Chapter 47: Reprieve

A/N: Sorry for the shorter chapter. I guess I just didn't have much to write for this particular one.

My motivation to write has begun to come back to me, so hopefully that means I can start writing more often, y'know...

But yeah. I could've had this story finished a long time ago, it's time I make up for the time I wasted.

It didn't take long for us to get back to the Empress's shop. When we got there, though, the doors were closed and all the windows were covered from the inside.

"Uhh," The kid said.

"This is weird," I said, "Well, let's go in."

I opened the door and walked in. My blood ran cold at the sight. I heard the kid gasp quietly.

The Empress, who was very... no... extremely angry, was standing in front of the counter holding one of her goons in the air by their neck.

"Are you trying to play a trick on me?!" She hissed.

"N-no, I'm not, I swear!" The goon answered, clearly terrified. "I'd never lay a paw on your jewelry!"

The Empress was unfazed. "Then why did I find your cat hair on it?!" She shouted as she pulled out a strand of black hair.

She didn't give the goon a chance to answer before she threw them at the freaking wall.

A horrible crashing or crunching noise was heard, and the goon stopped moving.

"Dear God!" I said, trying to keep my voice down. She just killed that cat without a second thought! Like a bug!

"Don't let that..." She said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

She then whipped around to face us with a look of pure mercilessness and malice.

"...Be you!" She hissed.

I instantly nodded.

She seemed to calm down.

"Now, let's get back to business," She muttered calmly, returning to behind the counter.

We walked over to the counter, but my heart would not stop beating rapidly.

That was a scene that I'd never forget, and I doubt the kid would either.

"Well done," She said, "My organization can always use more people like you."

She tossed more cash to me, which I grabbed and pocketed.

"There's a place for you here, both of you, provided you don't... disappoint me," She said, "Still, I hear my little collection isn't quite complete, so get back to it."

But we had other plans...

"Actually... uh... we were hoping to maybe take a small break. Like maybe a day or two off," I muttered awkwardly.

She didn't seem to like that. Her face twisted into a deep frown, which made me extremely nervous.

"I-if that's okay with you, of course," I stammered, "I mean, we wouldn't wanna get on your bad side or anything."

She didn't respond for a few minutes. I stood there awkwardly as we awaited an answer.

"Fine," She said, "You've done well so far, I suppose you've earned a small reprieve."

I sighed with relief.

"You get one full day. One. I expect you both to be back here in the morning two days from now. If you don't show..." She growled.

I scratched my head uncomfortably.

"I don't think I need to explain what will happen," She finished ominously.

"Duly noted," I said, "Let's go, kid."

"Thank you," She said, and we left.

As we exited the building, a thought came to my head.

How would we leave without a Time Piece?

I voiced this concern to the kid, who just smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

We snuck away to an abandoned section of the metro, and the kid pulled out a Time Piece.

She had one in her possession this whole time.

I suppose it made sense, as it'd be kinda foolhardy to go down and just hope you found a Time Piece to get back.

If you didn't, you'd be stuck until you did. Not fun.

She grabbed my hand and raised the Time Piece into the air. It glowed brightly as usual, but nothing happened.

She tried shaking it and whatnot, but it didn't work.

"Weird," I muttered, "Is it because we're underground?"

"I guess that makes sense," She replied, "We gotta get out of here, somehow."

"We could ask around," I suggested.

She nodded.

So, we returned to the main area. I looked around for someone to ask, then I stopped at the center.

There was a circular booth with four cats sat behind it, and a pillar in the center with a neon sign of the four stations' logos circling around the top and a lowercase 'I' icon on all four sides below that.

"That seems like an information booth over there," I thought aloud, "We could try our luck there."

"Okay," The kid said.

I approached one of the four cats, who seemed to notice me.

"Welcome to the Nyakuza Metro Information Booth. How can I help you?" They greeted.

So that's what this place was called? Nyakuza Metro?

That was actually a pretty cool name, not gonna lie.

"Uh, we're kinda lost. We need help finding the way out of here," I explained.

"Well, there's a few ways to leave the Metro," The cat said, "You could take the train at the edge of the Yellow Overpass tunnel, it stops there once an hour. If you take it, the very next stop after that leads outside. There's also an escape tunnel in the Bluefin Tunnel, but it's a dangerous passage and should only be used in emergencies. If you have no other choice, y'know."

Ah.

That answered... uh... more questions than one.

I quickly thanked them, then we took their advice and waited at the end of the yellow tunnel.

Sure enough, after a few minutes a train stopped there, and we got on.

As the train took off again, I turned to the kid and grinned.

"Now this is how you ride a train, kid," I joked.

She giggled.

Sure enough, when we got off at the next stop, it didn't take long for us to find the way outside. We found ourselves back in a big city in some plaza area, lots of flashy advertizing and whatnot adorning the buildings.

There were far too many people around, so we wandered away until we found a little alcove where we return to the ship in peace.

"Now, let's try this again," I muttered,

She nodded and pulled out the Time Piece. She grabbed my hand and pointed the Time Piece at the sky, and a few seconds later we were back in the ship.

I took a deep breath of relief.

"Well, at least there's that," I said.

I sauntered over to my hammock and hopped in.

I didn't sleep. I just relaxed.

I sat there in peace for... I dunno how long, until...

INTRUDER ALERT!

INTRUDER ALERT!

I got up and immediately whipped around to see who came crawling in.

I gritted my teeth and balled my fists when I saw who was standing there.