"Cody!" Colin gasped, as he suddenly felt sick to his stomach. "Wha…?"
Mall. Kids. Parents. Green Men everywhere.
They were back on Gardens Dreamworld, just outside Blossoming Gardens Mall.
"Cody?!" Colin looked around wildly.
"Colin! We have to run…" Alicia coughed, looking green.
Colin felt like he'd just Died in Nakama World and Respawned somewhere, and Alicia looked like she did too, but right now the only thing on his mind was that looming blackness approaching Cody's Sanctuary.
{We did this. It woke up because Cody broke us out of that mall, and now it's going after him and everything else in his Inner World. If this keeps up… what's going to happen to Cody? Is he going to lose ALL his memories? Lose his mind entirely? Because of US?!}
"Cody…" Colin coughed, almost threw up.
"Leave him. We've got our own problems to worry about." Alicia said, crawling into a corner behind a round three-feet-thick pillar.
Colin crawled over to join her. "But… because of us…"
"Well, we can't go help him. We can't even help ourselves. We don't have anything here, not even our Comrades." Alicia heaved a deep breath. "Let's get back to Nakama World, quick! At least there, we have a fighting chance!"
"But… Cody…"
"What are you going to do? Do you know how to get back to him? Or to help him if you do?" Alicia shot.
She scored. Colin found himself speechless.
"I didn't think so." She scoffed. "You're no help to him or anyone else. You heard what he said. He said {run}. We'd only be in the way if he had to watch out for us while defending his Inner World. So quit getting distracted and focus! We have to get away!"
"Back to Nakama World." Colin said, and felt his stomach heave. He wasn't sure it was entirely due to the respawning sickness. {Why is it only now of all times that I suddenly remember the J-Knights were holding my trial tonight?}
"You got a better idea?" Alicia poked.
"Stop poking me." Colin grimaced.
"It's our only chance and you know it. At least there we might be able to fight back. Here… we're kidnap fodder."
She was right. Much as he hated to admit it (and he really did hate to admit it. When it came to Alicia, Colin had to admit it far too often for comfort), she was right.
Getting back though, wasn't going to be easy. Green Men were everywhere, just like Cody said. This time, there weren't just a few people passing out pamphlets. There were men in armor and carrying guns, dozens of them all over the mall. Disappearing to Cody's Inner World suddenly had thrown them off track, but they weren't giving up. Not even close. They were out for Colin and they were serious.
"Hazel…?" Alicia called softly. "Hazel, where are you?"
Colin frowned. She wasn't using her comms. "What…?"
Alicia noted his glance, scowled, and shook her head. "Forget it. We're on our own."
Colin settled back, and took out the leaf Lynn gave him. He started sniffing it.
"What…?" Alicia peered at it, then sniffed, and her eyes went wide. "Hey! What {is} that?"
"Something Lynn gave me. Sniffing it helps me recover from respawning sickness."
Alicia shrank back, hesitation and desire all over her face.
Colin gritted his teeth. {I would have gladly given half to Katrin. But… of all people… the last person I wanted to share it with…}
"Here!" Colin tore off half and gave it to Alicia before he could change his mind. "I owe you for rescuing me. We're even."
"Even? You think a leaf could…" Alicia trailed off, sniffing her half of the leaf.
"You can use it over and over again." Colin pointed out. "It's something that might last you the rest of your life. If you don't want it, I can take it back."
"No. It's fine." Alicia said, with a snort, then went back to sniffing. She turned away and Colin knew she didn't want to talk any more.
"Hey… I remember." Colin said to her back.
"Remember what?" Alicia perked up. "Is there a secret way back? A tunnel?"
"Um… I don't know." Colin hesitated. "I just… well, I remember what happened in Cody's Inner World."
Alicia frowned. "So?"
"We didn't lose our memories." Colin pointed out.
"So?" Alicia asked again.
"You said you were worried, because…"
"Yeah, whatever. Nice to know."
Colin stared. "But you were…"
"Yeah, yeah, stop gloating and {focus}! We have to get away from here!" Alicia snapped.
Colin sat down in a huff. "What's your problem?"
Alicia hissed in as low a voice as she could. "We were chased by Green Men trying to kidnap {you}, I was dragged into some disconnected Inner World, and now we're back and smack dab in the middle of the whole freaking Green Men {army}! How's {that} for a problem?!"
They fumed like that for a few minutes, taking as long as they dared to recover, but at last, Colin got up and said, "We have to move."
Alicia didn't argue. She got to her feet too, eyeing the leaf appreciatively. But she didn't say a word. Not a single word of thanks.
