Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Sailor Moon, Trigun, Evangelion, Lupin the Third, Outlaw Star, Rurouni Kenshin, G-Gundam, any other Gundam Series, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series, any movies, books, or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required.

The DarkTower:

Anime's Unite

Chapter 9: The Southern Group

The Guns of the Past and the Future

Lupin and his friends walked into the town called Derry.  They were quite surprised when they saw it.  It was just like a small American town, buildings that were anywhere between one and three floors high.  Two lane streets,Stores were open, andthe street lights were already starting to burn, as well as Pine Trees.  There were Pine Trees that were placed all around the town like decorations.  Yet, as the three of them walked in, they were met with very curious looks.

The looks from the people of Derry, everyone seemed so…Lupin himself had a hard time struggling with the word for what described these people.  The only word he could think of was, "Homey".  That could be it, homey. All these people seemed to have this "down right homey" feeling to them.  The men were in jeans, overalls, plaid shirts, and dirty cheap baseball caps, the women in house dresses that weren't anything fancy or anything of the like; just plain, simple and sensible.  Just the look of the women in the town seemed to make Fujiko shiver in some odd way that she could never be sure of.  Perhaps that was something that struck a chord with all of them.

It never quite felt like home, to any of them. Even though they had traveled the world and seen so many places. It always felt like home in a way, but not this place.  Everything seemed so weird to them.  Lupin and Jigen didn't exactly get a whole lot of oddball looks from the townspeople.  But Fujiko and Goemon definitely did.

Fujiko got her looks from the women.  They seemed to look at her with shock and disbelief.  It was as if they had never seen a beautiful woman like her before.  There was even one woman who had a daughter with her who got a good look at Fujiko.  The mother covered her daughters eyes as Fujiko passed them.

"Don't look sweetie." She said, "Don't look."

Goemon got odd looks from everyone, as if none of these people had ever seen a samurai like him before.  Still, he kept to himself.

"Well, looks like, we've arrived." Lupin shrugged, "Now we just need a place to stay and a bite to eat."

"Yeah." Jigen nodded

"I'll ask this fellow." Lupin said as he walked up to a man who was dressed in a priests robe and collar

"Good evening, sir." Lupin smiled as he shook the priests' hand

"Pleasant evening." The priest smiled

"We're new in town, and were wondering where we might find a hotel."

"Oh." the priest said as he took a good look at Lupin and his crew, "You'll find a hotel just up the street. It's called, "The Elks Lodge", you'll also find it has a restaurant on the first floor."

"Thank you, sir." Lupin smiled

The four of them continued up the street and to "The Elks Lodge".  There they saw it.  It was a three story building that seemed to be made entirely out of logs.  As well as small windows that seemed to open upward.  They looked in through the windows and saw the restaurant as the only means to enter it.  They saw the bar as well as tables and booths were people were eating.

"Well, this is the place." Lupin said as he opened the door, it opened with the ring of a bell.  In an instant the noise and commotion stopped in the room as men, women and children looked to the strangers that had just wandered in.  Lupin looked around and went to the bar.  There behind the bar was a man with very shortly cut hair, tanned skin, and a little bit of stubble on his face from not shaving for a day or so.

"What can I do for you?" The bartender asked

"We would like to request some lodging." Lupin asked

"You mean you want a room?" The bartender asked

"I think that's the general idea."

"I have a few rooms with twin beds if you like. Or maybe four singles?"

"Two rooms with twin beds, thanks."

"Alright, then." The bartender said as he went to a small corkboard that had a few keys on them. He brought them over to Lupin and handed it to them.

"I'll need 100 dollars for a safety deposit."

Lupin reached into his wallet and pulled out one of the 100 dollar bills that was pulled out of that casino in Monte Carlo.  It was a good thing that they had US dollars in there, Lupin thought. Or we'd be screwed…

"In the meantime." Lupin said as he tucked away the keys into his pocket, "We'd like a few drinks."

"What'll you have?" The bartender asked

"Beer for me." Lupin said as he took a seat at the bar

"Make that two." Jigen said as he sat down

"Make that three." Fujiko said resting her tired and sore feet on the cool steel of the footrest.

"Ok, three beers." The bartender said as he took out three mugs, "And what'll you have stranger."

He refereed to Goemon

Goemon simply said, "Sake."

"What's Sake?" The bartender asked

"Water then." Goemon changed his order

The four of them drank in mid silence as the noise of the bar continued

But Lupin had to know something.

"Hey, Mister." he asked the bartender

"Yeah?" The bartender asked
"What is this land called?"

"This land?"

