Greetings all!
First of all, sorry this one took so long. It's been a rough couple of weeks
for me in RL. Mid-term exams, assignments, projects... combine them all with
lack of sleep and there was no way this little gem was getting out any
sooner. As a compensation, I've made this chapter just a little bit longer
than usual, hopefully to make up for leaving you all hanging for so long.
^_^
Okay, now comes the part of the message where I beg and plead for C&C.
Seriously, people, I would really appreciate any and all responses you can
give me. My address is sprinkled liberally throughout this message, and
clicking the "Reply" button tends to work, as well! ^_~
Now, if anyone wants to read earlier story arcs in my Ronin Summer series,
visit http://dataraven_659.tripod.com/roninsummer.html
Hey, and feel free to visit Joy Lyn's webpage while you're at it. She's got
the earlier chapters of Dark Crusade, and a lot of other really awesome
crossover fics, to. It's at
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Shores/5533/index.html
And with all that taken of, away we go! ^_^
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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
OBLIGATORY LEGAL DISCLAIMER : Some of these guys aren't mine. The
Sailor Senshi belong to DIC and Kodansha, while the Yoroiden are owned
by Sunrise and Graz Entertainment. Okay? So don't bother suing me. I'm
a student.
RONIN SUMMER VI : DARK CRUSADE
A Sailor Moon / Yoroiden Samurai Troopers cross-over
by Morgan Hudson (dataraven_659@excite.com)
Chapter Twelve : Snakebite
The room was dark, far darker than she had ever seen it. Not
pitch black, but a soft kind of not-light, as though dusk still
lingered in this single chamber long after night had fallen elsewhere.
The floor trembled under Erdge's feet, barely enough to be noticed,
and the various panels and machines that lined the walls hummed softly
to themselves as they blinked off and on at each other like rows of
Christmas lights, or a sky of multicoloured stars. The air smelled
vaguely medicinal, but otherwise sterile, utterly devoid of any of the
usual scents that permeated the fortress. Erdge remained silent as she
padded through the soft darkness of Pedri's inner sanctum. It was
foolish, but she almost felt as though the chamber itself was sleeping,
waiting for her brother to return and bring it back to life, and that
for one such as her to wake it prematurely would be to invite disaster.
In a moment of weakness, she actually wished that someone were there
with her, to make her feel safer. In a moment of brief insanity, she
even would have welcomed the company of her sister Tuls.
Erdge paused and looked behind her. Someone seemed to have
snuck up and removed the door she had entered through, hiding it behind
a shifting curtain of shadow. Less than confident, Erdge inched towards
the source of the ghostly glow that pervaded the realm. As she drew
ever closer, the light grew stronger, until she knelt by the foot of
the giant crystal tube, bathed in a luminescence that was as bright as
day. Within the tube, suspended in a sea of glimmering blue ooze, was
the single most beautiful woman Erdge had ever laid eyes upon. She had
a thick mane of golden hair, bobbing and curling around her head like
a cloud, buffeted by the invisible currents in the slime that she was
immersed in. It was hard to tell, with her suspended as she was, but
she was perhaps even a bit taller than Erdge herself was, and the two
shared a similar build. There was an ageless look to her features,
composed as they were in sleep. A thick nest of tubes and wires swirled
about her nude body like some strange form of skirt and cape, running
under the woman's alabaster skin at the waist, knees, wrists, neck,
and shoulders.
The daughter knelt reverently at the foot of her Mother, head
touching the floor as she slid her clasped hands in front of her in
genuflection. She remained that way for some while, as the machines
around her softly hissed and beeped and clicked to themselves. Mother
bobbed up and down slightly, head bowed and eyes closed. After she felt
enough time had passed, Erdge began to speak in a low and furtive
whisper.
"I know that I shouldn't be here, Mother, but I have to talk
to somebody. Pedri's been getting into one of his moods again, and
Vyne is starting to say that maybe we shouldn't take it any more. But
Pedri is your Chosen, and I know that we should never go against
Mother's Pride..." Erdge sighed deeply. "It's just... I think maybe I
want to, Mother. Am I wrong? I'm so confused - what should I do?"
Mother continued to bob silently in her crystal tube, her
composed features utterly expressionless. The seconds ticked by,
unnoticed by Erdge as she let her eyes drift shut and focused on the
sound of her own breathing. Something was tickling around inside her
head, like the sensation she always experienced when she needed to
sneeze, only farther back from her sinuses. This strange, itching,
tickling sensation was gleefully playing around in the back of her
brain.
"Help..."
Erdge's eyes shot open as she lurched away from where she
knelt, stumbling over her own feet and landing solidly on her rump.
Idly rubbing the injured part as she regained her feet, the tall blonde
stared up at the eternally impassive features of Mother, who continued
bobbing and swaying quietly in her tube of glowing blue gel.
"Mother?" she whispered in awe, and gently pressed her fingers
against the side of her leather mask. "Was that you?"
"My child... help... my child..." The voice was soft, barely
even audible, if in fact its words were being spoken at all. The woman
in the tube remained as dormant as ever, with no sign of even the
slightest spark of life.
"I don't understand," Erdge whispered plaintively, sinking to
her knees once again, and clutching her head in both hands as she began
to rock back and forth. "What are you saying? Which child do you want
me to help?"
"Help... my child... help..."
"WHO?" Screeching in frustration, the blonde girl gripped her
mask, tugging on it with incredible force. Buckles bent, straps
snapped, locks were torn from their hinges as the black case tore
free from her head and soared through the air, bouncing and skidding
across the floor. "Pedri? Or Vyne? How can I be hearing you at all?
