Disclaimer: I am your father! No, wait...that's not it. One does not simply - no, no, that isn't right, either.
Check out XxSanitariumxX and his stories. You probably won't regret it. Since my story is based on his, it's fair to say his is better. And more original.
Anyway, I probably revised, edited, and scoured this chapter more than any other I've ever uploaded to this website. I even used the built-in grammar checker. I still had a little difficulty with...well, I'll mention it in the other Author's Note. Anyway, it's only about 2500 words, so it's not all that long. But I liked writing it.
I guess I should've been thankful that the sleep didn't last long. My eyes fell shut one minute, and not long after that, I felt that I was just waking up. I immediately noticed that I wasn't lying face down, but on my back. And even though I wasn't asleep any more, it almost felt like I was. My throbbing headache and complete exhaustion told me that I was definitely awake, and alive. I didn't open my eyes just yet, though; I wanted to try to give my body time to fight off the drug that had been injected into my neck. I wasn't given much of a chance.
A fist suddenly hit my jaw, snapping my head to the side and making my eyes flash open. My vision was still blurred, but as I looked forward again, I saw a lot of white. There was a dark figure walking around me, probably the guy who'd just hit me, and he was saying something. So, remembering how the protagonist got out of shitty situations in video games I'd played, I tried to take an account of my body.
It wasn't good. I couldn't feel my extremities at all, and from what I could feel, something was holding my hands and feet down. I knew from when I'd been hit that I wasn't lying flat on the ground, but probably near forty-five degrees. And there was a persistent ringing in my ears, but it was slowly quieting down.
"Oh, I'm sorry," the figure said, "you must not even understand me yet." My vision further cleared, and I looked around again. The figure must have been behind be, but I wasn't looking for him. The walls and ceiling were white, or nearly white, and they looked like concrete or something. There was a single really bright light over my head, and off to my left was a big black monitor. Otherwise, the square room was surprisingly bare. The human's head abruptly came into my view as he stuck his head right in front of mine.
"Surprised?" he asked.
"A little," I said with a chuckle, even though I barely understood either of our words. Always with that sarcasm.
"I wouldn't be," he replied. "But then, I'm a little more man than you."
"Of course you are," I said. I was trying to flex my fingers, now that I could feel them again, but I couldn't clench my fists with any real strength.
"So, how was your sleep?" he asked, continuing his slow circular walk.
"Not bad," I said. I figured if the creepy guy walking around me wanted to make conversation, I'd be only too happy to oblige.
"Did you dream?" he asked. I looked at him suspiciously; there was something about the way he'd asked it. "Or, do you not dream anymore?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"Don't you play dumb with me," he said, sneering at me. "You're not from around here, are you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked. Playing dumb was, in fact, exactly what I planned to do.
He ignored my question. "You do know I could kill you with my bare hands, correct? Before you could blink."
"Well, be my guest," I said, smirking. Even if he did, I'd just restart the story.
He chuckled, and it wasn't from mirth. "You're confident. Why? Not concerned about dying?"
Wait a second, I thought, could he know?
"I wonder why not?" he continued. "Maybe you're confident you'll just go back to your own world?"
"What are you talking about?" I asked again. My question earned me another hit. Guy's got a hell of a hook, I thought.
"I warned you about playing dumb. You know very well what's going on. You appeared on this planet a week ago, so I think you know damn well what I'm talking about."
"How do you know –?"
"It's my job to know things," he said. "I'm the one called Sharp. Remember that name, because even if you manage to get out of this place, I will be the one to end you."
Sharp? I wondered. He's with Relics!
"Hey, it's not what you think. I'm friends with Relics, okay?" I asked. I got another punch, this time to the gut.
"I never told you I work with six-four, did I? How did you know that?"
"I'll bite," I panted. He might be on our side after all, I thought, before deciding to tell the truth. "I may be from an alternate universe."
