Hello, sorry for such a long wait! Two-thirds of this chapter got moved down to another point, so I had to type up more for this chapter and wait for the editing results. This is a huge chapter, the start of the fifth quest, so I won't babble too much here and will just let you read XP.
Oh yes, anyone interested in trading for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl? I've got lotsa stuff, including shinies and legends. I can give you my friend code and game name if anyone's interested.
EDIT: The replace feature in Word and reposting some of these older chapters SHOULD have fixed this, but the character Leonidas has been renamed Valium. It better fits with his character and the Jing world's habit of naming things :P. So if the name Leonidas still pops up somewhere, just know that it's supposed to be Valium lol.
Disclaimer: I don't own Jing or Cassis or Stir or Kir. However, I do own the worlds present in these chapters and the chars that inhabit them. But the best I can hope for as far as owning the King of Bandits is owning a costume to impersonate him at an anime convention XP
And so it continues, finally...
51st Shot: Salutations from the Emerald Nightmare
"So why does Pharos want this Valium person so badly?"
The bored comment came from a certain black albatross, as he stared out at the orange desert outside the golden train's window. Next to Kir was Jing, also calmly observing the passing world outside, with Stir sitting beside him. On the other side of Jing was Cassis, obstinately glaring out the window. Razekar was lazily stretched out across his seat and looking up at the ceiling, his gangly legs dangling over the edge of the cushioned bench. Dalios contently rubbed the belly of the corgi mutt lying in his lap while paying the occasional glimpse outside. Falcon was fast asleep against his seat.
It had not been a good week for Jing. Stir hadn't exactly been ecstatic to hear that Cassis had snuck into his room in the middle of the night, and it didn't help that Cassis eyed Stir venomously if she got too close to Jing. In turn, Stir refused to speak to Cassis unless absolutely necessary, and even then she kept the words to a minimum. The dark-clad warrior did her talking with her cold eyes. It made Cassis all the angrier.
The blue-eyed blonde had been in a scathing mood ever since she had been captured by the guards in the hallway and become part of Pharos's human collection. Not that she and Jing hadn't put up a good fight; by the time they were too weak to fight anymore the corridor bore all sorts of fresh scars. They had even woken up some of the lighter-sleeping inhabitants in their rooms. Of course, as retribution for their impeded escape, both of them found themselves repairing those scars for most of the past week.
Then those secret passages that the black-haired bandit had planned to use as an escape route simply vanished altogether, as if they had been swallowed by the walls. As much prowling as he did, or could do under the circumstances, he just couldn't relocate them or find any new ones. Between this abrupt upset in plans and the cold war that simmered between the two girls, the Bandit King could neither do dancing or escaping.
"Why, because he's a rare individual, of course," Razekar answered the dark avian nonchalantly, keeping his gaze on the ceiling. "And because it seems our friend Valium has evaded him quite a few times now. Every time he sends people after the fella, the people disappear. There's no better way to work the Big Shot into a lather better than making his hard-earned people vanish without a trace."
"That's another reason why Magnum Pharos wants him," chimed in Dalios, scratching behind Rolly's ears absentmindedly. "He wants to know where his people went. Of course, he probably also wants to see what people Valium has gathered himself. It's rumored that he has quite a collection of individuals, and Magnum Pharos probably wants to see if any of them are worthy of joining us."
"Well, if Pharos wants him so bad, why doesn't he just go after him himself, or send Neirnyx after him?" questioned Stir, studying her reflection in the rose-tinted window.
"He's on the verge of doing that," the emerald-eyed boy answered. "Neirnyx just thought we were good people for the job and wanted us to go first. But if we don't come back, they'll come to fetch him themselves."
"That's real comforting," the dark avian growled. "So what's he look like?"
"Well, no one can seem to agree," Razekar admitted, sitting up. "Some say he's a man, others say he's a demon, others say he's a spirit, and still others say he's actually a she. So no one really knows. Most the people who've actually seen him have disappeared, after all."
"Well, guess we're about to find out," stated Jing, as they approached a circular ridge of cliffs that looked like a giant crown in the middle of the wasteland. The golden train slipped through one of the many openings with ease, and glided down to the edge of the Uncanny Valley. A small plateau of rock awaited them.
There didn't seem to be anything special about this valley nestled by the crown of cliffs. In fact, all there was to be seen was flat red sand and a little sigh of wind.
"Huh?" But there's nothing here!" Kir exclaimed, looking around for the slightest sign of life or civilization as he and the others got off the train. "No Valium person or missing people or nothing!"
"He's kinda got a point," yawned Falcon, who was still sleepy from his nap. Razekar had rudely interrupted it with a small zap to the arm. "I mean, you'd think he'd have a house or something…maybe he's in one of the caves in the cliffs?"
"Actually, I think I've heard about this place before a long time ago," Razekar stated, walking towards the edge of the plateau. "Now if I remember right…"
The thief with the mismatched eyes thrust his long arm forward, and acted only mildly surprised when part of his arm vanished from sight.
Falcon, Kir, Stir, Cassis, and even Dalios looked shocked.
Jing didn't seem too impressed.
"So it's your typical illusion, huh?" the black-haired boy concluded, strolling over to where Razekar stood with part of his arm supposedly missing.
"Well then, shall we go in?" asked Razekar, lowering his arm and watching it reappear.
"Don't see why not. Train's already left anyway," replied the bandit in the blazing coat, as he casually hopped off the plateau and vanished like he had been only a mirage himself.
IIIIIIIII
When Jing had jumped past the thin illusion, he found himself steadily descending into unlimited blackness. Vaguely he expected the others to abruptly appear in the dark, also sinking, also shivering at the unanticipated absence of warmth, but no one came. Or maybe he just couldn't see them for the lack of light?
He shivered as an unrelenting cold ensnared him, burrowed under his skin, his heart.
Wait…I know this feeling…it's…it's the…
His body suddenly jolted, as the black-haired boy started to turn around and kick towards the surface of the black. He couldn't remember what this was, but it was bad, very bad. He had to get out of here, get out of here fast. But it was like a almighty panther was pushing down on his shoulders; he felt heavier after every kick…
Then he felt someone grab his right hand. It was Stir, hovering just above him with a concerned look on her face. The boy in the blazing coat gave her a mildly confounded gaze. Had he been sinking? But he had been kicking upward…why couldn't he stop shaking? And why couldn't he move his legs anymore?
There was a flash of gold in the distance, and a sudden shift in the ambiance of the dark. Stir noticed it too, and snapped her head in the direction of the strange blaze. There was nothing more for a while.
Then suddenly everything burst into color, every color imaginable. It was like paints of all hues had been poured carelessly onto the surface of the black, and were now running together into a mass of chaotic shades. It reminded him of something…
The cat…it reminds me of…that cat…
Then all his senses slipped away.
IIIIIIIII
Jing came to in a forest, a thick and dark forest. The scarce light that reached him was filtered through the thick emerald leaves, coloring whatever was within shades of deep green. He quickly sat up, and saw that Stir was nearby, along with everyone else. No, not everyone…
"Falcon!" he heard Dalios and Razekar call into the obscure woods, at different times with varying lengths. "Falcon!"
A certain black albatross noticed him sitting up.
"Hey, look who's up!" greeted Kir happily, flying over to the gray-eyed boy.
Stir and Cassis also hurried over.
"Hey, you okay? Stir said you didn't take that black void thing so well…"
"Yeah, I think so," replied the Bandit King, getting to his feet and shaking his head. "What was that though? I can't really remember…"
"Well, we don't really remember much ourselves…" Stir admitted. "I just remember finding you and you looked really sick. And something was wrong with your legs. Then there were a lot of colors, and then we're here in this forest."
"Then you didn't wake up when the rest of us did, and we couldn't get you to come to," added Cassis. "Though you weren't really out that much longer, really. Maybe fifteen minutes. Still, we were worried."
The black-haired boy looked up at the forest canopy
"I remember a flash of gold…"
"Can't you guys shut up for a minute?!" snapped Dalios, his eyes closed and his hand cupped to his ear.
"We're checking to make sure he's alright!" Cassis snapped back.
