Gang Wars

As I stepped up to the gate leading into Hometown, Katt at my rear, I felt a great sense of calm sweep over my body. I was finally going to get a good, long rest, something I hadn't had in a while. It was going to be great.

I walked directly up to the gate, grabbed the bars, and begin to shake them, causing the chain to make a loud noise. "Hey, Herb!" I shouted. "Wake up, will you? You have people here who need in!"

"Wha…? Oh, hey, whadda ya know? It's Ryu, back from wherever you went. Good to see you again, sir. Oh, you're not alone. But," he squinted in the near-darkness. "It's someone I don't know. But that doesn't really matter. Hi, miss."

Katt gave him a tentative wave, which he returned before turning back to me. "So what's up with you, Ryu?" he asked as he unlocked the gate and yanked it open. "You find that thief yet?"

"As a matter of fact, I haven't. I thought I had a good lead going, but it turned out to be bogus. You know it goes sometimes."

"Yeah, I do. Well, I'm sorry to hear about that, Ryu. I hope, and I know many others do, that you are able to track that woman down and let Bow back in. God, I miss that kid." He stepped out of mine and Katt's way to allow us entrance to the town. "Well, good luck, Ryu. Hope you find her soon."

"Thank you very much, Herb. I appreciate it a lot." I patted him on the shoulder as I passed by.

I directed Katt to follow me, and I led the way into my house. I opened the door as silently as I could, knowing my landlady was likely still asleep, and would raise hell with me if I woke her up. We crept along to the upstairs room, ending up in my bedroom, where my bed beckoned to me like a long-lost friend.

Fist thing I did was sit down and took off my shoes. The darned things had been killing my feet for a while now, and I was grateful to have the opportunity to remove them.

"Well," I said to Katt. "Uh, I have a sleeping bag over in the closet. So, let me get that out." She nodded, and I stood up, walked over to the closet door, pulled it open, and searched around for that shiny blue sleeping bag of mine. I hadn't used it for years, so maybe the maid had thrown it out or something. That would be bad…

Ah, there it was, tucked away in the upper-righthand corner. I reached back and grabbed a chair, so as to be able to make a grab for it. Steadying the chair, which had a broken leg, I climbed on and made a grab for the bag. It came tumbling down, along with half the contents of my closet. Darn, I hated it when that happened. You try to get one thing, you end up with a hundred. Oh, well. It wouldn't be so hard to put all the stuff back up.

"Hey, Katt, you mind helping me out with this stuff…Katt?"

Where the devil had she gone? Oh…so that's how it was gonna be, huh?

That little sneak had decided to steal my bed while I was busy putting my life at risk in order to get her a sleeping bag. Nice way to repay me, Katt, I though. I'll remember that. Next time this type of situation arises, don't expect me to get up and try to help. Hmmph.

Well, I guessed the only thing to do now was put up the garbage I had brought down, so that I could clear a way for the sleeping bag. Still seething with anger at Katt, I begin my task.

Thankfully, it didn't take very long. But then again, I didn't even try to have any semblance of order at all; I just picked up stuff and threw it in. I had been taught never to do that, but this was a special situation; if Ganer had been here, he would have done the same thing.

When I was finished, I bent down and picked up the huge blob that was my sleeping bag. I had forgotten how much I hated these things, what with their bad smell and overbearing bulkiness. I didn't really feel like sleeping anymore, but I decided to roll it out on the floor and try to get some rest in. Most anything beat sleeping on a very hard floor, and a sleeping bag was one of those things.

So I set it out, let it roll itself out to its full position, and climbed in it. Nice and warm, it was. Perfect for getting to sleep in…

-----------------------

"Ryu! Ryu! Wake up!"

"Huhhh?" I asked. Who was shaking me? Oh, it was Katt. Of course. Who else would it have been?

"What is it, Katt? Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?"

"Yeah, I can. But it's 1:00 now, and sleeptime's been over for a while. I've been up since 8, doing several important things."

"Oh, really?" I straightened up from my position on the floor, groaning as I did so. The floor was a lot harder on my back than it was on my feet, and the stupid sleeping bag hadn't given me any cushion whasoever. "Like what?"

"Like getting food. Take a gander over there if you don't believe me."

I threw the piece of sleeping bag that was covering me off, and looked around to where she was pointing. Suddenly, my eyes opened really wide. I had not been expecting the sight which greeted my eyes.

There, leaned up against the wall, in all their dead glory, were three animals: a deer and two hogs. Wow, and here I had thought she meant some store-bought crap. I was truly shocked at seeing them.

Okay, to understand my surprise, first you have to know something. In Hometown, which up until about a week ago had been my only world, there existed only one hunter out of the dozens of residents there, a person who could actually go out and bring down deer, pigs, bird, bears, anything that was eatable. Meaning, of course, that the skill was incredibly rare; we had our fair share of accountants, bankers, merchants, all the "normal" jobs. The one hunter is Bow, and it was mainly due to his crossbow that he was such a good hunter; long-range helps out a lot when trying to surprise animals, you know. But now that he had gone away for a bit, I had never expected to meet another person who actually was able to hunt, much less a person with a staff as her only weapon. That meant she had to get up to about two feet of the animal to kill it; that also meant she was darn good at sneaking up and making no noise whatsoever. I was very impressed, to say the least. My idea about Bow being the only hunter in the world was shattered now. But that was okay. It was always good to learn new things, right?

I stared at the carcasses for a few seconds before making any sound, and when I did try to say something, it came out as a kind of squeak. Katt looked over at me quizzically, and I quickly tried to regain my composure.

"Uh, uh, uh, wow. That's…great, Katt. Er, how long have you been a hunter?"

She scrunched her face up, apparently trying really hard to remember. It took a few seconds before she gave her answer. "I guess, really, since I was born. My whole tribe basically consists of hunters, so everyone born into it is expected to be one. Of course, that's not the only thing we do; we have other professions. But hunting is the main one. And I've been taught all its nuances and secrets since as far back as I can remember. Why? Is it surprising to see a woman be a hunter?"

Uh-oh. I had to be careful in my response here in order not to get smacked. She might just have been a feminist; they were bad to deal with. "Oh, of course not, Katt. It's just that, well, I've only seen one hunter in my whole life. And, uh, well, I just figured they were kind of a rarity in the world."