"There we go," he said, apparently pleased. "Now we're getting somewhere."
"Why would you kidnap me?" I asked.
"I have my secrets. And you, yours."
"So why attack me, either way? I'm friends with Relics."
"How could you possibly know that I'm associated with him?" he asked.
"I just do, okay?"
"Indeed..." he said, apparently contemplating something. "Agent six-four, or 'Relics', as you call him, is our main asset. And I don't want some spaceman from another universe messing up our plans."
"What?" I asked. "How could I mess anything up?" I asked.
"It's not you. Not quite. But you ruined everything when you showed up."
"What do you know about that?"
"Oh, I know plenty about it. We're the ones who brought you," he said with a smirk. "Technology is amazing."
Suddenly, the monitor to my left turned on, preventing me from asking a question.
"What?!" Sharp asked angrily.
"She got out," a man said, sounding exhausted. Krystal? I wondered. I really hoped she was okay.
"WHAT?!" Sharp asked again, twice as loud. "Cane, you get her back, or I swear I'll send your head back to Earth."
"I'm on it," Cane said. I took that opportunity to use Sin number two. I felt the power course through my veins, and caused a blast in the room that knocked Sharp against the monitor with more than enough force to break it, along with breaking the door clean off of its hinges. Before the moment ended, I made sure Sharp would be knocked out for a while, and freed myself from the table. I fell to my feet, and then my knees as the second mark burned itself into my left wrist.
No time, no time, I told myself, crawling to Sharp's body. I patted him down and found a bag full of little chips. There was a variety of the chips, with plenty of different sizes and colors, though most of them were disks. Must be cash, I thought, before pocketing the bag. I searched again, and found a large metal object, and pulled it out of his jacket. Yep, I thought with a smile, I found a gun.
It was straightforward in its design; it reminded me of a P-90, but it couldn't have been anything like it. It had a long strap fastened to it, which I promptly slung over my shoulder. After grabbing the gun, I stepped out into the hallway carefully, looking both ways. When I looked left, I saw Krystal, of all people, running toward me barefoot.
"Krystal," I called. She was still wearing her blue dress, like I was still wearing my tux, but hers was more visibly soiled than mine.
"Run!" she shouted, pointing down the hallway to my right. I aimed the gun behind her until she passed me, and then took off after her.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"I was hoping you knew," I replied.
"Nope," she said, taking a left. I didn't question her directions. "The guy mentioned you, and some guy named Sharp. Then he said Miranda was watching six-four, but I didn't know what they were talking about."
"There was something about them in the story," I panted. Way out of shape. "But they shouldn't even show up until later."
"There!" she shouted, pointing to a sign. Before I could react, she grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the hallway.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"Out of here," she replied.
"What's your plan?" I asked. "I mean, we can't just walk home! I have no idea where we are!"
"You're right," she replied as we came out of the hallway into an enormous hangar. Only two hallways led into the room, with one huge exit bay leading out of the building. Inside the hangar was nothing, save a single arwing.
"Flying?" I asked, pulling my arm free of her grasp. She walked over to a nearby wall mount and grabbed a gun that looked nothing like mine.
"Yeah," she said. "Now get in there."
"What? Me?" I asked. A laser hit the wall next to me, making me flinch. Krystal aimed her gun into the hallway and fired twice, but it was clear that she wasn't good with guns. I aimed into the hallway, too, but I didn't see anyone to shoot at. They probably ducked into the other hallways, I thought.
"Now!" Krystal shouted, pushing me toward the plane.
"I can't fly," I said, running toward the arwing anyway.
"What do you mean, 'you can't fly'? Didn't you play the games?"
"Y-yeah, but those controls were simpler! Joystick up to go down, that's it!"
"Great time to learn," she said as we arrived at the ship.
"Oh, I'll wing it," I said, climbing up its side. I looked along the base of the cockpit's glass for a release of some kind to open it.
