Riddle in the Wind

Ralphie calmly moved away from Adhita's unconscious body. "Ralphie! You were incredible!" Yumiko squeaked joyfully and passionately.

Ralphie took a long breath and turned to face her. "Yumiko-cupcake!" His eyes sparkled endlessly with pink, and he stretched his arms above his head.

His right and left arms wriggled.

Yumiko blinked in confusion. "Cupcake?" She asked until suddenly Ralphie danced his way closer as if he was a ballerina. He moved his head closer to hers and blinked in happiness. "Perhaps you'd like a special dessert for those beautiful blue eyes. How about some blueberry trifle?"

She carefully waved her palm in front of her neck, dripping sweat down her forehead as she did so. "Yes, I'd like that. But for now, things are a little chaotic. After we're done, you can make all desserts you want for me." She made a courteous and friendly call.

Ralphie quickly turned around and reached for Yumiko's shoulders with his arm. He extended his second arm and stretched his palm toward the sun. "Yumiko-cupcake and I, spending time alone, enjoying chardonnay and blueberry trifle behind a big, round table of delicates. That is a wish fulfilled."

Yumiko rolled her eyes at him and became unimpressed. "Your imagination is wild," Yumiko claimed, gently pushing Ralphie away.

He became serious. "But until then. I must fight in her honor! I'm coming to save you, Chiaki! For love!" Ralphie rushed forward, leaving Yumiko behind in confusion.

"I guess he's willing to do anything for love, even beat up another girl," Bruno added, crossing his arms. "Ayuka... You should help Blythe." Yumiko added, and Ayuka agreed without hesitation.

She ran toward Blythe, who sat on the ground in pain. "You don't need to, miss. I've already caused enough trouble for you and your friends." He claimed, staying calm. "Yeah, you did, but that doesn't mean we'll leave you here and suffer. Come, give me your arm." Blythe seemed astonished, but he listened. "Thank you."

Yumiko swam in the water to find her blades while Ayuka finished treating Blythe in less than a minute. "There. You should feel better, but I'm still studying to heal fractured bones. Don't move your arm too much. It can worsen the pain, and then my treatment will be for nothing." Ayuka explained and stood up to her feet.

Blythe looked at his arm and moved it a little to see for himself. "I still don't understand," He lowered his arm and looked into her eyes, "I let Adhita wound your ship's cook."

Ayuka's expression darkened, conjuring up some horror in Blythe's heart. "You know, I hate you for that. Help out and pay attention to what I say in order to make it up to us. Or the next person to break your arm will be *me*."

As he neared them, Bruno offered Blythe his arm so he could assist him in standing. "Let's move forward. We're likely to be needed by others." While he waited for their approval, Bruno explained.

Ayuka ran up to Yumiko, curious and worried. She reached for her shoulder. "Are you hurt?" Ayuka asked, but Yumiko smiled. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking." Yumiko sheathed her blades, grabbed her arm, and stretched them high into the air.

"Let's go."

Bow and the others entered the city after passing the second gate and discovered that numerous officials had been rendered unconscious. "Well, someone was busy, but who cares? Less trouble for us to go through." Kyora seemed convinced despite being astounded to witness numerous unconscious marines.

"Most likely, it's soldiers from Harventona Park and Phoebe. Before you even came to our aid, they moved on ahead while we were left to deal with those two agents." Bow explained while still holding his bow behind his back.

"We were lucky you came. We didn't anticipate those two to be so strong. They were a nuisance to us." Explained Luca, running next to Kou, who looked at him. "Yeah... That elephant woman was a pain in our asses to deal with," Kou added, Kyora sharing a side-long glance. "For a 14-year-old, you sure know how to cuss a lot."

However, Kou looked at her unimpressed. "Just because you're all adults doesn't mean I can't say stuff like that."

Kyora giggled cutely. "I didn't say you can't. Just thought it was odd. Anyway, look!" She pointed in front of them. "That must be Phoebe and the soldiers."