"I know that!" barked the white-haired youth. "But something's-"
Then they began to hear it too. Dark murmurings were leeching into the forest, crawling in from everywhere. Then the dark murmurings became black laughter, poisoning the air.
Suddenly the broad emerald leaves flooded with crimson, bathing the gang under Pharos in scarlet light. Slowly, sluggishly, faces began to appear in the trees, ravenous and sneering faces, as the voices grew ever louder.
The small pack of humans clustered together and took battle poses.
"My, you're certainly lovely little saplings though, aren't you?" asked one tree to the right, with a crackly female voice.
"Yes, fine specimens they are," agreed another tree to the left, its voice deeper and more masculine.
"They must carry excellent red sap."
One of the free limbs of the more feminine tree swiped down, its root-like hairs piercing and digging into the skin of Cassis's arm. The thin hairs became a crimson color.
As Cassis struggled against the tree's grip, Jing summoned his arm blade and slashed the branch. It fell motionlessly to the ground, though the scarred blonde still had to pry off the branch's hold on her arm. Cassis hastily retreated, some scarlet budding where the roots had dug into her skin. Some sap leaked from the sliced branch, the thick liquid mixed with some red.
The feminine tree, however, didn't seem intimidated, or even discouraged. In fact, the tree look rather satisfied.
"Ah yes, excellent red sap indeed."
"What kinda sicko trees are you?!" snapped Kir, who had flown over to check on Cassis.
"The superior kind, of course," replied the masculine tree. "And all of you will make superior stock."
"Stock?!" exclaimed Kir. "Now wait just a minute- "
"Of course we'll have to break those stubborn spirits of yours first," added the masculine tree, swinging one of his broader limbs towards the Bandit King.
The boy in the blazing coat swiftly leapt over the assault. While he was jumping away, he swiftly grabbed Kir with his right arm. Instantly Kir morphed into gun mode, and the thieving duo began to give off a bright green light. The thief with black hair pointed Kir at the masculine tree.
"Give me a Kir Royale!"
The attack hit its mark perfectly. The tree was incinerated…and blood splattered everywhere, including on the Bandit King's face. The gray-eyed boy looked surprised at first, but then he casually wiped the crimson of his face with his sleeve.
Another energy blast was ready to be fired.
"Give me a Kir Royale!"
The attack swiftly scorched the tree to the right in just as it was about to strike. It let out a loud yell as liquid crimson and sap seeped from its burnt and broken bark.
Then everything erupted into utter chaos. Trees limbs thrashed, weapons slashed the air, and screams exploded everywhere. Vampire branches probed for fresh prey in the reddened darkness, while counterattacks were prepared swiftly.
Dalios and Razekar were backed up against each other as a gang of tree arms were swiping at them, trying to dig their vampiric roots into them. Judging by the little streaks of liquid scarlet staining their clothes, the trees had already succeeded a few times.
"We're gonna be freaking anemic by the time we get outta here," growled Dalios, unleashing a stream of acid from his whip to drive the wooden arms back.
"Well, they don't seem to like my blood too much," mentioned Razekar, as one set of vampiric roots suddenly shot back after only being under his skin for a few moments. "They seem to think my 'red sap' tastes nasty. So if things go badly maybe I'll at least have enough strength left to get you fellas outta here."
"Lucky you. They just love mine," growled the red-clad boy, pulling off some eager blood-sucking hairs from his arm as he spoke.
"Couldn't you get Rolly to siphon some blood from the trees so he can inject some back into us later?" suggested the lanky bandit, now activating his electric blade from the metal band on his wrist and slashing at the bark-skinned arms. The corgi puppy mentioned was currently biting hard into one of the bigger tree's limbs, snarling as the tree tried to shake it off.
"Do you know what the blood types of Jing and the others are?" asked Dalios.
"Can't say I do," Razekar admitted, cutting off an especially large tree limb and getting a bit of its so-called red sap on him. "Now that I think of it, I don't even know what my own blood type is…"
"What?! Didn't you ever ask the doctors back at Magnum Pharos's palace?!"
"Nope. Never crossed my mind."
Dalios sighed before barely evaded a downward strike.
"Well, more importantly, we don't know what kind of blood these trees have," the emerald-eyed boy continued. "They could be AB type since they seem to be able to take any kind of blood, but they could also just convert all blood they take to type Z for all I know. I don't have experience with plant blood types because, you know, they usually don't exist."
"I see," Razekar responded. "Oh well, it was worth a shot."
Just then a stray Kir Royale attack struck a tree just behind Dalios. The white-haired youth was sent flying past the circle of trees by the leftover force of the blast. He landed roughly on his back.
"Owww…"
"Dal! You okay?" called Razekar.
"Yeah," Dalios answered, before noticing two figures out of the corner of his eye.
They were young, a boy and a girl, and were hiding behind the rotting remains of a fallen tree. The girl, what he could see of her, had scared blue eyes and long hair that matched the color of cherry blossoms. The boy was taller, since Dalios could see more of his head, with scruffy blond hair, ice-blue eyes, tanned skin, and a red band wrapped around his head.
"Falcon!" called the white-haired youth.
The blond boy and pink-haired girl snapped their heads in Dalios's direction, wide-eyed like foxes in a trap.
"Dammit!" snapped the boy who had to be Falcon. "It's not worth it! Just go! Go!"
With that terrified command both children fled into the darkness. When the boy got up and began to run, the emerald-eyed boy noticed he wore dark red instead of cobalt blue.
"Falcon!" Dalios called out again. "Hey Falcon, where are you going?! Fal-"
Suddenly something heavy hit him from behind, and his senses were smashed.
IIIIIIIII
"Uuuugh…"
Dalios found himself blinking at the ceiling of a cave, trying to figure out how he got to where he was in the first place. After he was done dumbly staring at the ceiling, he sat up and rubbed his head. Rolly rushed over and started licking Dalios's face without the youth's consent.
"How're you feeling Dal?"
The emerald-eyed boy turned to Razekar, who was casually strolling over to where he sat.
"Eh, I've felt better, but I've felt worse too," the short youngster replied, his head still throbbing somewhat. "Where are we anyway? And what happened?"
"Well, right now we're in this cave that's right outside the bloodsucker forest," the young man with golden-orange hair answered, plopping down on the cave floor next to Dalios. "We barely got out of there. And you got hit on the back of the head with a tree limb while you were yelling your head off at something. What were you yelling at, anyway?"
"Uuuh…" the red-clad boy began groggily, before he snapped out of his stupor. "Oh yeah! I saw him! I saw Falcon!"
"You did?"
"Yeah!"
"Was he okay?"
"Yeah, he seemed alright," responded Dalios. "But he ran! There I was calling to him with that huge battle raging behind me and he ran! What the heck?!"
"Huh, that is strange," Razekar stated, folding his arms. "Falcon never turns down a fight, especially when his pals are involved."
"Yeah, well, that's true," Dalios admitted, stroking the ever-hyper Rolly. "You know, there was this girl with him too. Nobody I knew though. Some chick with pink hair and blue eyes."
"That so?" asked the young man with golden-orange hair, smirking mischievously. "Well, that might explain why he ran. Maybe he didn't want his lady getting hurt."
"Well, he could've at least said hi or something instead of just dashing off with the chick as soon as he saw me," grumbled the white-haired youth. "Oh yeah, his outfit was different too. He had on red instead blue."
"Red instead of blue, huh?" Razekar asked, looking more somber. "That's interesting. I haven't seen him wear red since-"
"I see you're up."
Dalios and Razekar turned to Jing, Kir, Stir, and Cassis, who had just arrived from outside.
"How are you?" asked Cassis, bat set on her shoulder.
"Fine," the white-haired youth replied, trying to prevent Rolly from licking off his face. "So, you guys find anything interesting in your stroll outside?"
"Yep, plenty of things," answered Jing.
"Such as?"
Well, perhaps it's best that you see it for yourselves," suggested the Bandit King.
IIIIIII
"…Whoa."
"The gang under Pharos gazed down into the valley below, the vampiric trees lurking just behind and below the cliff where they stood now.
