30 minutes passed...
The sun began to fade from view, giving way to the moon. Wet in their clothes, Tony, Laura, and Dimmy were returning to Harventona Town. Each of them was fatigued in his or her own manner. Their arms were literally dropping down their shoulders, almost touching the ground, and they had bored faces.
"You'll have to wait a little longer, beauty. I'm going to seek vengeance on both that white-haired girl and that 'Sun Soldier' very soon. I'm not going to let them get away without demonstrating my power!"
The three carefully made their way onward through the forest path with Tony keeping up a determined expression and sticking his arms crossed past his chest, while Laura and Dimmy followed him in boredom.
"But, boss... Can't a girl get some rest, it would be beneficial? We've been getting thrown around the island like beach balls. I want to sleep, we can always continue looking for them in the morning..."
Laura inquired. She followed Tony to the point of coming across Tem and Ghast who ended up passing by through the crossroads. Laura and Dimmy paused in their tracks and quickly pounced each other behind a bush and left Tony alone, who held a high ego, but determination to confront Tem again.
"Aha, I've found you, beauty! This time you won't escape my grasp! I've returned, and I decided that I will finally pay you the debt of what you've done to me and my friends! With the 'Sun's Order', I challenge you to a duel, to prove myself that I am capable of beating a beauty such as yourself."
Tem and Ghast in unision turned their views off the course to exchange them with Tony, and both became perplexed in the response of Tony's sudden arrival. However, Tem's response to crossing paths with Tony again was a bit fade and dizzy to remember.
"Who are you again? I feel like I've seen you before, but I don't really remember you perfectly..."
Tony's both shivered with his skin whitening in astonishment. He grabbed his own chest and collapsed onto his knees, and became depressed and surrounded by a single light, shining over his kneeling body.
"How can anyone forget me so easily? I've been working so hard, and I don't even be remembered by a stranger. This hurts, it really does hurt my heart. Dear beauty, just because you don't remember me, I shall prove to you that I am the most experienced duelist here in the entire island! I... The legendary Tony, shall propose to you with a fatal activity!"
In response to Tony's strange speech, Tem fell into the wonders and scratched the back of her itchy hair, then answered back with a proper curiosity.
"You know, if you ran like your mouth you'd be in good shape, but I guess if you actually ever spoke your mind, you'd really be speechless."
Out of the sudden reaction, Tony's body froze once again and became pale. He collapsed onto the floor like a tree and cuddled himself and sucked on his thumb, while Laura and Dimmy became rather unimpressed. "Wow, that's harsh, dude..."
Tony stood up with a newfound confidence and made a heroic stance and began laughing out loud.
"What a pity! It doesn't matter what you think about me, because I've come to beat you down to a pipe, and I'll love to laugh it out! Big Tony is here to finally cure the 'Sun's Order' from a slippery snake such as yourself, beauty!"
"Oh, I'm sorry! I completely forgot! Excuse me, my name is Tem and I'm a big fan of ponies, Mr. Pony." Ghast constantly threw views left and right, between Tim's eager complaints and Tony's depression fully overtaking his body.
"This girl is mean..." He collapsed, but in a matter of seconds regain his confidence and stood back up. "But I think it's time to show you what this Mr. Pony has in store for you! I repeat, I challenge you to a duel, or whatever the hell you pirates do!"
After finally being challenged to a duel, Tem grabbed her own forehead and then prepared a fighting pose with Tony quickly freezing on the spot, and just in the next second, a loud sound thumped throughout the woods.
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Yumiko was returning to the cave, when suddenly seeing a massive cloud of dust, surrounding the forest from the distance and then spotted a humanoid body flopping through the air and screaming out loud, quickly learning that the person was Tony who she came in contact on Sanguine Rose.
"I was sure I knocked that guy someplace far away and into the opposite direction. How did they come flopping through the air from the front?"
While holding the basket of food and Tem's clothes she came across Laura and Dimmy who sped past her bodies with upraised arms, screaming out Tony's name. "Wait up for us, boss! We're on our way to save you!"
