…
….ke up….
...wake…up…Ryouma….
Ryouma can only hear such things as he slowly regains his consciousness. His memory is hazy after what happened in that room.
"R….ma…wake up!"
The voice is getting clearer. Turns out it was Marie who tries to wake him up
"H-huh?" Ryouma open his eyes as he looks around, and all he knows is that they're locked up in a cage. "W-where are we?"
"We are captured by Darwin and being kept in this cage. You don't remember?" Marie asked as she puts her hand on his shoulder.
"Oh, yeah…Wait, where's Tesla?!" Ryouma is shocked after he realizes that Tesla is not with them.
"I think Darwin brought him to somewhere else," Tom said as he approaches him. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, I guess." Ryouma then sits and tried to calm himself down. As he does that, Tom walks around in the cage, examining each corner of it. Pierre also did the same.
"This cage, it's impossible to break out," Pierre said as he looked at the combination lock at the cage door.
"And why is that?" Tom asked
"This lock is made up of many complex puzzles. It would take forever to crack it."
"Then, we can't escape from here…" Tom said as he knocks on the cage floor made from steel.
Tom then observes outside the cage. There are cargo crates and cage everywhere. Inside the cage are various kind of animals, most of them are from the Jurassic era.
"Are we in some sort of a ship…? If so, where are we being brought to…? This must be Darwin's doings…" Tom thinks to himself.
Ryouma then take out his device and turns it on. The hologram seems distorted.
"Sakata, you there?"
"Y….es...wh-wh…..at…..happ...ened….?" then the device turned off by itself.
"Looks like the signal is not good here. We need to get out from here, asap." Ryouma said as he stood up. "Is there anything that we can do???"
"We already check the cage. It's impossible to break out. A complex combination lock and steel material prevent us from escaping." Tom said as he sat down.
"So, it is impossible, huh…" Ryouma said in his sad tone.
"Unless there is someone that gonna rescue us, we can't do anything except- "Tom got cut as he heard something from the distance. "Wait, someone's here…"
There are gunshots heard from the distance. The group stays silent as the gunshots draw near. After a few minutes, a man in a black shirt and green suit came from the darkness.
"Hey! There you are! We've been searching this place for an hour. Right, old man?"
"I'm still 40, so stop calling me old man…"
"H-Huck?! And Mark?! But, how did you guys manage to find us here?" Tom said as he was surprised and stands up.
"Well, don't you remember my talent?" The black shirt guy said as they approach the cage.
"Ah, yes, that. You're capable of tracking someone from distances. I almost forgot about that." Tom said
"So, what do we have here…" The green suit guy came as he takes a look at the combination lock. "Hmmm…" he then tried to solve the combination lock, and it works. "There, you're all free."
"Thanks, Mister. If you don't mind, who are you? And why did you want to help us?" Ryouma asked as he exits the cage.
"Because you're my friend's friend. And his friends are my friends too." The green suit man said as he smiles.
"Wait, you're Tesla's friend?"
"Yes, I am."
"Then, you are…"
"You should know by now…" he said as he smokes from his pipe.
"M-Mark Twain?!" said Ryouma with a surprised expression.
"You're right. I'm Mark Twain, an author, and Tesla's closest friend." Mark said as he bows down in front of him.
"Then, they are…." Said Ryouma as he looked at Tom and the black shirt man.
"You should also know by now…" Tom said as he looked at him.
"Tom, you are…Tom Sawyer, right?"
"Yes, that's me!"
Ryouma then looked at the black shirt guy. "Then he is…Huckleberry Finn!"
"You got it right, buddy!" Huck said as he scrubs Ryouma's hair.
"Ah, Mark Twain! It's been an honor to meet you!" Marie said as she and Pierre bows at Mark.
"Haha, to see a scientist couple likes my book, I'm the one who feels honored," Mark said as he smiles.
As they talked, an alarm has been rung.
"THE PRISONERS HAS ESCAPED. I REPEAT, THE PRISONERS HAS ESCAPED. ALL UNITS TO THE CONTAINMENT ROOM, NOW!"
"Uh oh…We need to go!" Ryouma said as he heard the alarm.
"Alright. Tom, Huck, protect us as we escape! I will guide them to the exit." Mark said as he commands them both.
"You got it!" Tom said as he took out his saber.
"Aye, aye, captain," Huck said as he reloads his gun.
"Everyone follow me!" Mark said as he guided them to the escape point.
