Hi everyone! I finally got around to this new chapter. My mom grounded me because of bad grades, and didn't let me back on until December 10th. I've been working hard, and I hope you like this new chapter! Unfortunately, it has cursing, so don't read this to any children! (Why would you anyway? You'd contaminate their impressionable minds!) Disclaimer: as everyone already knows, I don't own Gundam SEED or any of it's characters. Enough said. Now let's get to the new chapter!
Chapter Three: Chase
Cagalli was in shock, there was no getting around it. These two were definitely the people who were haunting her dreams and nightmares. Why were they here? And why were they the ones hunting her down? She hadn't done anything wrong. Okay, so stealing that melon earlier wasn't exactly a good thing, but she needed to eat.
She got to her feet, oblivious to the fact that anyone could look up and see her, and walked to the edge of the building. Sweat was trickling down her face, a result of the shock she was in at the moment. She used her keen sense of hearing to pick up on the conversation again, even though she was panting.
The tall man was talking. "What are your names?" The blue-haired boy answered first. "Athrun Zala." The other boy answered after him. "Kira Yamato, Sir." The man looked somewhat unconvinced, but both of them produced their IDs. He looked at them for a moment, the broke into a wide smile. "So, you're from the Earth Alliance? We're glad you came. If that convict is running around, who knows what she might do?"
Athrun smiled. "Yes, we're here to get the prisoner and take her back to the Earth Alliance. Just leave everything to us, Sir." At this, the crowd broke into a cheer. Cagalli gave a cry of pain, which was neutralized by the noise the crowd was making, and clapped her hands over her ears. Dang, she thought, sometimes having enhanced hearing and reflexes is a bad thing. Suddenly, the crowd went quiet.
"There she is!" Someone shouted, and a rock came hurtling out of the crowd and hit Cagalli squarely in the forehead. Stunned, she toppled forward and crashed onto a vending stall below, breaking through the cheap plywood. "My stall!" A man in the crowd cried out. The crowd surged forward. "Oh crap!" Cagalli yelled, jumping to her feet.
There was a metal garbage dumpster next to the stall, so she nimbly leapt onto it, jumping upward to grab the edge of the rooftop. She flipped onto the roof as she noticed the crowd breaking apart to let Kira and Athrun through. She began running back along the rooftops. She smiled.
I have the higher ground, so there's no way they can beat me from down there! Suddenly, a net came flying out of nowhere, wrapping itself tightly around her legs. Cagalli gave a surprised yelp and toppled forward onto the hot stone. She heard Kira's cry of victory. "We got her, Athrun! Let's go get Cagalli!" The two jumped onto the roof, using the same method Cagalli had.
As they approached, Cagalli struggled. The net was made of metal, so she couldn't get out of it. Her mind was going into overdrive, she was panicking fast. Her arms were free, but what could she do if her legs were bound? Kira and Athrun were approaching fast. She gave a roar of rage. "I won't go back to Oni Santoryu!"
In a flash, Dusk and Dawn were out of their holsters. Kira and Athrun drew their own weapons as well, afraid that she was going to attack them. Cagalli smiled. "I don't have bullets to waste on you!" She aimed her pistols downward and began to shoot. The bullets tore through the ceiling as she fired at several places that outlined her body. "Going down!" She yelled, as she tumbled into the house below.
Cagalli crashed onto a wooden table. A knife flipped through the air, coming downward toward her! Cagalli cried in surprise and rolled to one side. The knife thudded into the table. Cagalli gulped as she looked at the glistening blade. "See... And here I thought good reflexes were a bad thing." She sat up. "Damnit! Enough is enough!" She shouted, ripping through her bindings.
In a flash, Cagalli leapt to her feet and jumped through the hole in the roof, through the dust caused by her crash into the house. She flipped over Kira and Athrun's heads and landed on her feet, wincing as her knees buckled slightly beneath her. She hadn't meant to use that much power ripping through the net, but she was desperate and her reactions had slowed. She ran.
Suddenly, a loud screeching noise filled her head, and a horrible pain settled in her leg. It buckled just as she made it to the end of the roof and she toppled into the alley below, bouncing off a rusted garbage dumpster. She landed on her side and sat up quickly. It looked as though one of the muscles in her leg had slid out of place, giving her a killer Charlie Horse. "Damnit! This is no time for my leg to give out on me!"
Cagalli jerked her head up as she heard the crowd coming closer to the alley where she was, which that Kira and Athrun would be here soo as well. She looked around for an avenue of escape. There was nothing. She knew that her leg didn't have the strength at the moment for another jump, and the alleyway was a dead end. At this rate, either she would be sent back to Oni Santoryu, which wasn't an option if she was going to keep her life (and sanity), or she would be ripped apart by the maddened crowd.