It appeared to be your usual farmland at first, with plants lined up in nice little rows and people bending down to tend them. Upon closer inspection, however, the people were more than tending to the plants; they were food supplies. When the people were bending down, they were offering their arms to the plants so they could dig in their rots and draw blood. The people's expressions were lifeless as the plants took in their fill. For the smallest plants, animals were carried over by the humans to be drained. At the center of the field was a tree far larger than any other tree, a tree that burned with a brilliant blue flame.
"No wonder there's no wildlife anywhere," Dalios stated. "It's all been harvested and domesticated by the plants, even the temperamental human. And you'd think that'd be impossible."
"Oh, I dunno. Human spirits can be pretty easy to break," countered Jing.
"You don't think bunny boy is down in that mess, do you?" asked Cassis, squinting to get a better view of the people below.
"Probably," Dalios sighed. "Hey, there's that girl I saw with him!"
"Where?" the others asked.
"Right over there, letting those holly trees suck blood out of her," the emerald-eyed boy responded, pointing.
Standing near the base of one of the larger holly trees, vampiric roots attacked to the lower part of her arm, was a girl with pale pink hair. After the tree withdrew its roots, she began to pour glistening water onto the ground around the tree.
"Huh, she's a young one, isn't she?" commented Razekar. "Thought Falcon preferred the older girls…anyway, I don't see a sign of Falcon anywhere. You'd think a red outfit would stick out in a place like this…"
"I can't wear this out on the field, you know."
The gang under Pharos spun around, some seeming more surprised than others.
Falcon lurked on a stone ledge just above the entrance of the cave they'd been staying in. But instead of his usual friendly gaze, the fair-haired fighter glared down upon them with ice-hued eyes. And, like Dalios had said, his clothes weren't the normal blue, but a vicious red. And there was something else, something Dalios hadn't noted before…
He looks younger, maybe about my age. But that means-
"Aren't you those guys that were fighting the elder trees back there?" questioned the crimson-clad boy, still eyeing them suspiciously.
"Yeah, that was us," Jing confirmed casually.
"Would've been nice if you helped out too," growled Kir.
"Well I'm not stupid," Falcon replied, folding his arms and leering at the dark avian. "As much as I admire you guys for taking them on, I'm not about to risk my neck for a few strangers."
"Strangers?!" Kir balked. "Now listen here, Falcon - "
"And how do you guys know my new name?" asked the ice-eyed Chesirian. "I just came up with it a couple hours ago!"
"Huh?" the dark albatross responded dumbly, giving Falcon a blank stare. "Whaddaya-"
"What was your first name, then?" interrupted Jing, clamping his left hand over Kir's big beak without drawing too much attention to himself. The black avian squirmed in protest, but the Bandit King shot him a warning look that soon quelled him.
"Well, all I've been called before was server-of-the-Falconburrs," replied the fair-haired fighter, looking embarrassed at even mentioning it. "So I guess Falcon would be my first real name…"
"They don't even bother to give you names?" asked Cassis, sounding indignant.
"Of course not. We're just servants. Who gives servants names?" the boy with ice-hued eyes answered, glaring at the vegetation growing in the valley below.
"Can't they just absorb sunlight like good little plants?" asked Razekar.
"Well yeah, they can, but they like red sap better," stated the blond in crimson clothing. "Though some of the younger plants can barely use sunlight at all. It probably won't be long until they can only feed off of red sap."
Falcon's gaze wandered over to where the giant tree engulfed in brilliant blue flames stood.
"You know, there's a legend about it, the reason why the plants became blood-takers," he began, sounding almost serene. "Dunno if it's true, since the trees say it to keep us quiet, but it sounds real enough. You see, a long time ago there was this big war among the humans and the animals. Both sides took advantage of the defenseless trees and plants to fight their war, using them as food or to make weapons and forts. It was a very brutal war, and the ground was constantly soaked in red sap."
Falcon paused as he looked to the dark forest below the cliffside, the dark forest Jing and the others had barely escaped hours ago.
"There was so much red sap in the ground that the elder plants grew used to its taste. Then, as the war raged on, they began to like it," he continued. "It's said that it was all that red sap that gave the elder plants the ability to move and think. And the first thing they did when they were able to move and think was attack the vicious animals and humans that had been using them in their war. At first they simply preyed on the animals and humans. But after a while the elder plants realized the best way to control the animals and humans and stop them from destroying the land was to enslave them. And that's what the elder trees always say; that they rule over us because we can't rule over ourselves without devastating everything."
"That does kinda happen with us humans sometimes, doesn't it?" Razekar commented.
"Well, I don't believe in it," Falcon growled obstinately. "Anyway, there was one tree who was against all the other trees, saying that they would be no better than the humans and animals if they enslaved them, that plants weren't meant to take their red sap. It's said that as soon as the tree spoke, a lightning bolt fell from the sky and set it afire."
He turned back to the tree that burned brightly in the middle of the valley.
"They say that tree has burned since that day," the ice-eyed boy went on. "Forever doomed to hellfire because of the words that it said. I've never seen it go out once, not even in the pouring rain. As far as I know it's never spoken since that day either. You can't tell if it's dead or alive since it can't talk and can't bloom. Still, I've always admired that tree. It had the guts to speak out against the other trees that wanted nothing but red sap."
"Huh," Jing replied, folding his arms. "So now the trees around here just kidnap anyone they see, huh?"
"Yeah, pretty much, though how long they live depends on whether or not the elder trees think they're good stock or not," responded the fair-haired fighter, turning to the group once more. "I came from a cross between a female that was from a long line of pure breeding in the valley, and a male who drifted in one day and happened to have some pretty good red sap in him. Said he was Chesiri-something. Some weird name. I'm still considered a weed though, since I won't grow the way they want me too."
Razekar wore an unusually stoic expression on his face, while Dalios looked like he was going to be sick.
"What about that girl back there?" asked the white-haired youth. "Is she a friend of yours, or are you two going to be, uh, crossed…?"
Falcon's face turned bright red.
"What?! N-No! Holly is-"
"So she has a name?" questioned Razekar. "Is she one of those who got dragged into this place?"
"No, she's one of the pure-bred," corrected the crimson-clothed boy, still looking somewhat flustered. "I gave her a name a couple days ago. She's still getting used to it."
"You gave her a name before you gave one to yourself, huh?" interrogated the lanky thief, looking amused.
"Well, she deserved one more than I did!" Falcon snapped, though his eyes didn't look as vicious as before. "I mean, the elder trees are always putting her down, even though she's a purebred and has excellent red sap. The people here who have names from the outside world feel better about themselves, so I thought maybe I'd give her one to see if that would help…or something."
"Ah, I understand, my friend," responded Razekar.
"Why were you two in the woods earlier?" questioned Dalios.
The blond Chesirian was silent for a moment.
"…We were trying to escape…" he finally replied, looking a bit sulky. "But then you guys bust in and screwed everything up! Now all the trees are gonna be on high alert and it'll be impossible to get outta here! Holly's too scared to try anything else. I had a hard enough time convincing her to come with me earlier…"
"Well how were we supposed to know that you were trying to break out?!" snapped Cassis. "Like you said, we've never met."
"You guys still-"
"Yeah, I know, we screwed up," Razekar admitted, casually raising his arms up in defeat. "And since it's all our fault, how about we help you and Holly get outta here?"
"Huh?" responded Falcon, giving the young man with golden-orange hair a blank stare.
Everyone else but Jing was also giving Razekar curious looks.
"…Are you serious? Can you really do it?" asked the fair-haired fighter asked hopefully, even though his eyes remained cold.
"Hey, we broke in," responded Razekar. "I don't see why we can't break back out. Especially with you and Holly's knowledge on the area."
"Wow, that's awesome!" exclaimed the crimson-clothed boy, a childish look of excitement on his face that was more like the Falcon they knew. "I mean, I could tell you guys were really strong, and I thought of asking, but I figured-"
"Hey no problem," the lanky thief replied casually, as if it was a small favor. "It's best that we wait until dark, though. You can go tell Holly about it while we think of a plan, okay?"
"Sure!" the blond boy chirped, before running off.
