It had been one month since Clarence and Claire met up. During this period, Claire met his brother's important persons in life. Her closest one was Abie, who was leaving to other country.
Clarence, Sora, Musica and Claire were on the airport. They were waiting for Abie to arrive. They were all worried because her flight was supposed to be at 10:00 AM. It's already nine but she had still not shown up. The most worried person was the strict and elegant-looking man, wearing a pleated black suit. He's contacting Abie and his 7-footer bodyguard was also calling someone else.
Clarence eagerly approached Abie's father. "Where's Abie now, Mr. Rinth?" he calmly asked.
The man looked at him with anger. "I wouldn't be this worried if I know," he answered coldly. He looked at him more angrily. "Why are you here, anyway? How many times do I have to tell you that you cannot see my daughter again?!"
"You cannot do that again. Like what you are doing until now to me and Abie," he said, trying to contain his feeling. He still answered him very lowly.
On the other hand, Musica, Sora and Claire were talking about them.
"It seems like Ms. Abie's father doesn't like bro..." she said sadly.
"Yeah," Sora replied. "He tried to part the two the two of them for many times."
"...At any means," Musica added. He shook his head. "Poor Clarence..."
Suddenly, Mr. Rinth's phone rang. An unregistered number appeared. He answered the call. "Who is it?"
The caller had an irritating small voice. It's like he's using a voice changer. "Hehehe," he started with a malicious laugh. "I have your daughter, Abigail Rinth. Hehehe."
Mr. Rinth exclaimed. "What did you say?!"
They heard him shouting. They panicked a little, since they still didn't know what's happening between him and the caller.
"I kidnapped your daughter. Hehehe." The caller always placed his irritating laugh after saying his words.
"Who are you, anyway?! Don't play around!"
"Hehehe."
"How would I know if you're telling the truth?"
"Hehehe... Listen..."
"DAD!" This was Abie's voice.
"Abigail!" he exclaimed as he heard her voice.
"What?!" everyone exclaimed.
"Hehehe."
"How much do you want? I can give you any amount you want. Just give Abigail back!"
"Hehehe. I don't need money. Hehehe."
"Then, what? You crazy! Give her back!"
"Hehehe... If you want her back, Clarence must come here to get her back."
He was more surprised. "What?! Clarence must?!"
Clarence heard him. He swallowed the lump formed in his throat.
Mr. Rinth looked very mad at him, as if cursing him with his angry eyes.
"Clarence and his company must rescue her before sunset. My base is at the Yamanaka Mountain. Hehehe. If they couldn't make it within my given time, I'll kill your daughter. But first... She's very beautiful..."
He heard Abie screamed. "Don't touch me!"
"No! Don't do it!"
"Hehehe. I won't touch her as long as they come here quick! Hehehe."
"DAD! Don't let Clarence come here! These people are dangerous! They're gonna kill him!" Abie said.
"So long! Time starts now! Hehehe." Toot... He already hang up.
Mr. Rinth grabbed Clarence shirt. He looked very angry at him. "That's why I don't want you to be with her! She's always in trouble because of you!"
He looked away. "I'm sorry..." he said, almost crying.
He let go his hands off on him and took a deep breathe. "I hate to say this but it's you who can save her. Go to the forbidden mountain. You are only given until sunset to get to their base."
Clarence nodded. "I'll take her back." He then looked at Musica and Sora. "Let's go, guys."
"Right!" they replied.
He looked at Claire. "You can go home now, Claire. We'll take her back for sure, so don't worry."
"I want to go too!" she said.
"You can't. It's very dangerous for you."
"I promise I won't be a burden to you. If something bad happens to me there, leave me then. I don't want to sit and do nothing for her. Please let me come, bro!" Claire eagerly said.
"Alright, then. But I'll let Musica take care of you once we get there," he said. He then looked at Musica. "Is it ok with you, Musica?"
"Yeah, of course."
The four of them finally proceeded.
Mr. Rinth clenched his fists tightly. "Clarence, this is the first and last time that I would trust you."
>>>>>> <<<<<<<
The entire mountain site was very huge. It's almost like a big city in size. It's bordered by many tall trees. The first step to enter there was to cross the old long bridge. The pier's structure was one wood per foot. It looked like it's going to fall off and break at any minute. This was sure to consume a lot of time since only one person can cross at a time.
The first to cross was Claire. She's the lightest among them. Second to cross was Clarence, followed by Sora then Musica.
Secondly, they climbed up the steep mountain. They consumed almost three hours, including their rest. They were all exhausted upon reaching the top.
