Nerima Park part8
West stood overlooking a vast wasteland that spread out for several
miles. It was the remains of Tokyo, or the pseudo Tokyo Kon had built on
the island. "Oh look, a welcome sign."
Jackson turned and looked at where the man was pointing. Up on several
poles were the bodies of several humans. They were dressed in the gray
overall uniforms Hugo had mentioned. "Oh God," he gasped as he turned
away.
Jones sighed and moved slowly over to one of the poles touching it
gently. "This is the bottom of a street sign, she pointed downward to
reveal a flat metal disk embedded into the ground at the base of the
pole. Carefully she prodded the cadaver moving its arm slightly. She
pulled a pocket flashlight out from her pocket and brushed some of the
ash from on top of the man. "It's a clean wound too, went right through
him. Didn't hit any major organs or arteries, interesting."
West watched her in silent horror; tears streamed down her face washing
some of the ash there away. She rubbed her forehead and turned away to
cough as she inspected the man with seemingly complete calm. Only her
eyes gave any indication of emotion at the moment.
"I'd say he's been dead for about two hours," she noted as she turned
back towards the group.
"You sure? Looks like he's been here a while," commented Priss.
"He's been here since early last night, I only said he died two hours
ago. They didn't puncture any major organs when they did this to him. He
bled to death, by leaving the pole in him they slowed the bleeding down
quite a bit. That's the case with most of these bodies I'd wager." She
calmly turned away and started walking towards the slowly cooling remains
of the little Tokyo. "They knew exactly how to do that to him." This
thought bothered her more than anything else that had happened.
Jackson found himself wandering through what looked like a scene from a
post apocalyptic movie. Buildings were shattered, streets were covered in
rubble, almost everywhere he turned something was burning. It seemed
completely deserted now. Ash hung back towards the edge of the group with
a slowly growing fear on his face as he followed them. "I've got a bad
feeling about this."
Priss nodded her head in silent agreement and stalked forward watching
the shadows carefully. The boy stopped and stared into the remains of a
burning car for a moment. "We should find a place to stay for the night,
it's getting dark and the full moon last a few more days yet."
Jones pulled at Jackson's arm and he hung his head and sighed. "You're
right, we have to be careful now."
Ash stepped towards the middle of the street and kicked at a piece of
rubble absently. "We should be able to take cover in any of these
buildings. I doubt the Saiyans will be searching through them tonight."
Jackson nodded in agreement. "It's still a good idea if we make sure
it's someplace we can get out of in a hurry."
Ash stepped away from the car and stepped over an open manhole cover as
he walked towards them again. "Good idea-" it was as far as he got. A
massive arm appeared out of the hole in the ground and grabbed him by his
head almost covering it completely. The boy uttered a muffled scream
before he vanished beneath the street.
"Ash!" screamed Jackson as he pulled the pistol from his belt and rushed
forward.
West backed away from the scene a little and pointed his own gun at the
hole. "What the hell was that?!"
Priss smiled slightly as the armored arm came to life. "A Saiyan."
"Ash! Can you hear me?!" cried Jackson as he edged towards the hole.
Priss put her arm in front of him and shoved him back slightly. "Your
friend is already dead. We need to move before it decides to come back up
here."
Almost in answer an agonized scream erupted from the hole as a spray of
blood shot up. The group jumped back and aimed at the hole again. Ash's
head rolled across the ground stopping against the remains of a curb.
"Jesus!" screamed West as he moved away from it.
"Wait for it," said Priss as she lowered Jackson's arm slightly to
prevent him from firing.
They watched the hole for a long time as the area became silent once
again. They simply stood, watching and waiting for the beast to emerge.
Priss and Jackson were thrown to the ground as the pavement exploded
directly behind them, sending debris flying in every direction as a
massive form jumped up from the remains of the street.
West spun towards the noise and stepped between Jones and the beast
aiming towards the cloud of dust that had resulted in the blast. A
massive shadowy form could be made out inside the cloud, it chuckled to
itself as it stood there fearlessly. A ball of energy started to form
somewhere within the cloud giving it a surreal glowing effect. West could
only stare, completely frozen in fear.
"Oh, shit," muttered Jones.
Nurse Joy sighed as she put the torch down against the bodies of the
fallen townsfolk. "I take it you'll be leaving now?"
