Warning: Chapter contains Gore and Violence. An in-story indication will be present in the story where the content gets brutal. Read at your own risk.
Chapter 10
Treasure Hunt
Eternal silence seemed to resonate as the party feasting took notice of the uneasiness Johannes Rutabaski had. Perhaps what Taritsu had asked was too soon, or that the individual of that name was someone deplored. Catalina, however, did her best to remind her husband that it would have been brought up regardless. Swallowing his bitter feelings, he began to tell of the family legacy.
"This will take a while, so if you don't want to learn about it through an entire night, forget having asked."
"I'm good, nonno. Will all the details be necessary though?" He asked because oral accounts of history tend to corrupt the original information.
A curt nod asserted that he would cut out the non-essentials and give the simplest of explanations. "Have you ever wondered, why the name Rutabaski, seems out of place with Kairne's traditional family name?"
"Well, as far as padre told me, it means friendly wolf." Apparently that was the best acceptance of their surname's meaning, but there was more to it obviously.
"Although that is technically correct, it is a simplification of the origin. Originally, Rutabaski was the name the Pyrastrenes called the warrior Firanze, who later became the first emperor who ruled over all tribes of the continent. It would translate into many meanings later on, such ones including "Of the wolves" and "Route of the Basques". The latter meaning seemed quite logical, since he had a transcontinental journey, forming many alliances with the indigenous tribes. However, the name comes from rută and băsk; both alone mean separate words that make little sense, since the first literally translates to "route" and the last "forester". However, if what my memory serves me, the two together reads entirely as "path of radiance". Remember how you wanted to find out Hagio-sendo? Well... Firanze was technically the first of the land-dwellers to have control over Haggio-sendo, and due to that, he was able to incarcerate the Euric Devils."
"What are those?" He heard the term before when his grandmother was still regaining consciousness, but he never thought much of it since it seemed like religious banters, until now.
"The Euric Devils... they are demons of the night. They preferably stay away from the sun, their greatest weakness, and really haven't preyed on weaker species unless they feel starvation. Usually, that means having a meal once a month, as their entire body assimilates organic matter entirely. It also meant that they would naturally follow nature's law of trophic conservation: since they were the apex species, they would naturally have a small population, given their highly expanded lifespan. That changed drastically when Motas, a highly intelligent paragon of their kind, saw as they disregarded their imperfection and yearned to overcome the effects of the sun. So he raged genocide against them when he learned of their plot to remove him. Afterwards, he devised technology that would temporarily grant them safety when exposed to the sun's rays, but it wasn't enough for Motas."
"What he wanted was the stone of Zahrah." Catalina picked up the story from there, showing them the gem around her neck. "Motas wouldn't find a pure crystal stone with the properties of this little gem until a few millennia, when Firanze was around. At that time, he was emperor, and the current guardian of the stone, in place of his outclassed wife, Zahrah."
"They didn't know how Hagio-sendo worked, nor did they know how the stone would augment the energy, so the best Firanze could do was force them to hibernate in pillars. Sensing that the task wouldn't be finished in his lifetime, Firanze had passed down his special blade "Terava" until it would come across a descendant born with his fighting spirit- a Rutabaski boy named Xetsu. His adventures were not the ones that picked up where his ancestor left off, but of another. Being the child of the sky and land, he was destined to unite the two and rid the world of the corruption known as "Demise", along with forging the blade into its completed form. Since then, Kairne regarded Xetsu as their holy savior, and made him leader as he had The Great Mother's blessing as her champion- thus augmenting Hagio-sendo in his lineage and instructing a certain ritual would pass between the former leader and the successor."
"Centuries passed since, and with the ritual, Firanze's fighting spirit lived on, allowing a rare few who were born with the necessary potential the right to wield that legendary blade. Within a few centuries, all was right with the world, until a civil war spanning across the globe destroyed all known technology and they had to recover 600 years of progress. Eventually, the blade came to use once more, during The Great War, by your great-great-grandfather Tarique. Not much was known of why he needed the blade, other than an evil from Xetsu's time, travelled to our world in search of his powerful spirit. Ultimately, the war ended with global floods and Tarique was last seen with Princessa Sefarina de Castilla, detaining that evil whilst the others rushed to safety from the floods. The blade had been lost since."
Taritsu and the others were enthralled, and found disappointment when the climax of the tale was averted with the blade gone. 'Something else had developed, there's got to be.'
"So when did the Euric devils come back to relevancy?" Vejita casually asked. It seemed pointless to him that there was emphasis on an ancestral that was lost.
"I was getting to that."
"Oh honey, may I tell them this part?" Catalina asked out of kindness, knowing how it referred to their quest. A mutual nod indicated that she may proceed.