"Just open it," she shouted, aiming uncertainly at the hallway we'd come out of. I found a lever of some kind, and after pulling it, the glass top opened slowly. I stepped in, slung the gun over my back, and sat down, looking uncertainly at all the controls. It's not like it was a space shuttle, but if it was, I'd probably have had a better chance at flying it.
Two control sticks stuck out diagonally from the sides of the cockpit, and I figured those would be for controlling the craft. I counted at least twenty other buttons and switches with Cornerian markings near most of them, but I didn't have much time to figure it out before Krystal popped up on the craft's wing.
"Do you recognize anything?" she asked hopefully.
"Yeah, these things are apparently used for flying," I said, displaying my lack of knowledge. She looked around at the controls, and then the rest of the cockpit.
"It's only a one-seater," she remarked. A laser passed near her, though, and she flinched. "Scoot over," she said, before stepping down into my lap. I had to push her tail out of my face as she stood to close the top. Once that was done, she sat right in my lap, facing forward, and I had to nearly wrap my arms around her to reach the controls.
"It's okay," she silently assured me, "Just stay calm, and we'll get out of this."
"Okay," I nodded, trying to remember whatever I'd seen about the games. "Find something called a G-diffuser. It might be a good idea."
"Okay," she said, leaning forward to flip a few switches. Immediately, the air felt different, but I couldn't put a finger on just what had changed.
"Maybe starting it would be a good idea," I remarked, ready to slap myself for overlooking the engines. Krystal pushed a button near the right control stick, and I heard the near-silent engine come to life.
"Oh, right, and shields."
"Already got those," she said. I nodded; that explained why I hadn't felt the effects of the guns that were probably shooting our ship at the moment.
"Okay. Now, let's try this," I said, tilting both joysticks up slowly. The craft rose slightly, and I smiled that I'd figured it out so far by myself. I was glad I was taller than her as I looked past her shoulder out into the sky. I finally noticed that it was still night-time.
"They're closing the doors!" she shouted. Sure enough, two huge doors started to close from the top and bottom of the hangar's exit bay.
"Then let's go," I shouted, pushing both sticks forward. The ship did start moving forward, but slower than I'd hoped. Then, something hit me. "It's still in hover mode," I said.
"Got it," she replied, hitting a button near the left stick. Suddenly, the craft shot out of the hangar, a few seconds before it would've been too narrow to get out. I pushed both control sticks up once we were clear, and the craft turned upward sharply, leaving a blue streak in the air behind it.
"We made it," I said, out of breath. I tilted the left stick up, and the right one down, and the ship began to roll. I pulled up before correcting it, effectively turning the ship a bit to the right. I figured it out before long; forward sped up, backward slowed down, and left and right controlled each wing up or down. The ship even turned without rolling of one joystick was pushed up while the other remained neutral. I wondered about how useful wings would be in space, but I shrugged the thought off.
"We made it," Krystal said, much more excited. My own heart was still racing, but I had to focus on flying the complicated craft still.
"Did you see that?" she asked excitedly. "We did it! Ditto, we just escaped! They had guns, and guards, and everything! They even had an arwing, which we stole! And you said you couldn't fly an arwing, but you did it, and now we're flying over Corneria! We can go anywhere we want, now."
"Yeah," I said uncomfortably. "Could you stop squirming so much? You are in my...uh...lap, after all."
"Oh!" she said, surprised and somewhat embarrassed.
"Do you know where we are now?" I asked before she could worsen the situation. She leaned up and looked out the side of the window.
"I don't know," she admitted. "But I think I see the school ahead of us."
"How does that help?"
"You can land on top," she replied. "The school was built to be able to handle landings."
"How do you know that?" I asked.
"The same person who told me about the lockers," she said.
"And who was that?"
"Fara."
"Oh," I said. The cockpit hadn't been silent for ten seconds before it apparently made her uncomfortable.
"So, how did you get out?" she asked, beginning to calm down. "Cain made it clear that Sharp was their leader."
