The Outlaws

Chapter 4: "The Riot"

Hochi still refuses to stop, despite Babilo's acceptance of being a two-faced person to harass him:

"Every year young people who are 18 years old or above were sent to the country to learn about Violeska history and culture and participated in harsh military training courses so that they could later serve as soldiers for the government army. During the actual wars on the peninsulas, many young men were no more, their bodies were not properly buried but only placed in coffins piled on top of each other. Those who were still alive were either disabled or suffering from severe mental sequelae, and had no choice but to desertion. Sadly, for families with dead or disabled children, there was no compensation for war benefits from the government, so some of them had to suppress their grief and pain in their hearts to

bury their dead children's bodies, some were raising their crippled children without any help for the rest of their life."

People begin to be shocked by the accusations about what was going on in the Federation of J of Hochi. Rumors like: "God, is what he said true?", "Have we been hidden by the government all this time?", "Did the government lie?", "The king and the officials in the government used violence to take over 4 states, didn't they?", ... appear in the crowd.

"That's how the empire's been treating the colony... no, it should be called the 'sacred land' that they took from the other clans." - Hochi tries to emphasize the word "sacred land" in front of the people of the world- "The victor will rewrite history and decide the fate of the defeated, the defeated submit and suffer domination and loss. This law has been proven through many wars spanning millions of years on this planet. The country and the Federation of J are no exception to that law. The truth is that Violeska captured those four countries through force, not through peaceful negotiations as has been propagated for so long."

"Stop it now, you bastard. You must end this nonsense speech at once." Babilo urges Hochi.

"I am very sad to know that with each passing year, more teenagers in Federation J fall for the sake of the country, so many people fall into misery, clamped by the government while the people of Violeska are enjoying the happy and prosperous life that the king has given him without knowing anything about the outside world..." - Hochi still keeps going.

Hochi's stubbornness makes Babilo order the guards to bring him inside. But somehow, the car's systems are getting malfunctioned and the driver inside is very confused as to what to do. Babilo is very angry and scolds his people while Hochi is raising the spirits and convincing the people to do their best:

"Everyone, don't make yourself fool who are indoctrinated by false propaganda from pro-Uta* broadcasters. Listen, my greatest wish is liberating the Federation of J against the protection of the Violeska Empire. If you are still conscious that you and they are all of the same race, everyone please stand with me to expose the truth to all the world, and at the same time overthrow the henchman of government that King Algorik has installed, and return the lost freedom to the people of the 4 entire regions."

At this time, Babilo and his driver show their helplessness 

with the car, so Babilo takes the speaker, and frantically explains to the people in short:

"Everyone, don't listen to what he said, it's all lies and lies. The king is a benevolent, peace-loving person, how can he be cruel to invade that land? Everyone, please listen to me."

Then he orders the soldiers below to cover Hochi's mouth just right now. When the soldiers are suppressing Hochi, suddenly from the crowd,

three strange people who hide their faces with mask and are dressed in tight black appear and shouts: "For the freedom, equality, fraternity of the whole Federation of J!" then drops smoke bombs around Babilo and his troop. The crowd begins panicking, running away, shoving each other because can't see anything. Jovie just exclaims when seeing the smoke: "What the hell happened?... Damn it, that's anti-3D glasses smoke bombs !"  He tries to do something to get his mother out of the crowd that was jostling but he realizes that's impossible to escape because he can't use his glasses to see through the smoke, so he has no choice but to keep her staying there and sit down with him, then shielding her from the crowd's chaos.

Babilo's soldiers do not see anything in the smoke, so they get confused, take up their guns and fire indiscriminately. Suddenly they hear a "tick, t-tick" sound below their feet. With the knowledge they learned from the military, they immediately guess that it's nothing else but the sound of the stun bomb whose detonator has been activated. The bomb is too close to them, so even though knowing it, it's not possible for them to avoid being affected by it, they are stunned. When out of smoke around there, the soldiers are able to open their eyes, but they realize there are not only three but dozens of assassins rushing to attack them. Jovie also opens his eyes and sees that there is nothing around but the fighting between the Empire soldiers and the men in black suits and the advantage is on the rebel side, he sees his mother still closing her eyes tightly, clutching his shiver. He tells her not to panic, pulls her to her feet, and leads her to safety.

When he turns around, he sees that the soldiers in front of him have been defeated, and the men in black are trying to untie Hochi. Hochi calls all three by real name in left to right order: Morja, Silie, Ann. Jovie is determined not to let them save him. Suddenly he remembers that something that he can use to fight them is lying in his pocket, so he puts his hand in his pocket and pulls it out. A sling with a rope is tied to it. Old memories come flooding back in a few seconds. That was the moment he met an alien 5 months ago. He still clearly remembers the face of that guy, the man as tall as him, with long, black hair, brown skin, wearing a strange red outfit and holding a katana sword, handed him that sling and said, "You are the one chosen to use it. Keep it until we meet again." Just remembering that makes Jovie feel queasy in his heart, at this time he is filled with enthusiasm, dismisses the hesitation, puts a stone he picked on the ground in the slingshot, and aims straight at the person who is untying Hochi with the unlock device- Ann.

