Everything happened so suddenly. No one moved. They watched the scene play out. There were a few exceptions though.
Ch'en already was hot on the kidnapper's tail, using a different route because the main one was blocked by a wall of black ice.
Leizi also faded into the crowd. She needed to find the prince as fast as possible. Failing the prince once was more than enough for her. The prince told her where they will meet, so with that information, she ran straight to that place.
All this happened so suddenly that Ying Jie was kicked under the stand, and after Ying Li was carried by the panda and ran away, most of the people didn't react. Most people's hearts are driven by love, and they thought that this was also a designed bridge, but when they saw Ying Jie staggering and almost falling under the stage, and his expression changed from shock to anger, everyone realized that something was wrong.
Hayate was still in a state of shock as he was in the pile of tables that he landed on. His cheek still felt the sting of the punch that he had received. The bruise felt weird. It was painful, yes, but it felt... cold. Like someone punched his face with a brick of ice. He lay on the table, trying to process that a giant panda just punched him in the face.
Ying Jie pulled himself out of the cake that he fell into. His guts felt like that punch had just rearranged them completely. When the prince managed to get out of his creamy trap, his furious eyes went to the altar. They widened when he saw there was a wall of black ice and the panda and princess were now gone.
He tore his gaze from the altar and went to the nearest guards. All of them still had a Gobsmacked expression on their faces from all of this
"You bastards!" Ying Jie shouted furiously, "What are you all doing?! Chase that panda!"
So with that scream, the guards finally took action.
No one could blame them for their lack of response. They were all expecting a happy ceremony where the princess of Yan would be married off to the Higashi royalty. Not seeing the princess being kidnapped by a panda of all things. Something like this would happen in a cartoon, not in real life.
Commands were given through the radio on finding the whereabouts of a panda that stole the princess. Although they were little guards in the area now, their amounts should be enough to catch the culprit before it was too late.
"Wha-what-what just happened?!" FEater screamed in shock. Her voice was almost drowned out by the muttering that came from the crowd, "Did he just punch two princes?! I know that he said that he wanted to do that. I did not know he was serious! And in public no less! What was he thinking?!"
"He wasn't," Messiah said as she smiled at all of this. Her eyes were fluttering as she watched all of this play out, "That is just who he is."
Compared to the calm Messiah, Grani was ready to run to Lin Ye's aid. Her hands were inches away from her spear, "What are we going to do? Are we going to help him?"
"No," Warfarin instantly denied this. With Lin Ye not being here, he assigned her as the leader of the group now. He also made sure that Messiah and Nian would follow her orders, "We need to go to where we promised to meet."
She shook her head as she led the group out of the venue. Warfarin grumbled under her breath as she led the way, "That moron! He was given millions of choices! Why did he choose the most troublesome one?! Are all royalty dumb or is he just a special case!"
"I believe the answer is the latter," Messiah answered, "He is quite special."
Nian followed the team, She noticed the guards were about to spread into the palace to catch Gege. Her eyes narrowed at them. Then she remembered what Gege did just now. With that idea on her mind, she raised her foot and stomped it to the ground. This act was nothing amazing. She did not even make a noise.
However, what followed after that was something else entirely.
A few seconds after her stomp, the ground under them shook violently. The guards that were about to chase after Lin Ye stopped in their tracks as they felt the rumble of the ground beneath them.
"An earthquake!" Ying Jie shouted in shock, "At this time?!"
Hearing the prince screaming about an earthquake started a chain reaction. People began to panic like headless birds. Chaos erupted amongst the crowd. This gave Warfarin and the rest a chance to escape from the scene without anyone noticing.
Although Ying Jie wanted to catch the panda and rip apart the person inside of the costume limb to limb, seeing the chaos in front of him, he needed to act. If his father ever heard that he let thousands of people die today, the throne would be only a dream for him after that. With that in mind, with a heavy heart, he ordered all of the guards to prioritise keeping the civilians safe and escorting them to safety.
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
"You bastard!" As Ch'en was chasing the kidnapper she shouted at him, "Put Her Highness down."
Lin Ye really had done it now, didn't he?
The angry dragon lady chasing him might be the answer to the said question.
Was it worth it? Absolutely!