"I used this," I replied, letting go of the controls long enough to slide up my sleeve. She looked at the second mark, getting more serious by the second, before sliding my sleeve back down for me.
"Is he dead?" she asked.
I shook my head. "He's still important somehow. And I think he may become an ally at some point," I told her. If she disagreed, she didn't show it. After a few seconds, I was the one to get uncomfortable with the silence. "How'd you get out?" I asked.
"Cane...I read his mind, and figured out what he planned on doing with me. But he unlocked my shackles, because apparently he liked what he called 'the struggle'. As soon as he touched me, I stunned him with my telepathy and ran."
I nodded, smiling. One heck of a girl. But something else came to mind. "So, you really can affect all humans better through contact?" I asked.
"No..." she said. "Just you. I waited because I wasn't sure he would hurt me, until he touched me."
"Hmm..." I hummed, wondering about that fact. I knew Krystal and I were connected somehow, since we both appeared at the same time and could communicate with a mere touch. But I was still thinking about something else Sharp had said.
"Ditto..." she began. She sounded nervous now. "Who were those people?"
I shook my head, and would have looked down if I wasn't working on trying to land the craft.
"They're here with Relics, that's all I know."
"They're with him?" she asked. "Then why did they try to kill us?"
"I don't know," I said slowly, focusing more on trying to land. I pushed the button she'd pushed to make the ship stop hovering, and it slowed down further. I set it down carefully on top of the huge roof of the B building, and let my hands fall. "They said something that interests me, though."
"What's that?" she asked, unlocking and opening the window. She crawled out, and I followed her after turning off everything she'd turned on. I landed on the ground after hopping off of the craft's wing, and thanked my legs for not buckling.
I took a breath to steady myself and looked at her. "They said that they were the ones who brought me here," I told her. She looked down in contemplation. I did, too, but eventually I shivered, realizing I'd left my jacket at Relics' house. I shook my head; if Marissa was really watching over Relics, it'd be nearly impossible to get it back. And that meant showing at least one other person the marks on my arm, whether it was an adult to get my jacket back, or Colin, so he would lend me another jacket.
"How long do we have to avoid Relics?" Krystal asked. I let out a long sigh.
"You should avoid him at least until third period tomorrow."
"We're still going to school?" she asked.
"I am. I've got to talk to Relics about a few things."
"But what if they find you again?" she asked.
"I think I'll be fine. I still have another Sin before I get into the last three, so I can get out any time I want."
"Well, then I'm going, too. I should be able to detect the other humans' minds easily," she said. I knew she wasn't about to back down, so I nodded slowly, still thinking about how Sharp could be involved. After a few moments, I felt the cold seeping through the tux, and shivered again.
"We should get home," I suggested. Krystal nodded solemnly. I offered her my hand, and she took it without a word. With worries about the past, and about the future, I led her down the stairway quietly, forgetting about both the arwing on the roof and the gun slung over my shoulder.
Bamf. Well, for those reading this after the day-long wait, I hope it was worth it. But for those reading this as a part of a marathon involving the entire story, you didn't even have to wait. Cheaters.
I had some difficulty with Krystal's excited exclamations in the arwing. What you read is probably the sixth revision. Also, congratulations to Comrade, who guessed the culprits on the first try. But I'll bet you didn't guess why they kidnapped Ditto and Krystal. And yeah, those guys were at least partly responsible for Ditto's trip into the universe.
And, for people who leave reviews, I would like some advice. What word limit should I aim for in the chapters? Because I'm really into this story right now, so 4,000 words a day would be reasonable. I was thinking...10,000-word chapters, once (maybe twice) a week? More experienced writers, I call you now!
After-the-fact commentary: "He liked what he called 'the struggle'."
"So...you kicked him in the balls, yeah?"
"What? No, I stunned him with telepathy."
"Sure. Telepathy. Right."