"Well... in the late 1960s, Jojo and I were separated for some time; he was taking alternative schooling, whereas I, being from a female lineage of Hadou warriors that guarded the stone, practiced the art until mastery. Eventually, six years had gone by and Jojo returned to Kairne after learning from a general of Grunde Schützen that "pillar men" had been discovered throughout several locations of the planet. They tasked him with learning a method to defeat these ancient evils and eventually found himself learning from my mother. However, the Euric devils awakened from their hibernation earlier than anticipated due to the presence of Firanze's spirit and Zahrah's stone reacting. Had it not been for Jojo's guile and gambits, they would have had the stone and transcend into Ultimate Life Forms. Fortunately, Jojo managed to strike a bet; within two months, he was to master Hadou, and what I mastered in six years, he managed in six weeks."
"Yeah, but why wouldn't I be motivated. They practically placed wedding rings of death inside my body. The only one I would accept is yours, Lina."
They playfully pushed the other's shoulders; Catalina never did like the black humor of that joke, even if it was a real threat to his life. If only he wasn't such a lazy bum, then maybe he could properly understand responsibility. Yet, she did recall calling him out for being so morbid when they were younger, so he was just being on the other side of the spectrum. She gave him a frustrated look that stated that he'd pay for that intentional nuisance later, calming the 55 year old from popping any more of the dark humor.
"...getting back to the story. Jojo and a small group of Hadou warriors- including myself- battled the "pillar men" and had eradicated all but one- Motas. He was a cunning one, with his motivations still unknown, though personality wise he had this deep hatred for our species. It took a great deal of...sacrifices, but eventually, Jojo was able to utilize his Hadou with the stone, thanks to some help with our friend and Taro-san- what I called your maternal grandfather by. Eventually, Jojo atomized the monster after realizing his life-long goal. We suffered a lot since then, with friends having passed, but Jojo and I were able to conceive a child. Eventually, that child conceived you, and that's where the current history abruptly ends."
A while passed before Taritsu spoke again. He was busy thinking whether this was even plausible, but seeing as the last 10 months he was learning energy manipulation, he was quite interested what else his family had to give. Perhaps they may have left clues or something; the past sure did leave lots of mysteries, especially such a mystery that revolved around Xetsu. If the family's main problems started from as early as Firanze, then why was Xetsu regarded as the greatest?
Johannes merely chuckled and told him that tomorrow they'd go in search of what Xetsu left behind. For one thousand years, the man would have to anticipated a whole variety of possible fires, earthquakes, and storms. When Taritsu awoke, he met someone next to him in bed. Since it was late by the time the kids finished their meals, and since their parents had AN meetings early the next morning, the other two spent the night. Taritsu himself remembered having difficulty sleeping, so he went off for a quick run, which led to an unexpected encounter with a small criminal gang. Ensuring that no one could distinguished his identity, and that he wouldn't endanger the criminal with anything more than a few bruises that knocked them out, he tied them up and returned to his room.
It was now that he remembered that he had found Kakarotto is his room, wishing to discuss a few things, but they grew tired before they could confirm any social outings. Now he saw the sleeping form of Kakarotto, and his hair was undone. In fact, it was so undone, that he could have mistaken him for a female. Not wanting to wake the boy up, he quietly left his bed and went out to find his grandfather.
"Buon giorno, nonno! Are we looking for antenato Xetsu's heirlooms?" He asked with grand respect for the old padrone. Obviously, what Taritsu wished to find was the diary Xetsu intended for him, so he needed the guidance of an experienced Rutabaski who knew the place like the back of his hand. Nodding curtly, Johannes had his grandson follow as they traveled down the hall, stopping before a locked door. Releasing the padlocks, he swung it open to allow the musky air ventilate, having not been exposed to the outside world in practically a century. The only reason he knew that this existed was thanks to Valeria.
"It's all burned. Who vandalized the place?" He said, noting the broken statue in the middle of the room and the flight of stairs that used to exist. Johannes causally began his breathing exercises, building up the energy needed to move the 2 tonne statue with the little Hadou he could manipulate. Whether or not Johannes Greil was the powerful one of his family was subjective; he was the most versatile, with a collective 98 victory streak to none in his youth: one of them being a collaborate victory that subtly changed the world. Of course, Taritsu did compare the old man and his father, seeing as they were the male role models he was most familiar with at the moment, wondering if it were true that due to his father's enhanced condition that he could complete near impossible feats.
For one, he knew that his grandfather was incredibly powerful, even at old age, as he could keep up with his speeds when playfully sparring. If he wanted to, Johannes would go even faster, as he had with his son Sedrick to demonstrate a couple techniques once. Combat speed was something Johannes would top them both at, but raw strength was trickier to define among them. An example would be the time Sedrick had stopped his son from crashing into a red pine during a training accident by kicking it down at a speeds requiring the force of 21,221.5906 Newtons by the sheer force alone, ranking him just on par with his own father (if not higher). 'Maybe all my family on the paternal side are super soldiers...'
Finally done moving the object, a hidden cellar door became visible with a few scrapes to the tile floor.
