December 30, 2020

Kakatria, Geumsa

August Suga, once more in dragon form, is zig-zag flying through the trees that surround his palace in Busantia, while Jimin and Sunshine stroll along a pathway. Jimin is still tossing glances at the monkey-man to his side.

"The border is just ahead," August Suga calls out. "Bad memories. August Suga has bad memories of Kakatria. Lots of trickery and evil."

They near the border, where the healthy, thick and lush forest ends abruptly into a bare patch of land that looks like it was once ravaged by a deadly fire and never recovered. Animal bones are scattered about, adding to the eeriness.

August Suga swoops up and then down, landing with a heavy thud on the ashy ground. Sunshine darts behind Jimin with a panicked expression on his face. The dragon morphs back to human form and reaches his hand out, crossing the border.

A few sparks fly from his hand, which he jerks back in pain. "Just as August Suga thought. This place is still hazardous. Once August Suga ventures in, he will not have access to his powers."

"So...?"

"There will be no flying over this land for August Suga. The sky is part of the land. Therefore, August Suga will be weakened either way. Not good." 

Jimin watches as August Suga looks over his hand, where there is a nice red scar that has seared through his skin. He then blows a circle of cool smoke at it. Instantly the scar heals and his hand returns to normal.

"That is the last of August Suga's powers for now..." he remarks sadly. "But at least he has protected himself from more burns." With a sigh, he steps forward into the barren land, his beautiful silvery-purple hair turning dark red in color like his dragon color and the flower crown turning into a crown of thorns.

August Suga turns back to them. "'You coming with August Suga, or staying?"

Jimin shakes his head and stomps across the border. He is followed by the hesitant monkey-man, Sunshine. It is at that moment that Jimin realizes something. Sunshine is mute or silent, the monkey-man hasn't or can't speak or make any noises. Why?

August Suga looks around him with a worried and cautious expression on his face. He lifts his head up and takes an inhale of the air. "Keep your eyes open for bandits and thieves. They lurk everywhere. When August Suga says Kakatria is dangerous, he means it. Now, come on and keep close."

Jimin follows August Suga through the barren land and away from the lush forest of Busantia.

Before long, they come to an ominous bridge that leads across a fire swamp. August Suga pauses, unable to go across and looks to Sunshine, who scampers over to him. The monkey-man looks at him with concern and August Suga nods at him. "This is the place...yes, yes. It is okay, nam-dong-saeng."

Jimin cocks his head to one side, spotting a familiar shimmering blue and white microphone floating in the fiery water. He walks up the bridge, unknowingly and stands looking at it below. The water is so filthy, he can't even see his reflection, but he gasps and snaps his head to look at August Suga and Sunshine, who are talking between one another about something important.

"Robin IS here," Jimin calls out, recalling how August Suga had answered his question back in his kingdom's castle. "You told me, I didn't believe it, but he's here." The young hockey player from Earth whips around in his place on the bridge, looking around as though thinking that Robin is around him at this location.

Instead, he is greeted by August Suga's shrill distress cry.

"Let August Suga go!" the dragon-man shouts out. "You have no right to treat the King of Busantia like this!"

Jimin whirls around to find August Suga being held firmly by two masked men. Sunshine is cowering in a cage that is closely guarded by two more masked men. One of them is taunting the monkey-man and jabbing him with some kind of sharp arrow-ended stick much to Jimin's disgust. The masks that the men have on, remind Jimin of the kind that the hacker group Anonymous wears. Creepy and scary.

"The King of Busantia wears flowers about his head like some prissy Disney princess who talks to animals. And he has dragon wings, which you do not have. You are trespassing on King Hoseok's land."

"August Suga doesn't like to be manhandled by two strong, buff men."

Jimin gasps at the name Hoseok and races down the bridge, coming toward the scene. "King Hoseok?"

Two more men in masks charge Jimin, grabbing either of his arms and halting him in his forward progress.

"Wait!" Jimin cries out as the grips tighten on him as he instinctively struggles to jerk himself free. "Wait, I know Hoseok! Kim Hoseok! He's a friend!!"

