So I watched a little bit of Konjiki no Gash Bell (subtitled) out of curiosity. You know that song in the English version when Gash and Kiyomaru first meet Parco Fulgore? Yeah, well it's really about groping boobs. I just about died laughing… "Breasts, breasts, and boobs. Boing! Boing!" (snicker). Hurray for pervy songs!
Where the Hell Are We Now!
By Kaori
"What the fudgy…" murmured Gina as feathers seemed to rain from the sky and people started falling asleep. "Is there a giant bird moulting somewhere?"
"Forget that, why's everybody asleep?" hissed Kotorra. "And how come we're not affected?"(1) She didn't get an answer as everything suddenly went straight to Hell in a handbasket.
The stadium walls exploded and ninjas started pouring in. The Konoha shinobi that were still awake immediately began defending the area. Shocked, the trio started running for the exits.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit…"chanted Kotorra.
"I couldn't agree more." Said Bradley, looking this way and that. "Woah! Incoming!" They dodged to the side as a large chunk of the stadium wall came crashing down. A flash of metal was the only warning they got that someone was chasing them.
Without thinking, Bradley transformed into a black wolf and attacked the first thing he saw: a Suna shinobi.
"Bradley!" Gina screamed as her friend clamped down on the man's arm. Whipping off her gloves, she ran over and slammed her hands into the man's abdomen, petrifying him. The wolf stopped attacking and got into a guarding position at Gina's right. They both made a break for a breach in the wall where Kotorra was anxiously waiting for them.
"Move your asses! Come on!"
Running through the streets was like running away from a revolt once the police showed up with the riot gear, hosesand gas bombs. There was fighting and panic everywhere and it was all they could do not to get separated from each other.
Knowing they shouldn't keep running about in the open like that, they made their way towards the Mochikaeri. Gina, pausing a moment to catch her breath, looked up and gasped in surprise. "Guys!" The others stopped running to see what was so alarming and gasped.
A gigantic, purple cube rested on top of one of the buildings near the nearly demolished stadium. They didn't know what it was but they got the feeling it wasn't anything good. The tail of a humongous snake crashed down behind them and the three wild cards took that as a signal to start running again.
Bradley, still in his wolf form almost tripped over his own paws when he smelt something familiar. Not giving it a second thought he raced towards it; Kotorra and Gina anxiously following behind him, not sure what to think at this point.
Ebisu was doing his best to defend Konohamaru and his friends but he was getting tired. He'd already fended off fourchuunin and the fifth was wearing him down severely. A black streak and a surprised cry of "Kotorra-neesan!" from Konohamaru was the only warning he got before the Otochuunin he had been fighting was viciously mauled by a ferocious black wolf. A slender hand rested on his back and he turned around.
"Kotorra-san." Ebisu said, both relieved and surprised. "What are you doing here?" Gina was fussing over Udon, whose arm had a nasty gash on it.
"Trying not to get killed, Ebisu-san." Was the deuce's bland response. She had long since decided she could fall apart later."Is there anywhere we can go that's safe?"
"Yes. Follow me."
It was significantly easier to avoid trouble when accompanied by a ninja. Kotorra made a promise to herself not to mock Ebisu for a week if they got out of this alive.
"We're almost there." Ebisu announced, the trio and the Konohamaru Corp only nodded in acknowledgement too tired to speak. Any relief they may have felt at the moment was quickly gone when six ninjas, five chuunin and a jounin, with Oto hitai-ite blocked their path.
"And just where do you think you're going?" one of them, the only jounin in the group, said.
"So close…" hissed Ebisu.
Bradley growled low in his throat. They were outmatched, he could smell it but something seemed odd to him. What was that strange, earthy smell? Wait a minute. Earthy? He looked over at Gina who had her head bowed; she was shaking slightly and muttering something.
"Hey, what do you suppose is wrong with that one?" an Otonin with blue hair pointed at Gina.
"Probably scared out of her mind." Sneered the jounin. "What's the matter, little girl? You gonna cry?"
Gina didn't hear any of it. She was tired. Tired of being scared, tired of being attacked, and damn well tired of running. She wrapped her mind around that fury and released.
The ground below their feet started shaking. The Otonins quickly took to the roofs of the buildings to try and keep their footing. The group on the ground however, was slowly being elevated by what looked like a monstrous, stone hand rising out of the ground. Following the hand was an arm, then another hand, and suddenly in an explosion of masonry, stone, and dirt a gigantic golem towered above them, Ebisu and his charges in the palm of its hand.
"Hang on tight." Gina said, suddenly raising her head and everyone could see her pale hazel eyes had turned a muddy brown. "I'm going to get you guys to safety and anything getting in my way is in for an ass kicking." The golem reared its free hand back and smashed it onto the building the Otonins were standing on, causing them to scatter.
Bradley, in his surprise, had turned back into his normal form and was openly gaping at his friend. He'd never seen her this angry before and she'd never shown any indication that she had this kind of power.
Kotorra's mind was going a mile a minute. This was Gina? Crazy, light-hearted, caffeine addicted Gina? How was she doing this? A loud hiss alerted them all to the massive anaconda looming behind them.