They slipped towards the nearest side entrance only to find it heavily guarded. Eight green men with guns, three more with scanners, and a Sentry bot keeping track of everyone around by shining color coded lights on them. A pair of kids tried running past, but they were pounced on instantly.
"These guys are really after you." Alicia narrowed her eyes at him. "What did you do? Steal their vault keys?"
"I can't remember, remember?" Colin shot back at her. "Let's try another exit."
"Forget that. We're not going anywhere like {this}." Alicia said, gesturing at their Nakama World gear and import links. By now, all the Green Men would have their descriptions. "We need disguises. We need to go shopping."
"Ugh." Colin hadn't liked shopping with mom and Gracie, especially clothes shopping. He didn't even like the idea of going shopping with Katrin. The thought of shopping with Alicia was… "Let's just get this over with."
Alicia seemed to agree. She didn't seem to like shopping with him either. She just darted into the nearest apparel store, grabbed stuff off the racks as she passed by them seemingly in random order, and then shoved him into the changing stalls with a handful of clothes. "Put them on and pay for them in the stall, then come get me."
"Come get you?" Colin blinked. "Why don't I just meet you outside, or better yet…"
"Because you're paying for my clothes too." Alicia said, out right. "It's because of you that I skipped a Tournament and have to buy new clothes just to get back. You're paying!"
Colin growled. "Fine."
Those clothes were expensive. Colin gulped when he saw the price tags as he put them on. Alicia had grabbed a dark green tight t-shirt, shiny black low cut jeans, a broad belt, a gray woolen jacket with a soft dark gray fur collar, and a gray hoodie lined with black to match. {Cripes. My clothes alone are going to cost me over five thousand Clira!}
Alicia was in the next stall. Colin almost fell over when he saw the price summary of her clothes. {Twenty-five thousand! TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND Clira for one set of clothes! What the-!}
He had paid nine thousand not too long ago for winter clothes, but that was five different sets, and they were {winter clothes}, really nice and warm and comfy, thermo-modulated and everything. This… this was jeans, t-shirts and jackets. Regular clothes.
Although, Colin admitted upon seeing her, they were {good} looking regular clothes. Alicia had picked a silky white blouse for herself, a dark red hoodie jacket and a black mini-skirt/tights combo. And a pair of white cord belts. And matching silvery hairband and ribbon that turned her usual hanging hairstyle into a ponytail-with-fringe. And a three-piece necklace set, cord, light chain, and slightly heavier chain, all silver and a cross pendant on the heaviest chain. {Oh wait. She already had that chain and pendant. Those were hers all along. She just added another cord and chain. I think it was Mom who gave her that cross-thing. But I thought Alicia never wore it.}
All he said, though, was "You really stand out. Is that really good for a disguise?"
"Think about it. We're in a mall. {All} the girls here are dressed like this." Alicia pointed out. "I don't see any of them wearing armor. At least I'm wearing stuff I can run in. For a minute there, I was tempted to buy a really expensive dress and make you pay for it."
Colin gulped. "I'm glad you didn't, but just out of curiosity, what dress are we talking about?"
"That one." Alicia pointed to the central showpiece of the store. Colin dared a peek at the price tag and shivered. {That thing costs a hundred thousand Clira. And that's not even counting the shoes.}
"Inspections!" a voice announced from the front. Colin saw Green Men with guns coming in. "Everybody line up!"
"Run!" Alicia hissed but there was no need. Colin was already darting for the side exit.
Outside were more Green Men inspecting bags, carts, people and shops all over the place. They weren't having the easiest time of it; a lot of adults were complaining, and it seemed the Green Men here were trying to talk things through politely rather than shoot everything in sight. {If this was Nakama World, there would be fighting by now. The entire mall would be destroyed in minutes and things would spread all over the continent. But I guess the cultists treat adults differently from kids.}
The mall was emptying, Colin realized. Everybody was leaving, except the Green Men, who were closing in on those who were left. Pretty soon, they would have to hide somewhere in the mall and hope the Green Men don't find them before they Woke Up.
"The restaurants! They must have kitchens and back doors!" Colin whispered hurriedly to Alicia.
"I was thinking the cinemaplex. There's a rooftop parking exit." Alicia hissed back. "Don't you see? The restaurants on the ground floor are already…"
Colin saw. The Green Men were already there and closing in from the outside. They were sweeping the ground floor methodically, and leaving no gaps to slip out in between their lines. But… "If we go up… how do we get out? We don't have a gravcar or anything that can fly!"
"We can't waste time worrying!" Alicia pushed him. "Move! Don't waste all my efforts trying to save you!"