"It seems like there aren't any enemies yet," Sora said, scanning the whole place.
"But be on guard." Musica added.
They kept on walking. On the middle, they saw a very strange cave, with an ethnic face. They entered it since they couldn't see any other way.
"This cave spooks me out!" Musica complained.
"It's good that it's not dark here," Clarence said. "Torches are already lit up."
"The bad guy is really expecting us here," Sora said.
They proceeded to go. The path they're walking on was getting narrower as they walked deeper. They even have to crawl. Next to that narrow path was again a wide one. The stoop up but didn't move. Everyone looked serious.
"Be alert," Musica warned. "Something's coming!"
A dazzling and familiar sound surrounded the whole cave. They saw a battalion of flying animal. They have pair of wings, ugly face and red eyes. These were bats. The whole battalion attacked them. The four shielded themselves by their arms. They couldn't fight back because the bats were too many for them.
Suddenly, they heard someone laughing. "Hahaha!" As soon as that 'someone' laughed, the bats went to him.
They readied as they felt his presence getting near. All of a sudden, they heard a 'THUD!' sound at their backs, as if something had just fallen down. They turned to see it. They saw Claire down on the ground.
"Claire!" they exclaimed as they saw her. Clarence hurriedly went near her.
"So, you brought a woman with you," the enemy said.
"Who are you?!" Sora and Musica angrily asked.
Finally, the enemy showed up. The bats surrounded him. He's very thin but tall. He had long black hair. He wore a black sleeveless shirt and grey martial arts pants. He held a big arched knife, approximately six inches in diameter. He placed an evil grin on his pale face.
"They call me BAT GUY," he started, still grinning. "I can control bats, as what my name implies."
"You must be Clarence," he pointed out. "No, Kiba Swinburne, the only son of the Wolf King!"
The three glared at him.
The enemy grinned as if enjoying their reactions. He looked at the girl who fell down. "Anyway, who's that woman with you?"
"Why should we tell you?" Musica said.
"She's in danger."
"What do you mean?"
"She collapsed because her hearing sense was disturbed by a certain sound of my bats. Only women can hear it and suffer as bad as that!"
"Darn you, crazy!" Musica glared at him.
"Hahaha! If you don't knock me off within 30 minutes, she'll be asleep forever! It means she's dead!" he said, attacking Clarence with his arched knife. Clarence defended himself with his sword.
As they were fighting, other enemies appeared. Sora's opponent was a big fat guy. He can control objects through his mind and throw it to his opponent. Sora's power was also like this: psycho kinesis. It's gonna be a tie and tiring match. On the other hand, Musica's opponent was a clown. He had the ability to make you laugh once he blows the black horn he was holding. Musica must shut his ears if he doesn't want to laugh uncontrollably.
Each fight continued. Clarence and the bad guy were both tired. Sora and his opponent were equal in fighting skill. What the latter threw at him was what Sora controlled in the air and threw back to him.
When the clown blew the horn, Musica laughed very shortly. The opponent was really confused.
"Surprised why I didn't fall on your trick?" Musica grinned, teasing him.
The clown's eyebrows met each other. "Why, you! What did you do?!"
"Earplugs!" he answered, pointing to his ears that were really covered with earplugs. "Nyahahaha!" he teased, sticking out a tongue.
The opponent used air pressure to remove his earplugs. He hurriedly blew the horn. Musica heard the sound. He laughed uncontrollably for almost two minutes. The clown laughed for his victory. But suddenly, he cut his wry laugh upon hearing no laugh of his victim. "What happened?!" he exclaimed when he saw that Musica was not there anymore. He hurriedly received a hard punched and threw up. He was badly injured when he fell down.
Sora's fight ended as well. He used his strongest attack to beat the opponent. Clarence's fight ended right after Sora's. He helped him beat the Bat Guy. Clarence destroyed his arched knife while Sora hit him on his face.
Clarence rushed to Claire, who was finally sitting up. "Are you ok now?" he worriedly asked.
She was holding her ears on both palms. "My ears hurt..." she said.
"Can you hear me?" Clarence asked, looking so worried at her.
She nodded. "Yes..."
He let out a relieved sigh. "Can you walk now?" he asked, assisting her to stand up.
She was back to her feet. "Thanks, bro. I'm ok now." She then noticed the bruises and scars on him and on the two. "What happened?" she worriedly asked.
"We fought three of the kidnapper's men," Musica said. "It's over now."
"I'm fine," Clarence smiled at her. "We're not very hurt. This happens all the time." He then took her hand. "Come on, let's go. Abie's waiting."