"Yeah, what'd you call this land where this town is located?"

The bartender gave him a very strange look.

"This land" he said, "Is called Mydar."

"Thanks." Lupin said as he continued to drink his beer
"Mydar?" Fujiko asked as she whispered into Lupin's ear

Lupin shook his head, "I have a feeling that we're not in France anymore."

"Where'd you four come from?" The bartender asked
"Not from around here, that's for sure." Jigen said sarcastically.

"You're travelers?"

"Yeah, right. We're travelers."

"We don't get many travelers through here."

"Why's that?" Lupin asked

"This is a pretty far out town. Most people just want to live peacefully here and have no troubles."

"A noble way of life."

"How boring." Fujiko whispered as she sipped her beer.

The night went on, a little on the uneventful side, aside from Goemon facing a bigot lumberjack and Fujiko facing the leader of the PTA.  So, the way the rooms were set up was that Goemon and Jigen would share one room.  While Lupin and Fujiko would share the other.  Though Fujiko objected to this, Lupin simply went inside the room, lied down on the bed and fell asleep.  He fell asleep without even taking his clothes off or pulling back the sheets.  He didn't even take his shoes off.  Fujiko looked down at Lupin and smiled.   She went over to her bed and pulled off the comforter and laid it on top of the sleeping Lupin.

Yet, she wanted to do one last thing.  She bent down and laid a small kiss upon Lupin's cheek as she took off her dress, her shoes, her holster, and climbed into her bed.  She shut off the lights, while the stars and the glow of the moon shined over the land.

            The Outlaw Six had hiked their way northward, each of them having different reactions to the arduous journey.  Sazuka suffering rather quietly as the soles of her feet began to ache, but that was by the fiftieth mile or so.  Jim was just like her, a real trooper, or maybe just too stubborn to admit that his feet were hurting like hell.  This was especially true for Melphina since she was traveling along in high heel shoes.  Asia was a little more vocal about it; she would mutter how far is the next town? As well as my feet are killing me, except for Gene who seemed determined (obsessed even) to get to whatever was up ahead.

            "Gilliam."  Jim asked the bubblegum pod in his hand, "Can you tell how far away we are from the next town?"

            "You're approximately 3 kilometers away." 

            Gilliam had reported this when all five of them felt a shift in the ground beneath them, they were going uphill.    At first it just felt like a small incline, but then it became like walking up a sharp slope.  The line of sight was already gone when some of them looked up as the green grass covered hill was rising in front of them.  Until at last they had come to its summit and there below they saw a town that spread itself outward from the cup of the valley outward to the hills.  The buildings were tall but not quite skyscrapers that were in the center while there were houses that spread out into the hills some of them hiding under trees like fairies in some enchanted forest.    

            "Let's get going."  Gene motioned for all of them to head down the hill that they were standing on and into the town. 

            Gene was the first to head down the hill with his friends following behind.  All of them as silent as could be, come to think of it, none of them had really spoken to one another since the Outlaw Star had crashed, practically little to no communication among them.  Had this world that they come into reduced them to the level of dumb beasts?  Perhaps, but they didn't need to talk to each other about it for the moment.  All of them were thinking the same thing, but it took someone to bring it out to the open to show how their minds were on the same subject.

            "Hey Gene."  Jim addressed

            "Yeah, Jim?"  Gene asked as he continued to walk onward to the town

            "I don't know about this place."  He voice his opinion, "There's just something that doesn't sit right here."

            "What do you mean Jim?"  Gene asked

            "I think I know what Jim's talking about."  Melphina backed up the young boy like an older sister, "It feels like someone wants us to be here."

            "You make it sound like we were forced to come here."  Sazuka observed with her razor-sharp mind.

            "Not forced." Melphina corrected, "More like…it's hard to find the right word for it.  I think we we're brought here but for something greater as if someone needs out help here."

            "Summoned."  Jim blurted out.  He, like Melphina had struggled to find the right word to describe how they were brought to that place.  Why the Outlaw Star had that tear in space open in front of them like someone opening the door for them at some great department store.  "That's it…we were summoned here."

            "But why?"  Asia asked as if she were whining either from her aching feet or from a very intolerable situation. 

            "It doesn't matter now."  Gene placed his foot down on the discussion, "Once we get to that town we'll ask around and we'll get a car."

            "Why a car?"  Jim asked, "We don't know what kind of money they take around here and we don't even know if there are people around here!"

            "We'll worry about that later, Jim."  Gene said with a very stern look as he continued walking down into the town.  With Gene's declaration, the Outlaw Six fell silent once again.  They were like children whose father had laid down the law of the house and they had nothing else to say about it, until they came into the town.

