Having engaged the Bigfoots outside the village, Tsukune, Moka, Mizore, and Kokoa fought with everything that they had while Kouta and Ling-Ling stayed behind. They were both hidden with the treads in the tree line, out of harms way. Ruby took off and flew ahead to find Kurumu who they had lost contact with somewhere in the village. Upon finding her, Kurumu reveals to everyone just in time that their enemy was not only acting very unusual, but in fact could not feel any pain and thus rendered their usual non-lethal tactics all but completely ineffective. In an effort to bring the battle to a speedy end and thus minimize casualties on all sides, Kurumu and Ruby desperately search for whoever it is that was commanding the attack in the surrounding hills. They eventually found the ones that had to of been the ones that they were looking for and quickly came under fire. Aside from the automatic small arms fire, they also shot at them with small missiles; one of which exploded near Kurumu and knocked her out of the sky. After she hit the ground, she realized that she badly hurt and in tremendous pain. Then she senses their enemies rushing towards her. Outside the village, Moka was injured and Mizore had reached her limits. Then Mizore's son, Kouta, comes running out of the woods with a Bigfoot chasing and quickly catching up to him as everyone else watches in terror.
Chapter 10: The Mystery Deepens
Just Outside the Siberian Village
March 6, 2017
"Kouta!" both Tsukune and Mizore screamed in horror.
Just as the Bigfoot was about to grab and crush their son, the snow in front of him suddenly freezes and shoots up in the shape of a sharp dagger up into the Bigfoot's stomach…
SLICE!
…His head falls off of his shoulders…
SPLATTER!
…And his entire body was blown back as his chest was turned inside out.
"What the hell just happened?" Kokoa yells as she watches in disbelief.
Hearing her little sister's question over the PCD, Moka answers her.
"Calm down and take a good look now, Kokoa."
Kokoa looks over there again and sees both Mizore and Tsukune rushing to Kouta's side.
"What in the world did they do?" Kokoa asks.
Realizing that the battle wasn't over yet, she rushes towards Moka, swinging her Kou-Morning Star at every enemy that got in her way.
In answer to her question, Moka replied while she twirled her Rakurai over her head to create a protective, electrified circle around her.
"Mizore turned the snow into a large Ice Dagger and used it to stab and stop the Bigfoot while she ran over and cut his head off. Then Tsukune hit him with a Bakuryuujin that knocked him back and away from Kouta."
Kokoa fought her way towards Moka and talked to her in between blows.
"But how the hell…"
BAM!
"…Did they…"
BASH!
"…Get over there so fast? I did not even see them…"
SMASH!
"…Run over there and Mizore had already reached her limit right before that. I…"
CRASH!
"…Don't get it."
"It was Kouta. It was because their son was in danger. At times like that, even human parents can perform superhuman feats to save their children. You would do the same for Takeshi, wouldn't you?"
"I wouldn't have to…"
SLAM!
"…Takeshi would beat them into the ground…"
WHACK!
"…All by himself without…"
CRUSH!
"…Any help from me. But I do get what you are saying, Onee-sama."
Kokoa reached her sister and looked over at Tsukune and Mizore holding their son tightly between them.
"Hey Kokoa, is it just me or are the Bigfoots just standing around now?" Moka asked her.
Looking around, Kokoa realized that her sister was right.
"Yeah, I see that too, Onee-sama. Kurumu and Ruby must've come through for us and found the guys in charge. I cannot think of any other reason why they would stop now with us being vulnerable like this."
"Is everyone okay, over?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, we're all alive, over." Moka answers.
"Couldn't cut it any closer then that you two?" Kokoa asks.
"You're welcome," Ruby replied, irritated. "We had a tough time with these guys. If it weren't for Kurumu and my crows then we would've been in serious trouble ourselves."
"How in the world were they able to control them like that?" Moka asks.
"You are not going to believe this even if I told you," Ruby answered. "You have to come over here and see it for yourself."
