Days passed since the article concerning Akumi’s parents arrived in the paper. In the first week or so we didn’t gain much response relating to the subject matter, but we did face a lot of support from the local townsfolk concerning our mission.
Just looking at them expressing their gratitude may not have been the best solution to the matter, but it was just what I needed to be able to keep going, even if it is only for the sake of making Akumi happy again.
Regardless, not long after that event, I went to collect the letters from the postman as the usual. Searching them, I noted something different in the usual bills and letters exchanged from Han – something that could make the newspaper excursion worthwhile.
   “Akumi, you’ve got mail!”
I shouted inside the house, hoping to gain much of a response from her. Then I finally heard footsteps from above, and in a dash she made her way downstairs donning a sky blue dressing gown and what looked like green dragon slippers.
   “Who would send me something at this time of year?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “It’s not even Christmas.”
   “I say take a read anyway. It could be important.”
I passed the envelope to Akumi, whom was left to inspect the cover for herself. Lo and behold, the address was specifically stated towards her and not me or mother. Her face showed curiousness as she turned the envelope around and started opening it really carefully.
The contents showed a letter, folded up into quarter pieces. She unfolded it, and started reading it; curious as to know what was going on, I peeked over her shoulder, wondering what she might have faced.

Dear Miss Davis,

It has been a long time since I last saw you face to face. I would imagine that you have grown into a beautiful young lady by now. The thought of failing to see you since your transfer to your new family has made my heart as cold as the midnight sky.

With that said, I would love to hear everything about you – try and catch up on the years that we have missed. Even though we are far apart, we are still to be considered a part of each other.

I would love to hear back from you. I miss you very much.

-A.D.W.-

As soon as she finished reading, she started to shed a tear. But this time, it wasn’t one of her usual anguish – it was one of pure happiness. If I was in her shoes, I would probably react in a similar fashion.
   “’A.D.W.’?” she asked, puzzled. “Is that… my dad?”
   “He still sounds secretive”, I started to reply, “but I hope this could be a help to get back in touch with your parents. I’m glad a reply came through.”
   “I am too – I love you so much for doing this for me!”
   With a really girlish scream, she went towards me and hugged me right across my chest. The pain felt like I was being crushed by a giant nutcracker at the same speed of a rocket ship taking off.
   “What can I do to repay you?” she continued to shout in a high pitched voice that could contest with that of a dolphin’s.
I would have found room to respond if the grasp didn’t close on my lungs like that. Eventually I brought my arms out and freed myself, falling onto the sofa as I managed to regain my balance once more.
   “You can start by not hugging me so tight”, I sighed back. “But seriously; if there’s anything I may need your help with, I’ll see you about it.”
And in response, I gave her a light grasp upon her wrist back. This time she didn’t react with a tight grasp, but rather a gentle smile. There was something so warm about it that has made me feel good all of a sudden.
It didn’t take long before I released my grasp and started making my walk towards the stairs. Walking gently towards the stairwell, I soon turned back towards Akumi, whom was seen jumping up and down, waving her hands in the air – unusual activity for someone who’s nearly a foot taller than me.
   “I love you, bro!”
The remark made my face light up again. Though we may not be blood related, I still felt so proud to see her refer to me as a “brother”, in the sense of being a loyal figure that has been with her for almost all of her life.
With my face being just as relaxed as hers, I started making my walk upstairs, still feeling happy about the mission being a success. As soon as I reached the top, I made my walk straight towards my room.
There was definitely no mistake on what I would do next. With Akumi’s happiness being at an all time high, it was only fair that I got myself ready for a fantastic several days ahead, starting with making a telephone call to Han to tell him everything. I just hope he reacts just as well as we both did upon receiving that letter.
I don’t know how long it would be until we would meet Akumi’s biological father, but I would assume it wouldn’t be too soon.

---

CHAPTER 14
Prisoner!