            On its outskirts, the Outlaw Six had passed a sign that was written in English.  They did know some of the language but not quite all of it.  At least not what the sign had written upon it. 

Welcome to Boulder

A Nice Place to Call Home

            The road into Boulder was only, at first, a beaten down path, or paths since there were tracks that no one in the Outlaw Six had ever seen.  These tracks were two parallel grooves that were spaced equally apart.  Inside them the there was no grass unlike the places around it that were thick, lush, and green. 

            Up ahead the twin dirt paths had led into a paved road, which stretched onward into the town vanishing amongst the trees, hoses, and cars that were upon either side of it with the tree covered hills and tall buildings in the distance.  The Outlaw Six made their way into the town, at first walking upon the black top road, until a car had passed them honking its horn for them to get out of the way.

            The car that had passed them was very strange indeed, because the car looked so old in its design and at the same time it looked brand new with its bright reflective exterior.  One feature that all of them noticed was that the cars were not floating on air as most cars did in the Toward Star World.  What was between the car and the ground were round objects that spun round and round.  No one in the group had seen anything like that, except Jim Hawking.  He saw it as he was reading the paper to pass by the time at slow business hours.  He came across something that a group of archeologists on Earth had found as they were digging.  They said that it was what was called an "automobile", a transportation device that was similar to the cars of their modern times.  Except from what the scientists could gather, instead of running on the jet-like engines as they had, the one that they dug up ran on fossil fuels and used large round rubber wheels to aid in its movement. 

            It all seemed so unbelievable to Jim's eyes, there was something that was up and running in front of his eyes when the picture in that article showed something that was rusted, corroding, as if the slightest touch could turn it to dust.  Looking at it, Jim was already starting to run ideas through his quick thinking mind.  Had they traveled back in time?  Had they come to an alternate universe where certain progresses weren't made?  Such enormous questions without any answers.

            "Hey Jim!"  Gene called

            Jim snapped out of his hazy dream and ran to catch up with Gene and the others.  He didn't want to tell the others about what he thought about it, because being Jim; he didn't want to make any enormous conclusions until he had more information.  Then again it was rather odd that he would go on such intuition back on the hill looking down into that place called Boulder.  On the other hand he did gain some intuition in his growing up.  Especially when he met a young girl with cats named Homyio, instead of thinking with his head he thought with his heart.  Perhaps some of that left over intuition he had was seeping through. 

            The Outlaw Six had made their way into what they felt was the center of the town as each building was taller than the next as they progressed onward.  They did encounter people along the way, most of them glaring and giving odd stares.  Like how out-of-towners stare at people whom they consider freaks that walk the streets of large cities, and yet to the city dwellers, these freaks are part of the scenery.  That's how the Outlaw Six were when they walked past the people who grew in numbers as they continued to the center of the town.  All of them those odd stares as if they had never seen their kind before, especially Asia Clan-Clan with her tail and long ears.      

            Finally, Jim had to say something about their wandering.   

            "Gene."  Jim called

            "What is it now, Jim?"  Gene asked

            "Do you have any idea of where you're going now?"

            "First of all, we need to find someone who deals in cars and then we'll go from there."

            "Great plan, Gene."  Jim said sarcastically, "Then where do we go from there?"

            "I don't know."

            "Ah."  Jim exhaled in his frustration, "You've always been like this.  We're not on Sentinel or on Hayfong anymore!"

            "Well what do you suggest we do?"  Gene shouted back at the young boy.

            As the two "children" argued back and forth, the women of the group tried to wait it out like how people sit through a raging storm that goes on outside their house walls.  It was funny to watch Gene and Jim like that because they really did act like children; Jim doing it with an adult mind in a child's body, while Gene did it with a child's mind in an adult's body.  Yet, there was one girl who felt very strange indeed. 

            Melphina began to feel something odd about the world around her.  At first she only had a vague idea of why they were brought here but while Gene and Jim argued back and forth a new sensation came to mind.  It was comparable to the times when a person feels as though they're being watched.  How that they're all alone in a room and yet there's a presence standing right behind them and the only thing that'll confirm it is to look around and see. 

            That is what Melhpina did; she turned around and looked across the street.  Past the cars, trees, and people walking along the sidewalk, she saw what was nagging at her.  The sensation of someone watching her as the sounds of the spat of Gene and Jim were drowned out like hearing a loud noise while being submerged in water.  She saw a store, a watch store.  Melphina had seen these types of shops on Heyfong, they were the kind of places that sold nothing but clocks, watches, and other miscellaneous time pieces.  She looked into the window and saw those glass display cases filled with watches all of them telling the wrong time and waiting for the right owner with people working behind them, serving customers and servicing watches.   

