Chapter 3: Explosion. North

Angelo drove as quickly as he could, following whatever signs the Sulegna could throw at him. It never dawned upon him that he was running out of gas, until Tryk and Lilia pointed it out. He looked at the gauge. It said empty. They were coasting on reserves now.

Fortunately, a gas station was nearby. They stopped there for fuel. Angelo busily dealt with refueling the car, while Tryk and Lilia raided the station of any food. They ran a high bill. A really high bill. They quickly left the station after paying. North of them, they could see an explosion cloud. Something was happening there, but they already knew what happened. GTX was under siege. Nowhere was safe any more.

Chapter 3 : Myriad

A myriad of emotions hit her. She was uncontrollable.
She sat there, circuits of her brains fried. Too many emotions to handle at once. Too many colors too, she later surmised.
She sat there. Her eyes blank and a thousand miles away. And yet, it was close to her.
The dank dark area she was in sank in around her eyes.
And her body sank down on the stinky floor, full of dark shiny liquid of unknown origin. (Actually, Darkness manifested itself in that liquid to ravage Yuriko)
It cannot be already.
She would die.
Yes, she would have the courage to take her own life.
She had to. It was too great a humiliation. Even in this alien town. If it was a town that is. More like a giant sprawling underground city.
She had never been humiliated like that before. Not in front of an entire courtroom made of people who looks about the same.
Wait... they looked about the same. That thought never occured to her in the room. Only now.
But where was she in the first place?
UnderCity City of LesBif. It was a sinister place. Now, she bet she was in some ancient dungeon in an ancient castle (her imagination never left her, even in her very dire state now)
But clearly she was not.
With some difficulty she buried her head in her hands (her hands were sorta chained to the wall kind of thing you see in movies)
And she cried. She bet the ethereal beings were happy now. meh.
And she continued crying. The impact was too large for her to handle. She missed her home. And this city is probably run by crazed kidnappers ready to kill, or worse, rape.
She cried..

Chapter 3: To Do

The Sulegna flooded Angelo's mind. It told him what to do next. Everyone in the car noticed the Sulegna was glowing.
"Looks like someone just learned something new," Tryk said jokingly.
"What is with you guys and this glowing balls anyway?" Lilia said, irritated.
"We shouldn't go over the border. She's still here." Angelo told them.
"So we're getting bad information from HQ? Maybe it's part of the old man's plan. Either way, let's go save her before something bad happens," Tryk replied.
"And how do you suppose we find her?" Lilia asked.
Angelo replied with this: "Let me drive."

Chapter 3 : Verdict

The Prosecution stated :
"The accused was caught thinking of escaping the UnderCity City of LesBif, of which, under no circumstances, shall a kidnap victim escape, lest the victim is threatened of life. But clearly this is not the case. The Accused managed to get out scoot free from her kidnapper's den, naked and all."
At this point, the prosecuter rolled his eyes and stole a look at the still naked Yoriko in the cage.
"The Accused was picked up by the UnderCity City of LesBif Thought Police Department, Also known as the UCCLTPD, and was transported here via the UnderCity City of LesBif Bereau of Slavery Bus. Court Scribe, please note that down"

***

Yoriko stated her case. Or at least, tried to. The prosecution (known as Mr. Toaf, but often mistyped as Mr. Toad) always had an objection. And it was NEVER Overruled, whereas, Yoriko's objections had ALWAYS been overruled.
Finally, she came to her last thing on her mind.
"Your Honor, " she started
"That's Your honor, of high disembowelment and high praise to you, the accused" Judge Yduj told her sharply
"Your honor, of high disembowelment and high praises, I am not from here. Just... just let me go!" Yoriko pleaded.
"That all for your final statement, Accused?" Judge Yduj enquired.
Without waiting for a reply, she continued,
"Of course it has to be. Jury, make your verdict now."
The jury discused for a while, and simultaneously, they pronounced the word : Guilty as charged. And Guilty as NOT CHARGED as well.
Judge Yduj cleared her throat.
"Yoriko Noda, aged 16, is found guilty of trying to escape being a kidnap victim. For this, I sentence her to lifetime slavery in the UnderCity City of LesBif." She said in a clear voice.
"Thank you for your appearence in Court. The UnderCity City of LesBif is proudly sponsored by The Onidraco Corp. For all your biological needs." She pronouced clearly, and slowly.

Chapter 3 : Court Order! (Not)

The Courtroom materialised in front of her eyes* (and in front of the cage mesh, of course)
The judge was a woman. And the jury was made up of four men, and four women (which is a weird thing, in the case should they come up with a 50-50 agreement, but then again, in the UnderCity City of LesBif court, the chances of that happening is about the chances that Socrategoras, the great Greek Philosopher skiing down Mount Everest on his head in a second, which was never, since Socrategoras has been dead, and his body trampled upon the many Greek and Roman sandals of time, in his grave, of course)
Once the court room finished materialising (it had to finish, as it was materialising an atom at a time), the Judge, whom we shall call Judge Yduj (as opposed to Judge Judy, and is pronounced YEE-DOOGE)picked up her notes from the table and started speaking.
"Yoriko Noda, aged 16, is found guilty of trying to escape being a kidnap victim. For this, I sentence her to lifetime slavery in the UnderCity City of LesBif." She said in a clear voice.
"Wait! I did not even get trial! And there is nothing wrong with escaping a kidnapper!" Yoriko cried in indignance. She slammed her fists on the doorless mesh-cage, causing it to shake
"I demand equal rights, and a fair trial!" She continued shouting
"Oh well, I suppose this has to come to pass, but we've been through this already. Alright. Let the trials begin. Yoriko Noda shall represent herself, pro se" Judge Yduj sighed.
"Will the Prosecution state their case?" the Judge asked

"Yes, your honor, of high disembowelment and high praises" said a rather squeky man sitted on a table, wearing a silly bowler hat that looks as though it was made of hair
And he read the prosecutory statement, whatever that may be.






