Kerda: Hello, everybody, this is the chapter you were waiting for, I guess, but before I'll start it, I'd like to ask our very own (*music: ta-ta-rada-to-ra-daaaaa) …Kai, some questions.
Kai: Oh, no you don't.
Kerda (*ignores him*): Now, Kai, why are you always so cold?
Kai (*annoyed, but still answers*): Because of the past of mine.
Kerda: Good, another question. Why do you hate Johnny so much?
Kai (*even more annoyed*): because, he's a pain. What's with all the questions, I thought I said I…
Kerda (*cuts him off*): Okay, if you had one question right now, what would it be?
Kai (*really, really annoyed now*): I have two: Why are you asking me all these dumb questions? And why the heck don't you just shut up and start the chapter?
Kerda (*takes no notice*): Right. So, anyhow…
Kai (*angry*): This is what's life like in the news. Nobody can understand whenever you want them to just be shut their trap. I'll start this chapter. I guess, thank you to all reviewers [and I can't believe I'm doing this] and go on with this chapter so Kerda here can stop being a pain, okay?
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~Rei's POV~
Urgh! I have a bad feeling about this. Why is Robert stalling us? Is there something…oh, no! My eyes opened up as the reality hit me. Oliver wasn't on our side, was he? This was a trap, wasn't it?
" You cannot go just like that!" Robert bellowed at us again. Not until you put on the suits I'm give you for the disguises." I couldn't move still. My body froze in shock already, so it took a few moments for what he said to finally sink in. Robert smiled and chuckled. I realized he knew what was going on. I also heard laughter coming from Korea's direction. They knew! They planned for me to be horrified! They tricked me! Twits! Whatever else they are!
I flinched, the bad ideas still floating through my mind. My eyes were wide open still, and for a moment I felt nothing except for those thoughts, but quickly, I felt my pupils become thinner and thinner from the anger that poured into my body. My body shook for some reason and all laughing got pushed out of my ears. I couldn't believe they played such a dirty trick on me! Did they even KNOW how scared I was for the others?! All those people, they could be dead.
" Rei?" Korea's soft voice entered my mind and for the first time when I snapped back into reality, I noticed something hot prick my eye. It slowly slid down my check and before it hit the ground, a hand came up to catch it. It clasped the tear and I saw another one fall from above my head.
" Rei, we didn't mean to do that, honest," Korea's voice was now shaking and I looked up to see her crying in the air. Please, we didn't mean to make you think that. I was scared too. Really." I looked at her in the eye and saw she was telling the truth. Were she and Robert only laughing at the sick idea?
And you know what I did then…
I started laughing like a moron. Don't ask why, I just did. I suddenly saw the funny side of this situation. I don't mind if anybody thought I was crazy at the moment, like Korea and Robert seemed to think right now.
" Rei, calm down, what's so…funny?" Korea asked with a humongous sweat on her face. I stopped laughing like a maniac and wiped my eyes.
" I'm sorry, it was nothing," I said and stood up, looking Robert in the eye. You had me scared there for a moment." Robert mumbled something strange I couldn't hear under his breath. Hey!
" Yes, well, that was quiet…unpredictable," Robert replied, closing his eyes as he cleared his throat. Follow me, I'll show you where your new outfits are hidden."
He, Korea and I slowly snuck into the shadows of the night, covering ourselves up from the eyes of demons that are on guard. For some reason, a moment popped into my mind and I shivered at the thought of using that energy transfer on me again. It seriously does hurt, a LOT!
" Robert, are we almost there?" Korea whispered behind me.
" Not quiet yet, but be on your guard," the man replied. We're next to the ruler's private rooms and they are loaded with heavy security." Well, that certainly sounded safe. Sorry, exaggeration again, ne?
Robert stood behind the corner and looked around first, to make sure it was clear to go, and silently slithered into another dark part of the hallway [like the whole hallway wasn't dark already, he had to pick the blackest places to travel], followed by me and Korea, of course.
" Sir Robert!" a voice from out of the next corner Robert was looking out through made Korea and me nearly jump in the air.
" Yes, Steve, is there an emergency of some kind?" I head Robert reply. I think he was trying to stall for time, giving us a chance to run or hide or something. And I knew we had to take it quickly…
~Normal POV~
" I just thought I heard you talking to somebody, commander," the green-haired teen talking to Robert said slowly. The other sighted.
" Steve, you do know your job, right?" he closed his eyes. Your concern is not for whether I talk to somebody or not, but to guard the main corridors." Steve just listened to him carefully without a sound until the purple-haired man finished and opened his eyes.
" But, Sir Rob…"
" Don't but me, Steve, you know I don't like comments or arguments, especially coming from my best soldiers," Robert didn't give him a chance to finish. Do you understand?" Steve knobbed, but then decided to try again.