Then her eyes looked to the shops right and there was something that had escaped Gene and Jim's attention like a detail so obvious that it seemed inconsequential.  Beyond the tree branches she saw white strings that had triangular colored pieces of plastic hanging from them as they traveled from the telephone poles to the central building.  She looked down around its base and there were cars, a dozen perhaps two all of them with English numbers painted into their window.  That's when Melphina had found a sign that she understood completely. 

Ford Smith's Used and New Car Dealership

The next morning each member of the Lupin crew woke up more relaxed than before, even though the gravity of this whole situation was so odd to them.  Being in such a place that they had never heard of and in a town that seemed like it was out of the 1950's.  Still, each of them tried to continue on with what was going on.  Each of them showered, though Fujiko was a little paranoid about it.  For a while she wouldn't set foot in the bathroom.  Who could blame her?  The only way to get her in was mostly left up to Lupin. 

As she stood at the doorway in her underwear she continued to say, "I'm not going in there."

"In that case." Lupin said in a very sexy voice

He laid his hand down Fujiko's panties.

She jumped and slapped Lupin.

"Alright, I'll go in."

She went in and showered.

Lupin rubbed his cheek, "Glad I could help." He muttered to himself

The four of them left the Elk's Lodge, and saw what a bright an sunny day it is.

"What do we do now, Lupin?" Jigen asked as the four of them stood on the sidewalk of the Elk Lodge.

"Well, I say we continue our journey north." Lupin said

"Not walking." Fujiko moaned, "Please Lupin, let's not walk."

"I couldn't agree more, Fujiko." Lupin smiled, "But we've got to find a car dealer."

As the four of them walked through the streets of Derry, Lupin found that same man he ran into yesterday...the priest.

"Good day to you." Lupin smiled as he shook the priests' hand

"Good morning to you, sir." The Priest said

"I didn't get your name last night."

"Father Callahan." The priest replied

"Well, Father Callahan." Lupin smiled, "I'm sorry to trouble you again...."

"No worries, it is my duty to help those in need."

"In that case, do you know where we can find a Car dealer?"

"Oh yes." Callahan smiled, "Just up that road there." he pointed down a street, "You'll find Crazy Eddies Cars. He's a good dealer with a silver tongue."

"Don't worry." Lupin smiled, "I have a silver tongue as well."

"Good luck to you..." Callahan paused, "I didn't catch your name either."

"My name is Lupin, Arsene Lupin the 3rd."

"Good luck to you, Mr. Lupin." Callahan smiled as he continued to walk
"Nice guy." Fujiko said slightly shocked, "too bad he's a priest."

"He may be a priest." Jigen said, "But I don't think that makes him a saint."

"Neither are we." Lupin said, "Let's get going."

As the four of them continued onward, they passed by an old Antiques shop.  Lupin, Goemon, and Jigen all kept going onward, but Fujiko was the one that stopped.  It was almost like passing by a jewelry store that was practically giving away all of its wears.  For there was something in the window that caught Fujiko's eyes, but it wasn't any piece of jewelry that could be made.  It was so simple that Fujiko felt almost floored by even looking at it. 

In the display shelf that looked out onto the street of Derry, there was a wooden cup.  Surrounding it were other beaten up old items, like typewriters, candlesticks, and lamps.  Yet, it was that wooden cup that drew Fujiko's eyes. 

She went inside.  Opening the door that sent out a jingle of the bells that were connected to the door and she closed the door behind her looking around at the tables and shelves filled with old objects that would hold some worth to someone with the right eyes and wants. 

From behind the wooden counter came a tall, lanky, and scruffy looking man who was roughly in his forties.  He came up to the beautiful Fujiko and smiled showing that he was missing most of his front teeth.

"Good day, miss."  He said very politely, "What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering about that wooden cup you have in the window there."  She pointed back to the display window where she saw it.

"Hmmm, that old thing?"  The store owner asked, "That's been in this shop since my grandfather owned this place.  We've been trying to get rid of it for years and no one has wanted it until now."

"How much do you want for it?"  Fujiko asked, it seemed so incredibly unusual for her to want something so beaten up and old like that, but something inside her wanted it.  Almost like an impulse or an itch that she desperately wanted to scratch with all her life. 

"I tell you what, miss."  The man smiled showing that gap in his smile, "Since you're the only one who has shown any interest in it, I'll give it to you for free."