Day 6
Theoropolis Jailhouse, Philips Cosmopolitan District – 6:55PM

The sun was seen at the western side of the city, with the last few sets of light vanishing into the distance, sending the entire city back into a simmering red, blue and purple twilight canvas in the sky.
But underneath the Senatorial Housing, a different scenario was afoot. Fletch and his group were being transported through dark passages, going further south from the housing’s original spot; all before leading towards a long line of prison cells.
The boy looked towards them all and saw various imprisoned personnel within the cells inside. Their hopelessness left him to feel upset himself, knowing that he could understand what kind of situation they might have undergone just to get there.
   “Dood, we don’t have enough prison cells to store the latest captives!” one of the prinnies asked the other.
   “It doesn’t mean we don’t have enough room. We’ll let them share with someone.”
The prinnies kept on walking, dragging their captives towards a series of cells to their right. By then, Fletch looked on at the others, many of which being knocked out from the fight; all with the exception of Senator Cortex, whom was slowly starting to come to his senses once again.
   “Let’s dump them here!” the second prinny commanded.
Fletch tried to look towards the prinnies, but before he could do anything, a cell to their right was swung open, causing them to end up throwing the group inside the cell one by one. Both Fletch and Cortex were thrown in first, both of which landing flat on their fronts.
Darkwing, Jade and Joanna were then tossed next, being hurled into a corner, crumpled among one another. Fletch looked back and saw the cruel treatment of their arrival, leaving him to growl at the sight.
Ratchet, Sora and Spidey were all tossed together next, though unlike the others, they somehow started to come to their senses as soon as they landed. That gave Fletch time to respond by running towards the prinnies, but before anything could happen, the door completely slammed shut. He held onto the bars, trying to shake as hard as possible onto them.
   “Let us out!” he cried out with strain. “You can’t keep us in like this!”
   “That’s right!” exclaimed Cortex as he joined in with him. “I’m a Senate member and I didn’t do anything to get locked up like this!”
   “We didn’t either”, a nearby voice said grimly, “but they wouldn’t listen to us.”
The voice caused the group to end up looking towards another corner nearby. Right there were two other figures – one wearing a blue uniform similar to Cortex’s, and the other wearing a pink uniform and a long dress. As far as the senator was concerned, those figures were very familiar to him.
   “Senator Peppy Hare?” Cortex gasped. “And… the Queen of All Cosmos?”
   “It was all so hopeless”, the Queen frowned. “We tried everything we can to defend the Prime Chancellor, but they locked us up before we could get a chance. Odds are the other Senators might have hidden away with fear by now.”
In response, she ended up sighing and shaking her head, looking down with her eyes filling with despair through each passing moment. It soon got to the point that she buried her face into her lap, with her arms completely covering her head.
   “I didn’t realise it would all come to this. My dear, dear husband…”
Amidst her developing sobs, Peppy looked over to her and edged closer. There, he placed an arm around her shoulder, stroking it gently with a fatherly expression towards her. He treated her back with utmost care upon stroking her.
   “There now, madam”, he calmly responded back. “Everything will come to light in the end, and I feel that your husband will make his re-arrival safe and sound.”
Upon his words, the Queen then brought her head up from her lap, before shifting her eyes towards Peppy. Though she still looked insecure, he might have a point. Yet, regardless of the result, she still looked as if hope was fading all around her.
   “I still feel hopeless being towed in here”, she sighed miserably. “As long as we’re inside the prison cell, there’s nothing we can do.”
Once again, she looked straight down, knowing that she was too powerless to do anything. Nearby, Fletch gave out a similarly upset look towards them, before focusing towards the doors that separated them from the dark corridors.
   “So here we are in a prison cell, with two captives that don’t even know their own way out. And unless some miracle happens like someone coming through the back walls looking for us, I don’t think we’ll get out alive.”
   “Yeah”, Ratchet frowned as he stood up and walked towards the boy. “I feel unsafe being placed in here like this, especially at such a rough time like this.”
   “Ratchet, Fletch, why would you both think so negatively?” asked Sora as he came to approach them. “In the end, Fox’s team would be bound to come here and save us. If they thought we were in a tough situation, they would easily try and track us down no matter what the cost.”
With a confident look, Sora ended up folding his arms and smiling back. That, however, managed to catch attention towards Spider-Man, whom instantly sat up from his position at the back of the room and walking towards him and Ratchet.
   “That’s true, but you’re forgetting one thing Sora”, Spidey started to lecture. “How are they to get past the doors to get inside the Senatorial Housing? I don’t think any of the other Senate members would get through the doors to help out Fox and co.”
   “Come on, it’s worth a shot!” Sora replied. “Fox has the closest connections with the Senate in the entire city. He surely must find out sooner or later that we’re not at some lousy tea party!”
   “That sounds fair. Yet, if I had to choose between that and fighting some short orange prophet, I’d rather opt for the tea party myself.”
Sora gave out a blank stare towards Spidey and the remark that he gave out. There, all he could do is shake his head and make a brief walk towards a corner of the room, sitting down with his legs far apart.
Eventually, Fletch, Ratchet, Spidey and Cortex all sat down at different areas of the cell they were in, knowing that no matter what kind of effort they could pull off to escape, there was no way that they will ever make it out alive.
Thinking back about Spidey’s words about citizens of Theoropolis fading from existence once they are lesser known about among the outside world, they knew that they were in a dead end situation. As far as Fletch was concerned, this was purgatory.

