Bronsen:

The following day, before breakfast, Bronsen had tracked down Harold and Skip.

"The entire slaver nation is ready to drop down on us and crush us to oblivion. So, we Misfits want to get the hell out of here. Do you think any of the others will object to this?"

"Now that we don't have collars, and many of us have increased abilities, I don't think so," said Skip.

"I agreed. Except that there are plenty of slaves who would still like to get their abilities to 50% at least," said Harold.

Everybody wants something for themselves.

"Fine, fine," said Bronsen.

"And, if we rush like hell, can we be on our way by dusk?"

"Hmm. I think so." said Skip, "Actually, we can leave later. Because we are leaving from a jetty, there is no danger in launching the boat in darkness like there was before."

"Good, good."

So, after breakfast and consulting with the other Misfits, Bronsen stood before the mob and gave a little speech.

"We are all leaving the island and going to Manifestoria. And we are leaving tonight. Because other ships are coming soon, and if any ranking slavers catch you lot, you will be enslaved again. Which means you won't be able to enjoy your newly increased abilities. You won't have the freedom of choice like you do now.

Also, everyone will have their stats raised to 50%."

There was a small, scattered cheer at this.

"So, we are starting now!"

Firstly:

"All those who can read and write, raise your hands."

How pathetic, only about 10%.

"Now group up into even size groups, one for each literate person. Males with males, and females with females."

The other three Misfits ran around like demented sheepdogs trying to herd cats. Eventually, they had the groups organised.

"Now, the leaders of each group record the names and gender and job specifications (if any) of their members.

As Reggie had told them last night: "There are no records kept about the identity of the slaves. Organisations like this island know roughly how many slaves they have, and the breakdown into gender and ages, and colour of collars, but that's about it. Sometimes the order comes from the Emperor to do a census, but that doesn't record any names, either."

Completely impersonal, the whole slave system.

"Remember your groups."

Damn, I forgot to tell the carpenters and sailors to group together. Never mind.

Secondly:

"The Misfits will now go through and bring everyone's stats up to 50% if they aren't already there."

Those horrible minions will also get stat increases; I hope it doesn't come back and bite us.

Thirdly:

"Frannie, you collect the membership lists, zip down to the ship, and assign cabins. Skip, you organise your sailors to launch by this evening. Harold, Reggie, and Hestia, you organise the loading of as much food, equipment and barrels of marmalade as possible. Us Misfits will be supervising everything."

There was a lot of chaos for the rest of the day, but eventually, they had a full ship. Full of goods and equipment and food, and full of freed slaves.

The Misfits stood in the loading bay of the ship.

"Ship ready to sail," said Skip.

"All goods and food stored and lashed down, ready for sailing," said Harold.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Food and cooking equipment are ready for the first meal tomorrow," said Hestia.

"Ahh, sorry, but we appear to be missing two people," said Frannie, looking very apologetic.

Bronsen rolled his eyes. "You mean those two ex-Greens?"

"No - they appear to have given up all hope. It's those two you call the minions."

"Oh bloody hell."

It's dark. We can't find them until tomorrow. But we can't delay, since another boat may arrive tomorrow. But if we leave them behind, they will be collared and sent to the Emperor, and he will then know all about us.

We should have just killed them and been done with it.

"Any ideas?" he said.

The other Misfits shrugged their shoulders. The ex-slaves didn't have anything to contribute.

"Let's get the hell out of here now; the suspense is beginning to kill me," said Bronsen.

Half an hour later, they were over the bar at the mouth of the river and setting sail for Manifestoria. Due to Skip's improvisation, they were also towing the two yachts, one after the other. They had their sails completely lowered. Behind the second yacht was a sea anchor, which dragged the yacht back so that the two yachts never crept forward enough to collide with the leading boat.

Although Skip had said: "This will only work while the wind is steady and the sea is relatively calm. If it gets too rough, I'll have to cut the towing cable and let them go."

This was fine. The yachts were full of barrels of marmalade (the island had accumulated heaps) but were not manned, so no great loss.

The Misfits:

All four Misfits were now in Bronsen's and Alice's original cabin. They had nothing to do once the boat sailed, so they decided they might as well be themselves.

