Link: Where's the author?
Zelda: Don't tell me he got sick again...or is plotting to delete this again...
(Walks in with several ice cream cakes)...?
Pichu: Hey, author dude! Did you get sick again? Or did you try something?
Eliwood: I thought it was Gamer21, not "author dude."
NN1: (pulls out telescope) Where did he go...?
AHEM!
NN1, Eliwood, Link, Zelda and Pichu: (screams)
Dudes and dudettes, calm down! I just got out of a meeting with RoyalFanatic. (Holds up packages) She gave me several ice cream cakes for the road. Now which one's the chocolate turtle...?
NN1, Eliwood, Link, Zelda and Pichu: MINE! (Grabs at bag of cakes just as I pull out a chocolate turtle ice cream cake)
O.O Holy-! ...anyway, I just got off the phone with RF, and she's very excited. So no screw ups!
Link: GET YO HANDS OFF MY CAKE!
They're not listening...oy, gevalt...
"She's scared that I will take her away from there.
Dreams that her country left with no one there;
Mesmerize the simple minded!
Propaganda leaves us blinded..." –Hypnotize, System of a Down
Chapter 6: Making Contact
The Chancellor's Hotel, Chancellorsville
Several people milled about the modest lobby of the hotel as the owner, a bald man with a thick handlebar mustache, watched over his hotel with sleepy gray eyes. The hotel was pretty clean: a polished oak floor, chairs and benches at various parts of the room, stairs up to the rooms, potted plants in the corners, and a green and red rug in front of the entrance. The people had become tense from the newscast two hours ago (it started at eight in the evening, remember, so it's ten o'clock now), and many people were gossiping amongst themselves as the minutes ticked slowly away. The man sighed as he fingered an envelope he had received from two days ago, staring cryptically at the seal engraved onto the front.
He was snapped out of his daydream by a young man's voice. "Ahem...are you the owner?"
"Yes, I am?"
"Good." As the young man stood at the check-in desk, his female companion sitting groggily at a chair, he asked, "How much would it be for a room and a meal for two?"
"Well, young fella, for a room and a two-person meal, it will be $125." For some reason, the young man seemed familiar to the hotel owner, but he couldn't put his finger on it...
"Will this do?" The young man fished 50 gold coins out of his satchel.
"That will do nicely, sir." The owner gestured to a room upstairs. "Number 17. Your meal will come up shortly."
"Thanks." The young man made his way up to the room, his groggy female companion following him. Opening the door and without thinking, he collapsed onto the only bed in the room, and fell asleep instantly.
Meanwhile, the owner finally figured out what was troubling him. Searching through his desk, he dredged a picture from a drawer in his desk of that same young man, the one he received with the mysterious sealed envelope two days ago. Flipping it over, there was a single sentence scrawled on it:
If you see this man, give the included envelope to him the first chance you see him.
Room 17, The Chancellor's Hotel
"Room service!"
Groaning, the young man slowly awoke to find that something was weighing him down. Trying to see what it was, he nearly jumped. His companion had also gotten into bed without a second thought, and she had wrapped her arms around his torso and was uncomfortably close, her head resting in-between his shoulder blades. Trying not to wake her up, he carefully wormed his way out of bed and opened the door.
"The food you requested, sir?" the waiter asked with an air of indifference.
"Yes, that's mine. Thanks." Closing the door, the young man was a bit surprised to see a large beige envelope with his meal. He would have shrugged it off had he not noticed the seal of Renais engraved into the front. Curious, he pulled out a dagger and tore the envelope open:
Colm,
If you are reading this note, then I would assume you have made it safely to the Smash Island. That's good. Anyway, I want you to go to the Forest Falls Pawn Shop on the eastern end of the city, near where the coast borders two bodies of water: Gulf Herringway and the Pemberton Channel. When the owner sees you, he will ask, "Is the baked Alaska ready." Reply, "Yes, it will be right on time." Once you've said that, you will receive your next set of instructions.
Do this for me, and I will let you come home, okay? Thank you again for undertaking this task for me.
Eirika, Queen of Renais
P.S. Neimi is with you, correct? Be sure to take care of her.
"Eirika..." Colm shook his head as a map of the city fell out of the envelope. After skimming it, he quietly stepped over to the bed and shook the magenta-haired archer awake. "Neimi? Wake up...wake up!"
"Mmm..." Neimi yawned. "What is it?"