She smiled. "They are. My tribe is the only Woren one in the known world, and thus, we are the only tribe of pure hunters in the world; but I do believe my mother once told me about our history, and how there were some full-bred tigers, that were still capable of walking upright and talking, that also hunted elsewhere in the world. But, that's probably just a myth. Anyways, last time I was there, there were only about 20 of my kinsfolk at the campsite where we all lived. And that was about two years, so by now, more of them might have been killed off, like so many have been." She sighed deeply, then continued, in a much different tone, now one of anger and hatred rather than calmness, and with a much different look upon her face. "Damn, that really burns me up. My people had done nothing to those slavers, and yet they came and slaughtered as many of us as they possibly could. They caught us totally by surprise too, at midnight, when all was still and everyone was asleep. Arrrgggggghhhhh. Damn those people! What cowards! I wish they would all die! I wish I could kill them!" She cut off her tirade here, breathing heavily with a crazed look in her eyes.

I kept my mouth shut, deciding it probably wouldn't be wise to talk to her right then. The last time I had seen her like that, she had given me the beating of my life. After a minute or so of heaving, she forced herself to stop. Now was the time to give her condolence. "I'm truly sorry, Katt. I've never had anyone close to me killed, but I have had near and dear ones taken away from me, and I couldn't do anything about it. So, even though it's kind of a sorry thing to say in this situation, I do understand how you feel. And again, I am deeply sorry."

There was silence for a few moments as she stared at me. Evidently, she hadn't thought of me as the sensitive type; most people don't when they first meet me. I stood in suspense, waiting to see if she would stay calm and collected, burst into tears, or whatnot. I was relieved (and slightly surprised) when she threw her arms around me and sobbed into my shoulders. I felt a mite awkward there, but I decided it was best to at least give her a hug back, so I did.

"Oh, Ryu," she said through her tears. "I'm sorry for doing this to you…it's just that I've never met anyone else like you. Everyone else I've ever talked to has been…I don't know. Uncaring, cruel, nonchalant about the whole thing. They don't give a damn about me or any of the other Worens. Or anybody, for that matter, except their own stupid selves.

"But you, Ryu, you're different. You care about what I have to say And I thank you for that."

Once again I was slightly embarrassed. I wasn't used to being talked to this way, as if I were some great person and what not. But I had to admit, it felt pretty good.

"Uhhh, you're welcome, Katt. Now, uh, let's get going. You said you wanted to go out and see the town, right?"

She drew away from me, sniffled, and looked down. "Yeah, I did. Sorry about that, Ryu. It's just that mentioning those traders always either gets me sad or mad."

I smiled at her. "Hey, no problem. It's nothing to be ashamed about. Those guys did an awful thing, and such a thing as they did certainly deserves to have emotion drawn from it.

"So, just forget it. I won't mention it, and I'm sure you won't. Just, from now on, try to keep those guy's action out of your thoughts, and all should be good. Now let's let it be, and get going. I have a feeling once you get outside, everything will be much better."

She sighed deeply. "You're probably right, Ryu. Let's go." With those final words, she walked out of the room.

As we made our way outside, I took the time to revel in the afternoon air. It felt great not to have to worry about chasing down winged thieves, or about getting my head chopped off by a giant woodsman, or getting my butt handed back to me by a cat girl. I was ready to do anything, as long as it was safe. Unfortunately, as per usual, that turned out not to be the case.

Just seconds after we stepped out my front door, Katt was off like a flash to the stores. I figured, with their meager selection, she would be back just as quickly, but after standing around for about a minute and seeing no sign of her, I decided to wander around. I was pretty easy to recognize, so if she came looking for me before I did for her, she would have no problem locating me.

I had only gone roughly five steps, though, before I heard a commotion somewhere. Looking around, I determined that something was going on over at the School of Magic; there looked to be three or four punks hanging around outside, but for what reason, I could only guess. They appeared to be part of a gang or something, for they all wore the exact same outfit: red bandanas tied loosely around their head and covering up most of their faces, green shirts with some guy's face emblazoned on it, blue jeans, and some scuffed up leather shoes. They looked to have about all the magical aptitude of rocks. One of them seemed to be rubbing his chest; one of the students from the school must have cast a spell on him. I walked over so I could get a better view.

"What the hell was that for, Nina?" I heard the guy rubbing his chest ask the beautiful, black-winged, blonde girl in front of him. From where I was standing, she looked pretty angry. "That hurt, and I did absolutely nothing to deserve it. All I wanted to know was if you were interested in accompanying us to our boss' place. That's it; nothing dangerous or anything. Just a simple request, that's all. And you had to go and get all crazy on us. We don't want to cause any problems, you know. Just come with us and after that, we'll leave you alone forever. How does that sound?"

He approached her, as did his two cronies. I could tell right away that that was a bad move; the girl had not stopped looking like a mad woman, and now her eyes began flashing dangerously. When they got within about two feet of her, she raised her hands and sent three lightning bolts straight down from the clear blue sky so that it singed the ground only inches away from each of them. Hurriedly, they backed away, each bearing a frightened look. Evidently, their tough guy image was a mere façade. I've dealt with people like that before; all you have to do is flash a weapon or something like that and they'll melt away.

Their leader (I suppose he was) looked hard at Nina for a second before saying, probably to himself, but I managed to catch it, "You've got strong magic, indeed. The boss wasn't wrong when he said to come here for recruits. But he is the boss, after all; whatever he says is right, and I was wrong for doubting him in the first place." Speaking louder, he said to Nina, me, and the little crowd that had by now gathered around us, "Well, that's it. This little girl has showed me she has some pretty amazing talent. Our boss will be most pleased when I alert him of her, but he won't be happy when he sees that I only returned with these two bums. I will take my leave now, but I might be back later.

"You should watch yourself, Nina. The boss doesn't like being denied. I have no doubt you'll be seeing more of us very soon if you keep up this resistive behavior. Well, farewell, all!" He turned, and making a hand signal that was evidently some code for their gang, left with his pair of buddies, both of whom still looked like a couple of kids who just had their first nightmare.

As soon as he left, the crowd began to murmur amongst itself, and the people began to push forward so as to ask Nina some questions; probably why she was being approached by such people in the first place. As soon as she saw this, however, she immediately backed up into the school and shut the door. Once she did this, the crowd began to fall back, still talking about the events that had just transpired.