"Decades ago, Valeria was victim to an assassination attempt via slow-acting poison. Her brother- Tarique- went off to find a cure, and returned with the treatments. Thankfully, Tarique managed to gain a street friend in his small quest, so they were able to figure out that an imposter posed as a close relative in order to get to Tarique. Eventually, the true relative appeared and they were able to arrest that fiend. Fate had other plans though, and that fiend's hatred led to him rejecting his humanity. In the scuffle that ensued after, my grandfather had to burn the old building down to take out that fiend. That was the start of his bizarre adventure." Johannes stated as he remembered all the details Valeria was able to tell. After all these years, that day still traumatized her since she had lost her father years ago, her mother the same day, and almost as well her brother who survived the bombing accident that took their father's life. Their family had a weird tendency to attract tragedy that made him question if they were cursed.
Moving along, the two made it through the catacomb tunnels, eventually making it to a semi-constructed miniature altar. On it laid a locked chest, and since the centuries must have rusted the lock, Johannes took his chances and forcibly opened it. Flipping upwards, the chest fell and a well preserved diary slid across the floor, along with a small map and letter. Looking at the contents of the map, Taritsu concluded that it may have had the locations of the tools his ancestor spoke of. "Oi, Mauricio. What do you have there?"
Handing his grandfather the map and letter, he happily opened the book and began to read a passage in silence. A few moments later, Johannes made a startling noise. "Why, this here is a map to a treasure hunt. It spans the entire continent!"
Xetsu was a wise ancestor indeed, ensuring that whoever managed to get his maps could not take the tools he scattered around the land with ease. It would discourage any children from leading such a quest, but Johannes knew his grandson was different. In his now cold, calculative eyes, he could see the passion which one had stepping up to a challenge. If he could, he would have bet all his earnings that the kid would utilize his running speed to run across the continent. However, that would be a minor inconvenience; the nearest heirloom was 400 kilometers from here and a kid on his own would run the risk of encountering trouble. "Dire, you should invite your friends to join you in this hunt. I'll get Vasilis to chaperon you three. Inform them and once Vasilis arrives, you may head out, understand."
He nodded, just a few seconds before his stomach rumbled. Neither of them noticed that they spent more than an hour down here, so by the time they got back it was nearing noon. Greeting his grandmother and his siblings while they ate, he left with the contents they unearthed and sped onwards with a spring in his steps as he went off to inform the two males. Vejita's room was already organized, so he probably went off to practice his routines. 'Maybe Kakarotto's still sleeping. He is a heavy sleeper from what I can tell.'
No one greeted him when he opened the door, so he concluded that maybe Kakarotto probably went off to his room and gather his belongings. Without a second thought, he entered the room as he began to inform his friend what the plan was. In front of him was a female, drying her hair and wearing Kakarotto's clothing, suspiciously bearing resemblance to his friend. Neither of them spoke a word to the other, but fear instantly took over the girl as she backed up, falling on the bed as she dropped the towel on the floor. 'It couldn't be; Kakarotto is a guy. It's got to be an actress or something; maybe nonna is behind this. Or maybe...this is just a guest Kakarotto took pity on and let her borrow his clothes. Yeah, that seems logical.'
Except it wasn't. If a girl were in need of clothing, the servants would had given the individual proper attire. They would have also informed his grandfather that such a person was within the building, and his grandmother would have referred to it earlier. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to wish it was all just a bad dream. "No. No, no, no. This isn't possible. My best friend is a male, I'm sure of it."
"Exactly." Said another from beside him. It was none other than Kakarotto, who somehow snuck inside silently and had this salamander orange getup. He seemed ready for sparring, obviously sporting a wide grin that unmistakably indicated he was the real deal. Suddenly he dropped the casual grin and proceeded to explain the situation. First, he had to know if his friend was ready to assess the truth. "Can you keep a secret, Taritsu?"
He nodded abruptly, never saying much more than a simple yes. Satisfied, Kakarotto assessed for the best answer he could provide. "The truth is...I've kinda...died a long time ago." He sheepishly stated, prompting the shocked Taritsu to gain his bearings. Instantly, a scowl formed as he felt betrayed by the two. Charlotte saw the sudden mood change and curled up in fear of being attacked, but Kakarotto knew that such possibility was low.
"Since when. Since when have you been impersonating him?" His voice was sharp as blades now, calling for Kakarotto to explain thoroughly what happened.
Charlotte, however, spoke up sooner than Kakarotto could. "To be honest." She looked him straight in the eyes, not worried on what he could do since: a) he was the friend of her brother, and he would never try anything irrationally harmful; b) Taritsu greatly valued honesty over intellectuals if they did not stand on his level of thinking, or in this case, he would value her honesty because the reasoning was from someone he respected—like her father. "I've always wanted you to know. Ever since I could remember, Père had told me that I should never reveal my gender to anyone. Your mother and father knows; especially your grandfathers, but for the most part, he swore that it was best for me to crossdress. He didn't think you would mind being in the dark about this, and both our parents were frightened on how you'd react when you discovered Kakarotto died."
