“You haven’t said a word since we left.”
“Humph.”
“You want to talk about it, don’t you?”
“Not sure why you’re asking. You don’t want to hear about it.”
“But you still want to talk about it.”
Yoshi stumbled forward through their spacious and vacant corridor to squint at his sister. He gave her an evil eye and continued his stroll without uttering another sound, looking at the steel like wall to his right. By the end of the corridor, the space cowboy pressed an upside down triangle installed on a reflective doorframe and waited. During his wait, he examined the faint green hues pulsating gently in the light. In a few seconds, the cylindrical elevator opened up and allowed the golden Caseal and her human companion inside.
The door closed. The two turned around. Yoshi hunched forward and grasped the air. He glared at the floor and said, “Look, even if I did want to talk about it, you wouldn’t want to listen to a word of it.”
The hoodie clothed Caseal pressed a numbered button, adjusted the legging of her shorts and smiled pleasantly at her older brother.
“That’s because it’s a private matter and shouldn’t be discussed in public,” she said gently.
Yoshi shifted in his sister’s direction and squeezed at the air in frustration. His eyes told her that he didn’t like the direction this conversation was going, but couldn’t help but continue it anyways.
“So why even bring it up?” he growled.
“Because every time you grumble about something, I always have to hear it,” the Caseal replied, tapping her chest with several fingers at once. “It’s not even an ‘oh, that’s happening’ kind of hearing. It’s a ‘I can’t even shut it off like a normal cast would be able to, so every time he thinks, it’s like I’m thinking too’. Oh no, what if Arethusa is injured or worse, which is a valid concern but still, gosh dang it, why does Kerri keep hitting her ship with a wrench?”
Yoshi whipped a finger out to interrupt her.
“Look, you do not understand how much it irritates me to see that woman do that.”
The Caseal lifted her brows and said that she already knew with her own face.
“Yes, I’m well aware of it,” she droned, saying it out loud anyways.
“I keep telling her, that’s not how you fix a ship. What does she do? She laughs at me and ignores everything I say. All my suggestions, they fly right over her head.”
“I know.”
“How is she even given access to that thing?”
“I know, brother,” the force sister said loudly. She chopped at the air and continued, “That’s because you’re not the only one who illegally modifies their equipment. Granted they’re trivial modifications, but she’s still doing them. Not sure why you would put several forms of restraining devices onto one ship.”
“Does she plan to carry large hulls or something?” asked Yoshi, rubbing his chin with diverted interest.
“Maybe,” Yoshi’s sister replied, looking down in deep thought with him.” Some of them are tailored to carry humans. So I guess she either plans to deploy more people than you’re supposed to carry, or she’s into some sort of insane killing method. Who knows?”
The elevator door opened. Having their conversation interrupted by an electronic jingle, the duo walked into a busy garage with the Caseal taking the lead. From there, they walked by three lanes, up a small ramp, threw a few more lanes, up until they reached her brother’s Jovis II. The spacecraft Yoshi created for his mother. Once the door was unlocked, the two got inside and found their Ranger focused sister already sitting within, eating from a large red and white bag of popcorn.
Yoshi raised his eye brows and slowly took the passenger seat. “Okay,” he carefully said. “I take it you were enjoying a show?”
“I didn’t think Kerri would kill people via entry through atmosphere,” the sitting woman mummbled, stuffing another handful into her mouth. “Popcorn?”
“I’m good,” Yoshi denied, tossing an open palm side to side. He didn’t think Kerri would actually kill people by strapping them onto a ship. So he didn’t think much on it. Putting on his seatbelt Yoshi leaned forward and looked past the ranger. “And the Jovis?”
“Mother lets me drive it around now,” the force responded. “Now that she has us, she doesn’t need to move all over the place anymore. Well okay I lied. I guess she did kind of . . . sort of well . . . bought herself a better . . . vehicle?” the force sister cringed. “Not that there’s anything wrong with this one. It’s just you know . . . not her style.”