"Really?"  Fujiko asked

"Yes."  The man smiled as his beady little eyes looked up and down Fujiko's body, "It really has been a long time since my eyes have seen such a beautiful lady such as yourself."

"You flatter me very much, sir."  Fujiko blushed

"I'll get the cup."  He waddled over to the display window and carefully pulled the cup away from its place.  He took it to Fujiko and placed it in her hands like a knight bringing back his lady the Holy Grail itself. 

Fujiko looked it over, it truly was a wooden cup.  It had that deep brownish color that only oak would have.  Though the deep brown was somewhat obscured by the thin later of dust that caked it.  She blew the dust away sending out a cloud of it through the store like cigarette smoke.  Inside it she saw gold, a shimmering layer of gold within the cup itself.

"What's the story behind this one?"  She asked as she looked at it. 

"The story goes" the owner began, "was that my grandfather found it by the river one day while he was fishing.  He tried to find someone who wanted it or someone who had owned it before, but no one had owned it or wanted it.  So he brought it to his father's antique shop where it has remained until this very day.  The unusual thing about it is that a lot of my family members have lived to be very old between that generation and this one.  By about fifty or so more years to their lifespan, but I just think that it's probably something in the water."

Fujiko took the cup in her arms and bowed to the store owner, "Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome, beautiful miss…"

"Fujiko."  She corrected, "Fujiko Mine."

"I hope that you enjoy the cup, Fujiko."  The store owner said as Fujiko left the shop.    

She looked up the road where the rest of the Lupin crew were walking and she dashed in her high heel shoes as best as she could to them.  Eventually she caught up with them slightly out of breath.

"Hey, Fujiko."  Jigen asked, "Where were you?  And what the hell is that beat up piece of junk there?"

Lupin's attention was caught and he looked back, "Where did you get that, Fuji?"

"I got it at an old antique shop back there."  Fujiko explained, "The store owner was so grateful that someone was interested in it that he gave it to me for free."

"Looks more like a beat up piece of firewood if you ask me."  Jigen joked

"No way."  Fujiko refuted, "This thing is not going into any fire at all."

"Hmmm," Goemon observed, "For someone who held jewels in high regard you seem to have developed a deeper attachment to that wooden cup than to any diamond on Earth." 

"Yeah, Fujiko."  Lupin agreed, "What gives?"

"I can't explain it, Lupin."  Fujiko tried, "I felt that I just needed it."

The four of them continued to walk up the street and there they saw a lot that was filled with cars.  While above it from street light to street light there were colorful banners waving in the wind.  As the four of them came in they looked at the cars.  Within a matter of seconds, the car dealer came out.  He was a rather short balding little man, with a small mustache and beady little eyes as he wore an awful yellow plaid suit.

"Hi!" he said loudly, "I'm Eddie, what can I do you for?"

"We're here to look at cars." Lupin smiled

"Is there anything you're looking for?" the dealer said with a smile

"Nah." Lupin said as he cupped his chin, "we're just looking."
"Ok. If you're interested in buying, let me know."

The dealer turned back and went to the trailer at the back of the lot that was no doubt his office.

"Lupin, I thought we were getting a car." Jigen said

"You should know me better than that." Lupin smiled, "I never pay for anything, at least hardly anything.  Why pay, when you can steal, right?"

Lupin reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device that looked something similar to a Swiss army Knife.

"Wait, Lupin." Fujiko said, "I think I have a better idea."

"Oh, I know you do, Hon." Lupin smiled, "what is it?"

"I'll just get the key from the dealer."

"Alright, but first let's pick something."

Lupin surveyed the scene, all he saw were family like cars, SUV's, and other types.  He didn't see anything that was to his taste....Until....There at the very corner of the lot was a car that he liked already.  It looked just like the car he had.  Except it was candy apple red, just like the jacket he wore.  It shimmered in the light of that morning with its top down and its seats were so inviting to the thief.

He pointed to it, "That one." He said

"Alright." Fujiko smiled as she placed the cup she bought from the antique dealer on the front passenger seat as she prepped herself.  She squeezed her breasts making sure that they were fully forward and that the dress had exposed them just enough for any simple minded man.  Seeing that she was as sexy as ever she walked her way to the office her hips swinging from side to side as she approached.  She walked into the office seeing Eddie in his desk shooting rubber bullets at a small target pinned up on his wall, along with a calendar girl either from Sports Illustrated or Playboy magazine.

"Hi, hi, hi!" Eddie smiled rubbing his hands together like he did when he smelled a sale coming on.

