1. The Court of Pluto

It was a dark and stormy night...

The Hoo family stood on trial at the cold Pluto Supreme Court. Ah-moe, 7.4, the head of the family stood at the center of the five people. To his right, his wife Ah-pui, 7, and his eldest son Ah-moo, 3. To his left, his son Ah-mo, 2.8, and daughter Ah-mui, 2.4.

"Hoo Ah-moe! Why have you chosen to abandon the many years of Pluto tradition?! You have disgraced us all with your actions! We, Plutonians, have always maintained a good record of intelligence. Your fore fathers have all been people of great intelligence... Especially me!" boomed Hoo Ah-mooe, the judge of the court session, and the self-declared President/King of Pluto.

"Why oh why do I have such a stupid son like you?" he sighed in resignation, "Not a hint of intelligence after so long... And now even naming your sons wrongly?! Do you have an answer??"

(Footnote: This is Pluto, we must remember, and here, Plutonians grow up quickly, reaching their teens within 3 Plutonian years, but retain their youth for a much longer period. So in comparison, though Ah-moe is much older than his children, he still retains the unpolished look of a teenager, looking only slightly older than Ah-moo.)

2. The Pluto Tradition

At this point you're probably confused by all that is going on, so I shall tell you more about one of the many rather weird traditions on the lonely planet of Pluto.

Pluto is a somewhat tiny planet, inhibited by millions of people, but more importantly, largely dominated by people of the Hoo family line. Like a monarchy, this "Royal Family" holds great power, and has been ruling the people rather well over many centuries.

This is where the weird tradition begins. The founder of Pluto many years had great pride in his name, and declared that all his sons must follow his name. In a rather unique and unimaginable kind of way. This was what he said:

"Generations must be properly named in order to show their seniority. All my sons must follow my name, each name varied only by removing the letter 'o' from it. When 'o's have run out, the next letter of the alphabet will be used, and 'o's will be added to it until there are 50 'o's, so on and so forth. And this shall be the law!" (That was the royal version - some other versions have insisted that he had added a big loud "Humph!" after, just as all the Royal Hoo Family like to do in an attempt to show their superiority. But that is of little importance, except it does make him look a bit more stupid.)

His self-given name was Hoo Ah-aooooooo..........ooooe (50 '0's in total); this in the Plutonian language basically means: "The very...(50 'very's)...very first one" - the "very"s added for emphasis.

This is what he meant in short (pun intended) : His first son, would be named "Hoo Ah-aooooooo....oooe" (49 'o's in total), and his next son would be "Hoo Ah-aooo...(48 'o')...ooe". Then, finally after many years, it would be "Hoo Ah-ae" - his next son would be named "Ah-be", next son "Ah-boe", then "Ah-booe"... and so on. Until there are 50 'o's. Then 'c' comes next.

If you think differentiating between the names is hard, that's not all. The founder-cum-president-cum-king Ah-aooo...(50 'o')....ooe believes in the beauty of names. He declared that for each 'o' in the name, they must be properly said - for each 'o', they had to be sounded for a full second. Also, names must be written in full - Ah-aooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooe,
never Ah-aooo...(50 'o')....ooe or anything like it. All who disobey are severely dealt with. So addressing the president is no mean feat... Just saying his name requires about a minute. Some weaker people have been unable to speak to him as they fainted before they could finish his name.

And oh yes. They refuse to be addressed by any other names, like Sir, King, President etc.

Therefore, when someone starts saying "Hoo ah-.." everyone starts counting quietly; especially the one speaking.. And they wouldn't know who the person is calling until he stops. If he miscounts, he would end up calling the wrong person.

That explains why people there have enormous big lungs, a good estimation of time and big long scrolls of paper.

A rather stupid law in my opinion though.

3. Public Nuisance

Now back to our situation... Ah-moe, the son of Ah-mooe, was the first one of the royal family to be lacking in the intelligence gene, or simply put, plain stupid. (And lazy. And proud. And a trouble-maker... The list goes on, and on, and on, and on... )

Now, you see that Plutonians are divided into two rather extreme ends - the very intelligent, and the, ahem, very stupid, which make up of less than 0.1% of the population. Those who are stupid are condemned to do simple laborious jobs. The Royal Family has always held them in contempt and this made Ah-moe a greater disgrace to them. After many years of cover up (often blotched by Ah-moe himself), the Royal Family couldn't stand the sight him anymore, and sent him to a very distant small town, just to keep him out of their minds.

As you can predict, the townsfolk didn't like him much either, especially with him creating so much trouble, and most of all, pretending to be clever all the time (when he was far from it). They devised a not-so-secret plan and tricked Ah-moe into marrying the fiercest woman in their community (by simply taunting him that he wouldn't be smart enough to marry her), hoping that with her around, he could finally be controlled.

They were dead wrong. It turned out that his wife, Ah-pui, wasn't exactly the type of wife they had expected, one who could keep Ah-moe under control. And a few tumultuous years later, this was where Ah-moe made his ultimate mistake - naming his sons Ah-moo and Ah-mo, instead of Ah-ne and Ah-noe. (Ah-moe had a younger brother named Ah-me.)

After a few years of tolerating the annoying Ah-moe and his even more annoying son Ah-mo, the rather peaceful Plutonians got pretty frustrated. (Remember that one Pluto-year is really quite a long time.) Finally the tolerance of some of the citizens collapsed, and they reported Ah-moe to President Ah-mooe (who had deliberately cut off all contact from Ah-moe all these years).

That's why they were now standing in front of the panel awaiting judgment. Thousands of people have gathered outside the court, anxious of the results (for various reasons)... They have long known that directly defying the founder's laws was a very serious offense, and this is the first time in the history of Pluto that any royalty was to stand trial. But largely, they wanted to see them condemned, punished and humiliated...

4. The Verdict

"Hoo Ah-moe. Your last chance. Before the panel of judges, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"Nothing er. I'm clever and I like these names er. Humph!!!"

"Then we have nothing else to say. Hoo Ah-moe. After not much consideration by the panel, you and your family have been sentenced to exile from Pluto. You are hereby thrown out of the Royal Hoo Family, and will no longer be accepted as Plutonians. You and your family are permanently banished. It means you'll be completely forgotten. Removed from the history of Pluto. As if you've never been born."

He paused and turned to another figure in the court room.

"Hoo Ah-me. You shall henceforth be known as Crown Prince Hoo Ah-moe." He proclaimed to the court, as the Plutonians saw the well-loved Ah-me, brother of Ah-moe, come forward to accept the verdict. Cheers and claps exploded around the solemn court room, as the newly-proclaimed prince waved in appreciation.

