A tracking collar! That dirty, no good, low, rotten… High roller will pay. I swear it! That man needs to be brought back to earth. This is lower than torture. This is… uugh there is no word for this. I fumed, walking back to my turtle, slinking along in the shadows. When I got closer to the large wall, I jumped and quickly caught the wall and jumped onto the other side.

"Hey turtle. Found anything to ear around here?" I asked, hungry.

"Yea. Over here. I found some Kimchee Nuts." He said, walking slowly to where he left his wheels near the nuts. When I saw the tree full of them, I quickly jumped into the tree and shook some down for turtle, and camped out n the tree, eating nuts, and the occasional bird's egg.

How do I free her? This is hard. High Roller has gotten crafty, very crafty. This is going to need some very delicate planning. I got up and walked back to the castle, and neatly jumped back into the large courtyard, and used my panther vision to find High-Roller's room. I circled the castle many times, and had yet to find High Roller's room.

Where is he? Probably deep in the castle. The coward. I huffed and ran back to her room, and jumped in lithely, nearly knocking over some lilies. I quickly caught them, and saw her soundly sleeping.

I'll just sit by her until she wakes up… I walked into to her room, and sat by her on the bed. She quickly roused and turned to look at me, a little bit of sleepiness in her eyes.

Holy hell! She's a light sleeper! I wonder why…

"You ok?" I asked, softly.

"Yea. I little hungry, I'm parched, but I'm alive." She said, yawning. I looked down at her lips, and noticed her normally soft lips were dry and cracked, and bleeding whenever she talked. I got up and walked to the sink, and filled a cup full of water. I walked over to her and slowly raised the cup to her lips, but once she tasted the first drop I wasn't tipping the cup to her fast enough. She licked her lips, and smiled.

"Thank you. May I have another cup?" She asked. I saw her smile softly, and I laughed quietly.

"Greedy, aren't you?" I said. She laughed at that in a hushed tone, and blushed rosily.

"Yea, yea. I know. Now give me another PLEASE!" She whispered, putting emphasis on the "please." I slowly rose and re-filled the cup full, and walked back to her. She drank this cup down more civilly, and I gave her one more, just to be safe.

"Hungry?" I asked, a little jokingly. Her happiness was infectious. She stuck her tongue out at me and I chuckled, knowing her humor and some energy was restored. She smiled and laughed quietly.

"Well, if u listen closely to my stomach, you can hear it softly weeping. No shit Sherlock!" She smiled playfully, and I felt my soul leap. She was in a relatively good mood, seeing how she was chained up. I reached into my pocket and pulled out three Kimchee nuts, and showed them to her. The look on her face was like she got a blessing from the gods. Her glowing smile and shining eyes nearly took my breath away.

"Kimchee nuts! How did you know they were my favorites! Oh my god, Lin Chung, I could hug you!" I felt my heart deflate at that, but I smiled at her.

"You want some more, or will three hold you?"

"I think I want only three. When High Roller sniffs my breath, I don't want the fact I've eaten too apparent." She said, smiling solemnly. He felt some bile raise in my throat, but I cracked the Kimchee nuts and softly gave them to her, piece by piece. She ate them with delicacy, and after they where long gone, she smiled at me sweetly.

"Thank you. That feels so much better. I can't think of any reward good enough. You are truly a loyal friend." She said. Again my hoped deflated, but her happiness was all I needed. I could survive the rest. I smiled and sat by her on the bed again, and couldn't help caressing her cheek. She blushed red at that, and I smiled at her. Her eyes started to close, and I could tell it took her a lot of effort to keep them open after she blinked.

"It's ok, Muchi. Fall asleep. You need all your energy to survive this punishment. I wont be far off." I said, softly speaking in an endearing tone. She yawned, her pink lips forming a very child-like "o" before she turned her head and closed her stony grey eyes. I got up from the bed slowly, and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. She smiled in her sleep, and I walked to her balcony and jumped off, running to the wall. I easily jumped that too, settled myself in the Kimchee nut tree, well hidden, and looking at the moon I fell asleep.

