As Raimundo gained consciousness, he realised three things. One, that there was a throbbing pain on the back of his head, two he was moving in a cart on a track above what appeared to be an underground city with the two figures in black either side of him and three, he had one question going through his mind. Who is Nihon?
"Where are we?" He said woozily as he swayed slightly where he sat.
"You're in Chikatetsu Machi," Said one of the figures, "Do not ask any further questions."
Raimundo swayed slightly and almost fell down as the cart came to a stop. He probably would've broken his nose if the two figures had not pulled him upright.
They yanked him out of the cart onto a large platform, which lead into a tall building that appeared to be built into the wall of the cavern they had apparently chosen to build 'Chikatetsu Machi'. The two figures were both carrying pistols, which they dug into his back to make him move forward.
Raimundo twisted his wrists as the rope cut into them and looked long the dark passage he was being lead along. It resembled a tunnel dug into the earth with blue lights sunk into the walls, which spread little light over the path they were now walking. At the end was a wooden door. The figure on Raimundo's right banged on the door with his hand still holding the gun as his other hand was clasped tightly on Raimundo's shoulder to stop him from trying to leave. This had also been the one to knock Raimundo unconscious.
"Password?" Asked a deep, mechanical voice from the other side of the door.
"Fuyu." Said the figure confidently and the door swung forward.
They forced Raimundo through first.
"Why have you come?" Asked another masked figure from behind a desk at the opposite end of the dark, dingy and bare room.
"We've captured someone who was caught asking after Nihon." Stated the figure on Raimundo's left.
"Why were you asking after me?" Asked the figure from behind the desk.
It might have been Raimundo's imagination, but he thought he saw the figure on his right jerk their head back ever so slightly, as though surprised, but hiding it.
"I didn't!" Said Raimundo angrily, choosing to ignore it.
"You're a liar." Stated the person simply.
"It's true!" Shouted Raimundo, "I never asked about anyone called 'Nihon'. I don't know anyone called Nihon. For God's sake. I woke up this morning about ten years older than I was yesterday! What the hell is going on?"
"If you were not asking about me then who were asking about?" Asked the figure.
"I was asking about my old friends and my home, nothing else!" Said Raimundo, desperate to explain.
"Whom were you asking about?" Repeated the figure calmly.
"I told you, they're my old friends …" Began Raimundo.
"What are their names?" Interrupted the figure.
Raimundo grinded his teeth to stop himself from screaming at them. He took a deep breath and clamed down before speaking very clearly and calmly to the person sat behind the desk.
"Their names are Master Fung, Dojo, Clay and Kimiko and Omi if you know him." He said, "We used to live in the temple where these two attacked me." He shifted his shoulders angrily before his face fell and he spoke sadly, "I just want to know what happened to my friends, to my home … to my life."
Raimundo noticed that a distinct silence had fallen over the room.
"If you're this 'Nihon' person everyone is talking about … can you help me?" Asked Raimundo.
The figure studied him slightly.
"No," They said quietly.
"What?" Asked Raimundo.
"I can't help you." Said the figure.
"Why not?" Asked Raimundo.
"Because I am not Nihon." Said the person.
Raimundo blanched.
"You said that you were Nihon!" He shouted.
"I'm not. That was a test." Said the figure, "And you passed."
"Oh brilliant!" Said Raimundo sarcastically, "Well if you're not Nihon, then who is?"
"I am." Said a voice next to him.
Raimundo looked at the figure on his right, who put the pistol away, cut the ropes tying Raimundo's hands and turned away.
"Well, then can you tell me where my friends are?" Asked Raimundo.
"Yes," Said Nihon softly.
"Where are they?" Asked Raimundo, almost scared of what the answer might be.
"I'm right here." Said Nihon softly.
Raimundo stared, speechless and Nihon raised their gloved hands and pulled off the mechanical mask. Still facing the other way, they sighed and shook their long mane of black hair down their back.
"Welcome back Raimundo," said a soft, feminine voice that Raimundo recognised and could not place.
"Who …" Began Raimundo, but the figure turned around, answering his question before he asked it.