"Food's here." A little ways into their meal, Colm felt compelled to ask the young archer. "Neimi, why were you sleeping almost on top of me? I woke up and you were squeezing me like a pillow."
Neimi just stared down at her plate, turned a dull red and sheepishly apologized. "I...I don't know...I have no idea. I'm...err...sorry..." Giving up, she returned to her food.
"...There's a letter from Eirika." Colm replied, changing the subject as he held out the map and letter. "She wants us to go somewhere; do a little investigating."
"Oh...okay." Neimi replied simply.
The Forest Falls Pawn Shop, Chancellorsville
Keeping alert for cars and stray leaves, they headed out into the cobblestone streets into the tree-laden city. Making it safely through the streets of the nature city, Colm pushed open the pawn shop door and strode inside, Neimi following closely behind. Ahead of them was the pawn shop owner's desk, to their right was a row of jewelry cases, and to the left was a pile of various objects, like televisions, lawn movers, and old guitars. Stepping up to the pawn shop owner, Colm greeted him. "Hey."
"Ah, good evening." The shop owner said slowly. He asked a familiar question: "Is the baked Alaska ready?"
Colm panicked for a second and wished he hadn't thrown out the letter in the lobby. Remembering what to say, he stammered, "Y-y-yes. It will be r-r-right on time."
He waited as the shop owner strolled into the back of the store. Several minutes later, the owner came back with a bright blue box with Renais' seal on it. "Here you go."
"Thanks..." Colm replied. "What is it?"
"Don't know." With that unhelpful answer, he and Neimi stepped out of the shop and into a nearby park, where Colm opened the box. Inside it was an IPod. "What's this?"
Neimi shrugged. "Can we turn it on?"
"I think so..." Staring at the two earphones dangling off the MP3 player, he experimented until he discovered that it fit inside his ear. Motioning for Neimi to do the same, Colm pressed various buttons until it turned on, and then pressed more buttons until he and Neimi heard a message.
"Hello, Colm and Neimi." Eirika's voice rang out from the IPod. "I have some information about the Smash Island. Apparently, something weird is going on tonight. I want you to investigate, gather Intel, and find out what it is. Perhaps the BTV station is a good place to start." With that, the message ended and the sound of silence crept into Colm and Neimi's ears once more.
"BTV station?" Neimi asked, removing the earpiece. "Where's that?"
"It's right here on the map." Colm replied, pointing to a square that seemed to be on a place overlooking the city. "But I wonder what in the world's going on...it doesn't sound good."
"We'll never find out unless we investigate, right?" Neimi suggested.
"Yeah, you're right. Time to pay these people a house call."
Television B TV Station, Chancellorsville
Colm and Neimi had snuck into the bushes nearby and crept up to them. They were careful; they were close enough to hear them, but a casual glance would have spotted a careless shadow on the ground. From here, they could hear all the conversations between the aides and the others around them. Their ears perked up to one particularly interesting conversation...
"Ah, Joseph." Jonathan Reed replied as the narcissistic general strolled up to him, various aides loading TV equipment into the nearby trucks. "You must be wondering why I called you here tonight."
"No shit, Sherlock." Joseph Salazar replied. "What's going on?"
Jonathan's voice took on a nasty corrosive tone. "What the hell happened in the Grand Metropolis earlier?"
"What?"
"CLEAN THE WAX OUT OF YOUR GODDAMN EARS, JOSEPH!" Jonathan yelled forcefully into Joseph's ears. "What the hell happened in the Grand Metropolis earlier? Your troops are busy playing World War Three up there, and no one even bothers to tell me?"
"Hey, don't blame me for this shit, Jonathan." Joseph growled. "Johnson's the one who started this."
"Well, he's dead, isn't he?" Jonathan remarked snidely.
"I'm warning you once, Jonathan: don't shit in my lawn." Joseph growled dangerously. "I, at least, wanted to wait until I had all the facts."
"And when was that going to be, Joseph? Christmas?"
"Look, our Intel indicates that these aliens may be the same assailants that attempted to attack the Smash Mansion two hours earlier; the very same ones your aide filmed." Joseph reported. "I believe that these aliens—maybe your aliens... suddenly, they're planning an attack on the Scarborough Hall in Nelson's Landing, the seat of our government. Imminently." Joseph emphasized the last word with his hands.
"An attack? What the hell are you guys doing?" Jonathan vexed. "I'm here to film the aliens, but I sure as hell don't want to be making a monument to some tyrannical alien king!" His voice took on a threatening tone to it as he continued. "No more screwing around, Joseph. You said you'd handle it; so handle it!"