"Alright," Moka replies as she stands up on her good leg using Kokoa's shoulder for support. "We'll be there in a few minutes."
Looking over towards Tsukune and Mizore still holding their son close to them, she smiles and continues.
"Maybe more; just make sure that these things don't start attacking us again."
"Shouldn't be a problem," Ruby replies. "We'll just ask these guys a few questions in the meantime. See you guys soon."
"Should we make sure that Tsukune and Mizore heard that too?" Kokoa asks.
Looking over towards them again, Moka answers her.
"No, just give them a minute while we look for Ling-Ling. Let's go."
2
The Tree line
Several minutes later, Moka and Kokoa are back at the tree line where they had dropped and hidden the treads with Kouta and Ling-Ling. After a few minutes of searching the area together, they both hear a muffled voice coming from off to their right and start walking towards where they thought they had heard it.
Several steps later, Kokoa steps on something round buried in the snow that gives out a muffled yelp.
What was that? It's too small to be Ling-Ling. Is it some kind of animal then?
Poking at it with her left foot, Kokoa feels a sharp and sudden pain in her foot as the animal bites down hard on her and both girls fall back into the snow as Kokoa is attacked by the animal.
"Ow ow ow!" yelped Kokoa. "What the hell is this thing?"
"You rude little girl!" the animal said after it let go of Kokoa's foot.
"What the hell?" both sisters shout out in surprise.
"Thank havens my mouth is pointing up this time," the animal says aloud. "Now would you two girls kindly pick me up and put me back together?"
Taking a closer look, both sisters see that it is not animal but is in fact Ling-Ling, her head anyway. Moka picked up and held Ling-Ling's head in her free left arm while she continued to lean onto Kokoa with her right arm around her little sister's shoulder. As they searched for Ling-Ling's other pieces, she explained how one of the Bigfoots came up from behind them and before she could do anything had sent her flying into a tree with enough force that she just fell apart on impact and was scattered around the area.
"I thought you could hold yourself together better then that," Kokoa commented.
"Normally I can, yes. But unfortunately, intense cold tends to make my joints a lot stiffer and more breakable the usual. Because-"
"Don't you dare say it you corpse bride wannabe!" Kokoa angrily yells at her.
"Because I'm already dead!" she shouts. "Now shut up and find the rest of my body!"
"I would smash you to pieces if someone hadn't beaten me to it," Kokoa fumes.
A half hour later, Ling-Ling's finally pieced back together and the three of them rejoin Tsukune, Mizore, and Kouta with the three treads and take off.
3
200 Yards from the Village
Guided by one of Ruby's crows that was acting as a guide, they shortly rejoin Kurumu and Ruby who were waiting for them on the hill that they found their new friends on. When they got close to them, it appeared that their prisoners were gathered around 10 yards from where the two girls where and surrounded by a murder of Ruby's crows. As they pull up about 10 yards from both of them and turn the engines off, Ruby walks up to them.
"Tsukune, Kurumu needs a recharge from you," Ruby tells him as Tsukune walks up to and kisses Ruby. [*1]
After a few seconds, they come up for air.
"Thanks for ending it in time. You have no idea how important your timing was," Tsukune told her
He then walks over to Kurumu, leaving a slightly stunned and surprised Ruby behind as Kokoa tries to snap her out of it.
"Hey nature girl, wake up already!" Kokoa yells in her face.
"H-huh, what, what is it?" Ruby asks after she came back to her senses.
"Onee-sama needs you to heal her leg. Now hurry up and do it."
"Okay, sorry," she answers.
Kneeling down in front of Kurumu who was sitting on a fallen log around 10 yards away, she was looking down at the ground and visibly fatigued and hurt, Tsukune could obviously tell that she was spent and in pain, it almost seemed like she could not even tell that he was there. Ruby had draped her own coat around her since the blast had badly burned the back of Kurumu's clothes along with parts of her legs and back.
