"I'd hate to see a cultural relic in the hands of such a character, but I don't exactly trust your abilities. I could do it easily, but you..." Noe let the sentence hang, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I feel like someone should be saying 'absolutely not' but it isn't me. I'll be honest, I'm curious to see if you really are as sneaky as you say." Talaos admitted.

"Don't forget, I managed to sneak up on you, Leitus and the captain back on Earth." I responded, an eyebrow raised.

"We were being careless. We didn't expect trouble on Eastilas, let alone... of your degree." Talaos gestured to me with a wave of his hand.

"Whatever. Either way, this time, I'll have both knives and be back before the captain comes looking for us." I responded, a daring tone creeping into my voice. If I was going to become the old Kota, I may as well go all the way and have some fun with it.

Noe scoffed, "she said to regroup an hour before sunset. That's now. She could be here any minute."

"And I'll be back here before she is." I emphasised.

The corner of Noe's lip creeped up into a smirk, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he responded, "How about this: First to get the knife gets to keep both."

"You're on." I responded with a grin, holding out my hand. Noe's rough brown hand grabbed my scarred pale one, and we shook on the deal.

Talaos rolled his eyes, his usual blank cold expression lifting slightly as he added, "And if you're both pathetic then I get to keep the knives and use them as spare parts."

~

The hot air whipped gently through my brown hair, and yellow bandana, as I sprinted forward, out of the cover of one shadow and into the next. The burly man looked left and right as he walked further away from the market stalls and toward an abandoned storage area. I could see him eyeing the spot, forcing himself to walk casually in that direction. Neither of us could be too obvious; we both knew the other would be stopped if the A.I.M.D noticed, but neither could risk being caught ourselves. Him making his way to a less populated area of the market was trouble for me as I couldn't use the crowd as cover, but I wasn't about to quit now. As the crowd began to thin out, I became all too aware that I hadn't seen Noe in some time. Possibilities ran through my mind; had he fallen behind? Did he take another route to beat the man to his destination? had he suggested this challenge as a way to ditch me and run?

I noticed Talaos, with his dog by his side, looking at the items of a nearby stall, appearing casual. The stalls began to thin out now, with only empty ones remaining, surrounded by stone barrels and boxes of discarded goods.

Once out of view of the other stalls, the man spun around and yelled, "Who's there?! I know you're following me!" I remained hidden in the shadow of an empty stall as he turned in a circle to try to spot me. As he did so, I fell into a crouch and began walking along the stalls until I was now behind him. He continued to yell into the silence, turning wildly as he got no response.

He was much bigger than me and armed; I couldn't risk a fight. So I bit my lip in impatience and waited, completely still. I held back the urge to move, even after my legs began to cramp from my crouched position, and my neck randomly became itchy.

Finally, the result I was looking for arrived. The man seemed to decide that he was either imagining things or whoever had been following him left. He scratched the top of his head, mumbling to himself, before he began making his way back where he came from.

Now! I began fast walking, still in my crouched position, occasionally using my hands for support. I was slowly closing the gap between us, the man now completely unaware of my presence. Just as a satisfied smirk began to creep onto my face, I noticed something in the corner of my eye. A blur that moved toward us in complete silence, approaching fast; a blur of purple and green.

Ah! I quickly realised what was happening and decided to abandon my stealth strategy and make my move. I sprinted forward, instantly alerting the man of my presence. But it was too late. I leapt forward, reaching my hand out to grab the golden knife from the man's belt. But as I did so, my shoulder crashed against Noe's, my hand landing on my plain knife. I snatched it anyway, Noe grabbing the golden knife a second later.

This interaction happened too fast for the man to react until the knives were in our possession. "Hey!" The man yelled, voice booming. Before I could react the man's hand was upon me, grabbing me by the hair and hoisting me up. He was apparently both tall and strong enough to hold me up like that with momentary ease. One hand on my knife and the other on the hand that held me, relieving some of the pain from my head, I swung my leg out, kicking him in the chin.

Stunned, the man dropped me onto the sand. I scrambled up, but didn't even make it to my feet before the man's boot made contact with my stomach. With a loud "oof!" I collapsed, holding my stomach and gasping for air. Before I could think, he struck again, this time on my face.

The buzzing pain that erupted in my head made me react faster this time, rolling away from his next kick. However, in the moment it took me to realise Noe was gone, I failed to dodge his next movement. His large hands grabbed me by the collar of the shirt and held me up, close enough this time that I couldn't kick him.

"No more running you little punk!" The man screamed, spit flying all over my face. As he spoke I stared at his nose, preparing my head to make contact with brutal force. But before I got the satisfaction of doing so, a loud cracking sound echoed in front of me and I fell back into the sand with force, my head snapping back to hit it.