What is going on here?"
"That," an entirely different voice said quietly, as Pedri
knelt beside the girl and offered her the mask she had discarded, "is,
by coincidence, the very question I was wishing to put to you, Erdge."
**********
Clambering over a fallen oak, Nasuti Yagyu heaved a deep breath
as she staggered to a rest against the trunk of a large pine and tried
her best to keep her breathing calm and measured. Several leaves were
clinging to the fuzzy pink fabric of her sweater, and she was sure her
hair was full of twigs, but there were more important things for her
to worry about. Her calves were aching, her thighs were cramping, and
her feet felt as though they had been ironed flat. Her legs were
covered in scratches from the briar patch she hadn't quite managed to
clear, and sweat was trickling down her face. Tickling the nape of her
neck, it made her seriously reconsider her sweater, despite the chill
in the air. Closing her eyes, the young woman rested her hand against
the coarse bark of the pine and tried to pull herself together. She
had stayed out of trouble for nearly a year: obviously she was getting
a bit out of shape.
Deep in the shadowy gloom of the underbrush, something moved.
A huge, scaly form slithered out from the slim cover of the bushes,
poking a blunt snout filled with teeth into the open and sliding a
long and prehensile tongue between its fangs, tasting the air. With
a deep, raspy hiss, the creature moved closer towards Nasuti, crawling
towards her on all four of its limbs as a broad tail swung lazily back
and forth behind it. The strangely beautiful coral patterns on the
creature's bead-like scales seemed to shift hypnotically with every
motion as its black, beady eyes drank her in.
It was also, Nasuti noticed, limping severely and bleeding a
small fountain of crimson fluid from a gash above its right eye. The
sides of its long body heaved as though it had been running a marathon
through the Sahara Desert. Slowly, even stiffly, the huge creature
jerked itself onto its hind legs, massive head lowering to keep her
under its baleful gaze. Inhumanly broad shoulders rose and fell as the
monster before her panted for breath.
"You," it rasped from deep in the back of its throat, "are
lucky to be such a delicacy. I suppose I owe your little protector a
favour: dishes such as yourself are always better when they've been
allowed to baste in their own juices for a while..." Lifting a clawed
digit, the huge lizard-man stretched out his hand and reached for his
prey. Nasuti gasped as the thick claws tore through her sweater,
scratching along the surface of her skin as the huge predator closed
his hand and pulled her towards him. She had just known, she had just
KNOWN, that coming to the Dark Kingdom was a bad idea...
In an explosion of leaves and twigs, an armoured form launched
itself out of the scrub and slammed into the creature's ribs. There
was a crack like a gunshot, and the monster's gigantic jaws swung open
to release a bellow of pain and anger. Hundreds of curved fangs glinted
in the moonlight as the beaded lizard clutched its side and staggered,
falling heavily against a large tree. The tree gave an almost pained
groan as it tried valiantly to support such a heavy weight, then
surrendered and gave way, cracking and splintering like a cheap
toothpick. With a thunderous crash, the huge maple fell on its side,
sending up a thick flurry of leaves.
In fact, Nasuti noticed with a smile, the trees all throughout
the clearing were rapidly losing their foliage, and the pines were
dropping needles in bucket loads. Bark shredded, falling limply from
the bleached, bone-like wood of the trunks like snakes shedding their
skin. The armoured ball which had struck the lizard lay in the middle
of a spreading patch of dead and dying grass in the middle of the
small clearing. As Nasuti watched, it slowly unfolded its limbs and
sat up, rubbing its head with one hand and wincing.
"Mental note," Naaza mumbled to himself, "don't do that again.
OW! I had no idea big lizards were that much harder than water..."
Shaking his head, the Masho of Poison glanced over at the young woman
staring at him and waved. "Hi, Nasuti! How's it goin'?"
"Oh," Nasuti said numbly, staring at the green-haired man
before her with eyes wide, "can't complain. You?"
Naaza grinned and shrugged. "Hey, never better! I've got a bit
of a headache right now, but other than that, I'm good." The fallen
tree suddenly lifted into the air as Tytoung rose to his hind feet
with an angry roar. Holding the trunk in one clawed hand, he swung it
at the smaller man's head. Without looking, Naaza performed a backflip
over the oak, kicking off of it like a diving board and vaulting
feet-first into the giant monster's head. Tytoung staggered back a few
steps, then swiped again with his makeshift club. Naaza ducked under
the flailing trunk and struck at the creature's ankles, tripping him
up.
"Uh, listen, Nasuti," the Snake Masho said quickly as he swung
his arms up to block a devastating strike from Tytoung's tail, "I'm
kind of in the middle of something right now." The tail swept in from
the other side, and only a swift duck and roll kept Naaza from losing
his head. "Think you could maybe get out of here? I'll catch up with
you just as soon as I take care of this."
"No problem," Nasuti said, managing a weak smile despite the
pain shooting through her stomach. "I'm just glad you showed up."
Naaza grinned goofily as the auburn-haired woman disappeared
back into depths of the moonlit forest. "She's glad I showed up..."
His large golden eyes seemed even more dazed than usual as he sighed
deeply and weakly waved farewell in the direction she had left in.
Taking advantage of his opponent's distraction, Tytoung leapt in and
brought the battered tree trunk down with all his prodigious might.
