Time goes by as both groups drive to Jahtan. After a few hours, the sun passes the horizon and the day begins. Kassius' group, driving down the road finally reach the city of Jahtan. As they go through the South-West, they drive through the main roads. Although barely anyone walking in the early morning, plenty of cars drive by on the road.
Kassius: "Where do we go?"
Arnold: "I'm not sure. Let me find a parking spot."
After driving around for a while, Arnold brings them to an empty parking lot outside a mall. He turns off the car.
Arnold: "He said parking was free, so we can just stay here for the time being."
Kassius: "Great. I'm gonna get some rest."
Arnold: "Yeah, me too."
Kassius and Arnold fall asleep. Time rolls by as midday approaches. Slowly, Kaizen wakes up and sees Kassius and Arnold asleep in the front seats, Clyde and Feela asleep on his right side, and Bonnie in the back snoring. Kaizen steps out the car and stretches a little. Arnold, noticing, opens an eye and sees Kaizen walk in front of the car. He gets out the car too.
Kaizen: "Oh. Was I too loud?"
Arnold: "No, it's fine. I'm just a light sleeper."
Kaizen: "Ahh. Alright. Anyways, I was planning to walk around. Do you want to come?"
Arnold: "Uhm... sure. Let me grab something."
Arnold heads to the back of the car. He comes back and puts a cap on.
Arnold: "Can't risk being recognised."
Kaizen: "I see."
Kaizen and Arnold leave the parking lot and head away from the mall. Not too long after, Feela wakes up, which wakes Clyde up too. She rubs her eyes and looks around.
Feela: "Umm... excuse me..."
Kassius: "Mm?"
Feela: "The other two... they aren't here."
Kassius opens his eyes and looks around, noticing Arnold and Kaizen are gone.
Kassius: "Oh..."
Kassius turns back and goes back to sleep.
Clyde: "Aren't you concerned? What if something happened to them?"
Kassius: "Ah, relax. Nothing'll happen to them."
Feela's stomach rumbles loudly.
Feela: "Uh, I..."
Clyde: "Do you guys have food?"
Kassius: "Food? I'm not sure. But we do have some money. You can grab some food from the mall over there."
Clyde: "That's fine."
Kassius: "Hey, Bonnie!"
Bonnie: "Mm?!"
Kassius: "Give them some money for food, please."
Bonnie: "Food? OK..."
She reaches in her bag and gives them some money.
Bonnie: "Get me some food too, thanks..."
Clyde: "Are you coming?"
Feela: "I uhh..."
Clyde: "Oh, I see... It's alright then."
Feela: "Thank you."
Clyde alone leaves the car and heads to the mall strip. During this time, Kaizen and Arnold continue walking across the street.
Kaizen: "So this is what a city looks like, huh?"
Arnold: "It's pretty dusty, but yes."
Kaizen: "It's very nice indeed. Very loud though."
Arnold: "We're near a marketplace, that's probably why."
Kaizen: "I see."
They walk through the marketplace.
Kaizen: "Wow! Fruits, vegetables, fish, meat! They sell it all."
As they continue walking around, Arnold looks up and about, and spots a name of one of the shops selling greeneries.
Arnold: "Talman Greens?"
Kaizen: "Hmm? What did you say?"
Arnold: "Follow me."
Arnold drags Kaizen with him to the shop. As they approach the counter, they see an old lady putting items in a bag, handing it off to a customer.
Shopwoman: "Thank you."
Man: "No problem."
Kaizen and Arnold walk by that man and head to the counter.
Shopwoman: "Can I help you?"
Arnold: "Is it possible to know who owns this shop?"
Shopwoman: "Oh. Well, that would be my husband and I."
Arnold: "Your husband?"
Shopwoman: "Yes. Is there something you need?"
Arnold: "Do you by any chance, know of Sado Talman?"
Her eyes widen, in immense shock.
Shopwoman: "Excuse me?"
