Chapter 10: Old Friends
Billy thought a post-apocalyptic movie director would get a good scenery up here. The thick blanket of gray above him sifted the sunlight into beams of yellowish radiance. Fuzzy white tendrils crept around his guitar and the shoddy apartment complexes below.
Spotting a humanoid figure on one of the rooftops, Billy swooped down. He wished he could gulp as a ghost; the figure neither screamed nor moved. Also, there was no fire.
He closed in and saw Glenn, who stood still with his mouth agape and his fists clenched. Billy waved a hand at him, but the teen only moved his eyes; it reminded Billy of the spooky picture pranks he liked to pull. "Glenn," he muttered, "you okay?"
"Fornax here," a robotic voice came from the patch of glossy blue skin around his neck. "Glenn is fine. I just stopped him from screaming and drawing unwanted attention."
Billy jerked away, almost dropping his guitar. "You hijacked his body!"
"It's for his sake."
Billy hovered backwards with a wince. No, please no. Jyuji transforming into a dragon due to the Seed alien in him was more than enough already.
"Billy, you have to trust me."
Billy tightened his grip around the fingerboard of his guitar until his hand trembled along with the instrument. "No way!" The image of the transforming Jyuji flashed across his mind, and he gritted his teeth. "I saw what your pal did to my friend!"
"Maybe it's weird for you and even the rest of my kind, but I'm no longer interested in overtaking a human body," Fornax said. "Humans have kept me well-fed in the lab and changed my view about them. Perhaps someday, they can create a nutrient-rich medium for me to live in."
"What for? You guys love being in humans and corpses!"
"Living in a human body isn't as nice as you think, especially when your host is an extremely reckless boy. I must keep Glenn from doing anything stupid because if he dies, I'll die as well."
Glenn's body twitched as his face reddened with anger. Suddenly, he thrashed. "I'm not stupid! I'm just doing what I gotta do!"
"Glenn!" Billy called out.
"You can't hold me back forever, Fornax!" Glenn jumped again and again as though he was on a trampoline. More cracks forked across the concrete floor whenever his feet hit the ground. "I'm gonna beat that scorpion monster and there's no stopping me!"
Billy facepalmed. Okay, I guess Fornax isn't as bad as I think. This kid is better off hijacked and restrained.
"Don't you want to win, Glenn?" Fornax asked.
"Hell yeah!"
"Then we'll need a strategy."
"Strategy? Burn hotter! Hit harder and faster!" Glenn ran past Billy, a layer of blaze coating his body. "Where's that scorpion guy? I'm all fired up!"
"You untamed brat," Fornax grumbled. "Billy, please lend us a hand in the fight. I cannot restrain this boy."
If Fornax couldn't even hijack Glenn, then Billy had better give up all the hopes to take the teen out of the danger zone. "Sure thing," he replied, tailing Glenn to the edge of the rooftop with his guitar ready. Rapid clacks echoed across the gray horizon.
"There you are!" Glenn suddenly screamed.
Billy sighed; at least if Glenn kept quiet, they could catch their foe off-guard. The scorpion man clung to the brownish wall of the apartment across them. Hooking his segmented tail on the ledge of the rooftop above him, he waved his snapping pincers with a grin.
"I'll burn ya to a crisp!"
Glenn jumped at the scorpion man, and Billy's jaw dropped. For God's sake, they were thirty stories above the ground! Fornax could probably help the teen endure a fall, but better safe than sorry.
Still grinning, the scorpion man stood still and let Glenn land on his broad back.
"Watch out, Glenn! That's obviously a trap!" Billy warned.
Yet Glenn stood firmly on the silent monstrosity and pummeled the creature's head, shouting, "Fire Punch!" over and over again.
As annoyingly reckless as Glenn was, Billy wouldn't want to see him die; this thickheaded bozo was still a teen of all people. Billy mentioned the password Thunder Love in his heart, and the body of his guitar split open to reveal a retractable crimson cannon. It slid out of the opening.
The scorpion man chuckled, his minor burns and bruises healing up as fast as they appeared. His tail remained still.
Billy shivered a bit at first, but he quickly recuperated. Guitar-cannon pointed at the scorpion man, he strummed a set of ascending and descending chords. Circular arcs of electricity crackled across the barrel and converged into a growing orb of shock at the muzzle.
In a flash, the stinger tail came down upon Glenn. The pointy tip burst out of the teen's chest and splattered blood across the creature's bald head.
Glenn punched no more, and his fire vanished along with the patch of blue skin around his neck.
Billy's play stopped abruptly, and the ball lightning and the crackling electricity vanished. No word came out of his wide-open mouth.
"I won't..." Glenn croaked. "I won't..."
"Give up? You think this is a kid's show where sheer determination will always prevail?" Laughing, the scorpion man lifted Glenn's skewered body into the air and waved it. The teen's limbs flailed weakly as he coughed up blood.
Brow furrowing in anger, Billy hammered on the guitar and ended the upbeat tune with a perfect cadence. A glowing bolt of blue electricity ripped through the air and towards the scorpion man, who quickly flung Glenn at the lightning.
