Hello again…this is gonna be the usual….Thanks to Aeonian Dreams—this girl rocks my socks to the floor! Yayness! Please R & R!
Chap 10: The Repercussions of Folly
Rose didn't hear her own scream, though she did hear another cry from her left. Time seemed to slow as she looked to the source. The woman saw Trunks's body whip backwards, a long ivory pike forcing its way into his chest. In the same motion the fiery energy field around him died and his hair--flying forward from the breeze that swept up behind them--slid from spiky blonde back into straight indigo. He wilted forward, slumped over the horn whose tip was now sticking unceremoniously out of his back.
The pain registered with Rose then, and she choked. The behemoth's other horn had speared her, slicing itself cleanly through her upper chest near her right shoulder. The most terrible pain she'd ever felt coursed through her body, making the side corresponding to the injury go limp. She felt as if white-hot needles were being stabbed into her chest from her throat to her stomach. She coughed and was startled to see her own blood fly from her lips.
Kurama and Tari had frozen when the cries of pain had rung across the clearing. Now they watched, paralyzed in shock as the behemoth raised itself onto its hind legs, toting the two impaled on its horns a full fourteen feet into the air. Tari stared, wide-eyed, her mind reeling-- she had no idea what to do. Fortunately, the spirit fox did: calling on a small amount of his spirit energy, Kurama worked his abilities on the rose resting in his palm. A burst of rose petals later and a seven foot long, thorny whip rested in his hand. Each of the deadly looking thorns was a finger's length long. Charging forward with elegant speed, the redhead cracked the whip once-- it raked across the behemoth's withers and it roared in agony, though it didn't return to all fours as he'd intended.
Rose was very dizzy. To her surprise, she found herself--caught in what felt like suspended animation-- wondering if Trunks was still alive. The horn had narrowly missed his heart, if indeed it had missed at all. To her further shock, the thought made her angry, despite the pain she was in. A tingling feeling lingered behind stabbing of her wound. Suddenly she remembered the Death Dimension she had prepared and not fired. Some of its power was gone, drizzling out of her much like the blood running down the pike she was stuck on, though there was enough left for her to channel. Taking her rapier from her bloody right hand into her left, she pulled what energy she had left and called it into her blade. Somewhat revitalized, she readied herself for her one shot.
Kurama saw her attack. Black fire sprang up along the blade of the sword that she now wielded with her left hand. In one fluid motion the Dragoon gave her wings a powerful pump, whipping the sword down at the same time. The behemoth shrieked as its right horn was sheared off near the tip--Rose cried out weakly as she ripped her body free of the beast's other horn. Kurama leapt forward; he couldn't catch the unconscious Saiyan before he hit the ground, but he acted just in time. Grabbing the boy's jacket he drug him out from under one of the behemoth's enormous forefeet as it came crashing back to earth. Unfortunately for the spirit fox the same foot that he saved Trunks from was tipped with those long claws, all four of which raked down his back as he leapt away. Gasping aloud in pain, Kurama tumbled to the ground, still managing to drag Trunks with him.
Tari was ready for action now. Steadying herself, she yelled:
"Hey branch breath, come and get me!" The behemoth reeled, following the sound of her voice; it charged directly at her, its head lowered and its mouth open in a fury of a roar. It opened wider, snapping down on the girl with one huge bite.
The behemoth impaled itself Tari's claws. The metal pikes rammed up through the thing's mouth and into the innards of its head.
The beast quivered, its cry drowned in a sudden flood of deep purple blood. Without any final call, the thing's legs buckled and it crumpled to the ground. Tari drug herself out from under the corpse, covered head to toe in the purple liquid.
"Bastard," she growled, though as soon as she was free she hurried to Rose.
The woman's Dragoon status was ending, and the last of the glittering black light bore her fainting to the ground. Tari reached her as her feet reached the earth. The woman collapsed into the Technican's arms. Helping to lie her down, Tari called to Kurama, "How's Trunks?"
"I'm here," came a quiet reply. Kurama looked down, startled.
"How are you conscious?" he asked.
"Oh, I've taken worse," the Saiyan replied matter-of-factly. "-though I don't remember it hurting like this."
"You have a third of a behemoth's horn wedged into your chest. Did you imagine it would feel pleasant?"
