Chapter 23: Idiotic people will remain idiots FOREVER.
Beta read by AL19
"This is the worst!" Shinpachi roared early in the morning. The people around him just stared at him, dumbfound, as they continued to sit there without any hope drawn to their faces. Every time they looked at the 13 year-old Satsuki and the 7 year-old Gintoki, they felt very hopeless.
"Now… what are we going to—" Toushiro stopped himself when he saw Mutsu and Tatsuma shrouded with twigs and leaves.
"Ahahahahaha! Finally, we found you!" Tatsuma jumped out of joy. Mutsu also popped out while shrugging some leaves off of her body. She smacked the laughing idiot.
Before realizing what was going on with the duo, she sat on the hot ground and squinted her eyes at the unfamiliar figure, "Who the heck are these brats?"
Tatsuma stopped laughing his gut out when he noticed Satsuki leaning on the tree. When noticing her, he examined everything on her starting with her head, and down her body. Satsuki didn't like this, so she knocked him out with her fist, "Are you a creep?!"
His eyes gleamed from seeing this kind of expression, "You're Hamano Meiko-chan right?"
The group's expression turned into extreme shock from what Tatsuma had said a while ago. Even Gintoki – who only had a 3-year old body, but his memory was still intact – was shocked at this huge revelation.
"H-Hamano M-Meiko-chan?"
"Oh, and are you Gintoki? What a small figure you have there!" Tatsuma tried to pick him up, but failed, because Gintoki punched his hands, "Oh fine, fine!"
"Listen, Sakamoto! I may be small but my memory is still intact! Just like Conan Edogawa, get it?!" Gintoki reasoned with him. "Anyway, what are you saying that she is…Micah? She doesn't even…."
As he faced the girl with mixed emotions, he sensed that Satsuki was really THIS girl. Satsuki arched a brow. She didn't even know what they were talking about. Nevertheless, this so-called Hamano Meiko.
Her mind was filled with questions, so the first thing she decided to ask was, "Who is this Hamano Meiko? I am Sakakibara Satsuki. I am currently working in the Café when I was teleported into this so called jungle and whatever. Also, to my surprise, I saw Toushiro. So I-"
She stopped expressing her thoughts when that odd feeling came up into their bodies again. The whole group immediately came into their assistance. And when they came to notice, they were back into their original bodies and ages.
Tatsuma laughed, "Amazing! Anyway, Meiko-chan is Gintoki's first—"
He stopped explaining the details when Gintoki threw a rock at his face. Mutsu gave him a round of applause for what he had done. But it wasn't really successful when Tatsuma…
"Love…"
Blurted out the last word.
"Gin-chan, you have one!? You are cheating on Satsuki-chan, uh-huh!" Kagura pointed her umbrella to Gintoki.
Satsuki tapped Gintoki's shoulder and laughed out loud, "Really?! I thought your heart is as hard as stone! Ahahaha! Also, first love isn't bad at all! I mean, I do have one."
Kagura also pointed her umbrella to Satsuki, "Eh?! Satsuki-chan is also having an affair?! That means our family will be destroyed! Gin-chan, don't you love Satsuki-chan?! Also, Satsuki-chan, don't you love Gin-chan?!"
Gintoki stuttered, "Well…I…uh…"
Satsuki bluntly stated, "No. I don't love him at all."
It pierced Gintoki's heart, earning Toushiro a big evil smile with an aura extracting from his body. Gintoki glared at him.
"Then what about Mayora?" Kagura shot back.
Satsuki replied, "I do love him as a friend."
Gintoki held a large grin as he saw Toushiro's reaction. It made him really happy.
Satsuki arched a brow, "Just why are you putting malice into this? Gintoki is my friend, and Toushiro is my friend."
"Stop the ruckus already and think of a plan on how we are going to escape from this drastic situation." Sougo interrupted as he held a bored look.
"Well, the point is, Satsuki-chan looks like Meiko-chan! Look that blue hair and those majestic scarlet eyes! Also that one, that necklace thing! AHAHAHA!" Tatsuma laughed, pointing out the so called truth.
"I've never even met you before!" Satsuki denied.
"Oh! Sheeesh! Debating with that stuff cannot make us return to earth. I should have just said to Akane that they could've just given us a ride and these things wouldn't be happening. I hope Akane can track us." Mutsu sighed.