Phoebe tied the marines against the wall and stepped back. "Great job, commander Phoebe!" The soldiers squeaked and raised their weapons.

She looked at them, serious and determined. "Let's catch up to Tim and the Empress." The men nodded, quickly hearing Kyora's voice in the distance.

"Bow and Luca. But who are they?" Phoebe had yet to meet Timothy's crew, so she wasn't very acquainted with their presence.

Bow and the rest stopped in front of her. "Good job on clearing the route for us, Phoebe, soldiers," Bow claimed, sharing his gratitude. "You got it, but I didn't think we'd gain more allies. Would you mind refreshing my mind on who these two are?"

She pointed at Kyora and Kou, who were both bewildered by her statement. "Well, they are from Timothy's crew. Kou, the boatswain, and Kyora, their newest member and a professional navigator."

"Ohh! I see! My apology! I thought Tim came to la Cadena de Narón by himself." She stated, confused but somewhat understanding.

"Yeah, that was his intention, but it turns out these agents are more formidable than imagined. One of Tim's friends called Ayuka, who then filled us in on the entire issue. As soon as we could, we assembled at a designated area and followed him to la Cadena de Narón." Kyora spoke as briefly as possible when she gave her explanation.

"Speaking about Tim and the rest of his allies. Where are Bruno, the rest of your crew, and that demon chick?" Questioned Phoebe, scratching the back of her head. "Well, they stayed behind and are fighting those two agents. As for the demon chick, I suppose you must be talking about Alpha? She stayed behind on a different island to keep a lookout." Kyora explained, calmly.

Suddenly they heard a familiar voice. "Everyone!"

They turned around and noticed that Ayuka and the rest of the people caught up to them. "Ayuka? Over here!" Kyora called, waving in their direction.

They approached them.

"Kizu's back up and running, and so is Ralphie. That must mean you-!"

"Yeah, everything's been taken care of, Kyora." Ayuka interrupted, "It wasn't easy, that's for sure, but it's over now."

Phoebe and the soldiers intently became suspicious and horrified. "Hey! What the hell is he doing here?! He's that Sea Noble who works for the world government!" Phoebe complained.

"Calm down. It turns out Blythe is Chiaki's older brother. He's with us." Explained Bruno, calm and orientated. "What? Don't be ridiculous! Chiaki's the final Yasuda member! She never mentioned having a brother to my captain."

Everyone seemed startled by Phoebe's statement. "What do you mean?" Ralphie asked. "Oh... right, you don't know. Chiaki used to be a part of our crew. She was found by our captain, Walsh, alone on a barren island. He learned that she had escaped the war between the world government and the pirates." They paid close attention.

"When she was a young child, he welcomed her aboard the ship, and as she grew older, she assisted the rest of our crew with supplies. Then she vanished one day. We looked for her, but we were unable to locate her. Walsh was inconsolable. Then, recently, we learned about Chiaki's identity through the media and that she would be beheaded. Walsh was informed that Vendurn would be the location of her execution. He, therefore, decided to attack the world government, only to realize that her execution would actually happen here at the Forbidden Chain."

The others and Ayuka exchanged looks. "I'll be honest. Except for the world government, she remained a mystery. Even if we learned her true identity, we would still see her as a friend and former crew member. We couldn't just let her die on her own. Walsh made it fairly apparent that we would go to any lengths to help a comrade or crew member if they ever found themselves in danger."

Phoebe went on. "Then I learned about your captain. He sincerely cherished her and treated her like a sibling, according to what we've heard. I got to know Tim at Sennecroft Holm. And it was then that we formed a partnership. We decided to unite and rescue Chiaki together with that Alpha girl."

"Wow... I always thought Chiaki was rather silent." Kou claimed, surprised.

Phoebe eventually wrapped up her explanation. "But that's all I have to say about her for now. We need to move quickly, catch up to your captain, and watch out for Blythe in case he tries something funny."

They agreed and hurried on after Timothy.

To be continued...