Ah-mooe, visibly happy, allowed the noise to die down without interfering.

Turning back to Ah-moe, he banged the gravel and announced, "Strangers, we have prepared a rocket for your immediate removal. Go wherever you want, just never come back." President Ah-mooe said in relief, without any tinge of remorse, even though he was sending one of his two sons off to exile.

"Guards! Bring them to the launch pad. And prepare for lift-off immediately."

And so they were.

5. Exiled

All five of them were shoved down an rundown path, with Ah-moe leading the pack, his wife Ah-pui trailing behind, followed by his children, Ah-moo, Ah-mo and Ah-mui. Ah-moe, still wriggling around in his chains and snapping at the guards had not noticed that they were being led to the old and disused launch pad - the one which had been used as a rubbish dump for years.

It's when they got there that they realized their exile wouldn't be anywhere as easy as Ah-mooe said.

As they walked closer to that rocket they were about to board, they could see that it was made at least 20 years ago (120 earth years), and has not been maintained for years. Ancient, considering Pluto's fast speed of technolgy advancements. (Plutonians are mostly very intelligent, remember?) Leaking fuel tanks, wings that are about to break, dents, rust and scratches everywhere... In fact, the rocket was barely standing, leaning precariously on some temporary structure. Interestingly, it was angled towards the giant hot spot in the sky (the sun as we know it), but of course, they were too busy to notice.

Before Ah-pui could start whinning and crying, before Ah-mo started to shout and annoy his sister, before Ah-mui could try to reach for something to whack her stupid brother, they were thrown into the rocket by the Pluto Guards.

And so, they were squeezed into the small spacecraft, and were shot into deep space in a matter of seconds.

"Good riddance!" many people thought out loud.

6. All Aboard

A family in exile should look out for one another and depend on each other, right?

Well. Not for them.

Ah-pui picked up a big quarrel with Ah-moe, who was happily playing around with the ship's controls, obviously oblivious to the fact that nothing he did in the past couple of days seemed to have any effect on the ship nor the fact that the steering mechanism was clearly missing; Ah-mo started picking on Ah-mui, who then retaliated with a big metal pipe on the ground (probably dropped out of somewhere from the crumbling rocket). Ah-moo then tried to separate his two fighting siblings, but instead got into the fight too.

"死Ah-moe! 你没有用er! 害死我们... 我们现在吃什么?? 死Ah-moe! 笨Ah-moe! 我要杀了你!" Ah-pui whined.

"Oei! 我忍你忍了很久了hor! 死Ah-pui..." Ah-moe shouted.

"对er! 爸爸很笨er! 没有用er! Humph!" Ah-mo added above the din, while trying to grab Ah-mui's hair.

"Oei! 死Ah-mo不要吵hor! 我聪明er! 你才没有用er..."

"我有用hor! 我聪明er! 你笨er! 死Ah-moe..."

.
.
.

And so hours and days rolled by without any good moments of peace...

(Footnote: Strangely, their dialect of Pluto speak sounds remotely like S'ngrrish Chinese. Since we can't put Pluto speak here, we have translated their speech to their equivalent forms in Chinese for your reading convenience.)

7. The Crown Prince

Meanwhile, in the Main Hall of the Pluto Royal Palace, Moon Charon...

Pillars carved with decorative embelms signifying honour and glory neatly circumvented the throne in the middle of the hall; bright magical spheres from the ceiling, conjured by the Royal Magicians, illuminated the place with golden rays of light; thousands of rich and well-known Plutonians, dressed in their best attires, scattered around the hall, discussing excitedly about the series of exciting events that have happened recently; small mystical orbs floated harmlessly around the palace to record the ongoings, which were broadcasted to millions of viewers elsewhere, giving them a 3D virtual recreation of the event simultaneously. It was one of Pluto's big events.

Ah-mooe sat on the exquisitely carved throne holding a grand scepter, while Ah-moe (the newly named one) sat in another majestic seat next to him.

"Fellow Plutonians!" Ah-mooe's magically enhanced voice boomed through the Hall. The ramblings of the crowd died down quickly.

"Fellow Plutonians! Today we are gathered here to witness the crowning of the Crown Prince... But... I'm sorry that that will not happen today..."

As the people gasped in disbelief and started to whisper to one another, Ah-mooe continued above the noise, "Today, we shall witness the crowning of the next President!"

Even Ah-moe was in disbelief.

"I'm getting too tired for this. The time have come for me to step down. Ah-moe, the future of the planet, and all your citizens, now lies in your hands!" He said, as he removed his crown and placed it on Ah-moe's head.

"Plutonians! I present to you -- President Ah-moe!"

Cheers rang out throughout the hall as Hoo Ah-moe received the scepter of kingship from Ah-mooe. And chants of "President Ah-moe! President Ah-moe!" erupted throughout the planet.

...

8. The Big Bang

While it is true that the Hoo's rocket is not in working conditions by any measure - apart from the shiny state of the art Pluotnium HyperDrive hurriedly wielded to the failing framework - all the punching and kicking, pushing and shoving, quarrelling etc also tore the rocket from inside out.

And so it came to pass that the rocket finally gave up on them, exploding in a blaze of glory after months of moaning through space and flinging the family of five through space in one huge tangled mess, each at each other's throats.

Conventional wisdom tells us that people can't survive in space -- they can't breathe as there is no oxygen; the pressure difference in space simply tears a person apart; sudden entry into any atmosphere causes high friction burns; the pressure difference then implodes the person. No chance of survival at all. None. Zilch. Zero. Kosong. (You get the idea.)

But they did.

Unknown to them, they were actually still under the quickly fading power of the all-powerful Pluto Royal Magic. This Pluto magic is rather simple -- whatever you believe, would be true. Like if you believe that you can fly, then you truly can.

At this point if you still don't get it, I shall make it clearer : they didn't die not because they had invulnerable skins, had great magical bubble shield or anything. They survived, simply because of ignorance -- they didn't know about it. They simply had assumed that space is just like "a very big street that's always at night" as Ah-moe put it.

Not long after, with a rather big bang, they smashed into the Indian Ocean, in a small planet called Earth.

It's here where the story finally starts.

(Footnote: This mind-boggling Pluto magic will reappear many years later.. Stay tuned.)

9. Stranded At Sea

"Huh? I knew it all along... We're all going to die... We'll melt in this liquid and then... Oei! Ah-mui! Ah-mo! Stop hitting me!!..."

"不管er... 你走开lah! 我要打Ah-mui!"

"Oei! 死Ah-mo! 不要拉我头发hor! 爸爸！Ah-mo又欺负我 liao!"