When the fair-haired fighter was completely out of sight, the young man with mismatched eyes turned to the rest of the group and sighed.
"…Now for the real problem."
IIIIIII
"So we got taken back into the past?"
"I certainly hope not," Razekar responded, as he and Dalios watched Rolly running around them in circles. "That would mean we've already interfered with history, and that's never a good thing…"
"Oh, I doubt we've left our present time," disagreed Jing, who was picking at the cave wall with his blade. He had been chipping away at the stone since they had returned to the cave, and had made a surprising amount of progress.
"You're gonna break your blade doing that," warned Stir, sharpening her own sword.
"…What are you doing anyway?" asked Cassis, who was polishing her own bat.
"Oh, just confirming something," he answered enigmatically, suddenly stopping his assault on the wall.
A small but steady trickle of color bled from the wound in the wall. The others looked surprised and confused at this odd occurrence. Some of the multi-hued essence was dripping off the Bandit King's blade.
"Hey, that looks like those colors I saw before we ended up here," stated Stir.
"Is that so?" the gray-eyed thief answered, studying the substance slowly oozing off his weapon. "Kir and I encountered a cat monster that used this stuff against us once. Both Kir and myself got sucked under the colors briefly. When we were talking about it later, Kir said that when he got caught by the colors, he had a vivid dream of being back in Amarcord as his younger self, with the ten-year-old Cassis and me. I suspect that's what's happening here. We're in Falcon's lucid dream caused by the substance leaking through the wall here. Or perhaps lucid nightmare would be more accurate."
"But wait, how come we're stuck in Falcon's dream world?" asked Dalios. "I mean, shouldn't we be in our own dream worlds?"
"Hmm…good question," answered Cassis. "I don't know. Maybe this place could only handle one person's head at a time?"
"Maybe," Stir responded, sheathing her now-prepared sword. "By the way, when's Kir going to be done surveying the area from the sky?"
"Hmm...shouldn't be too much longer," the black-haired bandit answered, now cleaning his blade carefully with a cloth he had pulled out of his pocket.
"Oh, and Jing?"
"Yes Stir?"
"You said both of you went under, when you were fighting the cat monster," stated the silver-eyed princess. "So you were in a dream world too. What was it like for you?"
The Bandit King stayed silent as he gazed up to the cave ceiling.
"…You know, I really don't remember."
52nd Shot: The Trepidation
"Oh great, it's getting dark out."
Kir gazed down from far above, hunting for any possible shortcuts they could use or especially large trees to avoid. Up ahead a red-and-orange sunset stained the sky.
The black albatross knew it was time to return. Being night-blind, he would have a lot of trouble finding his way back if he took too much longer. It certainly wouldn't be a good thing if he ended up stumbling into a thick group of trees while he couldn't see anything…
Just as he began to arrive back at the cliffside that contained the cave, he noticed a figure sitting not far off, an animal figure. As he carefully glided closer, making sure to keep plenty of distance between him and it, he could make out that the animal was a large fox with white fur and nine billowing tails.
Is that…Sherry?
Sherry was also a Burdensome Gun beast, just as he was. However, unlike Kir, she didn't care for other's lives, not even the master she had abandoned back at Adonis. He had always wondered what had become of the white kitsune after that, and it seemed he had just gotten his answer. But what was she doing here?
As the dark avian wondered how to past the colorless fox without her noticing, he suddenly realized that her yellow eyes were locked onto him. Then she leapt high, at least as high as he was flying at, and landed on a small ledge on the higher part of the rough cliffside. Sitting down as she had been before, her cold gaze burrowed into the dark albatross.
Now Kir knew something was wrong. Her face was thin, far too thin even for a fox, and her ribs were all too pronounced and visible. Her fur, meant to be bluish-white, had a yellow tinge to it. The irises of her golden eyes were lined with red at the edges. If she wasn't here breathing in front of him, the black avian would have thought he'd seen her corpse.
The mangled kitsune continued to leer at him like she was eager to eat him up.
"Uh…hi there, Sherry," Kir squeaked, backing up slowly. "You know, you don't look so good. Did you get attacked by those trees too?"
The white fox bearing nine tails smirked coolly, the first sign of a soul that the black albatross had seen out of her.
"Don't be afraid, little one," she spoke in an almost teasing manner. "I'm not here to eat you. I'm simply here to tell you something."
Kir eyed her suspiciously.
"To tell me what?"
The starved fox lifted her head slightly. The smirk disappeared.
"Interfere all you like…" she began. "…but you will not change the past. You cannot save the damned. You cannot defeat the evil of the world. You cannot change the land or its people. All of that was already determined long before you got involved. Your presence will alter things, of course, but it doesn't change what the ultimate destination will be. You will just arrive there through a slightly different path."
She closed her harrowingly yellow eyes, and the cool smirk returned.
"That being said, you are more than welcome to try."
Then she vanished from view without so much as an echo in her wake.
IIIIIIII
"You saw Sherry?" asked Jing.
"Of course I saw her!" Kir snapped at the Bandit King sitting on the cave floor. "How couldn't I see a white nine-tailed fox staring me in the face?!"
"Night blindness?"
"Besides that!" barked the black albatross. "Seriously though, what do you think she's doing here, Jing?"
"Maybe she's part of Falcon's memories," guessed Dalios, lying flat across his back and staring at the stone ceiling. ""I mean, nine-tailed foxes are supposed to live over a thousand years, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch."
"But she acted like she knew this place wasn't real," the dark avian pointed out.
"Well, a lot of living things are supposed to be trapped in here by Valium, human and animal, so maybe she's been stuck here for awhile," offered Razekar, watching the sky grow dark outside. "That would explain why she looked so ragged, right? Not much nutritional value in an illusion world."
"I'm more concerned about what she said," stated Dalios, sitting up. "We can't change what happens no matter what we do? I guess it makes sense, considering this is just a memory world and the past's already happened…"
"Well, we're just kinda playing along anyway," replied the lanky thief, leaning against the cave wall. "If we can get Falcon somewhere where we don't have bloodthirsty plants looming over our heads, maybe he'll remember us."
"If that was really Falcon that we talked to."
Razekar and Dalios turned to the gray-eyed bandit, now sitting cross-legged on the cave floor.
"What do you mean?" asked the white-haired youth.
"Well, we know that everything here except us is formed from the colors, just like these cave walls," Jing began, placing one hand on the cool cave surface where the scar caused by his blade was all but gone. "Usually when you have a dream, you see yourself as if you were being watched from a higher point of view. So which one is the real you, the one in the dream or the one watching the dream?"
"I see what you're saying," Razekar replied. "If the place itself is nothing but a memory, then the people and plants in it would be nothing but memories too, including the Falcon of this memory. And besides, assuming that finding Falcon and waking him up is the key to getting out of here, the younger Falcon would be a bit obvious, wouldn't he? All you'd have to do is knock him out and the whole place would become unstable, and then it would probably be pretty easy to break the spell entirely. But if he's not inside his memory self, then where is he?"
"He'd have to be somewhere pretty secure, something hard to find or attack," Dalios mused. "People and animals in general are too vulnerable, so he's probably hidden somewhere in the environment itself. Might've already past him for all we know."
"So he could be anywhere then," Razekar sighed.
As the young man with golden-orange hair looked outside, he spotted the younger Falcon running up to the cave.
"So are we sticking to the plan of helping the dream Falcon out?" asked Stir.
"It'll give us the excuse to destroy and investigate stuff," Razekar answered.
"Allright then," responded The Bandit King, rising to his feet. "Showtime."
IIIIIIII
"This way."
The gang under Pharos carefully followed the younger Falcon over the sharp rocks and serrated stones. Here in this hidden path the ground was so buried in large boulders that only the most primal mosses could grow there. These simple plants would eventually break down all these mighty boulders into all-too-fertile soil for more vampiric plants to grow in, but for now this path was blood-free.
"There's a big cave not far ahead," Falcon explained, keeping his ice-hued eyes fixed on the rough pathway ahead. "That's what Holly and I used last time to get into the edge of the elder forest. I guess it was kinda stupid going that way before, but now a lot of the trees are hurt, so it shouldn't be too bad. Especially for you guys."