"Of course, Aka-tan is the best you know! AHAHAHA!" Tatsuma laughed.
"Sitting here won't benefit us a thing. Let's get moving…" Toushiro stood up and walked out of the group.
Walking into the woods didn't manage to help them at all. Even though there were a lot of people, they kept on walking in the same spot. They didn't even find Isao and Kotarou.
"Okay, let's rest here. Geez, we haven't even found a single clue about this island for the past few hours." Toushiro complained as he sat onto a nearby rock.
"Uhhhh. This is hopeless." Gintoki sighed.
"Tch. I cannot contact Akane at all." Mutsu grumbled under her breath.
The sun continued to shine over the whole island. It may've been bright, but for them, it was a hassle. After an hour, they resumed on their journey. Along the way, they saw some smoke in the sky. When they saw this, they already knew that there was a string of hope.
"Smoke! Smoke! There are people here!" Kagura jumped joyfully. She dashed over towards the area without thinking. So the group didn't have a choice but to follow the little brat.
All they saw was a village of natives. No people around at all, but just the smoke in front of them.
"Jeez, I thought it was food uh-huh!" Kagura grumbled, receiving a smack coming from Gintoki.
"You little brat! Don't just run off like you are hungry for people." Gintoki exclaimed.
The whole group observed the place quietly and decided to split into pairs to know the secret of this place. In order to decide which would be partners, they played Rock-Paper-Scissors. In the end, these were the assigned pairings; others were surprisingly happy, but others weren't.
Mutsu with Tatsuma.
Shinpachi with Kagura.
Sougo with Gintoki and Yamazaki.
Toushiro with Satsuki.
Now that the pairs had been decided, only Toushiro was happy with Satsuki being paired with him. But as for the rest of the group, they hated this.
"O-Okay, s-shall w-we go?" Toushiro announced, but the other members grumbled under their breaths.
"The hell! Why am I paired with a sadistic brat?! Moreover, why are you paired with Satsuki?" Gintoki quarreled.
"Huh? It's a lucky one! Don't quarrel back as if I cheated! Let's go Satsuki, we're wasting our time here." Toushiro held her wrist and started dragging the girl.
As for the remaining members, they started to investigate this mysterious tribe. For Toushiro and Satsuki's side, neither of them said a single word. Ever since this morning, Satsuki was acting strange.
Toushiro was grateful that he was paired with Satsuki, but seeing her thinking so deep made him curious. He was about to speak when Satsuki said something.
"I cannot believe it… I haven't met Gintoki before plus Sakamoto-sa—" Satsuki stopped speaking when the both of them sensed trouble right behind them.
There was a group of natives jumping over them so they chose to fight them. Toushiro unsheathed his katana and charged towards them. Satsuki was about to fight when she sensed the hot feeling enveloping her body. Her eyes began to blur but she intended to fight over it.
"Oi. Satsuki, are you alright?" Toushiro went over her.
"I-I'm okay. Let us h-hurry—what the fuck are you doing?!´Satsuki was startled when Toushiro decided to carry her on his back.
"Obviously, we're going to retreat before some things happen here." Toushiro explained and they tried escaping until they got caught by an unknown net.
"Shit! Shit! Shit! Don't worry Satsuki! We will—" He was interrupted when he saw Satsuki collapse in front of him.
"SATSUKI!"
"Hijikata-san… Hijikata-san…" Sougo called out.
Hijikata opened his eyes and slowly woke up. After a few seconds, he remembered what happened to Satsuki a while ago, "The hell?! Satsuki! Satsuki!"
"Keep calm, Vice-Chief." Yamazki told him.
"How am I supposed to keep calm? Tell me where she is!" Toushiro frantically ordered. Again, this was this feeling that he obviously doesn't want to feel; he couldn't save her again…
"How are we supposed to know, you damn Mayora?" Kagura scolded the man infuriatingly.
"Damn it! I really couldn't reach Akane!" Mutsu clicked her tongue and glanced over at the sleepy head captain, "Oi. Wake up already."
Tatsuma rose up and laughed, "AHAHAHAH! So where are we?"
"In a prison idiot."
"We need to save Satsuki imme—" Toushiro's throat clogged up when Gintoki bellowed at him.
"Do you think you're the only one worried about her? Think about it, damn tax robber! The people inside this cage are also damn worried about Satsuki! Being uneasy won't help us!"
