Chapter 4: Fated Companions
There was no one left on the main first floor, not even a demon. But up the stairwell to the second floor, they encountered a vicious looking swordsman standing guard there. Fortunately, Pascal was more vicious and soon had that demon burnt to a crisp. They had to proceed around this floor slower due to the demons pacing the halls or lurking in rooms. As the nurse said, the patient rooms had corpses in them.
They weren't ordinary corpses. Kazuya hadn't had cadaver training yet, but they clearly weren't normal. Their bodies were twisted in unnatural ways, stiffened to that position in death. Putrid growths were on their skin and cancerous bulges could be seen. All this just over one day?
"How could anyone do this?" Allen asked, sounding queasy at it. "It's inhuman."
He wasn't too comfortable with this himself. "Right, we need to stop this guy. But with things how they are, I don't know if arresting him will help. It's hard to say how much the police are on the militia's side."
"Aren't you with the police?" Allen asked, looking for a distraction. "I mean, your gear looks right and you act like it."
He nodded. "I'm a rookie, just got my certification this spring. I've got a license for this gun, but no warrant. While I think my district here can still be trusted, they suspect other district stations are working with the militia. I can neutralize this mad doctor as a clear threat and call for support. But as I said, can't be sure in these times."
"Someone's alive in a room nearby," Pascal said.
"Keep alert," Kazuya told Allen, who nodded and kept quiet. "Where are they, Pascal?"
"This way." He led them to a room at the end of the hall. As they got closer, they could hear someone groaning in pain. Pascal was the one to first enter, lashing his tail at ready. But he assessed it as someone more in danger than being a danger, so he relaxed some. "Smells scared, be careful."
Since they would be scared, Kazuya kept the handgun at his side. The person inside looked to be about Allen's age, wearing thick glasses and dressed in a black and white long coat. He wasn't grotesque like the rest, thankfully. On his lower arm, there was a red gang band with an orange flaming wheel. Kazuya recognized the signs; this was a small gang only associated with Kichijoji, mostly high school delinquents. Actually, he might have been among the group of skateboarders he'd seen yesterday. And, he'd seen Allen yesterday too, at his neighbor's house.
He did cause music to start up in Kazuya's head, the Chaos song. "Jin?" he called.
"Huh?" The young punk looked up, puzzled.
"You know him?" Allen asked, looking like he might find Jin familiar too.
"You're Kazuya, aren't you?" Jin asked, shifting his glasses. "But I only met you in that dream."
"Dream?" Allen asked, his eyes wide now.
"Yeah, in the same dream I met you, I met him too," Kazuya said. "Are you okay, Jin?"
He managed to get on his feet. "I don't know." He grunted in annoyance. "Those thugs from Ozawa's gang were rounding people up and managed to catch me earlier, beat me to the ground. Then this crazy doc says he's going to control my mind, and all of a sudden this," he threw his arm out and a ring of fire flared up around that hand.
"That's what this doctor is doing, giving people magic powers?" Allen asked, shocked. "Although, you survived so far. Here, I can heal you." Although he glanced to Kazuya, who nodded to let him go over.
"Hey, be careful," Jin said, getting tense. "I, uh, I don't have control over this, I just know that action does that."
"I'll be fine," Allen said, getting calm somehow, perhaps from his own powers. He was able to undo the bruises and burns that Jin had.
"You're better off than the others here," Kazuya said. "Is your mind still your own?"
"I'm pretty sure it is," Jin said, scowling. "Because if I see that doc again, I'm going to show him what his stupid injection did!"
"We're going after him, but I'd rather try capturing him alive if possible," Kazuya said.
"Tch, fine, but he's at least gonna get burned," Jin said, then pulled a spiked rod from his coat. "Don't worry about me around these demons, I can handle myself."
"All right, but the Cerebus here is mine," Kazuya said. "We've just about cleared this floor, let's go."
They had to watch themselves while Jin didn't have good control over the fire he could call, but the only bad misfire hit Pascal who was barely affected by fire attacks. And Pascal was good enough to forgive him for that. He was even able to suggest ways to control it. "Agi?" Jin asked.
"Pascal says that's the demon's word for a light fire attack on one target," Kazuya explained. "Having the word might help you focus."
"Guess it's worth a shot," he said.
Up on the third floor, there were more demons but no more failed patients. A large door for sanitation reasons was blocking the way to the operations area, but the nurse had unlocked this from the first floor. Pascal sniffed out their target, but it wasn't long before they could hear cackling from one of the operation rooms. Manu was clearly insane; how had he managed to work for the hospital if he was like this?