I myself was thoroughly intrigued. Magic was something that was fairly new to me, but I had always been interested in it. Bow had shown some rudimentary signs of it since we were kids, but it was just defensive and curing magic. This was the first time, outside of the time Ganer saved me from the Beak 10 years ago, that I had seen offensive magic. I had always wished for some of my own, for physical prowess can only get you so far, but unfortunately, I had been continuously flummoxed in that department. Ah well. At least I finally got to see some. That would satisfy me for now.

I felt a tapping on my shoulder, and turning around, saw that it was Katt, with nothing in her arms, as I expected. "Didn't get anything?" I asked.

"Nope. The shopping selection here is terrible. Besides, I didn't have any money anyways. I was really just going to look. And that only took about two minutes. And that figure is for the ALL the stores combined." She sighed. "They really suck, Ryu. How can you stand to live here?"

"Well, you know, I don't really shop too much around here. My apartment was already outfitted with most everything I needed for survival when I began renting it, and food I get from Bow's hunting expeditions. Weapons, armor, and fishing stuff are really the only things I shop for around here. Or at least, used to; my current armor and weapon are far better than anything sold her, and I haven't been fishing in a while. And as for clothes…I make them myself.

"Really? Interesting…"

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I've never met a guy who makes clothes before. Rather interesting occupation, don't you think?"

"It's not my job; merely a way to save money and pass time."

"Ah. Okay. What is your job, then?"

"Well, the official title is 'Ranger', but we don't go into forests and talk to the animals or none of that stuff. Basically, we just protect the people of Hometown from whatever may threaten them, whether that means monsters, animals, people, demons, anything. We don't get much appreciation either, mainly because there hasn't been too much need for us recently. I mean, the last thing we did was rescue a pet pig. Can you beat that?"

"That is pretty sad, indeed. Your team must be hard-pressed for cash."

"I think so too. Of course, only the senior members get to discuss the financial situation; us newbies, like Bow and I, just do the work, get our paycheck, and go home, no questions asked. But it's good that way. I like it nice and simple."

"I don't blame you. I'm the same way: try to avoid as much responsibility as possible, right?"

"That's right."

"So whatcha been up to these past few minutes I was gone? Probably nothing much, huh?"

"Actually, something interesting happened. Some gang punks were harassing this Magic School girl, and she almost turned them into barbeque. They high-tailed it after that, but their leader mentioned something about his boss and coming back to get her and all sorts of garbage."

"Magic? Did you say magic?"

Her eyes were now lit up like there was a Christmas tree inside her head. Evidently, she too was intrigued by the allure of magic.

"Yes, I did. As a matter of fact, I was just about to head inside here and ask around a little about it. Care to accompany me?"

"Of course! I've always wanted to learn about magic! It's been a lifelong dream of mine! Though I probably can't be taught any; my tribe used to have magical powers, but after they discovered it was not suitable for hunting (it totally charbroiled the animals), they decided to quit using it and focus solely on boosting physical strength.

"But anyways," she continued. "Let's get a move on! We can talk more about my history, and yours, later. Right now, magic is calling for me. Come on!"

"All right, all right. I'm coming."

And so we went up and through the double doors of the school, which Nina had thankfully not locked, but merely shut.

The inside was pretty…boring looking. It was just like any normal school, and since I had gotten away from school as fast as I could, I was not very intrigued by it. It looked small, too; there were only two rooms on the bottom floor, and class was being held in one. The other looked to be a little library. I sighed. The exterior of it had led me to believe it was huge inside. But it had let me down as soon as I stepped inside.

As I had expected, Katt decided to once again desert me as soon as I stepped in, so I wandered over to the library to see if they had anything cool to check out, like maybe how to cast spells. That would be handy to learn how to do.

But sadly, there was nothing of the sort. All it was was stuff like "History of Magic", "Uses of Magic", "Magic at Home", "How to Use Magic Safely" and other useless things. Not one single book on "How to cast Magic" or "Easy-to-Learn Offensive Magic" or anything like that. Guess they figured it would be too dangerous to have those kinds of books around, even in a magic school. I shrugged and looked around. There was one girl in there that looked like she might be a librarian, and thus be of some use, but I decided to avoid talking to her. She looked pretty creepy, plus she was muttering something to herself. I've learned over the course of my life to keep away from people that did that. After spending a few more minutes looking around, in the hope that I might have missed something the first time through, I left and went upstairs.

It was more of the same boring, routine-to-be-found-in-a-school stuff up there. Just another class in session, a bathroom, and what looked to be a fairly empty classroom. I walked over to the seemingly deserted one and poked my head. There were two people standing in it: Nina, and an old man who looked like he might be principal or something. They were conferring together about something; no doubt Nina was talking about her little run-in with the punks a few minutes prior. I decided that the dude she was talking to would probably be the right one to ask about magic, so I crept in silently and took a seat at one of the tables, waiting my turn.

However, as soon as I entered, they stopped their discussion and turned to look over at me. Nina just stared, while the old man made a pass at conversation. "What are you doing here, laddie?" he asked. "Get lost?"

"No, sir. I was, uh, just going to ask you about magic and if there was any chance about learning it from here. I'm quite interested in it, you see."

He laughed, a slow, rumbling laugh that seemed to last a long time. "Sorry, lad. You won't have much luck getting in here. This is a girl's school, you see."

"Oh." I felt my face turn slightly red. "I'm sorry, then. I'll leave you."

As I was preparing to leave, I heard Nina call out in a faint voice "Wait."

I turned and looked over in her direction. "Yes, miss?"

She didn't say anything for a moment, then started, very softly. "I believe you were out there while that gang of men were harassing me, correct?"

"Yes, I was."

"Well, I have a request for you, and I'm only asking you because you look capable of performing the task."

"Fire away."

"Well, as you saw, those men are getting quite bothersome. They've been on me for weeks now, and I'm getting tired of just pretending to hurt them to make them leave. I fear they will soon also grow tired of me and try to harm me. So thusly, I want to eliminate them, but I am not nearly powerful enough. Here's my request: Would you be willing to go into the heart of the Joker (that's that gang's name) hideout and either confront their boss about the matter, or just perform mass execution on all of them. Either way is good with me."

