Kagaku Ninja-Tai Gatchaman Fan Fiction ❯ The Timepiece ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 12 )

<Revision in Progress>

Chapter 12 - To Love

May 13, 2035

The day after the Beach Party was the date for The Utoland National Nascar Final. Joe had qualified for second position right after Mark Sinasac. Jun, Jinpei and Ryu had decided to take Yuki to the racetrack to watch the race. The others were needed at the base. Yuki had never seen such a race before and she was very excited about it.

After rounds and rounds of intense racing, the race has finally comes to the second last lap. Mark Sinasac was valiantly defending his leading position, trying his best to block off the aggressive efforts of Joe Asakura to grab the first position. The other racers were too far behind to post any threat to the two leaders. A swerve to right blocked off another attempt from Joe to overtake. Sinasac smirked, feeling sure that he would pocket the Championship in contempt of his long time rival Joe Asakura.

Joe mentally went over layout of the track, he knew that there was only one last chance of overtaking Sinasac. That was that next quick bend before the last straight stretch. He knew that Sinasac would have to slow down a bit for the bend. Joe approached the bend and swerved his car slightly to the inner side of the bend. Just as he expected, Sinasac pulled to the same side in an attempt to block his pass. Joe stepped on the gas and overtook his opponent on the outer edge with a precision that was characteristic of Joe's racing. By the time Sinasac found out he was tricked, it was too late for him to recover his leading position.

Within minutes, Joe's No.2 car flashed past the winning post followed by the seething Sinasac right at his heel.

Yuki, Jun, Jinpei and Ryu cheered with the crowd as Joe was being congratulated by the workers at the track and the other racers.

"Yuki, why don't you go down to the pit, it's fun down there." Jun winked at Yuki.

"I'll go with you!" Jinpei jumped up and ran off ahead of Yuki.

"Hey! Wait up!" Yuki shouted after Jinpei but Jinpei was already too far away to hear her. Jun and Ryu laughed as Yuki took off after Jinpei, running down the stairs to the pit.

Yuki was just about to enter the pit when a figure in black suddenly jumped out from a dark alley and grabbed her. A hand quickly covered her mouth as she was shoved into the backseat of a parked 2025 model black Lincoln Towncar. Her captor slammed the door shut after getting into the car. But he was in a so much hurry to get away that the door caught his foot.

"Owch!" He screamed and let go of both the door and Yuki.

"HELP!!" Yuki screamed and tried to get out of the other door. Her captor dragged her back over and covered her mouth with his hand again. She dug her teeth into his hand, making him let go again and again screamed for help.

The driver looked back from the rear-view mirror and sniggered. "Looks like you've got a bit of trouble there, pal."

"Damnit, just get us out of here! Idiot!" Her captor cursed and yelled out to the driver.

"I'm trying to. I'm trying to." The driver replied as he put the car into reverse gear and pressed onto the accelerator.

CLANK!! The car backed into a pile of garbage cans and came to a stop.

"Oh damnit, Bud, we are to go forward, not backwards, d'oh!" uttered her captor in disgust. It was Bud and Lou who was grabbing Yuki.

"No mentioning names, Fool!" Lou swore at his partner in crime.

"Just get us out of here, will ya?" Bud barked back.

Lou put the car back into forward gear and the peeled out of the tracking ground.

At the Yuki's first scream for help, Joe had perked up his head as his cybernetic hearing picked up a muffled scream of distress which sounded extremely like Yuki's.

He turned abruptly towards the exit and was just in see the familiar ponytail being pushed down the backseat of a black sedan that was peeling out of the grounds at blinding speed.

Joe screamed an angry shout and jumped into his car. He revved it up and screeched out after the fleeing sedan. He barely avoided the cheering crowd who were totally taken by surprise by his sudden actions.

Up on the Spectator Stand, Jun had already seen Joe peeling out in his car. "Quick, Ryu, let's follow Joe. Something's terrible must have happened. He might need help." They ran as fast as they could back to Ryu's truck and found Jinpei already waiting for them there. They quickly took off after the disappearing tail-lights of Joe's car.

Inside the fleeing sedan, Yuki was clawing at her kidnappers like a maddened wildcat. Bud was sitting right next to her and was trying to hold her down while trying to dodge her claws at the same time. He had a needle with him to quiet her down, just that he could not get it in at all amidst all her valiant struggling. Lou, who was driving, was trying his best to keep from going off the road as well as to throw off Joe who was gaining on them fast.