---

Later that night, Ripto ended up making his way through the remains of the Senatorial Housing. Though the front half was starting to fall apart, the hallways that eventually lead out to Cortex’s old study and Ariel’s room remained intact.
As he stood in front of the large golden doors that lead towards the latter, he gave out a sinister smirk. Holding his sceptre in one hand and a purple crystal in another, he knew that he was one step closer to assuming a leading role for the city.
He was about to make his step inside, but before he could even touch the doorknob, he heard a series of footsteps from behind. There, Etna was seen making her way, though in contrast to her usual Imaginarium uniform, she was wearing the pink uniform of the Secretary position for the Theoropolis Senate, a long floor-trailing skirt included.
   “Okay, so I may be Beauty Queen Etna, but this oversized skirt?” she frowned as she looked down at her feet. “This uniform is getting way too ridiculous.”
   “You could always try to shrink it in the wash”, Ripto suggested. “It works wonders if you need to show off any leg room.”
Etna looked down at herself and tried to lift up one of her legs, but no matter how high she could raise it, she would fail to see the tips of her toes underneath the clothing. She gave off an angry sigh as she just raised the cloth slightly, as if she was a princess getting ready to run somewhere.
In the meantime, Ripto managed to open up the doors to the study, revealing the place to look similar to Cortex’s in structure, except there was a significant increase in the amount of ornaments and furniture that managed to grace it. It was as if he just walked into a modern day gold mine.
   “Either way, I want to pass on my thanks for making me your personal secretary”, Etna spoke with enthusiasm. “I’ve always wanted a position this high up in the ranks!”
   “Etna, as deceitful as you may be”, Ripto remarked while turning towards her, “you rightfully deserved what you got. You have been one of my closest ties to the whole kidnapping exploit since it began.”
   “Really?”
   “I really mean it. Your cunning combined with your knowledge on Guardian Jak has helped you gain a strong threshold on Ariel’s downfall. I couldn’t ask for a better vassal.”
  With a smile, he looked towards Etna and pointed his sceptre on at him as if he would attempt to knight her. She gave out a cackle at the gesture, her cheeks showing that she was starting to feel almost too flattered for herself.
   “There’s only one thing left to do if we need to get the entire ordeal finalised”, Ripto addressed as he pointed his sceptre into the air. “And that is to dominate the city.”
   “Even if we are only in possession of six Samaritans?” Etna reminded the prophet.
   “I know we’re missing Crash, but who needs a retarded bandicoot anyway? He’d probably just be seasoning if Ariel ever gives him up.”
Sighing, he turned towards the window, where the dark night skies were seen starting to peek through. The moonlight streamed through the window, lighting up his face with a moderate pale green glow among his usual orange tones.
   “Until then, rest up”, he ordered her. “We have a serious parade to go through tomorrow. And the public will be so proud that Ariel will never be pestering them anymore!”
   “You got that right. Congratulations.”
With that remark, Etna took another step towards Ripto, and another, and another. As soon as she was close towards him, she crouched down towards his face level and gave him a light kiss on the cheek.
He reacted with shock - his pupils shrunk to the size of breadcrumbs, and his cheeks started to blush a deep maroon red color. He then looked towards Etna with a slightly embarrassed look upon him.
Knowing that she might have overdone the praise, Etna quickly lifted her skirt again and made a dash out of the room, with sweat starting to come down her face and her arms starting to shake. It can be seen clearly on her face that she may never attempt anything like that ever again.

