CHAPTER 3 ♍♍

A NEW ERA!

A soft groaning noise is heard as the office door knob is gently held, turned, and then pushed open.

haturii emerged from the opened door, taking some couple of steps forward and to the two officials who sat at the table.

"Welcome back" one of them greeted as soon as he walked right in

"So,how did it go" the other asked.

Haturii doesn't responds but only let's out a tired sigh, dropping the files that had been given to him on the office table. This made the two others look at themselves in confusion then back at Haturii.

"That bad, ah?" The second official stated

"Notify the claives on patrol, we've got an anomaly on the loose, containment cell 096" Haturii finally said

"Right"the first official answered before walking out the office

"What..again?! Not just another attempt but it got loose this time?? Those people could never hold these damn things down" He said, reaching for the files Haturii dropped on the table "how dangerous is this one now?!"

He took a slight pause, looking at the notes and contents in the files

"RSCP 004 eh? Able to produce heat signatures rivaling that of the sun" he read out."...damn, we've really got alot our hands full with this one. Oh and what about the two kids, uh you know...orange and yukimo"

"It's orenji and yukira", he corrected

"Damn it, I never seem to get their names right" the second official responded

"...And yeah, I gave them the day off" Haturii continued."To keep their minds at ease and off these things for a while"

"Yeah??Or...maybe you just don't want them getting in the way"

"I don't want them getting involved" Haturii answered"i mean c'mon category 3s, not something you'd expect breaking out any time soon."

"Yeahh...but man, quitting on a first mission. That's a damn shame, imagine the disgrace...poor kids" the official stated, keeping the files back on the table. "Welp they better get used to it.....

"H-hey hold on now, they're not quitting!!" Haturii responded immediately. "...they're just staying off things for a while"

"Uh-huh, keep telling yourself that bud. Wouldn't be surprised myself if those little delinquents were to disobey your orders."

"Wait, huh?"

"Oh c'mon...the official stood up from his seat and walked over to Haturii, throwing his arm at the back of his neck."...don't pretend like we weren't like that when we were at that age. I the manly boy and you the wimpy girl.. running around, causing troubles, disobeying orders. Heh such delinquents we were back then..."

"Yeah well that's all in the past now" haturii added, throwing the official's arm off him and begins heading for the door.

"Hey, why you so stuck up.. don't be such a downer, c'mon.." the official stated as he watched. "I mean sure that was a long time ago but still...what happened to you Haturii? You used to be the fun, outgoing and the not so stuck up type"

Haturii stopped dead in his tracks, the door right in front of him. And with a hand placed on its knob, he took a sudden glance back at his friend and uttered;

"I grew up...I learned and you should too" he opened the door then proceeded in walking straight out the office, leaving the official with those simple words and the door closing right behind him.

"Ouch...the official stated!

**Unlike most days, the sun wavered at a rather nice spot in the sky, beaming with great light, it's rays hitting the town-- stonehaven...

Hidden beneath the woven threads of a yellow hoodie with ash sleeves, the boy ventured across the street In an endless thoughts. Reasons for hiding beneath being of his physical features that could prove a disadvantage for him.

As he trode down the road, a flashback of some previous scenes struck him. One of which was what happened in the foundation, a scene of when he knocks out the armies firing at him and then breaks through the glass window, making his escape on the soft snow.....

Another one struck him, this one however was of how he'd gotten the clothes he wore now. Initially he had spotted a child urging his mom to get him the clothes but it was rather expensiveand so they left. The green boy who was walking down that path stumbled upon this and thought it seemed right for him to get it, For him to blend in;to not be called a monster that people deemed him at first sight.

And again, he broke yet the one sided mirror that shielded the material.

Thus two glasses broken and counting....

The world seemed an endless place to him now, bigger and more varied than it had been before. Also mysterious and exciting -- and a little bit frightening. Moving along different hordes of people was equally as strange to him.

The disguise had worked...

No one regarded or reminded him of the monster he was. It had been over 5 years since he was locked up in that foundation -- tortured by various experiments carried out on him both safe and the unsafe, being studied upon and now...now he was free

"So this is what freedom felt like?!" he thought to himself

And as he ventured further down the street, some teens quickly sped past him on something quite fast. His curiosity ensued-- he wanted to know what it was.