"But I do control my sister at times when I can. So our relationship...we're still friends, thanks to my sister allowing me to interact with everyone else."
"I see." Taritsu eyed the girl. His eyes went towards the door, wondering how in the world she had forgotten to lock it so that it wouldn't end up in a worse situation. 'Wait. She said she wanted me to know. And Kakarotto said that he could interact fairly enough when he wanted.' He wanted to confirm what that meant actually, and for what reasons. "So what you meant by the phrase, did you mean you wanted me to understand that this is your body?" At hearing the words come out of his mouth, Taritsu immediately regretted his phrasing, as Charlotte figuratively burned up from embarrassment.
There had to be an icebreaker that could reset the mood. "Just tell me then. How is Kakarotto still with us, when you claimed he died. He shouldn't be able to do anything either of you claim. It's not scientifically possible to explain."
"Well, when mother gave birth to her third child, my health was pretty devastated by a genetic illness. Father couldn't do much for me, and his grief was obvious when he watched me in pain. I tried to be strong, but one day I had fallen asleep and didn't wake up until a day passed. Eventually I awoke again, and found my spirit bounded to my little sister." He said with gratitude for his sister. They appreciated each other and Kakarotto didn't wish any harm towards his dear sibling. "Her name is Charlotte."
"Char...lotte? Sharurotto?!" His mind had a subconscious awakening, which Kakarotto noticed in awe. Having been inside his mind before, he was able to understand a certain security safeguard that would arise whenever a traumatic event would affect him- which would endanger everyone in the immediate area of the hidden personality that lurked within. This, he found out was not created or a branch of the boy's original personality, but rather a preexisting one that happened to cohabit with him since birth. That personality that had been sealed along with his maximum power, he dubbed Taritzu, and it was more aware of the every day happenings than Taritsu himself knew. It was as if the safeguard personality was the aspect that grew weary as the main personality had its innocence stripped. However, Taritzu had advised him to not possess him again, else risk getting swallowed into the abyss in his mind.
As such, when the two switched, Taritsu would blackout for the moment and never realize what occurred. Now it seemed he was able to recall memories from those blackout periods, although most remained restricted.
Charlotte slowly eyed him, frightened that he intended harming her. Her eyes widened once she saw him getting on the bed and kneeled in front of her. Taritsu seemed as if he were reminiscing a memory, gently coaxing the girl as a parent would do for an infant. Without a second thought she closed her eyes, letting his touch slowly relax her, only to feel a smooth sensation as his tail wrapping around her tails subconsciously. The boy's eyes merely widened at that realization, yet he continued to whisper calmly, cherishing the moment.
"...you sure do surprise me ever so often. First I believe you're my old friend, but it turns out you're his little sister. Now I see that you not only have two tails, but they're fluffy and formed like the bristles of a foxtail plant." She could hardly believe what she heard, but seeing his eyes, he seemed enthralled. There was also a hint of nostalgia as he looked into hers; could it possibly be that the same relaxing technique was done to him? "Makes me wonder though: Why two tails?"
Neither she nor her father knew why, but after years of hiding the second tail to pass as a boy, Charlotte never questioned the reason as to why since she thought it was god's way of providing a means to aid her cross-dressing. Now she found a strange pleasure having Taritsu caress them, but she still had an overwhelming fear that instinctively called for her brother to take over briefly and kick him off. Seeing him clutching his gut, she gasped. "I didn't meant for that to happen!"
"N-No, it's okay. I guess I was too forward. Touching another's tail is a personal issue; you probably don't trust anyone to touch you like that." He made a sign on his chest. "This is my promise to you that from now on, I shall make you understand that I am trustworthy." He gave her a friendly smile, reminiscing of her brothers but still serious as he fully intended to make a genuine relationship exist from this strange encounter. 'He's accepted me despite tricking him. I feel...happy.'
"Oi, Sharurotto. I almost forgot. I came to tell you we're going on a treasure hunt."
She softly giggled as she considered teasing him in the main Boruvian language, but ended up mumbling it from the expectant looks he was giving her. "...Taritsu no ecchi..... Of course. I'll go."
In Jakarta's forest, the two sisters hid well from their caretaker. It was a game they enjoyed very much, and not many could enter the forest since public access was sealed off. That being said, the two sisters, Karalynne and Camila, decided they should head back. However, Camila heard someone in the distance. "Should we run back, or..."
"No. We aren't supposed to. Wildlife still runs amok, so that'd just alert predators."
The ones in the distance were none other than Taritsu and the others. Their hunt for the heirlooms resulted in finding gold plated old boots, a whip with shining blue crystals, some kind of leaf-blower device, and a strange cannon device. None of them could see the value in these tools, but Taritsu had faith that the final tool would be worth the hassle.
"Hey, Vejita. Let's split up and search. We'll cover more that way."
