"Damn it, Mori!" Motochika roared as he and others sank at an alarming rate into the swamp's marsh. "Damn you!"
The player called Mori barely glanced back at them, looking down on all of them in that superior way that he always did. And without looking back, he walked off, leaving them to drown in the marsh. Leaving them to die.
"Mori!" Motochika screamed after the shadows of the swamp. "Get back here and help us!"
"Aw hell no! I refuse!" Motochika yelled. "Why the hell do I have to go along with all of this?"
"You know you didn't have to send me a friend request, right?" Keiji reminded him, giving him a strange look. "Nor did you have to join us."
Motochika gritted his teeth and looked away. How could he ever formulate the words? The real reason why he didn't like Keiji or teaming up in a big group like this… He had been okay with Ieyasu and Yukimura. Three people in a group wasn't that bad, especially when it had been Ieyasu and Yukimura. But when it became a bigger group…
"We just finished a quest!" Motochika growled, glaring at the new comer with mistrust. "We need to rest up. There's no time for another quest!"
"But we already rested for so long," Yukimura whined. "Let's do another quest! It'll be fun!"
"Yukimura, don't you think that we're focusing too much on quests?" Ieyasu pointed out. "I mean… if we want to end this game quickly, shouldn't we be focusing on getting stronger?"
"I thought so, too," Keiji agreed. "But doesn't that make this game too simple?"
"… Excuse me?" Motochika demanded. Too simple? Exactly what about gathering levels and killing boss monsters were "too simple" for the long-haired man?
"Come on. Who creates a MMORPG for the sake of growing strong and destroying bosses? It's always about explorations. Think about it. Do you know how many programmers they gathered to help create this game? Do you know how long it must have taken them to put something this beautiful together? Therefore, there had to be a reason why they would put so many different kinds of quests."
"I see! That makes perfect sense!" Yukimura exclaimed, already becoming excited. "So we should take on this quest and all the quests in this game!"
"That would take too long!" Ieyasu snapped. Then he paused, realizing that he had lost his temper. Blushing slightly, he quickly composed himself, giving Yukimura an apologetic look. "I'm sorry. It's just… The fastest way to complete a game is by destroying the bosses, isn't it? Because if that's not the case then… What was I working so hard for?"
"Ieyasu's right. This is stupid," Motochika growled to Keiji. "Even if there are quests, the game's always game over once you defeat the top boss. There's no need to go through the trouble of completing quests."
Yukimura frowned at that. "Oh," he mumbled, already disheartened by the whole thing. "So we should just go out and train? I mean… that's fine by me. But I thought…"
At Yukimura's sudden silence, even Motochika became curious.
"What is it?"
"… I wanted to see if I could find Oyakata-sama again."
When Motochika had stood there in the Beginner's Town Square, with the face of Hideyoshi informing all the players of their incoming doom, he had thought that this was it. He was finally going to have the challenge in his life that would make him famous. He was going to have the most fun in his 16 years of life.
It had been easy then. He had been trusting. After all, they all just wanted to get out, right? Of course, they were all going to try hard to defeat this game. He didn't see Mori coming. Hell, he didn't think anyone saw Mori coming.
Motochika could still hear the screams of his fellow friends as they sank into the swamp. He could remember the shouts of betrayal. The question "How could you?" and the words "Don't leave us," forever echoed in his ears. He remembered Mori's calmness. His coldness.
He didn't want to be like that bastard.
But there was also no guarantee that any of the people he was currently traveling with wouldn't do it to him, either. After all, he barely knew these guys for about a week, and Keiji even less. Out of all of them, Yukimura seemed the least likely. But then Motochika reminded himself about the youngster's viciousness when it came to dangos, and suddenly, the self-proclaimed ogre wasn't so sure anymore. There was Ieyasu, who seemed honest and sturdy, but he was so obsessed about becoming stronger. Nothing good ever came out of those who became easily obsessed. Just look at Mori.
And don't even get him started on that Keiji.