There was a procedure to entering a room with a hostile target, but he was working with those without training, high school boys at that. Before they got in range, Kazuya held them up. "The important matter is to not let someone else sneak up on us. I'll send Pascal in first as intimidation and follow up. You two keep an eye on either end of the hall, in case of demons or willing assistants. Most of the staff are not willing, but take caution if one appears still."
"You actually some cop or something?" Jin asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, I've been trained for this," Kazuya said. "You'll do that?"
"Yes, I will," Allen said. He'd been obeying all along, so that was expected.
"Sure, got it," Jin said, putting aside any inclinations he had as a gang member for this.
"Thanks," he said, then patted his dog's back. "Go on, Pascal, but don't attack yet."
"Yes master." Pascal rushed over and pounced into the room, growling intensely.
"What are you doing, demon?" an angry man asked. There was a crash of glass.
"Stop right there," Kazuya called as he followed Pascal into the room. He took it in quickly: large biological charts would make for hiding spots (no shadows there, nor legs showing), an operations table could be cover (lots of instrumentation, though, could make for hazards), a shattered vial or something on a counter top, lots of cabinets that could be hiding anything. He held the gun aimed at the doctor's chest, more for intimidation than aiming to kill.
"Who are you?" the doctor snapped, glaring at him without heed to the gun. "Have you had your operations yet?"
"No, we want you to stop with the operations," he countered.
"Then you're an evil human who won't listen to me," Manu said. "You mere scribbles can't comprehend what I'm doing, you don't deserve to live! I'll show you just what I can do with my supreme scientific powers."
"Your science is ****," Jin said, coming into the room angrily. That wasn't proper procedure, but Kazuya couldn't blame him.
"No, you are less than that!" Manu injected some red-violet liquid into his arm, cackling once more. Then his face contorted like clay and he screamed in painful delight. What came out looked like some kind of sea ogre, half covered in seaweed and afflicted by those horrid pustules that were nearly black. He then lunged at them to attack.
Pascal got in the way again, protecting Kazuya. But this time, he could take the hit and still keep going. "Forget restraining him, let's just take this demon out," Kazuya said, firing at Manu.
"Gladly," Jin said, barely flinching at the gunshot. He jumped in to cast his agi at Manu, burning off a good deal of the seaweed and scorching the rubbery skin beneath. What kind of heat did that spell have?
Allen held back, praying. Something shone over the three of them and Pascal; the demon summoning program said that it was rakukaja, a defense boosting spell. That was a help when Manu started flinging black thorns everywhere; like bullets, they lodged deep into the walls around them. But if they were bullets, the spell was keeping them from piercing deep into their skin. Still, one of those thorns nearly cut through Kazuya's vest and Jin's coat. They felt deadly.
In the end, though, Manu was defeated. Strangely, his body deflated as he died, turning into a shapeless pile of skin, clothes, and seaweed. A plastic card skipped across the floor. "Good, he didn't deserve to die like a human," Jin said. Although with the way his face cringed, he was covering up for the awful smell that came off the demonic corpse.
"Urgh, let's get out of here before that makes us sick," Allen said, not bothering to hide how he felt about it.
"Right," Kazuya said. But first, he picked up the card. It was for the Echo Telecommunications Building. As he walked out, he turned the card around to see that it was labeled for 'lab access'. "Good, just what I wanted."
"A doctor's ID?" Jin asked.
He shook his head. "Access to the Echo building. There's something I need to do there." But checking out the windows up here, the sky wad turning orange and cloudy. "But it's getting late. Do you guys live here in this district?"
"No, I haven't been able to get back to the school dorm in days," Allen said. "I've been staying at my girlfriend's house since the blockades went up."
"You don't want to be over at my place," Jin said. "I don't want to be over at my place, so if you've got any other suggestions, I'm all ears."
"You can come by my house if you guys want, but you'll have to share my room," Kazuya said.
"Sure, we'll go with that," Jin said with a shrug.
"I'd like to, since we share a similar fate if the dreams are correct," Allen said.
"The nurse said the lock should be in the operations lobby somewhere." Once they located that and shut if off, they headed back down to the first floor to let everyone there know they were free to go. He then called up the police station to let them know. But as he suspected, they informed him that there wasn't much they could do against Gotou's militia. They would come in and clean up the mess, though.