With a sound like thunder, the tree shattered over Naaza's armoured
shoulders, and the Snake Masho fell to the ground, his emerald helmet
bouncing across the clearing. Hooded eyes narrowing, Naaza scowled as
the lizard planted a foot on his back and snarled at him.
"HEY! I was TRYING to be WISTFUL, dammit!" Planting his hands
against the ground, Naaza lifted his body and slid his knees under
himself, throwing his opponent off balance as he stood and drew two of
the six swords he habitually carried. "Now where the hell were we? Oh,
yeah - SUFFER!" With a wild cackle, the green-haired Masho whirled
and swung the sword in his left hand. Tytoung pulled his head back
instinctively, and the tip of Naaza's right sword plunged into the
soft bottom of his jaw. Blood flowed freely, and Tytoung jerked his
head, tearing its grip from the Snake Masho's hand as he spun his
entire body and sent his tail whistling through the air like a giant
whip. It cracked against Naaza's left temple, and the Masho of Poison
went flying across the clearing, slamming into the ground and grunting
in pain.
Tytoung gurgled as he slowly pulled the accursed blade out of
his jaw. The damned katana had thrust straight through his tongue and
into his palate, filling his mouth with the salty, slimy taste of his
own blood. Despite his best efforts, the scarlet fluid leaked between
his scaled lips, drooling down his chin and pooling on the ground
beneath him. Gentle tendrils of smoke rose from the sizzling grass,
and Tytoung tilted his head back, closing his eyes as the nectar
slowly trickled down his gullet. Tossing aside the sword he held, the
huge lizard turned back towards his opponent.
Lifting the katana he still carried, the Snake Masho sneered
at his advancing opponent. "What? I thought you looked a little
hungry..."
The gigantic form of Tytoung lunged forward with blinding
speed, blurring as he snapped at the offensive gnat of a creature
facing him. Naaza, blessed with the speed of a striking cobra himself,
tried to dive out of the way, and found himself an instant too late.
The jaws meant to separate his head from his body clamped down on his
armoured torso, stretching from one shoulder to the other as Tytoung
dropped down on all fours and began to shake his head vigorously,
worrying the Masho of Poison like a dog with a bone. With a final,
convulsive jerk, the lizardlike Tytoung sent Naaza's armoured body
hurtling into the underbrush.
Coughing, Tytoung let his tongue loll out of his mouth.
Whatever that devil coated his armour with, it felt as if he had just
had a mouth full of hot coals. And the TASTE! Faugh! That had been the
foulest thing he had ever come across, and Tytoung was by no means a
picky eater. He'd had raw, rotting meat that tasted better than the
rancid grease that Masho used on himself. Actually, rancid grease
tasted BETTER. And burned less. He retched a few times, and spat a
gobbet of his blood onto the ground. Well, to the Pit with anything
THAT foul-tasting: he had a rather tender and juicy young female to
track down and properly introduce himself to. She was quite lovely,
he reflected, but she would be ever so much nicer with a light honey
glaze, and some of those little potatoes that he liked on the side,
and maybe he could talk one of his darling little sisters into helping
him make an appetiser... or even into BEING an appetiser...
**********
Something rustled in the trees above her, and Nasuti froze in
her tracks. What was that? Slowly, the auburn-haired woman sat up,
clutching her purse close to her as she glanced up into the dark
shadows of the tree canopy. Somewhere high above, the moon shone full,
casting some small measure of its cold, pale light down through the
foliage. A strange, winged shadow glided past the large disc, soaring
overhead without a care in the world. As Nasuti watched, her neck
aching from the strain, the winged form swooped and twirled out of
sight, flying off into the distance.
"Hey, Nasuti! What are we looking at?"
Nasuti screamed and leapt to the side, landing heavily on her
shoulder. Squatting next to where she had been sitting, Naaza looked
at her quizzically.
"NAAZA! Where did you come from?"
The Snake Masho raised an eyebrow. "Well," he said patiently,
"a very long time ago, a big, nasty snake demon took human form and
went into the nearby village of Kagoshima, in Southern Kyushu. There,
he met a young prostitute named-"
"No," Nasuti groaned, smacking herself in the forehead, "I
meant where did you come from JUST NOW, Naaza?"
Naaza blinked and pointed up. "Trees," he said, as though it
was an explanation.
"Oh. I guess that makes sense." Nasuti sighed and adjusted the
strap of her purse. "Naaza! You're bleeding!" Leaning in close, she
examined the armoured Masho's side, which was liberally covered with
puncture marks and broken teeth. "Does it hurt?"
Naaza shrugged. "Only a lot." After pausing and looking at the
sky for a while, he sighed.
"You don't say," Nasuti said calmly, joining him in scanning
the night sky.
"Yup."
Nasuti sighed and looked over at the Snake Masho. "Where's your
helmet?"
"You know," Naaza admitted with a tilt of his head, "I'm really
not sure. It'll be here when I need it."
Nasuti nodded, trying to keep her eyes open. She'd been running
for hours, she realised: it was no wonder she was tired and sweaty.
Cold, too, thanks to that frigid wind that kept howling between the
trees. How could a place be so hot during the day and turn arctic at
night?
"Got a plan?" she managed to ask, her eyelids drooping ever so
slightly.
"Huh?" Naaza looked almost stunned for a second, then rolled
his eyes and pursed his lips. "Uh, yeah, a PLAN! Sure, I got one of
those, I guess."
"You don't have a plan," Nasuti slurred, sliding down to lie on
the ground and clumsily folding her jacket into a pillow. "Nope, no
plan at all..."