"Ahhh. Gin-chan, your bracelet… It's gone…" Kagura pointed at his wrist and realized that it was gone.
"It must be by the huge stone that rolled after us, uh-huh!" Kagura continued.
"Maybe, the natives are after the bracelet so they took her and separated her from us." Sougo said.
"It is possible since that bracelet sustains a great power." Mutsu said.
Toushiro ruffled his hair and gave her a distressed look, "Maybe the bracelet gave out another effect a while ago. Some time ago, her breathing was heavier than usual and her temperature was very hot. That's why she collapsed in front of me."
"Eh? Satsuki-san collapsed?!" Shinpachi was shocked at this.
Suddenly an unknown girl came in front of them, "knock. Knock." She said with an emotionless manner.
Mutsu immediately felt surprised at this, "Akane?!"
"Seriously?! Akane my honey sugar da—" Tatsuma was about to hug her when she gave him a firm punch to his face.
Akane strip off her disguise clothes. There, her kelly green hair flew gently in the air as she looked down with her azure eyes, "You're too hard to find Mutsu. Also, who are these guys?"
"Well, they are his idiotic friends." Mutsu pointed at them.
"Ah. This stupid idiot's friends, huh?" Akane asked.
"Hey! You just called your captain stupid and an idiot!" Shinpachi retorted.
Akane glanced over at him for a second and reverted back to Mutsu, "Anyway, I took care of Gorilla-kun and Zura-kun so I'll help you now."
"So you're ignoring me?!" Shinpachi yelled.
Akane fired a pistol towards Shinpachi. He was terrified by the sudden fire; he knew that it was time to shut his mouth. She prepared something out of her bag; then she set up her chainsaw.
"Wow! Cool!" Kagura praised.
"Idiot! It'll be heard all over the place!" Gintoki retorted.
"Don't order me around. I have a plan." She stated with her eyes shining over them. She started to operate and used the chainsaw to slice the bars into pieces.
"She is a little bit scary…" Sagaru nervously added.
"By the way, any news about Satsuki?" Mutsu asked.
Akane thought about it for a few seconds, "The blue haired girl? Forget it. She's not going to survive."
All of the people inside the place were all utterly shocked and surprised. They didn't expect news like that. Now that Toushiro heard it, he began to get furious, "Don't mess up with me! Satsuki won't be dying like that!"
"Hey! Where are you going, Gin-chan?!" Kagura shouted. As they all glance at the samurai, he ran like the wind.
Akane stopped him by pulling his wrist back, "Are you planning to kill yourself, friend A?"
"Friend A?! Excuse me, but I have a name!" Gintoki retorted.
"Seriously, what the heck?! Answer me first! Where is Satsuki?! She's not going to die in a place like this!" Toushiro shouted.
Akane just stared at the two giving her statement, "Who said she died? She is GOING to die if this continues."
"What do you mean?" Shinpachi asked.
"Who will challenge the whole tribe to a duel?" Akane explained to the whole group.
"H-Huh? Challenging? Explain things already!" Shinpachi screamed.
"Basically, in order to free you guys in this so called prison, she challenged the whole tribe to a duel. If this continues, she might die not because of these people but because of that bracelet. According to my research, these bracelets are extremely hard to remove and they cannot be removed by just the strength of a certain person. It can't even be cut. It can only be removed if someone reaches Stage five, which is a slow death." Akane explained, giving them an emotionless look.
All of the people inside were shocked. Akane continued her explanation, "This bracelets have already reached the Earth. One more thing about this; they say that in order to end this phenomenon someone must stop the mastermind and she is just too smart to figure out this. That's why, I already freed you guys. There are other prisoners who've reached stage five, so free them from this place."
Suddenly, a huge blow was heard all over the place. The walls started to shake because of the impact.
"What's happening?!" Sagaru screamed.
"It seems that… the duel already started." Akane murmured under her breath.
Gintoki glanced over at Akane and tightened up his fist, "What the hell are you doing… Satsuki?!"
Alright, I already knew that I am really late for updating this chapter. Arghh. I got writer's block and stuff. But don't worry, Christmas break will soon be coming! Hooooray!
Anyway, I would like to thank the people that are supporting this fan fiction! Reviews, favorites, follows are appreciated! Thank you so much!