You always were all too willing to push yourself to the extreme for the sake of those you loved, he thinks.
He put his hand on her cheek and it visibly startled her. When she realized that it was Tsukune who was touching her, she smiled, weakly spoke his name, and collapsed into his arms. Tsukune gently held her against his body.
"I love you, Kurumu," he whispers into her ear.
The still semi-conscious and injured Kurumu smiled to herself in acknowledgment of what he just told her and began to cry. After he sat down in the snow next to her while gently keeping her steady, Kokoa came up from behind them and wrapped a blanket around the two of them. She then left them alone without saying a word. On her way to rejoin the others, she sees Ruby healing Moka's leg with Kouta sitting on the tread beside Moka watching them and Ling-Ling, who was now standing by herself still stretching out her joints after having just been pieced back together. Looking around, Kokoa sees Mizore walking towards their prisoners that were still sitting in a group and decides to follow her.
Kokoa took a good look at them as she got closer. They had altogether six men as their prisoners. Four were in winter fatigues with military vests, gear, and webbing. They were most likely foot solders used to guard the other two. The remaining two, while also dressed in white, were wearing nicer coats with no additional equipment on them. They must have been their bosses. All of the guards were above average height and build with two having brown hair and two blonde while the bosses were both average size and had blonde hair.
Upon reaching them, Mizore asked the six of them whose idea it was to attack her son. When nobody answered her, the snow around them suddenly rose up to envelop all of them in their own personal mounds. Try as they might, all of the prisoners quickly realize that the snow was too tightly packed for them to so much as move a finger. It was like being buried alive in an avalanche with only your head sticking out just above the snow just so that you could look the Grim Reaper in the eye as he was about to reap your life from this world. In this case though, the Grim Reaper was a she, and she… was… pissed.
"I will not ask again!" Mizore bellowed.
"I-I-it's 'The Merciless Ice Demon!" one of the guards screamed in terror.
"H-he did it! It was him!" another guard cried out as he motioned with his head towards one of the bosses.
"No it was him!" that boss shrieked in fear and motioned towards the other one.
"He's lying!" the other boss screamed. "He is the one! Kill him!"
"It was both of them!" one of the other guards yelled. "We're just the bodyguards! We didn't do anything to your boy! Please let us go, please!"
"Forget it!" Mizore yelled and grew out her Ice Claws. "I will just crush all of you to death right now!"
"Mizore," Kokoa calmly said from behind to her and then put left her hand on Mizore's right shoulder. "I know you're still hurting right now and I can understand a little bit of how you feel. But this is not going to make things any better for you or Kouta."
Enraged by what Kokoa had just said, Mizore spun around and roared at her.
"How could you possibly know how I feel right now? How could you possibly understand it? When was Takeshi ever in danger of being killed? Tell me!"
"I know," Kokoa said in a low, sad tone and then looked down while she ran her right hand across her stomach. "Or have you forgotten what happened in Iran?"
Realizing was Kokoa was referring to, Mizore walks away without another word.
"Thank you, oh thank you!" one of the bosses shouts.
Humph! Like I did that for you scum! Kokoa thinks. I just didn't want her to splatter your guts all over the place in front of her son. And while I'm here, I might as well ask you guys some questions.
Kokoa walked up to him, grabbed his throat, looked him in the eye with her own blood red eyes, and with a tone that was even more menacing then the look on her face, she told him something that made him go whiter than white.
"Tell me what I want to know or I'll rip your throat out!"
4
After asking him and the others a few questions, she walks back and rejoins her sister and the others with her.
"How is Kurumu doing?" Kokoa inquires.
"Better," Ruby responded while she continued to heal Moka's injuries. "She's getting her recharge from Tsukune, but it will take awhile longer until she's 100% again. She really pushed herself this time. She was injured several times by both the Bigfoots and the guards here. They even shot a Strela at her." [*2]
"Are you serious?" Kokoa asks, stunned.