I awoke in a large Kimchee nut tree, disoriented. I looked up , then down, and realized was in a large leafy barrier, completely hidden from all directions except directly above, and I saw the occasional bird fly by, but mostly all I saw was clear blue sky. Then it all hit me, in a rush. The kidnapping, the hurried rush to save her, when he sat by her, feeding her… and the emotions that he had yesterday came flowing back. He wanted blood. Specifically, he wanted High Roller's blood. But the only thing he had to worry about now was Muchi, and if she was ok. He jumped down from the tree, listening for anything, and landed with a silent "thump" on the soft dirt ground.

Now, the only problem is how do I save her? That will have to wait until tonight. Sadly. I mounted my turtle and looked around for more food other than the Kimchee nuts, and my efforts were rewarded when I stumbled across a mango tree about 14 miles away from the castle. I smiled and dismounted my turtle, and quickly and nimbly climbed the tree, and shook a few mangoes down before eating a few myself. I collected a few for Muchi, and jumped out of the tree. I left my turtle quietly napping and looked around for a stream. Finding none, I wandered back to were I thought my turtle was sleeping, to find it gone. Perplexed, I wandered about trying to find him. I walked for another few feet, and found him tied up in a clearing. I ran to him, confused and a little worried, and started to untie him. Bad mistake. Three gorillas came from the shadows and tackled me down, and started to pull be in the general direction of High Roller's.

Crap! Can't let them take me! Must….fight…. My thoughts where incoherent as I thrashed around, making them fight for every precious inch. I managed to get a hand free and quickly punched the gorilla who had my other hand, knocking him out. Free, I turned to face the other two, fists balled. They regarded he with a type of fear, and charged at me, roaring. I quickly jumped over them and landed by the turtle, but was shocked to find my staff wasn't with him. Swearing under my breath, I turned to face them, and with a mighty roar I swung my arm around, the force of my punch not only knocking him out, but hurting my hand.

"Damn." I growled, and turned to face the last ape, and saw him run backwards and take off. I knew if he got back to High Roller, he would tell. So I ran after him, and with a hard punch to the temple, we was silenced too. I took the rope the gorillas had and tied their hands and feet together, using intricate knots known only to Big Green. Then I tied them together, and stuffed gags into their mouths out of the clothes they wore, and put another piece of cloth over their mouths and around their heads, so they couldn't scream or spit the gags out. I whistled for the turtle and he rolled up, and we went back to the Kimchee nut tree, to wait until nightfall.

What is High Roller going to do to me know? I watched him with wary eyes as he unlocked my hands, but kept my feet chained up. He gave the gave the shackles to a gorilla, who ran out of the room with them. I returned my gaze to High Roller, who was slowly tracing his eyes over my body slowly, and I sought to cover myself, but the blanket was on the floor, and I couldn't bend over to get it without revealing everything under my shirt. I narrowed my eyes at the cruel man, who seemed to be feeding a ego high,

Sick, sick pervert. Oh, how I wish Lin Chung was here! He took a step closer to me, and I automatically cringed backwards, recoiling from his foul presence. He grinned evilly at my outright refusal of him.

"Why you scared? I won't hurt you… much." He snickered as he slowly crawled forwards on the bed. I cowered as far back into the bed as I could, and he widened his eyes and grinned evilly. I scowled at him, giving him the best evil eye I could manage. He just looked at me, grinning, and buried his head in my neck, inhaling deeply. I was mortified. I had never felt so violated, and sought to push him off. He just banded his arms around my shoulders, foiling my attempts to push him off. Thinking fast, I slowly crawled down, far enough so my chained legs would help me, and I managed to get my knee under him. I struck fast, and kneed him in the balls. Screaming, he jumped off of me. I grinned saucily, happy I knew how to win this. He looked at me, his face red.

