisho a perplexed look.
"I'm not sure what you're talking about. What do you mean again?" The exorcist asked.
"Well....on the mission with Lavi and Emile, they told me I found that Heart fragment. Later I had the feeling I needed to get it to you no matter what. But if I had given it to you just as it was, then there's a chance it would have just destroyed the Noah....and you. Hevlaska merged it with my Innocence later on and she said that it had become a more stable form but still powerful form that would just get rid of the Noah and not hurt you."
"So....wait, I remember you told me that you weren't an Accommodator anymore," Allen said, starting to understand what was bothering the other person.
"Yes, and that's why, after my Anti-Akuma Weapon was destroyed, Hevlaska didn't remake it," Kisho explained, looking uneasy, "and I knew that I wouldn't be able to help you fight, so I had a plan to get the Innocence to you....and then only have you escape if there was no chance that I could. I thought there was no chance that I could. Didn't I say that before?" Kisho looked down. "You'd have your hands full enough trying to get yourself out. I figured it'd be hard enough without someone slowing you down." Kisho slammed into the ground as the force of Allen's fist connecting with his face knocked him sideways. He grunted in pain but had luckily landed on his left side, avoiding jarring his broken arm. Rising to his knees, Kisho touched the right side of his face where Allen had punched him and drew in a sharp breath as his face stung. "Ow...hey, if you break my jaw, think you could fix it?" Suddenly Allen grabbed Kisho's shirt collar and yanked him to his feet. The fourteen-year-old got a glimpse of Allen's face and immediately went still—the older exorcist looked ready to strangle him.
"You were just going to let yourself die there! What if you'd never seen your sister or anyone else again? Did you think that was okay?!" Allen shook Kisho roughly a few times.
"I didn't plan to at first!" Kisho yelled desperately, trying to get his intention across. "But the more I was there, the more I realized that it would be hard even for two exorcists to get out—and you were the only exorcist there. I didn't just decide, 'Hey, I think I'll get myself killed today!'"
"Why was it so important for only me to get out?" Allen raised his fist again. "Tell me!"
"I didn't want it to end that way!" Kisho yelled, bracing himself. "And I knew that it'd work....I had to do something." Allen shook Kisho roughly, his expression fierce with anger.
"But why'd you want to help me? You haven't known me that long." Kisho looked down, then back up, figuring he might as well tell the truth.
"Don't put me that low. I've known you long enough to want to help you out. What kind of person would I be if I had just ignored you and left you to be tortured by those guys when I was completely able to do something? We're on the same side, so that makes us comrades. If I hadn't tried to help, then I might as well have joined the Earl's side." Allen ground his teeth, and Kisho rubbed his forehead. "Listen. You have a lot of friends, and any idiot could see they were worried about you...." Kisho paused and smirked slightly. "....and I just happened to be the idiot who could fix things. Lenalee especially was worried...she wasn't eating or sleeping for a while." At the mention of that name Allen froze and his expression became uncomfortable but concerned.
"Lenalee...." Kisho nodded.
"Right....and just so you know, she talked to me and Shiori a few days ago and asked me if I could try to bring you back. You know that I did before—you, Kanda, and Shiori—so she was hoping that it would work again. I told her I wasn't sure but that I'd try. Shiori got mad at me, too, because I started talking about letting the Noah catch me in the off-chance that they'd take me to where you were and from there I could try to escape, find you, and give you the Heart fragment."
"That wouldn't have worked. They'd have just killed you," Allen muttered, and Kisho gave a contrite smile.
"Shiori thought so too, but she didn't punch me—she almost bit my face off," Kisho laughed again, and Allen slowly released his grip on the kid's shirt and let him go. "Lenalee was....really upset when you went missing. Like I said she didn't sleep or eat for a while. When she asked me if I could do anything..." Kisho looked down and broke off awkwardly.
"...You knew that she was asking as a friend....you wanted her to get back to normal...and couldn't say no."
"....Yeah," Kisho admitted, scuffing the ground with the toe of his shoe. "People say I let people in too easily, and maybe they're right, but somehow that just might be how I am. I think because I lived with Shiori I could trust people—not so much that I'd fall for anything, but...anyway, I had to change that a little when I joined The Black Order," he admitted. Allen noticed suddenly that it the sun had started to go down and darkness was beginning to fall.
"We should get going to that town and be quick about it—but we both need to watch out for any suspicious people...I can't tell who's an Akuma anymore since my cursed eye is gone." Kisho nodded, turned, and set off with Allen towards the town. A few minutes later they saw dim glows of lamps shining through windows and they hurried, only seconds from entering the town. "Alright, now, an inn...where's an inn...." Allen muttered, quickly glancing around town for a telltale sign that would indicate a place to rest. It wasn't pitch dark but it was dark enough for Allen and Kisho to have trouble seeing clearly where things were. Allen had an idea suddenly and picked up Timcampy.
"Can he see in the dark?" Kisho questioned curiously, wondering again exactly where Timcampy's eyes were, and Allen made a shushing motion.
"Yeah, so I'm going to send him to find a sign or building that's an inn, and when he finds one, he can come back to us and show us where it is." Now speaking to Timcampy, Allen instructed, "Do you understand? Go find an inn, make sure it looks safe, then come back as fast as you can. We'll be waiting right here." The Golem flew upwards out of Allen's palms and after hovering in the air for a few seconds, he shot off and soon vanished from sight. The two boys sighed and began looking around the town while they waited, trying to figure out which country they were in. From what they could see in the dark, the buildings around them looked to have slightly slanted roofs. They could barely make out that the buildings had lots of windows on them, all close together. Kisho squinted at them through the darkness and frowned; they seemed familiar, somehow, but it was too dark to see any more details and although he wanted to move closer and get a better look he knew it wouldn't be a good idea to move. "You keep staring over there," Allen commented, giving Kisho a questioning look. "Is there something there?"
"No," Kisho replied, shaking his head, "this place just seems a little familiar to me, from what I can see of the place."
"Maybe you've been here before," Allen said, but suddenly looked up as he heard the sound of wings flapping lightly, and a moment later Timcampy fell into his outstretched hands. "Find anything?" The golden Golem's mouth gaped open and a faint beam of light came from it and soon an image was being projected into the air. Allen and Kisho leaned closer to get a good look as a blurry image appeared. It looked like something was written on the surface of something else but Allen couldn't make it out. Kisho, however, was looking hard at the writing and mumbling words out loud as he tried to make sense of them.
"Traveler....store....journey....?" Allen gave Kisho a puzzled look.
"What in the world are you saying? Is that Chinese?" He asked, then suddenly remembered something. "Wait, you learned some at the Asia Branch, didn't you?"
"Yeah, and I know what this says now. Timcampy found an inn," he said, looking up at Allen, who looked from Timcampy to Kisho, impressed. "I think I know why this town's a little familiar—I might have come here with Shifu, Likei, and Lo Hua few times...that's when they taught me most of my Chinese...we went to stores or had conversations with people and they wouldn't help me say the right thing, I'd have to on my...." Allen was staring at Kisho with a 'be quiet' look and the teenager stopped rambling, abruptly getting what being in a Chinese town might mean. "We could be near the Asia Branch!"
