Cyberpunk Discord

Chapter 23: Captured, Right?

Inside Dream and Shady's apartment, they laid Manghua on their couch, and attempted to use his green brush to paint over his wounds, like he did for Shady.

"Here, I found his green brush," Dream said, taking Manghua's green brush out from his belt. "Try painting some green over his wounds, maybe it'll work!" Shady took the brush from Dream and painted over Manghua's wounds, hoping it'll heal him. The paint was absorbed into Manghua's skin, but appeared to do nothing at the moment, except making him slightly green.

"Ohh sh*t, he looks terrible!" Shady said, examining the painted areas.

"Yeah on second thought...I'm gonna go buy some medicine. Be right back!" Dream said, quickly heading out. Meanwhile, Yueling hid quietly outside, watching Dream leave.

"Perfect. My target is all alone...well, besides Manghua," Yueling thought, making her way to the door. "Ah, it's locked. I suppose I'll just break in...not like I have to worry about that Bubblegum Assassin anyway." Yueling winced from her migraine, but proceeded to break open the door. Inside, Shady looked melancholically at the unconscious body of Manghua.

"Come to think of it...I never learned your name. I'll just ask when you wake up, hopefully..." Shady said to Manghua. Suddenly, three massive ice spikes broke through the door to the apartment, and Yueling barged inside.

"Apologies for the rude intrusion, but you'll be coming with me, criminal," Yueling said to Shady, trying to appear professional.

"Wait, you're that girl I saw a while ago!" Shady said, recognizing Yueling. However, Yueling didn't respond, and proceeded to partially trap Shady in a block of ice, carrying her out of the apartment and back to her headquarters.

"Special Agent 007, you're back. With the criminal, too!" Yueling's superior, Officer Tatsuya, said, impressed.

"Yes sir. I've apprehended the criminal," Yueling said, saluting the officer.

"Take her to the prison. You are dismissed," Tatsuya said, leaving the room. Immediately, Yueling headed towards the prison, with Shady still in ice behind her.

"Here. This is your cell, You'll be staying here for a while. Just wait for your Bubblegum Assassin friend," Yueling said to Shady, going back to her residence. That night, Yueling could barely sleep.

"Why...why do I have this feeling I did something wrong?! Everyone looks so familiar yet, I never even met them! Think Yueling, think..." Suddenly, Yueling's migraine was magnified tenfold. "AGGGGHH! It hurts so much..." The migraine continued plaguing her throughout the entire night. Meanwhile, Dream had just returned from the shop back to her apartment, and saw the broken door.

"What happened here..? WAIT! Is Shady okay?! Is the boy okay?!" Dream thought, suddenly feeling very uneasy. She burst through the door, only to find water all over the floor, Manghua still unconscious, and Shady missing.

"No...no...It can't be..." Dream said quietly, staring in disbelief, dropping all her freshly bought medicine. Suddenly, a wave of anger and sadness washed over Dream, who started flipping the place upside down in a fit of rage. While this was happening, Manghua started to regain consciousness, the previously painted green beginning to take effect, closing his wounds.

"W-what happened..?" Manghua asked Dream, still a little nauseous. Hearing this, Dream immediately stopped and rushed over the Manghua.

"Hey. Are you okay? Did you see anything?" Dream asked Manghua with an extremely anxious tone. Dream then proceeded to bombard Manghua with a mountain of questions, none of which he could answer.

"B*tch, I just woke up...like I asked, what happened?" Manghua asked, fully coming back to his senses.

"Uh, sorry I did that." Dream said apologetically. "SHADY'S GONE! SOMEONE BROKE IN AND TOOK HER!!" Dream yelled, growing paranoid.

"Hang on...let me look around for a bit," Manghua said, getting up from the couch, which was soaked. "Ah, my butt's wet," Manghua said, slightly annoyed. Manghua walked around the apartment, eventually reaching the door, where there were unmelted ice shards, and water all over the floor.

"Ice and water...could this have been Yueling? She told me her job is to apprehend criminals, and if anything, Shady was a criminal," Manghua thought, putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Hey, I think I know where Shady would be," Manghua said, putting his hand to his chin. "Maybe it's just intuition, but I believe that the person who captured Shady was my mentor, Yueling, a police officer." Hearing the name, Dream suddenly felt like a nail was hammered into her head. "Their headquarters are in that direction." Manghua used his brush to create a trail for Dream to follow.

"Thank you, person who saved Shady. By the way, what is your name, anyway?" Dream asked Manghua.

"Well, this probably wouldn't be a bad decision, as she seems to be my friend now..." Manghua thought. "My name is Manghua, and yours?" Dream suddenly felt the same pain as before, but ignored it.

"My name is Dream! Also known as the Bubblegum Assassin! Catch you around, Manghua!" Dream said, running off into the distance. Hearing yet another familiar name, Manghua suffered a migraine, but walked it off. Suddenly, a massive pillar of fire lit up the sky, a subsequent outburst of smoke happening after.

"Huh, I wonder what that could be?" Manghua said to himself, running towards the fire, seeing a black-haired girl and a redhead out of the corner of his eyes. "Wait, who's that?" Manghua turned around and saw that the redhead was one causing the fire, and was about to burn the girl. Manghua quickly drew a grand piano and dropped it on top of the redhead, who jumped out of the way.

"And who the hell are you?!" The redhead asked.

"Saving another lady, that's who!" Manghua retorted, wheezing from the smoke. Quickly creating a filtering mask for himself, Manghua drew a picture of Ley Rickast below the redhead. "Oh by the way, you should probably look down." As the redhead looked, he suddenly burst out laughing.

"HAH! You rickrolled me! That was a good one, haha..." The redhead said, bending over. "You're gonna regret doing that." Suddenly, the redhead rushed at Manghua, a ball of fire in his hand.