Chapter VI: The Temple

Toronto, Canada

Near the temple, Chinatown

"So Fraulein, how did you get those abilities?" asked Krantz. They are currently walking to the temple, with Mei leading the duo. Some locals who are fond of Mei greeted Mei as they walked, and always, they see the duo as another victim of the temple employees. Some warned them to forget about their decisions. But their only responses were "Never" and "No."

Mei looked at Krantz, confused about his question but as well remembering a question that she had given to them but got no response to. "Before that, answer my question first. Are you from around here? " Wehner and Krantz looked at each other. They knew what to say. They looked back at Mei and said, "No." Krantz soon said, "Your question has been answered, Fraulein, so tell me, how did you get those amazing but horrifying abilities?" The "horrifiying" got Mei confused.

Her panda form is actually terrifying to these two strangers. "Huh," Mei thought to herself. Typically, people find her panda form cute and often want to cuddle with her. But for these two, that's surprising. "Boys. It's complicated." She said. She continued "It's pretty hard to explain the whole thing, but what I can tell you is that it's part of my family history." Wehner barely had any interest in what she was saying, other than more information about the job. Krantz, however, was interested.

"Go on." Krantz said, in his ordinary German accent. Just as things were about to get interesting, Wehner stopped their chat and said, "Is that the place, Eart-*clear throat* Fraulein?" "What was that?" said Mei. Wehner pointed to the temple as she looked at where he was pointing. Yep, they had arrived. "Oh," she said. Well, thanks for talking. Um, what's your name? " Wehner got close to Krantz and whispered, "Don't say your name. Don't say your name. " Without hesitation, "Krantz, Hamprecht Krantz." Wehner looked at him with some shock and anger on his face, but he couldn't do anything and brushed it off. "Ok, Krantz..."

Luckily for him, she didn't ask for his name since they had just arrived at the entrance of the temple. The temple walls haven't changed much since 2002. The red doors are there; the two panda statues that, for some reason, Mei gave them names; and the golden sign that says the temple name both in English and Chinese. But change still has to happen.

Under the sign, it's the temple name but written in French for anyone who's from Quebec. One other change is a donation box that is next to the red doors. It only appears every Saturday and Sunday when the place is closed for maintenance or simply family. Other than that, there aren't any noticeable changes.

While for the duo, the donation box caught their eyes, bringing money.

They both began to have inner thoughts thinking about stealing the money for their funds for the IPhone. "Money. Funds." "Money. Funds." Those phrases were repeated in Krantz's brain. Those inner thoughts were short-lived when Mei smacked her fingers in front of their faces. "Um, you there?" She said Both of them shake their heads to refocus on reality. "Yea yea, I'm focused," said Krantz. Those ideas were quickly abandoned.

"Alright. Before we enter, please be calm and respectful to the manager of the place. She may seem like a nice person on the outside, but on the inside, she is quick and aggressive with anyone who wants to boss her around. "Got it? "

"Got it."

"Great! Now stay quiet. " She knocked on the red door as hard as she could. The trio began paicently waiting for the door to open or receive a responce. Then, the sounds of the door unlocking were being heard from the other side. Mei whispered to the duo to smile. Which they promptly did for some unknown reason. The door opened, revealing Ming Lee herself. She had barely changed since 2002 other than some noticible aging on her hair. Other than that, she's just the same that you would see in the movie.

She stands there and looked at the trio silently, every seconds, she looked at Mei, the to the duo, then to Mei again. She looked at her mother and painfully said "Hey mom... look who did I brought..." She looked at her daughter and softly said, "Mei-Mei..." Suddenly, she yelled with a anger expression, "MEI-MEI! HAVE YOU BEEN FUCKING WITH BOYS!?"

The trio all got goosebumps and Krantz and Wehner looked at each other, wondering what situation they had just gotten into. Mei however, attempted to calm her down. But then even more sudden moments, behind Ming , one of Mei's best friend just popped out of nowhere. "Wait hold on, Abby?" said Mei. "The fuck is going on now..." Krantz said to himself. When an argument is literally going on between a mother and a daughter that you have just barely met but the donation box is left unguarded. A thought that Wehner just had for a moment. Anyways, back to reality.

"What are you doing here?" questioned Mei. "I'm just here to help your mother earn some quick cash. By the way, those two boys you have behind you, *gets closer to her*, they look pretty. " Krantz and Wehner looked at Abby in confusion. Krantz slightly blushes, but for Wehner, he feels slightly uncomfortable. But they weren't the only ones to blush or feel uncomfortable. Mei also felt the same thing, but with embarrassment on her face. "Shhhhhhh, don't embarrass me in front of them," whispered Mei. "Enough chatting, you two. Now Mei, for real this time, who are they?"

"Finally," said Mei. "They are here for a job." She looked at the duo and, happily, she said, "Well, my apologies, come in." "Such a weird family." Wehner whispered to Krantz.

Minutes later...