"You don't have to come with me." Colin growled, but he ran up the escalator. "I can…"
"What? Run right into another trap?" Alicia barked. "Try to fight your way out? What happens if you get shot {here}?"
Colin frowned. "They're not going to kill me. I think they'll use stun guns or something."
"Are you {still} arguing?!" Alicia shoved him onwards. "GO!"
They ran for it. There weren't many people around now; most were going down, to the exits, not up. Some few were going up; those had cars on the rooftop, Colin guessed. Tapping a finger to his lips, he pulled Alicia to step in behind an older couple heading up.
Alicia eyed them and gave him a grudging nod. Walking along behind them like that, anyone looking at the four from a distance could easily assume they were a family.
They were in luck. The older couple was, in fact, heading for the rooftop parking, and they made it all the way to the cinemaplex together without questioning. The Green Men roving the upper floors didn't so much as spare them a second glance. They were looking for two armed kids by themselves, not some casual family on an outing.
Things were going so well, in fact, that Alicia decided to push her luck.
"Hey…" she tugged the sleeve of the older woman as they approached the rooftop parking. "Could you give us a lift out of here?"
"A lift?" the older woman raised her eyebrows. She flicked a hand through short curly hair and examined Alicia and Colin closely.
"Yeah. We kinda want to get back to our parents, but…" Alicia gestured towards the Green Men swarming all over the place.
"Where are you headed?" the older man asked. He was round in face and form and looked like he was losing hair or something.
"Anywhere with a tram station." Alicia shrugged. "We can find our way back from there."
"My, my…" the older woman mused. "Are you two brother and sister?"
"No." they said at the same time.
"Mmm." The older woman didn't seem to notice. She looked around. "You want us to pretend you're our kids?"
"Yes, please, if you would." Alicia requested politely, with a surprisingly charming smile.
"How pretty." The older woman remarked with a big smile of her own, but hers was nowhere near as charming as Alicia's. Not by a very long shot. Colin actually felt a bit sick as she went on. "Come with me, dearie, let's go clear things with the guards while my man warms up the car."
Alicia shot Colin a triumphant look as she followed the older woman to talk to the 'guards' on the rooftop. Colin felt distinctly uneasy about making people lie to help them out, but it was too late for him to object. Alicia hadn't even consulted him about this idea before going ahead with it. He couldn't blame her - they really were running out of time - but this just felt… bad.
It was only when the older man grabbed both his hands forcefully that Colin realized that it was bad in more ways than one. He spun his head around only to hear Alicia scream as she was grabbed at the same time. The older man was stronger than he looked. He lifted Colin off his feet by both wrists. Colin looked down and finally realized it when he saw the golden eye-crown-and-triangle pendant hanging on the man's neck chain.
{They're Gaians. They're both Gaians. Maybe even set here as bait.} Colin kicked back wildly for a bit, but the man didn't loosen his grip. {Calm down. Think. This is bad - I have to get away. But I can't do this stupidly. I have to be smart…}
"Word!" Colin called to his wrist, and the bracer extended, shoving the man's grip off as it did so. Colin brought the bracer to his mouth and yelled. "They've shown themselves! ATTACK!"
The implications of that announcement into what might very well have be some sort of comms unit made the man jump back in fright. He ducked for cover, looking around wildly as if expecting to be shot from afar…
But there was no sniper on a distant roof or tree receiving Colin's call. There was no armed force of troopers ready to assult on his word. As far as Colin could tell, the bracer didn't even have a comms unit in it.
The distraction worked, though. Colin was free and running the moment his feet hit the ground.
{Alicia!} She was held by a Green Man and the older lady both, with more Green Men closing in from the sides. Colin pulled his extendable staff out of his pocket and darted in.
"There!" the Green Men holding Alicia's wrist was pointing with his free hand. The older lady turned…
Colin tripled his speed. He didn't know what he did or how he did it, but his run turned into a blurring dash that sent him crashing into the Green Man so hard, everything went black for a moment. He felt the impact only after the blackness started to fade, and saw the Green Man flying back even as he grabbed Alicia across the waist and kept running forward.
Alicia clawed at the older woman; she let go in a hurry, eyes wide and glaring as she hissed at Alicia. The moment Alicia regained her feet, Colin let her go and whirled on the Green Men closing in from the sides, staff extending as battle was joined.
There were two of them on Colin's side, each of them with stun rods. Colin saw crackles of electricty snaking around their weapons as he slipped past them, feinting left and right, but never actually letting his metal stave meet their electrified batons. He simply ran in between them, and when they spun to give chase, dropped hard right, and bumped the nearer guy into the farther guy. Each of their stun rods zapped the other guy as they collided.