"Hey, I got a plan!" Naaza leapt to his feet, a determined set
to his jaw as he pointed at the prone Nasuti. "A perfect plan! A plan
that's such a perfectly planned piece of planning that you'll be
stunned that a planner like me planned it! There's only one flaw in
the whole plan!"
"What?" Nasuti groaned, burying her face in her makeshift
pillow. Naaza seemed to be saying something important, if only the
world would stop spinning long enough for her to listen to him. Or
at least be kind enough to pick a direction and stick with it. What
was wrong with her? Wrapping her arms around her stomach, she bit
her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. She just needed sleep, that was
all. She was exhausted.
"I have no idea what it is," Naaza admitted sheepishly.
Lowering his head, he waited for some kind of response from Nasuti.
The young woman didn't even twitch. "Uh, Nasuti?" Using his foot, the
Snake Masho rolled his companion onto her back, and looked down at her.
Her eyes were half-shut, and her face was as white as a sheet. "Wow,
you didn't tell me you were that scared, Nasuti. I'm sorry I shocked
you like that, okay? Don't go and faint on me or anything..."
There was still no response. Worried, Naaza knelt next to the
woman and felt her forehead with his hand. After a few seconds, he
groaned, smacked himself in the forehead, and thought to remove his
armoured gauntlet before trying again. The emerald and ruby yoroi of
Doku seemed to hiss angrily as it steamed from his form in a cloud of
pinkish-purple smoke. The vapour hung above him for a brief moment,
forming the shape of a cobra with a flared hood before drifting away
on the breeze. With the sickly-sweet scent of his armour still hanging
over them, Naaza rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt and
placed one hand over Nasuti�s forehead as he checked her pulse with
the other, gently pressing his fingers against the nape of her neck.
"Oh, come on, Nasuti," he muttered, as he felt the fever
raging through her, and her pulse racing wildly. "Don�t fall asleep,
hon. You have to stay awake for me."
The auburn-haired woman stirred, and wearily cracked one eye
open. "I�m tired," she mumbled, and let her head loll to one side as
her eyes began to close again. "Leave me alone."
"Nasuti," Naaza said firmly, "I need you to listen to me very
carefully. What's my name?"
"Naaza."
"And I am...?"
"Cuckoo."
Naaza blinked. He had a bad feeling that it was going to be a
long day.
**********
It had started raining almost with the dawn, and a decidedly
waterlogged Masho of Poison staggered through the forest with a
drenched armful of university professor. The water had dampened his
usually enthusiastic hairstyle, and the green locks hung limply about
his face, dripping rainwater into his eyes with every motion of his
head. There was a flash of light, burning his sensitive eyes, and a
sensation of searing heat amidst the omnipresent chill washed over his
body. Almost the same instant, thunder roared throughout the forest,
buffeting Naaza and his cargo like a solid thing. Eyes wide, the Snake
Masho turned and looked over his shoulder at the tree burning less
than a dozen feet away.
"Right," he said quietly. "Well, I may be a nut, but I can
take a friggin' hint." As the rain drummed against the steel plates of
his armour, Naaza hunched forward a bit farther, doing his best to
shield Nasuti with his body. The poor girl hadn't even put up a
struggle when he scooped her off her feet: he had known town drunks
that walked faster and more surely than she had been managing two
hours ago. Whatever the devil was wrong with the girl, Naaza had a
sick feeling that the big lizard was behind it. He looked down at the
face of his burden, covered in a sheen of rainwater. Her eyes were
shut, and her lips parted slightly, as though in sleep.
"I am going to peel Spunky like a grape," Naaza decided, and
nodded reassuringly to himself. "But first, I have to get you
somewhere dry." Sighing, the green-haired man looked around. "Hey!
There's a place!" The mud squelched under his feet as he changed
direction and began to amble towards a dilapidated and ramshackle old
building. The walls were weathered, and made of carved stone that had
worn itself silken smooth with time. The door fell off of its hinges
when Naaza kicked it, and he shrugged.
"Guess there's nobody home." Naaza gingerly stepped down onto
the soft remnants of a straw mat, long ago rotted and mildewed. The
thatched roof wasn't any better off, but it was still keeping the rain
out, and that was good enough for him. The rest of floor was carved
stone as well, he noted with surprise as he walked over into the main
room of the house. Whoever built this place had been planning to stay
for a while. He was apparently in a kitchen, or some kind of eating
room. Lowering Nasuti onto a dusty old wooden table, Naaza groaned and
stretched his arms wide to relieve the kink in his shoulders. No
food, of course, but then, this place felt like it had been empty for
a very long time. He wondered idly who had lived there; it had been
left in very good condition, considering it had been abandoned for
enough centuries that the forest had overrun any farmland and
swallowed the building whole. There were two other rooms, one off
either side of the main kitchen. Both were bedrooms, one large and
with a bed against either wall, the other a single suite. A rusted
old axe hung above the single bed, and Naaza stared at it for a moment
before rummaging through the closet. Whoever used to sleep there was
long dead anyway, he reasoned, and he doubted they would mind.
What he found made no sense. One side of the closet was filled
with worn and dusty old farm clothes, coarse, unbleached cotton and
wool, patched roughly and sewn by hand. On other side hung clothes
that would have been fit for a king, once ; stained silk, rotting
velvet, and soft leather boots that had fallen apart. He sneezed, and
grabbed the only thing that seemed to be in any worthwhile condition.
Tossing the grey cape over his shoulder, he went back to check on
Nasuti.