"Ah-mo! 不要欺负你妹妹hor!"

"哪里有!拉头发而已mah!"

"对hor...我聪..."

"Oei! 死Ah-moe! 你的错er! 你没有用er! 我要回家... Wahhhh..."

"死Ah-pui! Pui! Pui! Pui! Pui! 不要吵hor! 名字这样难听! Humph! 我的名字好听er. Humph! 你hor..."

"Oei! Ah-moe!"

"什么?!? 死Ah-mo! 我是你爸爸hor! 你要叫我爸爸的hor! Humph! 我厉害er..."

"笨Ah-moe... 有船 lah!"

"叫我爸爸hor... 我很聪... 有船? 哪里?"

"你后面!"

"一定是骗我的... 哪里有船? Humph!"

And Ah-moe was hit by a steamer from behind.

10. Saved

After a few more hours of floating in the frigid waters, they were kindly saved from the large blue sea by a crew of Romanian people on a fishing trawler, who spoke the Romanian language which the Hoo family, of course, couldn't understand. In fact, all attempts at communications were unsuccessful, partly because Ah-moe was trying to show them that he was clever and they should give the ship to him, and all jump into the sea. Or something to that extent.

The kind sailors finally gave up trying to comprehend them. They thought they must have picked up a bunch of idiots -- two teenagers quarelling and fighting with one another over no reason, one trying to push them away but got hit all the time instead, and the larger two constantly shouting incomprehensible words at each other.

Some others thought that maybe it's just fatigue and confused after being shipwrecked, but this group of people sure have a very wierd way of being fatigued or confused.

Seeing the great unknown animousity between the younger two children, they split the family into two rooms, with Ah-moe and Ah-mo in one room, and Ah-pui, Ah-mui and Ah-moo in another. A decision that changed the lives of Ah-moe and Ah-mo forever.

11. Ah-moe's Permenant Haircut

Now, we must realise that on a ship, resources are limited. Using too many lights at night without ample reason is not allowed. This is especially true for this rather old ship - in order to conserve energy, only the captain's cabin had a single light bulb. Hence, dinner is often served at 6pm, just before it gets dark, and the sailors retire for the night by about 7pm. Any later would mean trying not to stuff the food up your nose, walk into a door or something.

So, after being treated to a simple dinner by the sailors, the Hoo family retired for the night to each of their rooms just when it was getting dark. That was only about 7pm.

In the dark, unlit cabin of Ah-moe and Ah-mo...

"死Ah-moe! 我要出去玩! 我要去找Ah-mui 打架!"

"笨Ah-mo! 不可以 lah! 他们锁门 liao lah! 死Ah-mo叫我爸爸hor!"

"不管er! Jed... Harh? Jed... 我肚子饿 leh..."

"我也饿 hor! 不要吵lah! 死Ah-mo跟你妈妈一样... Oww!!!!"

And Ah-mo yanked out a whole chunk of hair out of Ah-moe and started chewing.

"Oei!!!! 死Ah-mo! 哪里可以这样 huh? 我打... Aiyah!!!!"

And another chunk of hair was jerked out of Ah-moe's head.

"Oei!!!! 你够 liao hor! 我... Oei!!!"

"Mmm... 好吃极了!"

"Aiyah!!!"

This "aiyah" wasn't screamed by Ah-moe anymore, but by Ah-mo as Ah-moe grabbed his son's hair in return, pulled it clean out and started munching.

"Eh! 真的好吃er.. 死Ah-mo头发也好吃er... Mmm... 非常好... Oei!!! "

"Mmm... 好吃极... Aiyah!!!"

.
.
.

Echoes of "Aiyah" resonated throughout the ship in the still of the night...

In less than an hour, Ah-moe was left absolutely bald, and Ah-mo managed to escape with three strands of hair left. Neither of them realised that the hair of Plutonians is an effective herb for varying the rate of hair growth. It's a delicate process -- different amounts of hair consumed at one sitting brings about largely different results. And it could only work once.

For Ah-moe, the amount of hair consumed was just enough to stop all hair growth. Since he's completely bald now, he will now be bald for the rest of his life.

"死Ah-mo..."

"光头大笨和尚!! 哈哈..."

(Footnote: Plutonian hair bears a strong resemblance to compressed candy floss. It is clumpy, very easily detached from the scalp and strangely edible. Some people says it tastes like seaweed... Don't ask me, I haven't tried it before... And regarding the "monk" part -- apparently, Ah-mo did learn something from watching all the television programmes back on Pluto. )

12. Ah-mo the Pitch-fork

"死Ah-mo! 我来拔掉你的头发er!"

"Pok!" as Ah-moe pulled out one of Ah-mo's hair and started to bite.

"Aiyah!!!!" Ah-moe screamed.

And Ah-moe's tooth nearly broke.

For Ah-mo, it had a rather peculiar result. The three strands of hair left actually became straight and rigid, even harder than steel. The hairs were pointing straight up, parallel to each other, each had grown about 4 inches tall, and quarter of an inch thick. Apart from being solid as steel, these three strands of hair will grow back within seconds after they are plucked, a unique ability Ah-mo gained from eating Ah-moe hair. Very much like Ah-moe, such a hairstyle of Ah-mo is permenant, making him look like a walking pitch-fork...

"死Ah-mo!"

"Humph!" Ah-mo jeered in return, not knowing what it's all about, oblivious that another hair has already completely grown back on his head...

(Footnote: Confused? Well... You should be. Because what you have just read is one of the most bizzare cases of Pluto magic that has been cast unintentionally. Plutonian hair is generally similar to human hair. Yet in the case of the three remaining hairs of Ah-mo, they have strangely acquired the strength and length of all the other Plutonian hair that he had just eaten. Somehow magically, they grew in size. and spaced themselves equidistant from one another, forming a symmetrical pattern on Ah-mo's head...)

13. Marching Orders

"Captain?!..."

"Yeah ma'te, I k'no... Z'it bad?"

"Bad?!? They're literally eating the ship from inside out! And what's more, I think they're smuggling weapons!..."

"V'eaponz?!?"

"They threw this out of their window..."

The first mate handed a black shaft to the captain. It looked like a projectile of some sort, resembling a spear's head. It was hard as steel, about 4 inches long and barely a quarter of an inch thick in diameter.

"Z'is muz be z'e most d'eadful mistake I've maide in mai life...", the captain gave a sigh of resignation as he studied the weapon.

"Sir, we just passed an island a couple of minutes ago, do you think we can... er... deposit them there?"

