YTSK II: Chapter XXVIII

In Universe Date: 27 December 2021

Yan wakes up late at 11:00 AM, late in the morning of 27 December. Soon after, she enters Shusha's room.

"Hello Ms. President. How may I help you?"

"Well, you see Shusha, the night before yesterday I took part in a big assault on Cartograville. I even got a plane to nuke the city. However, somehow, it seems the soldiers present in the city had foreknowledge of the impending nuclear strike, because they organized to hide in metro areas for shelter. I suspect there might be a spy within our cabinet."

"Oh no! That's... that's horrible!"

"Do you think you help track down the spy?"

Shusha nods. "You can leave it to me. I promise Ms. President, whoever this spy is, I will find him and bring him to justice!"

Yan smiles. "Thank you very much." She pauses for a bit, before continuing. "You know, Shusha, so many people betrayed or failed me: Prussian, then Qarol, then Juq. I really feel that you're the only person I can genuinely trust."

"I am glad to hear that, Ms. President."

"Hey Shusha, don't call me Ms. President. Call me Yan."

Shusha chuckles and smiles. "Alright, Yan."

"Anyway, another thing that I wanted to ask you was about the offensive on Cartograville. When can I expect the Russian troops to reach the city?"

"Oh, um. Should be in about..." Shusha checks his computer. "90 minutes. At 12:30."

"Alright, thank you."

Yan prepares to leave the room, but as her eyes scour her surroundings, she notices that Shusha's bat is gone.

"Where's Jerry?"

"Oh, Jerry is in my bag right here. My brother returned from Spain yesterday, so today I'm going to take a day off to return Jerry to him. If that's okay with you, Yan..."

"Well, I'm fine with you taking a day off, but I really like Jerry. I will miss him." "Well, if you want to say goodbye, now is your chance." Shusha takes Jerry and his cage out of his bag. "Alright. Goodbye Jerry! I'll miss you!"

With Yan having given him permission to take a day off, Shusha exits the room.

Meanwhile, on a leased Mapperdonian plane, Violet is checking his cellphone. "*Sigh*, Delirium won't answer."

"Who's Delirium?", DRM inquires.

"He was a Videomapistani immigrant to Mapperdonia. I last met him in the inner city just after I learned about the impending nuclear strike. I hope he managed to follow my warning. Unfortunately it doesn't seem he responds to my calls."

"Maybe he just left his phone at home?"

"Maybe. Hard to tell. I hope he's still alive. Anyway, I wonder where we are right now."

Violet checks the terminal. "We're currently in the Indian Ocean, underneath Australia. R'lyeh is just over a thousand kilometres away. We'll be there soon."

"What? But, I thought R'lyeh was way further east, in the south pacific."

"I was provided the coordinates of 47°9′S 126°43′E, which is very much in the Indian Ocean."

"Hold on, let me check."

DRM takes a few minutes to find and check Koopinator's notebook, before returning to speak to Violet again.

"Hey Einstein, we were supposed to go to 47°9′S 126°43′W! W, as in WEST! But you, you went to 47°9′S 126°43′E! E!"

"Uhhhh... whoops. "

DRM is exesperated. "God, fuck, how did you even make such a mistake?"

"I'm not sure, honestly."

DRM sighs. "Well, just turn east to R'lyeh then. I guess we'll have to wait a few more hours."

"Well, uhhh, that's going to be difficult."

DRM frowns. "How so?"

Violet gives a belated look. "We don't have... enough... fuel."

"What?", DRM spurts out.

"We had enough fuel for a one-way trip to R'lyeh. We would've made it if we had made a beeline, but by now we no longer have sufficient fuel."

"What? You only have enough fuel for a one-way trip? What was your plan to return then?"

"Well, I had a plane that could've made the return journey, but I picked the wrong one when we left Cartograville. It's easy to make mistakes when you're in a hurry, you know?"

"God, fuck. Damn it. What now?"

DRM spends a minute pacing back and forth, but cannot think of a solution. He then visits the other members of the squad, asking them for advice.

"How 'bout we mosey on over and ask New Zealand or Australia? I reckon they'd be mighty willing to lend us a hand with that refuelin'.", Zed says.

"Nyet, that's not going to work. Australia and New Zealand are strictly neutral.", Tenax responds.