I was slightly stunned. A girl like that, talking about killing in such heartless ways? That's not something you see everyday. "Well, miss, before I answer, I'll have to confer with my partner. I don't know exactly where she went, but…"

"Confer with me about what?" I heard Katt ask. I wheeled around to face her, just about to ask where she had gone, before she answered my unsaid question. "I was in the bathroom, just so you know. My apologies for not telling you beforehand. I really had to go. Now, what is it you need to 'confer with me about'?"

"Well, you see, that girl up there wants my (I guess our) help with getting rid of that gang of hoodlums I told you about. She says we need to go infiltrate their hideout and either talk with their leader or kill them all. That's what I needed to confer with you about. I wanted to see if you were up to the challenge."

"Duh. Of course I am. You can always count on me to go head-first into dangerous and potentially life-threatening situations." She elbowed me out of the way and marched up to Nina. "We'll take your request. But I have a question for you."

Nina looked somewhat surprised. "What is it?"

"Well, I've been wanting to learn magic for the longest time. And, before I go any further, let me say this: You do not at all need to give me this or anything else for what Ryu and I are about to do for you. It's merely a request. And here it is. I ask that, once we return from the hideout, you teach me, and possibly Ryu here if he wants it, the ways of magic. I'm even willing to pay for it. What do you say to that, ma'am?"

"Hmmmmmmmm." Evidently, that was not a question Nina received very often. She continued to hum for about a minute before giving Katt an answer. "Well, actually, magic is not a taught ability; it is intrinsic. Either you have it or you don't. But," she added quickly, seeing Katt's expression start to fall, "you do seem to exude some strong magic from your body, but it seems it has not been able to channel itself out of your body yet. Your skills are probably underdeveloped, that's all. I will attempt to help you once you come back; I'm an advanced student, so I should be able to help at least somewhat. And if I cannot assist, then I'm sure Yoji here will be happy to help."

"Oh. Well, thank you very much, miss. We're heading out right now, so stay here and we'll be back! And thanks…hey! Watch it, buddy!"

I quickly looked around Katt's body to see who she was talking to. Oh great; it was another hoodlum; one of the same, I judged from the singes on his body, that Nina had nearly killed just a few minutes earlier. He grinned maliciously. "Pardon me, ma'am," he said with the utmost sarcasm. "I just need to talk to Nina up there. If you would let me through, please?"

Keeping a wary eye on him, Katt stepped out of his way, and I did the same. Making a mock bow to each of us in turn, he walked over to Nina until he was about three yards away. I smiled behind him; he was being very careful not to be almost-zapped again.

"Well, Nina, I got bad news for you, sweetheart," he said in a falsely sad voice. "And don't blame it on me, please; I've been trying to get you to come with us the whole time, but you just wouldn't listen. Nooooo, you were too good for us and the boss, but now, you'll find out just how wrong you were to deny us…"

Nina was growing quite impatient with him. "Get on with it already, you stupid man! What is it you've done? What do you want?"

"Well, Nina, we've been wanting you, for a while now, but since you've resisted for so long, we've moved on to others. Specifically…" here he paused for a few seconds; evidently he hoped what he was about to say would make an impact. "Your sister Mina."

Nina recoiled like she had been slapped in the face, but quickly recovered. "You bastard!" she shouted, her voice full of fury. "What have you done with Mina? Tell me, now, or I will have no problems killing you this time!"

I was slightly stunned as well, but not nearly so much as Nina. Mina had been Bow's love interest for a while, after all, and she had come by the outpost regularly to see us. Thus, I knew her, but not too well. But she had been a very nice girl, and I never wished for bad things to happen to good people.

The punk looked somewhat scared now. He was just now figuring out he had been stupid for coming into a room by himself to deal an ultimatum to a full-grown magician. Even I could have told him that.

"I told y-you, don't b-blame me. I'm just a m-m-messenger. It's all the b-boss' doing. He thought up the whole thing, r-r-right from the start. He wouldn't even tell me, his own n-n-nephew, what he was up to. So therefore, I can't be b-blamed. Please don't k-k-kill me. I beg you!"

Dang, he was pathetic. I suppose all hoods are, really, when they're all alone and without their buddies. They're nothing on their own; if they're by themselves and unarmed, as this guy apparently was, they were at your mercy. This guy was practically on his hands and knees begging for his life to a teenage girl. Pretty sad, really.

Nina was still staring at him with an incensed expression on her face. Evidently, his little speech hadn't plucked her heartstrings much. She raised her left hand high in the air, and I could see a ball of red energy began to form in it. I was surprised. She really was going to kill him, apparently.

"Now tell me, whatever your name is, exactly where my sister is and how I'm going to go about getting there. If you don't begin talking in two seconds after I'm finished, I will unleash a firestorm on you. So, hurry up, or you will find yourself burning in agony."

He stared for about a half-second at the growing ball in her hand, then quickly began talking. "She's in our hideout, okay! Deep in the lair of the Joker gang! Is that good enough for you?"

"No. It's not. I want to know how to get there, step-by-step, from here. I suggest you tell me that if you want to live."

"I, I, I can't. At least," he added hurriedly, "not in front of all those people. We're to be killed if we reveal the location to anyone. I'll make an exception for you, and I'm sure the boss will too once I explain who you are, but not for these people. If I say it aloud, right now, they'll come try to rescue you. I just know it. That blue-haired guy looks the hero type.

"So I have a proposal for you. I will take you there myself. If you don't want to, then you can kill me, and never get there in time to save your sister. Ladon knows what the boss is planning to do with her. He's pretty crazy. So, I suggest unless you want terrible things to happen to Mina, you accompany me over there."

This was a dangerous thing for him to do. He was risking his life by doing it, and silently I applauded him for that. He wasn't going to back down now, not even when Nina might just set him ablaze.

She allowed the energy ball she was holding up to continue to burn for a few seconds longer, and then she let her hand down, slowly, unwillingly, and the energy dissipated as she did so. But she had no choice; she was being forced into this, pretty much. "All right, then, punk. I will come with you to your little hideout. If your boss has done anything to Mina by the time I arrive, or when I'm there, I will personally kill him and every last member of your gang. And believe me, I will know whether he has or not.

