Thion 3XQ: Journey [ON HOLD]

Momo woke up with a pain on the right side of her neck and her head throbbing. She sat up as she rubbed her neck feeling, feeling something cold around it. Her eyes weren’t quite as open as yet, she wasn’t fully aware of where she was or what was going on. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, even though she had just woken up her body felt heavy and tired.

“Hey Momo, you’re awake” she felt Nayeon touch her shoulder.

When eyes had full adjusted she noticed Nayeon was wearing something around her neck. It resembled a metal collar. She touched her neck again now awake and aware of what was happening. She too had the same metal collar Nayeon had. Their clothes were also different. They wore a soft blue shirt and white pants, the whole outfit resembled a surgeon’s scrubs. They also wore white slip on shoes on their feet.

She looked around and noticed that there were a lot of trees around. It resembled a forest back in Zanerth. There was even a waterfall nearby. The place wasn’t too large but it was big enough to fit 20 people.. wait how did those other people get here?  There was about double the people there just roaming around. Were they even humans? They could’ve been Thions too.. They were all in some kind of room? It looked like they were in a class container or something, because Momo could see the outside.

Nayeon stared at Momo as she noticed the latter’s brows furrowed looking very confused and shocked. “I don’t what this place is either, or who the rest of these people are..” the rest of their group of friends were all huddled together. Even Sunmi was there, still unconscious, with the same clothes and collar on. The group was scared to get closer to the other people but the others didn’t seem to pay them any attention. Some were sitting around and others were huddled together in small little groups talking to each other. They were all wearing the same thing.

“What do you mean?”

“We all just woke up here.. we don’t know how or when we got here” Taeil spoke up.

“Have you tried talking to them?” Momo asked referring to the other humans. Taeil shook his head.

“W-we’re honestly kinda scared” Dejun said. Momo turned to look at Dejun, who sitting near Dowoon. She noticed Dowoon left eye looking a little bruise, she felt a little bit guilty about it. He noticed her gazing at him and he looked away.

“What are we going to do?” Renjun asked. But Momo wasn’t sure what to do. She was so confused about everything. She wasn’t quite sure why they all turned to her to figure things out. She wasn’t really much of a leader, she usually did whatever Sana wanted to do. But the people before her all looked so helpless, even Nayeon who was so confident and outgoing.

“I’ll be back right now” Momo said as she began walking towards one of the other humans who was sitting on a rock. She tried to muster all the courage she had, she needed to do something.

“Momo wait, I’ll come with you” Nayeon spoke, not wanting Momo to go by herself. The latter only nodded as Nayeon followed her. Jeongyeon watched the two leave, feeling a little uneasy about it.

The woman the two girls quietly and nervously approached had been looking at the waterfall with not much expression on her face. Her eyes moved with the water that fell.

“Uhm” Momo cleared her throat. “Excuse me?”

The woman turned to look at Momo. “Oh Hello. Have you come to look at the waterfall too?”

“N-No, we were just wondering-“

“If you’re human” Nayeon blurted out before the latter could finish her sentence. Momo looked at her in disbelief. “Nayeon, you can’t just ask people if their human or not just like that” she whispered.

“Why not? We need to make sure”

Before they could start bickering about it the woman lightly chuckled. “Everyone in here is human, Zanertheans to be exact”

“How do you know?”

“Well, this is the Zanerthean exhibit. We’re all humans here” the woman replied coolly.

What the fuck.. ? Momo was even more confused now. What the fuck this this woman mean by exhibit? But before she could ask Nayeon beat her to it.

“I-Im sorry, what do you mean by exhibit?”

“You know, like an animal exhibition”

“Like a zoo?” Momo asked trying to fully understand just what the fuck the woman was talking about.

“I guess you can call it that… the container on the right of us is where they keep the Cirgaxes from the planet Cirgax and the Aomians are on the left side. I’m pretty sure they’re many more containers though” The woman was saying this in a way too calmly manner for Nayeon’s liking. How could she casually mention them being next to Cirgaxes?? Aomians were known for they calm nature but Crigaxes were known to be a dangerous species.