---

Day 7
Theoropolis Jailhouse, Philips Cosmopolitan District – 8:45AM

A new day soon came, with the sun creeping over the horizon. The roofs of the jailhouse were seen glistening with a strong, blistering golden color all around it, making it look more like a royal home than a criminal asylum.
Near the roof, Fletch was seen climbing out, pleased to know that he managed to make the escape all by himself. Dirt was seen covering his body, showing the strain he faced in getting out – presumably by digging his way.
He then ended up seeing Han at the other side of the roof, standing there and looking at him. Gasping, he made his run towards him, wanting to confront him once again. As soon as he stood there, he ended up taking a hold of Fletch’s shoulders and started shaking him around as if he was a rag doll. The strain caused his face to show shock upon receiving them.
   “Fletch? Fletch!”
The visions around him started to blur once more, shifting from the bright colors around him to darker and dingier ones. Han’s face also faded too, shifting from that to another familiar face – Sora.
   “Fletch, wake up. You may be surprised on what we’ve been dealing with.”
   “Huh?” he asked faintly and tiredly.
Fletch tried to gain his senses. He saw himself lying on the floor of the cell that they were in, his body half-covered in a mass of hay on one of the walls of the room. That vision with Han might have been a dream, he thought to himself.
Looking half-asleep, he sat up and tried to absorb his surroundings. He did take notice to the rest of the cell’s residents standing around one another at one corner of the cell, making conversations with one another. Seeing them eye to eye, Sora made his walk back towards them.
   “I think he needs time to come to. In the meantime, we need to run through the plan again in case people forget any details.” The key bearer soon pointed to Senator Hare. “Peppy?”
   “Let’s see, I start by pretending to choke. I’ll still need to improvise a cause on it.”
   “Right”, Sora nodded. “Spidey?”
   “Peppy’s reactions will cause the prinnies to come inside, and then…”
The discussion continued onwards, showing all sorts of insane discussion ideas. Fletch tried to take in what they were saying, but the dark and dreary conditions made it hard for him to be able to concentrate.
He did notice that they were having fun with their discussions, eventually breaking into laughs every now and again. Though he couldn’t tell what they were laughing at, he couldn’t help but smile back with them.
Meanwhile, near the other end of the corridor, two prinnies were seen making their walk towards the cell, armed with a frying pan each. The sounds of the conversation were soon picked up by them, causing them to look at each other with confusion.
   “What do you think they’re on about at this time of day, dood?” asked the first one.
   “Beats me”, the other replied back. “I think the gruel must have got to their heads.”
The first prinny gave out a shrug towards the second, before they both resumed their walk towards the cell. Two other prinnies stood there, and it was there that the two pairs swapped places when it came to their shifts.
Upon noticing the change, the group in front of them managed to quieten down, leaving them to whisper any further ideas towards one another. The change in dynamics left both prinnies to look at each other, looking more confused than they were when they entered the hallway.
Among the group, more procedures were stated, with Sora starting to nod with understanding through each passing response. Eventually, he pointed towards Joanna, whom started to show just as much as an enthusiastic look as the key bearer.
   “And finally the gondolier switch will be flipped, causing us to reach the surface”, she gasped with a face showing success. “Yes, we’ve got it!”
   “Well done, everyone”, Sora applauded. “We’ll get through this just fine.”
   “But Sora, I only just woke up”, said Fletch as he gave out an audible yawn. “Do you expect me to tow through this kind of situation shivering and deprived of food?”
   “I’d rather go hungry than be fed gruel at 5 in the morning. You just got lucky.”
Fletch’s eyes widened. True, he felt as if he didn’t have gruel before, but whether it could make any difference on his strength or not could be a question that might not get answered for time to come.
Shrugging, he then stood up and looked on at the group. Still wondering what kind of procedure they could pull off to try and escape the cell, all he could do was lightly smile with an expression of great anticipation.