"Don't you know?" She laughed.
Her hair had grown longer. She was older and fully-grown. Her right eyes had a black leather patch over it and just above and below it were the tips of a thin scar that would cross right over her eye had it been visible. However, her other eye was shining as blue as ever. Her mouth was forming that familiar smile he had been longing to see since waking up in that battlefield.
Raimundo whispered his reply ever so softly:
"Kimiko …""Leave us," Said Nihon, gesturing towards the door.
The two other figures left. The person who had been sitting behind the desk stopped at the door and looked back before leaving and shutting the door tightly.
"Kimiko?" Asked Raimundo, "You are Kimiko right?"
"Of course I am baka!" Laughed Kimiko before falling silent.
Her face hardened as she frowned at him.
"What are you doing here?" She asked harshly.
"Like I know!" Said Raimundo shrugging, "When I woke up this morning I thought I was still fourteen."
Kimiko stood completely still, her good eye running over him, taking in his familiar figure and the familiar clueless expression.
"Kimiko, what's going on here?" Asked Raimundo seriously.
Kimiko turned away and walked over to her desk.
"It's been eight years since you fell into the split in time." Said Kimiko, "You're lucky, some people come out decades older than when they fell in. It seems you can out at the same age you would be if you hadn't fallen in at all."
"Eight years?" Asked Raimundo, "That makes me, what? … Twenty-two?"
"Twenty two and a half." Corrected Kimiko, shifting through some of the papers on her desk, "And still fourteen in heart and mind."
Raimundo watched her continue to look through the papers and scribble notes on them. Even with the loss of her right eye, she was still beautiful. He smiled softly to himself, remembering their childhood.
"Kimiko …" He began, but Kimiko stood up suddenly.
"A lot has changed since you left." Said Kimiko, "More than you could possibly imagine."
"Tell me," Said Raimundo softly.
Kimiko sank back into her seat and gestured for him to sit down. He sat and watched her watching him as she leant back in her chair.
"After you fell into the split, we returned to the temple. It was a retreat. The war still isn't over. For three years we remained in the temple, defending it with all our strength, but we couldn't defeat Chase Young's growing empire …" She took a breath and continued, "We realised that to defeat Chase we would have to create our own empire. Of course this isn't as easy as it sounds."
"And it doesn't sound that easy," Said Raimundo and Kimiko smiled.
"We decided to spread ourselves across the world, gathering as many followers as possible and hiding them under ground. This way we could not only protect them, but also train them in secret until they were ready. My forces are the best fighters in my section." Explained Kimiko.
"Section?" Asked Raimundo, trying to take it all in.
Kimiko rummaged through a desk draw and pulled out a map of the world. There were lines down the map cutting it into three pieces. Kimiko pointed to the piece on the far right.
"This is my section, it spreads from New Zealand to the edge of Africa. My disguise is Nihon." She pointed to the middle section, "This is Master Fung and the monk's section. This section spreads from one side of Africa to the other so that includes Europe as well. They're stationed under England at the moment, but they tend to move around. Master Fung's disguise name is Igirisu." She moved on to the final section, "This is Clay's section. It spreads from the edge of Africa to the edge of New Zealand. The entire world's covered by this system. Clay's disguise name is Amerika."
"No fair, he gets Brazil!" Said Raimundo, tapping the map.
Kimiko put the map back into the desk draw. Raimundo decided to ask straight out, even though he already knew the answer.
"So … what about Omi?" He asked.
Kimiko's face fell.
"We still haven't been able to free him from Chase young. He's still under his loyalty oath." She explained, shaking her head.
"So … he's still a cat?" Asked Raimundo.
"Yes," Said Kimiko, "But we've got two people on in the inside trying to find a way to change him back from Chase Young. They're both part of his 'close group'. The original people to follow him."
"Who?" Asked Raimundo.
"Jack Spicer and Katnappe if you can believe it." Said Kimiko, "Apparently Chase Young was making her work to hard to keep her loyalty and of course he destroyed all the best shops for miles around."