"Unfortunately, yes," Ruby answered and then continued. "Thank haven it wasn't a direct hit, but she was caught in the blast. She hit the ground hard when they shot her out of the sky. What's more is that even though she was badly battered, bruised, and burned, as soon as they got close to her, she still managed to charm all of them into submission, then we had them stop the attack and interrogated them. I did what I could for her, but I am not the great healer that Yukari is. Thankfully though, Tsukune is here."
Looking over at Tsukune and Kurumu still holding each other, Ruby smiled.
"So her life is not in any danger right now."
"What about Onee-sama?"
"She'll be fine. Thankfully it was a clean break in the bone with no additional damage to the surrounding tissue and not anything more serious," Ruby explained. "Unfortunately, it will still take a little time for her to be able to use it properly in a fight."
"What the hell are you talking about Ruby?" Moka sternly demanded. "I could fight right now if I wanted to."
"Oh really…?" Ruby asked her and then applied pressure onto Moka's leg wound. "Then how does this feel?"
"Ahhh! Ruby you bitch of a witch! I get it! I get it! I'll take it easy," Moka replies with a visibly pained face and voice.
"Couldn't Onee-sama just suck some of Tsukune's blood so that she can heal herself quicker?" Kokoa asks Ruby.
"As long as it's not too much, then yes she can. Right now though, we still need him in fighting shape in case we are attacked again. Moka is hurt and unable to fight; Mizore is exhausted and unable to fight; Kurumu is hurt and exhausted and unable to fight; so that leaves just you, me, Tsukune, and Ling-Ling able to fight right now. When you factor in the fact that we've all used up a lot of energy as well, then we are well below half strength right now."
"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?" Kokoa asked. "Just stand here and wait for more of them to come to us?"
"We'll blitz them." [*3]
Turning around, everyone sees Tsukune walking up to them holding Kurumu up by her right arm around his shoulder.
"Like I just said," Kurumu repeated. "We'll blitz them. Ling-Ling will stay behind, watch Kouta and our wounded while everyone else goes to their base and destroys it before they even realize that their plan failed. As long as we hit them now, before they find out about what happened here, we will achieve maximum surprise and catch them with their pants down."
"What are you doing on your feet?" Ruby demanded to know.
"Are you nuts?" Kokoa asked. "We're in no shape to do that now."
"If we start heading there now, then we can get there by dark and the surprise will be even greater," Kurumu explained.
"Are you sure that you're thinking straight, Kurumu?" Tsukune asked out of concern. "What if these guys sent out a SOS to their base?"
"What do you suggest then, Tsukune?" Kurumu asked him. "Just sit here and wait for them to come back?"
"I suggest that we pool everything we've learned from our prisoners before we do anything; agreed?" Tsukune asked everyone.
Everyone agreed to Tsukune's suggestion and sat down in a circle together. Ruby began the meeting while Ling-Ling kept watch with Kouta nearby. Ruby explained that from what the prisoners had said before everyone else had arrived that they were all part of a roaming group of arms dealers that sold weapons and whatever else they can steal on the black market. The guy in charge is an ex-Russian Army officer and many of his men are former Russian Army and his personal guard comprised of former Spetsnaz. He had five of those and at least 20 regular troops plus 4 officers and other support personal, assuming that they were telling the truth. They were based in an abandoned secret Soviet bomb shelter that was built during the Cold War that was intended for use by high ranking party officials in the event of a nuclear war with America. They thought that it would be a perfect place to build a hidden bunker since it was essentially in the middle of nowhere with no real targets of value nearby. [*4]
The two bosses that were captured were actually two of the four low ranking officers that they had. It seems that they had been expecting them to show up sooner or later and had informants in all of the surrounding villages to warn them when we finally did show up. After they were alerted to their presence, they were sent to the village with the Bigfoots to kill everyone.
"But what was with those things?" Moka inquires. "It was like they were Zombies."
"I resent that remark," Ling-Ling piped up from her watch position a short distance away.