---

Minutes passed, and Sora was seen closely observing Fletch. His senses started to become more alert over passing time, and it was after roughly half an hour that he managed to give the thumbs up towards Senator Hare.
As if he was a Hollywood actor, he ended up falling onto his hands and knees, lowering his head down to the floor. His ears then flopped down over his head and touching the floor, matching his painful expression.
   “Help…” he then proceeded to cough while combining it with chokes and splutters. “Help me!”
   “What?” the first prinny paid attention. “What’s going on, dood?”
   “Senator Hare must have faced a heart attack!” exclaimed the other.
   “Should we leave him dead or help him out, dood?”
   “Etna would leave him for dead anyway. She’d have our heads if we even do ANY good deeds at a place like this.”
Both prinnies shrugged at each other and looked over at the scene, wondering what would happen to Peppy next. Several seconds passed, and his breathing was shown to be more broken than the usual, causing them to look more concerned.
   “My… my glasses…” Peppy spoke weakly. “I think I swallowed my glasses…”
   “I never thought I’d see that excuse, dood”, shrugged the first prinny.
   “My silver designer glasses are stuck down my throat! I can… barely breathe…”
Upon being alerted, both prinnies looked at each other, with streams of sweat starting to come down their faces. One tried to speak, but couldn’t; the other resorted by hitting it on the head with its own frying pan.
   “Silver designer glasses?” the second prinny asked with a raised voice.
   “Dood, he stole one of Etna’s!”
   “Let’s get it!”
And so, they both made their walk towards the cell and opened it up with its keys, stashed away in the second prinny’s pouch. Upon unlocking, they made a direct walk inside, ready to surround the Senator.
Their faces looked vile and sinister as they were set to recovering something that Etna might have lost. Yet, in the background, Sora’s face didn’t look too concerned, as he shifted his attention towards the ceiling.
   “Spidey, NOW!”
In response, Spidey soon made his climb across the ceiling, released one of his hands from its grip and pointed it towards the two prinnies. A long stream of web managed to come out from his hand, flying towards the two guards.
As soon as they were about to take a grasp onto Peppy, they were soon covered in the web substance, leaving them to be held inside the sticky substance. They started to panic as they struggled to break out.
   “What are you doing, dood?” one exclaimed with a scream.
   “You can’t trap us in a place like this!” panicked the other. “Are you trying to suffocate us?”
In the time that followed, they tried to tug hard on the web, but there was nothing that they could do when it came to trying to break out. All that most of the personnel could do was laugh at them as they struggled with each passing moment.
Nearby, Jade and Ratchet managed to stand on both sides of Sora, withdrawing their respective weapons as they looked on at the two of them. There, they took several paces closer and closer, ready to make their mark.
   “Let’s see if we can take care of business”, Jade proclaimed while waving her Dai-Jo.
   “You’ve got it!” Sora said as he withdrew his keyblade.
   Ratchet held onto his wrench and twitched his tail at the same time. “I got the one on the right!”
And with that, Sora made his dash around towards the other side of the prinnies, with Jade and Ratchet side-stepping away from each other, standing as if they were points in an invisible triangle.
Then, Sora raised his keyblade into the air as soon as he got into position. That caused Jade and Ratchet to rush towards the two prinnies together, raising their weapons into the air as they continued to run.
   “Uh-oh…!” they both muttered in unison.
As soon as they got there, they struck a prinny each across the chest and ultimately pushed them out of the web substance with their respective weapons. That left them both to fly to the ceiling, banging their heads as they touched it.
Ratchet made his assault to the prinny nearest to him, jumping up with his wrench and striking it with several blows across its stomach and juggling it in the air at the same time. He soon decided to give up after 15 seconds, knocking the creature down like a basketball.
Jade then made her assault on the other, though this time she used a combination of direct strikes and whatever auras her Dai-Jo could provide. Just like Ratchet, 15 seconds later she left the prinny to crash to the ground, though this time it ended up crashing down on top of the other.
Seeing the two prinnies looking close to almost passing out from the attacks, the group started to applaud one another as they saw their accomplishments. In almost complete haste, Fletch made his push away from the rest of the team and looked towards the open cell door ahead.
   “They’ve been tossed aside!” exclaimed Fletch. “We need to get going!”
   “Not so fast!”
There, the prinnies’ eyes both started to refocus. And all of a sudden, they both jumped up on both feet, both looking as if the incident with the webs and the assault from Jade and Ratchet never happened.
   “They seem agile”, Jade spoke as she saw the prinnies move closer. “What should we do?”
   “I think I might have an idea!”
Fletch tried to sidestep to the left and right, looking on at the prinnies’ actions as he did so. They both did the same, very keen to adapt well to their strict job. That left him to pause slightly and think of another strategy.
All thoughts soon re-directed towards the time when he met Han for the first time since the picnic. Seeing him trying to harm him – his very own best friend – might have been painful for Fletch, but there was one thought that somehow kept coming back.