"Now, let's go. I wish to get there as quickly as possible."

"Oh, ok. Well, then, we shall go, Nina. Later, y'all." He seemed remarkably different now that he knew he couldn't be touched. Taking Nina by the arm, he led them out of the room, and we could hear them clamping down the stairs and out the front door.

I was personally very frightened for Nina and Mina, and it's rare that I'm like that. They were going to be in a highly dangerous situation, surrounded by dozens of gang members. Nina was powerful, that was true, but even her magic would likely falter against such a large group. I felt it was my duty to go and try to protect her and her sister before anything serious happened. I looked over at Katt to confirm this, but before I could say anything, she was already jabbering away a mile a minute.

"What the hell was she thinking, going with him? He looked crazy! And I'm sure his boss is no better; probably worse! You can tell they're scum, the way that guy was acting. Who knows what those guys might do to them? Ryu, we can't let go by herself. She'll get killed, and Ladon knows what else! Come on, we have to go. She's depending on us!"

I gave a questioning look. "How on earth do you know that? She didn't say one word to us when she was leaving. She didn't even look at us." I was stalling, of course. I had already made up my mind to go.

"I just know, okay? And besides, would you really feel right, leaving a poor innocent girl like that to those dogs?"

"Innocent, huh? Innocent enough to almost zap three guys at once? Innocent enough to have enough magical ability to wipe out a town? That kind of innocent?"

"Oh, Ryu, quit it. I know you want to go, too, so let's get going. We've wasted a lot of time here thanks to you. We don't even know where this place is; we've got to go find it. And that could take a while. So, come on!"

Katt, who by now seemed rather crazed about this whole thing, then proceeded to unceremoniously yank me away from where I was standing by my collar, leaving the man called Yoji in stunned silence. I felt bad for the guy. All that was supposed to happen was have me ask him a question, and now look what had just occurred. I was surprised he had taken it so stoically.

But back to my situation. As soon as Katt had taken a hold of me, I had considered telling her to get a grip and calm down, but one look at her face now caused me to erase that notion from my mind. I just decided to be resigned to my fate, at least for now. I had sort of wanted to go exploring, but not so soon. I had only gotten one night of rest, and already I was back on the road. ONE NIGHT! It was times like this when I questioned, Why did I always have to be the one to save people? That punk had been right; I did look the hero type, and even more unfortunately, I was the hero type. I had learned to be like that ever since I was kid and I faced off with that huge demon so I could try my best to save Bow, and ever since then, I had been the hero. But, no matter how good the reward is (and usually, they're pretty good), being a hero will always be a terrible job; don't ever get roped up into it. I guarantee you you'll regret it forever.

So, out we went, downstairs, out the exit of the Magic School, past a snoozing Herb (I really needed to talk with that guy about his work habits), and out into the world once again. I sighed deeply. There was no way around it, I supposed. The world always needed saving, and someone to save it; and as luck would have it, that someone turned out to be me. What a lucky person I was.

----------------------

As we arrived at the entrance to the Joker's hideout, I looked wearily over at Katt. Things had gotten off to a bad start when we tried to find the cave. We had gotten to Coursair without any trouble, but unfortunately, neither of us knew where to go from there. We asked all the townspeople, and I tried to get my buddy Jack to help me out. But it was all to no avail. Coursair was a good town, now that Augus had been disposed of, and it tried its best to avoid any connections with gangs. I couldn't blame them; I didn't want any connections myself.

We had decided to spend the night there, and when we got up the next morning, we were out. Katt argued that we should head north and to the far west. I proposed we go south and to the west. Ultimately, it was decided she was the better arguer of us, so we tried going northwest.

And of course, that turned out to be the wrong way. Tag Woods was up there, of course, but we didn't even cast it a second glance and marched on by it. But beyond the woods was where the real trouble lay.

There was a little path to the west of the woods that we walked down, and while on it, we encountered a very, very bad enemy. It looked to be an evolved form of the Birubiru, the species of purplish, horned demon-pigs that terrorized the area immediately to the east of Hometown. The creature Katt and I encountered, however, was bright orange rather than violet, and it was quite a bit more fierce than I remembered the Birubirus being. As soon as it caught sight of us, it gave a deep-throated squeal and began to charge us. And let me tell you, those pigs might not look it, but they are some speedy little devils.

Well, as soon as he begin his charge towards us, Katt and I jumped away from each other, so as to offer him two targets instead of one. She had already whipped out her staff, but my sword had picked that moment to become stuck in its sheath, so I was trying desperately to draw it out before the pig made it to where I was standing.

I ended up getting it out just as the pig arrived at my location, and so, of course, I got knocked up into the air a good ways. But, thankfully, when I landed, I was not seriously bruised. I grabbed my sword from where it lay and began to stalk the pig, who by now was trying desperately to get a bite in on Katt. She was doing a good job of keeping it at bay with her staff, I gave her that, but she wasn't doing any damage either, and soon, she would get tired. I had to go help her out.

I tried to be as quiet as I could, but unfortunately, the pig still heard me coming. It turned its back on Katt and faced me, a hungry expression in its tiny eyes. I lifted my sword above my head, daring it to come at me again.

And it did. I was surprised, but not so much as to be caught off guard again. I didn't wish for a long, drawn out battle that would only serve to weaken Katt and I, so I chose the quick and bloody method. When the creature was within about ten feet of me, I brought my sword dead center above my head, and threw it with all my might.

Thankfully, I didn't miss. My aim was true, and as the sword impaled the creature's skull and came out through the other side, a fountain of blood came gushing forth. I could see that Katt was quite disgusted by the sight of it; she had probably been wishing to end it her way: slowly, drawn out, almost torturing. That staff of hers was great at killing deers and little regular pigs, but it wasn't much good for penetrating the hides of demonic animals such as this one. It would have taken forever if she had tried to do it in.

I walked over to where the pig lay, unmoving. Perfect; I had killed it through and through. One of the worst scares you will ever get is when you think you've killed an animal, and you go to inspect it, and all of a sudden it jumps up and tries to maul you.