Dizzy for only a second, I looked up to see the man on his hands and knees, desperately trying to grab my leg. "It was him! He stole from me!" The man yelled aggressively as a man in white stood behind him and landed another crack of his whip on his back.

The burly man's back split open in a bloody mess as he collapsed to the floor, groaning in pain. The soldier above him flicked his whipped, which returned into its sword form. His once white A.I.M.D uniform was sprayed with flecks of blood. Seemingly indifferent to the man's pain, the soldier spoke in a calm and authoritve voice, saying, "According to the laws of Azodu, violence is to be punished with such. Speak the truth, or you will be facing the International Court of Azodu."

As I stared in shock at the situation before me, I noticed Noe approaching, just ahead of another two A.I.M.D soldiers. "I-I am! He ambushed me! He took my knife!" The burly man pointed a large finger in my direction. The soldier's gaze swept toward me, propped up on my elbows and back in the sand. His red eyes bore into me like a bad omen, and a life behind the bars of a foreign world flashed before me.

I shook my head quickly. "It's my knife. I was just stealing it back." I held up my knife, still in its worn grey sheath. Our eyes locked for a few excruciating seconds before his swept back to the man on the floor.

"You are under arrest on the basis of multiple reported thefts," the soldier began as the two that had been approaching began lifting the man onto his knees to chain his hands behind his back. The original soldier continued speaking. "For exuding a one-sided display of violence, and for providing false information to a member of Azodu's International Military of Defence. You will now face the judge."

I remained in my position, too stunned to move. The fear of being caught increased within me now. I wonder if these people recognised an Earth accent? Did Earth people have unique accents? I think they did...

As my thoughts spiralled, the original soldier approached, his dark braids visible from under his cowl as he approached. Every line on his face that was visible through his mask was sharp, a frown seemingly etched onto his face. I remained frozen until a long moment after he extended his hand down to me.

I wonder if Earth people's skin felt different? What if we smell different? Will he question me? Will I slip up and expose myself? But after a few seconds had passed, I needed to give in and grabbed his gloved hand, allowing him to assist me to my feet. His eyes seemed to scan me until they landed on my face, but didn't quite make eye contact. He then reached into his cloak and pulled out a white cloth. I wondered for a moment what it was for until I became aware of the taste of metal in my mouth.

"Th-thanks." I mumbled as I dabbed the cloth on my mouth and nose, staining it red. As the soldier walked away to help his comrades escort the burly man away, I let out a breath I hadn't realised I was holding.

Noe approached in a fast walk, slapping me on the back. "I thought you said you were sneaky."

I glared at him with the side of my eye as I noticed Talaos and his dog approaching. "You could've helped me, you know." I grumbled as I continued to wipe the blood off my face. My lip was sore, and my nose was still dripping.

"As soon as the fight broke out, the A.I.M.D were going to noice. If I'd helped you it would heighten the chance of that whip being in our backs too. With you being overpowered so obviously you became the victim and him the aggressor." Noe stated. I sighed, itching my back subconsciously with my free hand, imagining the intricate blades of the whip piercing my flesh. Perhaps it was better that Noe fetched the A.I.M.D like he did.

"Well anyway. Nice effort, but there's a clear winner." Noe said, letting the golden knife swing in front of me, its loop around his fingers.

"Actually," I began, smirking, "you said, and I quote 'first to get the knife gets to keep them both'."

Noe raised an eyebrow slowly, half in question half in unwilling realisation. "And I have the knife. So hand it over." He held out his hand for my knife but I didnt relent.

"You didn't say which knife. And I got one first." I responded. Noe seemed to weigh my words for a long moment as he wrinkled his nose in mock disgust.

"You really are sly." He said, before handing me the golden knife. I was a bit surprised he had accepted the flaw in his wording.

Just as I had this thought Talaos reached us, interrupting. "You two were pathetic so technically I should get it. But right now you have around one minute before the others reach our meeting spot and wonder if you've all died somewhere."

With that, the three of us hurried toward the agreed meeting spot, just moments after the last group joined.

"Alright," the captain started, eyes scanning the crowd. "If we can all give an update on what you achieved -" she paused, staring at me. I tucked my lips in to hide the split that I knew was there, only to feel a dribble of blood run down from my nose. "I will ask you how you managed that another time." She waved in my direction before resuming what she was saying. "Anyway, can I get an update from each group on the results of your task?"

I wondered back to the conversations I heard from the stall workers and customers alike. Nothing screamed useful information. My hand touched the two knives on my belt. I was still happy to call this day a success.

-Interdimensional Pirates
-April Bluebird/@BlueWhiskers1
-14/Nov/2025
-Chapter 19: Arrest
-2124 words
-1.13K 👁‍🗨, 250 🌟, 331 💭