Yashin & Jiyu's Ultimate Adventure!

The Next Step [9]

Jiyu reunited with Pico and Yashin as the trio met with Linette and Colette to discuss further affairs.

''Wow, So you're the queen now! Should we call you 'your majesty'?'' Jiyu jokingly asked as Colette had a blue version of her mother's crown. ''Haha, Of course not! You guys are guests here!'' Colette laughs off Jiyu's joke as Linette spoke up, curious, ''So, What are you guys going to do now? You've got all the info you can here, so...'' She trailed off as Yashin answered, unsure about what she was saying, ''I think we'll have to go to Kwamslak. Majo says it's the place Itazura is, right? There's gotta be something.'' Pico caught attention to what she said as he was likely the only one noticing the minor setbacks. ''Hold up, You wanna go to the city that's practically run by the big bad villain?! Also... How are we supposed to get there...?'' Pico stopped as Jiyu was about to say, ''We'll fly there with your sh- oh yeah...'' until she remembered how the GalacticArc had been damaged. ''Well then, Colette will be sure to hook you three up with free busship tickets!'' Linette's voice raised in pitch as she looked over to her sister for validation. ''It wouldn't be any trouble to do so. Busship tickets aren't rare to come by.'' Colette smiled and looked over at the trio sweetly. ''Uh... What's a busship?'' Yashin asked quickly as Linette was quick to reply, ''It's a space ship but it acts as a bus!''. Taking people through space without needing to know how to drive a ship yourself!''. The context had been given and answers were received, but there was one more thing that had to be said by none other than Pico, ''How about you two go? I'd like to stay back and try to fix up my ship... Emphasis on try...'', ''Oh, Sure! We can try to find someone in Kwamslak who knows how to fix a spaceship! Then we'll come back with them, you'll both fix the GalacticArc and boom! We can go back together!'' Jiyu's ears perk up as she accepts Pico's want to fix his ship. 

An hour later, they were waving goodbye to their friends in Crystopia, along with Pico who was given a toolbelt to help his mission to fix his ship. Yashin and Jiyu sat together on the busship as it was going incredibly fast yet seemed to calm on the inside. Looking out the window, you could already see the beautiful city of Kwamslak. Tall buildings, greenery almost everywhere, and a bunch of fun looking shops or restaurants, some bars and some vehicle dealers. The excitement was shared between the two as the busship came to a stop. 

The steam-sounding doors opened automatically as huddles of people pushed past to get off the busship. Jiyu grabbed Yashin's hand as they got up as to not be separated in the crowd. Slowly but surely, Yashin and Jiyu navigated out of the crowd and outside the busship station. The streets of Kwamslak were busy but polite. Nobody pushed as much as they did getting off the train and things ran smoothly, including traffic, crime and there was no broken or graffiti'd sign to be seen.

''Wow, for the city where the villain controls... It sure is beautifully perfect.'' Jiyu said, amazed. Yashin skeptically replied while noticing the multitude of colourful people, ''So perfect that it's too good to be true...''. Walking the streets of Kwamslak was as easy as pie, however, the two still stuck close to each other just incase. ''So... where do we go first?'' Jiyu, looking to the floor, asks. ''Well... Probably a library or something, since... Well, we went to the Kwams for old documents so where better for more of them than the official city of Kwamslak?'' Yashin answered as she nudged Jiyu and gave her a quick reassuring smile. ''Okay! Where do we find a library though...?'' Jiyu looked up as Yashin thought for a second, before looking around and spotting a ship dealer with a huge open door. ''Over there! We can ask someone In there for directions to a library!'' Yashin exclaims as Jiyu's ears perk up and her stare follows where Yashin was pointing. ''Oh yeah! Surely a person who sells or buys ships would know where a library is! ...right?'' Jiyu's tail wrapped around her waist again as she was nervous about their situation again. ''Yeah! There has to be someone who can help. We didn't come here for nothing, that's for sure.'' Yashin attempts to reassure Jiyu as she just smiled, nodded and they went on their way to the ship dealer.