"Yes, Jonathan." Joseph replied. "I'll take care of it." Meanwhile, Colm had spotted the fact that several soldiers had left on a break, and he seized that moment.
"Are you ready?" he asked Neimi, who was shaking with nervousness.
"Yes." she replied, her nervousness detected behind her sweet voice.
"All right." As he bent down towards a particular bush near the back, he spoke heavily, "Stick close behind me, Neimi. I'll take care of the guards." The sound of leaves shuffling against fabric was heard as they sneaked into the television station.
"But… what if we're caught… or shot?" Neimi shivered.
"Don't worry," he assured, briefly standing to meet her levelly. "I'll make sure both of us stays alive, one way or another." With that, they sneaked into the storage room of the station, where camera equipment, various cables and film canisters were kept. Looking around, Colm's attentive turquoise eyes spotted an air duct that ran the length of the building. Using his daggers to break open the grate, he got down on his belly and began crawling through.
Neimi followed him through the duct on hands and knees as her quiver scraped on the metal above her. She cringed softly as her gloved palms scraped against the hard iron. She was uncertain in gathering Intel, but she trusted her childhood friend to get them through.
The duct led to an empty room where the aides edited the video feed from the cameras around the Island. Colm pushed the thin slab of metal out a couple centimeters and took a cautious look across the floor. His gaze caught the sight of the back of combat boots, immediately deducting that a male soldier stood right in front of him, unaware of his presence as he glanced around, bored out of his skull. Most of the aides were too busy attending to Jonathan Reed's demands, so he was the only scout needed at this hour. His half-asleep condition left him wide open.
Colm removed the metal grate quietly, gesturing Neimi to stay back as he slowly climbed up directly behind the guard, ready to strike.
And at that moment, the soldier felt a dry hand grasp his neck tightly. But before he could speak, a single snap was heard as the hand jerked to the side, and he collapsed forward, instantly dead.
Quickly searching his pockets, Colm dredged a piece of paper from the corpse's pants, flipping it over to read a cryptic message:
The location is Mr. Reed's office. Don't forget it!
"Well, well. What do we have here?" Colm replied, eyeing the paper warily.
"Reed's office?" Neimi quietly asked, reading it over Colm's shoulder. Spotting a map nearby, she traced their position and the location of the TV show host's office. "It looks like it's on the eighth floor.
"Right, then." Colm made a gesture to Neimi, and she swiftly followed him down the corridor.
The two slinked through the hallways and stairwells like shadows. The soldiers never thought twice before they were killed by the thief. Carefully worming his way through the station like a greased eel, Colm and Neimi finally stood in front of the door to Reed's office, overlooking the densely forested city of Chancellorsville.
Prying a lockpick from his satchel, Colm calmly inserted the pick into the lock and began wiggling it against the tumblers until a barely audible click was heard. Being careful not to be seen, he and Neimi quietly entered his office. It was a large room overlooking the city. In front of them was a desk with various papers on it, an abundance of awards and trophies crowded the right-most wall, and several bookshelves and non-working video cameras were lodged in the left. "All right, Neimi, find anything in here that might be useful."
"Sure thing, Colm. I'll look on the shelves; you search the desk." After what seemed to be several hours of searching, Neimi found a paper with a map of the Island on it, red arrows indicating attack targets and escape routes. "Colm! Found something!"
"Same here, too!" the thief answered, pulling out a notebook with various chemical formulas etched within its pages. "Eirika was right. These people are up to something."
"What was that?" Colm froze; the voice of a patrol guard was heard at least several feet away from the office door, and he motioned for Neimi to hide underneath the desk. Meanwhile, he hid behind the door...
The patrolman stepped warily into the office, gun drawn. He pointed it every which way into the office, but sighed as he found no one. "I must be hallucinating. There's no one..."
Suddenly, Colm smashed the door into his nose, and sent the soldier careening into the trophy wall next to him. As he smashed against the gold and silver awards on display, Neimi popped up from her hiding place and fired an arrow into his heart. The soldier staggered around and out of the room and collapsed against the wall, but he managed one last gasp and pulled the fire alarm before he gave out and died.
"Oh, no!" Neimi squeaked. "The alarm! I'm so sorry..." She began to weep again.
"It's not your fault, Neimi." Grabbing the papers and shoving them into the folds of his navy cloak, Colm grabbed Neimi's hand and said, "We got to get out of here!"