Across the clearing Tari was busying herself by patching Rose's wound. Both wounds, actually-- just like it had done with Trunks, the behemoth's horn had gone clear through the Dragoon, despite her impressively thick armor. Tari had retrieved her medical bag from the jeep and was already bandaging Rose's back when she heard Trunks gasp. Kurama had lifted the Saiyan to his feet, and the movement had him wincing in pain. As the two of them hobbled across the clearing towards the jeep, Trunks suddenly made Kurama stop. He raised his head, looking suddenly worried. Tari gulped-- she'd seen that look on his face once before.
"What is it, Wonderboy?" she asked him, not sure that she wanted to know. His face went totally white, and the spirit fox helped him sit.
"We're in real trouble. How did I not notice...? Whatever this is...it's a whole lot tougher than that behemoth. If it finds us now, we're goners for sure." Kurama straightened.
"Which direction?" The Saiyan pointed north. Without another word the spirit fox strode into the trees.
"Where are you going?" Tari asked loudly.
"I will lead it away and join you later," Kurama called back, and within a moment he was gone. Tari sighed, glad that was taken care of. She finished with Rose and, gathering her medical bag, she went to Trunks.
"We shouldn't have let him go alone," the youth said quietly.
"Nonsense," Tari scolded. "He'll be fine. Now hold still-- I've got to pull out that horn." Trunks yelped when the girl yanked the piece of ivory out of his chest. As it was, his vision went black and he slumped against Tari's shoulder.
….
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"Hey Wonderboy, you all right?" By the time he could hear her she was nearly done with his bandages. He really didn't care about what she was saying--now that he was conscious again, all he could feel was an enormous signal of Dark energy.
There was no time to warn the others. The thing came out of the trees and was upon them much faster--and quieter-- than the behemoth had been. How, Trunks was not sure: this creature was larger, and looked a hundred times more menacing.
This thing was not a natural creature like the behemoth: it resembled a heavily armored soldier mounted on a deformed, four-legged metal beast. The steed alone measured ten feet at the shoulder, and about 25 feet long from its steel-toothed muzzle to the tip of its whip of a tail. The soldier perched on its back was a giant of a man, eight feet tall, if indeed he was human at all. It didn't seem so, because the little bit of flesh visible past his armor was grayish-black. The sword he carried was as long as Trunks was tall, and it held an edge so sharp it put the Saiyan's own to shame. Tari and Trunks stared at the thing in shock and horror, though neither noticed the white thing dangling in the metal beast's jaws.
"So here I find some of the fourteen that so desire to save this wretched world." The rider spoke with a voice that made even the toughest warrior want to clamp his hands over his ears: the voice was hard and cruel, low and dangerous, and its sound was the same as that of oncoming doom. "But you are only four. How disappointing. I am almost as surprised by this as I was when I found you had sent a single warrior to stand against me. I cannot believe you sent only one, let alone one so fragile," they could here the taunting note in the thing's tone. "His efforts were...amusing." It then dawned on them what exactly it was that the monstrous steed held in its mouth.
It was Kurama: wounded, broken, bleeding, and yet somehow still alive. The white of his clothing was tainted in several places by cuts and large splashes of crimson. The rider's steed seemed to grin at the three conscious comrades before giving its iron-shod head a disdainful toss. As it did so it opened its mouth and its prize dropped like an unwanted toy in front of his fellows. Tari rushed to his side. Trunks glared at the beast from his spot on the ground, his fury rippling out from his body in waves.
"That's it," he drug himself to all fours, finally managing shortly after to reach his feet.
"What do you plan on doing?" Tari cried. "There's no way we can stand against that!" Both of the thing's mouths grinned evilly.
"The girl is right," the rider hissed, "You cannot stand against the Ultima Weapon any more than your pitiful friend could." Trunks scowled, pulling the sword from the sheathe on his back. Tari grimaced-- if he was resorting to the sword against so great a foe the rest of his energy had to be gone.
We're screwed.
There was a resounding yell as the Saiyan charged.
Yay for fight scenes—they are my passion, can you tell? Yayness. Thanks again to Aeoni-chan b/c I love her for reviewing always. --glomps-- Please R & R—this is one of my favorite parts!
-K-