"Of course, I have to find them," replied the man who stood behind her
with a wry smile on his face. His arm was in a sling and bandages covered
most of his face. "They'll be surprised I'm still alive, well most of
them will be."
"You aren't well yet, I can't allow that," insisted the woman calmly.
"I'm well, and improving rapidly," noted the man calmly.
"It won't stay that way long if you start traveling around," she snapped
as she watched the flames burn, adding even more ashes to the air around
them.
"I don't care," replied the man simply.
"You won't make it out of the valley without a weapon," she said coolly.
He glanced at her and started walking away coldly.
"Come with me, there's nothing for you here," he said to her calmly.
Joy looked at him and smiled. "I like it here... I will remain until it
ends finally."
Carrot nodded, "That may be sooner than you think."
"I know," replied the woman with a shrug.
He stayed on the road and moved slowly towards his destination, after a
moment of walking he looked towards the sky. He had been in the village
for several hours after the others had left, he was far from healed, but
much better than he was before.
Carrot Glace walked towards the future complex slowly. He trudged
forward with a determination in his eyes remembering the events of the
past few hours.
To say he was surprised to wake up from his death was an understatement.
A few hours after the others had abandoned him he found himself awake in
what looked like a hospital bed.
His wounds were bandaged and an IV bag hung beside him in the darkened
underground corridor. "Where the hell am I?" he muttered as he glanced
around to see a sparse collection of medical equipment scattered against
the walls.
"Oh, you're awake," said a feminine voice as the world slowly came into
focus. "I was hoping you'd sleep for a few hours at least. Most people
don't wake up this soon after spending a few hours in the tank."
"Tank?" muttered Carrot in confusion.
Nurse Joy smiled and pointed towards a large glass tube filled with a
greenish liquid. It had what looked like several electronic devices
attached to it. "One of Mr. Kon's wonderful inventions," said the Nurse
cheerfully. Carrot wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or not.
"What the hell happened to me?" muttered the man groggily.
"You were stabbed, beaten, and bitten by a venomous monster," replied
the woman with a shrug.
"How did I wake up? I thought I was dead," he said with an annoyed look
on his face.
"You might have been if I hadn't noticed Ash's boulder badge," she
indicated a small pin on his jacket and smiled. "We were going to throw
you in with the dead bodies for cremation. I don't know if the stun spore
would have worn off in time to save you or not."
Carrot raised his eyebrow at this, strangely enough, it didn't hurt to
do it. "Stun spore? You mean Ash..."
"Paralyzed you, so the others wouldn't wait around for you to die," said
the woman calmly. "I wouldn't have come out until after you left."
"I see, clever boy," said Carrot as he sat up and felt a wave of nausea
hit him; it was relatively small and he ignored it. "Where are they now?"
"I don't know, I wasn't to concerned with them. My job is medical, I fix
things when they break and that's all. I don't care who kills who here."
She turned towards him and sat on the bed pulling the bandage off his
head to inspect the scar.
"Ignoring the problem till it goes away?" said the man with a smirk
appearing on his face.
"I'm not programmed to care," she replied with a shrug.
"That's crap, Ash was programmed to kill us. I know better than to
believe this programming crap you've been feeding us," snapped the boy
sharply.
Nurse Joy looked at him blankly for a moment and then started to bandage
his head again. "I chose my own path."
He looked at her and smiled. "How many of the others are like you?"
"All of us are," she replied turning towards the few remaining members
of the town. "Some of us just aren't as smart as others. I'm just more
self aware than they are, but it's still inside them."
Carrot nodded again and lay back down for a moment. "I can't stay here."
All that lead up to the place he was standing now. To say he was
disappointed would be obvious, but to say he was surprised would be
wrong. He stood looking at the blackened remains of the dock as the sun
set behind him. He sighed and leaned against a tree calmly, there were no
pokemon in this area so he knew he should be relatively safe. He closed
his eyes and relaxed as the full moon slowly rose over the horizon.
Somehow he knew he wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight.
"Where the hell would they go if the docks were gone?" he mulled over
the problem as the familiar roars started in the distance once again.
Priss was thrown against the ground roughly as the creature emerged from
the ground in a massive explosion that threw her and Jackson against the
pavement. The thing started to laugh to itself as it stepped forward
revealing a blood soaked face.