"Anything else we should keep an eye out for?" asked Razekar.
"Well, it's easy to get lost in the cave since it branches out everywhere," added the fair-haired fighter. "So we'll need to stick pretty close, or we'll spend all week trying to find each other."
"Where's your girlfriend?" asked Razekar.
"She'll be waiting for us in the cave."
"I see," replied the lanky young man. "I assume that's the cave up ahead?"
"Yeah."
It was a real monster of a hole, nestled inside that flat cliff face surrounded by dead weeds. The black mouth yawned widely, as if lazily awaiting a meal.
"You guys ready?" the blond Chesirian asked.
"Yep," replied Jing, as the others caught up to him.
"Then let's go!" announced the crimson-clad boy, as they all dashed into the dark throat of the cave.
They were only a few feet in when they were greeted by blinding light.
"W-What?!" exclaimed Falcon, flinging his arms up to shield his eyes from the brightness.
The searing illumination shone down from the broad white flowers, the blossoms belonging to hundreds of vines that clung and writhed across the cavern walls. Though it was hard to see through all the radiance, these flowers had faces that sneered like naughty schoolchildren and laughter like deranged pigs. As the group of humans was trying to adjust their eyes to the overwhelming brightness, several vines rose up behind them and gagged the cave mouth shut.
"My, what a bad little sapling you've been, trying to save these weeds," hissed one of the childish vines, though nobody could tell with one had spoken among the wormish mass. "The elders are gonna be so mad at you! Tee hee!"
Jing and the others all drew their weapons and got into battle positions.
Before any grand melee could commence, however, black vines erupted from the ground like so many ghastly snakes and bound them where they stood. Under the tug of the vines they were forced to kneel down. The blossoming vines that clung to the ceiling and walls cackled like banshees.
"I assume this didn't happen last time," Dalios spoke dryly, glaring at the black vines clutching him and struggling.
"Of course not!" snapped the iced-eyed Chesirian, his sudden outburst causing the vines to squeeze tighter. "But how'd they find out? I just discovered this a couple days ago…"
"So you want to know, do you?"
As the ground quivered under their feet, a thick black vine erupted from the rock. Its face was more reptilian than humanoid, and was encircled by brilliant orange-and-red petals that fanned out like a flaming mane. It bore an insincere smile.
"It's one of the meristems connected to the elder trees," Falcon explained, leering at the massive plant swaying hypnotically in front of him. "Originally they preyed upon the trees too, stealing their nutrients and sunlight. But once the elder trees awakened, they ensnared the meristems and made them do their bidding, feeding them red sap if they did a good job. Now they depend on the red sap, so they're integrated with the trees and act as their familiars."
The giant, almost serpentine head slithered across the rough floor, sizing up each of the captives up close with its unpleasant grin. It stopped last at Falcon.
"Don't you want to know?" it hissed again, its elongated black face only inches apart from the fair-haired fighter's.
"Not really," growled the ice-eyed Chesirian. "But you're gonna tell me anyway, aren't you?"
The nearly dragon-like visage looked displeased, but then its cocky smile returned and it rose up.
"Come, dear flower."
The brightness suddenly shifted on a shaking Holly nearby, surrounded by other, smaller black vines. They did not bind her, however.
Falcon froze.
"…Holly?"
She did not lift up her head.
"…I'm sorry. It's just…you'll die out there…by yourself. There are no plants out there, and we need the plants as much as they need us. We saplings are meant to stay here and tend to the elders…"
"No we're not! We're meant to have our own lives! Holly-"
"Don't call me that."
The fair-haired fighter was struck dumb.
"I don't need a name. I'm simply a flower bred to tend the holly trees, nothing more. I desire nothing more."
The crimson-clad boy opened his mouth to say something, but the words hid in his throat and he let his head droop.
"I think our flower has made her point," spoke the head of the black vine, grotesque face sneering. "Take these weeds away."
53rd Shot: Green, Blue, Red, Absolute Black
"Well, that worked out just brilliantly, huh?"
Dalios glared up at the ceiling of his prison, the backbone of a magnificent beast long dead. Its ribcage served as the bars of an actual cage cell for the emerald-eyed boy. He was bound with tightly twisted animal skin reinforced with pieces of bone; the plants would not use the dead parts of their own kind, after all.
The others were nearby, contained in their own ribcage cells, with the burning tree of blue flames not far off in the distance. Stir was glaring at the bone bars in deep concentration, as if her sheer will was enough to make them bow towards her and break. Cassis was still struggling against her fur-and-bone bonds and muttering angrily. Kir, in a much smaller ribcage maybe about the size of a small tiger, tried to tear away at his furry straightjacket with his beak. Rolly was in a similar ribcage nearby, gnawing at the bones. Jing sat in his ribcage cell perfectly calm. It was hard to tell what Razekar was thinking, since he was wrapped up like a mummy in an electric-proof fur. Falcon gazed straight ahead in a stupor.
"What're they gonna do with us?!" Kir asked, now squirming like a worm in the furry skin wrapped snugly around his little body.
"Put us to work in the fields, I guess," responded Dalios, looking at the starry sky peeking down between the bone bars. "But then again, we did kill quite a few of their kind back in the forest, so they just might steal all our blood and cast us aside."
"I doubt they'd do either," stated Falcon, his first words since their capture. "We're too dangerous for field work, but trees don't believe in killing anything they can use. They'll probably put us to sleep with the spores of the meristems. It won't kill us, but we'll never wake up again. Then the elder trees will keep us alive enough to feed off our red sap while we're comatose. They have many captive weeds they eat off of like that."
The fair-haired fighter began to shake with fury.
"It's better to die in the wasteland. I told her that. I told her…"
While Falcon muttered to himself, Kir turned to Jing.
"What'll we do now? We'll never find the real Falcon if we're slumbering like sleeping beauties in this dreamland."
"Well, it won't do any good breaking out now," responded Jing, looking at the myriad trees surrounding the prison site. "Everyone's too tired to fend off those trees now, with all the traveling and battling we've been doing since we got here. And with the steady stream of blood the trees receive, there's no advantage to facing them at night."
Kir let out a grunt and banged against the ribcage with one of his feet.
"Being put to sleep with spores wouldn't be much help, but a little natural shuteye should do us all wonders," added the Bandit King, lying down. "See you in the morning, Kir."
He was taken under by slumber before he even heard Kir's reply.
IIIIIIIII
He stood before a great crowd, Jing and the black paper wings strapped to his back. He bore a friendly smile as he bowed to the spectators from his white pedestal.
He rushed forward, slipping into the mass of people, and resurfacing a few moments later back on his pedestal. Smiling, he lifted up a trio of wallets and a silver watch. The people who owned those items hastily searched themselves to see if their possessions were really gone. The dumbfounded looks made the other people in the crowd laugh. Then the boy with dust-hued eyes and paper wings tossed the items back to their masters.
Once again he dove into the crowd, and once again he reappeared on the pedestal. This time he held up a deck of cards and a stuffed bear on a keychain. The oblivious victims stared at their taken objects and searched themselves in disbelief. The crowd laughed again, and the boy with dust-hued eyes once again tossed back the items to their masters.
Then he looked up to the sky. He stretched his right hand up, straining to reach the starry night. Suddenly he closed his fist, and his hand sparkled with starlight. The unearthly light flowed down his arm, also causing it to glow, and the boy smiled. As he thrust his arm and opened his hand to release the shining dust, his whole body was possessed by the ethereal radiance. The crowd cheered as the stardust fell upon them like snow. The starlight faded from the boy's body.
But now the boy was different. The black paper wings that had been strapped to his back were now real, just as living and bound to him as all the other limbs of his body. And now the boy's face couldn't be seen, for it was covered by a mask of a violet cat with green swirly eyes, bearing a green toothy grin that was far too wide to be sane.
Taking advantage of his majestic black wings, the Bandit King lifted himself into the air and hovered above the crowd, disregarding the white pedestal altogether.