Momo and Nayeon recall reading about those creatures. Crigaxes have four arms and two legs, with a short, yet strong tail. They have four eyes which sit delicately in their sockets and can often make them appear to be excited. Their eyesight is great at distances. They have an enormous mouth and lack a visible nose, their ears are a bit small and their hearing is just average. They also have small horns across their chests and backs. Their skin is smooth and thin and it's covered in nothing but thin yet small hair on their heads, arms and legs. Their skin colors are mostly gold, dark silver and silver, which tend to become pale as they age.

The woman noticed the two girls looking frightened and chuckled. “It’s okay, these walls are impenetrable. The only way it’ll open is if one of those Thions open it. So far now we’re safe”

“H-How do you know so much about this place? How long have you been here?” Momo was baffled.

“Well we’ve been here like a month or so… I’ve lost count of the days”

“Well how did you even get here?”

“We were out on an exhibition on Aomia when we were captured along with a few other Aomians by a group of Thions. Next thing we knew is that were here in this place”

“Wait-Well how do you know there are other containers with other species?”

“I’ve seen them, you see them sometimes through that glass. You see Thions bringing in new different species from different planets I presume”

This was a lot to take in for both girls. “Haven’t you guys ever tried to escape? Why are you all so calm about this?”

The woman gazed at them, eyes flickering between both of them. “Well we tried the first few days but it’s impossible with these collars around our neck. Most of us have given up already you know? No one came looking for us..” She sat up and dusted her pants, then patted Momo on the shoulder as she said “I suggest you do the same”

This was a lot new information to take in and they were feeling really overwhelmed. Nayeon was speechless and Momo’s mind was running wild with thoughts. She didn’t know what to do or what to think. The woman began walking away before Momo asked “Wait! What’s your name?”

The woman smiled and said “Elkie”

-

“Hey babe” Chaeyoung greeted her girlfriend with a kiss on the cheek. Mina smiled as the latter took a seat in front of her. Mina was behind the counter already preparing to make her girlfriend’s usual coffee. Chaeyoung would always come to Mina’s café every day after work and wait for it to close so that they could go home together. Sometimes she’d come here with Tzuyu since she really liked the way Mina made the iced coffees. Though Chaeyoung had her own room at the Vesta Base, she usually stayed the night over at Mina’s apartment.

“How was work? Any news from Tzuyu?” Mina said as she added two cubes of sugar into the coffee.

“Same as always, I just miss Tzu you know?” Chaeyoung pouted and took a sip of the coffee Mina had placed in front of her. “Captain Park hasn’t really updated us on anything yet regarding the mission, I’m a little worried if I’m being honest”

Mina noticed Chaeyoung’s sad mood. She knows that Chaeyoung hates not knowing what’s happening with Tzuyu. Which is understandable because the two have been friends since they were kids. Chaeyoung had saved Tzuyu from a group of bullies that were picking on her. Chaeyoung laughs every time she remembers how small and weak Tzuyu was, she really was a little cry baby. Which is completely different from the strong Tzuyu she knows today. After Chaeyoung had saved her, Tzuyu stuck to her like glue and at first she had found it annoying but came to really enjoy her company, the two became inseparable.

Mina grabbed Chaeyoung’s hand and said “It’s okay, it’s Tzuyu we’re talking about. Our tough Tzu who doesn’t let anything get her in her way. She’ll be alright, and plus she went with the F9 right? Aren’t they like an elite group?”

Chaeyoung sighed as she squeezed her girlfriend’s hands. Maybe Mina was right and she shouldn’t worry so much about Tzuyu. She wasn’t a baby anymore, she could hand herself and Commander Lee and her team were there too. So what could go wrong? Deep down she still felt a bit uneasy about it all but she decided to shake the feeling for now.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right..”

Two customer walked in and both girls turned their direction towards the door. Mina’s café wasn’t that big, it was a small and cozy. Mina had only one other employee working in there with her. However, the employee had called in sick for the entire week so it was only Mina this time. She had inherited the café from her parents when she graduated college. She had met Chaeyoung when they were both in college, Mina was majoring in literature and Chaeyoung was enrolled at the Vesta Academy along with Tzuyu. The duo walked into her parent’s café, their Academy/Base is very close to the café. That was three years ago. Chaeyound had ordered the same coffee that she still does every day, even now.

“Help me?” She asked Chaeyoung while holding an apron out for her.