The feeling of his fists slamming into Hayate's face and the bastard's stomach was something he would relish for a lifetime. Now he had to find a way to explain all that was happening to Hui-Chieh before she killed him. Seeing how she was hot on his tail, maybe he should explain it all when they arrived at Zhen's old room. From what he remembered it should be near them now. Just as he was planning out his action, a slap made him jolted back. With how big the panda's head was on his head, he almost fell.
He looked at the culprit who did it. In his arms was a really angry-looking little sister.
"Gege!" Lily shouted, "What are you doing!? Let me down!"
Under the costume, Lin Ye chuckled. His muffled voice answered her, "So? Finally admitting I'm your brother now?"
Ying Li clenched her teeth as she tightened her grip on his costume.
"What nonsense are you spouting?! My brother..." Lily was struggling to say the word but pushed through, "He's dead! You're not him! You're just a no-name vet from Ursus! Do you know what will happen to you if they catch you!"
Lin Ye did not say anything. Not that he was ignoring her question. It was just a bit tiring to carry a person with a stuffy costume as he ran from the cops. At least he could cool himself down a bit. Lin Ye was getting better at controlling his power now, albeit the side effects were still there.
Luckily for him, the sudden earthquake made some of the guards leave him alone. They were too occupied with keeping the citizens safe. At least the soldiers in Yan were praiseworthy. The royal family? Not so much. Especially the male side of the family.
As he ran, Lin Ye saw Zhen's old room.
So he stopped and let down Lily to the ground gently. The panda faced Ch'en as he shielded Lily from her.
Seeing this made Ch'en stop a few meters away from them. Her eyes narrowed at the criminal.
He was using the princess as his hostage.
"Bastard!" She growled at him as she placed both of her hands on Chi Xiao, "You are really tired of living to attack the royal family so publicly."
With the distance between them, Ch'en was confident that if she was able to pull out Chi Xiao from its scabbard, the man in front of her would be defeated easily by her. However, Chi Xiao was acting stranger than normal today. It felt like it was glued to its scabbard. It was like it was denying her from pulling it out.
No matter. Ch'en could easily force her way. However, a new problem came up if she did this. It would be hard to control Chi Xiao if she forced it out. The chance of her accidentally hurting Ying Li was too high for her liking. For now, at least, she was at a standstill.
On Lin Ye's end, he really needed to get himself out of this stupid costume of his. He could explain the situation to Hui-Chieh. Seeing that he was already at his destination and with no Leizi in sight, he needed all the help he could get. Just as Lin Ye was about to pull up the bear mask from his head, Lily pushed him down to the floor.
Her dark black eyes stared into his.
"You are really a lunatic!" Ying Li gritted her teeth.
"... Not denying that," He was still able to laugh in this whole situation, "I am not the sanest person in this world. I blame the world for that."
"Why did you do this!?" Ying Li asked desperately as she gripped the costume, "Haven't you thought about the consequences?! What will happen if you get caught?! Tell me!"
"In my defence, I had a plan for all of this. You do not want to know how much I prepared for this," Gege said, "But when I saw what happened in the dressing room when that bastard was about to hurt you, I really wanted to punch him. So I did. Publicly."
Ying Li was stunned.
Gently, Lin Ye raised his hand - paws? - and placed it on her cheek.
"No one hurts my little sister," He said, "Not even kings or gods."
She stared blankly at the silly panda costume in front of her. Her whole body trembled. Ying Li's voice became choked up as she gripped harder on the mascot.
"You... idiot." She could barely say this under her breath, "You're just the same as always."
The scene that Ch'en was seeing now, made her confused. What the hell was going on here?
How did the kidnapper get kidnapped by his kidnapped? And why was Ying Li acting so close to the panda? Wasn't she being kidnapped? How can she be so calm with all of this?
Before Chen could make head over tail about the situation, two guards appeared not far from them, just a couple of feet away in front of Ch'en.
"There!" One of the guards shouted at them, "Stop there-!"
Before he could finish his sentence, both of the guards looked like they were struck by lightning. Their body started twitching and after a while of them twitching in place, they fell to the floor.
As they fell down, a figure could be seen behind them.
Ch'en's eyes widened when she saw the person responsible for this.
Leizi could be seen holding up her staff. Sparks of lightning were flying all around her.
{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}
Draft: Jaq
Proofread: Jaq & Discord Server
Edit: Jaq