Meanwhile, the haunting echo of the alarm had reached the ears of Jonathan Reed and Joseph Salazar, both of whom turned to see the shadows of the thief and archer duck back into the building. Suddenly, in wild mistrust, aides and soldiers alike pulled out pistols and revolvers and pointed them to the other. Joseph dredged a Magnum from his holster and pointed it at Jonathan's mouth. Meanwhile, the Alien Today host pulled a .9mm from his trench coat and pointed it at Joseph's forehead. "What's going on, my friend?" Reed asked sarcastically as his finger twitched, ready to fire.
"I don't know, Jonathan. You tell me!" Joseph hotly retorted. "You got a sniper up there, or what?"
"They're not with us, Joseph! Therefore they must be with you!"
"BULLSHIT!" Joseph yelled angrily. "You tell your men to stand down, Reed; otherwise I'll give you another hole to breathe out of! Are we clear?" After several tense moments between the aides and the military, Jonathan growled and pointed his .9mm at the ground.
"All right, they're not with you." Jonathan replied, motioning to his aides from them to drop their weapons. "Let's get them together, then."
"Run!" Colm screamed, taking off ahead of Neimi as they burst out the back door of the station and into the streets of the sleepy city. Gun pellets blasted rocks and pebbles around their feet. Cruel laughter came from the small group of soldiers led by Reed and Joseph several yards behind them. Neimi gawked in horror as her companion cried out in pain when a bullet pierced his left shoulder, dark blood draining from the hole in his cloak.
Then, a single bang rang out above all the rest, echoing across the cobblestone street. Neimi made the mistake of turning, and everything seemed to slow down as the bullet whizzed towards its intended target. Neimi's body rocked and a blank look of horror crossed her face as the pellet pierced her skin and lodged itself in her collarbone. She staggered somewhat, and Colm grunted in horror and rushed to her aid, kneeling beside her. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he caressed a hand against her pale face. "C...Colm..." she whispered as tears of fright rolled down her cheeks. "I...I'm so sorry..."
"No! Neimi, don't you dare die!" he nearly demanded, angry tears rolling down his cheeks. "You were so damn close! This was my fault! If I had eliminated that guard, maybe…!"
"Please don't blame yourself…" Neimi replied softly as blood oozed out of her shoulder. "Please...get out of here while you still can..." With her last bit of strength, she pushed Colm away into a nearby bush before she shut her eyes and collapsed onto the ground.
"We got one!" a burly voice hollered a few yards away. The fugitive stumbled to his feet, diving behind a thick shrub near a house. He peered through the thick foliage and witnessed as a group of soldiers kicked and poked the girl with their various weapons. A burly male laughed with wild abandon as he fired his machine gun rapidly into the heavens.
"Who the hell is this?" Jonathan Reed asked when he and Joseph caught up. "I thought there were two of them!"
"Who cares?" the soldier replied, pointing a gun at Neimi's head. "I'll finish this."
"Put down your weapon, Liebo. That's an order." Joseph replied with dark authority as he stooped next to the girl. Feeling for a pulse and finding one, he smiled and replied, "She'll live. Take her back to our Ground Zero base. I want to have some 'fun' with her before we plant a bullet into her skull."
"Joseph..." Jonathan growled warningly as they threw the unconscious Neimi into a military Jeep. "Are you sure about this?"
"Don't worry yourself, Reed. There are plenty of our patrols in this city. There's no way that fugitive will escape." Joseph replied, hopping into the driver's seat. "Jonathan...if anyone asks what happened, we don't know each other."
"I wish we didn't." Jonathan replied sourly as the Jeep drove off into the horizon. Several of his aides rushed up to him, but seeing as nothing else was wrong, he motioned for them to go back to the TV station and finish with everything else. Meanwhile, Colm watched them with angry eyes as they left with their prey, and then turned away in disgust. This sudden movement shot pain through his shoulder as if reminding him of his injury. Gingerly, he ripped off part of his cloak and tied it effortlessly around his shoulder as a makeshift bandage. Growling to himself, he escaped into the darkness, but without one last assertion:
"Don't worry, Neimi...I'll rescue you if it's the last thing I do..."
Route 280, outside the city of Chancellorsville
The hours began to take a toll on Commander Trent as his eyes began to droop, indicating his lack of sleep. A rattle came from the fronds of green behind him, but he didn't bother to look behind him as he knew it was only Captain Hanover.