As they ran, the guards are approaching them from the opposite directions.
"Shoots the prisoners down!" the guard said as they aim at them.
"That's not gonna happen!" Huck said as he shoots down the guards.
Some of the guards are being shot by Huck, and the rest are being slashed by Tom. As they both taking care of the guards, Ryouma and the others making their way up to the escape.
"Is…it still far away??" Marie asked as she pants.
"A little bit more. Don't stop unless you want to get captured again." Mark said while being in front, guiding them.
"Don't worry about it!" Pierre said as he lifts Marie up and ran with them.
"W-Woah! Honey, you didn't need to do that…" Marie said as he slightly blushed.
"Nah, I can't let my beloved wife ran like that. It's bad for your health, you know." Pierre said.
"Technically, it's the opposite. But if it's some kind of flirt, I don't mind." Ryouma said as he laughs. Marie then blushed even more while being carried by his husband.
"There! The exit is just in front of us!" Mark said as he points to the exit door.
Suddenly, a tentacle came from the dark corner towards their way.
"Mark, look out!" Ryouma said as he stops them.
"Woah!" Mark dodges the tentacles at the last second. "What the hell was that?"
"I don't know. It came from that corner." Ryouma said as he points at the dark corner beside the exit point.
The tentacle went back to the dark corner. Then, something came out from the dark corner. It has tentacles around its body, and its head is resembling an octopus.
"I-Is that a Cthulhu???" Ryouma asked.
"Without a doubt, it is," Mark said as he steps back a bit.
"The demon from Lovecraft's work? But how it managed to get here?" Pierre said as he put Marie down.
"If it's here, then Lovecraft must be here too," said Ryouma.
"We can talk about that later! We need to take it down," Mark said as he cast his spell, summoning books around him. It then opens its pages and shoots out lasers towards the Cthulhu. Pierre helps Mark by throwing his green tube and explodes around the Cthulhu, weakening it. But despite the effort, The Cthulhu creates a barrier and recovers while inside.
"Oh no, it's recovering! We need to destroy the barrier as soon as possible!" Marie said while keep throwing the explosive green tube.
Mark then summons more books and shoots more lasers from it. "God damnit! Just die already!"
As they try to destroy the barrier, tentacles came up from the floor. It whips Mark aside and destroys his books.
"Mark! You alright?!" Ryouma said as he ran towards Mark.
"Ryouma, watch out!" Pierre said as he pushes Ryouma aside, letting him get whipped by the incoming tentacle. It knocks him unconscious.
"Honey! No!" Marie shout as he ran towards his husband. "Wake up!" Marie seems panicked as she tried to wake Pierre up.
"Marie! Watch out!" Ryouma warns Marie as more tentacles approach Marie.
Suddenly, green particles are gathered around Marie's body. "Nobody can mess up with my husband…" She said as the green particles surround the area. The tentacles began to melt in front of her. Marie then approaches the Cthulhu and touches the barrier. The barrier then started to disintegrate, rendering it vulnerable.
"This is what you get for messing with my husband," Marie said as she gathered radiation on her hand and touch the Cthulhu with it. The radiation ball went inside it. Slowly, The Cthulhu released green lights from his body. A moment later, it explodes, and the remains are everywhere. As it touches the wall and the floor, it melts immediately.
"We are good to go…" Marie said as she went normal and passed out on the floor due to exhaustion. At the same time, Pierre regains his consciousness and saw Marie on the floor. "Oh god, she did it again." He said as he went to her and carry her. "The exit is now available. Let's go!"
"O-ok!" Ryouma said as he helped Mark up.
They then ran towards the exit. It was a long hallway with a staircase.
"This gonna take a while…" Ryouma said as he looks at the staircase.
They ran up the staircase and found the exit door. Mark opens the door and is shocked.
"W-Where are we….?"
"What do you mean where are we?" Pierre said as he exits and looks around.
"H-huh?"
Their confusion draws Ryouma's attention.
"What is going on?"
"T-this is not what I expected…" Mark said in confusion.
Ryouma then went to the exit door. Turns out, they ended up in an unfamiliar village.
"A-are we in a village?"
"It seems so," Mark said as he looks around.
At the same time, Tom and Huck appear from the exit door and surprised.
"Hey! This is not where we are supposed to be." Huck said as he looks confused.
"Huh? Really?" Tom said as he looks at Mark. "Then where were you guys when you enter the room and rescue us?"