“Yeah yeah, I get it,” said Yoshi, leaning back into his seat.
Though he couldn’t deny that he felt kind of hurt about it, the ranger patting his shoulder in response to this, he also understood that not everyone liked the same kinds of things he did. Thinking deeper on it, it reminded him of the times he and Reinhardt would often argue over the usage of rifles and pistols. This was due to the fact that Yoshi prefer pistols and his gunslash over everything else and wanted to carry at least three different kinds on him at all times, while Reinhardt would often tell him to settle with one pistol and a rifle of some kind instead. After the Naberius Experiment though, they never talked about it ever again.
Yoshi shook his head to bring himself back into reality.
“So we’re going to Neona’s place, huh?” he asked, reading his sister’s mind.
“Yeah, you apparently need to discuss something with her, Leanna and Kazamir. May have to do with the Kazamir guy, but I can’t be too sure. The Leanna woman seems to be a bit on edge for some reason, so who knows. All I know is that he gave you a job that you still need to do.”
“Fun,” Yoshi said quietly.
He rested his shoulder against the door frame and peeked out the tinted window.
“Would you stop being so morbid already,” his sister snapped.
“Then stop reading my mind,” Yoshi snapped back.
“I can’t!”
The Jovis II entered into a dark tunnel lit by small orange lights. As they entered, a car merged across several lanes causing the driver to shout at it at the top of her lungs. In the meantime, the ranger started poking at Yoshi’s shoulder.
“Hey hey,” she said in a playful manner. “You’re about to get a call.”
Yoshi cocked a brow and asked, wonder how she could even predict that, “How do you know?”
“Mom told me to keep an eye on your watchers. So far some of them have been tapping into your calls and slowing it down by a few milliseconds. So far it’s being rerouted for some reason, so I guess one of them are using some sort of dated equipment. You want to keep them out of this one?”
“Wouldn’t that just make them mad?” Yoshi asked.
“Maybe,” the ranger smiled.
Yoshi looked out the window for a moment and then back at his sister.
“Sure why not?” he shrugged.
“See, sis? He agrees with my methods.”
“Just try not to do anything stupid.”
“I won’t.”
Right on cue, a speaker appeared on Yoshi’s glasses and played a jingle. Yoshi answered it. Appearing on his left lens, the face of Yvonna appeared soon after taking off her helmet. She seemed to be standing inside the campship at the moment, off to the side. In the background, Yoshi could see Stamato staring out the window and Arron practicing his drawing stance.
“Finally,” he heard her say.
“Hey,” Yoshi greeted, subconsciously waving at her even though she couldn’t see it.
“Sorry about earlier, I just—”
“Don’t worry about,” Yvonna interrupted.
“How’s the mission going?”
“We’re still approaching the planet— Hey, when was the last time you saw Ms. Shiomi?” The black hair newmen woman asked, crossing her arms and shifting her weight to the left.
Yoshi scratched the side of his head and looked upwards.
“Last I saw her was on the Melchior. Why?”
“Alright, just wanted to make sure. She told me she was going to be there for a while and I wanted to check with you to see if that was true. You know, just to be sure.”
“Right, well she didn’t tell me anything after I left, but I’ll asked her about it later.”
“Great. Well, we got a mission to do, so I’ll have to go. You better stay out of trouble, Bitol.”
“I will,” said Yoshi reluctantly.
“He will,” one of his sisters added.
“Bye.”
“Sayonara.”
Yvonna’s face disappeared, leaving the lens clear and free of objects once more. No longer distracted by the newmen’s face, the gaps in the tunnels, an over pass and a few street lights to ride under, Yoshi would glance up to notice the approaching garage entrance they planned to park in. It was filled of vehicles and taken up parking spaces. He didn’t know why this place was full, so he pondered if everyone was off that day. It became a thought soon broken as soon as he noticed his sister’s stiff postures in the car. Normally when he looks for a parking spot, his body would twist and swivel around to get a better look at everything around him. For these caseals however, they never twisted around at all, nor did they turn a check. For the rest of the way, it was as if the driver knew perfectly well where an empty parking space was in the tower.