"Take a seat, you two," said Ming in a happy manner. They sat down in front of a desk with a desk ornament of a red panda on the left side of the table. Next to the panda is a golden sign that says her name in both English and Chinese. Next to the desk is a small table with an old-looking PC that is there for research and job interview purposes. Behind Ming herself are her daughter and her best friend. She only came here just to assist the duo and help them understand their situation better. Her friend Abby, however, was only here to inspect the duo for her growing attraction to them.

"Girl," she whispered to Mei, "Where can I find them? *silent yelling* They look so hot." "At the dumpster when I saved their butts from James." She replied. "On damn, that jackass is still around? Thought he would disappear after high school, but... is their touch still there? " Their conversation was cut short when Ming looked at both of them and said, "Quiet, you two." She looked back at the duo, who had had an uncomfortable smile since they got here. Weirded out, she said, "Ok, you can stop smiling now."

Both were relieved. "Oh, thank you. I thought I was going to permanently smile forever," said Krantz. "Let's begin." She clapped her hands and pulled out some sheets of paper from under her desk and pulled out a pen from a pot that was next to the desk ornament. "Mei-Mei!" said Ming in a strong manner to her daughter. She quickly stood straight and looked at her mother. Like mother, like daughter (If anybody knew what I was referring to.) "Yes mom?" said Mei. "Go to the PC and wait for my instructions."

"On it"

She looked at Abby. "And for you, ummm, just stand."

"Um, OK." She continues to glare at the duo. Wehner got close to Krantz and whispered a compliment to Ming. "I like her style, comrade." After all of the preparations were completed, she returned her gaze to the duo and smiled again, expressing her gratitude to them for coming here. "Ok, *breaths* I. Am. Very excited about having you here. We haven't had any real employees here for months now and I don't understand why. " Both made a soft laugh. "Hahahaha, yea." Krantz added more to his response. "I'm sure that you will find us very useful."

"That's the spirit." She started speaking in a calm manner. Now, before we talk about the main stuff, I want to know your names. Both of you. " Krantz, as calm as he could ever get, said, "I'm Hamprecht Krantz." But my friends and others call me by my last name. It's understandable why. " Wehner, who is quieter and more anxious than Krantz, didn't have any fake names that he had come up with. He sighed, looked at Krantz for a second, and then looked back at Ming. "Wehner, Eckehard Wehner."

"Search them up," she said as she looked at her daughter. For a second, Wehner and Krantz both froze. It seems to them that they will attempt to search for their identity in a weird magical box. Both gulped and had worried faces. "Ok Krantz, stay focused. We can get through. " Krantz said to himself in his mind. He waited patiently for any response or questions from the mother or the redhead. Then it came, "Um mom, I can't find any information about them on (website name)," said Mei to her mother after a while of searching for any information about them.

"Well, try another website, Mei-Mei." She did what she was told. But again, nothing. "Strange." Ming said. She looked back at the duo, who by now were sweating a little from all the building tension they had been gathering in their minds. "Boys, that's strange. Why aren't you there? Can you tell me? " Krantz continued to sweat perilously. With an uncomfortable smile, he tried his best to make up a fake life to explain to her. "Um, we live in the north." Wehner added "Yea." Mei looked at them and said, "North? Like in the Canadian territories? " Both replied, "Uh yea, the territories. "

"Interesting," Ming commented. Mei asked the duo, "But why are you here in a complex place like Ontario?" Krantz gulped. Wehner spoke up and said, "Um, we are runaways. We came here to look for a better life and opportunity in the north. " Both did an uncomfortable smile. Krantz added, "Yea, that explains why we are not in that *pointed to the PC* weird technological box thingy." Wehner added more to this sentence: "We live in a remote community with none of that technology." "Interesting," all three said at the same time.

"So enough with the explanation. Let's get to business. So what skills do you have? Is there any skills that you can bring from the north? " Wehner, aware of the benefit of his military training, said, "Uh, we can fight and guard. Does that offer anything to you? " Ming thought for a second. "Fight eh?" She said "Well, we have some minor shoplifting problems in the merchandise hall. So, Eckehard Wehner, I know what role you can play. Seciruty for the temple! You are perfect for the job just by looking at you." Wehner was slightly surprised. It was surprisingly easy for him to get a job by just saying two sentences. "Das war einfach." *That was easy.*" He said in German to himself.

"And for you, Krantz," she said, as she was looking straight at him, slowly starting to speak faster. "We don't need more security right now, but can you offer anything more besides knowing some fighting skills?" Krantz tried with all of his might to think of any skills he might have from his time on the moon. "Uh," he said, giving up. "I don't know." "Hm," Ming said. "Let me list you some options to get you thinking. Janitor. -" She began to proceed to list any jobs that were available for Krantz. It worked.

"Wait, did you say plant caretaker?" asked Krantz. Those memories of the moon helping his aunt care for her small gardens made him think about his childhood skills. Could gardening really work? A long forgotten time hit his brain, and now he can actually use his childhood skills to serve the Reich in a weird way. "Yea," whispered Krantz to himself. "You said it's available just like any position?" said Krantz again, but louder so the mother could hear him. "Yes, my potential caretaker. It may seem easy to just take care of the plants we have at the temple, but you also have to be a janitor since no one is a janitor around here. So anyways, you agree?"