"We entered from under the Statue of Liberty, as we both saw you, and the rest got captured," Huck said while he takes out his cigar.
"T-That's impossible! How can the room link from the Statue of Liberty to a village?!" Tom asked as he looked back at Huck.
"We'll talk about that later. For now, let's find a shelter to camp out. The sun's about to get down." Mark said as he's in command.
"Let's talk to that guy." Ryouma said as he points at a man under the tree.
"Good idea. I'll ask the man." Pierre said as he approaches the man while carrying unconscious Marie.
"Uh, Ryouma. What happened to Marie?" Tom asked as he whispers to Ryouma.
"She uses her power too much, I guess, and passed out due to exhaustion," Ryouma explains.
"It must be powerful radiation she emits, knowing that the guardian is a Cthulhu, a literal god from Lovecraft's book," Huck said as he joins them.
"Yeah, I think so too." Ryouma said.
Pierre went back to the group, along with the man. The man wears red noble-like clothes. "He agreed to help us," Pierre said as he introduced the man.
"Ah, so you're travelers. Come, you can rest in my house." The red suit man said as he guides them to his house.
"Thank you for your kindness, sir…" Ryouma stops, not knowing the man's name.
"Isaac Newton. Just Newton is okay." The man introduced himself as they walked.
Everybody stopped and surprised.
"N-Newton?! The one who found the law of gravity?!" Ryouma said as he surprised more than the others.
"Uh, sorry? What is that?" Newton asked in confusion.
"Wait, you didn't know- "Tom prevents him from talking by shutting his mouth.
"Uhh, is everything okay?" Newton asked as he got more confused.
"Yeah! Everything's alright! Shall we continue?" Mark said as he draws Newton's attention.
"S-sure…" Newton agrees to continue.
Along the way, Mark talks with Newton to distract him from them. And while that, Tom releases his hand from Ryouma.
"What the hell?!" Ryouma whispers to Tom with a slightly mad tone.
"Ryouma, it's not the right time to bring that up," Tom whispers back to him.
"But why? It was true that he found gravity, right?"
"Yes, it is. But it seems that he doesn't know about that. You know what that means?"
"He…. He hasn't found gravity yet?"
"That's true. And until he does that, he's just a normal person. He hasn't got his power because he hasn't done anything that marks his name on history. For now, all we need to do is protect him until the time comes."
"I-I see. Sorry for my clumsiness."
After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at Newton's manor. Pierre rests Marie on the bed, while the others are exploring around the house.
"Make yourself comfortable here. I'm gonna make some tea," Newton said as he went to the kitchen.
"Alright, thank you for your kindness," Mark said as he bows down to him.
"So, how long did you spy on me and tesla"? Ryouma ask Mark.
"Hm? If you want the answer, you can ask Tom and Huck. They're the one who's doing the job. I'm just receiving the info." Mark answers as he laughs.
"Alright, then." Ryouma then walked to Tom and Huck and asked the same question.
"Hmm, let's see… Since you and Tesla meet Pierre and Marie Curie." Tom answers his question.
"And where did you know about me and Tesla?" Ryouma asked again.
"Uhh… I forgot. Hey, Huck. Did you know-" Tom stops as he looks at Huck, who is looking at the pictures of Newton's family on the drawer.
"Huck? Buddy, you alright?" Tom asked him while tapping his shoulder.
"O-Oh, yeah! I'm alright. What is it?" Huck answers him after lost in thoughts.
"Ryouma asked how do we know about him and Tesla."
"Oh yeah. Mark told us that you both will come to New York to stop Edison. I don't know how did he do that, but that's Mark Twain for you."
Ryouma understand what Huck means, since Mark and Tesla are close friends in their past life. "I see… And what are you doing there, Huck?"
"Just looking at these family portraits. Lovely, isn't it?" Huck said as he shows Ryouma the photo.
"It is. I wish I have such a lovely family."
"Yeah… Lovely indeed…"
Huck lost in thoughts as he looks at the family portrait. He didn't know who's his mother and being abused by his father. Clearly, he didn't have the chance to feel the love.
"I'll be outside if you need me. Excuse me…" Huck excuses himself and went outside.
"Okay…" Ryouma looked at him as he exits the house. "I hope he's alright…"
"I hope so…" Tom expresses his concern.
A few moments later, Newton came with the tea. He puts it down on the table. "Here you go. Sorry for taking a long time to prepare."
"Nah, it's alright," Mark said as he sips the tea.
