Author's note [please if you like where this is going, then do well to support me by voting { power stones}]
*Bing*
[Substance effect reversed]
[Immunity developed]
"Urgh..what the...where am i. And what's holding me?" Rodney said as he found himself unable to move his limbs freely. He was only just waking up and the first thing he noticed was that he was in a dimly lit space with metal bars standing and serving as some type of wall separating each segment of what he was in now, a cage. He looked at himself and could see that he was chained up to the wall. Both his legs and arms to that effect, limiting his movement to a great degree.
As if that wasn't enough, he could feel a slight pricking pain at the side of his rib and multiple places on his back. When he looked down at his ribs, he could see why. The toxic sharp thorns from Damien earlier were still stuck inside of him. But with the way he was restricted, there was no way he could pull it out of him. But that was the least of his worries at the moment as a scary thought entered his mind when he realized something.
"Guys!!.. Guys!!.." He called out to the rest of his faction member. He didn't get a response immediately, but soon after he started hearing groans coming from all sides. And as the groans became more audible they were accompanied by the rattling of chains and voices, voices that seemed as confused as ever.
"Where am I?" Blair asked from his own cell. He too just like everyone else was just waking up as the effects of the toxin from the plant was just wearing off. They all took some seconds to get their bearing and everything. After that, the memories of what had happened began to flow into their heads and at that moment they all shared one common emotion, anger.
"Wait where's Yang?" Rodney asked as he realized he had heard everyone voice except Yang's. He waited for a response but only got the sound of rattling chains. This wasn't from Yang himself but from others trying to see if they could break free all to no avail. They knew it was a waste after trying to use their abilities to break free still ending up with the same result as before.
"They will...be coming soon..prepare yourselves" a voice that sounded familiar to Rodney said. This was definitely Yang's voice, although it wasn't coming from any direction he could pin point.
"Master Yang!!...Master Yang!" Rodney called out to him as he frantically turned his head from side to side hoping he could see him. But the bodies of the others blocking his view coupled with the low light source didn't help him much. He had given up trying to look for Yang as he felt it was useless anyway.
"I'm sorry guys, I'm sorry I got us all into.." Rodney was in the middle of a speech but then suddenly he felt something wet drop down on his face.
"How bad could this place get? " he thought as he looked up to see where the wet substance dropped from and that's when he had his mouth wide open. "Yang?" Rodney asked as he could faintly see a human outline hung up over his head. This was definitely Yang he thought as he squinted his eyes to have a better look.
"How did you get up there?" Rodney asked Yang. The others from their cell could see him thanks the choice of construction. There were no brick walls in place, just metal bars separating each cell from the other. But even at that they couldn't see who he was talking to which was not totally unbelievable as they weren't particularly seeing each others faces in the first place. Only being a able to pin point each others position from their voices.
"They gave ...me....me another ...dose of...the substance. Though I'm currently combating it with CHI to stay ..awake, I can't really... do much. Listen to me ...". Yang was about to say before he got caught off by a voice.
"Ah.. I see you guys are catching up. But I hate to ruin your little reunion, your next dose is on its way. Great master Yang, look at you now hahaha.And you blabbermouth, what do you have to say now" the voice said moving from cell to cell. Rodney couldn't see the person speaking at the moment quite alright. But he could see they were three figures standing all the while. And their outline looked familiar not only to him, but to his teammates who could also faintly see these figures.
"Why don't you come out of the shadows and unchain me and we'll find out!" Blair responded as he knew he was being referred to because the strange figure went by his cell. But of course his answer only earned him more insults and being laughed at as it didn't seem to have any effect on these figures.
"You really think you can hurt anyone in your state presently?. Putting you against Orin would just be a massacre, am I right guys?. Another figure that stood outside the cell amongst the three said.
" what is wrong with you man?!" One of the figures yelled back.
"What part of don't reveal your identity don't you understand huh?!" The voice that had been talking for quite a while yelled too. At this point those in the cell all had one thought, these sort of behaviour seemed awfully familiar to them. But they just couldn't pinpoint whom they had come across that behaved the way the three outside did.
"Wait, Orin..Tuffy and Akira?" Eiko blurted. And immediately the rest of the gang except Rodney all remembered where they had heard such name and seen such behaviour before. Though the ones they knew shouldn't be in a place like this, so what they were exactly doing in this place confused the legions. This also confused the last person who knew them being Yang a lot, even though he wasn't meant to be splitting his attention that much at the moment.
"Well I guess you geniuses know who we are now, so what?. Its not like you are getting out of this now are you?. This is the final stop for all you. You will all pay for the shame and disgrace you have brought upon us" Orin spoke up. When Eiko heard this, immediately he began to piece events together and it all made sense to him.
"They did it, they stole the rings" Eiko thought to himself as he began to think back to how it all started.
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*some days back*
The gang had gotten the news way before Yang came back with Rodney that he was in a bad state thanks to the system. They had immediately gone out in search of him using the ring that had a tracker in it. They hadn't gone far before they ran into Yang who had a blood bathed Rodney on his back and had completely ignored them by just running past them. They had followed swiftly behind him and ended up at the inn.
The state of his condition was relayed to them by the healers there and they felt really bad they weren't there to assist him. They were even more mad that the system had only informed them after he had been busted up that bad. It was a really hard day for them, so Eiko had suggested they left the inn to somewhere else where they could relax and clear their minds as well. After much persuasion especially on Mia's end, they had finally left the inn and headed out.