"Obviously, this is now my cabin, while Cassy can claim the cabin on the other side. No complaints?" said Alice.

She smiled an evil smile at the boys. Neither boy offered any objections.

"And tonight, if Cassy doesn't object, how about I keep Drayden?"

Alice completely ignored the two boys as she had a staring match with Cassy. Cassy stared right back before eventually smiling and nodding her head.

"No problems, my dear Alice!" said Cassy.

"Why, thank you, my dear Cassy," said Alice.

"Say, boys, isn't it so nice that we can have such a calm and mature conversation about such matters?" said Cassy.

"Yes, definitely yes!" said both boys.

"That's right, there are no problems to see here, none at all. Right?" said Alice.

"Yes! I mean, yes, there are no problems!" said Drayden.

Bronsen agreed.

"But, before we retire and have a good night's sleep, we must go over our plans," said Alice.

She poked Bronsen firmly in the chest. The sort of poke that would have crushed his rib cage back when he was on Earth. He rushed to comply with her request.

"Right. According to Skip, if the weather remains like this, it's a clear straight run to Manifestoria; we should be there on the second morning. I suggest we do the same as Cassy and I did when arriving at Marmalade Island; we arrive and slow down, take our time approaching, check out to see if Manifestoria is still free, and give Eleanor time enough to organise her guards."

"But we don't want a full-fledged defence reaction when we arrive," said Cassy.

"That's easy; we aim for the dock, and when we are over the bar and close enough, we stand in a row on the deck and wave at them," said Drayden.

"Oh my, this is going to be fun; imagine how they will react at our return!" said Alice.

"I can hardly wait to hug Evereena," said Cassy.

"And when you do, her collar will immediately collapse into sand," said Drayden.

"Oops, that's right. Hmm, I will have to reach out and make a big show of touching it first," said Cassy.

"So, as convenient, we will all have to do the same for any other inactive slaves," said Alice.

"Isn't this going to be a pain? Because as soon as we do all of that in public, the news will bounce around the Ringwood light semaphores within hours. Which means the Emperor will know about it soon after." said Bronsen.

"But those minions left behind will be telling him all about us, anyway," said Cassy.

"I should have dealt with them when we had the chance," said Alice.

"Now, now, no need to be too murderous, my dear Alice," said Cassy.

"Well, perhaps my dear Cassy should have dealt with those minions when you dealt with the ex-Red?" said Alice.

"Sorry, it must have somehow slipped my mind-"

"Never mind, never mind!" said Bronsen.

“All very well for you to say that; you get to sleep with Cassy tonight,” said Alice.

“Well, it’s just as well that you get to sleep with Drayden...” said Cassy.

“Ahh, everyone, I don’t think this is a good time to have this particular discussion...” said Drayden.

Alice stopped talking, followed by everyone else.

In the following silence, they listened to the rhythmic sounds of the waves as the ship came ever closer to Manifestoria.

"I know; how about we make another vow to remove slavery? And we do it while standing on the deck as we approach the port. That way, Eleanor and Co will know it is us beyond a shadow of a doubt, and the slave emperor gets a massive kick up the backside, reminding him what will happen. Or at least what we hope will happen." said Bronsen.

"Do we want to notify the emperor so early and motivate him so strongly to do something?" said Drayden.

"Why don't we ask System-san?" said Cassy.

"Isn't System-san prohibited from helping us directly?" said Drayden.

"Maybe. But we are the Misfits! We get lots of extra help from System-san." said Cassy.

"Well, OK. System-san, what should we do?" said Bronsen.

Ding!...

"On no, we have broken it yet again," said Cassy.

Hello from the System Administrator!

Yes, the Voice of the World, err, that is System-san, is prohibited from giving you too much help. But also, yes, you get much more help than normal Felixians.

In this case, System-san is trying to give you a hint.

Which, as far as I can tell, appears to be that you should make that vow.

Why, I wouldn't know.

Do your best!

"Well." said Bronsen, "looks like we are going to be poking the Kraken and damn the consequences."

Having made this decision, they retired for the night. However, neither pair started that good night's sleep straight away.