>>>>>> <<<<<<
"Wow! What a big mansion!" they exclaimed when they saw a huge and beautiful mansion in front them. They couldn't imagine that there was such in the middle of the forbidden mountain. The gate was already opened so they came in. As they reached the front door, it opened automatically. A butcher stood in front and welcomed them in.
"Welcome, guests," he said, bowing. "My Boss is waiting at the top floor."
The four couldn't respond due to this unexpected incident. They proceeded to walk, following the butler. When they reached the second floor, a maid came, blocking their way.
"If you don't want something bad to happen to Abigail Rinth," the maid started. "...You must surrender the girl with you."
"Eh?!" they exclaimed.
"That's the Boss' order," she continued.
"That's absurd!" Musica said.
"That's ok with me," Claire spoke. "I came along to help, didn't I? I'm sure nothing bad is gonna happen."
"You shouldn't!" Clarence said. "We don't know what he'll do. He might hurt you as well."
She smiled at him. "I'll be fine. If ever I meet him, I'll talk to him. I'll try my best to stop him from doing anything bad."
"That won't be easy," Musica worriedly said.
"ENOUGH TALKING!" a loud and familiar voice boomed all over the place. It was the voice of the kidnapper who phoned Mr. Rinth. "LET THE FUN BEGIN!"
As soon as he said that, a wall quickly dropped from the ceiling. It separated them into two groups; with Claire on the hands of the maid while the three on the butler's.
Claire entered the room the maid escorted her. There, she saw a man sitting on a bench.
On the other hand, the three proceeded to the top floor. While walking, they saw a big screen. They saw Claire and the man through it.
"I guess you're not the Boss here," she said.
The man stood. "I'm not. I'm working for him," he said, turning his back to her. "For now, I'll enjoy myself."
Claire didn't seem to be frightened at all. "How?" she asked interestedly.
"Play a game with me."
"Huh?"
"Tennis," he said, grinning slyly. "You, as my opponent."
"You want a tennis match with me?" she repeated as to clear this matter. "No. That's boring," she said, crossing her arms.
The man turned angry. "Tennis is my favorite game! It's not boring!" he furiously said out loud.
"I'm saying tennis is boring because I don't know how to play it," she explained, looking bored.
He calmed down. "Ok, fine..." he said. He grinned again. "Then, soccer will do!"
Many masked men came out from all the doors inside the room. One of them was holding a soccer ball.
"You're not supposed to play soccer with me by myself alone?! I should be with a team, not just individual!" she demanded.
He kept grinning. "It won't be fun if you have a team!" And they started to attack her.
"Oh no!" Clarence, Sora and Musica shouted out.
Unexpectedly, the monitor just turned blur. The connection between them got broken. Clarence angrily hit the wall. Because of this, they hurried to the top floor. They ran through many ladders. Then finally, they saw the Boss, sitting in a big throne.
"Welcome, Argent Securities Agent," the Boss greeted. The voice was not the one that was used earlier. After all, that was just because of a voice changer.
They were surprised to see who it was.
"You...?" Clarence said.
"You're a woman..." Musica continued.
She laughed.
"Why are you doing this?" Clarence asked, a little furious.
The woman crossed her legs. "That has nothing to do with you at all."
"What?! Nothing at all? Why did you kidnap Abie on the first place?!"
She didn't answer. She just looked at him.
"What about Claire? She has nothing to do with it as well! Why did you let her fight those soccer men?"
"You shouldn't worry about her," she finally said. "She's alright for sure. There's no way she'd be hurt so easily."
Suddenly, on their left, a door opened. Someone came out. Surprisingly, it's Claire.
"Bro!" she called out upon seeing them. But before she could make a step forward, the woman hurried to her and pointed a long sword at her.
"Don't move or she'll die," she told them, with a fierce look in her eyes.
Suddenly, they heard a "roar" that echoed all over the room. When they looked up, they saw something unbelievable. It was somewhat-like a black cheetah with wings.
"What's that?!" Musica exclaimed. "A monster?!"
"It seems like a rocked-flying cheetah!" Sora said.
"What an ugly name!" Musica commented.
"Hahaha!" the Boss laughed out loud. "That's a chimera!"
"Chimera!?"
"A living creature created from combinations of new chemicals and elements and of course animal flesh to form a whole new invincible creature!" she said. "Hahaha!"
"I've never imagined chimera is true... "Clarence said. "It's a mythical fire-breathing creature with the head of a lion, body of a goat and tail of a serpent. It's really hard to believe that it is now true, though it doesn't look so much like what it is written on the old books."
