Upon reaching the end of the road that Ryuzio had taken after getting off the bus a couple minutes before, he found a triangular structure standing up ahead.
The structure that stood guarded by a camp of skyguards resembled a giant gate of definitely more than ten times Ryuzio's height. However, it led to nowhere. What was the purpose of the giant wheel-less vehicles that were parked ahead?
Ryuzio walked to one of the vehicles after finding people getting inside from a similar one to his left. He walked over to the three people that were standing close by in a group.
Ryuzio smiled, tapping the shoulder of the shortest one of them. "Yo!"
The boy jumped in surprise, turning slowly. "Y-Yes…" He fixed his glasses, sweating nervously. The boy was shorter than Ryuzio and had light blue hair.
"Do you know where the Skybridge to Sonas City is?" Ryuzio asked the young boy. "This is my first time traveling, so I don't know."
The boy looked everywhere but into Ryuzio's eyes, stuttering as he poorly threw out his words. "I know where… This is… Wait, Skybridge? You mean as in the transport… Of course you'd mean… Excuse me…" He gulped before continuing, twiddling his fingers. "Sonas City is through here… We're also… I mean no…"
"Heh?" Ryuzio picked his nose with a pinky. "What're you even saying? I only understand Selesion. Can you speak it?"
The boy's head fell. "Yes… Well, I was already speaking in… Wait, I'll just tell you…" He trailed off as he noticed the two people previously standing with him getting closer to Ryuzio.
Each one of this group of three wore dark-gray cloaks, but only the blue-haired boy had the hood off.
One of the hooded men wrapped an arm around the blue-haired boy's shoulder, taking him away, while the other stood tall in front of Ryuzio.
"What do you want?" asked the hooded man with a stern expression—
Ryuzio walked past him with a straight face. "Hey! Why're you taking him away? I was talking to him!"
"Hmm?" The hooded man with the boy turned. "You know him or some?"
Ryuzio shook his head. "But he was telling me the directions to the Skybridge."
"Skybridge?" The man gave him a confused look. "But it's right here."
Ryuzio's eyes twinkled as he looked around. "Where? Where?"
"You drunk or something?" The man pointed at the gigantic tringular gate with a thumb over his shoulder. "How can you miss a thing big as that?"
Ryuzio's shaded his eyes as he glanced at the gate for a second time. "Whoa! So that's a Skybridge, yeah?" He walked past the hooded man to take a closer look. "So this is what bridges look like in big cities. Awesome!" As he looked around the area, he found large banners that read "L88".
"Can I help you with something, sir?" a man said from inside a station, wearing a different white uniform than the armed guards. "Are you looking for the ticketing booth? If yes, then it's right here."
'Whoa,' Ryuzio thought, imagining his teeth shining in the night. 'I can get a twinkling tooth here? Awesome!' With that, he approached the man sitting inside the booth. "Yes, please. One of them."
"I'll require some proof of identification," the skyguard said politely, "details of your destination, and the required fee. Standard stuff."
Ryuzio nodded sharply, presenting the man his citizen's card. "I don't know why you want to know all this, but I'm going to Sonas City. I'll pay for the tooth through the paykey."
"Tooth?" the skyguard said, looking confused, before accepting Ryuzio's card and proceeding. "I've entered the details in the system, so now you just have to pay the fee and we'll print your ticket. And don't worry about luggage; you can carry as much as you want, as long as the conductor allows it."
Ryuzio took out his handphone from his pocket, unfolding it upward right after, and then scanning the paykey. He'd always been fascinated by handphones and paykeys. You could just scan the diagram on the paykey with your handphone, and the transaction would be completed.
"It's that easy to get stuff like that here, yeah?" Ryuzio said, referring to the twinkling tooth. "So awesome."
The skyguard laughed. "We try to make Skybridge Crossing as smooth as possible, sir." He looked at the screen in front of him, then turned to the side and fetched a piece of paper. "Here, this is your ticket to District One, Sonas City. The stationmaster will announce when your hoverbus will be departing. Have a happy journey."
Ryuzio took the ticket excitedly, throwing it behind his back right after.
"What're you doing, sir?" the skyguard said loudly. "You cannot just throw your ticket away like that! You can only Cross a Skybridge once per day. So respect that ticket."