Alicia, meanwhile, was whipping another pair of Green Men with what appeared to be her necklaces. That cross pendant left a burning red mark on the unhelmeted face of the nearer guy swiping at her with another stun rod. But the guy's partner caught her chain with his own stunner, and then Alicia let out a pained cry and stumbled back, her hand falling to her side and nearly dropping the chains. {Ouch. The chains are metal. She got zapped.}
[Alicia! JUMP!] Colin called to her without a voice. She was in the air so quick, Colin wondered whether she was going to have done so even before she knew he was near.
For whatever the reason, it gave him a clear shot. Colin swept low, under her feet, staff extended full out, whamming into the knees of both her assailants at the same time. He didn't stop there. He lunged upwards, ramming his stave into their stun batons.
Where the first strike halted them, the next settled things. The impact of his staff meeting them made the stun rods in those hands bounced back into the faces of the guys wielding the rods. That move was costly, though; Colin felt pain and shock run through his arms. He lost his grip on his stave; but he didn't stop to try to get it back. He just put a numb arm around Alicia and ran for it.
His arm barely made the gesture; there was no strength in either of his hands any more. Alicia got the message, though; she ran with him, darting for the nearest grav-car.
{Can we really do it? Does she know how to drive a car?} Colin didn't know, didn't have time to worry about it. He just ran, and she didn't protest or anything, so maybe she had a plan or something.
As it turned out, she did. Somehow, she'd managed to grab a stun rod and used it on the grav-car door window. It broke, and alarms started ringing, but she dove in with Colin right behind her. She yelled, "Autopilot! Hospital Emergency!"
The grav-car was, to be sure, a construct of Dreamworlds. Dreamworlds usually didn't {have} hospital emergencies. But the design was identical to that of the real grav-cars in the real world; the programming was the same. The car registered two unauthorized but significantly hurt human children; it was enough to trigger the autopilot's response to bring them to the nearest hospital.
They slipped into the seats as the grav-car left the mall behind. The cultists would give chase, Colin knew, but until they got into their vehicles or called for backup, the two of them had a few minutes respite.
Their Traveler watches started flashing red. Missed calls and new messages were registering. {We're away from their comms jamming. We have comms back.}
"Dad!" Colin made the call at once. "We're being chased by Green Men! Gardens Dreamworld, Autopilot hospital emergency from Blossoming Gardens Mall!"
"What?!" Dad burst out. "I'm on my way!"
{Thank God for Dad. He didn't ask if it was a prank or even stop to ask questions.} Colin sagged with relief.
Alicia, he noticed, didn't call anybody.
"Aren't you going to call your dad?" Colin asked.
Alicia shook her head curtly.
"But…"
"Shut up, Colin." Alicia said and turned away.
And then things started getting really crazy.
***
First, a giant robot fell from the sky right on top of the grav-car they were in.
It was no joke. Colin found himself staring at a dark greenish/brown helmeted face as big as the grav-car he was in. Soft white light shone through its v-shaped visor and inspected both him and Alicia in the car.
Colin had a moment to gulp and think, {the Cult's got us. We're done for.}
Other gigantic shapes were dropping out of the sky. The air itself shook and caught fire as they arrived. There was a painful jerk as a huge hand grasped the grav-car, dark greenish/brown fingers closing around it, and then there was a sensation of falling despite all the car's comfort mechanisms.
The ground opened up. Colin saw it like the land itself had widened its maw to swallow them whole. Like an immense pit or chasm had appeared right underneath and they were all falling into it, giant robots, grav-car, and all.
They landed in a desert. Or at least, someplace with sand below, but Colin felt sure that he saw the ocean around them too. {A beach? An island? What's an island doing underground of Gardens Dreamworld…?}
A trail of smoke streaked by so close, Colin could have jumped out of the car and touched it if he were crazy enough. He watched it spiral, followed by more and more trails, all of them homing in on…
{A dragon?} Colin blinked. {A skeleton dragon? What's a dragon doing in Gardens Dreamworld?}
And then he saw the trails zip into tiny lines, and he saw giant robot shapes pouncing on the dragon from all sides, and how small they were becoming as they neared the dragon thing. {Wait. If the giant robots are THAT big, and compared to the dragon, they look THAT small, then…!}
Colin gulped. The dragon was HUGE. It was bigger than Blossoming Gardens Mall.
"Watch out!" a cat scolded Colin.
"Huh?" Colin blinked, surprised to find a cat floating in the air beside him and Alicia, beige with black stripes in a patch on the center of its back. A flying cat almost as large as himself. "What are you talking about?"