He agreed, but only if he reconsidered how they would divide. "I say Kakarotto sticks with you. He's able to see an obtuse angle of view, so the danger you might encounter will allow you to respond. Oh, and I call dibs on whatever you find."
"That hardly seems fair. First to find it gets to do what they want with it."
Separating in groups, Vasilis stayed in place since he needed to be sure what direction the kids would take. Besides, there was something suspicious in these woods; the security feed he tapped into indicated someone had entered illegally, so he had to assess whether or not they also compromised the lives of anyone in the forest. After all, wolves lived on the reserve at the edge of the isolated area.
Travelling several yards into the forest, Taritsu made sure to walk in a reasonable pace that allowed Charlotte to stick nearby. However, the more he walked closer to her, the more she seemed to fidget as she had in recent times. 'I've noticed her doing that when we had been training. Is there something wrong, or is this just a female's way of indicating' Taritsu caught himself staring at the girl for too long that he apologized, knowing that Charlotte may have been crept out. This made her fluster.
Mustering her silent conviction, Charlotte tried to say something, but she could only ramble off as she continued her sentence. The most Taritsu could hear was something along the lines of, "Is there any value to that..." but even with his incredible hearing, he could barely make out what she wanted to say. He stopped walking to let her know he wanted to converse in the natural way they had been doing, but it was weird since Charlotte was used to standing in an angle and looking around like males would, not the typical eye contact necessary for the females.
Blushing, she asked again in a formal manner. "The pendant you have, is there any value to it?"
Momentarily, Taritsu rubbed the tip of his nose and gave her a side smirk. "Course there is; why wouldn't there be?"
It wasn't the answer she wanted, but at least there was something. Again, she asked in another manner, this time under the guise of why it mattered.
"Well, it's kinda part of a promise I made."
"Promise?"
"Yeah, I made a promise when I was little. As a kid, I made this friend while learning how to use a sword, we had so much fun during the summer, but I didn't want to forget my friend and neither did she."
It made her heart pause when she heard it. Charlotte had no idea why she should have felt like that; having seen the Taritsu's pendant before, and Stephanie's similar one didn't have much of an impact knowing that they existed. However, knowing that there was a possibility...seemed to tell her a new story. Apparently her mind spaced out when she heard Taritsu finish his last question, so not wanting to cause alarm, she responded to the best of her ability. "I saw a girl with the same kind of jewelry as yours. It was silver and had this massive amount of triangular shapes, almost like there was a sea of—"
"Souls?" Taritsu's response surprised her. "and the whole design; is it more like a moon, isn't it?" Finally she seemed to understand that he knew what she was talking about.
"Y-yes! ...how did you know?"
"Sharu, mine looks like a sun... well, the outer part of it anyway. I think there's something inside, but I'm not sure what."
Charlotte looked away from him, not wanting to speak. Her morbid silence brought the unaware boy to notice the change in mood immediately. Asking her what was wrong, she denied her problem. 'How can he help me if I can't even tell what this ache is?' "I'll race you to the treasure!" She faked gleefully.
Taritsu had barely realized that the girl took off ahead of him in speeds nearly rivaling his own, but that didn't stop him from catching up. Having done so, they fumbled in their footing and began rolling on the floor as the younger inexperienced runner had looked back at him. Doing his best to make sure she wasn't hurt, Taritsu banged his head—HARD. Rubbing it softly, Charlotte momentarily looked under the tree roots Taritsu had knocked his head into. Apparently the impact force was strong enough to move the roots. Underneath it, she caught a glimpse of the familiar design they found on all the other chests.
"Found it!" She pulled it out, tumbling backwards until she felt someone catch her. "Oh, thanks for saving me again, Tarit-su"
He was still rubbing his head, while Charlotte felt levels of fear that she had never done so in her life. "Oi, Sharu, I think that last bump made me disoriented." He looked up to see her and the other person. "Why are there two of you? Don't tell me, Kakarotto happened to come out again, didn't he."
"Get him!" Boomed the commanding voice of a 14 year old. Out came four boys, who each landed blows on his face, shoulders, practically everywhere that ensured him not moving away. While they did so, the fifth behind Charlotte grabbed her by the mouth and laid a knife by her cheek, running it along as he spoke wicked thoughts. Not until a sixth boy came out did he release that knife and punched her in the gut, making her drop to her knees and hot tears run.
"Serves you right, Kakarotto. That's what your actions done to me." He pulled her by the tuffs of hair on her forehead and brought her up to his level. Looking closely, he thought she was a pretty boy due to her complexion and cross dressing. Jeering, he threw her on the ground and ordered to the other four to continue busting Taritsu into a pulp.
"You know Kakarotto. If you were a female, I'd have my revenge in a more... extravagant way. And thanks to what that fool stated, I believe that opportunity will arise, so long as this gets done quick and far away from here. My little sister would never forgive me for harming a female, so... I guess the next best way for now would be to break that innocent perception of yours. Just look at them right now; the other's seem to have their share of fun." He remarked on how they ganged up on the loathed prince. Had it not been for his birth, his father wouldn't have been cast out 12 years ago. And if he wasn't exiled, he would have never planned to siege the AN council in a political prisoner gambit and tried to have the boy assassinated.