At this moment in time, many people would most likely pause to ask, "Why does he not leave?" Well, the truth of the matter would be that it never occurred to Motochika that he could leave. That and to be thoroughly honest, Motochika was a bit of a softie like that. In that week that he spent trying to finish the quest with Yukimura and Ieyasu, he had found himself becoming attached to the strange duo, despite not knowing much about them. And to suddenly abandon them to this unknown variable, Keiji…
Well, Motochika said it before, right? He didn't want to be like that bastard.
Never agin.
"So I've been meaning to ask… who's this Oyakata-sama?" Ieyasu asked, finally voicing the question that everyone had been thinking.
The group had, after being unable to decide on their next task, unanimously agreed to go to a nearby inn for a quick bite to eat. So there they sat, Ieyasu next to Motochika, who sat across from Yukimura and Keiji. In-mid motion of moving his food to his mouth, Ieyasu had finally gathered his courage to ask the question. All eyes focused on Yukimura, waiting for his answer.
"Oyakata-sama is Oyakata-sama," Yukimura answered easily. "When everything began, Oyakata-sama took me in and help me raise my stats. He took in a whole bunch of us, actually. We called ourselves the Takedas."
"And that's why you say you're from Takeda," Ieyasu said, nodding in understanding. "It's your guild name!"
"So you've been with him since the beginning of the game?" Keiji asked, looking interested.
Yukimura nodded to both of them. "But then…" His face darkened at the memory. "We were in the Diyu Cave on a quest. I don't remember much of it. Just that it was dark and there were these two giants… Their fighting was very inspiring and I felt alit with passion when I think about it…. Ah, anyways, when I came to, I was outside but Oyakata-sama was no where to be found."
The group paused, all unable to bring themselves to say the things that was on their minds. If Yukimura had fought against monsters, especially two highly leveled ones, and Oyakata-sama didn't make it back… Then didn't that mean…? But Yukimura seemed to not notice as he continued on with his story.
"I tried to send him a message, but most of them bounced back to me. I was really scared for a minute that he might have just abandoned me…" Yukimura faltered a little. Then his face brightened as he remembered the rest of the tale. "Then I got this message from Oyakata-sama that said that this was all part of my training. He said that he would be disbanding the Takedas because we needed to learn how to stand on our own. I was so happy that he was okay. So I decided to take on as much quests as I could so that I can grow strong. That way, when Oyakata-sama sees me again, he can be proud of this vassel."
"And he hasn't contacted you since?" Motochika couldn't help but to ask, a small feeling of dread gnawing inside of him. Because wasn't it obvious what happened to Oyakata-sama? Was Yukimura really that stupid?
"Nope!" Yukimura answered cheerily. "But see? This is why we have to go on quests."
Motochika glanced to his side and noticed that Ieyasu seemed to share his reluctance. Keiji, however, seemed to not have gotten the memo.
"Then let's do it!" he declared with a bright smile. "Let's go to the Diyu Cave and see if we can pick up his trail! Besides, since this will be a self-proclaimed quest, we can even train while we're at it. Would that be okay with you, Ieyasu, Motochika?"
No. It was not alright. What part of he didn't want to travel with them did this man not understand? But hell if Motochika would be like that bastard and abandon his friends.
"Tch! Fine! Let's do it!"
"Huh… This… isn't what I was imagining at all," Keiji declared as he stared at the giant gates before them.
The gate was made out of pure black stone (perhaps granite?). There were twin dragons on the two pillars on either side of the gate, climbing up before resting their heads at the top, glaring down at all the people walking by. At the center of the top of the gate was a face twisted in pain, howling with agony. Motochika did not miss the twin horns atop the face's forehead, signifying a demon.
But why would a demon of hell be suffering on top of the Cave's gate?
"This is the Diyu Cave?" Ieyasu asked, looking at Yukimura, who was staring at the gates with excited eyes lit with passion. "… By any chance, when we say 'Diyu,' we don't actually mean... Hell?"
"Oh, so it had another name?" was the naïve answer they received.
Motochika groaned. "You have got to be kidding me. We're going to the Hell? Wait. Does that mean we're now at the Gates of Hell? Seriously, Yukimura? You didn't know?"