"And what about Wuya?" Asked Raimundo.
"Still solid and still working for Chase. He didn't return her full power so she hasn't got the strength to overthrow him." Said Kimiko.
Raimundo sat in silence for a while, shifting his feet on the ground noiselessly. This was a lot to take it.
"I can't believe this … I mean look at you guys." He laughed, "You're all so professional. It's hard to believe that yesterday for me, Clay and I were making jokes about using Omi's head for a beach ball if we couldn't get him back on our side. I never thought everything would get so damn serious …"
"Sometimes we're forced to grow up before our time." She smiled as Raimundo gave her a sceptical glare and gestured to his new adult form.
"So do you have a special code name for this entire thing?" Asked Raimundo.
"No, we're just 'The Rebellion'. Not exactly original." Said Kimiko, shrugging, "It started more or less when we left the temple and spread wide. That was about five years ago now. At first we were on bases on the surface, but then …"
Raimundo watched as she closed her eye and her brow furrowed.
"What happened?" He asked softly, "I need to know what's been happening."
Kimiko took a breath and opened her eye.
"Basically, Chase Young and his followers massacred ten separate colonies in a row. These weren't even filled with soldiers, they were innocent women and children as well." Explained Kimiko, "Chase Young sent a group of his own soldiers to distract each of us. So Clay, Master Fung and I took our men and went to fight them. When we had defeated them, I suddenly realised that the fight had been too easy. They hadn't been equipped with the weapons the latest soldiers had and their number had been too small to be a main attack. We had won far too easily and then it suddenly hit me. I ordered them back to the settlements and at each one we saw the same thing …"
Raimundo knew what was coming next.
"Death." Said Kimiko, "Almost everyone was dead and the few survivors were too traumatised to tell us what had happened. Of course we didn't need them too, I already knew. So I call up Master Fung and Clay and the exact same thing had happened to them." Her face became so sad it was almost unbearable to look upon, "We had been fooled and it had cost us the lives of those we had promised to protect."
Raimundo nodded in understanding and sighed.
"That was when we decided that best thing to do was to go into hiding. We went underground, changed our names and built new cities for our followers to live in. We've been hiding ever since." Kimiko finished looking down at her gloved hand, which was resting on her desk.
They sat in silence. Raimundo was going over everything Kimiko had just told him. If only he had been there. He could've helped them! Maybe he wouldn't have been able to stop it completely, but at least they'd have one other dragon on their side …
"So what now?" Asked Kimiko.
Raimundo looked up, confused.
"Huh?" He asked.
"Well, either you can stay here in Chikatetsu Machi, or you can go stay with Clay or Master Fung." Said Kimiko, "I'm sure I can Dojo to come and pick you up."
"How is Dojo?" Asked Raimundo.
"More or less the same. He's staying with Clay." Said Kimiko.
Raimundo shook his head and groaned.
"I've got to think over all this. I don't think I can handle travelling right now," He said, "And besides, I've got a killer headache from where you kicked me in the back of the head. I'm presuming it was you?"
"Yes, that was me." Said Kimiko, "I like to go above ground disguised as one of my own soldiers and I leave Yuuji in charge."
Kimiko stood up and went to leave the room
"Yuuji?" Asked Raimundo.
Kimiko smiled as she leaned around the door.
"My boyfriend," she explained before closing the door.
Raimundo frowned.
"Boyfriend?"
(A/N) I hope you're enjoying this. Below are the translations of the many Japanese words included in this chapter.
Nihon: Japan.
Chikatetsu: Underground/ Subway.
Machi: City/Town.
Fuyu: Winter.
Baka: Idiot/fool/stupid.
Igirisu: England/Britain.
Amerika: America.
I chose each of these words to match the information given. For example, 'Chikatetsu Machi' is the name of their city and means 'Underground City'. Plus I thought it sounded totally cool. Their code-names are Japanese for their locations. Baka is just my favourite insult ever and I thought winter would best fit the description of the dark clouds that Raimundo saw when he first woke up in the previous chapter. Anyway, enjoy! Please R&R, luv Becky.