"Z'it!?! Z'it!?! Get z'e crew to prepare z'e lifeboat immediaztely!" The captain exclaimed with a glint in his working eye. "Or bettzer yet... Find z'e spare plank!"

A few sailors then emerged from the cabins, carrying some thick ropes, and moved quickly towards the cabins that housed the Hoos. Without a word, they proceeded tying the ropes around Ah-moe and Ah-mo while bringing the other Hoos out from the other cabin.

"Oei! 哪里可以这样? Ah-pui 救我leh..."

"Neh ni neh ni neh neh! Humph! 死Ah-moe... Pui! 不管你 er!你的错er! Karrr-Pui! Humph!"

"Oei! 不可以这样的hor! 死Ah-pui 你...Mmfff..."

And he was muffled by a piece of rag stuffed into his mouth. His ramblings were getting onto the nerves of the sailors.

"哈哈... Ah-moe 你笨er!... 我没有被...Mmfff.."

And Ah-mo was gagged too.

(Footnote: The sailors were not speaking English, but Romanian, as explained before. As again, we have translated their speech to their equivalent forms in English for your reading convenience.)

14. Abandoned

Though Ah-pui had lots to say, like laughing at Ah-moe, saying he's stupid, scolding him for being useless etc, she decided not to open her mouth. One of the few wise decisions by her though, for she would have been bound and gagged too.

And so, one by one, they were given the right boot into the waters once again, after which, an old plank the size of a door was thrown in, landing right smack on Ah-mo.

"Aye! 谁敲我的头? 开灯leh! 很暗leh!" bubbled Ah-mo underwater as he struggled to untangle himself from the plank that was impaled on his rigid hair. After much effort, Ah-mo finally managed to surface, breaking away more than a quarter of the plank.

The motors had already roared away in the distance, and once again it was all quiet, and they were all left to drift on the plank to that nearby island.

"死Ah-mo! 不要吃liao hor!?!"

"Mmm... 好吃极了..." mumbled Ah-mo as he took another bite of the plank, completely ignoring Ah-moe.

"笨Ah-mo! 我给你吃这个er!" a screaming Ah-moe plunged his fist into Ah-mo's gaping mouth.

And so, two figures at a distance at sea wrestling with each other clutching a broken plank, with three others in the same violently rocking plank desperately trying to stop them. Untying them was a pretty dreadful mistake by Ah-moo.

(Footnote: Ah-mo and Ah-moe managed to swallow the rags that they were gagged with. It's a tough job trying to gag them as they swallow everything.)

15. The Aliens Have Landed

Ah-moo was desparately trying to separate the brawling two, while Ah-pui and Ah-mui knew better. All they did was sigh in resignation. They knew that there was no way that they could reach the island on that plank.

They were quite right.

Just about barely 20 metres from the white shores, Ah-mo threw a punch at Ah-moe, missing him by inches and hitting the side of the plank; Ah-moe hit back in retaliation, catching Ah-mo right in the jaw, sending him off the plank and into the sea, while he himself fell backwards onto the plank. Before he could utter his cry of victory, the plank broke into many fragments, casting them into the depths of the cold water.

So, they were drenched to the toe as they clambered their way to the isolated island. It was still stark pitch black, with no lamps in sight, and very deserted. Crickets were happily chatting away, filling the salty sea air with their songs. Generally undulating, without cliffs or high mountains, much of the island was hidden by the enshrouding natural vegetation.

They stood silently at the rocky beach for a whole minute, lost and bewildered. Even Ah-mo kept quiet. Then suddenly, something caught Ah-moe's attention and he ran screaming into the depths of the island.

16. Twinkle Littler Stars

The Hoos watched stunned as the shrieks of "twinkle twinkle little-er star!!!" filled the night sky, seemingly sung to a common Plutonian folk song.

Ah-moe had climbed past a tall railing and was staring right into a pair of shiny stars coming his way. Dancing and bobbing on his stubby legs, he started on his "twinkler twinkler" once more.

Of course it hadn't occured to him that stars normally do not move this fast, neither do they travel at such altitudes, and who ever heard of stars travelling in pairs? But who cares? Ah-moe has never seen stars this big before...

Horns blaring... Tires screech... A loud bang...

A giant logging truck had met head on with Ah-moe. At the speed it was travelling, the driver probably would have one in a zillion chances of stopping in time. No one expected people to be dancing in the middle of the road at 4am anyway.

The trailer attached swung wildly upon impact, tumbled with a crash causing logs from the truck to break free from the restraining chains, rolling over the rest of the Hoos, knocking the sea water out of them.

...

Finally, it really went pitch black for all of the Hoos, as the firemen began extricating them from the mangled mess of the wreckage.

(Footnote: No humans were hurt in the making of this story. The truck driver managed to escape unscathed somehow and call in the firemen.)

17. First Aid

The sky was clear, and the island was bathed in the warm early morning sun, casting shadows on the numerous coconut trees lined along the beach. Calm blue sea gently lapped upon the unmarred white beach as seagulls hovered above the island, wailing loud cries to declare the start of a new day.

In a nearby hospital, doctors and nurses were scampering around, wheeling pieces of mangled flesh from room to room. Apparently, they were still sorting out which parts belong to whom from the accident approximately two hours back.

Ah-moe had arrived in several meaty chunks which made it difficult to tell each part from another. Ah-mo had his stubby neck broken in 3 places and had a nasty piece of log lodged in his mouth as he was apparently laughing at Ah-moe at the time of the accident. He was incomplete too, with gaping holes where flesh should be. Both Ah-moo and Ah-mui arrived visibly flattened and strangley contorted very much like Ah-mo, missing a limb or two. Ah-pui had arrived with the least amount of injuries, with her lower body twisted almost a hundred and eighty degrees.

Perhaps the strangest bit was that they were not bleeding at all. No signs of blood, of any colour and texture were oozing from the wounds.

Meanwhile, in one of the operating theatres...

"They're... not... not human... Are they?"

"Ahh... Yes... that I'm pretty sure of... Hmmm... " the doctor paused in mid sentence. "They do have humanoid form though, in their natural state, although a little shorter, more plump... "

"Ahh... Yes... Skin colour close to that of a Caucasian, slight purplish tinge... But hairless... Hmmm... Still... Wonder what's inside of them..." the doctor continued, adjusting his rimmed glasses on his horned nose.

"Urm... Sir... I don't... don't think... that's a good idea... It's... " the lady nurse in short white uniform stuttered, her knees visibly shaking.

"Oh don't worry! It'll be just a small cut... They'll regenerate in no time... Ahh... Yes... I know incision doesn't seem to work... As the rest have told me... Hmmm... So here I'm trying out this laser thingy..."