Then again, he supposed he couldn't blame it on the young gamer. Yukimura had a bad habit of rushing forward without checking any other information. It was exactly the reason why this Keiji person was bad. They hadn't checked anything on him either! And here they were, on an unofficial quest without any kind of backup or any way out.
"Here," Keiji said, bringing up his menu and pressing a few buttons. Motochika as well as the rest of the group, all received a beeping sound of gifted items.
"… Teleportation crystal?" Ieyasu asked. "Oh! That's so useful!"
"Thank you so much, Keiji-dono!"
"They should all be set to the town. So that when things go wrong, just use the crystals to get out," Keiji said with a smile.
Motochika couldn't help but to feel like that was directed at him. "Like hell I'll use it." He rejected the crystal without hesitation, scowling at the surprised looking Keiji. "I don't need something like this." And you sure as hell can't buy my trust.
And he walked in through the Gates of Hell, knowing that his friends would follow.
"In the story of Son Goku, the Monkey King, he broke in through the Gates of Hell and met the guardians, Gozu and Mezu. Gozu had a head of an ox while Mezu had the face of a horse. And the two opposed Goku, but the Monkey King was too strong. He overwhelmed them and crossed out his name and his followers' names off the record of the living souls, making sure that he and his followers would forever be immortal," Ieyasu recalled as they walked through the dark cave.
"Now why would you know crap like that?" Motochika couldn't help but to ask. He had always found it kind of stupid for people to remember silly things like that for games. Like… What was the point of it? They were playing a game that had nothing to do with mythology or stories. Sure, the monsters they met could potentially be sourced from old stories, but that didn't give them an idea of their weakness or strengths. It was just useless backstory.
Ieyasu's face turned red and he looked down at the ground. "Sorry. I guess that's true. But… it's what I thought of when Yukimura mentioned the two giants…"
"I think it's pretty cool that you know," Keiji declared, giving Motochika a look, which the one-eyed man ignored. "The creators of the game obviously thought this through very carefully. The more we know about it, the more we could try to figure out what they were thinking when they created this game."
Motochika snorted. Right. Like he couldn't tell that Keiji was trying to pander to Ieyasu's insecurities. What an obvious tactic to use to get his friends' trusts. He was going to have to work harder if he thought Motochika would fall for something so obvious.
"Wait. This place looks familiar," Yukimura said, stopping suddenly. He glanced around, frowning with concentration. "I think it was around here that…"
A loud roar of battle was the only warning they had until a giant spiked club landed harshly on the ground by Ieyasu. Luckily enough, the area wasn't declared a danger zone, which meant that if they ran now, they would be able to get away. Damn. Maybe he should have accepted that crystal. He would actually be able to get out of here without too much of damage. Now his friends (and Keiji) were stuck here with him because of his stupid pride!
"... This happened last time, too," Yukimura remarked.
"A little warning would have been nice!" Motochika snapped as he grabbed forth his anchor that was his choice of weapon.
There were two giant figures before them, both standing at perhaps 10 feet each. Both had massive bodies with impressive muscles, but it was their heads that brought shivers down Motochika's spine. One had the face of a horse and the other had a head of an ox, both of their lips drawn back into a snarl. Their bodies were covered in high-leveled armors, and one carried a giant axe while the other carried a spiked club. The horse-faced monster, Mezu, picked up its club, letting out a low neigh that rumbled through the cave.
"'And the Guardians of Hell stood before them'…" Ieyasu whispered, his face paling as he secured the gauntlets on his hands. Motochika never quite understood why he preferred to use his own fists instead of fighting with a weapon. But hey. Everyone had different fighting styles. Motochika wasn't going to make a big deal over it.
"Gozu and Mezu, I presume?" Keiji asked, a forced smile on his face. He drew forth a giant sword, holding it front of him to protect himself.
"Sorry," Yukimura said, looking at Motochika. He took out his twin spears, holding in front of him in a defensive stance. "I should have paid more attention."
"Tch!" Like hell Motochika could blame the kid for this. Not when Yukimura lost his Oyakata-sama the last time he was here. Motochika would make sure that Yukimura didn't lose anyone else in this cave. Not even that stupid Keiji.
