S3E4: Exodus / A Botched Attempt
1686 Words
Meanwhile, in Pateropolis...
The same grim scenario happens.
Women who have some semblance of attractiveness vanish left and right, with no physical traces of them left behind.
Soon enough, the rival gangs – the Black Stalkers and Jaloux Liberators – begin pointing fingers at each other.
In just a matter of hours, their finger-pointing leads to full-scale gang wars.
With their weapons of choice – butterfly knives, ice picks, and improvised ammo launchers made from pipes – the two gangs stop at nothing to rout out each other, blaming each other for the disappearances, especially if the women in question are their “prized possessions”.
The gang wars erupt during certain times at Ambelivez Bridge – making the entire structure unusable to both vehicles and commuters alike.
As the disappearances continue and the gang wars still have no signs of letting up...
Angelino and company fear the worst.
“At this rate, we alone cannot outmatch the rival gangs,” states Angelino.
“I concur”, Kaylee asseverates. “Even with our combat capabilities, we eight cannot match the ferocity of 200 gangsters.”
“What's even worse,” Darby warns, “this shelter will not hold up if the wars continue! Hooliganism is at an all-time high, and the disappearances just add up to this mountain of problems!”
“Therefore,” Rosalind concludes, “we must head to the Supreme Leader in Villa Villa right away! He should awaken by now!”
The rest nod in agreement; and in no time, the Ishi-shiro officers all flee Pateropolis and head west on foot, adroitly avoiding the chaos that erupted here in this town of squalor.
The two groups are currently having their exodus, doing everything they can to unite as one cohesive force after the assault on the cruise ship.
***
“Sarbacutta Threatened by Unexplained Disappearances”
I'm currently reading the latest issue of The Sarbacuttan Truthbringer.
The biggest headline is the unexplained disappearances of several women in the three towns in Sarbacutta.
It doesn't matter if you're rich, poor, or in the middle class.
If you're a woman, and you're attractive, you're a prime target for these disappearances, period.
Of course, this makes me all the more concerned for the safety of Jurina and CJ.
Christian is doing everything he can to protect his liege, but his lone efforts can only go so far.
And thus, we all request quick lessons about the fine art of being a security detail from the big man himself, to which he readily agrees.
He states outright that the two important things in becoming a security detail are training and networking.
In terms of training, we, of course, have to be more capable in combat, especially in terms of teamwork.
We as individuals could slack off for even a millisecond and the people we're supposed to protect would be gone in a flash.
In terms of networking... yup, we should reunite with our friends as soon as possible.
As they say, the more the merrier, right?
As we all head out of Valet Compostelle Inn here in L'Remerville after the quick lessons...
We can sense high concentrations of magic.
And thus, we all non-verbally agree to let the big man himself expose those who attempt to touch our female comrades...
...by swinging his huge hammer-axe so hard, it creates a shockwave that hits the would-be abductors so hard, they tumble onto the pavement and lose their invisibility permanently.
But then, the two abductors, who are winged humanoid creatures, immediately rise from their fall.
So, they don't give up, eh?
I shout with all my might...
“We can't let you have them, you freaks!”
***
[Boss Battle: Abductor & Apprehender]
Abductor: A winged humanoid monster whose mission is to, obviously, abduct specific targets. Its flight capabilities are never to be underestimated.
Apprehender: A winged humanoid monster whose mission is to, obviously, apprehend specific targets. Its mastery over wind gives it an unfair advantage.
Abductor
Level 38 | HP: 1705 | MP: 106
Apprehender
Level 38 | HP: 3941 | MP: 106
Party: Benoit, Gershwin, Nolan, Christian, Juniper, Bearwin
Benoit chooses to perform his Innate Skill, Chuk Chak Tienes, on the Abductor.
Gershwin chooses to perform his Innate Skill, Mariah Interference, on the Abductor.
Nolan chooses to perform his Innate Skill, Diamond Light, on the Abductor.
Christian chooses to perform his Innate Skill, Darkside Earth, on the Abductor.
Juniper chooses to perform his Innate Skill, Claw Globe, on the Abductor.
Bearwin chooses to perform his Innate Skill, Detect, on the Abductor.
Benoit performs his Innate Skill, Chuk Chak Tienes, on the Abductor, dealing it 3 hits for a total of 1340 damage.
The Abductor's PDEF is decreased.
Gershwin performs his Innate Skill, Mariah Interference, on the Abductor, dealing it 1490 damage.