"IT'S MOVING!" the nurse had barely finished screaming when Ah-moe rose from the operating table.

18. Medical Mayhem

"I'm sorry miss, you're not supposed to be moving around... And NO SPITTING PRRREASE!" the nurse ended off with a howl.

Piak... A horrible glob of saliva plastered the face of the nurse. Icky, gooey, and unbelieveably smelly, the nurse threw up at once, before passing flat out. What she didn't know was that Plutonian spit usually clings for a Plutonian day (6 Earth days), makes everything taste like styrofoam for half a year and gives you bad breath for a year.

The silence in the hospital was broken by screams of terror as Ah-mo broke out of the operating theatre. He had apparently emptied the contents of the anesthetic cylinder in the operating theatre, knocking everyone out cold. He was now running amok through a corridor, clobbering people (and things in general) with a reflex hammer in his right hand, throwing syringes around with his left, and squirting people full of glucose from bags squashed under his arm pits.

"硬硬er! Humph!" Ah-mo shouted gleefully as his pounded his own head with the reflex hammer.

"亮亮er!好看er! Humph!" Ah-moe joined in, as he shot another laser beam into his eye, taking a piece of the wall behind him. He had dragged the portable laser equipment out with him, together with a bunch of other medical equipment. Some say he had a chainsaw in his other hand, but of course, no one stayed to find out.

"Call security! Call security! The aliens are loose!"

19. Disguises

Alarms ring, sirens flare, people scream. It was a huge mess as people scrambled out of the hospital, nearly tramppling over each other. Most of them didn't know what happened, some of them got wind that weird looking terrorists had taken over the hospital, nobody knew what to do.

In that chaos, no one had noticed there were three strange looking people (and an unconcious nurse) still in a small ward at the end of the corridor...

"很吵leh!" Ah-pui howled as she spat once more at the buzzing alarm, muting the alarm bell almost instantly with the gooey spit. The whole ward was enveloped with a putrid stench and a greenish vapour, from the many globs Ah-pui produced.

The nurse who has been assigned to take care of them lay sprawled on the floor, still out cold as Ah-mui eyed her intently. "Interesting... One piece..." she thought to herself, as she gingerly removed the nurse's uniform and slipped... urm... squeezed it on, popping a few buttons.

"美美er!" Ah-mui squealed in delight, prancing around in her new clothes.

"Oei! 死Ah-mui! 没有跟我讲有新衣服! 我也要er!" Ah-pui whined as she stamped her feet on the ground. Without thinking, she grabbed the nearest thing she could find, emptied the contents (on the nurse) and threw it over her head. "有新衣服liao er!"

"死Ah-moo! 你的错er! 你没有用er! 没有跟我讲妹妹有新衣服! 我也要... Wahhhh..."

Ah-moo, who has been quiet all these while was standing rigidly in a corner, holding a few leaves, and muttering to himself, "I'm a potted plant... I'm a potted plant..."

(Footnote: Back on Pluto, even the most simple clothes consists of multiple separate layers, and had to be worn in a certain sequence. Ah-moe had often delighted in wearing complex and elaborate clothing, but had never once in his life got the sequence correct. And of course, he thought everyone else was laughing because they were simply jealous of his clothes.)

20. Rescued

"'ey 'ey 'ey, Ms... erm... Valibaa, yer ain't s'posed be 'ere ma'am!" the police officer in anti-terrorist wear barked, reading off the name tag pinned on Ah-mui's uniform -- "Amurudia Munneru Valibaa". She sure didn't look like a Ms Valibaa, he thought to himself, but inter-racial marriages are getting really common these days.

"And s'body get that trash can off her!" pointing to Ah-pui, looking very ridiculous with a metal bin over her head, banging into walls and trying to grab anything within her grasp.

"Men! Get these civilians outta 'ere! We 'ave got terrorists to deal with!"

The armed men stormed the room and escorted Ah-mui and Ah-pui out of the room. Ah-moo had remained rigid and refused to budge, and had to be carried out, amidst his mumblings of "I'm still a plant... I'm still a plant...".

They darted along the corridor, and the men shoved them into an empty room, and slammed the door behind them.

"Stay 'ere! And don't come out until we say so!"

And the soldiers completely forgot about them soon after.

21. Arrested

"This is the police! Yer have been surrounded! Drop yer weapons and release yer 'ostage at once!" a mechanized voice boomed, briefly interrupting the frantic screams of a woman.

Ah-moe looked up to see about a dozen eyes staring at him. They had belonged to people dressed in strange black apparel exposing only their eyes, and they were hidding behind doorways and upturned furniture, pointing short black shafts at him. He had been busy trying to show an innocent civillian how pretty the laser beam would look in her eye that he hadn't notice that everyone else was gone and oddly dressed people had taken their place.

"我比你大声er!" Ah-mo bellowed at the police officer holding the loud hailer, while trying to snatch the civillian from the stunned Ah-moe to try out his reflex hammer.

"Release yer hostage at once! Yer have 5 seconds to comply!" the officer repeated, not understand what Ah-mo's roar meant.

" 笨Ah-mo! 没有hor! 我-比-较-大-声-er!!" Ah-moe screamed, ending with a high pitch shriek, raising both fists in protest, releasing the hostage who was swiftly brought to safety by hidden police officers. Ah-moe was too busy to care.

"我--比--较--大--声--er!!!"

"我---比---较---大---!!!!"

Empowered by their fading Pluto magic, their screams by now had escalated to such a high pitch and volume that glass was visibly shaking. In fact, the entire building was trembling slightly.

"Men! It's ultrasound weaponry! Take 'em down now!!" the officer shouted over the din, hands covering his ears, trying to block out the highly irritating noise.

Stun grenades explode... Green smoke fills the room... Glass shatters... Vision blurs... Silence...

As the smoke cleared, the unconcious figures of police men could be seen in the darkness, sprawled around two snoring people...

The stun grenades the police had launched landed at the feet of the Hoos just as Ah-moe and Ah-mo hit their highest notes of "HUMPH!!!". The resonance had instantly shattered all the glass articles in the room, fluorescent tubes and windows and all, sending shards all over, and knocking the police out.

22. Secret Passage

In the meantime, in the hospital pantry...

"I knew this would happen" sighed Ah-moo who gave up pretending to be a plant after a few hours. "From the day I was born I knew this was bound to happen some day... Inevitable. No hope. No chance. They're going to take us... We're all going to die here..."

"不要吵lah!" Ah-pui barked, as she tried pulling hard at the doorknob. No use. The door didn't budge. She kept on tugging at the door, hands, legs and everything she tried.