Her condition had only worsened in his absence. The girl was
still sweating profusely, and not merely from her face. Even her palms
were dripping with perspiration, and yet her teeth chattered from
cold. Her skin was practically chalk white, and she was moaning
faintly under her breath. Most worrisome to Naaza, though, was the way
in which her body would randomly spasm, the muscles contracting and
releasing on their own accord.
"Okay," he muttered, "alone in an old farmhouse, in the middle
of a forest, in a thunderstorm, with Nasuti Yagyu. Left to my own
devices, as it were." Clearing his throat, he slowly turned in a full
circle, scanning the area carefully. "Anybody out there planning to
leap in here and come to the rescue?" he whispered, and waited for a
response. Getting none, he groaned and let his shoulders slump. "Man,"
he groused, "I just pick the worst damn times not to be evil..."
Nasuti groaned softly, and Naaza stood up. Reaching down, he
gently pulled on the neck of Nasuti's sweater, stretching the fabric
down over the curve of her shoulder and baring an expanse of pale,
creamy skin. Closing his eyes, Naaza hooked his fingers under the
exposed strap of her bra and slid it down her shoulder as well,
pressing his face against nape of her neck and feeling her pulse race.
Carefully, he brushed a few stray locks of auburn hair out of his way.
Sluggishly, the woman began to squirm, trying to move away and
beginning to lift her arms.
"Now," he whispered, licking his lips slightly, and grabbing
her bare shoulder to hold her in place, "I know you're a bit confused,
and not all here right now. Just trust that I'm being a good guy...
please?" He cleared his throat. "I'm going to help."
Nasuti calmed slightly, and lay still. Naaza glanced up at her
face, which was composed and serene. Was she trusting him, he wondered,
or had she just fainted again? Either way, he figured, and licked his
lips again. "You may feel a slight pressure," he rasped. "More like a
pinch, really..."
He opened his mouth, and his canines extended. Nasuti's eyes
shot open, and she cried out as Naaza sank his fangs into the soft,
exposed flesh of her shoulder. Her back arched, slamming her body
against his own until he placed one hand on her stomach and forced her
back down against the table. He wanted to say something to calm the
poor girl, but frankly he was a bit busy. His fangs pulsed, releasing
a megadose of the antivenin his body had created, and Nasuti cried out
again, louder than before. Her arms flew up and clutched him to her
reflexively, her fingers tangling in his hair as she threw her head
back and grimaced. Naaza tried to ignore her hands slowly and steadily
tightening their grip on his head and back, respectively, as he placed
his free hand behind Nasuti's head, holding her steady.
Nasuti started fidgeting again, moving her legs this time.
Her soles of her sneakers scraped against the wooden surface of the
table, and an old metal cup rang off of the stone floor as it fell.
She had stopped whimpering, but her breath was becoming more and more
ragged as her pulse rate accelerated. Naaza smiled mentally. He had
been sure to include a slight stimulant in his antivenin, so that her
system would deliver it faster. His fangs pulsed again, and Nasuti
all but screamed, her entire body spasming as every muscle in her body
clenched, and then slowly relaxed as Naaza pulled his fangs free and
sat back, wiping her blood from his lips.
The chair Naaza had been leaning on tipped over, and he
sprawled on the floor. What a nice floor, he thought, as he let his
eyes drift shut. Perhaps he would stay there for a while. It helped
that he wasn't sure he could get back up. His throat was aching, and
he was pretty sure there wasn't enough venom in his whole body to give
a mouse the sniffles. This, he reminded himself as he dragged his body
across the floor and towards one of the bedrooms, is why I never,
ever, use all of my poison in one strike. With a weary groan, the
youngest of the Masho made it onto the bed before surrendering
consciousness and drifting into a deep, dreamless sleep.
**********
Nasuti Yagyu slowly opened one eye. Several seconds passed,
and nothing seemed immediately out of place. Warily, she opened the
other eye and sat up. Things remained normal.
Obviously, something was wrong.
Sliding off of the table she had been lying on, Nasuti landed
on her feet and wobbled slightly. Her legs were trembling, but it
wasn't the same strength-sapping, bone deep weariness and fatigue she
had felt before. She could even think about food without feeling the
need to vomit. Rubbing her head, she tried to figure out what had been
going on. She knew she had passed out more than once over the past
few hours (assuming it was even the same day she thought it was), and
the fever dreams had made it impossible for her to tell fantasy from
reality. She vaguely recalled being carried...
NAAZA! The Snake Masho was nowhere to be seen. Still a bit
unsteady on her legs, Nasuti wobbled across the room and opened one of
the two doors she had seen. There was no knowing what had happened
while she was out; Naaza might have left her behind to go get help, or
maybe tried to lead Tytolung on a false trail. He might even have been
drawn away by Tytolung, or fighting with him right that moment. He
could already be dead!
Or, she thought wryly as she entered the other bedroom, he
could be right there, sleeping like a baby. With a soft sigh, the
auburn-haired woman leaned against the doorframe and looked down at
the slumbering form. Sprawled on his back, the Snake Masho was snoring
lightly, his mouth hanging open just wide enough that Nasuti could see
the tips of his fangs peeking out from behind his lips when he inhaled.
His emerald hair spilled around his head on the pillow, falling over
his face as he rolled over. He actually was kind of cute, Nasuti
reflected with a soft smile, and shook her head. Where the hell had
that come from?
Naaza rolled over, and Nasuti gasped. His undergear armour was
gone for some reason, and the entire left side of his shirt was torn
to shreds, stained red with blood. The sheets beneath him were
equally incardine, and the pool was slowly spreading.