"Slow night?"
"If you call stargazing exciting, then nah."
"Lucky you." Trent rolled his eyes; Hanover didn't have many brains to begin with. Hanover turned back to the freeway out of Chancellorsville. "Hey, whazzat?"
In the dark blue, a black dot bounced above the rocks in the west, their destination: Chancellorsville. Confused, Trent brought out his binoculars and gazed at whatever was coming this way, even though it was too dark to really tell. However, they weren't needed as a familiar blonde color shone through the dark. "It's Gaiden!"
Before they could leave, a spark of light flashed by them as a large explosion incinerated Trent and Hanover alive. The jeep they were in overturned and flew into a large mud pit and burned steadily before the goop sucked them in. Several minutes later, a jeep came into view, with Link, Zelda, Ness, Pichu, Fox and Luigi as its occupants.
"Jeez..." Fox replied, eyeing the wreckage. "They're not playing any more games with this, are they?"
"Doesn't look like it." Ness replied. He sighed, and then cursed himself. "If I hadn't done this, we wouldn't be in this situation!"
"Hey, it's alright." Pichu calmed. "If anything, it's my fault. I'm the one who thought up of this in the first place!"
"It's the fault of that idiot, Reed." Link answered. "If only he'd kept his nose in his own business..."
"It doesn't matter whose fault it is. We need to find our friends, and fast." Zelda told the others.
"They're-a not going to-a last long." Luigi agreed. "We should be focusing on-a finding them."
"You're right." Link replied, starting the jeep again. "Let's move."
They hadn't even driven halfway through the forest when Fox stopped them. "Hang on a sec, Link. Turn left here."
"What for?" Link asked.
"You'll see." Shrugging it off, Link turned left onto a desolate dirt road that wound through the foliage of the forest and deep into its core. After what seemed to be a long time, Link emerged from the overgrowth to behold a small meadow hidden deep inside the forest. In the exact center was a large pond filled with muddy water and lily pads; in the center of the lake was a medium sized house smack dab in the center, with cypress boardwalks winding up to the front door. Gawking at the house, Fox hopped out of the jeep and walked up to the door.
"Fox..." Link asked as he and the others followed the vulpine up to the door. "What is this?"
"Before the tournament began, General Pepper sent me here on a previous mission to investigate a crime syndicate involved in the assassination of the Cornerian president. This was a hidden outpost, and I took it up as a bachelor pad of sorts after they reorganized intelligence." Fox explained as he pulled out a key. After a few minutes, he turned the knob and pushed it in. "Take a seat."
The interior of the small base was modest; the floors and walls were made of wood. Maps and bookshelves lined the walls; there was a couch and some chairs in the center. In a separate room were a small kitchen and a desk where a laptop was being recharged. As Fox stepped into the room with the laptop, Link and the others settled themselves around the room, talking about their next course of action. "All right, how do you suggest we handle this?"
"Tell them?" Pichu asked.
"No-a way, Jose!" Luigi answered. "Last-a time you tried to do-a that, it-a nearly got-a you killed!"
"How about show-and-tell?"
"They'd probably shoot the others the first chance they get." Zelda replied. "Not something we'd like to achieve."
"Point taken." As Ness and Pichu continued pondering what they could do, Fox came back into the room with several printed pages and a map of the city.
"All right, I got something." Fox replied, spreading the map of Chancellorsville out upon the table. Pointing to a square on the map, he replied, "The TV station where the broadcast was transmitted to is right here, on this cliff. Now..." Fox made paths on the streets, three of them surrounding the TV station. "There are local patrols of a questionable kind that are guarding the station."
"Probably military patrols, then." Link put in.
"Maybe. Anyway, if we are to find information on the whereabouts of our friends, we should do our best to stay out of the patrols' sights." Fox added, "Avoidance is the best policy this time around."
"All right, then." Ness said. "Let's find some information."
Television B TV Station, Chancellorsville
As Jonathan Reed swept his gaze imperially over his aides, he was wondering what kind of trouble Joseph was getting into now. Sure, he had taken a young woman hostage and was going to do something...illegal, but what were his concerns? His job was to find the aliens and capture their awesome horror on tape. Yet...there was something about the turn of events that somehow didn't feel right at all. Shrugging it off, he continued to oversee his aides' progress on work.
Several minutes later, he was surprised to see a few teens walking up to him, one of them carrying a video camera. "Who are you, and what do you want?"