She didn't recognise the large "PUSH" sign on the door.

"We're never going to see father and Ah-mo anymore. They are going to be killed, just like us... We will have to eat the furniture here, then we will have to eat one another, then ourselves... Imagine biting yourself to feed yourself..." he continued.

"不要吵hor! 死Ah-moo!" the impatient Ah-pui threw her rubbish bin at Ah-moo, hitting him squarely on the back of his head.

"And now the sky's falling down on me..."

The bin landed with a crash at a nearby wall after bouncing off Ah-moo's head. As the bin rattled noisily after impact, they looked in that direction and saw a small metallic door in the wall, a square about 20 inches on each side.

The "door" opened quite differently -- instead of hinges by the sides, that was hinged at the bottom. Furthermore, it was very small, and didn't particularly smell nice. Normal people would have at least suspected that it wasn't really a door. But of course, they hadn't been around much on Earth.

Ah-pui pulled it off its hinges and stared down the dark tunnel.

23. Far Far Away

"好er! Ah-moo! 你先进去!" Ah-pui barked.

"Huh? But it's so dark! And so small! We can't go through it! What if there are monsters and ghosts inside... what if it's.. Hey!" Ah-moo stammered, before Ah-pui grabbed him by the shirt and threw him headfirst into the tunnel. Ah-mui, who was still admiring her clothes, was stuffed in next despite her protests.

"我来liao!" Ah-pui cried as she jumped in, her weight crushing the two who were stuck, driving them into the dark unknowns with Ah-moo screaming all the way.

Darkness... Down and down they slid... It was a long road down with many twists and turns marked by loud clangs of flesh against metal... Finally, light at the end of the tunnel... And very suddenly, darkness again... A loud thud...

"... khoor heew..." It was time for bed... Ah-pui and Ah-mui fell asleep promptly before hitting the bottom. They landed neatly on Ah-moo and rolled off him, without stirring from their slumber. Ah-moo sat there shivering, letting his imaginations run wild, being startled by every little sound around. It was after hours before he finally got hit by some disposed tranquiliser syringe from above, and fell into deep slumber.

The garbage truck hauled them in together with the trash at 6 am in the morning the next day. None of the garbagemen noticed the sleeping three amongst the huge pile of rubbish. So, loaded in the truck, the trio were transported away, to a place far... far... a...w...a...y...

(To be continued at Adventures of Ah-moo)

(Footnote: As you might infer, they do not have something like rubbish chutes in Pluto. Rubbish always went upwards, into space, where it would be gathered and atomised with nuclear rockets every month. Such similar tunnels were often magical portholes that were built for instant teleportation to far away places on Pluto. They were of course, much wider and more comfortable.)

24. Newsflash

From the local news network...

"This is a special news report."

"Local police has taken down two highly-armed terrorists in their viscious attack on a local hospital this morning. Scores of medical officers have been sent to another hospital for different injuries. Many of the patients have complained of intense headaches and varying levels of amnesia. One patient is in the ICU after a viscious biochemical attack. Details of the attack or the capture are still largely unknown, but these are the images captured by a passerby..."

What came next was blurry images of one person running around, chasing people with an unknown weapon clutched in his hand. At the far end, another was blasting the ceiling and walls with a laser beam, and swinging a massive chainsaw around him. Several nurses, doctors and patients running towards the camera. Screams of help and fear echoed through the corridor. Both of the attackers seemed to be in a frenzy, oblivious to the chaos around them...

The shorter of the two advanced towards the camera wielding the weapon, which we now can see is a hammer. We can now see that his hairstyle is quite unique, with 3 rigid hair-like structures. He grabbed two bags of glucose from a stand abandoned by a nurse, squashed them with his armpits, sending squirts of glucose onto the people running for their lives.

He turned towards the camera. A jet of liquid splashes forward. A wet smudge appeared on the screen. The attacker still rushing forward on his fanatic attack.

Camera view swings around, capturing the view of the backs of chaotic running medical employees. The camera view started jerking up and down, as the cameraman started running away from the maniacs. The view swept to the floor, and the images became unfocused and undicipherable.

The next scene was shot from a peek angle from a wall. It showed several heavily armed SWAT elites behind an overturned hospital desk, and several others in positions at different doorways, having a standdown with the terrorists who were holding a woman hostage. Behind them was the jammed chainsaw the taller one had dropped for the hostage, still grinding agianst the floor. As the commander issued a warning against the violent criminals, they retaliated with ear-jarringly loud sounds which quickly escalated in pitch.

The last thing recorded was the commander shouting "... Take 'em down now!", and a dull crack on the screen, before everything turned fuzzy, then black.

"The homeland security department has announced that such terrorists were using a highly-advanced weaponry that uses ultrahigh frequency to cause damage. Government officials have confirmed that the two criminals have been safely taken down. However, according to eyewitnesses, there were 3 other accomplices which have escaped and on the loose. Samples collected from the hospital showed that they could probably be in possession of biochemical weaponry too. The security department has issued a code-red warning for the public to take note of any suspicious activity as such weapons could prove to be able to cause massive damage."

25. The Naming of Ah-mo

Ah-mo dreams... He flies through a narrow corridor, with many patches of white lights from above... "Yay! I'm flying upside down!" he thought.

Back on Pluto, illumination came primarily from below, so practically all building structures, vehicles and objects were made with transparent floors and semi-translucent walls. Beautiful bluish light rays irradiate from the planet's core, occasionally obscured by the shifting nitrogen cloud currents moving below the elastic glass-like surface of the planet, making all things dazzle and glitter as if the city was built out of pure blue sparkling crystal.

Out of nowhere a door swings open... Ah-mo lands on a cold surface, the cold metal biting his flesh under the white hospital gown... He drifts off again... A tap on the shoulder... An abrupt shake... A rude jolt... A disgruntled roar... An icy cold slap right in the face...

"Jed... 什么?!? 死Ah-moe!" Ah-mo cried out loud after being rudely awakened by cold water thrown at him. He could see two burly men in police uniform beside him panting and gasping. They were the ones who transported him to the room.

"You sure can sleep hor?" the interrogator barked. "What's your name ah?"

Ah-mo stared blankly at the man. He had no idea what the strange sounds meant. He looked around for Ah-moe. Nothing in the small, dark room except him, one strange person speaking in a strange language, and two others blowing air out of their mouths.

"Oei, don't act blur leh. Quick tell me, what name you?"

Bored, Ah-mo grunts and fell back to sleep.

"Oei!! Wake up lah!!" he shouts, shaking Ah-mo hard.

Opening his eyes slightly, Ah-mo peered. Nothing interesting. Back to sleep despite the shaking.