"Hmmm... What if we... invaded a country for more fuel?", Dragon Historian suggests.

DRM objects. "WHAT? ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE? You know that these countries have armies, right?"

Tenax taps his head, "Yeah, but we have Dragon Historian, and he is pretty powerful. If we invade a small country, like, say, Vanuatu? That should be doable."

Dragon Historian chuckles. "Tenax gets it. 300 Vanuatuan troops vs. me, should be doable."

DRM remains skeptical. "You can't be serious."

"I am."

"Let me get this straight: you think that the best way to gain more fuel for our plane is to invade and plunder a nation-state?"

"Do you have a better plan?"

"No." DRM takes a deep breath. "Well, I guess it's official: Mapperdonia will invade the Republic of Vanuatu. Tenax, tell Shusha that we'll be a bit late."

A few hours later at 13:08, citizens of Vanuatu are relaxing at the southern end of Shark Bay at Espiritu Santo, before they see an object approaching in the sky.

"It's a bird!" "No, it's a plane!"

The plane then begins shooting.

"And it's gonna kill us!"

The civilians flee, clearing the way for the plane to land.

Slowly afterwards, the squad exits the plane.

"So, what now?", DH asks.

"To Santo-Pekoa International Airport, 36 kilometres to the south of where we are now. Google Maps says that it's about a 8 hour walk", Tenax explains.

Zed objects. "But wait! If DH leaves the plane behind, it will be defenseless. The Vanuatuan army could easily sneak up to our plane while Dragon Historian is gone, and the plane will be impossible to protect!"

"Yeah, but we don't even need to protect our plane. We need a plane, but not our plane specifically. We could just take our parachutes and hijack an existing Mapperdonian plane in their airport. If we're gonna steal fuel, why not steal a plane while we're at it?"

The squad agrees and then makes way south. En route, they reach the quiet village of Coulons, their footsteps echoing in the stillness of the tropical afternoon. The sun hangs low in the sky, casting long shadows over the palm trees that line the narrow streets.

As they walk, their fatigue and hunger grow increasingly unbearable. They last ate on the evening of Christmas. On the 26th, they could not eat due to having to leave Cartograville at midnight, and there was no food on the airplane either. Now, it has been 40 hours since they last ate, and their bodies are weakened.

They reach the small grocery store on the corner of a quaint street. Tenax enters the store, grabs 30 pickle jars and 40 Oreo rolls, and approaches the cashier.

"That'll be 13'211 Vatu."

"Hmmm, 13'211 Vatu... Should be about 150 Mapperdonian Dollars."

"No. We don't accept Mapperdonian Dollars here, we only accept Vatu"

"Alright, uhhh... You know, we have a lot of money. What if I sweeten the deal, and give you a thousand Mapperdonian dollars?"

"No, we only accept Vatu."

Tenax walks out of the grocery store, and returns with a large suitcase. He approaches the cashier. "Here are twenty thousand Mapperdonian Dollars. In Mapperdonia, this is enough to buy groceries for many years."

"No, we only accept Vatu."

"You don't seem to understand how good of a deal this is. If you sell us 30 pickle jars and 40 Oreo rolls for twenty thousand Mapperdonian dollars, you'll be returning the value of the products you've bought from suppliers more than a hundred times over!"

"No, we only accept Vatu."

"But you can literally turn our money into Vatu if you go to money exchange... thing, I forgot the term."

"Don't care. We only accept Vatu. If you want to buy our food, why don't you exchange your Mapperdonian dollars for Vatu yourself? You can exchange money using ATMs in Luganville. It's a 6 hour walk south from here."

"But we're famished. We need the food *right now*!"

"I missed the part where that's my problem."

"I think the only reason you're rejecting my offer is because you're just a regular employee and you have no stake in whether the deal is good or not. I demand to speak to your manager."

"Alright."

Afterwards, the manager arrives on the scene.

"Hey *manager*, I'd like to buy 30 pickle jars and 40 Oreo rolls for twenty thousand Mapperdonian dollars. That's over a hundred times their actual value."

"No, we only accept Vatu."

"Oh my god, not you too! Why does this irrelevant shithole country even have its own currency? Honestly, fuck this shit. How about you accept THIS currency?" Tenax raises a gun.

A bleeding hole is left in the manager's forehead.

