Timothy and Ralphie continued through the corridors taking out the marine officers and even came across an opened route of the headquarters.
It was an outdoor balcony connecting to the next area, and suddenly Timothy noticed Elian and Chiaki on top of the outside bridge.
He grabbed the fence and shouted out louder, "Chiaki!" His voice calling out to her boomed through the sky and connected to her ears.
She rotated around and tried to pull back from Elian's grasp. "Tim! Ralphie! Watch out!" Timothy and Ralphie didn't understand what she meant. When Timothy vaulted over the fence outside, his body suddenly became frozen in a colorless bubble.
Ralphie looked bewildered, and among observing Timothy's motionless body, Riley and Parth approached him. "Why did we think these marines would be of any use to us?" Parth questioned, looking disappointed.
"They were not meant to stop them from coming in contact with us. They were merely our puppets to give chief Elian enough time to exit the headquarters undisturbed." Riley answered, keeping his hands in his pockets.
"What did you do to our captain?" Ralphie asked with confusion and curiosity, hearing Chiaki's stressful voice in the distance. "He's stuck in a time bubble. And he will be stuck there for as long as I want." Riley explained, standing still and composed.
Sweat dripped down Ralphie's face, but it soon got washed away by the warmth. "I guess I'll get him out myself." Ralphie tapped the ground with his toes and instantly flickered on the spot, vanishing.
"Supreme Drive..." He suddenly appeared in front of Riley with one leg extended and prepared to ram it into Riley's stomach when his body suddenly stopped moving.
"T-This is ridiculous..." Ralphie said, looking to the side where he saw Parth, keeping his finger pointed at the ceiling. "Do all of you have some sort of body-freeze abilities?" Ralphie irritatingly asked.
Parth slowly swayed his finger to the side, moving Ralphie's body in the process. "Not all of us." He swung his entire arm to the side and propelled Ralphie into the wall, driving him through its sturdiness and into the next room.
Ralphie's body slid on the floor and against the next wall. "I'll take care of their cook, Riley." Claimed Parth, who walked toward the destroyed wall. "Good," Riley added and then faced Elian and Chiaki on the second bridge. "We have everything under control, Admiral Elian." Informed Riley as Elian pulled Chiaki with him.
"Y-You need to stop! You're going overboard, Elian!" Chiaki begged but received no mercy.
"You're coming with me, white-haired pirate." And in an instant, Riley and Timothy's bodies disappeared as if they were never there.
Chiaki's eyes shook.
She didn't comprehend what happened to them. It looked as if they teleported to an entirely different area or moved at the speed of light. "W-Where... No." Chiaki shivered, knowing that the only person close enough to her was Ralphie.
"Enough of sightseeing. Time to move." Elian ordered and grabbed Chiaki's shoulder, pulling her back. "No!" Chiaki shouted and lifted her left, kicking it into Elian's back to push him away, and sprinted toward the headquarters.
"Why, you little!" Elian grew frustrated and swung his left arm behind him, releasing green fire that flowed in front of Chiaki's body and exploded, igniting the path on fire.
She stopped before she could reach it, sweating in surprise. "F-Fire?" Chiaki asked, surprised, and all she could see from that fire was Timothy.
She looked behind her and noticed Elian's right arm pointing in her direction. It was burning with aggression and with intense pressure. "Don't do that again... Or this time I won't miss." Elian threatened her and began approaching her.
She tried to back away slowly, but if she continued, she could get burned horribly. "H-How can you... Y-You didn't-!" She got overspoken by Elian's intimidating voice. "How can I use a developed ability? I constructed it five years ago when I was 14 years old. Why are you so surprised? All people within this world develop their abilities if they have the skill and time to do so. I thought you already knew that. Or maybe not, because the Yasuda family's soul-linking abilities are a mere gift at birth."
Elian explained, keeping a solemn stare. "Another reason why the world sees you as a nuisance. You don't need to 'create' your abilities. All you need is to be born, unlike us, who go through hell to develop them."
He grabbed Chiaki's head and pulled her close. "Now, enough of this chit-chat! The gate's waiting for a new snack." Chiaki tried to pull away, but the more she struggled, the rougher Elian became, and even started pulling her by the hair. "S-Stop!" She called, trying to not groan in pain. "T-That hurts!"
He looked at her. "What's the matter? You can connect souls and kill people, but you can't handle a bit of your hair getting pulled?" Elian asked, pulling her harder, so hard that it forced tears into Chiaki's eyelids. "E-Elian! S-Stop. T-The marines can be horrible... but you're one of those who I thought were easy-nice! Y-You saved me in the past! And, if it wasn't for you... I-I couldn't sail the sea. So, please! Stop doing this!"
Elian flinched for a moment and softened the grip on her hair but felt betrayal. "Not anymore. I gave you a chance in life only to regret it. Why should I let you go after your family killed my father? If they killed my parents, then I'll kill their daughter." He wondered, pulling her with anger. "S-Stop it, Elian!"
-
Timothy and Riley appeared inside a room with wooden boxes and a door that led into a looping stairwell. "W-What? Where am I?" Timothy asked, confused and not knowing what happened to him to find himself in an entirely different location. "How did we get here?!"
Riley stood across him and kept a composed expression. "I'm afraid I cannot tell you where we are. But, what you may know. I brought you here on my own."
Riley's explanation didn't suffice for Timothy, and it only frustrated him. "What?! Why can't you? I remember that I saw Chiaki, and the next second I was here. What did you do to her? How much time passed?!" He was worried and anxious.
"You don't need to know that either."
Timothy's mouth shook in stress. "If I told you... then you wouldn't need to be stressed. Just know it passed "some" time." Riley answered, seeing sweat trickling down Timothy's face.
It was terrifying for him not knowing the time that passed by. It could mean a few seconds, minutes, or even hours, and the thought of possibly being too late made Timothy impatient and scared.
To be continued...