Chapter 9
The Professor and the rest of the crew were working really hard on the panel board when suddenly the Professor decided to take a break. He walked a few feet away and sat down on the floor. Everyone looked over at him confused.
"Professor…what's wrong?" Assistant Scott asked as he walked over to his leader.
The Professor sighed heavily and then answered. "We don't have the right parts and in order to get them back we're going to have to special order them. They're older parts so we couldn't just find them in any of the mechanics shops."
Shion rushed over and knelt in front of him. "Well, let's hurry up and order them!" She exclaimed.
The Professor sighed again. "It's…not really that simple. I'm not even sure if they make those parts anymore."
Shion's jaw dropped along with everyone else's besides KOS-MOS. The android merely took on the problem herself.
"KOS-MOS…what are you doing?" Shion asked as she stood up.
"There is 65.999 percent of a chance of Gaignun Kukai Jr. and MOMO Mizrahi getting out of the environment change if we connect this device with the UMN." KOS-MOS stated plainly. She continued with her procedure, sparks flying everywhere making Assistant Scott step back.
"But KOS-MOS…how are we supposed to connect it to the UMN?" Allen asked, shielding his eyes from some of the bright light illuminating from KOS-MOS's work area.
"Don't do it. If you disrupt the system by linking it to the UMN then you'll trap them in their current time." The Professor stood up and turned to KOS-MOS with a worried expression.
"Besides that, you're not very sure that your process will get them out alive or not. A 66 percent chance isn't very reassuring." Assistant Scott chimed in.
"Taking this risk will allow more time to pass and therefore will give us the opportunity to fix this problem completely. This is only a temporary fix." KOS-MOS continued.
"At least there won't be a time limit anymore." Chaos said.
"Well…if KOS-MOS is going to do this, I would suggest that we all get some rest. It is getting late." Jin suggested.
Everyone nodded and left KOS-MOS, the Professor and Assistant Scott at the robo-foundry and went to their cabins on the Elsa's main floor.
Jr. was running blindly through the forest. The moonlight didn't reach where he was running because of the dense trees. On top of being blinded by darkness, he had the extra weight of an injured and unconscious MOMO on his back. He was panting harshly as he began to ware down. He eventually slowed to a walk and set MOMO's limp body up against a tree and collapsed in exhaustion. 'Damn…it…I have to help her. I can't just let her sit here bleeding to death…damn it!' He cursed under his breath as he mustered up enough strength to sit next to her. In a few minutes he had passed out of exhaustion.
Jr. woke up to a lightened environment. Though the sun wasn't shining directly on him it was enough to where he could see everything clearly. He looked over at MOMO and remembered what happened. He immediately checked her pulse. It was faint but still there.
"Damn it! How could I be so stupid! I have to help you and now!"
He looked at the wound to see how bad it truly was. Her whole right sleeve was soaked in dried blood. Jr. looked confused. He had never been in this type of a situation before and he never wanted to be.
"MOMO…wake up. MOMO? Come on, please wake up." He pleaded. Jr. became more worried when she didn't respond to him. He lost all hope when her pulse became even weaker. 'No…don't leave me…not now…not…now…' He hung his head as the terrifying thought came to his mind. He tried to think of how to help her, but only one solution came to his mind. He slowly lifted his hand to the arrow and took a deep breath. He grabbed it and quickly pulled it out, blood coming with it. Then he took his short cut jacket and tied the sleeves around her wound, letting the extra material dangle.
"MOMO…" He called as he took her hand and held it as tight as he could. He felt his eyes burning with tears. "Please….don't….leave me." He cried out loud as he looked down at the ground. He knew trying to hide his tears wasn't going to matter, but he was hoping she'd wake up.
Jr. quickly picked up his head as he heard footsteps coming toward him. He set MOMO's arm down and wiped away a tear that had escaped. Soon two figures appeared through the path. Once the two became clearer he only saw one that looked familiar.
"Are you two okay?" Shang Xiang said as she stopped in front of Jr.
"…No…she's not okay." He turned to a dieing MOMO. Shang Xiang put her hand up to her mouth in worry.
"Let's hurry up and get her out of here then!" The man that stood next to her exclaimed.
Jr. looked over at him and nodded. Jr. went over to MOMO and gently picked her up on his back but immediately fell to his knees. He was still weakened by his run last night and the fact that he hadn't eaten either.
"Here, I'll take her."
"No!...I…I can do it." Jr. tried again to get up but failed miserably.
"Jr., don't worry. Ling Tong here is a very kind man. He can do it for you." Shang Xiang said as she kneeled down to Jr.'s level.
Jr. sighed and then nodded. He helped get MOMO on to Ling Tong's back and they all started on their way back to the castle.
Once the four got to the castle they entered through the back door. Jr. followed Shang Xiang and Ling Tong to a room with a single bed. They laid her on it and went to get one of their fellow healers. Jr. stayed with MOMO, waiting for the two to come back.
"Don't worry MOMO…everything will be all right. You'll survive and then we can visit the field…together this time. Hopefully…we will get to go home too…" Jr. sat down at the end of the bed and fiddled with his thumbs in impatience.
