Chapter 22: Onwards to Thrissur

"Why are you chasing us? We asked you, didn't we?" Gibli screamed as the three ran away from Taro.

"When the hell did you do that?" Taro asked, as he calmly walked towards them.

"What are you talking about? We came by you this morning and asked you, didn't we?" Gibli looked towards his other two companions for the sake of confirmation.

"Yea, we came by you when you were watching some random shit in the television." M'Baku doubled down on Gibli's statement.

"I was concentrating back then. I didn't hear you. Should've tried harder." Taro shook his head in dismay.

"Hey, how is it our fault? We didn't knew that!" Gibli cried.

Suddenly, Taro stopped in his tracks to reconsider his decision. "Maybe you're right. You know what? I forgive you for not knowing that."

"We didn't even do anything wrong to begin with!" Gibli cried inside. However, he didn't dare to express it on the outside, since he knew of Taro's strength.

"Oh, you guys seem like you were having fun back then!" Lonappan laughed as he saw a frustrated Gibli staring a hole through him.

"Why didn't you join in on the fun then?" Gibli asked.

"Nah, I'm fine. You guys should enjoy." Lonappan smiled. "By the way, you guys don't have work tomorrow too."

"Fuck. Why did we do the RKD work that fast?" Gibli muttered.

"However, there's a WPP event happening. You guys coming? You'll get paid as well." Lonappan rubbed his fingers as he smiled yet again.

"Well, what's happening tomorrow?" Kunjan asked.

"The chief minister's coming to Thrissur. So, we ought to have a huge crowd to welcome him, right?" Lonappan asked.

"There's also the need to show how strong of a support you have against the opposition." Kunjan chimed in.

"Exactly. Underhanded mind games is where Indian politics--politics generally is." Lonappan agreed with the assessment. "So, are you in?"

"It's advantageous to us in every way possible. So why the fuck not!" Kunjan replied.

"Great! I'll swing by tomorrow morning." Lonappan gave out a thumbs up.

#

Next morning in the Holy Land household; Gibli, Kunjan and Thankappan were frantically pacing around. Lonappan, who happened to enter the house right at that moment was visibly confused by this commotion.

"What happened?" He asked his colleagues.

"It's Taro. That guy is missing!" Gibli exclaimed in panic.

"Calm down. When did you see him last?" Lonappan asked.

Gibli tried taking deep breaths to calm himself down. He replied. "I saw him last when I was going to sleep. He was watching TV, just like yesterday. However, by the time we woke up, he was gone."

"Did he give any indication as to where he was going?" Lonappan interrogated.

"If we had known that, we wouldn't have been panicking right now." Gibli cried.

"Fucking calm down, will ya? The dude doesn't know many places. So, let's restrict our search parameter within this area." Lonappan ordered.

Meanwhile, Gopan came by driving his auto. "Hey, guys! What happened?" He asked as he looked at the panicked faces of the Holy Land residents.

"It's Taro. He's—wait! Where the fuck were you?" Gibli pointed at the auto and screamed as Taro nonchalantly exited it.

"What do you mean? I stopped by the dojo, waited for an hour and now I'm back." Taro explained.

"Wait, what is he saying?" Gopan whispered towards Kunjan, which brought him to a realisation.

"Stop right there. Then how did you even end up with Gopan? He doesn't even understand what you're saying." Kunjan pointed out.

However, Gopan answered this question. "Ah, I saw him by the road. Since I knew he was coming here and I am as well, I decided to give him a lift." Gopan explained. "By the way, I thought he was shy! He knows to talk now? What language was that?"

Suddenly, the room turned dead silent. None of them knew how to explain this situation. Gopan had heard Taro speak loud and clear and there was no way one could blatantly lie.

Well, all except one couldn't. And that one guy with the silver tongue was Lonappan. "Ah, he's speaking the Paniya [1] language obviously! Since he's from the Paniya tribe after all!" Lonappan explained without even breaking a sweat.

"Damn! And here I thought they would have a slight Malayalam influence since they're Keralites, after all." Gopan looked at Taro in what could only be told as sheer curiosity towards him. "Does he speak Malayalam then?" Gopan asked.