"No offense intended Ling-Ling," Moka replied, irritated.
"Well," Ruby continued. "It seems that they somehow managed to capture them, plant some sort of mind-control chips in their brains, and were controlling them with a high-tech tactical holographic display. They were intended to be a new one-of-a-kind type of bio-weapons."
"What about their behavior?" Moka inquired. "They paused during the battle for no reason."
"There actually was a reason," Ruby answered. "They did that and ignored Kurumu after she got knocked to the ground because they wanted to kill all of us. They wanted Kurumu alive and in danger to be additional bait along with the village to make sure that everybody showed up to save both the village and her. They only paused for a minute to give us a false sense of hope and to think. They thought that if we had a minute to realize how bad it was for us that we would call everyone else over to help us. They knew that they didn't have all of us on the battlefield and wanted all of us dead. After they saw the two of us go back to the treads, they sent a Bigfoot over there to kill or at least to flush out anyone else that was not already on the battlefield. As horrible as it was to attack little Kouta, it really still was quite an impressive strategy."
"Who cares about how impressive it is?" Kokoa snapped. "How the hell could low-level human thugs like these even get their hands on technology that advanced? How come they know all about us to the extent that they do including all of our titles? Why were they expecting us to come here in the first place?"
Understanding the full scope of the questions that Kokoa had just asked, everyone went silent and thought to themselves for what seemed like an eternity. Then, another voice broke the uneasy silence.
"S-somebody must have t-told them."
Everyone looked over to see Kouta standing there near them.
"I-if they knew all about everyone and everything else, t-then someone had to tell them all that in the f-first place."
"You know, I think he's right," Ruby said.
"That does seem like the only explanation there could be," Tsukune agreed.
"I concur," Moka stated. "However, the question is who."
"It could be any one of the many enemies we've beaten over the years," Mizore chimed in.
"Anybody feel like guessing who?" Kokoa asked. "Cause I sure as hell don't feel like it."
"W-wait a minute," Kurumu thought aloud. "Y-you don't think it could be… them… d-do you?"
Everyone went quiet as they thought about what Kurumu just said. A minute later, Tsukune breaks the silence.
"I hope not," Tsukune replied. "Either way, it would be pointless for us to try to guess who with a list that long. Did they mention any names that sounded familiar, Ruby?"
Ruby shakes her head.
"They did mention however, that there has been a foreign man advising their commander all along. Everyone just refers to him as 'The Foreigner.' Unfortunately for us though, whoever it is that is feeding them their information is too important for these guys to know any details about."
"Then he is the one that we need to have a little chat with," Moka declared with a clenched fist.
"First thing is first everyone," Ruby stated. "First up is going back to the village and freeing all of the Bigfoots. The mind control chips are sensitive to electric shock, so I will take care of that, heal what injuries I can, and I need everyone able to do so to help me with that. My crows are already searching for their base and are watching the entire area. So nobody will be sneaking up on us while we are working."
"Everybody ready to go?" asks Kokoa as she stands up. "Then let's hurry up and get this done before they make their next move."
5
The Arms Dealer's Bunker, 72 km's away
"Comrade Major! Comrade Major!" shouted the man from the Comm department. [*5]
The young man with blonde hair and was wearing faded dark green Russian Army fatigues chased after the Major man who was walking down the hallway in the other direction. The Major stopped and turned around. As soon as the young man caught up to him, he saluted him.
"I have a message from Comrade Koniev, sir." [*6]
Major Aleksandr Zhukov was the ranking officer that commanded the group of arms dealers. He was a former officer of the Russian Army, 42 years old, a little over six feet tall, lean, thinning dark brown hair, wearing a green Russian Army officer's uniform and was an old school Russian Hardliner that had no patience for anything that he didn't like. [*7]
"What is it?" Major Zhukov asked, irritated.