"Naaza!" Nasuti knelt by the side of the bed, grasping the
Masho of Poison by his shoulder and shaking him awake. "Naaza, wake up!
What's wrong with you?"
"Snuh?" A single eye cracked open, and the young man flopped
onto his back. "Nasuti? What? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, but-"
"Good." Naaza groaned and tried to sit up, before Nasuti pushed
him back down. "All that being sane was driving me crazy. What's up?"
"You're still bleeding! Why didn't you heal your wounds?"
The Masho smiled sheepishly. "Er... I thought they made me
more interesting?"
Nasuti scowled.
"Fine," Naaza sighed, "TAKE the boring old truth. By the time
I was able to figure out what was wrong with you, you were pretty far
gone. I figured you couldn't afford to wait until I had healed myself,
so I did you first. I didn't know I'd drain myself doing it."
Thunder boomed, and Nasuti smiled. "Can you walk?"
"Walk? But it's pouring rain out there!" Naaza pointed at the
far wall, then blinked and snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah! It's
raining outside, and water makes my armour stronger, so..."
"So suit up." Nasuti crossed her arms across her chest and
gestured towards the door with her head. "We may as well look for
everyone else while you get your strength back."
**********
Tytoung sat in the underbrush and ignored the chill seeping
through his bones. He could handle something as insignificant as the
sudden downpour, if it meant victory in the end. He would NOT return
to his brother Pedri with news of failure. Just picturing the
egotistical smirk that bastard would get made his talons twitch. Maybe
Pedri didn't intend to reward Tytoung for his services: in his current
frame of mind, it didn't bother the large and scaly creature. He'd
just rip through Pedri -or whoever else was in his way- and goddamn
TAKE what he wanted!
Speaking of things I want, he thought, licking his lips, here
comes one now. The door of the small farmhouse swung open, and the
morsel he had been tailing walked out of her haven. Foolish frail.
Indoors his immense size would have been too great a disadvantage, but
he'd known she had to come out eventually.
Next out was a figure that made Tytoung's throat ache all over
again. The protector, the annoying gnat that kept buzzing around his
head just long enough for his snack to escape him. Didn't even taste
good. He'd just squish the bastard and get him out of the way, once
and for all. He had rather hoped he had already done that.
The pair staggered off into the brush, leaning on each other
for support, and Tytoung snarled. It was too damn wet. Too cold. He
didn't like it. Hunting at night had been bad enough. For a moment,
he was tempted to just leap out of the scrub and finish them both, but
he knew better than to give in to his baser urges. He would wait until
they had lowered their guard, until they thought they were safe.
The pair staggered off into the brush, and Tytoung followed.
**********
Naaza scratched his head and looked around. Hey, he thought to
himself, a bunch of trees. Who would have expected that? And over to
the left... another bunch of trees. Placing his armoured fists on his
hips, he strained his eyes and hoped something would start looking
familiar really quick.
"Right," he said finally. "Well, I give up. Where are we,
Nasuti?"
"What?" Nasuti turned and gave Naaza a look of surprise. "Why
should I know where we are?"
"Well, I WAS following you..."
"You were supposed to be in the LEAD!" Nasuti groaned and
tugged on her hair, stamping one foot in the muddy earth. "What the
hell were you doing following ME?"
"Now, Nasuti," Naaza argued, making a placating gesture,
"let's be fair. Between the two of us, which one is more likely to
know what they're doing at any given moment? I mean, I was just
playing the odds."
"Are you telling me we've been wandering aimlessly for hours?
You have no idea where you are, and no idea where you're going?"
"Yeah." Naaza grinned and scratched behind one ear, laughing
nervously. "Pretty much business as usual, I guess..."
The auburn-haired woman stared at the Snake Masho for a moment,
an undefinable emotion simmering in her eyes. Very slowly, she lifted
one leg and reached down, removing her sneaker. "Come over here," she
said, lifting the shoe like a weapon, "and let me smack you with this."
"Uh," the Snake Masho stuttered, backing away from the slowly
advancing woman, "I really think I'd rather not, actually..."
"Come here!" Nasuti yelled, and lunged at the man, swinging her
sneaker like a club. Caught off-guard, Naaza barely had time to yelp
before the young woman slammed into him and sent both crashing
backwards through the thick underbrush. The mud was a bit of a
surprise, and freezing cold as both Nasuti and Naaza skidded down a
steep incline of ebony slime. Slipping and sliding in the mire, Naaza
finally glided to a stop and managed to make it to his knees, wiping
helplessly at the goo covering his armour. With a groan, he shook his
arms in disgust, splattering mud everywhere.
"Serves you right," Nasuti said imperiously, as she watched
the Masho of Poison lose his footing and slam back down into the black
muck. Struggling to her own feet, the young woman took three steps
and slammed face-first into the loam. Naaza chuckled and released his
grasp on her ankle. His smile suddenly died as he looked up, his eyes
going wide as his jaw hung slack. Looking over her shoulder at him,
Nasuti could swear that his face lost all colour.
"Oh, no," he said quietly, barely audible over the driving
rain. "My sanity and I made a deal, damn it! I put up with being looked
at funny, and it makes sure I never, never, NEVER think about that! It
shouldn't even BE here! It's supposed to be somewhere far away from
me!"
Blinking, Nasuti turned and looked into the thick curtain of
rain that surrounded them both. Squinting, she could just barely make
out a tall spire of ebony dominating the vast plain of black slime.
