Warning: Rated for language, intense suspense situations involving children and nudity.
The main characters of this story are based on characters from the cartoon 'Code Lyoko.' I do not own, nor do I claim, any copyright to these characters.
Everybody stopped and turned to where that voice came from. There, standing at the front of the room, was a girl. She was a teenager, and was wearing a pink tee shirt with jeans. The most striking thing about this girl was her hair, her pink hair.
"Jeremie! Over here! I found them!" the pink haired girl gaily called out, almost jumping up and down.
Almost immediately, she was joined by a boy. He looked to be about the same age as the girl. He had blond hair, was wearing a blue turtleneck shirt, docker slacks, and was wearing glasses.
"Great! Hey, guys! They're over here!" the boy, Jeremie, called out.
From the other side of the room, two more teenagers appeared, another boy and girl. The boy was blond also, but had a splotch of purple in his hair, as well as being dressed in all purple. The girl with him had dark hair and was wearing a pink top and red slacks.
"Hi Yumi!" said the purple clad boy as he walked over to where Yumi was tied. He gave the girl a quick hug, then carefully removed the tape from her mouth. When he did, Yumi started to say something, but the boy put a finger to her lips to quiet her.
The dark haired girl, in the meantime, skipped over to Miko. She picked up the coat Miko discarded when she was forced to undress and draped it over her nakedness. The pink haired girl also went over to join her.
"Watch out for the mess," the boy Jeremie called out to the girl. She looked down, saw the body of the dead gang leader, gave a little oh! and sidestepped it and the spreading pool of blood. She went over to Miko, gave her a hug and a kiss hello, and whispered something in her ear.
After warning his girlfriend about the mess, the blond boy with glasses walked over to Hiroki. He gently lifted the knife from Hiroki's finger and gently pushed the man out of the way. He then bent over and spoke to the frightened boy.
"Hi, Hiroki, remember me?" he softly said, "we're going to get you out in just a minute. We've just have to take care of some business first."
All the while, Usagi Nakamura and the other gang members stood transfixed and amazed. These children just walked in, without a care in the world, almost cherubic in their innocence, and were talking to their captives like they just dropped by for tea!
"Stand where you are, or you will face the same judgment as this bitch!" Usagi yelled at the children.
"Yes, Judgment. That's why we're here today," said the boy by Hiroki, turning toward Usagi Nakamura, "but not quite the judgment you think, sir. And Mrs. Ishiyama certainly isn't the one brought before Justice, you are." The other children turned and faced him.
"Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin," said the blond boy with the purple splotch coldly.
"What does that gibberish mean?" Nakamura sneered.
"It means your life has been totaled up, and re-totaled. It has been weighed in the balance, and found wanting. All that you have gained in life you have scattered to the four winds. Henceforth, you shall have nothing," the first boy said.
Nakamura pulled his gun again and pointed it at the boy. "that doesn't make any sense at all! How dare you think you can stand in judgment over me!" His finger began to squeeze the trigger.
"Ah, Jeremie," the dark haired girl piped in, stopping Nakamura, "what did you tell me to remember about this ring-thingie?"
Nakamura turned and saw the girl looking intently at a ring, with some kind of pin dangling from it, slipped onto the middle finger of her left hand. Her right hand was holding some kind of object Usagi couldn't quite make out.
The boy cocked his head and replied, "don't pull it out."
"Oh. Heh, heh. Ooopsie."
With that, the girl took the object in her right hand and tossed it off to the side, to where three of the four gang members had been standing, entranced by the whole scene. At the same time, the pink-haired girl tossed another object towards Nakamura. As it rolled to a stop half way to him, he recognized it.
"Grenade!"
The world exploded blue-white.
This must be some kind of insane dream, Miko Ishiyama thought to herself.
She instantly recognized Yumi's friend Aelita Hopper the moment she appeared in the room. The insanity deepened when Aelita was joined by Yumi's other friends, Jeremie Belpois, Odd Della Robbia, and Sissi Delmas. She was so stunned by the turn of events, she forgot to be embarrassed at being naked in front of them.
Sissi brought her coat over to her and covered her up. Aelita came to her, gave her a hug and kiss and whispered in her ear that everything was going to be alright.
Then Sissi and Aelita threw something, turned and covered her with themselves as the world exploded.
There was a roar and bright, blinding light. Suddenly, all around her came the shouts of, "Everybody Down! Don't Move!"
Someone fired a shot, which was promptly returned by two more muffled shots. Miko heard something drop.
"Get Down On The Floor! NOW!" came the command. She could hear scuffling and grunts and the sound of bodies hitting the floor.
After a few seconds, sight came back to Miko. The two girls stood up from her, allowing her to look around.
Where, just seconds before, there were just Usagi Nakamura, the four gangsters, and the children, now they had been joined by five armed adults, all dressed in black, with black ski masks on their heads, covering their faces. They had Nakamura and the surviving gangsters down on the ground, and were placing plastic restraints on them. Odd and Jeremie had covered Yumi and Hiroki just before the explosions, and had now got up from protecting them. One of the adults went over to Yumi first, then Hiroki, and cut the bonds that had been holding them. Another adult, a feminine one, walked over and released her.
Miko, Aelita and Sissi walked over to where Usagi Nakamura lay bound, Miko adjusting the coat around her as she got up. Yumi and Hiroki ran over to their mother, not caring at all about their state of dress, and threw themselves on her, crying in relief and joy. Miko wrapped them in her coat, a mother bird protecting her chicks.
By now, Nakamura had fully recovered from the blast, and looked up at them with defiance. "So, this is my judgment? You can't even kill properly!" he sneered.
"Oh no, sir, you are mistaken," Sissi Delmas said, squatting down to look at him, "we never meant to kill you. We're kids, for goodness sakes! No, we have something much better in mind for you!"
She smiled at Nakamura, a predator's smile that ended at her eyes. "You're going to spend a long time in jail. I've heard that people who do bad things to children are treated extra special there, isn't that right?"
"Oh yeah, he'll be the belle of the ball," said one of the adults. Another added, "his dance card will be filled every night!"
"It's so sad," Sissi went on, "you look like you had so much, and you threw it all away. And to top it all off, you were brought down by children."
Then, she changed. Her voice was the same, her looks were the same, but she was different. Nakamura's face became a mask of fear as the Final Arbiter delivered Her Sentence. "This is your Judgment, Usagi Nakamura, Judgment-In-Mirth."
"Judgment in mirth?" he asked.
"Think of it as death by humiliation," Sissi said, herself once again, but with the hardness of a knife twisting in the wound, "by the time you die, you'll wish you had stayed in Japan as a bitter, lonely old man."