I Can’t Hear You!

Crash!

Joe was tossed back into the van. He was in the driver's area, where the former driver tore open the small wall in between them.

Joe, unwilling to lose the rare spatial elements quickly absorbed them back into his heart. He then began looking for ways to escape.

Joe quickly tried to open the door. The door quickly snapped open and Joe began to run away.

Joe noticed the burly driver come out the back of the van. He began charging at him.

Joe started to sweat at this. He was nearing his limits, as he had never been in a real fight before, nor had he run so desperately.

He decided to try to use some more magic. He tried to sense the wind elements, which were transparent. They were rather hard to see. He gathered them on his feet, and began to start feeling lighter. However, the difference was basically negligible.

Joe only had one other option. He drew out some spatial elements from his heart magnet. He laid them on the ground in the direction the burly driver was charging at him from. He looked back, and when he saw the burly driver step on the darkness, he shouted in his mind.

'Expand!'

The next thing he knew, the burly driver was running in place. It felt like he was barely moving. He was still running quickly, but he wasn't making any distance.

Joe quickly began running away again. After making some twists and turns, he began to walk leisurely.

'Whew. If I didn't think quickly there, I would probably be captured.'

[The Host should have thought of things rationally. The Host could've gone into custody for a short while, and then be released shortly after for having no evidence of scams]

Joe was speechless indeed.

'I guess... Well anyways, since we're back on Earth, can you tell me how to get back to the Scripture?'

[Calculating... The best way for the host to get back to Nevada is to hitchhike. Buying a car, or renting any other forms of transportation would be inconvenient. Host does not have much money at the moment, and thus cannot buy or rent anything. Hitchhiking is the best form of transport]

'Sure... But do I need to pay to hitchhike? I've never done it before.'

[The Host should ask to pay for gas to get a higher chance of getting picked up. It is also recommended that the Host does not wear such dirty clothes]

Joe currently had about a hundred bucks in his pocket.

He decided to head to a clothes store to buy something acceptable for about forty dollars. He then got some food for the road, and used his phone to find a good spot to hitchhike.

He consulted the system in his head, which said that hitchhiking was best done in a place with a low speed limit and a place where pulling over would be easy.

Pulling up google maps, he found he was on the eastern side of California. He headed to the outskirts of the nearest town, and sat down. He smiled, as per the instructions of the system, and waited for someone to pick him up.

…

The former driver was sitting in what was left of the back of the van. The seemingly young girl was driving this time.

The girl broke the silence and spoke.

"Sir, why didn't you capture him?"

The man spoke bluntly.

"I couldn't. It was all going fine until he slowed down a bit. He looked like he was really concentrating on something, and suddenly, I felt as though our distance increased exponentially. He was so close yet so far. Get it?"

"...No, Sir."

"I didn't think so. Looking back on it again, that guy probably wasn't the one. He seemed as though we weren't on the same page. It was probably a coincidence he was so unique."

"It may not be. They may be planted by a competitor."

The burly former driver was a part of an underground organization. He worked in the weapon exchange business. He was someone with a chance of inheriting the organization, though he was competing with two others. One of the competitors were nearly negligible though.

"I doubt it. If he was planted by one of the others, he would've been far deadlier."

The girl fell silent at that.

When they got off the car, she made a discreet call. She was still rather doubtful even if her young master had already said it so.

"Track down that young man. Even if he isn't part of the enemy faction, we're better safe than sorry."

In her mind, she thought, 'No chances will be taken!'

…

"Ahhhhh! Why is nobody picking me up!"

Joe was shouting his frustrations on the other hand, at not being picked up by anyone. He grimaced from his aching cheeks.

"Damn it!"

After venting his frustrations, Joe sat down on the ground once more, still holding out his thumb.

Just as Joe was beginning to feel dejected again, a junky old car stopped by. The window rolled down, albeit slowly, revealing a woman's face. Her face was covered by sunglasses, but he could still tell she was quite pretty. She had long legs and a flat chest.

"Hey. I'll take you, if you pay me."

Joe was in a momentary daze. Her voice wasn't soft like he imagined, and instead it was rather rough.

"Hey! Are you coming or not? You didn't expect this to be free did you?"

"Ah! No! I'm coming! I'll pay!"

Joe quickly opened the door and sat down in the passenger seat.

"So where are you headed? I'll have to take you there."

"Nevada. Just take me to Boulder City. I'll pay for the gas."

The woman only raised her eyebrows at his choice of drop-off, but didn't pry. It was rather strange for him to be so far from where he wanted to be without a vehicle.

Silence prevailed in the junky old car.

'If only I were a Great Mage... I could just fly to Nevada and be done with it...'

At this thought, Joe decided to practice some magic discreetly. He gathered water and wind elements around him, but not enough to take a physical form. Fire and earth would make the air somewhat stifling, so he chose to use wind and water. He continued gathering separate clots of elements, and refined his control.

From the woman's perspective, Joe was meditating. She put on a strange face at that, one Joe didn't notice, and turned back to driving.

The woman checked her rearview mirror and saw two sleek black cars trailing behind. She narrowed her eyes at that. 'Are they after me?'

The cars began to move on the left and right sides of the janky old car. Suddenly, one of the cars rammed into the janky old car, while the other black car slowed down as to not get hit by the collision.

Joe was abruptly smacked out of his practice state.

The car had just been knocked off-road. It flipped on it's side, so the two of them had to get off.

"What's going on? What just happened?"

Joe was frantic in his questions. The woman only stared back at him and spoke one word.

"Sorry."

'What is she sorry for? Is she actually trying to kill me?'

Countless thoughts raced through his head in that moment, but that was when he saw four darkly-dressed men come out of the black cars in front of him. They took out a small assortment of cold weapons. Daggers, knifes, machetes. Basically any cold weapon.

The woman walked up and spoke to the men.

"Hey, let's make a deal. We both know I'm the one you really want. You can take me away, but leave that guy out of it."

The man in front looked at her weirdly.

'Who do you think you are for us to be here for you?'

He spoke his thoughts aloud.

"Who are you? We aren't here for you, whoever you are. We're just here for the guy in your car."

The woman's face twitched at that. It turned out it was just a misunderstanding.

Joe was standing up after the impact. His ears were ringing. When one of the men saw him, he shouted at him.

"If you come quietly, we can let you off without using any force!"

Joe looked at him. He shouted back at him while pointing at his ears.

"What?! I can't hear you!"

The man stared at him with a face that basically asked, 'Are you mocking me?' Nonetheless, he still repeated himself.

"If you come quietly, we can let you off without using any force!!!!!"

This time, Joe could kind of hear him.

"If I come, you'll let me go? What?!"

By this point, the man was exasperated. He sighed, and commanded his men.

"Whatever! Just get him!"