The men laugh in a mocking tone.

"YOU CAN'T HOLD AUGUST SUGA HOSTAGE LIKE THIS!" August Suga screams, jerking at the grips on his arms.

"Stop struggling," one of the men growls at Jimin.

Jimin kicks back, nailing one of the men in the shin. "You don't know who you're dealing with here! I'm Jimin Packalen, Finland's hottest young hockey goal scorer, full of untapped, unwavering talent. Hockey players fight back."

"They're not going to make it easy, are they?" one of the men snarls.

The one prodding Sunshine pauses and looks up, noticing August Suga, who is still struggling in the grips of his captors. "Hey, that one looks familiar."

"August Suga always looks familiar to you jerks. He is the king of Busantia!"

"No, no, that's not it," the man says. "You were here before, trespassing, but you called yourself something else."

August Suga gasps. "How dare you?! August Suga, King of Busantia, has never known another name!"

The masked man walks up, studying August Suga's face. "Well, the so-called King of Busantia is trespassing on Kakatria lands. That pretty face of yours will look nice trapped in a noose by King Hoseok. Just like that kid that was imprisoned wrongly...he thought he was going to be able to escape Kakatria."

"Idiot."

Soon all the masked men are amused by the statement.

Robin! Jimin thinks, pausing momentarily in his struggle. "Robin! That's Robin! What have you done to him?!"

The man who'd been studying August Suga spins on his heels slowly to look at Jimin. "Why does it matter to you? Last I checked, you weren't a fan or friend of the brunette's." He begins to stalk forward, coming closer and closer toward Jimin. "In fact, you were falling for his girlfriend, set against him, wanting to steal her from him because your greedy ass couldn't handle a 'no.' Huh?"

Jimin gulps and blinks. How does he know...? What is going on?

At the third blink, the man is back before August Suga, having turned around and is staring at him. All he says is, "Why does it matter to you?"

Jimin's mouth falls open, but nothing comes out.

August Suga is staring at him, perplexed.

"Blindfold 'em and bring them all to the prison!" the man finally orders, after Jimin's stunned silence leads to an awkward quiet.

"Do NOT blindfold August Suga!" August Suga demands and jerks at the grips on his arms once more.

The man walks back to Sunshine and his partner. They both pick up the cage which is attached to two long metal bars that make it easier to carry the caged animal-man inside. As they do, the men holding Jimin successfully blindfold him, and based on the infuriated grunts coming from the dragon-man, he's also been successfully blindfolded.

Robin skids to a halt at the dead end of a hallway he'd chosen to go down. He spins around, his heart pounding in his chest as the red-headed man closes in on him. "Dammit! No!" He looks around desperately for an escape, but finds nothing.

"You're an idiot, you know," the red-haired man chuckles and stabs him with a guard stick weapon.

Robin collapses to his knees, finding his body go numb and immobilize. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because trespassing is a serious crime, punishable by death." The red-headed guard steps around the petrified Robin and grabs his arms, wrenching them behind his back. Luckily, Robin can't feel anything. He can only see and hear.

The next thing Robin knows is that his wrists are locked behind his back as the numb feeling subsides and he can feel everything once more.

The guard walks back around him and points his weapon at him. "Get up to your feet, you trespassing bastard."

Robin, swallowing hard and struggling to calm his racing heart once again, does as told and gets up to his feet.

Behind the guard, he can see three blindfolded people being shoved down the hall. He recognizes the clothes of one of them. The other two, one of them is a monkey-man inside of a cage.

A name flashes into his brain and he unknowingly shouts out, "JIMIN!?"

The red-headed guard shoots an eyebrow up and whirls around to look down the hall, narrowly missing seeing the newcomers. When he turns back to Robin, he is smirking evilly and maniacally. "Oh, now the fun can begin."

Robin watches as the guard rounds him and stabs him rudely in the middle of the back with his weapon.

"Walk after them!"

Robin steps forward, his legs feeling sore and shaky, but he manages to get himself down the hallway and turn to follow after the monkey-man, Jimin and the other guy. Whoever the monkey and that guy were...