Back home, his mother had already adjusted dinner plans to include their two guests. "Hello, good to meet you," she said with a smile. "I'm working on some chicken crepes; it'd be nice if one of you boys helps out."
"Sure, m'am, that's fine," Allen said, going into the kitchen.
"I'll go make space," Kazuya said, heading upstairs to do that.
Jin followed him. "Man… hey, don't take this personally, I just never expected I'd end up working with a cop."
Hoping to keep things friendly, Kazuya chuckled. "Don't worry about it. You're one of the leaders of the Turbos, aren't you?"
"How would you know that?" he asked, shocked but glad for the recognition.
He started clearing out space in his room, hoping the two didn't mind camping cots. "I'm mostly on patrol around the streets, so I need to know that kind of thing. And I'm always calling you guys off the road since other gangs keep you out of the parks."
"Oh, you're that guy?" Jin said, relaxing some. "That's better, then I don't mind working with you."
Nodding, he added, "We actually like you guys for the most part since your members stay in school and help keep bullying there in check. From what I remember, any trouble you guys had with us was getting into altercations with other gangs."
"The teachers could be a lot better, but we're not idiots," he said, proud of it. "But, you sure we should keep that guy Allen around? I only just met him, but I can already tell he's a wuss who ain't as tough as a guy should be." Then he added in a mutter, "And he's one of those crazy Mesians."
"The dream indicated that both of you are important, so I'd like to stick with you both," Kazuya said. Jin didn't seem too happy about that, so he added, "He strikes me as someone is capable of many things, but isn't confidant in himself. With some encouragement and protection from those who would take advantage of him, I think he could get braver and tougher."
"Oh yeah?" Jin asked. He thought about it, but then changed the subject and said, "I do recognize you now, but I never saw you as such a nerd with all these books and computer stuff."
"What, the comp wasn't a big enough give away?" he asked back with a smile.
It was a more lively dinner than usual, although Kazuya felt an ache as it wasn't because Yuka here with them. However, it became clear over that time that it wasn't going to be easy helping Allen and Jin get along. Jin was a rough character, although he did mind his language around Kazuya's mother. His gang taught their members to be tough, to not take anything remotely insulting from others without proving them wrong. On the other hand, Allen was an obedient young man in a Mesian private school, seemingly a model student.
"Although, I'm not really supposed to date outside school," he said, embarrassed when he was asked about their neighbor Yuka.
"She's a good and honest girl I can tell you that," Kazuya's mother said, encouraging him. "She's always been sweet with us; she even walks Pascal when we're busy."
"I know, and I was kind of hoping I could talk her into transferring to my school next semester," Allen said, scratching his head. "But I'm not sure that's going to happen with all the crazy stuff going on."
"They can't hold us all up like this forever," Jin said. "Though I don't mind an excuse to skip out on school when I can." Allen frowned at that, but thankfully didn't say anything.
"It's not legal, but they've already proven they don't care about that," Kazuya said. "If they're smart, they'll lighten up on the blockades and lockdowns. People were already complaining about normal life getting disrupted before the demons showed up."
"I don't see why they're treating all of us as the guilty party," Allen said. "We're just normal citizens."
"You mean the two of us are still just kids," Jin said.
"It's really not helping them at this point, especially not with the Americans involved now," Kazuya's mother said. "I know they're talking bringing back isolationist policies, but this could cause an international embargo on Japan and they'd really feel that with how everyone is used to imports."
"Are they really going to isolate us?" Jin asked, skeptical.
"They're trying," she said. "It's been all over the televisions broadcasts. Gotou has taken them over with his lectures and staged debates. You can't get away from it, not even with radio or internet."
"I really hope they don't," Allen said. "We should work for a more global peace and unity, not dividing ourselves." Jin snorted at that.
"We can play a card game to keep out of that, especially with four people here," Kazuya said to keep that from becoming an argument. "Um, but Mom? I need to tell you something about Pascal." He called the dog out of his comp. "This is Pascal now."
"Well," she thought a moment, reaching out carefully. Pascal licked her with one head and wagged his scaled tail. "He's kind of cute, actually. But what happened to him?"
"I had to do it to save his life when he defended me against a demon," he admitted. "Although I didn't know he'd turn out to be Cerebus."
"Is that how you have such a strong demon at your side already?" Jin asked, curious.
"Sort of," Kauzya said.
"It's fine, as long as he's still with us," his mother said, rubbing Pascal on a side head. "I can tell this is still Pascal. He's such a good dog."