Prinnies explode when thrown.

With that in mind, he started to move around on the floor while crouching down, eventually using his arms for support. To that extent, his moves showed a vague similarity to the standard movement of a chimpanzee.
He then started to swerve through the prinnies, being able to dodge almost every attack they tried to pull off. His movements soon got to the point that he was able to place himself behind one of which.
In haste, he took a hold of it and lifted it into the air – in spite of them almost being as big as him, they felt as light as a balloon. Smiling, he then threw the prinny towards the other, and just like that, a small explosion occurred around them, turning the two creatures into nothing but thin air.
   “Nice shot, Fletch!”
The Queen then rushed towards the boy, offering her hand as she got there. Fletch then took a hold on hers, and together they were the first set of personnel to rush straight out towards the corridors.
“Let’s see if we can make a race for the gondolier!” she instructed as she ran.
Fletch nodded and started to locate a gondolier – there was one that was located not too far from the cell they were near. But just before they were about to get there, five more prinnies came onto the scene, each of which armed with either frying pans or a broad dagger in each hand.
   “More of them?” Fletch gasped with worry.
   “They seem armed too”, said Ratchet as he saw their arsenal. “How should we get past them?”
   “Do a barrel roll!” Peppy exclaimed.
In response, most of the personnel looked back at Peppy with leers showing upon their faces. All he could do is shake his head and show a hesitant glance back, as he saw the prinnies stepping closer and closer.
   “No, really”, Peppy shouted with increased hesitance. “DO A BARREL ROLL!!!”
As his shout ended, one of the prinnies then jumped straight forward, holding its broad daggers tightly as it came closer. Most of the personnel showed shock as it continued to lunge straight towards them.
In a split-second reaction, Cortex withdrew his jet board, jumped onto it and – true to Peppy’s word – barrel rolled out of the way before making a straight assault towards the side of the rampant prinny, holding onto the board with his hands and knees as he came closer.
   “Eat this!”
The nose of the board then ended up striking the Prinny straight into the air, causing the senator to end up zooming further down the corridor and his opponent to soon start falling down as soon as the tip of its beak touched the ceiling.
   “Incoming, dood!”
The prinny then started to make a quick descent, falling down with its head first. At the glance, some of the other prinnies started to panic, some of which cowering and some of which starting to run.
Then, the prinny struck the ground, causing another brief explosion to occur. Once again, all the prinnies then vanished straight into thin air, instantly vanquishing all trace of them. Nearby, Cortex was seen making his way straight back towards the group.
   “Those guys were almost too easy”, he smirked quietly. “Let’s see if we can keep going on to the lift itself!”
He then made a stop near Fletch’s feet, jumping off from the jet board and re-compressing it before he made his focus towards the gondolier. A simple turquoise platform was seen as a floor, complete with metallic structures that made it look more like a wire frame for a giant crystal dome.
The door was still seen as a locked structure, and with that in consideration, Darkwing locked his hands together as he went towards it. He then jumped onto it and took a hold of the handle, as if he was trying to climb up the door.
   “Heave-HO!!!”
He tugged as hard as he could, but all that could result from it was him breaking the handle from the door itself. That soon caused him to lose his balance and fall onto his back on the cold, hard floor.
The door soon managed to collapse from its position seconds later, giving the group room to make their way straight inside the compartment. As soon as they all managed to settle inside, all heads were turned towards Joanna, whose face started to look more relaxed than those of her peers.
   “Okay, Joanna!” Darkwing shouted as he gave her the thumbs up. “The trigger’s all yours!”
And there, she pointed her pistol straight towards a nearby lever outside the gondolier. She pulled the trigger, but as a result, absolutely nothing managed to come out. That left her to show confusion as she looked at the weapon’s nozzle.
   “My pistol!” she started to panic. “What… what happened?”
   “Joanna?” Darkwing started to look puzzled.
   “I don’t have any ammo! What’s going on?”
   “Gee, how should we get out of here now?”
   Ratchet started to search inside the pockets of his pants. “Let me use my RYNO for this one.”
   “No, Ratchet!” Joanna tried to persuade him otherwise. “You’ll get us killed!”