Due to this failure, Brolli and his sister wouldn't have had to live as orphans on the run. Every town they entered, someone learned of their family and tried to turn them in. Brolli was driven to the breaking point when his beloved sister, Paula, was associated in the same regards as that loathed prince because they were born the same night. She was different, she was innocent, and she couldn't harm anyone. His sister was delicate, but life on the streets were rough.
Charlotte took a few seconds to realize that she knew who this lunatic was. "Let him Go! Tell them to let him go, Brolli!" Her friend was badly hurt, likely suffering a concussion and his raspy breaths indicated lung damage. Blood began to spew as he choked out a couple words, but the beatings were too much for any response. This defiance from her only served to make the other boy pin her down and place the knife near her throat.
"SHUT UP YOU STUPID WHORE!" Brolli kicked her once again in the stomach, rewarding them with her coughed up blood. It was so much pain that Kakarotto had to intervene, but knowing he wasn't allowed to while she was still conscious, had to bare with it and watch as it all played out."I'VE HATED YOU EVER SINCE YOU YAPPED YOUR MOUTH AND RUINED MY FAMILY'S LIFE!"
"You always have things set for you on a silver platter," By then he had roughly pulled Charlotte up by wrapping her tail around her neck. Brolli didn't intend on killing his enemy outright; his wish was to draw out as much pain as he could, starting with the immediate defeat of Taritsu. Signaling for the dagger, the other boy tossed it over for the group and they handled it carefully, as their younger victim still struggled. "Let's see how your friend fares when it's just him against the grim reality." He said as he signaled for the dagger and began to press it against his abdomen. Taritsu immediately had his tail recoil from the painful shock, but could do little to stop them as they started cutting him open.
'Please, Dieu. Please save him.'
From the moment the boys had finished slashing his skin open, they proceeded to tear under his chest cavity, but not before Brolli told them to hide what they were doing.
"Fratello, what are you doing with this poor boy? YOU are CHOKING him!" Paula had a clear resemblance to her older brother, mainly since they boy shared their mother's looks, but she was the only one that inherited her kindness. It was the only thing that made up for her loss of innocence.
"Not now Paula. This is one of those punks that are trying to ruin our lives. He has to be eliminated!" Brolli's justification was on the right track, but Paula always found his methods... disgusting. "Ain't that right guys?"
A sync of affirmative answers rang throughout the area, and Brolli told them to continue as they must. It was then that she noticed what they were had been doing. She gasped. "Brolli. STOP THIS AT ONCE!"
Their clammy hands had ripped through the boy's diaphragm, literally taking his breath away. They continued to dig in, elbows deep, one even puling back as the sensation of his organs and the warm blood was scorching near feverish temperatures. "What the hell? That must have been a good 39 Celsius! You were right; he ain't one of us."
"Shut up man. It's bad enough to have our hands in this freak. Imprecare! There's something slippery and hot in my hand." Said the boy as he held a firm grip on the dying boy. A wicked grin appeared as he resigned to the control that they had over him. Taritsu didn't lie, he felt a cold chill in his body, but never such as the one he felt now. That clammy hand that enveloped his heart sent distress through his mind, accelerating his thoughts. Without the ability to breath, he could not protest as they did what they wanted. Strangely though, it wasn't anger or fear that were the last thoughts in him. 'Maybe I do deserve to die. Father, Mother, Nonno Greil, Nonna Catalina, Ojiisama Daisuke, Aunt Valeria, and my siblings. I'm sorry that I caused you all to experience these worries.' He didn't know this, but tears of remorse were rolling off him.
He felt great sorrow for these boys; he ruined their lives by existing, and yet, forgave them for acting upon their emotions like this. A smile found its way onto his struggling lips, but it disappeared as he saw Charlotte's fear. 'No, I can't give up just yet. Brolli will harm her far worse before killing her too!'
A snap was heard as they finally ripped out the engine of life. Blood still pumping in their hands, the floor spilled of blood, and the eyes of the once life robust prince started to cloud over. She stifled a cry in her throat, which brought Brolli to let go of an overwhelmed Charlotte and tend his sister who had seen death before. She couldn't accept that it happened. Because Charlotte tried to save him years ago from assassination, she got him killed now. 'He wasn't even able to fight back.' A desperate attempt to call out her name was heard, but much of it was bloody gurgling. Charlotte simply stood, unfazed as she tried to deny the fact that she saw them murder him. Seeing as he was so delicate and vulnerable in that state, a wretched twist in her heart choked her breathing and rational mind.