Kazuya smiled, then went to track down a deck of cards to occupy themselves with this evening. Although they were a few years younger than him, he thought that Jin and Allen could be good friends with him. Jin needed someone to curb his more antisocial behaviors, while Allen seemed naive and could use a guide to how things were outside of his church. But as for the two of them getting along? That would be a much harder task. He hoped tonight wouldn't prove bad.
That night, Kazuya found himself in that misty dream space from last night. This time, his new friends were quick to join him. "We're back in another dream?" Allen asked.
"I hope it's not too freaky," Jin said.
"I still need to find someone," Kazuya said, knowing that was why. After all, the golden apple was back in his hand. "Come on."
Only tonight, demons were roaming the halls too. They didn't have Pascal to help them out this time. However, Jin and Allen were better equipped to handle it. They also had guns; Jin was using an axe and Allen had a bamboo practice sword. It may have been a dream, but Kazuya could still give them hints on how to better use the guns. Although Jin's gun was a machine gun with a wide spread that hit multiple enemies without needing to target it, something Kazuya didn't know how to handle. Before long, Jin also figured out how to turn agi into maragi. He was quickly becoming their mass damage dealer. Allen kept figuring out new buffs; when Jin got poisoned, he even had an antidote for that.
"I know you two are different, but you could at least thank him for that," Kazuya said after a moment of silence as they traveled after that incident.
"Hmph, that's just what his power does," Jin said. "But fine, thank you Allen."
"You're welcome, Jin," Allen said, trying to be polite back although it was clear they were grating on each other.
In contrast, Kazuya wasn't figuring out any special powers of his own. There was the music; it was constantly in his mind through this realm. The beat shifted as they came across demons. He realized that he got the same beat when he ran into the same kind of demon. Sometimes, even similar enough demons like brownies and knockers sounded the same. Perhaps if he could interpret music better, he could recognize whatever he was sensing. But even if he did figure that out, it wasn't a visible power like these two had.
"Wait, Kazuya, stop," his mother said, appearing in flickering form in front of them. "I know you mean well, but what if something happens to you? I don't want to lose you as well."
"Mom," Kazuya said, feeling tension in his chest. He didn't want to upset his mother. But then, he was sure that Yuka was in trouble and he had to get to her.
"She really cares about you," Jin said, seeming jealous.
"Yeah," he said. "I'm sorry Mom, but Yuka..."
"It's okay dear," she said softly. "I'm worried about you doing all this. But, you're right, Yuka's in trouble and you can't leave her alone for long. I hope you can find her quickly. Just, take care of yourself, and make sure you can come back home and see me."
"Of course, Mom, I promise," Kazuya said. "You take care of yourself too, and don't forget about your medications."
She laughed to cover her sadness. "I won't, I'll be extra careful with you being gone. I love you, Kazuya, and I wish you the best." She flickered away and was gone.
"She's a good person, I'm sure she'll be okay," Allen said.
"You just met her, how can you know that?" Jin said. "Though she is a nice lady. I hope she does stay safe."
"Thanks guys, but we've got to keep moving," Kazuya said.
"Where are we going?" Jin asked.
"To find Yuka, here and whenever we wake up," he said. "My fiance; she was supposed to visit today, but then the trains weren't allowed to run."
However, the next person they met wasn't Yuka. To Kazuya's dread, it was Yuriko. "Kazuya, you have something for me, don't you?" she asked, waving him forward.
He stood his grounds again. "No. Get out of the way."
"Come on, I am meant to be at your side, for whatever you desire," she said. "Leave these two behind, come now."
"Is this your lady?" Jin said, raising an eyebrow.
"No," Kazuya said. "She's stalking me even in my dreams when I just want her to leave me alone."
"But I am destined," she started to say.
"No you're not!" Kazuya said, making the dream maze waver. But it did get rid of Yuriko who winced as she vanished. "I'm getting to Yuka however I can."
"I'm with you," Allen said, running after him while the maze was still unstable. After a moment, Jin followed as well. "You'll find her, I know you will. It's a feeling I have."
"Dunno why you won't take that babe, but it's your girl," Jin said.
The hall ended with another doorway, which Kazuya went through. His friends followed him into the dark room, lit by candles and a magic circle. Outside of the circle, three hooded cultists were chanting some spell. A fourth was near them. "Hold up, who are you to interrupt our ceremony?"
But his eyes were on the white soul with them, a woman that he knew was her. "Yuka!" he called, continuing forward.