"Oei!!"

...

Finally he got Ah-mo's attention with the two police officers forcing Ah-mo's eyelids open with their thumbs and fingers.

"Oei, don't play play with me! I here for one hour ask you stuff and all you give me is MO-NO-tonic, MO-NO-syllabic noises" trying to sound impressive with difficult words, placing additional emphasis on "mo" and "no"...

Ah-mo blinks... He kind of likes the sound of "mo" and "no"...

"I fed up liao hor... You wan me to MOuld your face with my fist izzit?"

Ah-mo gets excited as another "mo" flies past him. He quickly forgets about the "no"...

"Oei!?! Who are you working for? What are you? A MOle?"

"Oh... There it goes again... Another 'mo'..." Ah-mo thought to himself...

"WHO ARE YOU!?!" the interrogator completely lost his patience at this point of time.

Not wanting to be outdone in volume, Ah-mo repeated after him, "WHOOO ARRRRE - "...

"What was the last word?" Ah-mo wondered... "Ah... Forget it, I'll just use my favourite..."

"MO!!!!"

"WHOOO ARRRRE - MO!!!!"

(Footnote: Ah-mo's name sounds radically different back on Pluto. By some strange bit of Pluto luck, he actually managed to get the exact Earth representation of his name. See Pluto Speak)

27. Terrors Behind Bars

The front page of the local newspaper blasted:

Terrorists Charged and Sentenced to 20 Years Imprisonment

In a closed trial, the supreme judge has issued the maximum verdict against the two terrorists captured two days ago, on 7 charges as follows:
1 - Causing serious damage to other's property
2 - Attempting hijacking of public utility
3 - Causing massive damage to public property
4 - Causing grievious injury to defenders of the state
5 - Causing grievious injury to civilians
6 - Illegal trespassing into country withour proper documentation
7 - Resisting arrest

Under the Internal Security Act, they are now to sentenced to serve at the high-security State Prison with immediate effect. Further investigations will be carried out to determine their country of origin. And they shall not be given the right of trial until such information is found, or they reveal their country of origin.

Several medical officers have claimed and insisted that the terrorists aren't human at all. However, on further probing, they couldn't give a coherent account at all. Nothing could be found in hospital records too. While these incredible claims are being investigated by the police, we can now only believe that these doctors and nurses have been through too much shock and ultrasound brain damage, and have let their imaginations run wild.

According to government sources, the mysterious attackers have identified themselves as "Hoo Ah-mo" and "Hoo Ah-moe", but has refused to reveal any more information about themselves. As this cloud of mystery surrounds them, it leads us to wonder: are they protecting the other three accomplices by withholding information?

More reports on pages 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 as eyewitnesses recall the terror that day.

26. The Naming of Ah-moe

"Officer, what do we have so far?"

"Not much sir, I onli know his name: Hoo Ah-mo. Hospital dun wan to say anything. Hear these people are aliens."

"Not difficult to tell, they don't look like they're locals. Must have been in a great hurry to cross the borders; no papers, no id, no money, no luggage. Let's see if our neighbour wants to claim them... Get the other's particulars won't you?"

"Har?..." the officer was confused, not quite getting what the superintendent was saying. His superior had thought they were illegal immigrants.

As the interrogator led Ah-mo out, they bypassed Ah-moe's holding room. He was in the midst of wrestling 3 muscular policemen, tugging at their hair, trying to see what it was made of. Or rather, he was being overpowered by them. One of the policemen had somehow managed to turn him over and was doing a sharpshooter hold on him, while the other two did arm-locks on each of his arms. Still being slightly empowered by Pluto magic, Ah-moe now still had a high level of strength, and could only be contained this way.

"Oei! 笨Ah-moe, 我懂password liao er... 我可以走liao er! 我聪明er! 你笨er!" Ah-mo gleefully shouted at Ah-moe who was obviously grimacing in pain.

"死Ah-mo, 你快点跟我讲hor? 不然我把你的secret讲出来er..."

"不管er... 不要跟你讲er..."

"死Ah-mo... 我讲liao ah... 很久以前..."

"Jed.... OK lah, OK lah... 我跟你讲... Password是'Whooo arrrre mo!'"

The interrogator had not understood what the bellowing between the two people meant and shoved Ah-mo along. Minutes later, he was back to deal with Ah-moe...

"Dun play play with me hor, tell me who are ..."

Ah-moe jumped at the que of "whooo arrrre" and immediately shouted "WHOOO ARRRRE MO! Eeeee... " He ended with a smirk on his face, with a loud grin while making an "E" sound, his unique way of grinning. He felt he had done the smartest thing ever in his life.

"Rite... Hoo Ah-Mo-E... Makes sense... You two must be related... Aiyah... So lehchey to write... Hoo Ah-moe can liao lah..." the interrogator said as he crossed out the name he had scribbled and replaced it with "Hoo Ah-moe".

(Footnote: The word-phrase "lehchey" means 麻烦 or troublesome.)

28. Imprisoned

In the high-security prison, late evening...

"For the above mentioned offenses, Ah-moe and Ah-mo, you both have been sentenced to twenty years in this prison." the warden read out in a formal tone, sounding obviously bored, peering through his thick glasses at the two of them, both fidgeting in the strong steel chains and handcuffs that chained them together.

They had been brought into a small room with a huge window, overlooking a large unlit hall. Surrounding each side of the hall were many stories of darken cells, with fading light rays from the evening sun streaming in from tiny barred windows in each of their cells. In the gloomy darkness, people stared blankly into space, waiting in emptiness.

"Welcome to the Prison for the Criminally Violent! Here, we will teach you the meaning of discipline, and equip you with skills that will help you to live a normal life when you get out. Makes you a better man... I must remind you though : here, we strongly believe in the value of discipline, so DO cooperate... But that aside, we believe in having fun too." The warden had spoken in a different voice - deep and bassy with deliberate slowness, with excitment creeping slowly into his voice.

Ah-moe and Ah-mo were falling asleep fast, heading nodding periodically. They couldn't understand a word.

"Now for my favourite part... " The warden threw the folder aside and fumbled through his drawer, reappearing with a wireless microphone labelled "PWE".

"Weighing over 250 pounds - Standing at the height of 6.5 feet - 3 time winner of the Prison Wrestling Heavyweight Championship and still Undisputed Champion - The unbelievable, the incredible - The one, the only, the champion - Annihilator Alex!"