"What the hell is that? Looks like we might be able to take some
shelter..."
"No. No, no, no, no, no! We're leaving right now, Nasuti."
Naaza turned and began slogging back the way they had come. The bushes
shuddered slightly, and the Snake Masho watched in surprise as a tree
lifted and hurled itself in his direction. The green-haired man leapt
to the side, and the venerable old pine skidded down the incline like
a giant's toboggan.
Thunder rumbled threateningly, and a shadowy form crawled out
of the thicket, lifting its massive head and hissing threateningly.
Naaza responded instinctively, spreading his feet wide and holding his
hands far to the sides of his body, slowly beginning to sway back and
forth as he bared his fangs and hissed in return.
"I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere," Tytoung snarled in
a menacing and rasping voice. "Not ever again." The soft loam squelched
between his thick claws as he rose to his hind legs, drawing up to his
full height and glaring down at his opponent.
"Good to see you again, Spunky!" Naaza replied cheerfully,
drawing two of the four katana that hung at his waist. "Such a shame
you have to leave so soon..."
Tytoung laughed, a dry chuckle that rattled off as he stepped
forward and tilted his head to one side. "How droll. You think you can
actually defeat me?"
"Well, I was planning to rough you up a little first, on
account of I don't like your face, but we're in a bit of a rush."
Naaza began to step forward eagerly, when Nasuti grabbed him by one of
the spikes on his shoulderplates.
"What are you thinking? You aren't even at full strength, and
you're actually going to pick a fight with a god?"
Naaza shrugged. "Well, I'll be damned! Looks like I am."
Tytoung surged forward, bellowing at the top of his lungs as
he slammed chestfirst into the dark slime, jaws clacking shut on thin
air as Naaza leapt over his scaled back, tumbling through the stormy
sky and landing in a crouch behind the monster. Tytoung lashed out,
his tail slamming into the Snake Masho's side, and Naaza grabbed it,
ignoring the pain radiating through his ribs as he reached behind him
and caught the giant lizard's hind leg with his other hand. Straining,
the Masho of Poison dug his heels into the mud, feet shifting in the
slick soil as he snapped his arms forward and physically tossed Tytoung
further down the field. Landing on his back, the reptile skidded
several feet before rolling to his feet again and half-charging,
half-stumbling back towards the relatively diminutive mortal who had
somehow managed to flip him like a coin.
Naaza met the charge, crossing his wrists and slamming his
forearms across Tytoung's throat. The scaled creature brought his
fists down on the Masho's armoured back, and Naaza slipped, falling to
his knees. As Tytoung let his jaw drop in a triumphant grin, the
Snake Masho shot his arm up, reaching straight into Tytoung's maw and
down his throat. The lizard gagged as he felt five steel-sheathed
fingers close around the base of his tongue and squeeze. With a sharp
tug on his tongue, Naaza forced Tytoung to double over and swung his
armoured feet against the creature's scaled belly. Planting his feet,
Naaza stretched back one fist and grinned, narrowing his hooded,
golden eyes. The fist flew forward with blinding speed, slamming into
the side of Tytoung's head with a sound like a gunshot.
It was Naaza who screamed, however, as he felt something in
his gauntlet crunch, and flex in directions it never had before.
Fighting off a sudden wave of nausea, he gritted his teeth and slammed
the broken hand into Tytoung's thick skull seven more times before the
titanic lizard wrapped his claws around Naaza�s head and peeled the
Masho loose from his body. With a violent flick of his muscled wrist,
Tytoung sent the smaller man flying.
Naaza landed hard, mud splashing up in all directions as he
flopped onto the ground like a dead fish. His head was pounding, and
the feeling of nausea was getting worse. He tried to flex his fingers,
and was rewarded by a jolt of pain running from his nails to his
shoulder and back again. So far, he was right: this had been a very
long day. With every breath, his ribs reminded him that they weren't
feeling too happy with his idea of fun.
Tytoung pounced, swinging his head low and butting Naaza with
his snout. Flailing, the Masho soared through the air as another bolt
of lightning flashed in the distance, hitting the earth headfirst.
Facedown in the mud, he barely had the strength to lift his head and
gasp for breath as the ground trembled with the weight of the
approaching monster.
"I will honour your bravery," Tytoung rumbled. "Know that the
one you have sought to protect will suffer only after you have died
defending her." Rising once again onto his hind legs, Tytoung raised
one massive scaly fist, fingers curved and claws trembling with
anticipation. He brought the killing hand down...
And Naaza rolled to the left, barely dodging the strike and
rising to his knees in the deepening mire. What was once a beach of
fine volcanic ash was quickly becoming a bog. Coughing, wheezing, and
feeling a familiar ache in his other side that told him he had just
managed to reopen the wounds he received in their prior fight, it was
all the battered warrior could do to force himself back onto his feet.
Tytoung was there, and a scaled fist smashed into the side of
Naaza's unarmoured head. His neck snapped back, and the Masho fell to
the ground again. Tytoung raised his hind leg, stamping down with his
foot just as Naaza mustered the strength to dodge again, sitting up
and forcing the lizard's leg to bend the wrong way with a lightning
fast strike to the kneecap. Tytoung dropped back on all fours,
favouring the limb even more than he had before. Naaza staggered to
his feet once again, weaving back and forth. The two locked gazes,
and Tytoung nearly flinched.