Arnold: "I'm trying to fi-"
She picks up a bat from behind the counter.
Shopwoman: "Are you here to cause trouble? Huh?!"
Arnold: "No, we're not."
Shopwoman: "Then what are you here for?!"
Arnold: "We're... we're journalists."
Shopwoman: "Journalists?"
Arnold: "Well, aspiring journalists. We're trying to write stories about known criminals, getting deeper dives into their backgrounds."
Coming from the back of the shop, a man walks up to the counter.
Shopman: "Ayy! What's going on here?!"
Shopwoman: "They say their journalists, asking about Sado."
Shopman: "Sado?! Look, I'll say it again just like I told the others. We haven't seen our son in years. And we will NOT give you more information! Leave or I'll call the police."
Arnold: "Alright. We'll be leaving. We're very sorry for disturbing you."
Arnold starts walking away.
Kaizen: "Deeply sorry."
He follows after Arnold and they leave the shop.
Kaizen: "You really riled them up. Journalists?"
Arnold: "I had to improvise. But we learnt something new at least. Let's head back."
Kaizen: "Already?"
As those two head back to the parking lot, Kassius is outside the car in the open space, staring in the sky.
Kassius (in head): "How..."
As he almost gets lost in deep thought, he notices something up behind him. He reflexively spin kicks to the head, but gets blocked by Bonnie.
Bonnie: "Nice kick."
Kassius: "A bit slow though."
He pulls his leg back and stands straight.
Bonnie: "Is something up?"
Kassius: "Put your palms up."
Bonnie: "Um, ok."
Bonnie ups her palms.
Kassius: "When I fought Valeria, she had this sort of fake punch, kind of like I was seeing a punch that wasn't there. But I realised..."
Kassius punches towards one of Bonnie's palm but hits the other.
Kassius: "...it was just her doing rapid movement. When I fought Sado though, it was different. I kicked him, but he wasn't there at all."
Bonnie: "Are you sure they don't do the same thing?"
Kassius: "I thought that at first but he wasn't moving before I hit him. Arnold said he might've used the level step, but that's an accelerating technique. It requires you moving to start it too. What's also weird is that I hit him, and felt the contact, but... nothing."
Bonnie: "Maybe it's a technique you've never heard of before."
Kassius: "Could be, yeah. It just... felt weird. But yeah, that's all."
Bonnie: "By the way, you did lose. So you owe me another favor."
Kassius: "Hehe, I was hoping you'd forget. But fine. What's the favor?"
Bonnie: "I get to decide the cuts of the diamond."
Kassius: "What?"
Bonnie: "Well, I was gonna ask to fight that Sado guy, but I changed my mind. Ooh, looks who's here!"
Bonnie sees Clyde walking towards them with bags of food in his hands. He brings them all food and they start eating. Earlier in the day around the early morning, far over in the North West of Jahtan, in an abandoned building on quite a spacious yet empty plot, the black sand bandits all stay around the bottom floor, while on the top floor, in an open large room, Sado sits around in the far back with Hamza watching a TV. A knock hits the door.
Bandit 1: "Who is it?"
Henzo: "It's me."
The bandit opens the door to Henzo, Sandworm and Dune walking in. With them, Sandworm holds Ayana by her tied hands behind her back.
Ayana: "Let me go!"
Struggling but failing, they walk up towards Sado.
Sandworm: "She tried fleeing the building."
Henzo: "Boss, I-"
Sado: "The base was found. 'ACO officers conquer the black sand bandit's base of operations'. Hahahaha!"
While they look on, slightly uncomfortable, Sado stands up and walks up to them.
Sado: "So one boy and his little group played you all, is that it?!"
Sandworm: "They seem more calculated than we thought."
Sado: "No!"
Everyone gets shocked by his yelling.
Sado: "No. They, were not calculated... search her pockets."
The bandits go through Ayana's pockets.
Sandworm: "Right here. A burner."