The flood lights in the hall went on suddenly, revealing a raised, square platform with poles at each corner, and elastic ropes running around the perimeter set up by poles. Mini fireworks started all around the sides of the gate, as hard-rock music jammed simultaneously, waking both of them with a jerk. A huge metal gate nearby was raised as bursts of gaseous dry ice was released beside the gate, forming a cloud as a shadow of a man walking forward. Cheers rang out from all over the prison, as inmates flocked to the edge of their cells. The time had come.

(Footnotes: Annihilator Alex weighs about 115kg and is 1.98m in height.)

29. Sneak Attack

A huge, over-sized man stormed in, dressed in only a pair of army shorts, with jungle camouflage was spread all over his face and over-muscular body. Carrying a massive shotgun and a big belt of shotgun shells around his shoulder, Alex raised his hands, acknowledging his supporters as the noise died down.

Alex whipped out a crowbar and advanced menancingly into the warden's room, towards Ah-moe and Ah-mo, stopping only two steps in front of them. Staring right into their eyes, muscles bulging, he bent the metal rod about 90 degrees with his bare hands and threw it clankering onto the floor.

"假的! 我也会er! Humph!" Ah-moe retorted as he picked up the weakened rod with his hands. Alex stood there staring at them and allowed Ah-moe to pick the rod up -- the skinny one posed no threat to him. He had been smashed with lots of metal chairs before, and nothing could stop him. Especially not a crowbar.

"我来show你er!" Ah-moe tried to bend it back. As hard as he tried, as many positions he put the crowbar, he couldn't bend it at all. It was a real and sturdy rod. Ah-moe looked at the rod forlornly. He could bend it without breaking sweat back on Pluto when he had Pluto magic...

Then suddenly without warning, Ah-moe brought the bent crowbar crashing down towards the unsuspecting Ah-mo with a loud "yahhhh!"...

30. Hoos Flying

"Bonk!"

"Aiyah!"

The crowbar struck Ah-mo's hair at an angle and rebounded, striking Ah-moe squarely on the forehead.

"Jed! 死Ah-moe! 还好er! 我.. Ahhh!"

And the two of them flew out of the warden's room through the door, crashing in a mess several metres outside.

Apparaently, Alex the prison guard had picked up the chains binding Ah-moe and Ah-mo, and ran out of the warden's room, sending them both off their feet and flying through the door. They were supposed to try to hit him. Not each other. He was furious. Hundreds of people were watching them live.

"$%@@#~%$#@!!!... Fun right? Playing around right? " he asked, and dragged the chained two across the cold prison floor, tossing them into the raised platform, swiftly double flipping himself into the wrestling ring following that.

Pick up the chains that held the Hoos, Alex swung them from the floor around him, swinging faster and faster, finally lifting them off the ground, sending them flying in circles above him. Cheers rang out around the prison as they witnessed the amazing display of strength by Alex.

"Ahhhhhh...." Ah-mo screamed.

"我会飞er! 我厉害er! Humph!" Ah-moe half-shouted.

"Jed.. 我飞比较高hor! 我比较聪明er!" Ah-mo retaliated.

"你的头er! 你笨er! 我比较高er!"

"我hor!"

.
.
.

They only stopped after so many rounds in the air, that they couldn't speak properly anymore. It was only after tens of seconds after they kept quiet, before he finally stopped and smashed them on the floor.

31. Knockout

As they collapsed into a heap, Alex climbed on top of the poles and stood there waving around to his audience around 2 seconds. Then, with a battle cry, he leapt off the top of the turnbuckle, did a 270 degree turn in the air, and landed onto the two with a crunch.

Picking both of them up, he threw them against the ropes and continued with multiple continuous suplexes as they bounced back from the ropes, bringing both of them overhead and slamming them down onto the floor. After about five slams, Ah-moe and Ah-mo laid there dazed as Alex grabbed both of them up for a final time. In the same suplex stance, he tossed them high into the air, took a step back and did a magnificent dropkick on the two, sending them flying beyond the ropes and crashing hard against the wall.

As they crumbled onto the floor, a referee ran out of nowhere, and began counting with exaggerated actions as Alex stood there posing for the cameraman, who had also somehow apparated in together with the referee. As he counted to ten, he came over to Alex and raised his arm in victory as bells rang out in three successive rings. The crowd goes ecstatic.

...

"Ok! Show's over! You know what? Wrestling matches are supposed to be held every two days. But since you both like to play, I'm up to it. Anytime. Now, I'll bring you to your cells... And don't fool around with me!" Alex growled, as he beckoned them to follow.

In the midst of the drowning excitement, the ring slowly lowers into the basement as metal flaps fold out to cover the ground where the ring had been, and there in the basement the ring waits, for it's next rising in two days time.

32. Hard Landing

Occasional overhanging incandescant light bulbs lit up sections of the cold dark corridor, with long stretches of darkness in between. The air was musky, filled with a faint but lingering stentch of nothingness. Inmates peered out from their unlit cell rooms, trying to get a glimpse of the new-comers. Chained and bounded by the steel chains and handcuffs, the battered and bruised Ah-mo and Ah-moe, still dizzy from the spinning and wrestling, trodded unsteadily on the damp path. Following the half-dressed guard, they walked through the narrow corridor along the prison cells as the clattering of the chains on the floor echoed through the quiet, dark building.

All was quiet until...

"Oei! 死Ah-mo! 不要踏我的脚leh!" Ah-moe whispered.

No reply.

"死Ah-mo! 不要踏我的脚hor!"Ah-moe repeated.

"不管你er! 好踏er..." Ah-mo jeered in reply.

Alex stopped and turned around, and walked up close to them, staring at both the stunned Ah-moe and Ah-mo with his unnerving eyes. For ten whole seconds, no one moved, except for the visible trembling of Ah-moe and Ah-mo. They didn't want another match anytime soon, if at all. Though they could regenerate, being hit was still uncomfortable, or painful to some extent. Breathing down their heads, his large eyes seemed to look deep into them, instilling fear in both of them.

Then he suddenly grabbed both of them by their necks with one hand each, lifting them off the ground, in a choke-hold manner. As Ah-mo and Ah-moe gasped for air, Alex smashed Ah-mo into a lever switch in the wall, sending electric currents thought him - thus short circuiting the door control switch - making the adjacent prison cell door slide open. Without a word, Alex threw the struggling duo in.

With all their arms and legs tangled from the chains, Ah-mo and Ah-moe fell awkwardly into a mess. And before they could react from the fall, they saw Alex raise the shotgun and discharged one round into the ceiling, causing quite some debris to fall.

As Ah-mo and Ah-moe admired the "destructive magic" of the shotgun, they saw Alex raising the shotgun and aiming it at them.

"Ahhhh......"

And loud echoes of shots rang throughout the jailhouse.