"I'm interest in that car on the corner." Fujiko said as she leaned forward allowing Eddie to get a very full view of her breasts in her low U-cut dress.  Eddie's eye grew wide with hunger, but then he snapped himself out of it and looked at the car at the corner of his lot.

"Oh that one." He said

"The Mercedes Benz." Eddie smiled, "She's a very fine car, and you do have good taste."  Eddie took out the keys for it from one of his desk drawers.  There weren't that many keys; then again there weren't that many cars to keep track of in his lot.  He took them out, Fujiko laid her eyes upon them, but then she leaned even farther forward.  Her forearms squeezing against her breasts as Eddie's eyes grew even more distracted.

"Uh...." He said as he was distracted but snapped out of it, "Would you like to take it for a test drive?"

Fujiko waved her finger from left to right, "Oh, no." She said, "I'm interested in something with a little more power."

She walked around the desk, Eddie watched her swing her body back and forth.  He couldn't take much more of this visual arousal.  Fujiko sat down in his lap but kept herself looking straight forward at him.  She hugged his chest close her bosom.  Eddie couldn't take it anymore, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her closer.  While Fujiko's right hand went for the keys that were lying on his desk. She slipped them down her bra, keeping Eddie distracted with her feminine wiles.

"You're a hungry one." She said to Eddie

"I haven't had a woman in years, not since my third divorce." Eddie said like a therapist patient begging for medication.

"Oh." Fujiko said with such deep sympathy, "You poor baby."

She got off of Eddie's lap and ran her fingers across his chin.  She knew that she got him excited already with how much he was shaking with goose bumps.  "But not now" She said, "I'll go tell my friends about the test drive."

"Ok." Eddie said as he propped up his hands and placed his chin into them and watched Fujiko leave.

He watched with his still hungry eyes looking at her wonderful figure. Not like most of the women in Derry, this woman was a real woman.  As Fujiko left, she was the only thing on his mind.  He didn't even notice that the keys for the Mercedes Benz were gone from his desk.  Outside, Fujiko reached down deep into her bra and pulled out the car keys.  She came up to Lupin and the others who were standing around it, waiting.

"So how did it go, Fuji?" Lupin asked with a wink

Fujiko swung the keys around her index finger, "It was about the easiest job I had ever pulled. That man was easier than you, Lupin."

"Easier than me?" Lupin asked surprised, "I never thought anyone could surpass me."

Fujiko handed the keys to Lupin and the four of them got in as Lupin started up his new ride.  The engine roared and sent a nice vibrating feeling all through his body.  Fujiko came in and sat right beside him while Jigen and Goemon sat in the back.  As Lupin started up the car they heard Eddie come out of his office screaming.

"Police! Police! Thieves! They stole the car!  Stop Thief!" He continued to scream

"I don't think so old man!" Lupin grinned as he set the car into first gear and floored the gas pedal.  The car took off like a rocket down the street.  They took several turns before Lupin saw that they were heading north once again.  They past the Elk Hotel on their way out on the main street of Derry and passed by the sign on the north side of town that read:

You are now leaving, Derry.

Come back soon and drive carefully.

The candy apple red Mercedes Benz drove expeditiously past the sign as Lupin and his friends drove north.

"You're right Fujiko." Lupin laughed "That was too easy."

"It was like taking candy from a kid." Fujiko winked at Lupin in her very sexy way as she took the cup that she got at the antique shop and held it close to her as if it were more precious than any diamond or jewel she ever had.  As she held onto her prize she watched the road and the scenery pass them by with the wind blowing in her hair.  Up ahead she saw a green road sign that read:

Rachel                        200 mi.

            "Gene."  Melphina called

            Gene never answered as he was still in the heated debate with Jim like those men on the news channel debating current issues, always interrupting each other and taking low blows at one another's character. 

            "Gene!"  Melphina shouted

            Both Gene and Jim halted in their conversation like someone slamming down on the breaks of a race car.  The two of them had quickly set their argument aside and set their sights upon Melphina. 

            "What is it, Mel?"  Jim asked

            "Look."  She pointed across the street. 

            Sazuka gave a sharp giggle as she joined in with the others in looking across the street.

            "Hey, what the hell's so funny?"  Gene demanded

            Sazuka stopped her giggling and said, "It's amazing to me how you two can argue so much and not see the things around you.  That's what I find so amusing about both of you."

            Gene uttered something under his breath that Sazuka had allowed to slide.  After all she did have certain feelings for him.  Even though Gene was more romantically involved with Melphina, Sazuka still had them.  In a way she did admire him, after all it was because of him that she had missed her only assassination.  It was the one that involved Gene's investor, Fred Lowe.  Even in a duel she had with him, Gene somehow managed to win by knocking her wooden sword out of her hand as well as pulling off her red sash that kept her dress on her body. 