Chaeyoung took the apron and smiled. “Anything for you”

-

Tzuyu was to first to wake up, not wanting to waste any more time sleeping. They had to keep moving even though she still was a little tired. She felt a weight on her chest and slowly opened her eyes. She was met with orange head that had a faint smell of jasmine.

What the fuck

She felt something lightly holding her waist. She slightly lifted her head and saw Sana’s hand around her waist. Her eyes also noticed that the blanket was not gone and Sana’s bare leg was grazing her cargo pants. Though she couldn’t feel it, the sight made her tense. Tzuyu had always been a light sleeper so she must’ve been so tired that she didn’t feel anything. Right?

What the fuck. What the fuck do I do

-at her slightly pinked cheeks. Her cheek had a small barely visible mole, one that you’d only notice up close. Her lips were slightly parted. Tzuyu thought she looked peaceful sleeping.

Wait what the fuck am I doing? I don’t care how peaceful she looks, we don’t have time for this.

“Sana wake up” Tzuyu was still a bit tense as she tried to shake the girl’s arm off her but Sana tightened her grip and snuggled more into her.

Uh what the fuck

Tzuyu stiffened even more now, not knowing how to get out of the situation. She’s not sure why she couldn’t bring herself to just throw the older girl off her. She didn’t even like her, why was she so hesitant to throw her off? Tzuyu softly groaned in frustration. After a few seconds Sana started stirring awake. Though Tzuyu was glad the girl was waking up she couldn’t help but think how awkward it’d be again. She felt Sana tense as she realized where her head and hand was.

“Uhm Sana?”

Sana quickly sat up and moved away a little from Tzuyu. She felt embarrassed as the latter was just staring at her. “I’m sorry I thought you were my body pillow, I-I usually sleep with an extra pillow in the night” she tried to explain herself, avoiding Tzuyu’s gaze.

“Uhm okay. Get dressed.” Tzuyu replied awkwardly, not really knowing what to say.

The atmosphere was awkward. Tzuyu began putting on her boots while Sana was putting on her jeans. Tzuyu walked over to where she had left her jacket and began putting it on, she put the guns back in her pockets in the same place they were before. She ran her hand through her hair before putting the beanie back on. She turned around and saw Sana had her pants on but she hadn’t put on her shirt yet so she was only in her bra. Sana had taken off the hoodie to put on her shirt. Tzuyu stood there a bit frozen, not really wanting to look at the other girl but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from Sana’s toned stomach. She only averted her eyes when Sana put her shirt back on.

“What is it?” She asked, noticing Tzuyu standing there a bit awkwardly.

But Tzuyu didn’t answer and sprinted towards the bathroom and closed the door. This was the second time she had found herself staring at Sana or was it? She looked at herself in the mirror and noticed her eyes were a bit red and puffy. She remembers hearing Sana silently crying last night. She wondered if Sana heard her crying last night.. she groaned in frustration. She washed her face trying to rid the thoughts of last night’s breakdown as well as thoughts of Sana.

When Tzuyu opened the door she noticed Sana’s eyes also looked red and puffy. They both had noticed each other’s eyes and heard each other but neither wanted to bring it up or talk about it. Tzuyu moved out of the way so Sana could use the bathroom.

When Sana walked out of the bathroom, Tzuyu had been sitting on the bed looking last in thought as she stared at the door. She cleared her throat trying to get the younger girl’s attention.

“Alright let’s go” Tzuyu stood up walking towards the door.

“Wait, what’s the plan?”

“I don’t think this town has any communication center. Looks like we’ll have to find another town or something”

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while but what’s that thing on your wrist?”

Sana was pointing to Tzuyu’s watch on her wrist. It was the communication device given to their team by Commander Lee. It only worked between six to communicate with each other. Tzuyu turned it on there still wasn’t any sign of a life. She didn’t really need it anymore but she couldn’t bring herself to throw it away. Maybe one day it’d beep and it all would’ve been a dream. Right?

Tzuyu sighed. “It’s just a watch. Let’s go”

“Wait”

Tzuyu groaned, she was annoyed. “What is it Sana? We need to leave. Now”

“Are we going to walk again?”

“No, we’ll just fly there. How else are we going to get there?” Tzuyu thought Sana was wasting time by asking stupid questions.