"Quiet her down, for God's sake" screamed Lou. "How can I drive amidst all this noise?" He reached over and put the music on full-blown.

"Are you nuts? You are going to get everybody looking at us, idiot!" screamed Bud who was still trying hard to ward off Yuki's claws.

"Okay! Okay! I'll turn it off. But put her under, what the heck did you steal that needle for if you are not using it?" Lou put up his hands in surrender while looking back talking to Bud, totally forgotten that he was driving. The car swerved precariously towards the ditch.

"Look out, idiot, and keep your hands on the driving wheel!" Bud screamed out in exasperation.

Lou looked back at the road, gasped and grabbed the driving wheel. In a valiant attempt to avoid going into the ditch, he almost got the car into a head on collision with the car coming from opposite direction. Fortunately, the other driver had dodged them in time.

"Oh darn! Lou, are you sure you have a driving license?" Bud screamed out, holding onto the back of the front passenger seat and trying hard not to get thrown out of the car.

"Driving license?" Lou grinned sheepishly. "Nah…I tried hard, but never passed it once in the 10 times I tried. By the tenth time, I decided that it's not worth trying, so I just drive without that damn license."

Bud cursed at his luck and keep on trying to keep Yuki under control.

"Damn it, you still haven't put her under? She is rocking the car too much!" Lou yelled.

"I am trying to, idiot!" Bud replied. He grabbed both of Yuki's hands in one hand and got out the needle in the other. He quickly plunged it into a thigh.

"Whoa! Her thigh does not look as puffy as it feels. <Yawns> Oh my, I am getting real sleepy." Bud said. He yawned and smiled sheepishly.

Yuki sniggered for Bud had plunged the needle into his own thigh. Soon Bud was fast asleep.

By this time, Joe had caught up with the black sedan and was trying to force it to a stop. He was just in time to see Yuki reached to the front from the backseat and grabbed the driver by the neck. The driver, taken by total surprise, lost control of the car as it flipped over twice and landed in the ditch with it's wheels spinning wildly in the air.

Joe jammed on his brakes, watching with horror as the black sedan flipped over. He leapt out of his car and rushed over to the sedan. He knew very well that Yuki could not have had seatbelts on. He froze as he approached the car, all did not look good. The top of the car was smashed in and the sides were seriously dented. One of the doors had thrown out and there was blood sipping out from the doorway. Joe couldn't help panicking. The thought that she might have perished in the accident paralysed him on the spot.

Ryu and the rest had now arrived and Jun was calling the police. Ryu walked over to Joe, seeing his panic stricken expression, pressed a hand onto his shoulder and asked, "What happened?"

"It's Yuki. They have got her and she was in that car." Joe replied in a barely audible voice.

Ryu winced. Smoke and gasoline was coming out of the open hood of the wreck. The car looked like it would blow up anytime.

"Jinpei, get the fire extinguisher from the trunk of my truck! FAST!" Ryu ordered the kid who was standing by their side. In a flash, Jinpei returned with the fire extinguisher and started spraying the engine of the car wreck.

Joe forced himself to calm down and together with Ryu, they pulled out the two kidnappers and Yuki from the wreck and lay them down by the side of the road. All three of them were unconscious.

Jun came over and checked Yuki over.

"How is she?" Joe asked with a voice barely over a murmur.

Jun looked up at him and said, "Think she's just stunned. Her vitals are fine and I didn't find anything broken."

Joe uttered a sigh of relief, "Thank God!" It was then that he realised how much he really cared. He didn't have much time to reflect on it though for Yuki had chosen to wake up at that moment.

Yuki blinked slowly, trying to figure out where she was. Then she

Joe helped her into a sitting position and knelt with one knee beside her, letting her rest her back on his bent knee.

"You okay, Yuki?" He asked a bit stiffly.

Yuki nodded, "Just a bit shaky."

Not completely satisfied with that. Joe proceeded to check her over carefully by himself. Yuki grinned, she could not help feeling pleased with the concern that Joe was displaying.

After thoroughly checking all her limbs and finally satisfied that really nothing had broken, Joe uttered a sigh of relief, "I am glad you are okay".

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