Joanna’s shouts didn’t work; Ratchet had already withdrawn the R.Y.3.N.O. and was pointing it straight towards the switch. Oblivious to the fact that the missiles would never fit through the gaps, all that Joanna could do was lower her head and shake it with despair.
   “Lombax ahoy!” cheered a female voice from above.
All of a sudden, the gondolier started to make its ascent all by itself, rising inch by inch away from ground level. The speed on it started to increase over time, causing everyone to hold onto the metal bars as they did so.
   “Whoooa!” Ratchet panicked as he struggled to hold on. “Who’s operating this thing?”
Ratchet tried to look up, but the blur of the wind caused him to struggle to see above him. His ears then started to flap in the wind thanks to the increased air resistance that managed to surround him.
Various hair and clothing folds among some of the other personnel also blew upon one another as they continued to look on and see the gondolier keep rising and rising higher up the vertical tunnel.
And then, it came to a sudden stop, causing everyone to lose their balance and fall upon their backs, sides and stomachs. Fletch looked on from his position on his own stomach, and saw that they were lifted towards the top of what looked like a cavern entrance.
   “Come on, to the daylight!” shouted a different male voice.
The shout caused the group to respond persona by persona, making their way towards a lit cavern entrance up ahead. A strong stream of sunlight was seen casting its way through from there to a select portion of the floor.
They went through the passage, and it wasn’t long until the stone surface started to turn into a wooden one. They looked ahead, and right there, the first thing they saw near them was a familiar figure standing at the other side of the wooden path.
   “Fox?” Fletch squinted his eyes as he tried to look closer.
Indeed, Fox McCloud was seen standing there, with the wooden path actually being a pier head. The view behind him showed the Southern regions of the city, which some portions were obscured by some other figures surrounding him.
   “Axel? Praxis? And Courtney?” he soon identified them. “You’re here too?”
   “We had to help you get out of that dungeon mess”, Axel sternly replied back. “Fox managed to sense the action from a COM link that was left switched on.”
The remark caused Sora to look towards his pants and see his COM link hanging out of it. He took a hold of it, and true to Axel’s word, it was seen switched on. The key bearer blushed slightly as he hesitantly turned it off.
   “Oh, I guess I should have thought about that earlier.”
   “Got it memorised?” Axel questioned with a sigh.
   “Okay, enough with the smart talk”, Fletch raised his voice while outstretching his arms. “Ripto apparently has six of the Samaritans, and Etna ran off with the Spear of Visions. Now what do you suppose they would do?”
   “Obviously Ripto would take over the city, pure and simple”, Praxis replied in a melancholy tone. “But we can’t let that happen if he just wants to use power to his own content.”
   “There is a way we can stop them though”, smiled Courtney. “We can just gatecrash the ceremony.”
Courtney stepped ahead and pointed straight north. Right there, the Senatorial Housing was seen standing among the hillsides, with crowds slowly starting to gather around. At the sight, Fletch’s face started to turn white.
   “It’ll take place at the Senatorial Housing’s entrance in 10 minutes”, informed Fox. “If we can convince the people that Ripto isn’t fit enough for the job, he might just give up the Samaritans before anything crucial happens.”
Fletch then looked on at Fox, and then at himself. He knew that without his own spear he might have trouble with his offensive skills, but regardless of what would result in the end, he looked on at him with a stern face.
   “It sounds like an insane idea, but I think we can do this. Let’s get up there.”
Smiling together, they all made their walk down the pier head. And right at the end, they saw Fox’s Arwing standing in position. Inside it, Bill and Ted were seen in the cockpit, pretending to be pilots.
   “Bill! Ted!” Fox shouted towards the pair. “Leave the Arwing controls alone!”
   “Whatever, Fox”, sighed Bill with a frown.
   Ted moderately punched a side mirror before standing up. “Talk about bogus, dude.”
Sighing, they both got out of the cockpit and climbed straight back into the passenger area, trying their best not to damage any nearby equipment to them. All that Fox could do was shake his head slightly.
He then managed to get towards the door of the Arwing and opened it up. One by one, everyone stepped inside and strapped themselves in, ready to be transported straight back towards the Senatorial Housing.
As the ship lifted itself into the sky, the G-diffusers underneath it pushed it into the air harder than the usual. And with a combination of haste and care, the Arwing made its way towards its target destination, where the confrontation with Ripto awaits.