“I don’t think we have enough money for a cab and I don’t know where any of these buses go. Wait how about if we steal a car?”

“Do you like stealing things? I’d rather not steal anything from the people here”

“You stole that Thions’ wallet yesterday?”

“That was different okay? Now come on” Tzuyu was the one to grab Sana by the arm and basically drag her out of the room. She was eager that they leave as quickly as possible. Of course she didn’t want to really walk either but what choice did they have? A car wasn’t going to magically appear before them and Tzuyu didn’t want to steal any of these Thions’ car, maybe unless they were an ass like the one’s wallet she stole last night.

“Why are you so against stealing?” She heard Sana ask while they were walking out of the motel onto the road.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Tzuyu said while still holding Sana’s arm. She was unaware she was still holding on to it but Sana wondered why she hadn’t let go of it.

They were hitting the corner of the road when Sana asked “Why?” Tzuyu took a sudden stop.

Tzuyu ignored her question, not because she didn’t want to answer, well she didn’t want to answer but this time it was different.  She noticed at the end of the street there was a van, one that similar to the one they were driving in before.

Fuck

She gripped Sana’s arm tighter before she turned to her and whispered “We need to leave. They’re here” Sana looked towards the direction Tzuyu had been looking at and she saw the van.

“What are we going to do?” She asked with fear evident in her voice.

“We have to run and hide. I don’t think they know I’m still alive but they’re here looking for you. Put your hood on” She pulled Sana as they both ran across the street and stopped at an alley. Tzuyu finally let go of Sana’s arm as she peeked behind the wall to look at the van. Oddly enough she felt safer with Tzuyu holding on to her arm but she couldn’t think about that right now.

“Stay here” Tuzyu whispered.

“Wait where are you going?” Sana tried to grab her arm but Tzuyu was already walking away. Sana was too afraid to follow but she also didn’t want Tzuyu to go and do something stupid all by herself. She didn’t have much time to think about what to do before Tzuyu reappeared again.

“Where did you go?”

“I was scoping out the area and they’re three vans in total. We can’t stay here either because they’ll be checking this street next”

“So what now?”

Tzuyu thought about what to do for a few seconds. There wasn’t that much that they could do until an idea came to mind, it was embarrassing but she couldn’t think of anything else. She grabbed Sana’s hand and interlaced their fingers. Sana was surprised by Tzuyu actions. “Uhh-“

“Shhh just follow me and pretend like you’re talking to me but keep your head down” Tzuyu interrupted her. She pulled Sana’s hood own lower.

“Come on” she pulled Sana towards one of the streets. She thought about Sana’s plan about stealing a car as well. She had to act fast for this plan to work and it was risky but they didn’t have much options available.

Sana felt Tzuyu’s hold tighten as they were getting closer to the van. Her next hand was gripping the gun she had in her jacket. “When I say ‘Go’ you get in the van okay?” she whispered. Sana wasn’t sure what the younger girl was planning, she couldn’t question her about it either because they were close to where the Thions’ van were parked. She could see a two Thions talking to a vender and one was in the van behind the wheel.

One of the Thions noticed the two girls walking and was going to stop them to ask some questions.

“Hey, you two” he shouted at the both of them but the pair ignored him. He got closer and put his hand on Tzuyu's shoulder to stop her.

Tzuyu turned around and let go of Sana’s hand before she pulled the ray gun from her pocket and hit the Thions in the face. He fell backward as the next Thions came running towards her, but before he could take out his gun, Tzuyu back kicked him in the face knocking him out. The Thion that was on the ground quickly stood up as he tackled Tzuyu to the ground. The third Thions that was in the van saw what was happening and quickly came out of the van to help.

The Thions on top of Tzuyu tried to punch her in the face but her reflexes were fast and she moved her head to the left before he could punch her, his fist thus collided with the concrete. He winced in pain as he held his hand giving Tzuyu the opportunity to hit him in the face with her gun.

“Go!” She shouted to Sana who was standing there as she watched all of this unfold. It happened it a matter of mere seconds. She did as Tzuyu instructed and stepped one foot into the van, but she was pulled back by hair out by the other Thions that was in the car.

Tzuyu grabbed the Thions in a chokehold before he could do anything to Sana. She squeezed until he was knocked out. From the corner of her eye she could see another van coming closer. She told Sana to get into the van and turn it on. She shot the van that was coming towards them a few times before she jumped into the van.