"Hello." One of the teens replied. "You are the host of Alien Today, right?"
"The one and only..." Reed answered. "Why?"
"We're some amateur filmmakers, and we want to find the aliens as well."
"Ahh...Forgive me, but up until a few minutes ago, we knew where the aliens were."
"Really?" a teenage girl asked. "You wouldn't happen to have remembered where they were, would you?"
"I'm sorry, but an idiot spy stole it." Reed answered.
"A spy?" the girl asked. "Who did they work for? The military?"
Jonathan's face paled for only a moment, but he regained his composure and coolly replied, "I believe it was an alien spy."
"You're sure it wasn't the military?"
"I'm sure, for chrissakes." Reed replied coldly. "Now go. I have a very important task to complete." Shooing them away, Jonathan just growled to himself and left, presumably getting something to drink.
Meanwhile, Link and Zelda had sneaked away from the TV station and met up with Fox and the others in a hidden alleyway. "What did you find out?" Pichu asked.
"Judging from his reaction, I'd say Reed was hiding something." Link replied. "Something worth finding."
"Our friends?"
"He said it was a map of sorts. Problem is, it was allegedly stolen." Zelda answered. "He says it was the aliens, but maybe he gave it to the military for some aid."
"Geez." Fox replied. "That's just great; we hit a dead end and no one knows what else we're supposed to do?"
"Cheer up-a, Fox." Luigi said optimistically. "Maybe someone else-a knows something."
"I should hope so..." Fox growled as they got out of their hiding place and began walking down the street to their jeep, parked at the end of the drive. Meanwhile, nearby, a certain blue-haired thief was going over what his options were for saving his old friend.
'Geez, this is all my fault...' Colm thought guiltily as he paced the sidewalk near the Smashers' jeep. 'How the hell am I supposed to fix this one?' Pulling the military map out of his cloak and staring at it dismally, he added, 'I hope they're not doing something horrible to her...Neimi...why did I even accept this?' Terrible, half-formed images of the torture the young archer might be suffering surfaced in his mind. Their very vagueness made it worse than what actual knowledge would have been. It wasn't until he saw something that he gained some form of hope. 'Whoa...I could exchange that for Neimi...hope it works!' Smiling to himself, he took a position behind the streetlight...
"Man, this sucks!" Pichu complained as they walked over to their jeep. "We can't find a single shred of information that tells us where our friends are!"
"I know..." Zelda replied, who was traveling a little ahead of the others. Suddenly, a young man with blue hair accidentally bumped into her as he ran away from something, knocking both of them down. She screamed, "Hey, what the..." but realized it was only a citizen, not a sneak attack.
Picking himself off the ground, Colm helped Zelda up and gracefully apologized. "Oops. Beg your pardon." Immediately, he began walking southeast toward a nearby chapel, smiling to himself. That bracelet was worth a lot of money, and he could use it to pay for Neimi's freedom.
"Thank you for helping me up." Zelda thanked as he began walking away. "It would be nice if you gave me back my bracelet, though."
"WHAT?"
Suddenly, Colm was surrounded by Link and the others as Zelda walked up to the thief and asked politely, "May I have my bracelet back?"
"Heh heh...I don't know what you're talking about." Colm replied coolly. "I don't have it."
"Zelda, don't accuse others of something you don't know actually happened. We don't need another person on our case." Fox warned.
"It's okay, Fox." Zelda smiled. "I'm not a stereotypical blonde. After Colm and I collided, he helped me up and snatched the bracelet from my hand while I was getting to my feet. Then, as he said 'Beg pardon,' he slipped it into a hidden pocket on the inner lining of his cloak. Am I right?"
"..." Totally dumbfounded, Colm dredged the bracelet from his cloak and handed it to Zelda. However, unbeknownst to him, the military map fell out of his pocket, bounced on the stone, and rolled until it came to a stop in front of Pichu's feet. "You're quite observant, aren't you?"
"I have to be." Zelda smiled. "It's needed if you've gone through what I have."
"...hey, what's this?" Pichu asked, finally noticing the rolled paper at his feet.
"Oh, shit..." Colm gasped. Turning his pockets inside out, he finally noticed the map fell out of his cloak. "Hey, wait a second! I need that!"
"Fox, what's with these red arrows?" Pichu asked the vulpine as Colm spluttered in frustration.