"The team that was sent out to destroy those people at that village has missed their last 5 10 minute check-ins and have not answered any of our calls and the transport trucks that were standing-by near them are requesting orders as to what they should do now. What do you want us to do, sir?"
"Do…?" Major Zhukov answers and then quickly raises his right hand and backfists the young soldier in his right cheek, sending him face first into the concrete wall before falling back and hitting the back of his head on the concrete floor, his face a bloody mess.
"What team? I never sent out any teams today! Who gave that order?"
"I did, major."
Turning around, the major sees a figure stepping out from around the corner, puffing on a cigar and recognizes him. He was about the same height and build as the major, but looked like he was around 30, short sandy blonde hair and a fancy long white winter coat. He was obviously a foreigner.
"Casanova!" the Major angrily shouts. "What the hell are you trying to do? I am the one in charge in here! I am the only one that says who does what! Not you! Now what the hell are you trying to do?"
"They have arrived," Casanova answers as the young soldier takes the chance to run for it before he gets hit again.
"Who's arrived? Who are you talking about?"
"The ones I told you about."
"You mean the scary rice-eating harlots from Hong Kong?"
"I mean the Dark King and his Ladies of Darkness. You would do well to not underestimate them."
"Ridiculous! How could they pose any kind of a danger to me? I have an army of Great Mountain Beasts at my command that can crush any bunch of weak little women and a little boy at any time I wish."
"Correction," the man called Casanova told him. "You had an army of Great Mountain Beasts. That team had every single one of your stinking monkeys with them. So if your team is down, then your foul smelling army is too."
"You bastard son of a bitch!" he screamed at him. "You lost my army?"
"Calm yourself, major. All is not lost; I have a plan," Casanova took his cigar out of his mouth and started blowing some smoke rings.
"Do not toy with me, Casanova! I am a direct descendant the great General Georgy Zhukov; the finest general of World War II and the man who finally crushed Hitler's Berlin and ended the war!
"…"
"…Well, what is it? Speak up!"
"I have my own troops on the way here as we speak. They will arrive in a matter of hours."
"Your troops?" he scoffed. "What do you mean your troops? I am in command here and as such all troops here belong to me. Understood?"
Putting the cigar back in his mouth, Casanova inhaled and then exhaled the smoke before he replies.
"Whatever you say, major."
"You would be wise to remember that, boy," Major Zhukov growls and then turns around and leaves without another word.
After he was out of earshot, Casanova started talking to himself.
"The fool… 'Boy' indeed," he said under his breath.
Casanova relights his cigar and puffs on it.
"I will have Aono Tsukune's head on a platter before all of this is over and have my revenge on him and his bitches too. I just have to put up with this idiot for a little longer. Even he can make a good cigar taste bad."
Taking his cigar out to blow some more smoke rings, he continues.
"This is why I hate humans."
To be continued…
Note #1: Recharge – "A Succubus is a creature that lives on love." Since Tsukune is Kurumu's Destined One and therefore the source of her love, she can recover much faster from injuries and fatigue when he is close by and showing her love. Kind of like recharging a battery; which is why they call it that.
Note #2: Strela – A Russian shoulder-fired Surface-to-Air Missile similar to the American Stinger Missile System. It is designed to seek out the IR signatures of low flying aircraft and destroy them (basically a heat seeking missile). Unfortunately for the girls, they were only two sources of heat period for it to lock onto in that frozen forest.
Note #3: Blitz, short for Blitzkrieg – A German word meaning "Lightning War" that was originally coined at the start of World War II. It basically means to strike and roll over the enemy so fast that they have no time to react or put up a proper defense.
Note #4: Spetsnaz – Russian Army Special Forces like the American Army's Green Berets or United Kingdom's SAS (Special Air Services).
Note #5: Comm or Communication – It basically refers to the radio room.
Note #6: Comrade – A common term used for fellow servicemen in the militaries of current and some former Communist countries.
Note #7: Russian Hardliner – A true believer in the old Soviet Union and strongly Anti-Western everything.
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