He swooped over the crowd, causing them to cry out and scatter. The boy bearing the false face turned around, brilliant emeralds and blazing sapphires resting in his hands. The crowd gasped and murmured excitedly among itself. The owner of the jewels yelped and searched himself. Casually the Bandit King let the jewels slide from his hands, leaving them to be caught by whoever could catch them.
Then the boy with the feline face hovered over to two men, one with a happy grin on his face and one with a sad frown. Floating just above the mortal ground, the Bandit King went to the happy man. With one simple pulling motion, he took the man's happiness from him and gave it to the sad man standing right next to him. Now the sad man grinned widely while the happy man broke into tears. The crowd was silent.
Then the Bandit King hovered to a nearby girl with sleepy eyes. With a swift snatching movement he stole the girl's attention and made her look at him and only him. When the boy with majestic black wings was satisfied, or perhaps bored, for it was impossible to read his emotions through the mask, he let go of her attention and moved on. The crowd was silent.
Then an angry beast-man stomped up to him, snarling. The Bandit King glided over to the beast man, the mask giving the creature a mocking grin. Before the beast-man could even lift a clawed paw, however, the boy with the majestic black wings performed a single slice with his bare right arm. As the beast-man fell to the ground and the air around the boy grew frosty, the Bandit King stuffed the stolen life into his pocket. The crowd was silent.
Then he flew high into the black sky robbed of light, and did a grand sweeping motion over the crowd. All of them stood stone still as a great golden sphere formed in the Bandit King's hand. As the crowd stared at him lifelessly, the grinning feline face gazed down upon all the desires stolen from the crowd, all their dreams, wills, thoughts. He felt a chill sinking into his body, his heart, but the Bandit King did not care.
But it suddenly became hard to stay aloft. There was ice forming on his hair and clothes. His wings were becoming nothing but ice. The mask was freezing to his face. As the feathers turned to scales of cold crystal, he felt himself falling, falling…
He was pinned to the white ground by the weight of his ice wings, now nothing but cold sculptures grafted into his back. There was no crowd.
There was no one.
He screamed for them. He screamed for Kir, for Stir, for Cassis, for his mother. Or at least he thought he did. With the frosty mist flooding his mind he wasn't sure. That was his voice screaming, right? But it sounded so different…
But maybe he just whispered, for no one came. Or maybe no one could hear him through the thick mask on his face.
As he lay there, trembling and trapped, he saw that cat monster, the one with the torn body bleeding liquid rainbow and the mask matching his own. It hovered around him mockingly, spreading its colors all around him. Then it stopped right in front of his quivering form and came right up to his feline face, their grinning facades nearly touching.
"They're so mean, aren't they?" asked the cat monster in a childish, hissy voice, though its green teeth never moved. "All of those people that liked you, and yet none of them came back to help you."
He tried to say something, but all that came out was a shivering gasp.
"Yes, the world is so mean. All people care about are themselves. They don't care what happens to someone like you. They'll just find someone else to replace you," the cat continued. "But you know that. Whoever stops to help you, they always leave. They always do. They're so mean."
The cat hovered out of Jing's sight, but he could barely sense its frosty presence hanging over his back.
"But that's okay. You don't need them," the feline bearing the false face remarked. "After all, you're the Bandit King. Bandit Kings don't need anyone. Bandit Kings are strong. Bandit Kings are invincible. Bandit Kings don't need to feel."
Thin tendrils of color attached to his back, his frozen wings, his hands, his legs, the back of his head. He felt his body go numb wherever they touched and took hold. He felt so cold, but he couldn't shiver anymore.
"And all the Bandit King needs to do is steal. All we need to do is steal."
As the cat's torn body rose, he was ordered to rise by the strings of color. Like a marionette, the cat set his limp body on his feet by tugging on the threads of hues.
"You don't need anyone else."
Suddenly Stir and Cassis appeared before them, their weapons drawn.
Upon the command of the filaments, his right hand snapped too fast to his side, his hand turned down too hard to summon his blade.
Stir and Cassis took fighting positions.
"…no…I don't…want…" he whispered weakly, but his faint words were swallowed by the all-too-wide smile of his mask.
"We don't need anyone else," hissed the cat.
With a few jerks of the strings, his body was compelled to rush forward, the surface of his metallic blade reflecting the colors and the cat's sneering false face.
IIIIII
Jing wasn't sure what broke the nightmare, but it was probably the screams.
When he opened his eyes, there was nothing but blue light, blue light from the blue flames that engulfed everything. It didn't feel hot, oddly, but maybe that was just him feeling cold. Then there were the screeches, the wails of the trees that were now the food, the lifeblood of this unnatural blaze. Voices grew and faded, but the river of screams itself never ceased.
Then he realized he was being carried by Razekar, with the others all around them. They were running at full speed.
"…What's going on?" he asked.
Razekar paid a quick glance to the gray-eyed boy he was carrying, looking a tad bit surprised.
"Well, look who's finally awake! You've had the old bird and the ladies worried sick, you know," the lanky thief stated, slowing down. "Think you can walk?"
"Yep," the Bandit King replied, slipping out of Razekar's grasp, landing on ground gracefully, and dashing ahead to Stir and Cassis.
"Jing!" both called out, looking relieved.
A certain dark avian also hovered over to him.
"Hey, you're okay!" Kir chirped. "I knew you'd pull out of it! When I get my hands on that Sherry…"
"Sherry?"
"Yeah, there was something in the woods…"
"Of course there was! It was Sherry! I saw her lurking in the woods, right after you fell asleep," the black albatross explained. "She must've put you under some kind of spell or something, because we couldn't wake you up, even with all the fire around…"
"Why is the forest on fire, by the way?" Jing interjected almost innocently.
"Oh, Falcon did that," Dalios answered dryly. "He broke us all out and then went over to that big burning tree. He took a stick, put the tip of it in that blue fire, and starting lighting up trees with it. Said it couldn't be put out, so it'd be great for punishing the trees with."
Suddenly a burning branch began to fall.
"Look out!" shouted Razekar, abruptly glowing white with power and firing a lightningbolt. The thunderjolt incinerated the plummeting branch, and struck the ancient burning tree whose flames had been the source of the blue blaze all around them. The surface bark cracked, and vivid colors freely bled from the wound.
Dalios's eyes narrowed.
Just a crack and color spills out? Jing had to dig a good deal into the cave wall before he even got a trickle. And all these other trees are burning and falling apart, but there's not a drop of color from them. So why does this tree leak color so easily? Unless…
"Raze!" the white-haired youth yelled. "Aim more lightning bolts at that tree!"
"Eh?" replied the thief with mismatched eyes.
"But what if the tree falls on us?!" Kir exclaimed. "And what good would it do us anyway? We gotta get outta here!"
Jing studied the injured tree for a bit, and then grabbed Kir with his right arm. The black albatross instantly metamorphosed into gun mode, and was pointed at the ancient tree.
"Jing, what're you-"
"I think Dalios may be onto something," replied the gray-eyed boy, as the world cackled with azure light all around them. "You ready, Kir? Razekar?"
"Yeah, I'm ready," the young man with golden-orange hair answered, charging up once more.
"I don't really get this," the dark avian grumbled. "But whatever, I'm ready."
Jing smirked as the thieving duo began to give off green light to fend off the overwhelming blue. White electricity gathered in Razekar's palms.
"Give me a Kir Royale!"
"Hiyaaaaaah!"
The dual energy attacks struck the center of the trunk of the burning tree. The bark gave way, and buckets of color burst forth from the broken tree. And with all that color washed up Falcon, the real Falcon.
The world's colors inverted.
All the vengeful flames, the incessant screams of the plants, the coiling smoke, froze like a memory put on ice when the hues warped. Dalios and Razekar had rushed over to where the real Falcon was getting up and shaking his head.
"Ooh man, what kinda freaky dream was that?" the fair-haired fighter moaned as he gathered his bearings. "Haven't dreamt about that place in forever. And what was everyone doing there? They never…"
"Hey Falcon, you okay?" asked Razekar, as Falcon shook off the remaining liquid hues that were slipping off him.
"My head kinda hurts, but otherwise I'm okay," answered the cobalt-clad Chesirian. "What happened anyway? And where-"
Falcon froze as he finally saw his snapshot-stopped surroundings for the first time.