It was huge, easily seven feet tall. It was bald and built like a tank,
the thing deliberately took another slow step forward eyeing a petrified
west from within the cloud of dust it had created. A ball of light formed
in its hands and it smiled even wider.
Priss rolled onto her side grunting in pain as she realized the poor man
didn't stand a chance against it. She cursed and rose to her knees
jerking at the armored arm. Her power was long gone and it took a good
deal of effort to do so, she also had no more protection from the recoil
of the large caliber bullets. Her arm jerked up after a short burst that
slammed into the Saiyan's arm tearing it to shreds. The thing screamed in
rage as the ball of energy in its hand exploded sending it flying back
into a wall.
She smiled as she stood up and noticed Jackson had recovered as well and
was leveling his gun at the thing. "Come on you son of a bitch!"
The creature wasted no time as it rushed forward in a rage and tackled
Priss to the ground and ignored everything else around it. She screamed
as it forced her arm down and landed on top of her holding her gun arm
down despite the wounds to it's own arm. She struggled against it
desperately as Jackson started to fire into the thing's back. It swiped
back with its massive arm sending him sprawling even though he didn't
come close to touching him.
Once again it turned its attention towards Priss and raised its fist
into the air before punching at the remains of her breastplate. She felt
the breath leave her body in an instant as the armor cracked under the
pressure of the blow. "No!"
Jackson had recovered slightly and started to fire again. Both of his
shots missed and the clip ran out. The man fumbled with his belt for a
moment and the Saiyan looked at the people around him. He grinned madly
and grabbed Priss by her armored chest plate dragging her towards the
hole in the ground.
She struggled and groped for the ground as he pulled her into the hole
screaming in fear and rage. A memory floated into her head, she had not
seen Sylia die herself, but the memory of how she had been found pushed
itself into her mind again. The woman had been nude, with pieces of her
armor strewn about the street. She had been beaten to death literally,
Priss suddenly had a realization. Sylia hadn't been beaten to death at
all. "No!" She screamed again and doubled her efforts to escape. She
could see Jackson tensing up and ready to jump on the thing as he finally
managed to get the clip and slide it into the gun.
A shot fired before either one of them could react and the Saiyan fell
back into the hole releasing his hold on Priss. She blinked in shock and
turned to look at the thing as she climbed out. It was rubbing a spot on
its head and looking around in confusion.
"The fastest way to bring something down is a shot to the head," said
Jones calmly as she put the gun she had take for West's grip into her own
belt.
Priss blinked and hung off the side of the hole and turned to see the
Saiyan still standing in confusion, but slowly growing more and more
angry by the moment. "You're right." She raised her gun up and pointed it
at the thing's head for a moment; without a second thought she lowered
her aim and fired sending the thing to its knees in a screaming fit. She
smiled darkly and waited for it to look back up at her before she fired
again into its face completely vaporizing the head.
The recoil knocked her against the wall and she fell into the underground
tunnel again and kicked the remains of the thing with a bitter smile as
she rose to her feet again. It was a drainage tunnel, she turned around
and saw the service ladder was still there and largely undamaged.
Several moments later she found herself standing with the group again.
"We'd better get some shelter. I suggest we get away from here first. The
others might come looking for this one."
Jackson frowned and looked into the hole again. "If they find him they'll
probably tear the place apart looking for us. We'd best get moving, I
want to put as much distance between us and that thing as we can."
West looked at him and clenched his hands into fists, they shook
uncontrollably as he watched them for a moment in disgust. Jones pat him
on the back and smiled weakly. "Relax, I understand."
He nodded numbly and looked at the boy's head that lay in the street
nearby still. He straightened himself up and dusted off his shirt before
turning away trying to regain some of his dignity. Still, somehow he
could not stop the tears from coming. Somehow he could not think of a
single witty comment to help him alleviate the situation, and that suited
him just fine.
TBC...
Yea I know. Carrot is still around.
I seriously considered killing him off for a long time. [That's why you
haven't seen this in a while.] Unfortunately [or fortunately] he has some
important stuff to do later on. I considered replacing some of this stuff
with other characters, like Priss, or West. In the end I had to go with
keeping him alive because of some foreshadowing in earlier parts.
I like it this way anyway.
You have to admit, Carrot is getting the worst treatment I've ever seen
a SI character get. He's been beaten, poisoned, and cut up; none of it
was for comedic effect either.
C&C to Carrotglace@juno.com
URL Http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/fountain/3203