As the morning sun's bright light rested on his eyes, Slaine's hair was glowing bright and he opened his worn out, ugly-blue eyes. He got up slowly and looked around. He was inside a small room, on a small bed. There was a table in the centre of the room and a small cupboard. He quickly got up and groaned in pain.

"Argh!" He looked at his arm which was wounded from last night. Perhaps he fainted? But his wound was properly treated now, covered with a bandage. He heard the door slam and turned over his shoulder to see who it was. "You're awake." Asselyum entered the room.

"Sadly, I am awake, therefore, I shall converse,"

"Yo! You up, bro?" Jimmy looked at him from the door.
Slaine was about to say something when Lupin entered his room with Axel. Lupin's eyes looked slightly red and his pupils were dilated. He was frail, skinny and unhealthy. A little shorter than the average.

"Hi, Lupin." He waved at him and Lupin simply nodded.
"You must be good with computers?" Jimmy asked. Lupin rubbed his nose and nodded.

"You know, I've noticed it before but why does he keep rubbing his nose again and again?"
"Cocaine users touch or rub their noses frequently in response to the harsh substance they are inhaling through their nose."
"Don't you think we should help him by not giving him the drug?"

"That's not possible-- At this point, if he doesn't take drugs, he'll die."

Slaine didn't say a word.
"Why do you think addicts can't 'just stop'? Let me tell you why-- Long-term drug use results in significant changes in brain function that persist long after the individual stops using drugs." Axel educated him.

"But...He is so young," Slaine said.
"Mate, you're way too bothered about other people's business," Axel said.

Lupin entered the room with Asselyum's laptop and six to seven cables in his hand. He gestured, asking Asselyum to sit down.
"Here?" Asselyum asked as she pointed at a chair. Lupin nodded. Asselyum sat on the chair and removed her shirt."What in the-" Slaine shouted.

"Don't worry, I'm wearing a sports bra. What are you so embarrassed about? Jeez, are you getting turned on?" Asselyum asked.

Jimmy coughed as he covered his laugh.

"How are you so comfortable removing your shirt in front of two guys and two blondes?" Slaine asked.

"Blondes aren't guys anymore?" Asselyum asked.

"It's called being a simp," Axel said.

"We're working for a simp robot? I've suddenly got so much to flex! I didn't know there were simps in future too!" Jimmy smiled.
"Duh!" Axel and Slaine rolled their eyes.

"Should I activate the external protocol?" Asselyum asked him. Lupin looked at his laptop screen and nodded. He then handed the plug to Asselyum; whose other end was connected to his laptop. She activated her external protocol through her inbuilt computer and several sockets appeared on her back. She pulled her hair up and inserted the plugin into a socket on the back of her neck. As soon as she inserted the plug, the laptop screen was filled with numbers.

"A binary code? Wait- A quaternary one?" Slaine said looking at the screen. Lupin rubbed his nose and brought his hands near the computer. He immediately started typing various programs between the codes. Different dialogue boxes appeared one after the other. Slaine just stared at the screen for some time.

"Systems refreshed," Asselyum said. Suddenly, Asseyum got up and took out a gun from her boots. She pointed it towards Slaine "Protocol password for reserved weaponry."
"What the hell again?" Slaine said.
"Password correct-- Access granted." Lupin again wrote something on the computer in that quaternary computer language.

"Shoot on three, two--" There was a loud beep "Command cancelled," She said. Lupin wrote something on the computer again and Asselyum asked: "Are you sure you want to exit?"

Lupin pressed the enter key-- The plugin popped out of Asselyum's socket and fell on the ground. She was back to her senses again. "That," Slaine grabbed Lupin's hands "That was frikkin awesome!"

"Now, get ready everyone. We're leaving for the airport." Asselyum informed them. Soon they were on the plane. Lupin sat with Asselyum, Axel and Jimmy sat together while Slaine sat with a grandma with his skateboard in his hand. She was constantly staring at him.

He decided to sleep but she just had to disturb him.
"My neighbour's son has that board too." She touched his board.
"That's nice." He moved his skateboard away.
"He broke his jaw last week while trying to jump up."
"An ollie."

"He just started skateboarding. Some older boys gave that to him in a skatepark. These boys are such a burden to this society-Destroying public property and rebelling-"
"Okay boomer. Can I sleep now?"
"You're so rude!"

"You're the one who is disturbing me by being a crusty-ass, cranky woman." He looked outside the window as she spoke in the background. He pressed his head on the glass and closed his eyes. After two hours, he woke up. They were back in New York. He stretched his hands.

They walked out of the airport and Asselyum told them that Mr James would send a taxi for them.
"Who is Mr James?" Axel asked.
"The owner of the bar in the basement we have been staying." Jimmy told him, "He also gave me a mountain bike, he's such a nice old fella!"

"You guys go ahead. I feel like skating for a while." Slaine threw his board on the ground and skated down the street. Asselyum stared at him as he disappeared from their sight. Slaine knew every street by heart. He landed some tricks here and there on the bench and the railings. Some people shouted and ran after him but he decided to ignore them. Skate haters were everywhere and either way, his destination was a nearby skatepark.

While he was skating, an old man threw water at him and he fell to the ground.

"You bastard!" He shouted as Slaine got up and picked up his board. It was refreshing as he had become pretty hot skateboarding to the city all the way from the airport but he needed to look over his ball bearings now that they were wet.

The man chased him away so Slaine decided to take a shortcut. He went down some worn-out streets, which had no proper drainage. But at least nobody was bothering him there. Just another turn and he would reach the Eastern NYC skate park. Suddenly, he was stopped by some guy. He too was on a skateboard. Slaine moved back but there was a tall boy behind him too. About twenty perhaps. Soon, he was surrounded by a bunch of skateboarders.

He just stared at them until a blonde guy showed up. He had thick bangs and light brown highlights on his hair to match his skateboard. He wore a loose T-Shirt and a pair of knickers. He was chewing bubblegum.

"Hey there, Slaine." He popped the bubble of his gum "Haven't seen you in a while now."
"Riley," Slaine glared at him.
"Oh, he remembers his homies." Riley looked at everyone as they laughed. Slaine looked at them. Riley turned towards him and got down from his skateboard.

"Looking for Josh?" He asked.
"I'm not looking for anyone." Slaine held his board tightly.
"Anyways, he's in jail."

Slaine turned his board aside and decided to leave.

"Ah-ha. Where are you going now? I haven't finished talkin'." Riley blocked his way with his skateboard. Slaine did a kickflip over it and went ahead.

"But I'm done listening." He said. Suddenly, a sturdy guy blocked his way.
"Seems like you've forgotten the rules, loser. You don't walk away before I'm done." Riley smiled.

Slaine turned towards him, "What do you want?"

"We need your help again."

-To be continued

Riley Pelvinson
5500 Rebellion