"Let go of me, Brolli. Oh how I wish you had learned to accept that we have little control of our past." She cried out in between sobs. "Why him? He's merely an innocent boy, no different from you or I. Don't you think he's suffered a similar way? And his family; have they not suffered?" She wiped the blood from Taritsu's face, trembling as she felt the connection in his life essence. Part of the reason she was grouped together with the boy was that she had a sixth sense, one of noticing the essence of another's life and seeing their life's flame. For reasons unknown, his was strong still, almost as if his heart was still working as it should.
"We'll be taking these as payment now." The gang stated as they ripped the bracers off his arms, disrespecting the corpse without shame. Paula immediately grew indignant seeing this but halted. The essence in Taritsu had flared from that act, and his aura felt warmer. You see, the usage of those golden ornaments weren't to enslave his power or restrain them; the very opposite was true: he needed to concentrate it at a set maximum and master it, lest they find themselves having an exponentially powerful being let loose against the world.
Immediately he burst forward, grabbing the heart the other boy had in his hand and placed it back inside. His hair gradually, transitioned from dark to cobalt, but didn't stop there. His nails- became angular, and his cuspids sharpened as his mind was switching to accommodate for survival. One thought only crossed his mind before he went hell bent on destroying them.
"KAKAROTTO!" The name of her brother made him knocked the senses back into the girl. Taritsu took the moment of surprise to truck through the group and tackle Brolli down, straddling the vengeful adolescent, letting the kid thrashed him with all his rage at the surprise retaliation just as Taritsu focused his energy. The crackling of electric blue was fear-inducing, enough to make one die from fright even, but it was not intended for him. As Charlotte figured in that moment, Taritsu's prominent features were transitioning to a more bestial look, but he fought against the transformation by inducing his system with Hadou energy. "GET OUT OF HERE NOW!"
Not a moment was lost when Charlotte bolted with the chest in hand and the other girl as well. She kept running until she tripped on the foot of a waiting gang member who had swiped one of the items from Vejita. The resulting momentum had enough energy to throw the chest across a sturdy tree trunk, cracking it open and releasing a bunch of fabric. 'All this for that! Why?'
Charlotte crawled forward to get the fabric regardless. It was as if her life depended on that object, and it didn't help with Paula knocked cold.
"Where do you think you're going?" One of the pair snidely remarked as he stepped on her back, restraining her inches from retrieving the heirloom. The other started up the item, which she now recognized as the cannon. Purple energy whirred as it pointed straight at her. "Good-bye Kakarotto,"
'Sis, use your tails. Him pinning you down may have hindered you to the floor, but you still have enough strength to utilize these twin tails.'
Having only done this instinctively when in glee, Charlotte did her best to spin her tails like a propeller as Kakarotto asked and slid her the few inches needed to quickly grab and throw fabric between her and the energy ball it would have released at her face. That blast never managed to blast through, alarming both parties as they saw the steaming, sizzling air that rose from the fabric. 'This- This must mean he was right. His ancestor did know they'd be useful.'
"Eh? No matter, I'll just blast you once more." He started the cannon once more, the whirring creating an energy ball much faster than at first and smirked as Charlotte did not move. "COME OOON. At least try to make this interesting by running away. Or are you frozen because death approaches?"
She didn't freeze because she was overwhelmed. She froze because she saw him. Now with bulked muscles that contrasted his leaned ones, and much longer hair that was reminiscent of a mane, Taritsu raced over on all fours. His colors were very deep yellowish green, wolfish eyes, and that friendly cobalt had been replaced by violent phthalo blue. Blood stained his hands, probably having murdered the six adolescents that had angered him, and he seethed at the sight of this one trying to kill his friend. Without a second to turn around and see what Charlotte's gaze was transfixed on, the boy found his windpipe crushed, finding himself from where he stood to having crashed into a tree trunk. The thick physique of Taritsu wasn't monstrous, or too large for agility as he had sliced through the air claws first into the other for that matter, making him run towards the weapon, only to trip and set it off and end tragically. His height was slightly higher with the muscle mass he grown, but Charlotte figured he was at least 8 inches taller, especially since he was the size of a large tiger.
Satisfied that his victim was out of commission, Taritsu's deathly gaze landed upon Charlotte, but alternated with his vulnerable victims. He could hear the dark thoughts of a primal awakened power within. 'Yes...take them out and break each and every bone.'
'I can't exactly let that happen. Ignore the call, kid. Keep fighting the transgression.' He mentally agreed with the second thought, further increasing his steady supply of Hadou to keep him at the current state of mind and body. Feeling the random twitches in his tail, Taritsu could have sworn something was up and it obviously had to do with it, but he didn't know whether he could defeat the sudden urge to sate his hunger. Intense fear swelled as his eyes darted and fixed upon Charlottes.
'No, please don't let him go after me too.' She scooted away, managing to take Paula's unconscious form and wrapped the fabric around them, finding it secure. The wild beast that was her friend trotted over, but seeing as she was scared out of her life, he slowed to a walk. Tears were welling up, and he could hear the silent prayer that she mumbled while she closed her eyes. It made him feel guilty, so he stopped, just inches before her.