For a moment, Krantz thought to himself. Then he opened his mouth with a confident smile and said, "Yes, I agree, miss." "Amazing, you two. You are really the type of person I might have expected from you. Well, expect the living in the northern part. So since you two agreed, (I think) " She pulls out two sheets of paper containing information about each position and places them in front of the duo. She placed her pen she had earlier and gave it to the duo so they could sign it. "Sign it right here to make it official." They signed it in the only way they knew how to write: in fancy cursive.

When they were done signing, they placed the pen on the paper and told her that they were done. "Amazing." She said it delightfully and began speaking quickly. "I knew this interview would succeed." She lifted one of her hands up and faced it towards the duo for a handshake. "Welcome to the Lee Family, you two. We (I actually) hope that you two make a difference to the temple." Wehner and Krantz both placed their hands on Ming's hands. Krantz and Wehner immediately had an awkward face, and for Ming, she looked at them awkwardly.

"Uhhh," "Excuse me," "This is weird," the duo said while attempting to shake her hand at the same time. The situation quickly ended once they let go of her hand. Everything returns to normal. "Well, let's let that moment slide," said Ming. Things were about to end as usual in a meeting, but, one small problem for the duo. Where will they stay and sleep since their outpost is literally miles (or kilometers if you're not an American) away? "Uhh, remember when we said that we were runaways?" "Yea?" she said curiously. "Yea, that means we have no home or place to sleep." "Oh, there's a problem there." She said, placing her fingers on her lower jaw.

"Oh my gosh, I know what you're going to say, girl," Mei said to Abby. "I HAVE A GREAT IDEA!"

Several hours later,

It's nighttime. Around 9:30 p.m., to be exact. "Here we are in the basement," Mei said to the duo as they entered the basement. Before that, the duo had more of a discussion with the redhead and her weird mother. The strange friend, who they know by her name, Abby, left some hours ago after spending a lot of time staring at them.

"There are beds down there, and remember, don't try and touch things down there. Got it? " she said to the duo in a weird and rushing manner. "So, any questions?" Krantz attempted to raise his hand to answer a question but was cut off by Wehner. "Just don't," whispered Wehner. "Good. So, um, make yourself feel at home. Good night! " She closes the door without making any eye contact. Both immediately gasped for air, as if they hadn't had any for hours. "Oh my god. I can finally be myself after hours of awkwardness and witnessing weird things. " Said Wehner in German. "Yea. Like that one time the mother thought we were doing stuff to the redhead, right?" Krantz said while still grasping for air.

They both stopped panting and wiped their foreheads to remove the sweat they had been getting the whole time they were with the family. They walked downstairs and found a lot of things in storage. In particular, electronics, clothing, furniture, and a box containing promotional materials for the temple. Those were just some of the items that are found in the basement. They continued their conversation.

"Wehner. Now that I am thinking about it, there was something off about the redhead. It was like she was rushing to do something." Wehner replied with no interest in the topic. "Nah, forget it. That isn't our main goal right now. Besides, remember serving in the great Lunar Reich?" Krantz decided to go with what Wehner was saying. "Hahahaha," he softly laughed. "Yea... I guess the Reich is more important than the redhead." They both got their mattresses, which were lying on the side of several boxes, and positioned them on the ground to prepare to sleep.

While positioning, Krantz stepped on something on the floor. "Huh," he said. He looked down and noticed a bright yellow school notebook with interesting stickers on it. Curious, he put down his mattress and picked it up once Wehner wasn't looking at him. He opened it and saw a small glimpse of Mei's personal drawings. It's basically anime drawings and some drawings of boys at her former school. He was horrified by what he found, so he shut it quickly. "Mein gott..." he said to himself. "What type of drawing is that!?" Slowly, he began to develop an interest in the notebook and its content, using it to study the culture and life of the earth.

He hid it under the mattress to check it later once Wehner was asleep or when he had the chance to see it. For now, he continues to set up his mattress and chat with Wehner. "It's a big day tomorrow, comrade." So said Wehner confidently. "I can't wait to earn some money to get out of here as fast as possible." Wehner placed a blanket he found next to the mattress and soon laid down on it and immediately became relaxed. "Ahhh, feels so good."

Krantz, however, was forced to use Mei's former blanket because those were the only blankets available for him. Next to him was a lamp that he would be using later for other reasons. "Comrade, I just thought of something." Krantz answered, " What is it?" "What if they leave us here stranded?" He answered, " Don't worry. Our squad might remember us. Surely they might report to Mayer once they return. " Relaxed, he said, "Ah, that takes some stress from me. So um, do a favor and turn off the lights for me. "

Krantz obliged. "Vielen Dank."

End of Chapter VI

A/N: Sorry if this took too long (if anyones is reading.) I was doing some real life stuff and didn't had time to finish this. This might continue to happen so expect delays. Cya!