"You don't want to land at this speed." The cat pointed down.
Colin glanced down and realized that the sandy ground was coming up to meet them really really fast. "What…?"
The hand that had clasped them wasn't holding them any more. Colin didn't know what happened or how or even when, but the car was currently in free-fall with absolutely nothing slowing it down.
{Priority Change: Main Priority = Survive!!!}
"Emergency brakes!" Colin yelped. "Car! We're falling! DO SOMETHING!"
"Survival Mode activated." The Grav-car responded. "Initiating Safety Measures."
"Not like THAT!" the cat growled, exasperated. "You have to get away from here first!"
"How-?" Colin began when a stream of fire slammed into the flying cat and the cat vanished.
Alicia was screaming. Colin turned back to see a hand grabbing at her from outside the car. He punched at it, trying to wrest it off her, but it was a strong hand. Half-panicked now, he called, "Word!"
The bracer responded, covering his arm. Where his fingers failed, Colin resorted to bashing at the hand with his bracer.
"HEY!" a red-faced girl appeared beside the window then. "What gives?!"
Colin blinked. Short, blonde hair. Blue eyes. Small face. But that hand was connected to a slender arm, to a slender shoulder under her armored vest… {she's strong}.
"Who-?" Colin began.
"We have to get you out of here! Quick!" she barked. "MOVE!"
"But-!" Alicia gasped.
"No time!" she grabbed Alicia with both hands now, and hauled her right out of the seat. Colin stared as the safety harness broke. {She's VERY strong.}
"Grab this!" a guy's voice said from the other side. Colin spun to see a spiky haired dude with goggles offering what appeared to be a net of some sort. "Don't worry! I switched off the electricity!"
Colin hesitated.
"Hurry! Before we all get killed!" the guy said, glancing at the dragon-thing.
Colin gulped and grabbed it, suddenly realizing that the skeletal dragon was headed straight for them and getting closer. {Weren't large things supposed to be slow moving? But it doesn't seem slow at all… and with strides THAT big…!}
"MOVE!" the flying cat appeared again, her fur singed black and smoke rising from her whiskers.
Too late. It started raining fireballs. One of them slammed into the guy with the un-electrified net. Another one shot by so close, the girl pulling Alicia out had to jump away.
"Blast it…" the cat growled and grabbed the car itself. She dragged it along as she flew. "Get out, quick! It's getting closer! MOVE!"
Colin glanced about and said, "Car! Emergency Eject!"
The roof opened. Their seats went shooting out of the car merrily, Alicia screaming the entire way. "COOOLIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNN!!!!!"
Too late, Colin realized that he still had his safety harness on while hers was very much broken. She was hanging on to her seat with her bare hands.
He grabbed for her. A stream of fire made him duck. The flying cat followed his lead and succeeded; she grabbed Alicia off her seat and zipped away into the distance. {Whew. Alicia should be safe now. Safer than this at least.}
Then he remembered he had his own safety to worry about. Colin found himself entirely alone as streams of fire and fireballs went shooting all around him. He glanced down at the car, expecting it to blow up spectacularly, but oddly enough, none of the fire hit it despite several close misses.
Fire wasn't the only thing to be worried about, he realized. Overhead, there were no less than three Gaian saucers. They, too, appeared to be fighting the dragon, but they were also shooting at giant robots, and kids flying around on airskates with oversized swords.
Meanwhile, the giant robots were fighting each other, and the Gaian saucers, and the kids with airskates. Everywhere Colin looked, it seemed everybody was fighting one another and he had no clue, absolutely no clue whatsoever as to what was going on any more.
Despite all of this, Colin didn't think it too weird. He was reasonably sure that there would be a Dreamworld somewhere with giant robots. And one with skeleton dragons and swords. Adventura Dreamworld sounded like that sort of place. And a talking flying cat didn't seem all that weird in a Dreamworld like Nakama World.
What seemed weird was the {feel} of it all. It all seemed… unreal. Like he'd fallen asleep without the Dreamworlds Headband.
A giant hand came flying out of nowhere and smacked Colin in the face. It was grayish-white, and had probably been part of a giant robot until something sliced it away at the wrist and left a blackened line where it ended.
Whatever it was, it was bigger than Colin, heavier, and had a lot more velocity. The thing practically dragged Colin through the air in its palm, seat and all.
"WHHHHHYYYY????!" Colin managed to yelp as the world started tumbling round and round and dizziness multiplied until blackness closed in.
***
Note: In case anyone was wondering… the grav-car survived.