Gozu let out a loud moo-like roar before swinging down its axe with surprising speed. Motochika just barely had enough time to block it. While he held Gozu's axe back, Ieyasu lashed out, punching the ox's face with all his might. But instead of damage, Gozu just smirked with that creepy ox-face and head-butted Ieyasu down to the ground. Then the monster refocused on Motochika. In the background, he heard Keiji and Yukimura moving, weapons clanking with force of the fight, and the neighs of Mezu. But how could he focus on that when Gozu drew its axe back, swinging it back down with more force than before?
"Shit!"
And this time, they didn't have that strange white-haired guy to help them out. There wasn't any special counter they had hidden under their sleeves. It was just them and those stupid crystals that he should have accepted when he had the chance…
"This isn't going to work," Keiji yelled, catching Motochika's attention. "We need to get out of here. Let's retreat for now!"
Motochika's eyes met Ieyasu's (who had picked himself up from the ground), both of them agreeing silently to the command. The one-eyed man really hated the thought of listening to Keiji, but this was better than everyone here dying due to his stubbornness. Ieyasu punched Gozu's face, this time with a special attack, watching satisfied when the ox's face contorted with pain. It loosened the grip on its axe, which gave Motochika enough chance to push the monster down.
The two high fived each other as they began to run, making sure that Yukimura and Keiji were not too far behind, Mezu fallen to the ground as well.
"Heh! You know, despite the fact that we're running for our lives, this is kind of fun!" Ieyasu said as they ran towards the exit of Hell.
"Only you would find this kind of things amusing," Motochika groaned.
"But it was a fun battle!" Yukimura chimed in. "We should challenge them again when we're stronger!"
"Okay, correction. Only the two of you would find this amusing."
Keiji laughed loudly at that. "Sounds like you guys knew each other for a long time."
Was that jealousy in that man's laughter? What a strange person…
Behind them, they heard the roars of the two guardians. And with enough force to make the entire cave shake, the two began to chase the group, letting out animalistic roars that a horse or an ox probably didn't make in nature. If they got caught like this… Motochika gritted his teeth. He hated this.
"Get out of here!" he snapped at them. "Use the crystals and teleport to some place safe!"
"Don't be brazen, Motochika-dono!" Yukimura declared. "We cannot leave you!"
"Seriously! What kind of guys do you take us for?" Ieyasu added, scowling. "We're a group with a strong bond that can't be broken by two beasts, even if they're the Guardians of Hell. We're not leaving you behind."
"You guys are being stupid!" Motochika growled. "Do you want to die? It's better this way!" And with that, he stopped running, turning to face the two giants that were quickly approaching the group. He held his anchor loosely in his hands, ready to fight. "This is the least I can do…"
"Stop trying to look so cool," Keiji said, coming to stand by Motochika's side. "We're in this together."
"Don't come to me when you die!" Motochika snapped. But he didn't miss the way both Ieyasu and Yukimura stood by his other side, giving him a sheepish smile each.
Damned fools! Didn't they know that they could die?
Another roar filled the cave and it served as a warning enough as the two cave-shaking giants came rushing towards them. The club came smashing down to the ground again, splitting the group and the ground below them.
Keiji let out a low whistle, staring at the shattered ground. "That would hurt if we get crushed…"
Of course Motochika was stuck with him. On the other side of the split ground was Ieyasu and Yukimura, already trying to tackle down Gozu and its axe.
"Stay out of my way!" the one-eyed man told Keiji before launching his anchor towards the unsuspecting Mezu.
The horse let out a neigh before using its club to knock the anchor down. But that wasn't the only plan on his mind. Motochika jumped up, riding on his anchor like a surfboard before using it to slam into the horse face of Mezu. But instead of massive damage as he had hoped it would deal, Mezu barely let out a whine, its health bar barely decreasing. It swung its club, catching Keiji unawares before smashing him against the wall of the cave. A low groan left his mouth as he fell, but Keiji grabbed him, making sure to dodge any attacks from Mezu meanwhile.
