~Warehouse~
Back at the warehouse, one of the B-Platoon members, now alone, is looking around the place.
Female: ... *Examining the horns* ... *Grabs one of them* ...
*Flashback*
{Long Ago}
~Japan~
Maya: *Exits a mansion*
Masumi: *She and a few others arrive* Maya?
Maya: What?
Masumi: What are you doing?
Maya: I'm resigning.
Masumi: Resigning? Why?
Maya: I can't do any of this anymore. I thought we were better than this.
Masumi: Maya, it's no big deal. We-
Maya: Maybe, you don't see it as a big deal, but I do. Our high school was established by the Japanese government to nurture young graduates who will support the country. It boasts a 100% employment and college entry rate, and with thorough, state-directed teaching methods, it spares no effort in pursuing the nation's desired future. But look where we are now. We've already got what we wanted, but we're also committing such... hideous actions for kicks. If this is the future that Japan is desiring, then I don't want any part of it. And it wouldn't hurt for you to think about it. *Leaves*
*The small crowd just gazed in silence after listening to Maya's speech... including the female member*
*Flashback ends*
Female: ... The things we do in our lives.
~Nabo Ranch~
Meanwhile, back at Nabo Ranch, the rangers are interrogating the poacher they arrested.
Ranger 5: *Showing the sawed-off horns* Tazama hii. Pembe hizi zilitoka kwa kifaru mweusi. Spishi iliyo hatarini kutoweka. Na ilibidi utumie chainsaw kuiondoa. Je, una wazo lolote, au majuto yoyote, kuhusu ulichosababisha?
While this was happening, the team had just returned to the ranch.
Hilda: I don't think we'll ever get that image out of our heads.
Jeremy: That's just part of reality. Live long enough, and you'll see the gruesome side of things.
Frida: So we're told. I can't even imagine the creatures in our home getting... treated like that.
SpongeBob: ... Eh... Speaking of your home, where are you guys from anyway? I've heard of many scout programs, but I don't recall the Sparrow Scouts.
David: We're from a city-state called Trolberg. It's in a continent near Scandinavia called the Hulderlands.
Lewis: Yeah, I should know. I actually visited that continent once.
Hilda: You have?
Louise: It was just a family gathering at the time.
Lewis: That continent is just filled with all kinds of creatures that no other place on Earth has seen before. So, I too can't imagine them being treated the same way as that... unfortunate rhino.
Ranger 2: *Approaches them* Speaking of that rhino, we did get something from our prisoner. He speaks in a mountain dialect, but we have been able to determine that he was somehow involved in the recent stockpile theft.
Ranger: Who does he work for?
Ranger 2: We can't determine that. But he jabbered something about a "sugar house".
Francine: Sugar house?
Ranger 2: But that's just it.
Ranger: Well, thanks anyway.
Ranger 2: *Leaves*
Ranger: That's actually the third rhino this month.
Steven: Look, I gotta tell you. That is the sickest, cruelest, most inhumane thing we've ever seen in our lives. And for what? A few hundred dollars?
Francine: That's a year's wage for most Africans. I want to hate the poachers, but I can't.
Kara: So, who do you hate then?
Ranger: It's the traders, the ones who control the market. They are the ones who have to be stopped. They get over $15,000 a kilo for those horns. That's more than the price of gold.
Victor: And more than enough to make it dangerous for anyone who gets in their way, huh?
Francine: Like the guy you're looking for?
Jeremy: Yeah, especially him.
Maya: You know, I don't get it. Gregory cut out an article about the theft at the ranch and circled Nabo on the map. But nobody around here's seen him.
Ranger: Actually, this whole district is called Nabo. Maybe, he made some other connection.
Francine: *!* The poacher said something about a "sugar house". Maybe, he was talking about the abandoned Nabo Sugar Refinery. It's about 20 miles north of here.
Jeremy: Could be a base of operations. Let's check it out. *He and the team leave*
Hilda: ... *Gets up* Come on. *She and her team leave*
Jeremy: *Notices this* Uh... We can find it on our own.
Hilda: We didn't say you couldn't. Just offering some help.
Jeremy: ... Heh. I get it.
Hilda: And besides, we too like to get our hands on those crooks.
Jeremy: Okay. Just stay close.
YOU ARE READING
MANIA: Stuck Behind The Enemy Line
FanfictionJeremy is sent to Africa by Interpol to find an AWOL officer and a defector, both of whom have been attempting to take down a notorious poacher. Along the way, they have a run-in with some new allies.