Placing one foot on the creature's head, I reached down, and with a titanic effort, pulled my sword free of its face. Eck. It was quite a bloody mess, and so I wiped it on the grass to clean it up. Katt had turned away by now; odd that she couldn't stand the sight of blood, and yet she was a hunter. When I had finished, I walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay now, Katt. I'm through. Let's head on back to Coursair now and try going a different route. Something tells me if we continue along this particular path much more, we won't be any help to Nina, Mina, Bow, or anyone else. So let's go. Please." She nodded slightly, and we went off, the atmosphere noticeably grimmer than before.

Of course, since that path was now X'ed out, the only way to go was the way I had suggested earlier. So, once we made it to Coursair, we stopped for a breather in the pub, and then went on our way once again. As I suspected, my way was the right one, and we arrived at the cave shortly after we began walking southwest, and that's where we were at the present time.

"All right, Katt. You ready to go on in? Cause I sure am. All this walking around and stuff has kind of tuckered me out. I'm ready to grab those two girls and get on home."

She nodded complacently. "All right, Ryu. You're right. Let's head on in here." She started in, and after a pause, I followed after.

The atmosphere in the cave was completely different than it was on the fields outside. Outside, it had been unbearably hot and humid; there had been no wind whatsoever, just the sun, constantly beating down on us. Inside, it was about 40 degrees cooler, with plenty of wind coming through the entrance hole. There was also that sense of dampness in the air, which seems to be common to all caves. All in all, it was quite a bit nicer inside than out.

Unfortunately, there was trouble almost as soon as we stepped in. At the first bend, we could make out one of the hoods standing and keeping watch. Likely, Katt and I could overpower him with no trouble, but I liked to avoid confrontations if I could help it.

We walked right up to him, and seeing his eyes narrow dangerously and his hand creep towards his knife, I nodded at Katt to be ready for battle. But, I would try to talk him out of it first.

"Hello, good sir. I was wondering if there was any chance you might be able to let us in. We, uh, need to see the boss about something. It's urgent that we talk to him, so if you would please let us on through?"

He laughed; it was a hood's laugh, all right, full of supreme confidence and arrogance. "Yeah, right, freak. You really think I'm going to let you and Miss Tiger over there through? You got another thing coming if you do." As he was talking, he drew his knife out, and held in front of himself menacingly. "Now you got about five second to get your asses outside, or I will have your guts for garters. Comprende?"

"Oh, sure, man, whatever you say." I turned to Katt. "Take care of him, will you? But be sure not to kill him, all right? There only needs to be one kill today, and that's going to be this dude's boss, and that's only if he doesn't cooperate with us." She nodded, drew her staff out reverently from behind her, and with one swift motion, knocked the guy senseless.

"Thank you kindly, Katt. I do appreciate it."

"My pleasure, Ryu. Now let's get on in and rescue Nina and Mina."

"Right." I paused over the hood's body to drop a handkerchief on his chest. "You'll need it, sir, when you wake up," I said to his prone form. "Got a lot of blood on you, you do." Once I was through talking with him, I stepped over him, and along with Katt, continued my way through the cave.

We passed on through easily enough after that, except for two parts, which occurred almost simultaneously. A little ways after disposing of the first hood, we encountered another, who stood guarding a gate and actually looked out of place there. His eyes were full of fear, and when Katt and I approached him, I saw him nearly jump into the air with fright.

"W-who are you people?" he called out in a quavering voice. "You're not part of the gang. G-get lost! Don't make me use this on you." And, as with the hood we encountered earlier, he drew his knife, but he did not do so nearly as easily. He nearly sliced his own hand off in the process of taking it out. He had to be a rookie; veterans just don't act that way.

I turned to Katt. "Let me handle this, okay? I don't want a fight with this one." She nodded. I walked over to where the hood stood shaking. "Hey, dude. I have a favor to ask," I said to him. "You see, me and this lady here have absolutely got to go in. Your boss is holding two of our friends captive, and we decided we would come rescue them. Now, I suggest if you don't want to be put in a coma, as your friend guarding the entrance was, then open the gate up."

He opened and closed his mouth rapidly. Clearly, he was not one used to threats. "OKAY!" he burst out. "Don't hurt me, don't hurt me. Just let me ask you a question first. It's standard policy. If you can answer correctly, you know the boss well, and I'll let you pass. But if not, I cannot give you access. Boss' orders. Sorry.

I sighed. "All right, buddy. What is it?"

"Uh, uh, I forgot…oh yeah! What…is the name of the boss' nephew, the one guy he absolutely trusts?

"Ehhhh…" What was it? I had just forgotten. That had been the same guy who took Nina away, but unfortunately, he had neglected to tell us his name. But I had been conversing with a couple of the more friendly guys in the cave, and they let me in on practically their entire family tree. It was a source of immense pride to them that they were related to the boss. He must have been a really powerful guy or something. But no matter.

"Okay, I got it, dude. It's Pain, isn't it?"

"Uh, yeah. You got it. Good job." He seemed very surprised that I knew the answer. "And now, as I said, I will let you through." He stepped over to a switch on the wall behind him and pressed it. The gate lowered with a severe creaking sound. Evidently, it hadn't seen much use recently.

He nodded at us. "All right, go on through."

"Thank you, sir. We will."

As we walked through, I saw with dismay that there was another gate and another hood on the other side of it. To make matters worse, the minute we stepped through so that we were between both of the gates, the first one closed, and we were trapped. Curses! I should have seen that one coming!

We looked around our tiny holding cell, and seeing no way out, I made a desperate attempt to get the guard's in front of us attention, for he appeared to be having a rest. Picking up a small rock, I took careful aim, and threw it at his head so as not to hurt him, but merely wake him up.

"Whazzat?" he shouted, instantly jumping to his feet and brandishing his knife. "Who's there? TELL ME!"

Hmm. He seemed slightly more off-kilter than the other two, meaning he was more dangerous. But still, I had to get his attention. "Uh, over here, sir. In between the gates."

He looked around, and seeing me standing there, walked up to the bars. "Huh," he said. "And just who the hell might you be?"

"My name does not matter right now, sir. All that matters is that I am trying to make my way to your boss. I have something I need to talk with him about, and frankly, I'm getting tired of all these delays. It's very important that I reach him soon, so if you would kindly let me out, I would be most grateful."

He laughed evilly. "You're asking a hood for help? Wow. That's the first time I've seen anyone stupid enough to do that.