'Thank you, Dieu. Thank you for protecting me.' It was then that she stopped thinking once she opened her eyes. She didn't dare to move, nor did she dare to breath as her friend mutilated his own tail in attempt to regain control- eventually having it removed.
A few tears strayed from her eyes, bringing his attention to them; still quite bestial in form, yet compassionate to her feelings, he waited a few moments without looking away from her frightened eyes. Taritsu knew that Charlotte had injuries, and doing his best to control his diminishing violent anger in that form, he leaned closer, inspecting the girl for any serious harm. She felt a sudden wetness on her wounds as he attended closely towards the area, face near the vital points as he sniffed and treated, repeating the order.
A pleasant surprise, but Charlotte was not yet convinced, until she saw as a tinge of white was seeping the tips of his spiky hair. His transfixed gaze was also amiable, and at peace, not finding the task in any way bothersome. From what she figured, he was calming down, fully engaged in attending his friend's little sister and protecting the two girls from harm. In a few moments, his muscle mass began to significantly decrease, and any of the wounds he had from the shredded abdomen were now healing- albeit slower than how he was in the hominid form. Whether or not the rate of his healing directly correlated with his drastically decreased speed was up to debate, but neither one cared enough to do so right now. The thought that this would all be over let her breath peacefully, but the moment was short lived.
Bullets came flying at them, and Taritsu tensed up in response to attack the perpetrators, only to stay his ground when he saw Charlotte's wavering tears. Understanding that she didn't want him taking more lives, he covered them from gunfire, enduring the damage as his body did its best to heal. Eventually, someone threw a flash grenade, blinding the young boy. He howled soon after, being shot by a tranquilizer dart and soon found darkness envelop his sight.
"...this advanced requires a tremendous amount of power and if the output demand is pushed..."
Yanagi and Sedrick had been attending the AN council meetings for a special theme. Since the start of the new millennium, Kairne had been asked to distribute servant droids and ship it across the world. Of course, this meant having to oversee that the buyers were legally obtaining the transactions, in that manner they could not violate the terms of engagement the Allied Nations had on artificial intelligence. Part of the contract was that Kairne could not involve units as strong as their top 10% warriors, which left the companies with machines that functioned with far less durable parts so as to be dealt with immediately and require maintenance if they so happened to accidentally get destroyed on the job. However, it seemed quite strange that this—Xavier Light—chose to represent the deals on behalf of his colleagues on a series of AI that were required for heavy construction and field work. It seemed rather suspicious as that would require breaching their nation's contract to meet specifications for that line of work.
"Well, he is the owner of Light Labs; seems natural to want this done officially." Yanagi told her husband who had been looking at his watch. "Even his prototype, Rock, has the entire building process available to the public. Of course, that's just the exoskeleton, but it's impressive for a household unit, Sedrick." Both were in uniform, which- thanks to their youthfulness—looked a lot like teenagers dressing up than responsible adults. Though Yanagi's maturity and formality made up for that fact, Sedrick's was rather—similar to his father's. From what she heard from her father, Sedrick had all of Johanne's looks, but with the colors of his mother—which rather complemented him well next to her as it seemed he was more like a college professor than the son of a King with those suspenders he liked.
"Yeah. Sounds nice." He was busy fiddling with the phone applications rather than putting his full attention on the presentation. From her perspective, she could see him getting a new high score on the snake game, having all his senses inherently set on the ever increasing speed and difficulty of the application. Yanagi just didn't know what to do with her husband at times like these; he didn't find heavy lectures of science interesting, being more concerned with the immediate sciences like mathematics and archaeology, than the heavy theoretical and devout fields that her son studied with relative ease. Sometimes she thought their roles were switched, but she reminded herself that's who he was and it was what attracted her to him.
"Sedrick, you're haven't been listening." She scolded her husband, who more or less deserved it for behaving as he did. At the moment she did, the others turned to see the commotion between the two and Sedrick received the very convenient message he had anticipated. In truth, he was feeling rather uneasy, so he set all his thoughts away and waited for it to fade on its own. The contents of the message only served to resurface that uneasiness.
Sender: Vasilis Pioneeri
Subject: He's not complying.
Come to the Jakarta embassy.
"I apologize for the inconvenience, but something's come up and we're needed at the scene. Can we schedule the rest of this for a later date?" Sedrick inquired in his calm and urgent tone. They shook their heads no, while some of the other members stated they understood.
"No, there's really no need to reschedule. What we have seen here will be the grounds for our dealings. Isn't that right, Leonid and Brien?"
The Pyrastrenean and Sagratian both voiced their support, allowing them to leave without second thought. However, what they had been asking under everyone's watchful eyes about these new lines of servant droids were disguised under an innocent question.
"Can the parts be replaced for maintenance with other series? Say construction droids with policing droids, if there ever arises needs to increase power or augment the calibration speed?"
"...Yes..."