The Party

Day 28th.

Distance to Target: 1800 km.

Morale: Average.

In this barren brown wasteland of dirt and rubble, the only audible sound is that of the occasional wind blowing dirt into the air. The brown particles looked like dirty fireworks in the air, providing, oddly, the only color to this otherwise bland landscape. But at the same time, it made the air feel thicker and a little harder to breathe. And once those particles get caught in the throat, unless a source of water is readily available, the body will undergo only the worst reaction to expel them from the lungs.

This lesson was etched into the very bones of the party, but one member still finds himself at the mercy of the dirt-filled air. A loud cough, loud enough to be heard from a 5 km radius, echoed through the quiet wasteland as he tried to expel the dirt out of his lungs. His hands clutched his throat in a strangling fashion and he tried to pump the sediments out. Finally, he hawked out a huge lump of dirt to the side and let out a sigh of relief. “Ah, I’m dying here!” he complained.

“Did you even cover your mouth?” asked one of his companions.

“Of course I did! But it was getting hard to breathe, so I thought about getting some fresh air,” replied the young man.

“What makes you think that the air here is fresh?” responded the same companion with her eyebrow raised.

“Can’t we just rest here for tonight?” whined the young man.

“Alright,” agreed the party’s leader. “We’ll rest here for the night.”

The party chose an area with a large slab of rock to use as protection from the sun and wind. Once they settled, each member let out a sigh of much-needed relief. Three whole hours on foot with only short intermittent pauses that don’t even qualify as rests took a toll on their hardened legs and ever-increasing fragile minds. But even with this much-needed moment of comfort, the party will not let it stop them from their goal. Once the next morning comes, they will continue on with their journey.

Their journey?—to reach Laplace. Laplace was the instigator that turned the world into what it is now: a planet nearing its expiration date too soon. Ecological destruction?—Laplace engineered it. Civilization’s collapse?—Laplace organized it. Humanity’s fate?—Laplace controlled it. There is no escape from Laplace….

Though all may’ve seemed lost, this group of five, people with no connections to each other and couldn’t have lived way more different lives than one another, came together with one common goal: to reach Laplace and destroy it. Each member of this party of misfits had their lives ruined one way or another by Laplace and they aim to wreak their vengeance on it.

The first member of this party is Captain, the leader of the troupe. Originally the captain of his high-school baseball team just months ago, with a bright future ahead of him, his life was quickly turned upside-down by Laplace. Now, he acts as the captain of this group of vengeance seekers. He is a tall youthful young man with a toned body, as expected of his athletic background, and thick eyebrows that, unless he expresses his eyes in a different way, always gave him the appearance of a frown regardless of the movements of his other facial features. His greatest abilities are his strategic mind, honed through years of playing sports, and above-average athleticism. He carries with him a bamboo baseball bat from his baseball-playing days.

The second member of this party is Suzuran, the troupe’s resident healer and support. She is a petite girl with voluminous blue hair that falls down to her knees and beautiful fairy-like fair skin. Like the other members of the party, she possesses many unusual quirks. But the most obvious is her speech; she cannot communicate to others normally and greatly relies on gestures to relay her messages. But if she does speak, it is done using a vocabulary of plants. She possesses amazing cooking and tailoring skills, allowing her to act as the group’s main source of support. She is also highly knowledgeable about botany and herbology, which gives her some skills to act as an apothecary and healer. She normally carries on her back a backpack filled with seeds, herbs, first-aid equipment, and cookware.

The third member of this party is Fender, who usually acts as the troupe’s scout and bait. He is a twenty-something young man with long black hair with multicolor high-lights, a long face that was almost Dracula-like, and an average build. Prior to becoming a member of this party, he was the lead singer of a visual-kei band. Now, he is the troupe’s unashamedly cowardly and perverted scout, whose only greatest abilities are his expert guitar playing and a knack for drawing out their enemies. His greatest goal, however, is not to take revenge on Laplace, though he still has some “things to settle with it”, but to make love one last time before dying. He carries with him his treasured black and purple Fender electric guitar.

The fourth member of this party is Jian, the troupe’s main muscle. For a muscle, he is not exactly big and buff, but rather thin yet still very muscular. He is a young man of about the same age as Fender and wears traditional Chinese clothing. He is known for his silent and mysterious nature, his tendency to disappear and reappear with notice, and for being a man of few words. But despite all of this, he is still very reliable and always helps the team out of any trouble they find themselves in. His expertise in martial arts is unmatched and his abilities are almost superhuman. His most notable feature is the scar above the bridge of his nose.

The last member of this five-member party is Data, the troupe’s brains and the most recent member to join. She is a young woman of about twenty-six, give-or-take a few years, with short fiery blond hair and a pair of thin-framed glasses. She also sports a white jacket, which she rarely takes off. She is knowledgeable in almost any field imaginable, though her expertise lies in the sciences. Her scientific knowledge has helped the team many times ever since her addition to the team a month ago. Her intuition and innovative genius is on a whole other level. But if there is any drawback to her person, it is her cunning, which still causes the other members to be wary of her true intentions despite the time they have spent together till now.

As the sun set, the party members relaxed as much as they could while Suzuran prepared for them this evening’s meal. Fender strummed his guitar while humming to himself; Jian had his legs crossed and his eyes closed in meditation; Data was massaging her shoulders. Meanwhile, Captain patrolled the area twice before returning back just in time for dinner. The moon was high in the sky by now and the winds died down.

“Wahhhh! How long has it been since we last had a warm dinner like this?!” exclaimed Fender with his mouth full of food.

“Refrain from speaking with your mouth full, could you?” grumbled Data. “I don’t need your viruses to contaminate my food.”

“Geez, you’re so uncute sometimes, you know,” argued back Fender. “If you keep acting like this, no man would want you as a wi—.”

Data had enough of Fender’s comment and struck him in the solar plexus with her elbow. Fender dropped his bowl and fell to his knees and bowled over. “That’s…unfair…,” he groaned.

“Divine punishment,” commented Jian.

“The peanut…gallery…can shut up,” groaned Fender.

The rest of the party laughed at the unfortunate, yet comedic, moment at Fender’s expense, though he’s used to it by now. This moment of lighthearted reprieve was just what the party needed to really relax. If only it can last forever…. But the party knew that it was too good to be true. And just as they expected, they were found out by their enemies in no time.

The sound of bullets flying through the air in their direction forced the party to take cover behind the slab of bricks. “Fender, peek out and see how many we’re dealing with,” ordered Captain.

“M-Me?!” asked Fender in surprise. He sighed and did as he was told. With one quick peek, he could tell that they were facing seven enemies. “Seven,” he reported back.

“Alright everyone, break time’s over,” said Captain. His party nodded their heads in reply and understood what it is they had to do next. The rain of bullets paused. Using this moment to their advantage, Captain gave the order and everyone jumped out to face their enemies. “Play ball!”