"Butttttt, I'm a nice guy. So, I'll let you in on how to get out of there. If you look over there to your right, you'll see a hole in the wall. There's a switch at the back of that hole, so just stick your hand in there, push it, and the gate goes down, simple as that."

"Hmmm. Thanks, pal." I walked over to the wall and stared at the hole. It seemed innocent enough, and I was just about to place my hand in it before I caught sight of several eyes staring balefully back at me. Just as I had suspected, that bastard guard was going to try to get me bitten or stabbed or something by whatever lurked in that hole. This was an intricate trap, no doubt about that. But unfortunately for that guard, it would not work this time, and he would lose something very valuable as a result. I decided I would try my hand at trickery. He couldn't see me from where he was standing, so I decided the best thing to do would be to fake that I was bitten and hope that he opened the gate to check on me.

"YEOWCHHH!" I screamed. "Oh Ladon, that hurts like hell! DAMMIT! Ouch, ooch, ouch! I think I'm going to die! Someone help me! Arggghhhhh!"

Damn, that was embarrassing. Even though there were only four people in the room, I still felt my face turn scarlet once I had finished my act. But it was all worth it: the guard immediately lowered the gate (as I had suspected, the switch was indeed on his side) and came running my way.

"Haha, you stupid idiot! I knew you would be dumb enough to put your hand in there! That spider you were just bitten by is one of the deadliest in the world. Too bad for you! Hahaha…huh?"

His words got old real fast. Once I was convinced he had been fooled by me, I stood up, and began to advance on him, hate no doubt burning in my eyes.

"Hey, ease up there, man. It, it, it was just for f-f-fun, you know? That spider's not really poisonous…well, just a little, but still…oh, crap."

I hadn't wanted to, but anytime somebody like that makes such a blatant lie to my face, I have to do something. In this case, since there wasn't anything else to do, I decided to go for the kill. I drew my sword out, and aiming carefully, directed a slash towards his neck. My aim was true, and his head was sent rolling a second later.

Placing my sword back in my sheath, I stalked forward, ready to go down the stairs so I could continue in my quest. However, before I had gone ten steps, I noticed that Katt was still behind. She was probably disappointed in me for killing that guy. I would have to have a quick chat with her about it.

She was there, standing over the headless corpse. When she noticed me approaching, she pointedly looked away. Maybe she was scared as well as mad. It was hard to tell.

"Hey, listen, Katt," I said, walking over next to her. "It's not my fault. That guy tried to kill me, and then, on top of that, lied to my face. I absolutely never stand for that. It's a personal policy.

"So I cannot be blamed whatsoever. What did you want me to do anyways? Just beat him up? No, that wouldn't have solved the problem. He wouldn't have learned from that. He needed something a little more than a beating. And as much as I regretted to have to be the person to deliver his punishment, I was forced to. So, don't be mad at me. I haven't done anything to deserve it."

She turned to me with a deep sigh. "I know you haven't, Ryu. I'm not mad at you, either. It's just that I can't stand the killing of people, whether they are good or evil. Animals I'm fine with, but people…no. It just sets off something inside me. I don't know how to describe it, but I don't like it at all. It's not your fault, either. You didn't know about it.

"But I ask you only one thing. Anytime on our quest that we encounter humans that we are forced to slay, and that includes any other members of this gang that we might have to kill, don't let me see, okay? I would really appreciate that."

"All right, Katt. Will do, if I remember. My memory's not the best, so you might have to remind me the next time we meet some people."

"I will."

"Okay. Let's get a move on then. Who knows what's been going on with Nina and the boss by now?"

And so we proceeded onwards, now running due to the time we had lost with the two losers at the gates. Thankfully, though, following those two incidents, it was a clear path to the main room where I was sure almost all of the gang, including the boss, Nina, and Mina were gathered. No other run-ins with punks occurred, though I did manage to locate one of their weapons, a nice silvery dagger, which I pocketed for myself. I figured it would come in handy sooner or later.

When we finally arrived in the main cavern, we could discern several voices all talking at once. They were extremely loud, too, for the size of the cavern magnified their effects several times over. Neither of us could make out exactly where they were, though, loud as they were, but since we couldn't see them from where we were standing, we figured they were either in the middle of the room or at the back of it.

Silently, we crept along the side walls, being very cautious not to make any noise whatsoever. Several times, we stumbled and nearly fell, for there was very little light at all. However, we managed to get to the back with no real trouble.

When we had positioned ourselves on a cliff overlooking the whole room, we could make out in the dimness Nina's blond hair and Mina's blue hair. They were standing together in front of some humongous, toad-like man, who in turn was surrounded by a group of gang members. So that was the boss. I had expected a more sophisticated looking person. Oh, well.

"So, you're Nina, hmmm? I've been wanting to meet for a while now, my dear," he said. His voice had a tangible sense of shrewdness to it, much like Kilgore's, which was surprising to me. I had been expecting it to be phlegmy and nasty.

"So, my boys tell me you're a magician. Care to show us any tricks?" She shook her head vehemently. "Ah. That's a pity. I've never seen a magician do their stuff before, though I have always wanted to.

"Anyways, Nina, my dear, I have a proposal for you. What would you say to staying here with us, the Joker gang, for a while? I'm sure you would love it. It's not Windia, sure, but it beats staying at some rotten school, right? Haven't you been loving it since the moment you stepped foot in it?"

"Actually, sir, I haven't. I mean, it's a very nice cave and all, but I must say I didn't appreciate the way I was brought here, nor the reason. And I wish you would let me and my sister leave. Our family has been expecting us for quite a few hours now."

The boss smiled at her. "Don't worry, my dear. You shall get home to Windia soon enough, I promise you that….."

He continued talking here, but I didn't hear him out, because I was distracted by Katt. She had decided to step away from me again; she was probably going to try some fool-hardy rescue attempt of Mina. I prayed to Ladon I was wrong, but a second later, my fears were confirmed when I heard her voice cut through the air.

"All right, Joker, you got about five seconds to hand over both those girls, or you're going to be history. Comprende?"

Oh damn. Why did she have to go and do that? Now we were going to have to fight off a whole bunch of guards, something I had wanted to avoid doing.

The Joker (I guess that was his name) looked stunned. He had clearly not expected any other people to be in the cavern besides his men, Nina, and Mina. "Well, well, boys," he said. "Looks like we have a visitor. See if you can locate her."