Ryuzio grumpily picked up the paper off the ground. "It's just a piece of paper, no need to yell at me. You haven't given me my twinkling tooth yet, but did I shout at you for it?"
The skyguard settled on his desk with a confused expression. "What's this 'tooth' you keep mentioning, sir?"
Ryuzio pointed at the man. "Don't try to fool me now! It was YOU who said that I can get a twinkling tooth here! I even gave you the money for it!"
The skyguard cocked back his head. "I think there might be a slight misunderstanding here, sir. The ticket you paid the money for is right there in your hand. And I never told you that I'd give you a…'twinkling tooth'…?"
"Liar!" Ryuzio said loudly. "YOU were the one who asked me if I was looking for a twinkling tooth or not! I didn't even know I could get such a thing in here! YOU were the one who told me!"
The skyguard placed a hand on his head, sitting back, shaking his head. "Oh! I said 'ticketing booth' not 'twinkling tooth', sir… I think you heard me wrong—"
Ryuzio pulled the skyguard by his collar. "You aren't fooling me just because I'm from a small village, yeah? Are you sure you don't have a twinkling tooth?"
"No, sir!" The skyguards gulped, grabbing the arm tugging his collar. "This is just a misunderstanding! I don't even know what a 'twinkling tooth' is, and you for a fact won't find one here!"
Ryuzio let go, smiling, the skyguard coughed. "Oh, okay!" He turned around, sliding his hands in his pockets after throwing away the piece of paper given to him by the skyguard.
The sirens around the area blared. "Passengers going to District One, Sonas City are requested to head over to the hoverbus with the blue stripes. I repeat…"
"That's me!" Ryuzio said to the siren, before looking around. "There's the one with the blue stripes!" He ran his way to one of the big vehicles parked before the giant gate.
A man stood beside the door of the vehicle, wearing a blue uniform with a hat to match it. "In an orderly fashion—"
Ryuzio broke his run by jumping inside the vehicle. "Coming through—!"
He bumped into the person ahead of him, knocking them down.
Ryuzio laughed. "Sorry, I got a little too excited."
The short, cloaked figure stood up, rubbing their elbow as they made their way to the tail end of the vehicle without saying a word. They pulled their hood over their blue-haired head as they sat.
'That's the guy from before,' Ryuzio thought, walking to an empty seat next to the window. 'Too bad he can't speak Selesion…' It was odd since Selesion was the widely spoken language in all of Highplexia.
Ryuzio sat, sticking his face to the window. "Heh? Nothing has changed outside. Is the thing not moving?"
The man in the blue uniform closed the door. "Everyone, settle down. The pilot is about to start the hoverbus. In case of any inquiry throughout our journey, you people can ask me, as I'll be your conductor for this Crossing."
"Ignition," a different voice echoed inside the vehicle. "Taking off."
Ryuzio held his breath, looking through the window. "Are we going to fly—!"
The vehicle lifted off the ground, creating gusts of wind that blew the flags around the area.
"Awesome!" Ryuzio said to himself. "So this is why they call it a hoverbus!"
The hoverbus turned toward the Skybridge, approaching the triangular gate with high speeds.
Just as the vehicle reached the structure, multicolored light started to spew out of the gate. The hoverbus dove into the light, passing it soon after, the surroundings changing completely.
"We're officially inside of the Skybridge," the conductor said. "This one has only one stop, so enjoy the ride till then if you are someone who's planning to sightsee. We'll be there in about 15 minutes."
Ryuzio pushed his face into the window, squishing his nose, looking in fascination at the grassland that just appeared outside out of nowhere.
The hoverbus flew only a FEW feet off the ground—which was awesomely lame compared to a skyjet—above a paved path which was bordered, many big signs, and even lights lining the sides.
Looking outside, Ryuzio found only a handful of trees in the wide fields of tall yellow grass. However, time to time, he found a group of buildings with architecture he'd expected to only see in big cities like Sonas.
"Sonas city," Ryuzio said to himself. "In a city as big as that, I bet I'll be able to buy a skyjet from the money I've been saving up for years now!"
###
Ryuzio sharply tucked his chin. 'Something smells funny.'
"We've reached the only stop, everyone," the conductor said, opening the door of the hoverbus, which had halted a few moments before. "After this, we won't be stopping before reaching District One of Sonas City."