---

Back at the Senatorial Housing, Ripto ended up making his way in the path that generally leads towards the prisons. Yet, instead of descending a gondolier down to ground level, he took a separate flight of stairs to an entirely different location.
Going through the passageway, his surroundings soon started to change into a dark and grittier one. Looking straight ahead, he saw a chamber right ahead, and right there he saw the glistening of all the glass tubes holding the current Samaritans inside – the chamber of his own captives.
He then looked towards his left hand, and he saw a purple crystal being maintained in his hand. Smirking, he made his walk towards a pedestal in the middle of the room and placed the stone upon it.
   “King of All Cosmos? More like the King of All Captured!”
A purple lightning bolt struck the room, causing several strobe lights to flash. Several visions of the face of the Prime Chancellor were seen, before the flashes stopped and the King was seen being sent inside the glass tube, still without consciousness and only just being able to fit inside.
   “Just to think now. All six Samaritans are secured, and we are almost sure to make our ambush on Ariel to grab Crash”, he sneered as he held onto his sceptre. “That way, the city will totally be under my own command.”
   “You seem to like coming up with a lot of these crazy ideas”, spoke a nearby voice. “Are you sure it’s not all getting into your head or anything?”
The remark caused Ripto to look behind him. There, Etna was seen standing nearby, this time taking the liberty to roll her dress up so that her legs can be seen from the knees down. Twitching his eyes, he made a stern walk towards her.
   “Believe me, Etna”, he informed her with a nod. “This city will be mine for the taking, and with the most threatening force to my plan in jail, there’s nothing that will stop the ceremony.”
   “Ceremony?” she asked, puzzled.
   “You know, when we will rule the city side by side. You will be my secretary, while I will come to the throne as Emperor Ripto!”
He looked straight up towards the ceilings and saw several small blue, pink and purple crystals etched upon it. He was only just able to see his reflection among one of the bigger ones, showing his sinister-looking facial expression.
Cackling quietly to himself, he leered back toward Etna whom gave off a sly grin in return. Then, the prophet made his walk towards her, taking a hold of her hand and leaving them both to walk back the way they came.
   “And once I am crowned, you know what will happen”, Ripto remarked as he looked back at Etna.
   “I don’t, actually”, she replied with a shake of the head. “What kind of genius plan do you have in your head?”
   “It’ll be needed if we need to counter Ariel with the force we have.”
He soon came to a stop in his tracks and looked back at the circular room. All six of his prisoners and an empty capsule were seen. The crystals above them also showed that they could be a part of something bigger.
He then looked to the left and right hand sides of the cavern, where several cave drawings were seen among the walls. One picture showed the contents of the capsules gathering together, all of them filled, glowing with a mysterious aura.
Another one showed Ripto getting charged by the energy, followed by another one making a blast towards a crude drawing of a giant bird, assuming that was Ariel. He gave off a cold-hearted smile at the sketches as he saw them.
   “It’s something that I will merely label as… the final procedure.”
Ripto continued to smile as he held tightly onto his sceptre with two hands. His reflection was seen upon it, with the stone on it being reflected in return in his own eyes. A vicious red aura surrounded him as he continued to stare on it.
As far as he knew, the time was almost nigh. There was no sign of interference to the ceremony, and no way of halting his plans to continue his progress towards Ariel. As far as he was concerned, he was ready to make his mark on the city of Theoropolis.
It may be a dark mark, true, but a personal mark nonetheless.

-end of chapter-