In that moment of hesitation, the Snake Masho launched a
desperate strike, wading through the mire and slamming his reptilian
opponent with punches that moved faster than human eyes could follow,
blurs of green followed by explosions of red as he rained blow after
blow upon the head of Tytoung. A left to the head, a right to the
stomach, a knee to the ribs, a kick to the injured knee, Naaza was
like a dervish, driving the larger creature back with the sheer volume
of his attacks.
Surprise can only last so long, however, and Tytoung brought
his long, ponderous skull down like a piledriver, smashing into the
crown of the Masho's head and dropping the youthful warrior into the
mud yet again. Slamming his hand into the small of the man's back,
Tytoung lifted Naaza from the ground and held his limp body up to the
heavens like an offering before slamming it back down and grinding his
heel into the Snake Masho's kidneys.
Nasuti began to tremble as Tytoung turned his eyes on her. They
were small, beady eyes: black as pitch, and devoid of emotion. A
shark's eyes, she thought frantically as he began to limp towards her,
a killer's eyes. The distance between them slowly closed, and Tytoung
began to smile. After all the trouble she had put him through, it was
a shame that the girl would barely even whet his appetite, now. He
would have to see what else he could find in this desolate and
miserable place.
The female had fallen in the slick mud, and was simply staring
up at him with wide, frightful eyes. He lifted his killing hand,
planning to break her neck with a single swat, when something suddenly
felt wrong. The female had raised one hand to her mouth, and seemed
to be looking down... following her gaze, Tytoung stared numbly at
the two steel katana blades protruding from his stomach. As he watched,
they slowly twisted, and began to pull away from each other with a
horrid tearing sound.
"YOU!" Tytoung howled, looking under his arm to see the Masho
of Poison perched on his back, straining to complete his task. "Why
in the nine hells can't you just STAY DOWN?"
"I'm insane," Naaza growled. "What's YOUR excuse?" Biting his
bottom lip until it bled, the Snake Masho wrapped his legs around
Tytoung's torso and began to squeeze. "What's the matter? Feeling a
bit constricted?"
Tytoung staggered backwards, trying in a vain to reach the
tenacious Masho, but his blasted arms were simply not long enough for
the task. Raising his tail, he bashed Naaza repeatedly in the back
and head, but the Snake Masho merely tightened his grip. Finally, the
huge reptile threw himself into the air, landing on his back in an
attempt to crush the man under his body weight. Mud flew in great waves
and flurries, as the two rolled around and thrashed wildly. Nasuti
covered her eyes and looked away as a great undulating wall of flying
muck splattered over her, and then it was over. The rain still fell,
and the boggy ground was calm. Tytoung lay on the ground, to the left
of a motionless Naaza.
The other half of Tytoung lay on Naaza's right. As Nasuti
watched, the corpse began to hiss, dissolving into a sizzling mound
of featureless flesh, then evaporating completely.
**********
Mother's eyes snapped open, her mouth stretching wide in a
silent wail as the wires and tubes swirling around her body came to
life, whipping and snapping like a nest of snakes. A thick cloud
of bubbles washed up into the tube, making its contents impossible
to see for several seconds.
Pedri stepped back in surprise, staring up at the tube as his
glass tumbled from his fingers, forgotten. Erdge spun on her heel,
long braid of hair curling around her neck as she gazed at the
spectacle unfolding before her.
"Did she just-?"
"Yes," Pedri said breathlessly, "that was Mother. She's in
pain. And that can only mean..."
The shield of bubbles boiled away into the top of the tube,
leaving Mother floating as serenely as before. A single thing had
changed, however: marking her left cheek was an indigo tattoo that
hadn't been there a moment before. The marking appeared to be
Japanese kanji.
Pedri leaned in close, pressing his hand against the surface
of the tube. "Houshoku," he read aloud. "That means that they must
have gotten Brother Tytolung..." He turned back to Erdge, a determined
look on his features. "Come with me, Erdge. This require our immediate
attention!"
**********
Nasuti slid across the mud, gently lifting Naaza's head in her
hands and resting it in her lap. The green-haired man hadn't moved
since the battle ended, and his eyes were closed. She wasn't sure if
he was even breathing. Heart in her throat, the woman pressed her
fingers against his neck, feeling out the carotid artery.
"Please, Naaza," she whispered, stroking the side of his face,
slick from rain, "you can't die when you've won! What kind of hero
would do that? Please?" The pulse was there; weak, but there.
Naaza's eyes fluttered open. "I-is he... dead?"
"I'm not sure, Naaza. But he's gone."
"Oh." Naaza lifted his head slightly. "Am I dead?"
Nasuti chuckled. "I don't think so."
"Well, that's good, then." The Snake Masho closed his eyes
again and laid his head back in her lap. "Nighty-night..."
Nasuti smiled as the Masho began to snore almost immediately.
Slowly, she became aware of someone standing nearby, and looked up. A
tall and slender man with long silver hair and an eyepatch looked
back down at her, holding out an old-fashioned bamboo umbrella.
"Well," he said with an almost resentful tone, "I suppose that
you'll be wanting to carry him into the Keep. Hotaru's already waiting
back there, so we'd better be going."
"How long were you here?" Nasuti asked Rajura suspiciously.
"What?" The one-eyed Masho of Deception almost looked hurt at
her implication. "I was willing to help, but I knew he didn't NEED me!
Honestly, Ms. Yagyu, you can be quite paranoid, at times." Turning, he
began to walk towards the ebony spire Nasuti had seen earlier. "Are
you coming, or not?"
Nasuti looked down at Naaza. With a sigh, she slung him over
her shoulder and began to follow the silver-haired Masho into the
pouring rain.
**********
To Be Continued...