All his cronies surrounding him (about 20) began to walk around carefully, looking in every direction except ours: up. I breathed a tiny sigh of relief. We still had the drop on them, even though Katt had made a huge blunder.

However, fortunately, we were saved a battle with the Joker's men. Seeing that she now had help, Nina decided to actually do something other than stand there. She first backed up several paces from the Joker, dragging Mina with one hand and forming a magic ball with the other. Those punks never saw it coming.

Once she was a sufficient distance from the boss, she let go of her sister, and formed another mass of energy in her free hand. Ooh. This was going to be interesting, I thought. Two energy orbs. That means double the damage. And I remember well how much damage she caused with just one. I feel sorry for those guys.

When the orbs had each grown to about the size of her head, she let them go, throwing her arms forward and yelling as she did so. As she did, twin bolts of lightning sizzled out, blinding in their whiteness. They appeared to have homing capabilities as well, for they did not merely go in a straight line as they sought out and destroyed every one of the hoodlums; no, they flew all over the place, going diagonally, in between walls, horizontally, any way, so long as a gang member was present in that direction. It took them mere seconds to eliminate the whole crew, and once they finished that duty, they spiraled upward into the ceiling above the astonished Joker, causing a huge landslide that brought several large boulders down on him, even as he threw up his arms to avoid them.

I was amazed. Now that was magic, so far as I was concerned: the ability to call upon ultimate destructive powers. As I said earlier, physical power is nothing compared to that which can cause mass destruction in a heartbeat. I was, quite simply, awed by Nina's power. It made me realize just how small and insignificant we were.

I must have spent quite a while standing there in shock, because by the time I had snapped out of my little stupor and looked around, I saw that the three girls were getting ready to leave. But, with my little sixth sense, I felt…that something was not quite right. We had forgotten to do something, but what? The little cronies had been taken care of (quite well, at that) and Joker himself was gone. Hmm. Maybe I was just overreacting.

I turned to join the rest of my crew, and suddenly heard a very ominous sounding rumbling noise directly behind me. It sounded quite like a bunch of rocks being pushed off of something, and as luck would have it, when I turned around again, I found that that was exactly what it was.

The Joker, as I figured, couldn't go down so easily as his followers. He simply was not allowed to. Leaders never were; they were tough and resilient, everything their soldiers wanted to be. And unfortunately, in this case, that meant we were going to have another fight.

I turned my head slightly to the side to see if my help had come back yet. Unbelievably, they were still standing near the door, and were, in fact, just about to step through it!

"WAIT!" I called out. They turned their heads towards me, each wearing an expression of puzzlement.

"Hey, guys, guess what?" I shouted. "The Joker's not dead yet! And it would really be great if you could get your collective butts over here right now to help me with him."

I could see their expressions change to those of surprise and terror in the blink of an eye, and they immediately began rushing in my direction. Once they arrived, they all began to ready for battle: Katt drew her staff out, and Nina and Mina began to chant some incantations and formulate energy in their palms.

"Hahahaha," I heard the Joker call out. "Guess you weren't expecting that, now were you? Well, let me tell you, I didn't used to have the power to survive fatal blows like that. But now I do, thanks to the one and only Deathevan. That guy is awesome, let me tell you."

He then stepped out totally from beneath the rubble and into the light, and I could see his body had completely mutated. Instead of a fat, short man, he was now a fat, short demon. Little horn nubs had sprouted all over his now-lavender skin, and two bigger horns were on either side of his head. He flicked his tongue in and out of his mouth, and I noticed that it was at least 2 feet in length. His hands and feet, though no longer human, were not really animalistic or demonic; they were not clawed or flippered or anything like that. They were just…different looking.

"Well, now boys and girls, you went and ruined the party I all had in mind. Why'd you have to go and do that? It was going to be a lot of fun."

He seemed disturbingly kiddy for a grown man. No wonder he had gotten that nickname Joker; he was just like an oversized clown, even in that hideously ugly demon getup.

"It's over, Joker," I called out. "You're outnumbered four-to-one, and you're not even armed. You have no shot at all of winning you know. Just give up now, and I won't have to kill you. I'll take you over to Hometown, and you can get yourself transformed back into your human form. You can't have any more gangs, true, but that's okay. I'm sure such a guy like you could find a different way to utilize your time other than spending it with losers like these. Come on with us."

He laughed, a deep, throaty chuckle that seemed to overflow like a geyser from the pit of his stomach. "You…you really think I'll go with you?" he said between laughs. "You must be crazy, kid! I know who you are, and what your powers are. You could probably rip me apart right now from where you're standing without so much as blinking an eye. So, yeah, you can forget about me coming with you. I appreciate the offer though, kid. You seem like a good person. It's a shame my master will have to kill you."

There it was again. Another reference to my "hidden powers." Just what in Ladon's name WERE they? I had never displayed any outstanding characteristics in my whole life, unless bravery was counted, and I certainly could not kill people by standing there and thinking about it (though I did wish I could). I decided the best thing to do would be ask the fat man.

"All right, Joker, tell me. What is it that makes me so special, hmm? Your pal Augus mentioned it to me when I battled him earlier, and now you make note of it again. Who is this master of yours, this Deathevan, and why am I such a threat to him? You mind explaining that to me?"

"Well, kid, I'm sorry, but I can't oblige you. You see, speaking of the devil, Deathevan is actually calling for me right now, and I have to go catch up with him. I would honestly stay and chat with you all day about your mystical, inhuman powers that haven't been seen for hundreds of years if I could, but I can't. So sorry."

And then, suddenly, inexplicably, displaying a talent I never suspected he had, the Joker disappeared. Just vanished into thin air. No smoke, no booms, no anything. He was just there and gone. I had never seen anybody perform a trick like that before, and it scared me. His master had to have incredible powers to just whisk him away like that. It would be a while before I could face a being that had that power.

Well, I figured that since now he was gone, it was time to hit the road. I turned around and called out to my friends that the Joker had departed for now (though I knew they were already aware of that fact), and that all would be safe. Upon hearing this, they let out a great cheer, and then turned and exited the cavern. Happy that my duty here was done (though I was not pleased the Joker managed to get away), I too exited the room and prepared to make my way back to Hometown.