Ryouma and Tom sips the tea as well. "Wow! I've never thought tea would be this delicious!" Ryouma said as he sips the tea more.
"Thanks for the compliment. We British people produced a fine quality of tea. That's how we lived through a hard time, especially here in Woolsthorpe." Newton explains
"Wait, did you just say Woolsthorpe?" Ryouma asked Newton
"Yeah. My hometown."
"Ahh, I see…"
"What's wrong with that?"
"N-nothing."
"Alright then, I'll look at the couple. If you want to rest, the bedroom is upstairs. Enjoy your night here." Newton then left them in the living room and went to the room where Pierre take care of exhausted Marie.
"Woolsthorpe, huh?" Mark said as he rubs his chin.
Ryouma turns on his device, and fortunately, the signal was clear.
"RYOUMA!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I AM?!" Sakata shouts to him as soon as the hologram shows up.
"Ow, ow! Not that loud!" Ryouma said as he covers his ears.
"Well, you know me when I got worried, so it's entirely your fault."
"Alright, I'm sorry about that. Jeez..."
"So, what happened?"
"Basically, Tesla got captured by Darwin, and somehow, we ended up in Woolsthorpe, a village in England. And also- "
"TESLA GOT CAPTURED?!"
"Lower your voice, kid. You don't want to wake the neighbors up." Said Mark.
"Wait, who's that?" Sakata asked.
"He's Mark Twain, the author who creates Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, your favorite book." Ryouma said as he introduces Mark Twain to Sakata.
"Wow! It's a pleasure to meet you, sir! I'm a big fan of your works!"
"Hahaha. It's nice knowing that there are still people that like my works." Mark said as he laughs.
"Oh yeah, and also, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are here. Tom, you maybe want to meet your fan here- " Ryouma stopped as he looks back, and Tom was nowhere to be found. "Huh? Where is he?"
"He went out a minute ago, while your friend shouts at your ears," Mark said as he smokes his pipe.
"Alright, I guess you can meet with them later."
"Well, that's a shame. By the way, what do you need?" Sakata asked as he gets serious.
"As you know, we got transported from New York to England, which is impossible. Do you have any idea how that happen?" ask Ryouma.
"Hmm…Give me a moment. I'll try to analyze the situation. For that, I need to turn off the transmitter."
"Alright, take your time." Ryouma said as he turns off the device.
"So, you have a friend to back you up, huh?" asked Mark.
"Yeah, he's from my time."
"So, you're not from this time. Interesting…"
"If you are interested, maybe you can ask Tesla for more. He's the one who makes time travel possible."
"Yeah, after we save him and New York City."
"That is true…"
While the others are in the house, Huck decided to take a stroll around the village. He walks at the street on a peaceful night, accompanied by a bright full moon. He took his cigar and light it up. Smoking is been his thing since he was a child. Then, he looks at a house. Inside, he saw a happy family having dinner together.
"What a happy family. I wish I had one…" he thought in himself as he continues walking.
On his way, he found Tom sitting under the tree. He then approached him and sat down beside him.
"What are you doing here?" ask Huck as he throws his cigar away.
"Isn't it obvious? Spending my time alone." Tom answers as he leaned to the tree.
"Well, that's pretty rare, knowing that you were rarely spending your time alone."
"I know, it's just more relaxing to spend time alone rather than with the other."
They stay silent for a few seconds before Huck throws a question to Tom.
"Hey, is our decision to protect them is right?"
"What do you mean?"
"This may sound stupid, but I doubt that they will make it. Especially that our main enemy is the King of Inventor."
"You think so?"
"Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"Let me tell you one thing. If Ryouma thinks in the same way as you, he probably already ran away from that bazaar, and I won't find them in the maze."
"A maze? Seriously?"
"Yeah. There's a maze under the Statue of Liberty, full of Darwin's mutated animals."
"That's gross…"
"I know, right. But then, he decided to fight along with the others rather than running away. Looking at their bravery, I decided to help them there. I can just leave them to die there. But I can't. I know that If they died, no one could stop Edison. And once that happens, you will regret that for the rest of your life."
"I see…" Huck looks down at the ground as he thinks about it. "Mark also tells the same thing before we decided to rescue you all."
"Soon, you will understand. For now, just stick along with the group." Tom then stands up and stretches up. "Shall we go back? The others are probably worried about us, especially Mark."
"Yeah, let's go." Huck stands up as well, and they both make their way back to Newton's house.