"Red arrows?" Fox raised his eyebrows and snatched the paper from Pichu's hand, looking at the various items drawn and written onto the paper. His eyes widened visibly until they were small ovals. "What the heck? It's a military map of the Smash Island! Attack routes, targets, escape routes—everything!"
"Military map?" Link spluttered. Turning to Colm, he asked suspiciously, "What's a person like you doing with something like this?"
"Um, I can explain that..." Colm replied nervously, using his arms to form a sort of barrier against the Hylian.
"YOU BETTER!" Link yelled. "Geez, how are we going to find our friends? That stupid Reed with all those alien announcements..."
"Aliens?" Colm asked.
"Yes, aliens." Link growled.
Colm just stared at Link with a sort of shocked incredulity on his face. "Why are you interested in them? They're nothing but trouble; two people at that TV station were saying something about how they were going to attack something called the Scarborough Hall in Nelson's Landing."
"What?" Link asked. "An attack? That's impossible!"
"Really?" Colm replied skeptically. "And how do I know that you're not lying?"
"It's a long story..." Link began to explain in vivid detail what had happened earlier that night: the radio prank, the alien costumes, the media broadcast, the TV host, and he ended it with the most recent occurrence of how the military tried to eliminate them just an hour before. After Link's story, Colm thought about it carefully before giving the Hylian an understanding nod.
"I see...so that's what's been going on all night."
"Yes." Link nodded. "That's what's been happening all night."
"What I don't get is why they were saying the aliens would attack Nelson's Landing." Fox pondered. "What exactly were they trying to accomplish?"
"At this point, I have no idea." Link replied. Turning to the blue-haired thief, he replied, "Thank you for your help...um..."
"Colm. And you are?"
"Link." He introduced. As he and his friends began to leave, Link replied, "Thank you, Colm. We'll take this map with us."
"Not just yet." Before Link even noticed, the map was back in Colm's hand, being held in-between his index and middle fingers. Looking back at Colm and to his hand, he fumed. Scrutinizing the group of young people before him, Colm replied, "You're a victim of your own honesty. I wish to enlist your aid in something."
"Hold up." Fox objected. "We already have our own troubles. Don't make this any more difficult for us than it already is."
"Okay, then." Colm smirked. "Guess this map isn't as important to you as I thought."
"Kiss our asses, stupid thief!" Ness growled.
"Hmph." Colm's smirk became very wide, totally amused at their reactions. "You do realize that I'm the only one with even a sliver of information on your friends' whereabouts? I won't tell you shit if you turn this away. But if you help me, I will be able to lead you to where the military's stronghold is located in this city and I'll let you go back to this quest you're undertaking." Colm almost snickered as he finished telling them their choices. "So what's it going to be, Link? Will you go to the military's stronghold with me, or is 'Kiss our asses, stupid thief' your final answer?"
The Smashers all turned to the elf. There was a stiff, untrusting look on his face, ever reluctant to trust a thief for obvious reasons. Link's cobalt eyes met with Colm's orbs of turquoise, and though there was an air of intrigue about the young thief, there was something different behind them, a sensible mind that could distinguish right from wrong. Link had stared down many bandits and robbers before and saw the same thing within their dark pits- hatred, murder, and destruction- but this particular thief was different. Yes, he may have a cold, calculating mind, but in his eyes were despair and hope; as if someone he knew had been retched away from him. He was willing to do whatever it took to get this person back, and Link believed it. He was the only chance they had to rescue their friends, and now Link saw there was no reason not to trust him.
At last, he sighed deeply, standing tall, then nodded. "Alright, then. Get in the jeep, Colm."
"Thank you, Link. You will not regret this decision." Colm replied as the others hopped into the jeep.
Five Minutes Later...
"So, Colm, what exactly is going on?" Link asked. "Someone you know been taken hostage or something?"
"Wha? How did you know?" Colm asked suddenly.
"I can see it in your eyes, Colm. You're intelligent and cold, yet you can tell right from wrong." Link replied. "Your eyes gave it away earlier, back at the TV station."
Colm sighed as the jeep bounced along the cobblestone streets of the forest city. "I was sent here by my country to gather information. A friend of mine, Neimi, wanted to come along, so she did. But when we were gathering Intel at the TV station earlier, we were discovered and...they took Neimi after they shot something into her collarbone."
Zelda's eyes wandered as she scrutinized he thief and discovered the bloody shoulder. "Holy...! Your shoulder!"
"This?" Colm asked sarcastically. "It's merely a scratch."