"My dream to create a chimera is a success! Hahaha! So now, finish them!" she commanded her creation.
As she said that, the flying chimera attacked them. They quickly blocked it with their weapons. It moved so fast away from them and flew back. They were attacked one by one.
The Boss laughed madly. "Finish them off!"
"Hey..." Claire called out of a sudden. "Let's talk, old woman."
The Boss looked at her angrily. "Old woman?!" She then slapped her. "How dare you call me old woman! I'm just 23!" she angrily blurted out.
Claire caressed her right cheek that was slapped. "I won't argue with you..." she said. Her usually friendly eyes turned into a villain one. It seemed like her sweet personally changed all of a sudden. "Where are you hiding Ms. Abie?"
The woman laughed. "You finally show your true color. Your distinction is that eyes of yours."
"Yeah..." Claire sharply said. "I'm tired of keeping my true eyes from others."
"Are you not going to fight back?" she asked, keeping her grin at her.
"Later," she answered. And for the first time, she showed an evil grin. "I'll kill you later."
The older woman suddenly felt an intense fright all over her body. She wanted to stay away from her. She quickly jumped toward her throne.
Claire didn't follow her. She walked toward the corner, where there's a cabinet containing many weapons. There were swords, knives, arrow and bow, latigo, cutter, shackles and many more. She took the arrow and bow.
The chimera was holding down Sora. Clarence and Musica tried to stop it but they couldn't because it's huge and seemed like it wouldn't feel anything. Suddenly, it screamed loud, thus making loose grip of Sora. Its blood flowed down from its eyes. An arrow did it. Because of anger, it hurriedly attacked the one who shot it: to Claire. But before it laid to her, it was stopped by the three. They used chain to throw it up on the ceiling. They had the chimera suspended up on the air.
"Finish it now, Claire!" Musica said.
She positioned her arrow and bow directly at it. She finally shot it but it just bounced away. Its skin was as hard as a rock. However, they noticed that its skin was slowly turning violet and when it was covered all over, it exploded. At the same time, Claire felt pain on her right arm. She touched it and saw blood through her hand. "How dare that soccer game..." she said under her breath.
"Oh no, my chimera!" the woman madly cried out.
"We've already defeated your 'successful chimera'," Musica playfully said.
"Where are you hiding Abie?" Clarence said, walking toward her.
She threw a knife at him. He evaded it by moving away his head. He kept walking.
"Just tell where she is at once," he said calmly, still walking.
She suddenly cried and buried her face to her palms. He stopped.
"She's at the basement. You don't need to worry about her. She's just sleeping," she said, still crying.
Clarence felt sympathy unto her. "Why did you do all these?" he asked.
She just shook her head.
"Who are you, anyway?"
"I'm Rachel Monde, a scientist." She looked up with teary eyes. "I really don't have any intention to hurt Abigail. I just used her as bait to lure her to come here ..."
"Her?" he doubted.
Rachel stared at Claire. Her sad face turned evil once again. "Because my real target is that girl!" she said, throwing her sword at Claire.
The sword was moving fast toward her. But good thing, it didn't reach her. It suddenly stopped, as if it was being controlled. It's Sora who did it, using his psycho kinesis.
Rachel Monde was really angry one. She wanted a retreat. She stepped on a hidden button on the floor. A secret passage opened up. She jumped down.
"I won't let you escape!" Claire said, shooting an arrow at her. The target barely evaded it. It scratched Rachel's left cheek.
"You missed..." she said, grinning.
Claire's wound opened again. More blood flowed down.
Clarence finally noticed it. "Hey! You're bleeding!" he worriedly said, running toward her.
"HADES is moving now to hunt you down, Claire," Rachel's last words. The secret passage, together with her, went down like an elevator. The opening of the passage also closed.
As soon as she left, they heard cracking sounds, as if the whole place was starting to break into pieces. As what was happening, the place was really starting to collapse! The walls and ceiling were falling simultaneously. They hurriedly left the room, rushing down to the basement.
>>>>>>> <<<<<<<
Clarence took care of Claire's wound, wrapping it with a handkerchief. When they entered the basement, they saw Abie sleeping on a soft bed. Clarence hurriedly went to her. "Abie, wake up..." he softly called.
She slowly opened her eyes. When she saw him, she embraced him. "Clarence... good you're ok..."
"Yeah," he replied, embracing her back.