" But commander, I was positive I picked up an enemy signal from this location," he said while the other listened. And I'm sure I heard you talking to somebody a few seconds ago."
" Steve, are you trying to imply I would betray our ruler?" Robert gave him a dark look. Well, if so, I can reassure you, I wasn't in any kind of contact with anybody a few moments ago." Steve looked a bit lost, not daring to raise his face to look at the angered Robert.
" That's not what I'm trying to say, I know you're loyal to the town and its people, sire," he said, finally looking at Robert's face.
Even though his expression didn't show it, Robert was thinking about what one of his army men said.
The fact is Steve, he thought smugly. I am helping this place. I'm helping everybody realize their mistakes here and correct them while it's still not too late.
" I see," Robert turned his back to the teen, calmly starting to walk around the corner, hoping Rei and Korea hid a long time ago. Well, go ahead with your job." Steve thought for a moment.
" Yes, Robert, but before I do go," he ran past the stunned Robert to the corner. I may have a look around here." Oliver's face seemed calm, but you could feel the worry growing through his body. The only hope now was that the other two with him already hid themselves. If not, then…
" Let's see," Steve quickly ran out around the corner, as if hoping to catch somebody off guard. Huh?" He was quiet surprised when he saw nothing there. Confusion filled him as he looked around for any means of cover, like a statue or something. Nothing.
But to Robert, it was a relief to find that Korea and Rei had time to hide, even if it meant running from here. As for Steve, the guy didn't seem to be able to retrace Rei's signal.
That puzzled the young commander. Steve had a very good sense of nearby and approaching things, so if Rei and Korea were around here, why wasn't he able to pick them up in his mind.
Questions later, Robert told himself in his mind as he stepped up to the still confused Steve and put on his angriest, most serious face. To try and act out the real thing.
" Do you not believe me, Steven?" he asked, putting as much anger in his tone as possible, making it sound like a near hiss. Steve quickly flinched, but stood up as modestly as he could.
" No, of course not commander," he said. I will be on my way now." Good, Robert thought, watching Steven scramming quickly away. A smirk suddenly crawled onto Robert's face as he stepped in the middle of the room and looked up. Nothing but a crystal lamp hung there.
" I should have figured," he said, his eyes fixed on the lighting object. It's okay, he's gone…"
~Rei's POV~
" It's okay, he's gone," I heard Robert's voice call out to us. You can stop hiding now." I signaled Korea that it was clear. She knobbed and we flew off the large, closed surface of the crystal lamp we hid in before the other guy reached us.
" Thanks, Robert, but how did you know we were here?" Korea asked. Robert shook his head as in "wait a moment, I also have a question."
" I'll tell you," he said, a friendly smile now gracing his face. After you answer my question. How did you manage to hide your light-powered energy from one of my best sensors, Rei?" I just smiled in response. Korea also grinned, since she knew exactly how I did it.
" It was actually very simple," I began to explain. I knew if I didn't cover myself up, that person would most probably notice me, since while we were up there, Korea told me she sensed my energy signal from a distance away. So, I just had to push all my energy inside me and lay still for a few moments. Though it is rather hard to keep all the power inside, since five minutes later, it sprang back up again." Robert seemed to be getting more curious by the second.
" This explains why I could only pick up your energy signal some time later after Steve here was gone," he snapped his hands as if he discovered something important. Simple, yet some pretty good thinking. Though…" His eyes narrowed. " It was a rather risky act," he finished.
" Yes, we know," I sighted in frustration. But it was the only thing we could have done, anyway." Robert gave me a quick smile and motioned for us to follow him. To my surprise, he didn't pick shadowed places to travel.
" Sensei," Korea began from behind me. Why are we now walking so freely? Won't somebody see us?"
" No, this hallway is considered too old to be guarded," Robert explained, his back to us. Everybody thinks just because nobody uses it anymore it isn't needed and they all abandon it, though I find this place an excellent secret supply storage." I turned back to Korea and we exchanged nervous glances. It's not that we didn't trust Robert; it was just that someone might come here sometimes without him knowing it.
" Okay, here we are," our guide stopped in front of a blank wall. I glared at it, feeling a sweat at the back of my head. Right, soooooooo…where are the supplies exactly?
I guess Robert noticed the weird way we were looking at the concrete wall. For the first time, he let out a long laugh. This is one of those rare times he actually didn't just chuckle.
" I see my storage closet location confuses you," he said. Good, that's just perfect." It is? Okay, first of all, I see NO storage closet, NO weapons OR metal suits OR for the matter of fact anything else but this blank, gray wall in front of us!
" But…where is it?" Korea finally broke the moment of silence. I mean, where you keep your things." Robert gave us a sly smile.
" They don't call a secret closet secret for nothing, do they now?" he said with one of his rather sneaky-looking smiles. Right before my eyes, something just slid on to the wall. It was a small iron thing with a ball of light behind some glass surface.