"What the hell can I do?" Sweat was pouring down her face. She dragged herself to her feet and, using the wall for balance, scanned the alleyway, looking for some escape route she had overlooked. There was still nothing there. So much for miracles. She thought. She began to half-walk and half-drag herself over to the end of the alleyway. When she reached it, she turned to face the entrance, noticing for the first time that blood was trickling down her forehead where the rock had hit her.
"Well... either way I'm not going down without a fight!" She said fiercely as she gritted her teeth and reloaded Dusk and Dawn. Something glittered as it caught her eye. She turned and looked in the corner. "Perfect." She said, grinning triumphantly.
(With Kira and Athrun)
"Come on, Athrun! She's getting away!" Kira shouted as he leapt to his feet, pulling his best friend up as quickly as possible. Athrun was slightly dazed after falling over and whacking his head on the rooftop. "Huh?" He said as he was still getting his senses. Kira jerked him in front of his face. "Cagalli... getting away!" Athrun shook his head as recognition dawned on his face. "Oh! Right!"
They both ran across the roof tthe edge, leaping into the alley that Cagalli had dissapeared into. They looked around. "She's gone..." Athrun said. Kira looked at him. "Athrun, what do you think she meant by: "I won't go back to Oni Santoryu?" "
(back with Caggalli)
Down in the sewers below the city, Cagalli was sitting, tying a scrap of cloth torn from her cloak around her head to stop the bleeding. It stank down there, but after being locked in Oni Santoryu for two years it was nothing. Luckily, a sidewalk had been built running along the wall, which she had followed for as far as she could drag herself before taking a break.
Cagalli looked up at the manhole above her. "My escape trick will fool them, but not for long." She pulled herself to her feet. "Better start moving, if I want to get out of town alive." Her leg buckled again, and she grabbed the wall for support. "Stupid crap!" She started moving.
(elsewhere, with neither Kira, Athrun, or Cagalli)
In the town hall, a riot was breaking out. Everyone was in a rage from the chase earlier, and things were looking bad. Tidus Strife looked on from a shadowy corner of the room, watching the plan he had set into motion unfold. He chuckled wryly to himself. "I really need to thank the Attha brat when I get a chance." He thought to himself. He looked at the crowd gathered in the town hall. "Or if I get a chance."
The town mayor, a stocky fellow who's name Tidus never managed to remember, was speaking (or yelling) to the crowd. "Are we going to let her get away with this? Destroying parts of our city?" The crowd roared angrily. "She broke part of my house!" A woman from the crowd cried out.
The mayor shook his head angrily. "As you all know, five people have been murdered since she got here. Are we going to let her get away with inhumanly BUTCHERING our fellow townspeople!" Once again, the crowd roared with anger. "Then let's find her! To hell with the Earth Alliance! It's time we take matters into our own hands!"
The crowd roared and began to leave the room. Tidus chuckled. Those poor ignorant fools. They had no idea that the real killer was standing not ten feet away from them. Still, the prisoner of Oni Santoryu, whom he knew to be Cagalli Yulla Attha, made a good scapegoat, and it looked like the townspeople would torch their town to the ground to get to her.
As soon as the crowd had filed out, Tidus left his corner and headed on to the roof of the building. He looked out across the rooftops, his shoulder-length black hair flowing in the wind. He chuckled and began to load amunition into his handguns and one shotgun. "Well, Cagalli Yulla Attha, let's begin the killing game!"
From Chrono21
Hi everybody! I hope you like the new chapter! It seems I've raised a ton of questions though. Like who is Tidus Strife? What is this "killing game"? Will Cagalli get out of town in time before the crowd rips her to shreads? What's up with Kira and Athrun? It's cliff-hanger city!
Anyways, I'll try to get the next chapter up faster this time. Thank you everyone who's reviewed this time. You guys (and girls) are the reason that when I don't feel like writing, I do it anyway because I know you're waiting for the next chapter. You guys all rock and I'll see you in the nest chapter! Oh, and here's the preview of the next chapter. Cagalli is saying it, so don't get confused.
"Damn it! All these murders are going on, and they're blaming me! Even more innocent people are getting killed, and if I don't wrap this up, I can't get out of town! That murderer! Use me as a scapegoat, will you? I've got to figure out these murders fast, before the villagers get me first! The Half-blood Outlaw, chapter 4: Framed. Damn it! Why does this weird stuff happen to me?"