"W-What? But this place, I…"
"Yeah, we know," Razekar interrupted. "We saw it. We kinda ended up having a trip through your head. Not of our own free will, mind you."
The blue-eyed blonde averted his gaze to the color-soaked ground.
"Then you guys…"
Snapping sounds were heard as cracks formed across the white sky, the stagnant flames, the ancient tree itself.
"…I'm sorry…you had to see that…"
Then everything broke, shattering like gunshot glass. As the fragments fell away, the overwhelming sea of hues was slowly revealed, searing to the eyes and mind. As the last fragments were reabsorbed into the vivid essence, everyone found themselves falling, falling…
54th Shot: Nowhere Boy
Next thing they were aware of, all of them were falling headfirst in a sapphire-blue realm, whitish whirlpools spinning rapidly below.
"Uh…where are we?" Falcon asked dumbly, staring at the whirlpools below.
"Don't ask me," Dalios growled, leering at the area below with his arms crossed. "But I'm willing to bet it'll really suck if we end up in one of those whirlpools..."
"Probably," Jing replied casually, blazing coat flapping behind him as he fell. "Kir, lend me your wings."
"Uh, I'd love to, but…"
The black-haired boy looked over to the black albatross, wrapped up tightly in a straightjacket.
"Hmm…that is a problem…"
"Get ready, fellas!" Razekar warned. "We're about to take the plunge."
The whirlpools were almost on top of them.
Only, as the gang under Pharos soon found out, they weren't really whirlpools.
Instead, they landed, hard, one the smooth surface of one of the larger so-called whirlpools, which was more akin to glass than water. Several times they were spun around before being flung off in all different directions, landing on smaller and slow-twirling discs.
"Ooooh…"
"My head…"
"Too much spinning…"
"What happened…?"
"Somebody make this stupid thing stop…"
"...guess it was better than hitting water, anyway…"
"What is with this place, anyway?"
"I wanna get off…"
Lying flat on his back, Jing looked up to where they had fallen from.
"Look, there's an exit up there," he stated, pointing upward without getting up.
The others looked up as well.
The whirlpools were a part of a long spiraling chain that steadily went upward. At the very top was a white speck of light among the dark blue. Right then they were on the next-to-last set of glass discs.
"Sounds good to me!" Falcon chirped, somewhat unsteadily getting to his feet. "Well, let's get start-"
The disc under Falcon's feet suddenly sped up, causing him to topple over face first.
"...ed."
Stir sighed.
"This is going to be interesting…"
IIIIII
"WAAAAAH!"
Kir, still a prisoner to his straightjacket, plummeted from one of the higher swirling discs and onto the glass whirlpool that Cassis was attempting to balance on. She tripped over the dark avian instead, letting out a yelp as before she belly-flopped onto the glass whirlpool.
"This is getting really annoying…" grumbled the scarred blonde, as she began to pick herself up, again.
"Tell me about it," agreed Dalios, as he and Rolly were running like hamsters on a treadmill on the rapidly-spinning disc he was on. The disc soon stopped, giving the red-clad boy and his dog a chance to catch their breath, and then both were jerked off their feet as it began to spin just as fast in the opposite direction. The emerald-eyed boy groaned while the orange corgi whined.
"I dunno, I think it's kinda fun," replied Razekar, carefully jumping from one spinning whirlpool to another. "Good exercise."
"Speak for yourself," growled Falcon, falling over once again as the crystal disc he was on sped up without warning. "I think I'm gonna hurl…"
"Well, don't hurl on me then," the young man with golden-orange hair responded casually.
"But you know, we got all those injuries when were fighting those vampire plants," Dalios began, noticing Falcon wince at his words. "But once we got here, they were all gone. Not even any stains on our clothes…"
"You know, you got a point," Razekar stated, examining his clothes and tripping on the whirlpool's grooves while he was distracted. "Maybe going to a new place resets your health? After all, that world wasn't real…"
Jing, up above, was vigilantly steadying himself on an especially large disc. Just as he stabilized his balance, Stir came flying from the left and crashed into him, knocking him over like a bowling pin and leaving them both sprawled out on the disc.
"You two behave yourselves up there!" Razekar called from below, smirking.
"Well perhaps you should mind your own business," the Bandit King answered back, looking down at the lanky young man through the mostly-see-through glass disc.
"If I don't mind your business, I'm sure Miss Cassis will do it for me," the thief with golden-orange hair answered.
The gray-eyed boy seemed to think about this for a moment.
"True. Oh well."
The boy in the blazing coat managed to get back to his feet and dusted himself off. Then his gaze wandered over to the princess's silver eyes and lingered there for a few moments.
You don't need anyone else.
The black-haired boy shook his head. Stir gave him a curious look. The disc they were standing on was beginning to shrink.
"Go ahead," he told her, smiling. "I'll be right there."
Stir stayed where she was, watching him.
He found himself in her silver eyes again. He couldn't look away.
We don't need anyone else.
He shook his head more vigorously.
"Jing?" she asked. The disc was about half its original size.
"I'm fine. Just go."
They always leave. They always do.
But I don't want to lose them. I want them to stay.
"No, you're not fine!" Stir cut in. "You weren't fine in the void, you weren't fine when you couldn't wake up in Falcon's world, and you're not fine now. What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"Stop lying!"
For a moment he was back in the dream, pinned under his wings of ice, with no one…
I don't want…to be…
"Uh, guys, you might wanna move," Falcon's voice spoke from somewhere below.
Jing and Stir eyed their spinning disc. It had just stopped, and was maybe a couple feet wide.
Which meant…
The little whirlpool began to swirl at a blinding rate, sending the Bandit King and silver-eyed princess flying in opposite directions as the disc became large again. Jing crashed onto a whirlpool that Kir was on and knocked the black albatross off the disc, sending him flying into Razekar's face. Stir landed on a glass disc surrounded by many more small glass discs. If she had gone just a little farther, she would've been able to knock Cassis off her feet.
While Stir tried to regain her footing, she noticed a familiar silhouette on one of the other discs nearby. It was a suit of crimson armor with the head shaped like a lioness's, holding a sword. In fact, it looked just that that armor she wore at the last Mascorrida in Zaza. But that armor had been broken long ago, and there was no face to be seen under the shadow of the lioness's mouth…
The armor took a battle pose, so she and Cassis did the same. They remained motionless for a few moments, seeing who would strike first and what weaknesses the opponent might have. Then, when that time had passed, the metal lioness lunged at the dark-clad warrior.
IIIIIII
Jing saw the colors running down the whirlpools before he saw the cat itself. It dripped sickening from one disc to another, a sluggish stream of hues. A tendril rose from the vivid liquid and lashed out at him. He barely evaded it through a swift jump upward, and watched as the whirlpool struck began to be overcome by the ethereal essence. As he hopped from whirlpool to whirlpool, they shattered under his feet, preventing an estranged Kir, or anyone else, from following.
As he landed on a clean, higher-placed disc, he saw Cassis and Stir attacking the cat with the torn body and false face, dueling in the overwhelming liquid hues. The feline was connected to the thick substance by several tendrils coming out of its ripped belly. The silver-eyed princess made very few strikes, instead constantly leaping back and parrying against nothing. Cassis struck several blows against the cat's torn body, but it had no effect since the cat's body had long been broken. Neither of them seemed to notice how the living colors creeping up their legs, getting splashed on their arms…
The Bandit King cringed inwardly: What were they doing? The cat would drag both of them under the colors at this rate.
The boy in the blazing coat threw himself into the fight.
He carefully danced around the brilliant hues, aiming for the small patches that were still untainted. The black-haired thief saw the feline with the purple-and-green mask turn in his direction and snicker at him. The two girls spotted him as well, both of them giving him a very confused look.
"…Jing, what are you doing?" asked Stir.
"You know, you look pretty stupid, hopping around like that," stated Cassis, now starting to look annoyed.
"I'm trying to not step in the colors," Jing explained, almost missing a clear patch. "You should be avoiding them too."
Stir and Cassis looked around, and then gave him a blank stare.