“Don’t worry,” whispered the ranger. “There’s nothing wrong with you. It’s just a CAST thing.”
“Ah no,” Yoshi panicked, thinking he had offended his sister in some way. “I just found it interesting was all. Mom has never done that before so . . . yeah.”
The force sister shut off the car.
“That’s because mother tries hard to act human, so she tends to respond everything in a humanly way too. She even asks questions she already knows the answers to sometimes.”
“I see,” said Yoshi, leaving the car. “Are you coming with us?”
The ranger lowered her bag of freshly refilled popcorn and politely responded, “No, I’ll be staying here to stand watch while you two are away. I won’t be missing anything anyways, so don’t worry,” she finished, tapping the side of her head.
“Well, I’ll see you in a bit then,” waved Yoshi.
“Bye bye,” the caseal waved back.
Yoshi closed the passenger door. His brown eyes shifted onto his sister and nodded, letting her know that he was ready to go. So they went. Through the parking lot full of white noise and the occasional honking car, into a more elegant looking elevator, since this was an exclusively used ARKs building. In the way to Neona’s room, Yoshi missed what floor she was on because he focused more on the city underneath him and not at the red numbers embedded near the ceiling. After a metal ping rang in the room, the two stepped into a white walled hallway divided by a diagonal black line on every panel. He watched his foot step onto the black carpet to make sure he didn’t trip on the way in.
“Did Neona move or something?” Yoshi asked as he scratched the back of his head.
“There was some unexpected trouble that destroyed her old home. As the reports will tell you, no one was injured, but in truth Neona ended up killing ten of the men who’ve invaded her home.”
“Dimitri’s men?” Yoshi immediately asked, with a face of concern.
“No, definitely not Dimitri’s. Our blade sister has been working on it and believes they were assassins hired by the Durene family. However, it could have been the Borchards as well, but I wouldn’t know. It’s just a feeling since I know next to nothing about how a Melchior family runs.”
“That sucks for the guys hired. Neona is a pretty deadly Force. They should know better than to attack a member of ARKs too. I’ll ask Carol— the new leader of my old group— if she knows anything.”
“I remember Carol. Also, you’re receiving another call.”
Yoshi’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh? Know who it is?”
“A Lyn Borchard it seems.”
“Can I choose not to answer then?”
“That would be rude.”
Yoshi took in a deep breath and sighed. A speaker icon appeared. He answered. Appearing on his lens was now the silver haired Lyn with bright eyes and an even brighter background behind her.
“Hey, Yoshi,” said the monotonous woman.
“Hey, Lyn,” replied a stoic sounding Yoshi. “How are you?”
“Very good, thank you. And yourself?”
The cowboy glanced to his left for a moment. His sister shook her head no.
“Just taking stroll with my sister,” he replied.
“Your sister you say? You never told me you had a sister.”
Yoshi was tempted to cover his face with a hand, but resisted.
“It’s a long story— anyways, did you need anything?”
“Are you doing anything today? I was hoping we could hang out or do something later today.”
Yoshi tilted his head and grinded barely visible teeth together. He puffed up his cheeks and blew air out of his mouth.
“I can’t make any promises, but I’ll see what I can do.”
“What are you doing now?”
“I have a family meeting to attend to. It’s kind of important, so I can’t miss it.”
“Oh? What is it for?”
“Won’t know till I get there,” Yoshi lightly chuckled. “But if I still have time by the end of it, I’ll let you know, okay?”
“Okay. Well . . . I guess I will talk to you then?”
“Sure thing. Until then, talk to you later.”
“Bye, Yoshi.”
Lyn’s face vanished into a thin white line and into nothing. Now free of her call, Yoshi took in another breath and deeply exhaled.
“You could have said no, you know,” said his sister.
Yoshi look down at the floor.
“Yeah, you’re right. I could have said no. It just didn’t come to mind for some reason.”