"It's good that nothing bad happened to you, Abie," Claire said, smiling. At this very moment, her eyes turned again to what it usually was when talking to her.
Abie looked at her. "Claire? You also came?" She stood up and embraced her. "I'm sorry. Because of me, you are all hurt."
"It's nothing, Abie," Sora said, smiling at her.
"What's important is that you're safe and we can now go back," Musica added.
"Your dad is really worried," Clarence said.
She smiled at them. "Thank you very much."
>>>>>> <<<<<<
Rachel Monde was lying down outside the mansion. "Darn!" she cursed under her breath. "I wasn't careful with the arrow that she shot! She must have put poison to it! That was also the reason why my chimera turned purple and exploded."
The five was walking out from the mansion. Abie hurriedly walked toward the woman, who was Rachel, on the ground.
"What happened to you, Miss?" she worriedly asked, laying her knees on the ground.
"Rachel...?" the three boys said quietly. They realized that Abie had not seen her before. They just remained silent.
Claire was looking at her. Rachel too was looking at her furiously. She couldn't move nor utter a word.
"I've warned you, didn't I?" Claire said mentally, delivering her statement at her.
"I finally knew why Hades wants you," Rachel replied. "You can kill anyone without staining your hands with blood. Silent killer, huh?"
"I put poison with the arrow, as you already know. Its effect is within 30 minutes. The poison is already inside your body for 11 minutes now."
Blood was starting to chirp down from her mouth.
"Hang in there, Miss!" Abie said. "Let's bring her immediately to the hospital!"
"She seemed to be poisoned..." Clarence said.
"I've just called an ambulance," Claire said, raising her phone. "I think she'll last."
"You sure?" Abie asked with a hope on her face.
Claire nodded, and a siren was heard.
"I think they're near," Clarence said, holding Abie's hand. Let's go. She'll be saved."
Few minutes after, a van arrived. It was Mr. Rinth's, picking them up. Everyone was already inside, sitting comfortably, except for Claire.
"Uhm..." she called. "I accidentally dropped my watch," she said, showing her empty left wrist. "I think it's just in the way we walked through. I'll just look for it, so please wait for me."
"Let me help you," Sora volunteered.
She shook her said. "No, thanks," she said, leaving already. "I'll hurry."
"Come back soon!" Clarence called out.
Musica's facial expression turned serious as he stared at the leaving Claire.
>>>>>>> <<<<<<<
Claire took something out from her pocket. It was her watched. She put it back into her wrist. She went back to where Rachel was.
"Good, you're still alive," she told her.
There was a furious expression on Rachel's face. Claire reached a brownish tablet, somewhat-like a chocolate ball, into the woman's mouth.
"That's an antidote for the poison I made," she said.
Rachel was now able to breath. "Why?" she glared. "Why did you save me?"
She laughed shortly and grinned. "Because... I pity you."
"How dare you grin at me when you pity me?!" she growled at her. "You should have just let me die!"
"Whatever," Claire answered, walking away.
"Hey, wait!"
"I was wrong..." These were Claire's last words for her.
>>>>>>> <<<<<<<<
"Have you found it?" Clarence asked.
"Yeah," Claire answered, showing her watch on her wrist. "Good I found it easily."
"Ok, come in now," he gestured her to come inside the van.
It was evening when they came at Rinth's residence. Abie was sent home safely. Because of this, Mr. Rinth smiled at Clarence for the first time. It was a relief for the both of them.
Claire decided to spent dinner with Clarence, Musica and Sora at their place.
"You have a great talent in archery," Musica said.
"I studied archery for a year, two years ago.''
"So that's why."
"Claire," Sora called.
She looked at him. "Yes?"
"About what Rachel said..." He looked at her seriously. "Let me protect you."
Everyone remained silent right after he said this. But it was broken by Musica. "I volunteer, too," he said, smiling.
"I, too, of course!" Clarence added.
"Thanks..."Claire said, lifting a smile. "But, no need to."
"Huh? Why not?" Sora asked.
She just shook her head.
"What is this Hades, anyway?" Clarence asked. "Why do they want you?"
"I don't know as well," she answered. "I really didn't expect that someone like me would be wanted by some organization or whatever."
"Then," Sora started. "You really need someone to protect you. We don't know when they will move. You need to be careful."
"They must have just mistaken me with someone else. I'll be fine. No need to worry," she said, giving them a smile to make the situation clear.
"But in case you need help, don't hesitate to call us, ok?" Sora demanded.
"Ok, ok..."
"You can count on us!" Musica added.
"I really need to be with you from now on," Clarence said to her.