Unexpectedly, an accomplice named Morja discovers it and shouts to her: "Ann! Watch out!", then rushes to push her out of the way of bullets. As a result, Ann narrowly escaped death but unfortunately, Morja takes Jovie's bullet in his hand, and falls to the ground to the surprise of the other three. Ann immediately pulls out her gun and aims at Jovie, firing several times continuously. Jovie with superior dodging ability as well as there are many hiding positions near him, easily avoids the rain of bullets from the enemy.

He immediately runs out of hiding when sees that she runs out of ammo. He rushes closely but is stopped by the other member of the black-suit group- Silie. He realizes she wants to challenge him to hand-to-hand combat. Although his shooting ability is not really good, in terms of hand-to-hand combat, he is not inferior to anyone. He hits par with the opponent and even deactivates some of his attacks. With just a few basic moves, he is able to neutralize dozen of Silie's attacks, and finally, he pins her body to the ground and locks her right hand. When he is in the upper position, suddenly Silie plays a trick by using her left hand to take the pepper spray bottle next to her thighs, spraying into his eyes, causing his eyes to be dazzled. The situation turns around, Silie takes advantage of Jovie's disorientation and lands him a blow that is dangerous enough to make him fall and turn unconscious.

Jovie is knocked down, and Silie brushes off her clothes and said:

"Very amateur. I know you wouldn't expect me to use this trick, Jovie."

She approaches Hochi, not to be unaware that one of her items was accidentally snatched from her by Jovie during the battle. While trying to remove the electronic chain from Hochi's body, Ann notices that there is a small chip flashing on it. She is startled, sweat starts to roll down her cheeks, and stops for a moment. When Hochi asks what's wrong with her, she says:

"There's a trap on you, my lord!"

Suddenly, General Babilo appears from nowhere, holds a switch in his hand, and says to the Hochi and the others:

"Don't try to save Hochi. In my hands is the bomb trigger switch. That chip is a kind of microscopic bomb but has destructive power within 400 meters. If you all dare to do anything foolish, I will detonate it, I would rather die than let you escape again, Hochi. I'm not the guy you thought I was."

Hochi and the others find themselves in a dilemma. Morja is injured and lying motionless on the ground, Hochi has a bomb planted on him, Silie is also within range of the bomb, is the leader of the black group, Ann knows she needs to make a decision that is safe for everyone. team and Hochi. While thinking of a plan, she heard Hochi call her name, saying:

"Ann, hurry and get everyone out of here, don't worry about me."

"But… I can't let you get taken away like that. If we go, we'll go together."

Seeing that the two of them keep discussing, Babilo also gives an offer:

"Except for Hochi, the three of you have no value at all. While I'm benevolent to buy time, the three of you get out of here quickly. Because the royal army is being mobilized and going here in a few minutes. If you hesitate, perhaps I catch you all."

Then he laughs very happily. Hearing his clever reminder, Hochi even more urgent:

"Take Morja away quickly, if the army gets here, you will have no way to escape. Listen to me."

Not only Ann but also Silie and Morja can not bear to leave Hochi and run away. Silie approaches Ann and says:

"Either way, our efforts will be in vain. For the time being, we withdraw. I know, Uncle Hochi's life is important because he is the great hope of the oppressed and tortured peoples out there, but the safety of Morja and you is equally important. You're our captain, so we need you."

Then Silie grabs Ann's shoulder as if to confirm her words. Ann now has no more hesitation because she understands that in this urgent situation, running is still the best strategy, she knows that risking the safety of the team will make her regret it. She whispers into Hochi's ear:

"We will definitely come to save you again. Please rest assured."

"Okay, Morja is losing a lot of blood and needs to be brought back to the guild base for treatment. Get out of here quickly before the army arrives."

Ann obeys Hochi, lifts Morja's body, and orders Silie to retreat. As she is about to escape, Silie takes a look at the sling that Jovie had dropped on the ground and thought:

"What is this thing? Toys? How could he hurt Morja with just this? Well, just pick it up and bring it home. I have a hunch that it shouldn't fall into the hands of Jovie or the government. I also need to find out what it ends up being."

Curiosity and foresight make Silie decide to pick it up and put it in her pocket, then turn to look at Hochi one last time. Hochi gives her a big smile and nods as if everything would be going to be okay, which warms up Silie's heart. Responding to Hochi, she gestures to raise two fingers in a "V" shape. Suddenly Ann's voice rang out:

"Hurry up and get in the car, Sil. What are you doing standing there?"

Sillie jumps into the car and moves her gaze to the unconscious Jovie with a hint of guilt in her heart. Ann drives the car farther and farther away in front of Babilo and Hochi's eyes. Hochi muttered:

"Don't be caught, young warriors."

(* Uta: the capital of Violeska)