* Actually, in front of her eyes would not be a good description. around the cage would have served a better description

Chapter 3: Kyori, Missing

The phone in the car rang an hour after darkness had spread through Hito. Lilia picked up her phone.

***

"Hello?"
"This is headquarters. Something's happened."
"What kind of situation are we talking about?"
"Kyori is missing. It disappeared off the map about fifteen minutes ago."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Your orders have changed. Head straight over the border."
"Why?"
"(background)Let me speak to her, you're being too robotic.
Lilia, I have bad news. Kyori is not longer existent. It is no longer there. We don't know how to explain this, but I suggest you take a look for yourself when you pass through that area. Trust me."
"OK, move over the border to where?"
"Take cover in GTX for a while, OK?"

***

Tryk immediately asked what happened. Lilia explained the new mission. I saw what went missing. More like we all did. The place where Kyori used to be was now an empty space, with on a main road in the middle.

Chapter 3 : The Bus

The bus arrived. It was exactly like Yoriko had imagined. Yellow, and cute, and empty, like those in the movies. Empty where EVERYONE had seats. On the bus, bold black words proclaimed the bus : UCCLBS, which she supposed stood for UnderCity City of LesBif Bus Service.
But what she did not expect was the bus would appear as fast as she thought, neither did she expect the bus to appear with for smalled vehicles escorting it. The four smaller vehicles looked like police vehicles, with the words : UCCLTPD emblazoned on it.
Perhaps it was the bad security in the UnderCity, that is the reason why a bus needed four police escorts (well, UCCLTPD obviously would mean UnderCity City of LesBif - The Police Department, right?)
Yoriko boarded the bus. It was empty (as were the grass plains and everything else). The boing-boing oddball bounced up the bus as well.
Once aboard, the doors automatically shut and the bus sped on. Yoriko was flung right to the back of the bus, where there stood a cage-like structure. Yoriko fell into it and knocked her head on one of the ledges and blacked out.

***

Yoriko awoke to unfamiliar surroundings. Right in front of her was a mesh of wires. Towards her sides too. Behind her, she felt a mesh too. She was enclosed in a cage of sorts, standing.
She tried pushing against the cage door (which was in front, she supposed, since there were no visible hinges anywhere), but it did not budge. She was trapped (again!?)
Two men appeared (seemingly from nowhere, as she cannot see any door). They wore black and had face masks on. (as usual, what do you expect from kidnappers)
With much ease, the glided (well, it seemed like they glided) towards her cage and lifted it up without even breaking a sweat. They carried it down a certain stretch of white marble tile (that's the floor), and set it down.
Then a courtroom materialized.. (at least, it looked like a courtroom)

Chapter 3: Visions

"Apparently, we found that you were more attuned to the Sulegna than most of us normal people. So ,we decided that it was probable Dr. Cardino would drag you from your country to capture you here and started a plan that involved the highest level of government. I think you should already know by now, Mr. Yao is in league with us. The Sulegna should have hinted you on that. OK, now Mr. Yao is running the show and the person he replaced is already taken care of.:
"What about Dr. Cardino?"
"She's already dead. Somebody killed her. We don't know why, but she's already dead."
"Dead?"
"There are a few dead bodies left by another organization."
"Everyone is trying to get hands on you people with extraordinary mental capabilities. We've got to get you guys off the planet. We have enough resources and connections to do so."
"Get off the planet?! Are you nuts?"
"For your safety and the rest of the world, yes."

Darkness filled Hito, the capital of Reito. The whole thing was coming to a different place and different situation in three minutes.

Chapter 2 : Scream

Yoriko was screaming all the way. And banging her fists on OddShaped Man's body, hand, whatever she can land her fists on.
Well, if you were held sideways (and naked) and carried around (especially, if you are under someone's stinky armpit), moving very quickly, wouldn't you scream too?

The OddShaped man seemed to have the uncanny ability to move very very quickly, despite being in an odd shape (Yes, his arms are bulkier than most giant bodybuilders, and his legs face and move parallel to the width of his body, so basically, he walks like a crab.) Perhaps the oddest thing about the OddShaped Man is that his feet are so tiny. From a look above, Yoriko estimated his feet to be smaller than those bound feet of the women of ancient China... more like 3 centimetres in length.

***

Sore Throat was an ailment. And yet, he liked being an ailment. Now, he's creeping up to Yoriko's throat. Then, his wife, Husky Voice will take over.
Carefully, and most like a bomb defusal expert, he crept up Yoriko's throat, dodging the saliva that will kick him out of the system.

***

Yoriko's voice became husky. She felt her throat being very sore. But things were still moving in blurs. Oddshaped Man did not seem to want to slow down, which was odd, as he should by now, (and by humanly standards), be very tired, and stop.
Then, immediately, the Oddshaped Man stopped.
And put her down on the floor.
Then, the OddShaped Man turned into a sphere.
Yoriko shivered and looked around. This place was NORMAL LOOKING, for ONCE!
She was sure she is now out of the UnderCity City of LesBif.
It was a grassland kind of thing. There was a road nearby. A tar road, by the looks of it. She walked towards the road in her bare feet. When she reached the curb of the road, she saw a sign : It was a bus stop! She was saved!
Boing!
Boing!
Boing!
(No, these are not the sound of boobs bouncing)
The Oddshaped Man - turned sphere bounced and followed her. For convinience sake, we shall call it the Oddball from now on.
"Go Away!" She cried at The Oddball
Boing! Boing! The Oddball bounced on its spot.
"Fine" She huffed
Boing! Boing! Boing!
And so, Yoriko waited, for the very bus that could change her life.