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It passed a couple of minutes of Yumiko continuing to pass through the woods and finally came in front of the cave, she left Tem alone. For a bit of time it worried her, in a possibility that something had happened to Tem, but the moment she ran through the door, she was astonished after noticing Tem and Ghast sitting in front of one another, speaking.
"Hey, Yumiko, it's you, you finally came back! Good to see you! Did you get my clothes and a bit of food? I've been starving!"
Due to her knowledge of Ghast being an assistant and informed of Muro and the 'Sun Soldiers', she reacted with the most accepted reaction. She dropped the basket to the side, along with the clothes and then immediately jumped forward. She rolled on the ground and dragged the sword next to the pink water.
"Tem, get away from him, right now! He's here to kill you! I was afraid of this happening, Ghast! I guess you finally decided to show up, you little creep! I can't let you report to Muro about my assistance toward the outsider! It's time we finally end this!"
Tem sat in the middle of a possible battle, and quickly became oblivious to each of them. She sat there with a concerning thoughts, and after noticing Ghast stand up, she too stood up and quickly prevented a battle.
"Whoa, can we just calm down, here? Yumiko drop the weapon, Ghast only helped me, and I already know he's Muro's assistant, so I won't let you attack him, at least not until I have proof that he's on the opposing side."
"You can't say that, Tem! Ghast is one of the most important and crucial personnel to Muro's assisting work. There's no way I can trust him, not in the slightest! If he's on our side, then he should prove it to us, by getting you that artifact you're looking for. He doesn't work or create the artifacts for anyone else, other than Muro himself!"
"Yumiko, listen to me! I know that sounds odd, but he genuinely agreed to help us stop Muro, and he tried to give me the artifact as well, but he's out of the material and can't produce any more at the time. So, kindly put down your sword and let's talk about this. Remember, Yumiko, you're a 'Sun Soldier,' and I still granted you the opportunity to assist me."
Yumiko's eyes opened wide. She quickly became paralyzed and astonished after hearing Tem's voice and leaned her sword near her hip. "So, does that mean... You already knew that the 'Sun Soldiers' are the people in protection of Muro. I don't understand why you acted as if I told you I was a member of the 'Sun Soldiers,' a bunch of wicked organizations who pose as heroes, but you still treated me as a friend as if it was nothing. How could you have believed in me back then, and how can you believe in me now? I can always turn on you; that's how 'Sun Soldiers' deceive people into thinking we're peacemakers when, in reality, we're just as bad as the agencies. We rely too heavily on Muro's directives, and there's no way we can defy him unless we want to be killed."
"Because I'm aware that you're not like the other members. You brought me here on your own volition, and you even fed me. Then, when I requested you to return my clothes as a courtesy, you did so, and you did it without making any mistakes. So, Yumiko, please don't be alarmed by Ghast's strange behavior; I trust him as much as you do, and I'm confident he'll assist us; if he doesn't, well, I suppose I'll have to deal with him on my own."
Yumiko carefully, silently, and calmly began to think, and closed her eyes, trying to hide her stress and depression, stuck inside her head. She gently looked onto her left shoulder and slowly covered the tattoo that every 'Sun Soldier' member was given.
"You already knew I was one of them, didn't you, before I even told you about. You were aware that I was a member of the 'Sun Soldiers.' This tattoo on my left shoulder, you see, is a symbol that represents the 'Sun's Order,' a necessary prerequisite for every 'Sun Soldier.' It's supposed to represent peace and light, just like the sun itself, but not one representation about it is proper...."
"Instead, our role is to follow Muro's orders as if we're puppets helping him do the task. We're required to organize a weekly custom known as the 'Maiden Selection,' in which we select a group of women to work as maidens and tell them that their duty is solely for the good of the world. In actuality, as soon as the maiden is chosen, Muro begins work on a new project in which he will use maidens' blood to make the necessary potion in the next several days. It had occurred many times before, but none of the ladies he tortured and forced to do what he wanted possessed royal blood..."
"That's how I ended up becoming one of the 'Sun Soldiers', at a maiden selection..."