"You little hellcat! You sniveling bitch! Worthless whore!" He shrieked at me, and I calmly took the insults with a gloating temperament, but a face of shame and feat on the outside. He yelled a few more curses at me and walked out…leaving the key to my shackles on the bedside table! I gleefully clapped, and reached for the key.

Fuck! It's too far away… at least the sun is setting. Lin Chung will be here soon. Not the only thing to figure out is how in the world do I get this thing off my neck! I grumbled for a few hours, watching the sun set and the moon start to rise, plotting. I heard the "thump" of soft boots on grass, and I knew he was coming. I reached down for my blanket just as he came in, and I hurriedly sat up, covering myself.

"Hey Lin Chung. How's it going?" I asked, nonchalant. He saw my arms where unbound and walked over to me. I opened my arms in the universal symbol for 'I want a hug!' He smiled and obliged, holding my tenderly before letting go.

"You ok, Muchi?" He asked, and the shininess of the key caught his eye. He smiled a large smile I rarely saw anymore, and picked it up.

"What does it unlock?" He asked, happy. I tenderly smiled and pointed towards the shackled around my ankles, and he walked over to them, bending gently and unlocking them. After I was freed I tried to get up, but being locked up for a few days made my wobbly and I felt the sudden surge of blood to my feet, and I got the pins and needless feeling, and swayed. Lin Chung wrapped an arm around my waist, holding me steady while I regained my balance. I looked up, into his eyes, and blushed. I quickly looked down, and he tipped my chin upwards.

"Hold on." he simply stated before slinging me onto his back and running to the balcony. He jumped off, into the courtyard, and ran towards the gate, me hanging on for the sake of his life. He nimbly jumped the high gate, and landed on the other side. Then he put me down and latched onto my hand. He pulled me him, me stumbling. I finally got enough foothold in the soft wet grass to pull him to a stop. I looked at him with wide eyes, and started to turn away. He turned me around and held into my shoulders, confused.

"What's wrong? I thought you wanted to escape." He said. I looked up at him, and sighed.

"I can't truly escape when I have this thing around my neck." I said, hand reaching up to touch it, showing him. "Nothing can change this. I have to go back, for the sake of your life and mine. I'm sorry." I reached up and picked his hands up from my shoulders, and started to walk back to High Roller's palace. He latched onto my hand, and spun me again, looking into my eyes.

"The radar won't go off unless you leave the nine mile radius around the castle. We'll live out here, on the edge of the bubble. Just you and me." He said, softly speaking. I started to tear up, and looked at him.

"I sick at goodbyes, so stop making this harder then it needs to be." I said, looking down.

"Then don't say goodbye." He said simply. I was starting to cry now. I was sad and a little pissed this wasn't sinking into his thick skull. I looked at him, tears coursing down my face, and took a deep breath.

"Why, Lin Chung. I won't put you, or anyone else in danger. Try to get this into your thick head! I CAN'T STAY WITH YOU! High Roller will find me, and kill you! No matter what happens, when a problem involves me, HE SOLVES IT. And besides, I'm the personal maid of High Roller, and you are the best fighter in Big Green! Any way you put it, we're enemies! We can't be together, Lin Chung. SO STOP MAKING THIS HARDER THEN IT NEEDS TO BE!" I yelled, and started to turn away again. He held my hand and turned me to face him, a fiery passion in his eyes. I thought I was going to melt under that gaze.

"No matter what happens, know this. I LOVE YOU! And I know you feel the same way. We CAN get through this, no matter if I'm a warrior and you're a maid, because love is the strongest thing on earth, and nothing, NOTHING, can best it or break it." He said, and bent down and claimed my lips with such a passionate intensity it made my head spin. I wrapped my arms around his neck, he tightened his grip around my waist, and together we shared that moment, our own moment in the range of High Roller. We broke contact, gasping, and I looked up at him. I kissed him softly once, twice, three times, and walked away to sit on a log. I looked at him calmly and simply stated,

"Ok. What's the plan?"

He smiled.

OOOOHHH! I WANDER WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN NEXT! THE LAST AND FINAL PART COMING UP SOON! xD