Frozen in Darkness
by BridgitKiido
Insert generic disclaimer here.
Chapter 2
Thunder! The Resistance Grows
The panther that had attacked Osiris Red had long since disappeared, apparently free from whatever influence Kaiser Darkness had over it. Judai was still quite confused by the entire incident, however; after all, pacts were usually unable to be broken by outside forces, and yet this one had ended simply by removing the rune from around its neck. And that's not to mention all the other strange things about it...
But that was hardly important right now. At the moment, the only thing that mattered was those milkshakes he had requested – one for him, one for Hane. Ms. Tome's milkshakes were the best in all of Academia, so he always purchased one for each of his new kobuns. (Plus, he hoped, Ms. Tome enjoyed seeing his ever-growing menagerie.)
Nothing, not even the threat of an evil Kaiser looming overhead or even the creak of the ceiling that sounded as though it was about to give in, could prevent Judai and Hane from enjoying their milkshakes. Nor could a sudden shout of frustration from upstairs, though that did startle them. After that, they heard a door slam and a pair of feet stomp their way down the stairs.
Said feet belonged to a boy around Judai's age. He wore all black, including a long black coat; one possible reason could have also caused the various dark, greasy stains on his otherwise pale face. (His skin was so pale that, was his hair not ink black, he might have passed as albino.) Judai, however, immediately noticed the three runed tablets that he wore as a necklace.
He passed through the room without comment, although he appeared to be muttering various profanities under his breath. He did, however, stop to ask, "Ms. Tome, do you mind if I go out to look for more parts in the scrap heap again?"
"I don't mind at all," Ms. Tome responded happily. "You know that you're free to use as much of it as you need. Did something happen?" she asked, obviously referring to the various inky spots on his skin.
The boy huffed. "If these guys hadn't decided to run around like lunatics…"
"I'm sorry, Aniki!" came a voice from upstairs, which was followed by a small crash and the appearance of three small creatures rolling down the stairs in a snowball-like manner. When they landed, Judai could tell that they were small, almost bug-like humanoid monsters, although each of them wore a small, polka-dotted thong around their rear ends. The yellow one, whose eyes were on long stalks, bowed apologetically as he continued, "I was trying to be careful, honest! But Black tripped me."
A second one, whose skin was a very dark purple, nearly black, hue and whose distinct feature was a huge nose, retaliated, "That's not true! You must have tripped over Green."
The third, green one had only one eye, but it still expressed a combination of frustration and apology. "I was with you the whole time, Black! Yellow didn't trip over me, he tripped over you!"
The boy glared at them. "I don't care who tripped over who. The point is, someone crashed into it, so half of that metal is ruined and useless now."
Judai, meanwhile, had leapt out of his chair and was now kneeling close to the three colored creatures, looking them over in excitement and awe. "Woah, cool! These are Ojamas, right? But I've never seen them in any color other than red. Where'd you find them?" he asked the boy, who gave him a glare before silently giving Ms. Tome a quick bow of respect and thanks and leaving the building.
Yellow looked up at Judai, whose sweatdrops were plainly visible. "Please don't mind Aniki; he's prone to anger and puts on a cold exterior to strangers, but he's the kindest, most caring person I've ever met!" The other two Ojamas nodded in agreement before returning to a (somewhat playful at this point) staring contest.
"He never answered my question," Judai sighed before turning to the creatures. "You are Ojamas, right?"
The three of them smiled, and Yellow replied, "Yup! We're Ojamas, alright! I'm Yellow…"
"Green's the name," the green one replied.
"And my name is Black!" replied the dark colored one.
They clasped their hands together in a triangular pattern and, in an obviously rehearsed maneuver, touched together their rear ends. "And together, we are the Ojama Trio!"
"Kuri kuri," Hane chirped happily, having been watching the goings-on for some time now.
"Ah, I see you've met Thunder," Daitoukuji stated with a calm smile as he walked into the room, his cat (Judai had recently learned that its name was Pharaoh) following close behind.
"Thunder?"
"His real name is Jun Manjoume, but he doesn't like to be called Jun or Manjoume, nya. He prefers to be called Thunder; I'm guessing it's because of his skills at making machinery, nya. He's got a bit of the Gift too, as you can probably tell."
Judai nodded and was about to continue talking to the Ojama Trio when the door opened again. This time, it was not just Thunder who walked through the door (apparently happy with the large armful of random metal plates that he carried in), but a pair of other travelers as well. Both of them wore traveling cloaks that covered them entirely, leaving one of them completely hidden from view. The other, however, had a bit of his head showing, revealing blue-grey eyes set in a serious expression, as well as dark grey hair extending to a single point behind his head.
"I found these guys sleeping in the scrap heap," Thunder explained deadpan-ly. "They say they're travelers from Nordia who heard rumors about the Kaiser's throne being usurped and wanted to help the true heir in any way they could, but you never know these days."
Ms. Tome, who had been cleaning the milkshake machine, rushed out to greet the new guests. "Welcome to Osiris Red. Can I get you anything? You must be starving, traveling all that way, and the scrap heap is no place to sleep. I'll set you up with lodgings right away."
The grey-haired man waved his hands in front of his face as he stammered, "N-no, that's fine, really. We really don't want to impose or anything. Our provisions are fine, and we've been sleeping on far worse than scraps of metal for most of the trip."