            "Well, let's go."  Gene called out to his crew as they walked across the street making sure that there were no cars coming in either direction.  In making their journey across the street, only four of them went straight to the dealer, but Melphina had stopped at that watch shop.  She leaned against the window pressing her forehead against it and looking in at all the wondrous watches and clocks.  In the display cases there were so many different designs, shapes, colors, like all those clothes and shoes in department stores. 

            Up ahead, Jim Hawking turned around to find Melphina leaning against the window of the shop they had passed.  Jim never quite knew what was in that store, nor did he care because there were bigger things to take care of.

            "Hey, Melphina" He called to her, but the Outlaw Star navigator never budged, never moved from that spot. 

            Frustrated, Jim marched over like a three-year-old kid having a tantrum and said, "Melphina, come on.  We got things to do." 

            Melphina turned and looked down at Jim.  The look she had in her eyes frightened the boy for a moment.  The look she had was like the eyes of all those countless drug addicts that lived on the streets of Sentinel.  They were the ones who sought to escape the horrors of reality through something that came in a tube, a plastic bag, or a needle.  Melphina had that same kind of stare, a dreamy kind of stare as if she had eaten or smoked something that she shouldn't have. 

            "There's something I must do in here."  She said as she left Jim's company and walked into the store.  Jim on the other hand felt very confused indeed.  Melphina was never one to do something like that.  Of course there were times as he and the Outlaw Six were searching for the Galactic Leyline when she came into contact with things that she couldn't explain.  Things that dealt with her own identity and the reason for her being.  So, Jim decided to stay and watch from the sidewalk as Gene took care of the car and Melphina was inside the store. 

            Inside the watch shop, Melphina walked in looking around at the wall clocks, grandfather clocks and the countless watches underneath the glass cases.  She did it not in the way that she did when she went shopping on that one occasion with Jim.  It was in a more dream-like state, how everything in peripheral vision is blurry and the hands move in the same dream like state.  They were moving but the mind wasn't thinking of moving them in the first place.  

            "Can I help you miss?"  The man behind the counter asked

            Melphina looked to him and shook her head. 

            The clerk who asked this question to Melphina had that same disturbed feeling as Jim did when he looked into Melphina's eyes.  He didn't say that customary reflex of let me know if you need anything, instead he turned and went back to what he was working on.       

            For Melphina, in her dream state she was looking around at the watches.  Her sights were not set upon the wall clocks or the grandfather clocks.  For some reason she felt pulled, to something somewhere under one of those glass cases.  She passed by the children's watches, the women's watches, digital watches, and finally the men's watches.  Among the terrain of steel bands, digital faces, analogue faces, and name brands, Melphina's vision began to narrow.  Among them, only one watch stood out the most, like the brightest star in the sky.  She came closer to it and looked even closer. 

            The watch that her vision narrowed in on was just a simple metal band watch, but there was something more elegant on its face that made it stand out among the other watches.  Instead of an analog or digital face like the others, its face was a metal plate that completely covered the face.  Upon it there was a great Chinese dragon that snaked its way from the bottom to the top, showing off its scales, claws, tails and whiskers.  Yet, it was below the tail that there was the word PULL and Melphina's mind was still sharp in that she felt it was silly to sell a watch that doesn't tell time.  She placed her hands on the glass and looked further down into it seeing how the metal gleamed under the fluorescent lights. 

            Then the dream like state seemed to wear thin as if she were waking up.  Her vision became clear as she asked for the salesman.

            "Excuse me, sir."  She called, "How much is that watch?"

            The salesman came over and pulled the watch out that she was pointing to.  "Hmm" He said like a jeweler looking at a very prominent diamond, "This watch we've had for a very long time you know.  So it's kind of an antique, wouldn't you be happier with something new."

            "No."  Melphina shook her head, "That's the one I'd like, but unfortunately I don't have any money."

            The salesman scratched his head, "Then that'll be a problem."

            Melphina looked down and at her ankle she saw that bracelet she had.  It was something that she had from her previous dress, the blue serape over her suit.  A dress that she lovingly called, "My Blue Period", that was until she came to the Galactic Leyline and met…herself.  The part of her that was the Maiden of the Leyline and after that it changed her indefinitely, she became a happier person, and she even changed her dress.  It became the one she wore on that day, that red outfit that didn't hide her figure like the blue serape did.  Yet, she still kept that ankle bracelet.  It was gold, she knelt down and took it off, she came straight back up and handed it to the salesman.