Sandworm opens the phone and checks the call logs.
Sandworm: "She made a call not too long ago."
Sandworm rings the number.
Phone: "Beep, Beep, Beep (Cut)"
Sandworm: "Number won't respond. Probably blocked or a throwaway."
Sado: "So this is what you've chosen? A petty thief over a greater purpose?"
He grabs her by the face.
Sado: "I can't understand you people."
She moves her head and gets his hand off her face.
Ayana: "You can go to hell! My friends are safe, so you lose."
Sado: "But are you so certain?"
Ayana: "What?"
Sado: "Those two you fought so desperately to save, they know all too well of this place, don't they?"
Ayana's eyes widen as she gets pissed.
Ayana: "You asshole!"
She tries to rush at him but they hold her back.
Sado: "You will die. But you thought it was just going to be you alone? No, no, no. Listen up, you three. You will hold her here as bait. On the floor above tomorrow morning, the trade for the diamond will be happening. Whenever those friends of hers show up to save her, I want them all captured, alive. That way, I can end them all right before her eyes. I will kill this illusion of victory she's under."
Dune: "Oh, but what if they don't show, boss? Can we kill her after? Maybe we could throw out the window, or even throw her off the roof hahaha!"
Hamza gets shocked hearing that response, as Sado gets pissed. Sado grabs her by the throat.
Sado: "I've already informed you on how to kill. Do not joke of such things again. Especially that. Understood?"
Dune nods rapidly as she struggles to breathe. He lets go of her neck and she tries to grasp for air.
Sado: "They will show, I'm certain of it. For more than just her. That boy I humiliated... I'm well aware of his type. If you encounter him, call me."
Henzo and Sandworm: "Understood."
Back at the parking lot ahead in the day, Kassius and Bonnie on the hood, along with Feela and Clyde in the car, eat their food. Not too long afterwards, Kaizen and Arnold arrive.
Kassius: "Where'd you guys go?"
Arnold: "Just walked around."
Kaizen: "A very nice walk. We got some good news."
Kassius: "Go on."
Arnold: "Sado Talman's parents work around here."
Kassius: "What?!"
Kaizen: "Yeah. They have a vegetable shop not too far from here."
Bonnie: "What did you guys do there?"
Arnold: "We tried getting information, but they weren't welcoming."
Bonnie: "So what's the plan now?"
Kassius: "It's gonna near sunset soon. We should get heading to the station. You said 10PM right?"
Kaizen: "Mhm."
Kassius: "Should we leave the car?"
Arnold: "It has no plate, so it'll draw too much attention."
Kassius: "Alright. Let's take our bags and get moving."
Kassius and the group unpack the car, grabbing their essentials. With Clyde and Feela too, they head towards Central Jahtan train station. Time flies by, and as it passes 9:30PM, the group finally arrives at the station. A wide, open entrance; stairs to go up into it and a diamond shaped roof, with lighting that shines bright and beautiful.
Kaizen: "Wow!"
Kassius: "I know."
Bonnie: "Barely anyone around."
Arnold: "That makes it easier for us. Let's wait in a hidden spot. By 10PM, he'll probably walk into the station and we'll follow him."
The group turn to see an alley. They walk into it and wait there. They wait, and as the clock hits 10PM, they all stare at the walkway to the station, but see nobody.
Kassius: "Did she describe how he looked?"
Kaizen: "Not really."
Kassius: "So how exactly are we gonna spot this guy?"
Man: "Group of six."
All of them shocked to hear a voice behind them turn; Kassius, Arnold, Kaizen and Bonnie prepare to fight, while Clyde steps ahead of Feela also ready to fight.
Man: "Oh, you must've been startled. I apologise."
Ahead of them, is a man, of about six feet, light brown complexion, brown eyes and low smooth cut black hair. He wears a full black tuxedo, including the dressing shoes.
Man: "I believe you are all here because of Miss Ayana, correct?"