The walls were glass and the ceiling was so high, it may as well not have existed. There was a man with grey hair and bear-like ears at the front desk. ''The name's Andi Kerbrone, Welcome to Ship n' Stuff. How may I help you?'' He said in quite a tired tone. ''Hi! We're new to Kwamslak and we were wondering if you could point us in the direction of a library or somewhere public with books?'' Yashin started as Mr Kerbrone stared blankly at them for a second before mentioning a place they could go. ''There's a public library right next to the local college. Best damn education in the whole world. Just find a taxi, ask to go to 'Stacey's College' and it's the white building next to it. Good luck and good day.'' Mr Kerbrone finishes as he looks down at the newspaper he was reading before they entered. ''Awesome! Thank you, Mr Kerbrone!'' Jiyu happily says as she leads her and Yashin outside the ship dealer and to the nearest taxi.

By following Mr Andi Kerbrone's instructions, the duo arrived outside of a large place that definitely looked like a college. ''Woah... So big...'' Jiyu silently said in awe as Yashin giggled to herself for a brief moment at Jiyu's amazement. How could you blame them? They were raised in a large jungle city! It's only natural to be excited about being somewhere new. They were even both like it when they arrived in Crystopia, even if sightseeing was from the shadows.

As the two stood there admiring the new surroundings, their moment was stopped by a small minty-green haired girl bumping into them. ''Gah, I'm so sorry!!! I'm coming back from my science classes at the college and-'' She got cut off by Jiyu as she annoyingly said, ''It's okay! Don't worry about it...'' and Yashin says, ''Are you okay?''. ''Yep! I'm right as rain! But uh, Say... Are you new college students? I haven't seen you around the campus before...'' She asked with a sweet and timid tone. Yashin replied, Jiyu resuming her look around. ''No, We're just here to go to the library next door.''. The eyes of the mint-green haired girl lit up as she excitedly exclaimed, ''After I return these books, I was about to go there! Would you like to go there together? My name's Rose by the way...'' she quickly said as Jiyu was caught out of her daze. ''I'm Jiyu, that's Yashin. If you can show us to the right section in the library then you're free to join us!'' Jiyu finally gave Rose a smile as she nodded and ran off to wherever in the college to return her books. 

While waiting, Yashin and Jiyu found themselves inside the huge library. Jiyu caught sight of an interesting looking book and excitedly showed Yashin. ''Yashin! Look! 'Discoveries of the Bendryo'... Look! It's a book about a cat-bat species!'' Yashin held back a laugh as she was amused by her cat friends childish yet cute behaviour. ''It looks interesting! Perhaps we can read it on Pico's ship when it's fixed!'' Yashin replied with a playful smile as Jiyu held the book until they paid for their books at the end of their library luxury. The front door of the library opened swiftly and was left to softly close on its own as Rose came in, propped up her glasses and stopped in her tracks when she spotted the two waiting for her. 

''Hello again! So, What're you looking for?'' She got straight to the point as Yashin thought for a moment and replied, ''Uh... Anything that relates to the shadow figure named Itazura? Or something about these crystals that are in every city, called 'gem of power'?''. Rose looked wide-eyed and mouth agape as her surprised face turned into an impressed face. ''Wow, You must be scholars If you know of the gems of power! Here, let me show you the books on them! And about Itazura? Well, there isn't many books on her but one. No worries! We'll find it!'' Rose blurts out as she skips towards a shelf full of historic-looking books. In a fit of shortness, Rose points to a high shelf that stored a book with 'Gem of power' in the title. ''Here, Lemme help...'' Jiyu said as she gave Rose a piggyback so she can reach the book. ''Ah, Thank you!'' Rose replied, flustered in surprise.

After a few minutes of gathering the books they needed, Rose went home for the day and Yashin & Jiyu sat down to discuss their next moves. ''Okay so, should we read these now or wait till we get back to Pico and Linette?'' Jiyu moved towards Yashin, whispering, as Yashin didn't hesitate to say, ''Read it with Pico and Linette, Of course!'', ''A'ight but don't blame me if we lose it and then no one can know what it says!'' Jiyu joked, shrugging as Yashin couldn't help but crack a smile and say, ''Oh please, That only happens in cartoons.'', Jiyu stood up, ready to pay for their books and go as Yashin followed and listened to Jiyu as she briefly said, ''Y'never know!''.

As their eyes almost burned off from the sudden sunlight, they realised that they promised to find someone to help Pico fix his ship. 

''Where do we start...?'' Yashin asked, rhetorically as the duo panned the huge city in front of them.