~ Muro stepped past the maidens who were standing in a line, holding wide smiles on their faces. Yumiko was one of them, and she was excited to finally become a maiden. The 'Sun Soldiers', Kizu, Trap, Garuda and Bow were standing behind Muro who had his arms crossed behind his back. He passed most of the women, but approach Yumiko after seeing her being ecstatic and in belief to finally become a maiden, to help the world.
"How would you like to be the part of the maiden organization? What's your name, young one?"
"My name is Yumiko, and I would be honored to help and serve you under your command as a maiden!"
"Yumiko, is it? You seem like a nice girl, I think I'll go with you! Welcome to the castle, Yumiko. We promise we'll take good care of you!" ~
"At first, I thought Muro was just a kind man who wanted to better the world-island balance, but as time passed, I was compelled to do some awful things, some of which were even worse than you think, and some of which I never wanted to do. After they were prepared to construct the new project, I was almost killed, but I got lucky, at least a little, and in the end, when I begged for mercy, he seemed to allow me to live, but the price of survival would be hell for the next several years..."
"Muro threatened to kill my family if I didn't join, so I was forced to labor under his leadership, and then I received the symbol of the 'Sun's Order'. I've wanted to stop this nonsense since I joined the 'Sun Soldiers,' but there was never a chance, and I couldn't have let Muro or the other members of the 'Sun Soldiers' watch me break the regulations..."
Tem continued to listen intently, her face solemn, and she even noticed Yumiko's tears dripping down her eyes. She was frail, and it was clear that sharing such knowledge with her was tough. She was virtually collapsing on the floor, her eyes, trembling and her emotions growing greater by the minute.
"I had no desire for any of this to happen. I had no desire for my life to move from good to terrible. I only intended to help the 'Sun Soldiers' in preserving world peace, but even that turned out to be the biggest mistake I've ever committed. I don't want anyone to die, and I don't want to lose my family, but if this continues, my mother, father, and younger sister will all be gone... I... I just want to run away, I don't know what to do! Please, Tem, what should I do? I can't keep on going with this!"
"I just want everyone to be safe... Is it that hard to ask for something like this? That's all I want, but... But I just can't stop it! I'm useless to this island, even when I try to fix it, everything turns out for worse!"
"I'm sorry, Tem. I know I just turned out to be a crybaby, but it hurts. It hurts my feelings, my thoughts, my heart, my entire body, but all I can do is keep it in, and tell myself that I'm weak. I want to grow stronger, but I just can't. I'm a nobody, who can't even protect her own family."
She placed her left elbow into the ground, shielding her own eye with her right hand while shaking on the spot. The pain she had been holding inside her body was spilling out, and she couldn't stop it.
"There was nothing I could call joyous after I received that invitation letter. Hell to myself, rather than my family and others, has been the best thing that has happened to me. I don't mind if I deserve the suffering, but none of those innocent individuals, not one single one, deserves to suffer... I believe helping is just too much for me..."
"..."
"...."
"....."
"..."
"...."
Tem slipped on the blue sweatshirt over a clean white T-shirt and changed out of her filthy slacks into clean white jeans. She knotted a black route around her waist that dangled over the side of her hips, smoothed her hair behind her back, fixed her hood and flattened her sleeves, and then drew Yumiko's attention. Her hair was straightened behind her back.
"Don't cry, Yumiko. I promise everything will be over. Whether I'm a boy or a girl, it doesn't matter. If Muro thinks that he can just threaten someone's life and force them to do things that pleasures him, he won't know what's coming for him..."
"T-Tem...?"
Tem turned around with a bright blue glowing eye, swirling inside her pupils, and then stepped close to Yumiko and leaned her palm over Yumiko's right shoulder, making sure to avoid touching Yumiko's tattoo on the left arm and then dropped her hand close to Yumiko's own.
"I think it's about time for Muro to end this cruelty. I'll stop him, no matter what it takes, so stand up and prepare to witness a proper beating..."
Yumiko froze in response to Tem's pulling her to her feet, and she felt her own eyes tremble. She held a serious stance when she saw Tem turn around at the door.
"I will kick Muro's ass, even if it means putting my own life in danger. I promise, that no matter what happens, I will kick his ass."
"I promise..."
To be continued...