The two warriors came back with a man dressed in a strange robe. He walked to the side of MOMO's bed and his hands began to glow as he chanted something in a different language. After the light died, Jr. took his blood covered coat and untied MOMO's arm. The wound had closed completely and only a hole in MOMO's clothing was left.
"Ether power huh? I can't use mine here in this different world but you guys can?" Jr. sighed as a small smile came across his face. "Thanks for doing this for me…"
"No problem. Now we should probably get you some food. I'm starving myself." Ling Tong suggested. Jr. nodded and then looked back at the recovering MOMO.
"Don't worry, we'll be back soon." Jr. said as the three departed.
"That really hit the spot." Jr. tipped his chair back and put his feet up on the table. Shang Xiang gave him a glare.
"Get your feet off the table!" She scolded.
Jr. sighed and did as she said. Ling Tong laughed.
"Looks like you've got your own kid Shang Xiang!" Ling Tong continued to laugh.
Shang Xiang kicked his shin under the table, causing him to yelp in pain. She made a 'humph' sound as he rubbed his shin. Jr. began to laugh but then immediately stopped when Shang Xiang turned a threatening glare towards him.
"Well, I'm going to need you guys to lead me back to MOMO's room. I want to go see if she woke up yet or not."
Shang Xiang got up and nodded. Jr. followed and Ling Tong limped behind them.
When they got to MOMO's room, MOMO was sitting at the end of the bed swinging her feet. She looked over at them and smiled. Jr. ran over to her and sat next to her on the bed.
"How's your shoulder feeling?" He asked concerned.
"Everything is doing fine. I'm just a little bit sore, that's all."
Shang Xiang and Ling Tong were standing by the door giggling.
"They seem like they should be together." Shang Xiang giggled.
"I think I have to say the same. I mean, look at how concerned that boy is for her all the time. It's probably what got them through the jungle and through all the Nanman encounters." Ling Tong stopped laughing and then thought of something else. "It kind of reminds me of you and Gan Ning!" He suddenly was hit hard in the back of the head by Shang Xiang's hand.
"That's not funny!" she turned and walked out the door. "We should leave them alone for a little while." She continued as she pulled Ling Tong's arm and forced him follow her.
"Thank you for everything Jr. You really helped me out a lot. I only wish I could do more for you."
"Nah, I can handle myself. Hey, today's another day right? We should go to the field ever since we didn't get to go there last night." Jr. suggested, standing up.
MOMO stood up with him, her hands folded together in hope and excitement.
"That would be fun!" She responded.
Jr. nodded and led her toward the door. "Then let's go." Jr. looked over to where Ling Tong and Shang Xiang used to be standing. "Uh, where'd they go? I don't know my way around this place yet!" MOMO giggled as Jr. looked both ways down the halls to see if he could find them.
"We could always try to find our own way out." MOMO said walking up closer to him. Jr. turned to her and sighed. MOMO smiled and grabbed his arm and pulled him into the hallway. "This time I'll lead." She pulled him off to the right and made her way through various halls.
A few minutes later they both came to a door. MOMO opened it and noticed that they had made it out.
"I guess you have a pretty good sense of direction huh?"
"Actually, I just guessed." MOMO admitted. She turned to him and smiled. "Come on! Let's go!"
Jr. nodded and they made their way to the flower field that they called their secret base.
Once the two got to the flower field, they laid down on top of the hill. MOMO shaded her eyes from the sun that peered down on them while Jr. closed his eyes. MOMO looked over at him and smiled gently. She sat up and looked at him from above. Jr. opened his eyes to see what was shading him.
"What's up MOMO?" he asked, wondering if there was something wrong.
"Nothing. I just wanted to sit up for a little while." She smiled and Jr. smiled back. He decided to sit up with her. "I still can't believe we found this place." MOMO added as she gazed out to see the whole field.
Jr. silently nodded in agreement.
"Jr…I know I've asked this before, but do you truly think we'll get back to everyone?"
Jr.'s expression turned serious and then looked out into the field like she was.
"I…I don't know. I think …we may be stuck here for a while. Maybe even forever." MOMO turned to him and then put her hand on his. He looked down at her hand and then back up at her.
"Are you sure? I think that we'll get out. I'm not going to lose hope." MOMO explained as she let go of his hand and stood up. She was in a determined stance and the same determined expression. "I think that we can get back even though the keychain doesn't work. We're bound to get back home."
Jr. looked up to her and smiled. He stood up with her and a sudden breeze came by and whipped in the wind for a while.
"Why is your jacket stained red?" MOMO asked examining his jacket. He looked at the piece of material in his hands and sighed.
"I used it to try and stop the bleeding when you were hit with that arrow." MOMO looked at him with a confused look. "I've been carrying it for a while now. Maybe we should go back to the castle and get washed up huh?" MOMO nodded and they decided to leave the field.
Hope you liked it! Oh, and don't stop reviewing either! Pweeasse! I'll die...well, maybe not to that extreme, but close anyway. lol.
Jr. The Red Dragon