Sorry about not updating for a while, I had other things that got in the way, oh and apologies to Erithacus, fine you don't use too many female characters, actually I'm more guilty of that, oh well who cares enjoy the chapter
After a while, and no further monster attacks, except for a rappy nest that was quite simply avoided, the party relaxed somewhat and began chatting, temporarily forgetting the fact that they were in all likelihood, walking to their own death, it was Alice who started the conversation"Tatsu?" she began timidly "What kind of person was Elisel?"
Tatsu replied uneasily, what was he supposed to say? He hardly knew his aunt at all "Well for the most part she was a kind and generous woman, she supported her extensive family and always had time for others, but well umm ..," umm? Since when did Tatsu say umm?
"Please Tatsu, carry on, this is really interesting" Alice begged, she had always had a fascination regarding the older hunters, and this was her chance to get a true account of them
"Elisel was unwell" stated Tatsu evenly "She had a mental illness, causing her to upon occasion be ruthless and cruel." The way that sentence was ended made it clear that this was all the information Tatsu would give on the subject
"What about you Crimson?" asked Alice quickly moving over to him "What was your father like?"
"My father?" Said Crimson, for some reason sounding amused "Well he was a ranger, that was all."
"What do you mean "that was all" he was one of the greatest rangers ever!" exclaimed Alice quite shocked
"He was nothing but a Ranger, never a father, never a husband, everything about him was business he never even left us any money, I don't think he even knew he had a son."
"That's very sad" Alice said, her voice full of sympathy
"I suppose it is" then it was crimsons turn to fall silent
Alice hopped over to Ryzada looking hopeful
"I am a newman, I was born in a lab from a combination of DNA, my father was Drake Sylvan a well reputed hunter, I didn't have a mother, I was officially adopted by Drake at the age of 2 I ran away at the age of 5, since then have lived in several different homes, including those of Tatsu, and currently Crimson" Ryzada stated in a flat tone of voice, obviously her past was not a subject she enjoyed either, what was it with these 3? None of them liked where they came from, strange.
"What about you Alice?" Enquired Tatsu, surprising everybody
"Me? Umm well I'm a newman too, like Ryzada is, umm I was also born in a lab, but I had 2 parents who adopted me, like a lot of newmans I showed some skill with techniques at an early age, umm about a year or so ago I decided that I wanted to help people out, so I trained as a hunter, umm by the time I finished training the exploration of ragol was finished, and now I need meseta for an operation"
"An operation? As in a medical procedure? What's wrong Alice?" asked Tatsu seemingly concerned for the girl
"I need to have my genetic information altered slightly, because I'm only expected to live for another year or two"
"WHAT!?!" yelled Tatsu and Crimson stopping in their tracks, Ryzada, oddly didn't seem all too surprised
"I'm a newman" stated Alice as if that explained everything, seeing the looks of confusion on Tatsu's and Crimson's faces she continued "Newmans were created by scientists, the first was made a few hundred years ago. Newmans are the result of splicing genetic data from humans with that of animals Of course several different types of newman resulted, because of the different types of animals that could be used, and obviously some animals have shorter life spans than humans do. So some newmans have stunted life cycles, sorry this must seem like an awful lot of science babble"
"Not at all Alice" said Crimson "This is very interesting, I don't know why I didn't hear about it earlier" He shot a glance at Ryzada who was being unusually quiet
"Umm if you say so" said Alice "Is there anything else you would like to know?"
Tatsu raised his hand, like a child in school "I'd like to know why new newmans are being made, I thought they just procreated normally"
"Scientists discovered DNA from old Coral in the wreckage of pioneer 1" said Ryzada softly, suprising the group with her break from her silence "being men of great genius, they were also men of great curiosity. They couldn't resist generating new types of newman in order to study the effects of these previously extinct strains of DNA, so they tampered with unborn children and man was yet again twisted at the whim of science, we newmans are the results of their tampering" She laughed bitterly "would have been nice to have had some say in the matter"
Alice nodded in agreement "It really wasn't fair, now we are paying for it, the new newmans really don't live for very long at all, its scary"
"If you don't mind me asking Alice, how old are you?" Crimson inquired
"I'm 4 standard years old" replied Alice
"And your predicted death is only a year away! That's terrible, we have to get you the money for that operation, you can't live a life in only 5 years, we have to get you more time" Tatsu was strangely emotional as he said this
"Ryzada, why didn't you tell me?" Crimson said quietly "Why didn't you tell me what it meant to be a newman, how long do you have?"
Ryzada unexpectedly began to cry, leaning into Crimsons shoulder sobbing quietly, Crimson wrapped an arm round her heaving shoulders "It's okay Ryz, just tell me, you heard Alice, we can get it fixed"
Ryzada looked up at Crimsons face, her cheeks tear stained and her eyes red "I have 6 months Crimson, I'm 8 years old and I'm going to die in 6 months" she managed to gasp between sobs, when she was done speaking she buried her face back in Crimsons shoulder
"Wow Crimson, your girlfriend is 8 years old, I never knew you were like that" Said Tatsu after a while, the only reason why Crimson didn't hit him for saying that was that Ryzada was still quite firmly attached to his arm, Instead he decided to be nasty, not something he did often.
"Well Tatsu, it also turns out that the girl you described as "cute smart and funny" oh and lets not forget "sigh perfect for me" is 4!"
"YOU BASTARD, WHAT DID YOU SAY THAT FOR!" Tatsu yelled
"For being stupid, I would have thought you could be more supportive"
"You think I'm cute? And smart? And funny?" said Alice
Tatsu looked downwards clearly embarrassed "and perfect, yes that's what I think"
Alice slapped him sharply across the face, earning an brief angry glare from Tatsu "Well I think you're a STUPID SMUG INSENSITIVE BASTARD" she yelled and stormed off
Tatsu blinked twice before coming to his senses, he hadn't been expecting that from sweet little Alice, he turned to Ryzada "I'm sorry Ryz" he said, using Crimsons nickname for her "I didn't mean it, Its just such a shock, hearing news like that from a friend"
Ryzada finally let go of Crimson, brushing away her tears with the sleeve of her top "It's okay Tatsu, I forgive you" then she smiled "Alice really hit you hard"
Tatsu touched his cheek, knowing from the stinging sensation that a red handprint would be emblazoned across his face for a while, it would be a while before his relationship with Alice was healed, how could he have been so stupid? Making a racist joke like that, when Alice and Ryzada finally talked about who they really were, what did he do? Make fun of them, clever Tatsu, really clever.
"where did Alice go anyway?" asked Crimson, still reeling from Ryzada's sudden display of emotion
A scream was heard a little way in the distance, a high pitched scream of terror,
Tatsu immediately began running, Alice was in trouble, and it was all his fault, he would never forgive himself if she got hurt, not for as long as he lived