            "Will you trade it for this?"  She asked like a child hold up a handful of pennies to buy candy. 

            The salesman smiled, took the ankle bracelet, and gave Melphina the watch, "Here dear, enjoy it."

            "I will."  Melphina smiled greatly as if it was the birthday gift that she had been waiting her whole life for.  She slipped it on, looked at it as she headed out to the streets where she headed to the car dealership. 

            It was at the dip where the sidewalk meets the road where Melphina found a car.  It was a very angular looking one that had a red stripe going down the middle.  It was a convertible because it had the top down and inside Melphina found the rest of the Outlaw Six. 

            "Hey, Mel!"  Jim smiled, "Looks like we got ourselves a car."

            Gene was sitting at the wheel with the passenger seat next to him vacant and Jim, Asia, and Sazuka sitting in the back.  Looking at the car from front to back and seeing the passengers in it as well as Jim smiling, she knew right away that something must have gone right.  She grinned as she got into the passenger seat. 

            "What happened?"  She asked as Gene drove the car onto the street

            "Well, here's how it happened."  Jim explained, "We go in and we tell the guy that we need a car but we have no money to pay for it.  The guy I swear is like Fred Lowe in so many ways, just ridiculously happy.  He took one look at Gene and said he had a good feeling about us and he told us to take any car that we want."

            "And that's it?"  Melphina asked

            "That's how it happened."  Jim smiled as he lay back with his hands behind his head and the car rolling onward. 

            "That's not all we found out."  Jim added, "We found out what this place is called.  This land or world that we've come to, according to that car salesman he said that this land is called Mydar."

            "Mydar?"  Melphina asked

            "Yup."  Jim answered, "That's what he said."

            A moment of silence had passed before Gene asked, "By the way, Melphina, what were you doing in that shop?"

            "Yeah."  Jim asked, "We were wondering where you were when we got the car."

            Melphina was never one to lie about anything, even though it was somewhat embarrassing, she told the truth, "I was in the watch shop next store."

            "A watch shop?"  Asia asked

            "Yes."  Melphina smiled, "And I got this."  She showed off her watch to the Outlaw Six

            "Kind of an odd model."  Sazuka gave her opinion

            "I like it."  Melphina smiled as the car passed by a sign that read:

Now Leaving Boulder

Have a Nice Day

            "Where are we going from here Gene?"  Jim asked

            "I don't know."  Gene answered his tone sounding very, very serious, "Somehow I think we should head north."

            When Gene mentioned that Melphina felt it too, it was the same feeling she had when she felt herself being pulled into that watch shop.  Almost as if someone was guiding her to that place and told her to get that watch for a reason.  If she was a mind reader she would know that Gene was feeling the same thing.  That same inexplicable pull towards a certain direction.

            "What do you think is there?"  Asia asked, "I for one hope that it's treasure." 

            "I don't think so."  Gene said, keeping his eyes on the road, "It's weird, I know, but for some reason I think that we should go north and I think that we have to hurry.  It feels like we're racing against time."

            "But for what is something I sure as hell would like to know."  Jim added

            "Yeah, I sure don't like this." 

            "For now, there isn't anything else that we can do."  Jim advised, "So we head north and see what we find."

            Only a moment passed before they had reached a road that was like a highway, but there were very few cars on it.  It was as if the road had been abandoned by comers and goers.  Yet the road itself was freshly black with bright yellow paint upon it and the landscape on either side that stretched on and on into infinity.  Until Melphina saw something up ahead.

            "Gene, look."  She pointed

            Closer it came, and Gene recognized it as a road sign and he could read what it said:

Rachel                        200 mi.

            "That's where we're going."  Gene said, "Rachel." 

            "What will we find there?"  Jim asked

            "Hopefully something good." 

            In this strange land that the Lupin crew knew to be called Mydar, two groups were on parallel roads heading north.  None of them knew about one another, the only thing that they knew was a feeling.  Something they could only understand by intuition or as if they were like needles in a compass that were being drawn to something where the poles were.

            On the road to Rachel, the Outlaw Six and the Lupin Crew drew closer, passing by the green road signs with only one destination marked upon them as if it was the only town in this whole land. 

Rachel                        10 mi.

            As the question of what they would find there in the town of Rachel, Gene Starwind had hoped that there would be something good.  That being that there would be answers, answers to his questions.  The questions about this land, why they were brought here, and most of all, how will they get back home?  Then again, everyone in the Outlaw Six and the Lupin crew had those very same questions as the parallel roads had met on the outskirts of Rachel. 

To be continued…