"We can't win like that," Keiji told him sternly. "Look, I get that you don't like me and that you don't want to work with me. But that's just going to get all of us killed. So for now, what do you say to a truce?"
"I don't trust you," Motochika replied honestly. Keiji's lips thinned into a line and the one-eyed man could hear the disapproval from a mile away. "But I'm not going to let Ieyasu and Yukimura suffer because of me."
The long-haired man smiled lightly at that. "Alright," he said. "Then let's work together."
"Alright," Motochika agreed. "You attack low, I'll attack high."
"Finally. Something we can both agree on."
Keiji was actually pretty formidable, much to Motochika's surprise. Despite his usual bright smiles and inability to catch onto serious atmospheres, the long-haired man swung his broad sword with speed and power that distracted Mezu long enough for Motochika to sneak up on the horse's face to smash it with his anchor. And while Mezu swung its club at Motochika, Keiji would slice at the horse-giant's legs, causing it to be distracted long enough for Motochika to hurt it again.
The one-eyed man soon lost track of time or how much damage they were able to deal. All he knew was that with a hideous sound of a neigh, Mezu keeled over, collapsing to the ground. There was a small pause of silence before Mezu exploded into pieces of data, signifying the end of the battle.
"Aha! See that? That's how you-" the words died on Motochika's throat when one of Yukimura's spears flew towards him and embedded on the cave war besides the one-eyed man. "Oi! Watch where you throw that thing!"
He watched in shock as Yukimura was thrown to the side, hitting the ground near the hole that Mezu had created moments before. Ieyasu let out a battle cry before punching Gozu, causing the monster to finally explode into data. Of course, Motochika had even less of a time to focus on that. If he let Yukimura be, he looked like he might fall into the ground any minute now!
"Yukimura!" Ieyasu shouted, not stopping to reveal in the fact that he had won.
But he paused when he realized that Motochika was already by the young gamer's side, pulling him up and away from the hole of the ground. The one-eyed man grinned up at him, carefully holding the unconscious teen.
"We're good over here too," he assured Ieyasu.
There was a loud sigh of relief before Ieyasu crumpled down to the ground. Keiji slowly walked over to him, sitting down next to him. Motochika couldn't help but to think that maybe, just maybe, having this group might not be so much of a bad thing. You know, as long as it didn't get any larger.
"Don't leave us…"
Motochika paused. What was that? He tightened his grip on Yukimura. Was he the only one he heard that? Was that just in his head? Why did he hear that? What was that whisper? He glanced around wildly, trying to pinpoint the location of the sound.
"How could you? …How could you!? … HOW COULD YOU?!"
Something grabbed his ankles and yanked him down hard, a yelp of surprise leaving his mouth involuntarily at the sudden attack. He felt hands grab at him, choking him and attacking him, filling his nose with a scent of… marsh?
Realization flashed in his eyes as Motochika finally understood. This place was Diyu Cave, in other words, Hell. This was where all those who had died before must gather. And that meant the teammates that Mori had abandoned to the marsh were here as well. No, that wasn't quite true. Because it wasn't just Mori who had survived the marsh.
"Motochika!" Ieyasu shouted. "Are you alright?"
But it was drowned out by the whispers of the ghosts, wrapping their hands around Motochika's throat and legs as they dragged him towards the hole in the ground. But the problem was, Yukimura was still in Motochika's arms, being dragged down for the sins that had nothing to do with him. Because let's be honest. Out of everyone here, wasn't Yukimura the least likely to abandon his friends?
"Let me go!" Motochika begged the angry ghosts. "I'm sorry. I really am. But Yukimura had nothing to do with this. Let him go at least. You can kill me if that's what you want, but let him be! He has nothing to do with this!"
"Don't leave us…" came the whisper of the ghosts. "Don't leave us… Don't leave us… How could you?"
"I know! I know!"
How could he ever forget? The screams of his teammates mixed with his own, rising high in to the air as Mori looked down at them. Then Mori was gone, leaving them on their own, slowly sinking down, down, down. Motochika just remembered the panic. The sure determination that he didn't want to die. Not here. Not like this. He was not going to die. He remembered fighting. He remembered struggling. And he remembered lying on solid ground, wondering how he got there.