Many passengers got up from their seats, forming a line to get off the hoverbus.
Ryuzio sneezed. 'Did someone fart?' he thought, looking around as he rubbed his nose. His sight fell upon the three hooded figures sitting toward the back of the bus—
One of them stood, shaking the cylindrical can in their hand.
Ryuzio's eyes widened as he found all three of them wearing some sort of weird mask. 'That's a lame-looking mask. It's like they can't even breathe in that.'
"Hmm?" The conductor glanced toward the back of the bus. "You want to get off in this stop too, sir—"
The standing masked figure tossed the can to the front, the cylinder bursting in midair, spilling a white-colored gas inside the vehicle, escaping throw the door, enveloping every single person that was on the hoverbus inside the massive cloud, and even the ones on the outside.
The three masked figures in hooded cloaks started walking to the very front of the vehicle, the ones standing in their way slumping over to the side, the ones still sitting falling motionless.
One of these mysterious figures went inside the pilot's cabin, another kicked out the conductor, and the last one—the shortest one—squatted opposite to the door. Some sparks sounded around the squatted figure before the lights inside the vehicle went out.
"Start chucking them out," said the figure imerging out of the pilot's cabin carrying another person, before throwing them out of the vehicle. "Lord Baru said this is the last job we'll be doing before taking off to the Higher Skies."
'Skies…'
"I know," the other standing figure said, throwing out another person after they threw the conductor. "Keep it up, Glasses. If you succeed in this job, we might promote you."
The figure who threw the pilot out of the hoverbus removed their mask after the air cleared, revealing him as a man with a heavy-jawed face, a sharp nose, and tan blond hair. "Let's do it for our squad."
The other two figures removed their masks as well.
The one who'd thrown out the conductor was a man with a bony face, dark skin, and black hair. "You in with us, eh, Glasses?"
The short one was the blue-haired boy who didn't know how to speak Selesion—the one Ryuzio had talked to in the station outside the Skybridge. "Y-Yes…sirs…!"
"We'll go to the Higher Skies with Lord Baru," the blond-haired man said. "And then we'll conquer—"
"The only one who'll conquer the Eight Skies is me!" Ryuzio said loudly after jumping to his feet. He pointed at the cloaked men. "If you wanna fight me for it, bring it!"
The blue-haired boy hid behind the blond man—
The black-haired man pulled him and threw him to the door. "Take their valuables. Sightseers bring in some exotic stuff with them."
The short boy nodded sharply after regaining balance, sweat on his face. He exited the vehicle with a rush to his steps.
The blond-haired man cracked his knuckles. "I don't know why the gas didn't work on you, but I know a couple more ways of putting people to sleep."
"Oh," Ryuzio said, nodding to himself. "So YOU were the one who farted. If I hadn't plugged my nose, I would've got knocked out too." He looked around at the sleeping people. "Just what did you eat before this?"
The blond man's face reddened. "This is no time for jokes! I'll show you the power of Lord Baru's Left Hand!"
"Who's that?" Ryuzio asked, tilting his head. "And why do you have his left hand with you? Give it back to him, okay? I'm pretty sure he'll get really happy."
The black-haired man exited the vehicle. "I'll let you handle this fool. I got a fool of my own to deal with."
The blond-haired man nodded, and then faced Ryuzio. "Are you ready for a beating, kid? After this, you'll definitely know who Lord Baru really is!" He fired up his Ether, covering it around his body in a thin layer over his skin.
Ryuzio smiled, firing up his own Ether, the energy inside him flowing evenly throughout his body, cloaking him with embers of energy. "Bring it!"
"Who the fluck you think you are?" the blond-haired man yelled, rushing forward with his fist pulled back, then throwing it at Ryuzio's face after getting close enough.
"Me?" Ryuzio said, pulling back his right fist, turning his shoulders to dodge the punch.
The blond-haired man's eyes widened as his punch went by the side of Ryuzio's face, without making any contact—
Ryuzio rammed his fist into the man's face, Ether burning brighter.
The man's feet lifted off the ground before he was thrown away by the impact. He fell on his back, nose bleeding out and eyes rolled back into the skull.
Ryuzio smiled. "I'm the man who's gonna be the Sky King!"