What it is they rode on....

His gaze followed, seeing these teenagers on what looked like motorized roller skates.

The technology here were indeed primitive.

He thought as he looked on, seeing one of them riding his way up to an orange haired girl sitting on a bench some distance away. He couldn't exactly paint a detailed picture of what they looked like, but all he knew for sure was that the teen had blonde hair and is a bit taller than him.

He turned his gaze to where they had initially rode out from, seeing what he could only describe as...crash!

As it turns out was a futuristic term for cool or epic.

He saw several other teenagers, some his age, riding across the skate track. Some of them doing jaw- dropping stunts whilst dropping the ball into the net. They took no notice of the boy, having been engrossed in the game of keep away as it seemed.

"What made the game so breathe taking??"

"What made the skates move so fast with little or no effort applied?!"

The boy observed this activity in wonder....

Although this era were primitive in technology, he had to commend them for they sure did know how to put it to good use and have fun with them.

Suddenly a reddish brown ball rolled out the track and stopped as it came in contact with his feet.

"Huh?..this is....he proceeded in picking up the ball and looked at it, examining it closely.

it was the ball they used in playing turns out.

"Hey..A voice called out"...hey you....

The boy raised up his head, seeing one of the teenagers slowly skating his way towards him, his arm raised in a wave. It was orenji.

"Uhmm me??" The boy asked, unsure

"Yessss, you!" Orenji replied "toss the ball..the ball, toss it"

"It?? You mean this??the boy asked, pointing an index finger at the ball.

"What do you mean this, toss the ball"he said yet again, this time a little demanding

If you want it that badly then catch it....

And without a second thought, he throws the ball so fiercely he scored a perfect bullseye at orenji's stomach, knocking him off his skates and to the ground with a grunt. The landing orenji took at first glance looked really hard and painful, so much so that the boy in the hoodie had to react upon impact before rushing to his aid.

"Are you okay?! I didn't kill you or break you, did I??"

"No,..no orenji groaned."but you definitely broke something, probably my ribs and the rest of my internal organs" he sat up slowly, his arm tightened around his stomach area only to shift his gaze upwards and find the awaiting hand of the boy, stretched out to help him.

Orenji observed this for a while, all he could do was smile at this kind gesture before taking it and with a firm grip on both sides, orenji was pulled off the ground in no time but not without hearing the bones from his own hand break.

"Ahhhh!!" he screamed

"Sorry, sorry" the boy coaxed

"That's some firm grip boy" he said, shaking his now broken hand. "You're going to end up putting me in hospital sooner than later"

"Sorry about that..the boy chuckled a bit and then reached for the ball on the ground. "Sorry" he added, handing the ball over to him.

"So uh what are you guys playing back there?" he finally asked the question that bothered him and he does so pointing at the game the other teenagers enduldged in.

"Oh that,..orenji had taken notice of what he was pointing at."..that's phantom ball you know, it's only like the most popular sport played around here. Wait,..how could you have never heard of phantom ball?" He asked, looking at the boy

"Umm, am not from these parts" the boy replied with a timid smile on his face

"Right, that makes sense if you put it that way...orenji continued talking but the boy didnt seem to be listening.

His mind was far gone...

he could hear the words orenji spoke in the background but he paid no attention to them.

His gaze had caught something in the distance.

Like most towns/cities; busy people were always on the road, money constantly changing hands, buses to catch, officers doing some mid-day patrolling.

Wait, The officers!

His mouth dropped as he noticed two officers dressed in their respective uniforms and flanked at their side -- a pecca!

A pecca in this era was a huge robotic machine, resembling a spider but with three legs used for moving and attacking fast. its primary purpose/main directive was to search and take out anomoly escapees that posed a threat.

These officers would stop anyone they deemed odd and the pecca would scan them from their head to their toes.

It was clear he was the one they were in search of.

He needed to act fast before he would be discovered and by then it would already be too late....

His eyes darted around, feeling fear tightening his chest.

What course of Action should he take now?? Should he try to make a run for it.

He considered the thought but no..he quickly dismissed it for fear that if he did so, then he would easily fished out, doing most of the work for them.

******

What would the strange and mysterious boy do next??

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