Since Yoshi wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, a golden arm shot out in front of him.
“We’re here,” said the force sister. “So it would be best if you stopped with the depressing thoughts already.”
Yoshi raised his hand in surrender. “Alright, alright,” he said before ringing the doorbell. Just as Yoshi had, his sister stood in front of him and said to the door,
“I am the key of a different kind, who goes to a lock not of this door.”
Yoshi squinted and threw up his arms in an expressive what. Before his sister could turn and answer his question, Leanna opened the door and let them inside. Following the caseal inside, Yoshi was quickly tugged aside into a great big hug. The kind he would never expect Leanna to give him. Trapped in her warm embrace, she rocked him side to side and kissed him on the forehead. “Oh, my poor baby,” she said to him. In the corner of his eye, Yoshi could see Neona move off to tend to something else while Kazamir rolled his eyes with a shake of his head. In the depths of his mind, he could hear the groaning the dewmen was uttering in the distance.
Much like his place, it was also vacant and void of any personal touch. It had the same gray checkered floor, plain grey walls and a large oval window that gave him a very good view of the just as empty balcony. Unlike Yoshi’s room however, Neona’s room had sofas and two tables placed inside of it. It told the human how different the two of them were and unlike the smaller green newman girl, Yoshi would have been fine leaving his room as the soulless box it came as. Since it was how he grew up. With nothing but the bed he was given and whatever small amount of personal space that came with it. The only reason his room would show any signs of decoration today would be because of Yvonna; her being allowed to set something down now.
“Alright, he is here now, Leanna,” said Kazamir, who was finally fed up with the woman’s display of affection. “Let us get this over with already.”
The tall newearal of green hair stopped hugging Yoshi and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“You need to lighten up for a bit. It not every day I get to see him you know.”
“Bitol,” commanded Neona, so she could grab his attention. “You are aware of Kazamir’s request, are you not?”
“I am,” Yoshi replied, his awkward smile fading into a frown. “What about it?”
Neona stood up and walked around the table. “Consider it your most important objective now. You are to leave immediately,” she demanded, walking to the human.
Yoshi glanced at Kazamir and leered, asking, “Did Kazamir have something to do with this?”
“Hey, do not get mad at me,” Kazamir smiled. “I was invited here in the same manner you were; in the dark and just as confused. That said I am glad that they see the real importance of all of this.” His smiled grew wider, slyer in appearance. “I promise you,” he continued. “You won’t be disappointed.”
Neona drew close to Yoshi. Almost too close for comfort. She tugged at his shirt so that he would bend down towards her, so that when his ear reached her mouth, she could whisper,
“She won’t be around for much longer. You have to go now. She knows where Arethusa is.”
Yoshi tried to stand up straight in in light of this glorious and uplifting news, but Neona tugged hard enough to keep him down.
“Don’t react,” she continued. “Kazamir is still part of ARKs and will be obligated to hunt her down, since she is a clone. If Kazamir finds out that you are searching for her, it will ruin your chances of ever finding out. Do you understand?”
Yoshi bit down hard. He could feel his chest beating hard in his chest and and his breathing shake. Knowing that Arethusa is still alive, his nose puffed out air as he tried to calm himself down. He stood upright more casually this time. He nodded and said without thinking,
“Right, I’ll make sure I’ll find her right away. No darker clone will escape me.”
“Great,” cheered Kazamir. “Let us get this show on the road then.” As he walked by Yoshi, he smacked the cowboy’s shoulder with the back of his hand and softly said with a wink, “I’ll drive.”
“Stay safe, Bitol,” called out Leanna.
“I will,” Yoshi said back.
The front door closed shut; leaving only the gold caseal, Leanna and her granddaughter, Neona, inside.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” commented Leanna. “Do you think he will be alright?”
“For a little while,” Neona responded. “But you should go, and make sure to bring Kerri with you. When she sees Kazamir, whatever you do, do not stop her not matter what, okay? Bitol will be fine. Trust me. I will fill you in on the rest on your way there.”
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