"Wait, Yuka?" one of the cultists asked in shock, dropping his arms.
"B-but that means…" the four of them suddenly screamed and vanished, to the gnashing of teeth that were not visible.
Kazuya didn't care and ran to catch her as she floated down. "Yuka..."
"Kazuya, you came for me," she said, uncharacteristically shaken by this. But then, she had nearly been sacrificed. She hugged him. "Thank you, I should be fine now."
The dream world was fading. He had a sense that Jin and Allen were already out of it. Before it could end, he pressed the golden apple into her hand. "I don't have time to explain fully, but with everything going on, our wedding might not happen. So please, take this and eat it when you wake up. I ate the other of this pair. This way, should things go bad, we'll still be connected no matter what happens, as soulmates."
"Okay Kaz, I will," she said as the dream faded away. She clutched the golden apple tight.
And when he woke up, it was missing from its spot on his study desk.
Apparently he'd slept in, because the others in the house were awake already. Despite finding Yuka in the dream last night, he was still worried about her. Was that situation symbolic, or the truth? With what had happened yesterday, he'd believe either. He got ready for the day.
Pascal came in as he was putting his shoes on. He growled softly and nudged him. Finding that odd, Kazuya got the earpiece off his comp so they could talk. "What's up?"
"Something doesn't smell right around here," he said. "I watched some ogre-creatures outside the house last night. While I kept them from trying to get in under my watch, I still think something's wrong."
Kazuya had been thinking over his plans for the day, but now that Pascal mentioned it, he closed his eyes. The music was soft but tense. "Maybe we should move Mom to the mall. That could be better." He headed downstairs, Pascal following behind.
"Oh, hey, uh," Allen said, scratching his head.
"Morning, guys," he said, part listening to see if the music changed to any degree.
"Morning, Jin said. "What he's trying to say is, your mother's being weird this morning. Nothing like last night."
"Does she seem to be in pain?" he asked, worried about her having a relapse. This was a stressful time, so it could be that.
"No, she's just, weird," Allen said, finding himself helpless to describe it any better.
"Oh, good morning Kaz!" she said, coming into the room with a large smile on her face. Normally he'd be cheered to see her in a high mood in the morning, as she surely had to be feeling better. But the music got louder, haunting and threatening. "Why don't you come here and give me a big hug?"
He felt wary and glanced to the wall. She had made markers to try sealing out demons, so… the lines were broken. She wouldn't be careless in making those.
"What's the matter, come here," she said, coming closer to him.
"You're not my mother!" he said, backing up into a chair. Now, what did he have here? "What did you do to her?"
"Huh, that didn't take you long to figure out," whatever was taking the form of his mother said. Then it appeared to suck its own skin into it self, revealing a corpse-like creature with ragged dirty wings. Its voice warped, but still remained understandable without the program. "It's too bad you turned down Yuriko, what, three times now? You even managed to evade her in person yesterday. Well, now she's going to take your precious Yuka and get rid of her so she can take her place."
"No she won't!" Kazuya said, grabbing the chair behind him and smashing it into the creature. Pascal had clamped onto its leg so it couldn't escape that. Jin managed to follow up with a lightning bolt out of nowhere while Allen was quick to their defense. "What did you demons do with her? Or my mother?!"
The demon just cackled. "Feisty, feisty… I wouldn't know about Yuka, but I would happily take you to join your mother, in my stomach!" Its jaw ripped open to where it could easily swallow him whole and lunged for him.
Kazuya snarled and jammed the remainder of the chair he had into its mouth. Splinters flew everywhere and it had to drop back, gagging. Jin was able to finish it off, leaving it to turn into nothing but a few dirty feathers. "Monster," Jin grumbled.
"Kazuya," Allen said, troubled by this. He came over and touched his arm. "I don't know what to say, but, she didn't deserve that."
"Don't bother him if you don't know what to say, just give him some space," Jin said, not comfortable with the situation either. He started to head out.
"It's okay, I'll just have to figure this out later," Kazuya said, trying to hold back his own grief and worry. "But I have to find Yuka; we should get to the Echo building."
"Why, what's there?" Allen asked.
"Something to help us," he said.
A/N: Technically, you pick up the Chaos Hero after the hospital. It would make so much more sense to find him there though, more than the Law Hero. Manu is trying to make super soldiers, which would make sense of Chaos starting with fire magic when Law is easily explained with being blessed by angels. But in game mechanics, Law is the better first companion due to having healing and support spells.