They eventually got to the place Eiko had in mind all along, the hunters famous canteen. Here they sold food and drinks at a friendly price as half of all expenses had already been paid by the faction. So in a way, people were only going there to buy and pay half of what the item originally costs. Eiko and the rest had already ordered a table and were currently sitting and waiting for one of the attendants to come and take their order when three figures walked up to their table.
These were none other than Orin, Tuffy, and Akira. As these three approached them, Mia's expression had chained and immediately Erwin caught that he knew who these trio were. Not wasting time, he stood up and went to block their path from coming any closer. The rest of the gang by now were all standing as they were expecting a fight to break out anytime soon but that did not happen. Instead, the one known as Orin, raised his hands up and spoke.
"Hey hey...look I did not come for trouble okay?".
" Then why are you here?" Erwin asked fiercely. The other sighed and responded.
"Look I know what I did back then was wrong. I'm here to apologize to her" he pointed at no one else but Mia. Immediately their eyes met, Mia turned her head away looking in a different direction as right then she couldn't look at Orin's face without having the urge to punch him.
"Well you see, the lady doesn't want to listen. So on behalf of her, apology not accepted. Bye bye now" Blair said looking at Mia for approval but he got no reaction from her as well. It was clear she was still upset about the whole thing.
"I've not being able to forget what I did that day. If not for anything, please help me get back my peace. I'm truly sorry" Orin said and fell on his knees bowing his head allowing it to touch the floor. The two behind him, Tuffy and Akira looked just as shocked as the legions but followed suit and bowed the same way as well.
Eiko seeing this felt he had to do something as this little act of theirs was drawing too much attention to their table, something he didn't like. So he got up from his chair and went to grab them telling them they could get up. He then told them to bring a chair from the next table to come sit with them, then they could talk. The others weren't too happy with this as they felt those who caused one of their own pain didn't deserve to be shown any form of kindness.
"First off, kindly tell us why you went as far as you did?" Eiko asked.
"Yeah tell us why you guys are total jerks!" Blair fired. This was quite unusual of him as he was usually the happy go with the flow guy. But it seemed like what happened to Mia had hurt all of them causing him to act out emotionally.
"I have no justification for my actions. It's just that I and my brothers here have always been this way. Its how we've been able to look out for ourselves. We were bullied so much we felt there was only one way to end it all". Orin replied leaving the last part for those he was speaking to, to figure out.
"So you became a bully yourself. I totally understand that, but its not nice going after innocent people just so you can project your pent up frustration and negative feelings on them to make yourself feel better and safer" Mia finally said these few words that left everyone else speechless. Not because of what she said, but how she said it. One could tell there was so much emotion behind it.
"I'm sorry...I really am" Orin said and stood up from his seat crawling to where Mia was sitting. Then clutching onto her legs, he began to cry and so did the rest of them all. The trio were crying so loud that by now everyone had heard them and turned their heads to their direction. The situation was getting rather awkward by the minute. With all heads turned towards her, the legions began to intercede on the trios behalf and before long, Mia asked them to get up.
"Fine, I forgive you. Just don't do that again" Mia said
"Oh they won't. Cause if they do, I'll roast their fingers... Just kidding!" Blaze said and then began to laugh and the rest of them did too.
"If you all are done, can I take your order?" A lady walked up to them and asked.
"Oh I have an idea, I'll pay for all you order here. My way of saying I'm sorry. Please handle their order for me" Orin said but met multiple objections to his suggestion. But after much plea and all, he eventually won and had his way. Their orders came and they ate and drank. After two rounds of order, the legion members were already full and could no longer accommodate anymore.
"How about you have one packed for the road miss?" Orin asked facing Mia.
"Oh no thank you. And you can call me Mia" Mia responded.
"No way, you all have at least something packed for you as you head back to your place. I know you must feel bad that I offered only you and I must commend you are such a nice person. So now its everyone that gets one" Orin said with a smile. They had tried to refuse but he had simply insisted anyway and eventually he won...again. Orin informed the attendant and she came back after minutes with seven bags packed with food. After talking for a little while longer, the two parties said their byes and disbanded.
The legion found the trio they met to have a certain air of uncertainty around them. But given how they behaved today, they felt it must have still been the scar from the Mia incident that made them have their guards up that much. So they pushed aside the thought as they remembered Rodney's condition. They went back to the inn to see Rodney and after spending a significant amount of time with him, they decided to leave and go catch some sleep of their own. Eiko on their walk back, suggested they held a meeting to discuss the way forward as their leader was down and out.
They assembled at the usual place being the boys room as it was larger and spacious. They all sat down together and discussed the way forward and plans that needed to be implemented. The meeting was quite long mostly due to Erwin mentioning now and then why he suspected Yang to have been the one who put Rodney in the situation he was. They went back and forth with this and decided to later put it away as they had no tangible evidence against him. The meeting had come to a close and just then Blair said.
"I don't know about you guys, but all this talking has made me super hungry".
" Yeah, I can't deny it. I'm glad we accepted that guy's offer" Corey said as he reached for his own packaged food but then began to smile as he noticed everyone's gaze was on him.
"What no one else is hungry?. Blair back me up here". Corey said as he saw their amused smiley faces. They all laughed to this and one by one took their packaged food to eat as well. Blair was the first to bite down on his steak and immediately..
*Bling*
[Foreign substance detected].
[Reversing effects of substance]
[Time 4:00 hrs]
They all looked at each to confirm if they were all seeing the same thing as they had all taken a bite of the food. It didn't take long for them to understand what the system was talking about as they began to feel dizzy and then a while later, they all passed out.
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*The present*
" You ...you bastards!" Eiko said as he had finished piecing the puzzle all together. Because of Eiko's reaction, it didn't take the others long to figure this out as well.