" Voice check," some kind of a robotic voice came out. Please state your identity and the password." Robert cleared his throat.
" Robert," he said in a loud, clear voice. The password is: Glaze Castle." The weird little thing made some kind of a small noise and I figured it was trying to analyze the voice. I felt like yelling to it: It's Robert, okay? Now come on, we need to pass through. And fast. And one more thing…what's a Glaze Castle?
" Identification and password checked," apparently we weren't done. Preceding eye scanning." Wow, I guess Robert doesn't want anybody coming in there except for himself. And the people he brings there.
" Eye scan completed," the weird little voice bellowed again. Affirmative. Welcome." With that before my eyes, the wall slid up, revealing a room behind it.
" Come on," Robert motioned for us to follow again. I came through the entrance. WOW! Did I say one room? I mean HUHDREDS of rooms. Korea was also too stunned to say anything.
" Robert, you never told me you had all this down here," she finally managed to get out. And… I thought I knew my house well, I'd never even IMAGINE that there'd be so much behind a concrete, solid-looking wall."
But Robert was nowhere to be seen. It's like he suddenly disappeared. Weird, huh?
" Robert?" I tried to call out for him. If this is a joke, then we're not laughing." Something told me this wasn't a joke. Just when I was about to consider the idea of panicking, Korea tapped me from behind.
" Korea, not now, we need to find Robert," I said. She still went on tapping my shoulder. I…was getting…really…annoyed.
" Korea, could you please stop doing that," I said, still looking for the lost guard. Before I could say anything else, a voice came from in front of me:
" Huh? Stop what, Rei?"
" Korea?" I looked up to see her right in front of me. She gave me another funny look. And the tapping on my shoulder didn't ease. My eyes opened wide as I felt the pace of the finger hitting me quicken. Okay, now THIS is the part where I can start to panic. Okay, Rei, get a grip on yourself and turn around. It's probably nothing. Right?
" Korea, is there anyone behind me?" I asked the girl in front of me. She eyes my face curiously and then came closer to me.
" Well?" I asked, feeling a large lump in my throat.
" Well, I don't actually see anything out of the ordinary behind your back," Korea's words made me feel a little better, but the tapping made me feel worse, so I stayed the same frozen statue I was for the last few moments.
" I see the wall that we went through, some wheel barrels, French swords on the wall, a dark-armored knight touching you with its finger and th…" Korea's eyes widened as she looked at what she just said. A shadow of fear crept on her face as she pointed behind me.
I gulped. Figured. Like I said before, I'm a magnet for walking, talking, MOVING trouble. But this time I seemed to hit the jackpot. Slowly, I began to turn around while Korea froze in place, a frightened look all over her face.
" Ah!" I jumped when before I could fully turn around, a metal hand landed on my shoulder fully. Suddenly, I heard a voice coming from behind me also.
" I'm sorry, did I scare you?" it commended. Robert! I turned to face the metal suit, expecting to innocently see Robert, but instead I saw a dark-faced knight. We stared at each other for a moment before it began falling on me…
….
…
.. ???
Quickly jumping away, the knight crumbled on the floor and I saw Robert with one more of those metal suits with him. I heard Korea sigh and run up to Robert.
" Here, you two," the man picked up the armor that fell and handed it to me. Are you okay, Rei?" Oh, sure, why shouldn't I be? It's not like I never had metal suits trying to drop on my head. Great, here comes more of the god damn exaggerating.
" Err, Robert, do we have to…you know," Korea shifted uncomfortably. I didn't get what she mean, but her teacher seemed to.
" No, you can put the suit over your clothes," Robert smiled. It's especially built that way." Aha, no wonder Korea was so uncomfortable. I put on the metal pants, having a few problems with them. It wasn't as hard as I expected, but neither was it exactly easy. I started to put on the front gear, following the way it looked on Robert. The fastened iron closing came at the sides, the head comes through here, and the arms must come through here. I found myself instantly dressed in copper, all except for the helmet. Meanwhile, I noticed Robert was helping the having-a-struggle-with-her-outfit Korea.
" Robert, where's the top from this armor?" I asked, admiring how it shone in the dim light from the ceiling. The young commander looked up at me.
" Good, I see you're quick with new things," he said, nodding approvingly.
Here, catch." He took a helmet from the corner behind him and tossed it to me like a flying saucer. I caught it in the air, quickly slipping it on. It did feel a bit cold, but it fit perfectly.
" Okay, we're all done," Robert said and I looked down at the ruffled up Korea. They managed to get her outfit on, which kind of surprised me, since I didn't know Robert had an outfit her size. It's like they expect children to join the army at any time.