"He does! Fluently at that. However, since he's comfortable speaking in Paniyan, we let him speak in that until he grows out of his shell. We can't force it on him, you know?" Kunjan came in with the save at the last moment.

"I guess that makes sense." Gopan decided to place his trust on their lies and headed towards Taro and patted him on his shoulder. "I hope you gain your confidence. Then, we'll have a nice chat, okay?" He asked as Taro nodded silently as instructed by the other four.

Gopan smiled. "So, shall we go?"

#

The four and Gopan stepped foot out of the Holy Land in the early morning. However, morning went by and afternoon came through, yet they didn't reach anywhere near Thrissur. To clarify, to travel from Mundur to Thrissur takes about thirty minutes to about one hour on a normal sunny day. So, this was truly an unforeseen event. And the reason for it? The arrival of the chief minister of the state, representing WPP and the collective union of multiple parties, Vijay Das.

Mr. Das had been in the political field for over fifty years now. Still, he's able to bring in people with the sheer power of his speech alone just like when he began his political career. That's what made him relevant through all these times, even when many experience and up and coming leaders stood in his way.

Gopan, although a member of the WPP, was technically a member of the subsidiary party of WPP, the Worker's Political Party of India (WPPI), who joined hands with WPP pretty early on. Even though, he wasn't in sync with many things that WPP or the government did at times, he still respected Mr. Das and considered him as an idol. And hence, he was excited.

However, his excitement was put on hold when he saw the traffic. "Damn, are we even going to see Vijay Das?" He cried in disappointment.

"It seems that many people came by their own volition, unlike us." Kunjan assessed.

"Yea, it seems so. I didn't expect that." Lonappan said, as he looked around.

"So, what are we gonna do now? Abort?" Kunjan asked.

"We're watching his speech. No questions asked." Gopan and Lonappan said simultaneously to everyone's surprise. No one would have expected them to say these particular sentences in stereo.

"That was surprising!" Kunjan let out a sigh later. "What's the plan?" He asked.

"We walk." Yet again, Lonappan and Gopan said it in stereo.

For the aliens and Thankappan, Gopan's behavior was understandable. However, they didn't expect Lonappan's response. They wouldn't have expected in their lifetime that Lonappan was such a Vijay Das geek for unknown reasons.

The group decided to follow Gopan and Lonappan's orders and followed them. Since they've already waited for hours in the traffic, they didn't particularly care even if they walked. Taro and Gibli had absurd amounts of stamina, while Kunjan had his mechanical exoskeleton; Gopan and Lonappan had their willpower, which could possibly drive them for another hour or two. The walk took a toll on one person alone and that would be Thankappan. Even that was in small amounts since he was a product of the MIB dungeon.

If a person were to see the spectacle that happened in Thrissur that day, they'd probably say that it's similar to a marathon. The one with more stamina wins. And therefore, it was to no one's surprise when the stamina monsters caught up and reached one of the viewable points.

"Hell yea! Finally, we reached the pinnacle." Gopan cried and suddenly broke into tears. Lonappan joined in as well and they got into a whole lot of hugging and emotions at that moment which none of the other four understood.

"Dude, it's not that big of a deal. You just reached the front of the pack." Kunjan sighed.

"Yea, you wouldn't understand how we feel now!" Gopan cried.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I met Lonappan in one such Vijay Das convention. Fuck, is this the fifteenth anniversary of our friendship?" Gopan looked at Lonappan and asked.

"If we don't consider the exact dates, then yes!" Lonappan smiled.

Upon hearing this, the aliens and Thankappan dragged him to the side. "Wait, how long have you been a field agent?" Thankappan asked.

Lonappan laughed. "This would be my fifteenth anniversary."

"Wait, does that mean?"

"He's my first friend ever since I got my new identity. I don't remember having any other friends. Fifteen years and the geezer never changed. He trusts me so much, you know? Been there for me since the beginning, never doubting my words even when it sounds extremely fishy. He annoys me a lot at times. But, I guess somewhere along the line, I started trusting and liking him as well. Hell, you could even say that I love that guy!" The normal Lonappan was out of the window as he started tearing up. He wiped off the tears and joined Gopan in his celebration.

#

[1] Paniya language is a tribal language in Kerala. More details on the language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paniya_language

(Don't ask me how Lonappan knows such obscure info on the fly!)