Kakashi and Gai weren't sure what to make of the towering stone golem that had suddenly appeared and had gotten into a fight with one of Orochimaru's snakes, but as long as it was fighting on their side, it didn't really matter as it was confusing the Suna and Otonins. There was murmuring amongst them as to why Iwanins were helping Konoha.
Gina, sitting on her golem's head, kept her eyes trained on the gigantic snake as she did her best to keep it from attacking the Konoha shinobi. However, she knew she wouldn't be able to keep this up much longer but was too stubborn to let go just yet. Besides, she'd never felt so alive in her life.She winced as her golem was smacked from behind by another snake. "Hey! Two against one is unlawful!" The golem reached out and grabbed the first snake by the tail and used it like a whip to fend off the other snake.
Bradley and Kotorra were sitting on the golem's left shoulder and warned Gina when the enemy tried to climb up her creation.
"How are you holding up Gina?" Kotorra asked.
The other girl turned to reply and then a kunai whizzed through the air and lodged itself in her shoulder. "Ah!"
"Gina!" her friends cried out as she seemed to go into shock.
The golem gave a mournful roar and started falling apart. Kotorra grabbed Gina and got her into a clumsy fireman's carry. Bradley transformed into a large german shepherd and with Kotorra and Gina on his back, leapt to the safety of a nearby roof. Ebisu had Udon on his back and Moegi and Konohamaru under each of his arms. He landed on the roof opposite the one the trio had landed on. None of them had time to rest as the shinobi that had landed the hit on Gina made himself known.
"It's over." He sneered, raising his kunai. Kotorra held Gina close to her body to protect her, but then Bradley suddenly threw them both off of the roof taking the blow himself.
"Kotorra-san!" coughed Ebisu, unable to do anything with all his injuries. The children cried out to their friend.
Kotorra screamed as she fell into the alleyway below, flipping herself around so that she'd cushion Gina's fall, she shut her eyes and did the mental equivalent of kissing her ass goodbye. A few seconds passed and she suddenly became aware of a loud buzzing in her ears. She cracked an eye open and almost fainted. She was lying on a flying carpet made entirely out of wasps.
"Are you all right?" Shino's impassive voice said. Kotorra looked up.
"Yeah, thanks. Oh my God…Bradley!"
"Kiba and Hinata are handling it."
Up on the roofs, Kiba and Akamaru had already incapacitated the enemy ninja and were tying him up in hopes that once the fighting was over, they had someone to hand over for interrogation while Hinata tended to Udon and Ebisu.
"Oi! Kotorra!" Bradleya yelled down to them; he was bleeding from a wound on his right side. "You all right?"
"I'm just a little bruised, but you and Gina need medical attention. Hey Kiba, think you and your team can escort us to the shelter?"
"Heh, why not. You're no princess, but I suppose beggars can't be choosers at a time like this."
"Well I can't say I can pay you but get us back there alive and I'll let you eat at the Mochikaeri for free for a whole month."
"Yahoo! You've got yourself a deal! Hinata, Shino let's go!"
The shelter was mostly occupied by civilians, the injured, and genins and the muffled sounds of battle echoed inside. Gina, Bradley, Ebisu, and Udon were immediately carted off by the medic-nins. Kotorra was left with Team 8, Konohamaru, and Moegi. Fatigue finally set in as she sat down heavily on the floor.
"So," she drawled. "does this sort of thing happen every time you guys have an exam?" She would not break down now. Not in front of these kids. It would only worry them even more.
"Does Gina usually summon large monsters?" voice said. Kotorra turned her head to see Iruka leaning against the wall.
"Touché, Iruka-san." She leaned back and closed her eyes. "So that's a "no" then."
"Kotorra-neesan, are you alright?' Konohamaru asked. Kotorra put a hand on his head and smiled.
"You don't need to worry about me, I'll be okay after I get some rest. What about you?"
"Ha! A little run like that doesn't even phase me!" he puffed out his chest.
"Oh really? Maybe when this is over I'll make you my delivery boy."
While Kotorra and Konohamaru got into an argument concerning the boy's potential salary, Iruka pulled Team 8 aside and basically told them that if worse comes to worse, they were to help defend the shelter.
Ten minutes later, Gina walked over and sat down next to her friend.
"Where's Bradley?" Kotorra asked, absently.
"The medics have him in a bed. They're worried about the amount of blood he lost. Knowing him, he'll pout and give them puppy dog eyes until they let him come over here with us."
"Ah. By the way, Iruka-san's here."
"Eh? Iruka? Really? Where?" Gina looked around frantically.
"You are such a fangirl." Moaned Kotorra, and leaned her head on her friends shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"Huh? What for?"
"For being so damned useless."
"What the… what do you mean? You're not useless."
"Yes I am." Murmured Kotorra. "I couldn't help you guys during the fighting and you and Bradley got hurt because I couldn't watch your backs properly." Gina suddenly pulled her into a fierce hug.
"If it weren't for you we probably wouldn't be alive to even get into this situation in the first place. Your translator gizmo probably saved our lives, and don't even startsaying if you hadn't wanted to go State-side for vacation we wouldn't have been kidnapped. You can't start thinking about the "what-ifs", just concentrate on when and right now."
"Right now," Kotorra whispered. "I want you to let go, you're strangling me."
(1) If you can figure out why then hats off. If you're really good at making inferences it shouldn't be a problem to understand why the KGB aren't affected by genjutsu.