“Go, go, go!” she ushered for Sana to drive off as quickly possible before the incoming van got any closer. Sana drove off as fast as possible while Tzuyu from the window, shot rays from her gun at the vans. They shot back at them but managed to miss. They had to do something to get them off their tail. Sana wasn’t that much of a good driver but she managed to avoid any of the Thions coming close to them.

“What do we do now, they’re gaining on us!” She shouted to Tzuyu who was still shooting out from the window.

“Take off, fly us out of here” She heard Tzuyu shout from the window. Sana wasn’t thinking much about it, she was focused on following Tzuyu’s orders. Although Tzuyu herself hadn’t come up with a plan as yet. Sana activated the van to fly and they van started flying. They both knew that the other two vans would fly after them as well.

Fuck what do we do

“Tzuyu! This van has its own built in ray guns. Maybe we can use that to shoot them with-“ As Sana was telling her plan to Tzuyu, she was interrupted by a blast that shook the van. The other Thions were no in the air and they’d activated their own ray gun and shot them. It grazed the van the two girls were in and Tzuyu almost fell out the window. She quickly got inside and walked over to Sana.

“Activate the gun, I have a plan. I need you to go really fast and then when I say ‘stop’ you hit the break. Okay?”

Sana simply nodded as she activated their ray gun from their van. She then put the super speed on which made them go really fast. Tzuyu was looking from the rearview mirror that the other Thions had also activated their super speeds on their vans. In the distance Sana could see what looked like another town? Or was it a city? It was definitely way larger than the town they’d been to before.

Tzuyu wanted to time this right. She wanted for them to get as close to the other vans as possible. She also wanted them to be closer to the city so they could hide someplace there. Just a few more seconds… they were getting closer. When Tzuyu yelled “Stop!” and Sana hit the brakes. The two Thion vans zoomed passed them and Tzuyu used that opportunity to fire the van’s ray gun at them. The blast hit one of the van which then hit the other as both vans were now falling out of the air.

Sana was happy when she saw both vehicles going down until Tzuyu noticed three men shape shifted themselves to have wings. It was harder for Tzuyu to shoot at them when they were flying around. They had to hide somewhere in the city.

“Sana fly us as low as possible to the ground and when I say jump we jump okay?”

“What do you mean we jump? From a moving vehicle?”

“Fly us a few above the ground. Do it” Tzuyu was still trying to shoot the winged Thions that were flying towards them. Sana knew she didn’t have the time to protest so she flew them about two feet above the ground, they were in the city now and not many Thions were walking on the streets.

Tzuyu grabbed Sana’s hand pulling her closer. She hugged Sana close to her and put her hand on her head. Sana was wondering what the fuck Tzuyu was doing, but it did feel kind of nice to her. Under normal circumstances she’d be embarrassed to ever hold Sana as close as this but she had to, to break Sana’s fall when they jumped out.

“1, 2, 3.. jump!” Tzuyu yelled as they both jumped out the van with Tzuyu holding Sana as tightly as she could. They impact of the jump made them both roll for a few feet until they stopped when Tzuyu’s back hit a wall.

“Fuck” Tzuyu groaned in pain as she let go off Sana. Sana not too hurt because Tzuyu took most of the fall for her, quickly got up and tried helping Tzuyu up. “Tzuyu, come on we gotta go they’re coming”

With the adrenaline still in her body, she did her best to get up as fast as she could. She held on to Sana’s shoulder while the latter held her waist. They quickly walked (Tzuyu was limping) towards the alley to hide. Before they could think of their next move a girl approached them and said “Come” in Villari. That surprised the duo.

Sana thought the girl looked really familiar. But before she could ask anything the girl grabbed her hand pulling Tzuyu and Sana away from the Thions that had lost sight of the duo when they jumped.

“Come, I can take you to a place where it’s safe” They were both surprised about how this girl could speak Villari so well and how she knew they were Zanertheans. Could she be a human too?

Suddenly Sana recognized the girl. It was the girl with the purple hair from the town they had been to.

“Wait” Sana took a stop. The girl turned to look at her.

“Who are you?”

The girl smiled and said “My name is Dahyun”