"Scratch?" Link spat out incredulously. "That sure as hell doesn't look like one!" Fishing around in his satchel while at a red light, the Hylian pulled out a red potion and tossed it to Colm while Zelda removed the bullet from his shoulder. "Drink this. It'll make you feel better."
"Hmph..." Colm took the potion and began to gulp it down, only to spit out some of it. "Ugh! It tastes like shit!"
"What did you expect it to be, Kool-aid?" Link chuckled as Colm sipped at the potion. Driving through the city, Link asked, "So, what else can you tell us?"
"My friend was taken to a place called Ground Zero." Colm explained. "The way the young man commanded everyone and how he acted...I'd say he was military."
"Wait, Ground Zero?" Fox asked.
"Yeah." Colm answered.
"Fox, you wouldn't happen to know about that place, would you?" Ness asked suspiciously.
Fox explained, "Remember that story Master Hand told us, the Legend of Nintendo? When New York City was destroyed in that flood, a major part of Lower Manhattan survived the flood and was broken off from Long Island during the formation of Nintendo. The ruins are known as Ground Zero today, and are on the small island across the Pemberton Channel. It's accessible by a bridge in this city."
"So the kidnapper took your friend there." Link told Colm. "Didn't you also say he was military? Was he part of the Elite Five?"
"Don't know." Colm answered, this time a bit coldly. "Also, every patrol in the city answers for him. The guy practically controls everything in town"
"Great..." Link sarcastically replied. "Fox, you better ready that rocket launcher. We'll need to destroy the patrols in our way."
"Right." No sooner had he said that, a military patrol several miles away had spotted Link and the others and began firing raucously at their jeep. The pellets ricocheted off the metal and the glass as their jeep screeched to an unceremonious halt. In one fluid motion, Fox grabbed the rocket launcher from under the seat, took aim and fired, turning the military patrol into one white-hot fireball before it crashed into a hot-dog cart on the sidewalk. "Well, that was disappointing."
"..." Link just sighed as the engine turned over, driving toward the channel.
The Pemberton Channel Bridge
"Shit..." Link growled to himself as he hid the jeep in the nearby bushes. On the bridge itself were several military jeeps, all of them touting missile launchers attached to the back end of each jeep. Around it were several soldiers with AK-47s and some with grenades. Watching a hapless alien activist try and go up against them, the Smashers and Colm winced as the military riddled the poor man's body with bullets before collapsing in a pool of blood. Then, to make sure he was dead, one of the soldiers detonated a grenade in his mouth, sending body parts flying all over the intersection.
"Gross!" Ness gagged before turning around and vomiting in a nearby shrub.
"Aw, geez, don't start..." Fox groaned before Luigi threw up as well. "Guys!"
"...how the hell are we going to get past that roadblock?" Pichu asked. "They'd kill us at first sight!"
"There's something out there called a distraction." Colm told the mouse Pokèmon snidely. "Perhaps you should try and make one."
"Yeah, but how..." Link glanced around until he smelled something in the air. Gunpowder? It wasn't from the soldiers nearby, nor was it from his own revolver...it was of a different blend. Looking around, his eyes finally came to the source: a factory at least three blocks away that manufactured fireworks. Smiling, he hopped into the jeep and carefully drove it out of its hiding place.
"Where you going?" Colm suddenly asked.
"I'll be back. I'm going to try something..." Link replied. For several minutes after that, nothing seemed to happen as the soldiers milled about the bridge, talking, playing poker or raucously firing rounds into the air. The other Smashers were wondering what the hell Link was doing until an enormous BANG echoed through the channel. Looking around frantically, they found the nearby fireworks factory ablaze and watched as the bridge patrols raced over to put out the fire. They were too busy to see Link drive back near the bushes. "All right, hop in. That won't distract them for long."
"Right." As the jeep zoomed off for Ground Zero, only one thought ran through Colm's mind:
'Neimi...please, just be all right when I get there...'
"We're stuck in a place so dark, you can hardly see.
The manner of matter that splits with the words I breathe;
And as the rain drips acidic questions around me,
I block out the sight and the powers that be and duck away into the darkness. Time's up!
I wind up in a rusted world with eyes shut so tight that it blurs into the world of pretend,
And the eyes ease open, and it's dark again..." FRGT/10, Linkin Park (Colm's Theme)
Yeah, kinda anti-climactic...
Link: So? At least you got a new chapter up!
Point taken. Anyway, read and review, please.
Gamer21