"Still," Judai piped up as he walked over to the slowly-forming group, "you ought to try one of Ms. Tome's milkshakes. They're the best in the world. And if you don't have enough money, I'll buy them for you if you want."
The grey-haired man looked toward his companion, who replied with an obviously female voice, "We cannot stay for long, I'm sorry to say. But perhaps we can spend one night here." It was impossible to read her expression, as her face was hidden beneath the hood, but her tone seemed friendly, yet slightly held back.
"One night it is then," the lady's companion replied, and Ms. Tome immediately made her way upstairs to set up suitable lodgings.
Daitoukuji had been just about to sit down to the piano once again, but after seeing the new visitors arrive, he ignored Pharaoh's growl of annoyance and made his way over to the group at the door. "Excuse me. I couldn't help overhearing that you wish to help the true heir to Academia's throne, nya?"
The grey-haired man nodded, and the way the cloth moved, it was assumed that the lady did the same as she replied, "My reasons are my own, but my brother taught me magic and sword play when I was younger, and I wish to use my skills to help in whatever way I can."
"And I wish to lend my aid as well," the lady's companion replied, "though my main purpose is to escort Lady Asu… Asuryn here."
Daitoukuji smiled. "Well, I'm certain that your aid will be most welcome, nya. If you wish, I can show you to Prince Sho's room right now, actually, Miss Asuryn and… er…"
"D-Daichi, sir," the man replied.
"He's here?" Asuryn asked, slightly baffled. "I wasn't aware that he would be this far away from the castle."
Daitoukuji laughed slightly. "Well, it's a little bit too dangerous for him to be around the castle, don't you think? After all, he is the true heir and all, nya. But anyway, if you wish to speak with him, follow me please, nya." He walked into a back hallway, and Asuryn and Daichi followed at some distance. Judai, meanwhile, returned to his milkshake, while Thunder returned upstairs, a loud clunk stating clearly that he had returned to his room.
As soon as they were out of the main room, Asuryn whispered hurriedly in Daichi's ear, "I thought I asked you to stop with the Lady thing. It might give us away."
"My apologies, Princess Asuka," Daichi replied in a low whisper. "It's a bad habit of mine – I will continue to work on that."
"Kaiser, sir," called a figure in the shadows, causing Darkness to look up from his meditations on his throne. (Of course, there were lots of shadows in that particular throne room, as was coming to be expected from Darkness' reign, but that was hardly the point, now was it?)
"What is it, Kagemaru?"
"One of the scouts sent to the edge of the forest never returned. The last time its location was recorded, it was somewhere near a small building called 'Osiris Red'."
Darkness hummed thoughtfully for a moment, and then replied, "It's probably nothing, but there's no use taking chances, now is there? Kagemaru, go out to Osiris Red and destroy whatever you find there that could possibly be considered dangerous."
"As you command, Kaiser sir." And the figure in the shadows disappeared.
Author's Note: For those who don't know, Manjoume's nickname of Thunder came about when he was at North Academy. The suffix –san is used to indicate respect along the level of Mr. or Mrs. in American society, and no one was using it with his name, so he kept reminding them, "It's –san!", or, in Japanese, "-san da!", which sounds very similar to the Japanese pronunciation of the word Thunder. It kinda stuck. Unfortunately, it doesn't really translate well into English without a lot of explanation. Hence why you get thunderbolts after "Chazz it up" for no apparent reason in the English dub.
I wasn't going to do this initially, but due to a reviewer's request, I am going to add a Japanese to English dub glossary of names. I'll start with the people that have been introduced so far, and I'll add to it in subsequent chapters as more characters show up. If I don't mention them, assume that the name is the same in both versions.
Let's see… in order of appearance so far, that would be…
Fubuki Tenjoin – Atticus Rhodes
Asuka Tenjoin – Alexis Rhodes
Samejima – Sheppard
Ryo Marufuji – Zane Truesdale
Rei Saotome – Blair Flannigan
Sho Marufuji – Syrus Truesdale
Daitoukuji – Banner
Darkness – Nightshroud
Osiris Red – Slifer Red
Ms. Tome – Ms. Dorothy
Judai Yuki – Jaden Yuki
Hane Kuriboh – Winged Kuriboh
E-Heroes (Elemental Armors in my story) – Elemental Heroes
Burst Lady – Burstinatrix
Featherman – Avion
Jun Manjoume "Thunder" – Chazz Princeton
Daichi Misawa – Bastion Misawa
If I'm wrong about some of them, I'm sorry… I've gotten so used to the Japanese names that I've forgotten many of the minor dub names…
Asuryn is, in fact, one of Fubuki's pet names for Asuka. In fact, it's the name he chose as her stage name, should she decide to become an idol alongside him. (See episode 60 if you don't believe me.) I have been told by my sister that –ryn is similar to –chan, but I'm not sure that her sources are the most accurate, so… yeah. She knows far more than me though.
My plot bunnies are really mean. They've been draining all of my inspiration for this in favor of random one-shots that make little to no sense. And chicken wire doesn't seem to hold them back. My sister is suggesting plexi-glass… anyway, the point of that was, I'm sorry for that long wait. Next chapter is a big battle scene, but I'll try to get it out soon…