"No, we only accept Vatu."

"I JUST FUCKING SHOT YOU IN THE HEAD! HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!?"

"People can survive gunshots to the forehead."

"Yeah, but like, you're supposed to react in some way at least."

"I don't recall that in my job description."

Tenax sighs and leaves the store. Afterwards, he gathers the squad, and they start picking up employees, dragging them on top of their heads, and throwing them on a pile outside. DH then shoots a Kamehameha at them, destroying their bodies.

Afterwards, the squad is free to quench their hunger by eating pickles and oreos, before proceeding further south.

As the Squad continues their journey toward Santo-Pekoa International Airport, they soon find themselves confronted by a formidable obstacle. Standing atop a cliff further south, a few hundred troops of the Vanuatuan army have gathered, determined to defend their homeland against what they perceive as Mapperdonian invaders.

The Vanuatuan troops had received reports of unauthorized Mapperdonian landings, shootings that terrorize civilians, and the plundering and killing in Coulons. Their intent is clear – to repel this apparent invasion by any means necessary. Upon seeing the squad approaching, they open fire.

DH, at the forefront of the squad, clenches his fists once again, focusing his energy to create a shimmering Ki energy barrier. The barrier forms a protective shield, deflecting bullets and projectiles aimed at the Squad. The Vanuatuan troops are momentarily taken aback by this display of supernatural power.

"Everyone, take cover! I can't keep this shield up indefinitely!", DH screams.

With DH using his Ki energy barrier to shield his comrades, the rest of the Squad quickly seeks refuge behind a set of rocks, using the natural cover to minimize their exposure to enemy fire and allow DH time to regenerate his energy after creating a ki barrier.

For the next few hours, sporadic exchanges of gunfire and ki blasts echo through the rocky terrain. The Vanuatuan army remains cautious, unwilling to approach the squad as they fear DH's devastating Kamehameha attack. On the other hand, the Squad is hesitant to advance toward the Vanuatuan troops, aware of the potential for close-range bombardment and assault.

Amidst the tension and the uncertainty of the situation, the squad struggles to come up with a solution that will allow them to continue their journey without further violence. They know that the path to R'lyeh and their ultimate goal of confronting Yan is still ahead, and they have to find a way to get past this obstacle without causing more harm.

As the hours pass with neither side gaining a significant advantage, the situation on the battlefield becomes increasingly tense. DH's energy barrier wavers, showing signs of strain. The Squad knows they can't keep this up for much longer, and the Vanuatuan army is equally unwilling to engage in a full-on assault.

Meanwhile, as battle reports trickle into the capital of Vanuatu, the president grows concerned about the ongoing conflict. He knows that a prolonged battle on Vanuatuan soil will only bring more trouble and unwanted attention to his country. He decides it's time to pursue a ceasefire and end this standoff peacefully.

The president contacts the military general in charge of the battle against the squad's invasion, giving him clear instructions to initiate a ceasefire. The general, though initially reluctant, recognizes the wisdom in the president's decision and relays the order to his troops.

Violet notices the Vanuatuan troops showing signs of slowing their fire. Recognizing this as a potential opening for negotiation, he approaches the Vanuatuan general, who brings him to a secure location with a communication device.

Violet is soon on the phone with the president of Vanuatu. He explains the squad's desperate situation and the need for refueling their aircraft. He assures the president that their goal is to continue their journey to R'lyeh and not to cause further trouble for Vanuatu. The president, although skeptical of the squad's intentions, sees an opportunity to rid his country of the Mapperdonian troublemakers.

After a tense discussion, during which Violet shares some of the squad's backstory and their quest to defeat Yan, the president reluctantly agrees to assist in refueling the Mapperdonian aircraft. He arranges for a refueling team to be dispatched to the location and provides instructions to the squad on how to proceed safely.

With the ceasefire in place and the promise of refueling, the atmosphere on the battlefield begins to ease. The Vanuatuan troops lower their weapons, and the squad cautiously steps out from behind their rocky cover, watching as the refueling team approaches.

It appears that a truce has been reached, but both sides remain wary of each other's actions as they work together to complete the refueling to refuel the Mapperdonian aircraft.

DH clenches his fist. "Tomorrow we'll depart and attack R'lyeh. And for real this time! I will avenge you, father!"

*To be continued...*