Chapter 4.3 – The Encounter

We’ve been walking for hours.

The blazing hot sun, the heat in the air, and my incoherent companion are not good for my ghostly physique. I’m starting to dislike Oasis Springs. I could have stayed at the hideout to update my blog that is almost about to reach 2,000 followers, but no, Doc said that I have to go and accompany the new guy since we’re the only ones who can investigate during daylight. I also have to miss the store release of Knights versus Vampires 2: Revengeance today just for this job. Looks like I’ll just have to get my copy online.

Why did Doc want this woman again? I think it was because she’s an important catalyst for some experiment thingy that the Doc wants to try out. He told me that it’ll help him recover a part of himself.

Whatever.

The heat is starting to get into my head as it makes me red with anger.

“Are you sure this is where it is?” I ask Park, hoping he can understand what I said. Can’t really rely much on someone who can barely speak Simlish.

“Yes, very sure. Antonio is very genius for information, so find it here.” the Koguryeon speaks in his weird accent, which kinda irritates me. Actually, whenever he speaks in his broken Simlish, I always find it irritating.

“Looks like some run down trailer, like any other trailer around here. In the middle of nowhere. In the desert. Under the blazing hot sun.” I vent out a bit, but I suddenly sense something from inside and space out for a bit.

I look around and see a familiar plumbing van parked by the curb. There’s no mistaking this feeling.

“Presto, why quiet?”

“Someone from the Guild is inside, recruit. Take cover behind the trailer. Now!” I tell him as I felt the adrenaline rush throughout my very form. Park hides himself behind a dry shrub next to the trailer.

Then, two Guild members come out of the trailer home, with a large plumber carrying our primary objective. Upon seeing the woman being carried on the brute’s back, I go into save-the-damsel-in-distress mode without realizing it.

“UNHAND HER KNAVE!” I challenge the Guild thugs, hoping that I can take on them all. Two of them are carrying a heavy-looking chest, and they almost drop it after I shouted.

“Forget ghost boy! Just get back to the hideout! I’ll take care o’ this one.” the last person exits the trailer as the three thugs quickly run to the plumbing van with the woman and the chest.

It’s him again.

I didn’t expect to see the Pastor here, but it looks like I can finally get my revenge for what he did on that night. I hover my right hand near Chickenbane’s handle, ready to unsheathe it anytime.

“Well looky here!” the Pastor who smells like lavender perfume says with a smug grin. “I think I already beat ya to the girl.” he says as I hear the van drive off. Damn. The Doc will get mad at me for sure and not at Park. Why did he have to hire someone who doesn’t even know how to fight?

“I won’t let you pass, ruffian.” I tell the Pastor as I go into knight mode. Whenever I go into knight mode, I feel braver, stronger, and more confident enough to face a chicken head-on. The Pastor is no chicken, but I want revenge for being defeated in the previous battle. I didn’t even get to use the binding thingy the Doc told me to do.

“I beat ya before, and I can do it again.” the Pastor cracks his knuckles as he raises both fists.

“It’ll be different this time. Prepare yourself.”

“Prepare myself for what? Another failed attempt to bind me or something?”

The Pastor laughs while I try to be careful before making the first move.

“I’m stronger now. You won’t be able to beat me.”

He pauses for a moment as I unsheathe my spectral sword.

“Ghost boy.”

“No one calls me ghost boy, knave!” I shout back as I swing the spectral sword sideways. The Pastor dodges my swing and manages to kick me in the chest. I can’t phase through things when I need to attack corporeal beings, which explains why he is able to hit me back with such force.

As I try to regain my balance, I notice the medallion giving off a dark, eerie glow. The Pastor closes in and lunges with a straight punch, but I breathe deeply to phase through the attack. The Pastor’s eyes widen as I counter by hitting him in the gut with Chickenbane’s pommel.

The Pastor stumbles backwards a bit but does not fall down. He curses momentarily and resumes his perfect fighting stance before charging back swiftly with a backhand slap aimed at my helmet. It manages to hit me hard, and I lose my grip on Chickenbane as it drops to the ground.

I was about to curse loudly but I get hit again with a roundhouse kick, knocking me back a few paces. He’s strong, but I’ve taken more punishment from sparring sessions with the Doc. When I say sparring sessions, I just stand in place as he punches me senselessly like a training dummy.

Remembering my experience as the Doc’s most reliable dummy, I recover and endure the Pastor’s next attack by parrying the grab move that he attempted. I kick the Pastor in the chest, and he stumbles backwards a few steps as I summon Chickenbane back to my right hand like a magnet, or like what those Jade Knights do in the popular space opera called Space Quarrels.

The Pastor curses as he sees me approaching him with Chickenbane. I feel so much like a Jade Knight right now.

“Dang it. I need more power!” the Pastor shouts as if he was beckoning someone or something for aid and raises both hands in the air. The medallion starts to give off a stronger aura, which gave me an idea.

He’s wide open.

I raise Chickenbane with both hands and thrust it towards the medallion, and it causes some kind of reaction as it stuns the Pastor and stops whatever he was going to do. It always works that way in fights with video game bosses, so I figured that I might do the same thing.

I look at the stunned Pastor with confidence. “I was so close, dang it!” he shakes his head as I notice that Park has come out of hiding. Was he just watching the fight this whole time? He should probably have a better impression of me now.

“Looks like I foiled your attack, Pastor.” I tell the Pastor as the medallion stops glowing.

“This ain’t over, ghost boy!” the Pastor shouts back. “You may have won the battle, but you have not yet won the war. Besides, I’ve already kidnapped Ms. Vivas and bought my boys a lot o’ time!” he turns about and runs towards a plumbing van of a different color that just pulled up the curb. Park tries to block the fleeing Pastor but gets pushed aside easily. The van’s sliding door opens as the Pastor jumps in. I look at the van drive off and realize that I’ve failed again.

I should’ve stopped him at that moment, but my ghostly cramps were acting up again, preventing me from moving much. I need to tell the Doc what happened. Park gets up and comes over to where I was standing.

“That was very amaze, Presto!” he congratulates me with his irritating accent. “Doctor say you not good at fighting, but I see you with my own naked eye when fighting!”

“It was still a failure, Park.” I tell the Koguryeon. “We let the Pastor get away again, we don’t have the girl, and the Doc is going to fire a rocket of profanities up my ghostly arse.” I continue, fearing what the Doctor will do this time to punish me.

Then Park grinned.

“I pick this up. Pastor dropped it.” the recruit shows me a 2012 Keitaitel brand smartphone with white casing.

“Well I’ll be bloody damned. You snatched that phone right off his pocket!” I say while feeling genuinely amazed that he was able to pilfer the phone. “We can just hack the data back at HQ and get some leads as to where their hideout is and–.” Before I even finish the sentence, Park manages to break the slide password.

“How did you–”

“Much simple, Presto. Pastor have weak pass code.” the Koguryeon tells me with a smile.

We access the phone and see the wallpaper: a group picture of the Pastor and his church members, all smiling in front of a community hall. There’s a big difference, however. Many of the Guild thugs I’ve seen have dark circles around their eyes, emotionless faces, and pale skin. And these young men and women in the photo look so bright and peppy.

Before I can even comment on it, Park presses the photo album icon.

The Doctor is going to be pleased with what we found.