The Abductor is knocked out.
Nolan performs his Innate Skill, Diamond Light, on the Apprehender, dealing it 1176 damage.
Christian performs his Innate Skill, Darkside Earth, on the Apprehender, dealing it 1090 damage.
Christian loses 545 HP.
Juniper performs his Innate Skill, Claw Globe, on the Apprehender, dealing it 5 hits for a total of 1684 damage. (Claw Globe's number of hits depends on Juniper's current weapon level.)
The Apprehender is knocked out.
The counter-terrorists win! That's us.
3290 EXP and 3250 Double Pesos acquired.
Invisibility Armlet acquired.
***
The two abductors are down for the count, and they should be arrested by the police anytime soon. Whew.
But we all must be on our toes still.
Christian then realizes something.
“Everyone... I need to state something urgent. I forgot to visit our Supreme Leader because we've been going through so much. I also have this gut feeling... that we'll all be united once more, and we will even have more allies to add to our current adventurer count. So then... let's all head to Villa Villa right away!”
We all nod in agreement as we head out of the town of the rich post-haste.
We make our way to Villa Villa after a long trek across the highway.
Once we get to the entrance, we all feel kinda exhausted... but we come across several familiar faces, which are led by a dragoon and a scientist.
“Benoit! Everyone!”
“Good to see you again, Paulette and Giuseppe!”
***
Paulette Janis Cartwright. Age: 17.
She's a member of Dillington High's women's basketball team, and thus she's exempted from the mandatory Citizens Army Training program.
A short-haired tomboy, she excels in both academics and athletics – and even outmatches me in math.
No wonder that, in this fantasy world, she would become a warrior capable of aerial combat, slam-dunking foes with her spear full of precision and accuracy.
One time, I was having difficulty making sense of the orientation of three-dimensional Cartesian planes as part of a geometry lesson.
It perplexes me that 3D artists and animators who work on AAA games and even some indie ones are able to nail these planes right; while I, who is an aspirant into the game industry, am having a hard time.
Oh well, I am aiming for a different subset of game development, which is writing and narrative design.
“Where's the x-axis? Where's the y-axis? Where's the z-axis?”
Sensing my general frustration, Paulette approached my seat and showed me her right hand, with the ring and pinkie fingers closed and the rest of the fingers opened.
“This is the way to do things,” she explained.
What she meant was...
The thumb that is pointed towards me is the x-axis, the index finger that is pointed upwards is the y-axis, and the middle finger that sways opposite the thumb is the z-axis.
“Ah, I see.”
“Many of us also have a hard time determining which axis is which, too,” she told me. “But with this simple trick, we can finally see three-dimensional planes as they should be, and take off from there!”
As someone who's capable at math, but struggles in some areas of this field of numbers, I'm glad someone lends her hand, literally speaking, to help us all ace the subject.
***
Giuseppe Parisi. Age: 18.
The so-called “scientist jock” of our class back at Dillington High.
He's the consistent head of the sci-tech club due to his excellence in said subject, and that attracts the company of several other like-minded students; and he's also an athlete, which grants him an exemption from CAT.
One time, after class, I was just eating a variety of wafer sticks, which came in three flavors: Chocolate, chocolate plus strawberry, and vanilla.
He then approached me as I slouched on the almost-empty bleachers munching on those sticks.
“Hey, Benoit,” he started, even as he wore his plastic face shield.
“What's with that doohickey on your face?”
“I was just doing some micro-welding back at the sci-tech club room, when I suddenly remembered to give you this.”
A baby blue-colored ticket?
“What's with the ticket, anyway? And why me?”
“Trust me, you want to see this awesome show I'm headlining tomorrow. And I'm giving you this ticket for free, as a favor to a friend.”
“Well, I'm not much of a friend when compared to your groupies.”
“But still, a friend is a friend. And friends help each other in good times and bad.”
I sighed before I went along, “Alright. I have nothing to do tomorrow, anyway. I'll see your show for real.”
“Thank you!”
The next day, the show which Giuseppe headlined was a robotics exhibition.
He demonstrated several kinds of robots, including one which I kinda fancied, since it was a transformable robot made out of plastic model kits, LED lights, and lots and lots of soldering and tinkering.
That moment, in particular, made me want to watch mecha anime shows and play games that feature giant robots punching other giant robots in the first place.
Thus, I'm grateful to you, Giuseppe.
- Writer