There had been yells. Excited yells of his friends who asked him to come save them. But Motochika…
"Why did you leave us?"
"I'm sorry!" Motochika yelled. "I was stupid. I was scared. I didn't want to die. And I know I shouldn't have. But I couldn't save you. I would have fallen again, and I was too tired to pull anyone else out. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
He felt his hands loosen its grip on Yukimura and forced himself to hold on tighter. He could feel himself being dragged down, slowly as if he was falling through the pits of marsh again. He could feel their ghastly hands against him, trying to pull him towards them. But why couldn't they understand? He couldn't die. Not here. Not now.
"Motochika!"
A hand shot out from the fog of the ghosts surrounding him and grabbed him, pulling him away from the ghosts of his past. Motochika reached blindly with one hand that wasn't holding onto Yukimura, surprise and relief filling him when he grabbed the offered hand. As soon as there was that hand of anchor, two more hands (these still wearing the familiar gauntlets) reached out and grabbed onto both Motochika and Yukimura. There was a tug of war, his new friends trying to pull him back to reality and his old friends that he had abandoned to die, once upon a time.
"How could you?"
"I did it because I'm human!" Motochika roared. "I'm sorry! And I'll die apologizing, but damn it, don't do this to Yukimura! That's my sin. He has nothing to do with this!"
"Nobody's going to die!" Ieyasu growled. "Motochika, we're going to save you both. Just hang in there!"
"You're not going to let go!" Keiji shouted after him. "You sent the friend request and we accepted. You could have left us anytime but you didn't, and vice versa. We're going to save you because that's what you would have done!"
"But I'm…!"
"What you did in your past is in the past. I'm not stupid enough to tell you to forget about it, but I'm telling you to let it go. Let them go," Ieyasu declared. "You are our friend here and now. That will have to be enough."
Let them go…? What was Ieyasu talking about? The ghosts were grabbing onto Motochika! Not the other way around! He was sinking to his doom because the ghosts of his pasts wanted revenge. Let them go? How? What…?
"Motochika, if you could please hurry…" Keiji added.
What were they talking about? Let go of what? Hurry what? He felt Yukimura stir in his arm. The young gamer seemed to glance around and whispered, "What's going on?"
"Ah, the best way to say it is that the ghosts of my past are hounding me," Motochika told him lightly, trying to grin. "I think there's a pretty good chance that we'll die."
"Then why don't you just let the ghosts go?"
… Again? Why was everyone telling him this? "And just how exactly am I supposed to do that?" Motochika asked drily.
"Forgive yourself."
It was two simple words but suddenly, Motochika understood what everyone was trying to tell him. All this time, it had been him, hadn't it? The reason why he refused to accept Keiji, the reason why he refused to be a team player, the reason why the ghosts were holding him down now… Weren't they all because he had been too frightened to forgive himself for abandoning his friends then? For leaving them behind in the swamp as he ran away, blaming it all on Mori when he had been the coward who had ran…
But by doing all of that, hadn't he just been digging himself into a deeper hole? He had been caging himself in, shackling himself down so that he couldn't reach out. So that he had no choice but to drown in the darkness of his own heart. So that he could never see clearly despite the kind intentions of those around him.
Oh.
Why couldn't he have seen this before? Why did it take him so long?
"I'm sorry, my friends," Motochika said finally. "But I understand now. I need to let you go. So be free of my darkness. Release me from these chains."
And suddenly, Motochika felt like he could breath again. The hands of the ghosts released him and backed away. Ieyasu's and Keiji's hands pulled him and Yukimura up to solid ground, and the four of them watched as the ghosts intertwined with one another as they flew up and around, filling the cave with the bright lights of the souls long dead.
"So that's what happens when we die?" Ieyasu asked softly as they continued to watch silently. "We become lights to fill this cave?"
No one had an answer to that. They just kept watching silently, content to have survived just one more day.
Chosokabe Motochika – Trial: Pass
Whew, this one was longer than usual.
I hope you enjoyed the special glimpse of Mori and Shingen that we had in this chapter. The next one shall hopefully be out soon!