" Now, listen you two," the older demon implied. While we travel in open places, you have to call me either sir or commander, since that's what most guards around the castle keep calling me." He turned around and to my surprise, once again, this time thankfully WITHOUT the wall-sliding, metal thingy; the concrete wall went up, revealing a familiar hallway. We walked out, hoping nobody would recognize us…
~Meanwhile, some time later where the rest of the people were~
" Where the hell did he wander off to?!" Kai hissed in an angry tone, the other people behind him silent. As if we don't have enough trouble already, Rei just had to disappear." Oliver and Enrique exchanged glances. They both knew that if they did find Rei, Kai would probably want to rip him apart after this.
" Chill, Kai," Tyson said, walking right up to the angry demon. The other instantly sent him a look ready to strangle.
" Yah, Kai, we should hope for the best," Naia tried, but then Kai stopped and took a deep breath. He quickly span around, him emotionless face painted with fury.
" And you be quiet, you obnoxious flirt!" he yelled at her, and then turned to Tyson. You too!" Tyson mumbled something like "okay, okay, shish, grouch!" to Kai and went a few steps backing away from the front.
" Kai, why are you worried about that boy so much?" Johnny became curious, while running up to the blue-haired teen, who growled dangerously at him. It there again something I don't know?" Another low hiss in response.
" Johnny," Kai suddenly became calm as he turned to the red-haired gangster. SHUT THE HELL UP!" Everybody froze and Kai realized how loud he just yelled. There was a complete moment of silence.
" I…I think nobody heard that," Max whispered. They all straitened out, getting back to reality.
" You know, if you like that boy, that's okay," Johnny went on bragging, not realizing that a dangerous lion was creeping next to him. The moment those words were out, he found himself on the ground once more, pain in his stomach. He looked up at Kai, who had his fist in the air.
" Personally," he said. I'd prefer to dump you off right here, McGregor, but since you're no used to me here either, you'd better just shut your mouth and follow along." That's when Johnny also lost it. He jumped to his feet, ready to strike Kai with his fist. Kai indicated no movement.
" If you think you're such a tough guy, then come over here and face me," he said. Kai just gave an annoyed shrug.
" I really don't have time for a piece of junk like you," he said and immediately, Johnny's fist tried to slam into him. Kai jumped out of the way, causing Johnny to slam his hand into a wall, but quickly regain himself and try to get the reddish-brown-eyed demon again. But the young prince wasn't about to give him such an opportunity. He jumped up and pushed his foot at the perfect angle to land a good kick in Johnny's stomach. The other doubled up in hurt again as he shot Kai a furious stare.
" Stop it, you two," Oliver said, running to the two fighting people. Johnny gave him an even angrier look for interrupting. He quickly jumped up and aimed a punch at the French look-alike. Oliver seemed to freeze in the act, but he quickly got out of the way by spinning in a graceful move, making him seem feather-light, and landing on his feet a few meters away from the red-haired gangster.
" I don't usually like to agree with that punk over there," Kai turned to the rest of the people. But if you all don't want a good punch in the head, you'd better stay out of this. It's between only McGregor and me here." Everyone gave him a shocked look.
Fight here, now?! Max thought, bewildered. That's absurd…
They could get us caught, Tyson's thought followed Max's in a pattern.
They need to quit it, Naia thought. Otherwise, they'll cause more trouble for all of us.
" Kai, Johnny, I really don't think you shoul…" Enrique was cut off by the sound of footsteps in the corridor somewhere near them. Everybody, even the two fighting rivals, stopped their talking and listened.
Uh-oh, Oliver thought. This is not good, not good at all.
Before anybody could flinch, to most of their horrors, figures came out from behind the corner.
" Oh, no…" Naia whispered to nobody, just as a thought. The guards quickly turned their head in their direction. The wanderers froze at they noticed there were four of them. Each had a gun in their hand, from which some kind of a foul liquid was coming out.
Kai was the first to react:
" Everybody, get out of the freaken way, those are poisonous, strong acid guns," he yelled as the four guards picked up their weapons even further, aiming at our heroes…
What will happen to the trapped group? Where are Korea, Robert and Rei when you need them? And where did those other angels disappear? Find out in the next chapter.
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Kerda: Wow, things are really heating up here, aren't they.
Rei: You can say that again.
Tyson (*gets surprised and jumps up to the ceiling*): Ow…
Kai: And where did you come from anyway, aren't you supposed to be in this with that freak and my [OC] sister?
Tyson (*still up on the ceiling*): His name is Robert, Kai.
Rei: Umm, yah, I see things got a little…err, JUMPY while I was away.
Kai: They sure have, that crazy girl won't leave ma alone with her annoying questions.
Kerda (*gets angry*): Okay, we'll see you next time everybody.(*curtain closes*)
Silence…
Kerda's voice (*out of the closed curtain*): I am NOT crazy, Kai…