The teen's ear-splitting howl of agony overshadowed Billy's loud, "No!" and the creature's cackling laughter. Glenn's bulging eyes rolled upwards, and his mouth opened so wide that the surrounding muscles might just tear off.
The shriek and the lightning died out, and Glenn's charred, motionless body plummeted into the misty abyss below. Billy would never forget that blank white-eyed stare from the teen's corpse.
Ghosts could never cry, but why should he care about the inability when his guitar-cannon was available as an outlet for emotions? Roaring, Billy rapidly jammed the chords for Thunder Love. The crimson barrel glowed and crackled with rings of electricity; this time, the ball lightning on the muzzle grew twice as fast.
The scorpion man sprang at him. Backing away, Billy took aim with his guitar-cannon and closed off the music with a string of bass chords.
Just as the creature's segmented legs struck the concrete, the cannon unleashed a massive laser beam. It went clean through the upper-half of the scorpion man, leaving smoldering stumps on where his humanoid torso and stinger tail used to be.
The creature's arms went limp, and the pincers smashed into the ground. The armored body of the scorpion stood still on its eight legs.
"Glenn isn't coming back, but it feels good to kill you!" Billy twirled his reverting guitar-cannon in the air and caught it. Turning around to leave, he spat, "Jerk!"
Something clacked.
Billy whirled, and his eyes widened. The armored body scuttled towards him, its pincers swiping through the misty air. Blood gushed out of the stumps and transformed into the lost torso and tail.
Still alive? Fine, Billy would just lase the scorpion man until the creature truly died. With the cannon summoned, Billy shot up into the air, dodged the creature's advance, and played the chords for Thunder Love again.
A bestial roar from behind cut Billy off. He turned around, only to see a blue blur swooping past his body. It seized the reverting guitar and yanked it up along with him.
The creature slowed down, and Billy recognized what this winged, scaly monstrosity was. Its ridged head housed numerous horns and tusks - two from a goat, one from a unicorn, and three from a rhino. Its eyes emitted the same cyan radiance that Jyuji hid behind his blindfold.
It- no, he was Jyuji; why he no longer burned like when he first transformed, nobody knew. Funny how his mere appearance made Billy no longer interested in killing the giant scorpion guy.
"Draco!" the scorpion man called out.
Wings flapping slowly but strongly, the dragon pointed at the guitar. "This small fry isn't our target, Scorpius." His voice - although a bit robotic - sounded just as deep as Jyuji's.
"But-"
"Beyond the Grave is coming." The dragon tossed the instrument away, at the direction where he had come from.
Skidding through the air along with his guitar, Billy shuddered at the name "Beyond the Grave." Sure, they used to fight together, but what if Grave met the recently transformed Jyuji? Wouldn't he want to slay the dragon?
Mika, he recalled. As far as he knew, Grave - sometimes dubbed as "Mika's attack dog" - would only act according to the girl's orders. If she wanted him to save the world, he'd do it. If she wanted him to destroy it instead, he'd also do it.
Swaying her was the key to saving Jyuji.
Regaining his composure, Billy flew lower and ahead. No orgmen roamed the streets; instead, Billy found silver dust everywhere. The wind blew the particles against and through his body.
Billy heard more noises as he went further. The inharmonious orchestra consisted of incredibly high-pitched shrieks, booming footsteps, and thuds.
He spotted a silver-haired girl in the distance, and his jaw dropped. Had Grave been training Mika so rigorously? She now had a pair of long, muscular legs, and her leather jacket - covered in silver dust - made her shoulders look so broad. A large patch of glossy blue skin ran down the left side of her face and towards her left hand; it seemed like she also had somebody like Fornax in her.
Four orgmen stood around her, their fangs bared. Mika simply stared at them with her fists clenched. At this, Billy readied his guitar; despite having thunder thighs and a Seed alien in her, Mika was still an eighteen-year-old girl.
The orgmen charged. Billy had only plucked a note when Mika dived out of harm's way and let the ogres slam onto each other. With the giants down, Mika drew her pistol and pointed it at them. Billy couldn't help but mouth a, "Whoa!" when the gun glowed. From its muzzle a flurry of incandescent needles escaped.
Struck by the needles, the ogres howled in agony. Cracks spread across their bodies, and they eventually crumbled to dust.
Billy gasped, propelling himself backwards. Was she even the same girl he met last year, the girl who relied on Grave to do most of the fighting for her?
She turned. Reluctantly, Billy flew down to greet her.
Mika smiled at him and holstered her gun. "Mr. Billy!"
Ah, so she still retained that friendliness despite the badassery. Billy returned the smile. "I thought I once told you to drop the 'Mister.' Y'know, you made me feel old." He grinned broadly, hoping that Mika would do the same or better, laugh. He could use a bit of sunshine in a gloomy day.
"Okay, Billy," she replied. "How have you been? Where's Mr. Jyuji?"
Billy's expression darkened at the last question. Looking down with trembling lips, he muttered, "He is...the dragon."