"…What colors?" asked Cassis
He could see the cat snickering behind him, more loudly this time.
"The colors, like the colors that came out of the cave wall and the burning tree!" Jing snapped. "If you keep standing in it like that, you'll go numb and it'll take you under!"
"…Jing, are you feeling allright?" questioned Stir. "You were acting kinda weird earlier…"
"I'm fine," he reassured swiftly, keeping his gaze on the cat, hovering toward him with its big fake smile. Couldn't Stir and Cassis see the colors? At the very least they should be able to feel its coldness, see the frost cloaking their breath…
He could see it, though, even if they couldn't. The bandit with steel eyes could see his own breath become white and frozen as he summoned forth his blade. He knew he had to kill the creature, kill the cat before it took them, even if he had to let the colors stain him in order to do it. Now this time he had to make sure it stayed dead…
He rushed forward with abandon, feeling the vivid essence's icy touch sink into his legs. The constant spinning of the disc made it impossible to run straight, and the slick hues threatened to trip him up at every step. The cat simply waited, mocking him with that manic grin.
"Jing, wait!"
"What are you doing? It'll-"
But the Bandit King hardly heard them as he dashed across the brilliant essence.
Suddenly a single tendril of color rose up from the surface of hued liquid and slammed down on the left side of Jing's chest.
IIIIII
It was a nasty slash, Cassis could tell that much.
She watched Jing leap away from the "forest fairy", bearing three long red stripes down the left side of his chest from the creature's sharp claws. He took a defensive position.
The wooden monster was oddly swift and humanoid for its kind. Its limbs were unusually long and thin, making look almost comical. There were three sharp and lengthy fingers on each forelimb, and three thick and pointed toes on its feet. Strings of willow leaves grew out of the back of its head, the leafy hair only slightly shorter than the body itself. Its unchanging, snarling face had yellow-green moss growing on it. The eyes were red points surrounded by black.
She was covered with scratches and slashes herself. Alone the injuries weren't too bad, hurting and bleeding little, but they built up quickly. Stir has also been scratched, and was using, in Cassis's opinion, far too many bandages to cover her wounds. The bleeding wasn't that bad…
She charged and struck at the so-called forest fairy with her bat. The bark-skinned creature blocked her assault by crossing its wooden arms. It tried to counter with a slash, but she jumped back to avoid it. She was hissed at as she regained her balance on the ever-turning disc, and had only just stabilized her footing before she saw it pouncing forward. This time the scarred blonde stopped the attack by hitting the wooden monster with her bat and knocking it aside. The creature screeched.
The blue-eyed bat-wielder wondered where Stir had gotten off to. She wasn't one to run from a fight…
"Jing, stay still!"
Cassis paid a glance behind her and saw Jing kneeling down on one leg. Stir was next to him, wrapping his long wound with what Cassis thought was too much bandaging, while the Bandit King muttered something about the living colors creeping too close for his liking. He really did look awful, though. Why was he shaking so badly, drenched in sweat, with his breath growing so ragged? All he had gotten was a nasty scratch…
Her heart skipped a beat.
It couldn't be poison, could it? It wouldn't be out of the question. There were plenty of poisonous plants around, after all…
Her glance back had taken just a second too long. Just as she turned around she was slashed by the creature's long claws. She quickly leapt onto another nearby whirlpool, holding her cheek and glaring at the creature. She felt some hot crimson stick to her fingers.
But if the last strike had poisoned Jing…
She staggered back and tried not to fall, as her head began to swim and her body began to shake uncontrollably. The so-called forest fairy leapt onto the disc she was on with perfect grace. Taking a battle pose, she let smirk creep onto her face.
I knew this was too easy.
She charged forward with a loud yell.
IIIIIII
What does she think she's doing?
Stir was finishing wrapping up Jing's long, deep cut while she watched Cassis fight against the suit of crimson lioness armor. The bat-wielding blonde was on the full offensive, which the silver-eyed princess thought was foolish. Leaving herself open like that made her vulnerable to sword slashes, and her wooden bat wasn't going to do much to the living steel shell. She already had quite a few deep, bleeding wounds, and judging by the way she was slipping on the spinning disc and running of breath, the wounds were taking their toll. She had offered to bandage them up earlier, but the blue-eyed blonde said they were just scratches. Just scratches, she said…
"What's she doing…she'll be swallowed…"
She turned to Jing as he stumbled onto his feet, still shivering.
"What are you talking about?"
"The colors, she'll be swallowed by the colors …" the Bandit King growled. "The colors are spreading everywhere…"
"Jing, I told you, there are no colors," the platinum-haired warrior replied with irritation. "If those colors were here, we'd be able to see them like we did in Falcon's world."
Suddenly, oblivious to her words, he pulled Stir back and slashed at empty air.
"What are you-"
"I said to watch out for these color tendrils," the steel-eyed thief hissed, cutting rapidly at the unfilled space. "You're stained badly enough as it is…"
"Jing, stop it!" the silver-eyed princess cried out, holding him back. He was soaked with sweat and freezing to the touch. "There's nothing there!"
"But the colors-"
They had no choice but to split up, as the metal lioness dived down from above to cut them in half. Jing staggered not far off, kneeling down again and trying to catch his breath. Cassis followed moments later, narrowly avoiding falling over when she landed. Her breathing was short and harsh. The scarred blonde launched herself at the living hollow shell, but her attacks were increasingly sloppy. Another strike landed on her shoulder, making her cry out.
She won't last long at this rate.
Stir charged forward, blocking a slash that was about to strike down Cassis.
"I'll take it from here," the dark-clad warrior told the blue-eyed blonde.
"I don't need your help!"
A quick stab slipped past Stir and grazed Cassis's arm. The blue-eyed girl tried to wrap some cloth around the wound, but her hand was shaking badly.
"Of course not," Stir remarked coldly, swiping at the metal lioness with her sword. It blocked the strike with its own weapon.
The bat trembled violently in the scarred blonde's sweat-soaked hands.
"Don't treat me like some weak little kid," she hissed breathlessly, flashes of fire flaring across her mind as she glared at both Stir and the hollow steel suit. "I can take you down any day!"
She rushed forward with her bat raised high and a scream erupting from her throat.
The crimson armor also dashed forward, almost faster than the eye could trace it.
Stir hastily knocked Cassis to the ground, causing the blonde's bat to fly out of her hands and skid halfway across the disc. The dark-clad warrior swiftly guarded against the enemy's sword with her own blade. However, the hurried position of her weapon was poor, and the blade was sent flying out of her grasp. It landed point-first right next to Cassis's bat. A quick slash to the leg, and the princess was kneeling before her opponent.
Then the sword of the metal lioness glowed gold, morphing into an oversized gilded magnifying glass with no glass in the lens socket. Slowly, the burning glass was raised.
IIIIII
The draining effects of the colors on the two of them were taking their toll on them, Jing could tell.
Stir was holding the leg that the cat, that damn cat, had the nerve to bite and infect with its colors. Her fallen weapon was being consumed by the vivid liquid, the tendrils twisting around it like snakes. And all those color stains were enveloping her all the faster…
Cassis was lying on the color-drenched disc, immersed in sweat and rainbow essence, staying in the same place where she had been knocked down. The vibrant hues on the glass whirlpool were steadily creeping up her clothes and her long hair. Her bat had also been long lost to the brilliant colors. All she did was lay there, breathing hard and shaking…
And there was that cat, that ugly, malformed cat, hovering over them and snickering in that hissy, high-pitched voice. The color was everywhere, leaving nowhere on the disc untouched, and dripping down to other discs below.
A tendril of the vibrant essence rose up from out of the sheet of color behind the cat. It began to shine gold, and molded itself into the shape of a giant golden burning glass. It swayed behind the torn feline like a misshapen tail.
If he didn't do something…
A flash to the Mascorrida, where Stir lay unconscious in her broken armor.
If he didn't do something…
A flash to a wall of raging fire, the screech of Cassis's screams, his own screams.
If he didn't…
The cat swished the gilded magnifying glass mockingly over the two girls' heads, its frozen smile looming down at them. It lifted its head and looked at him, and then quietly snickered. It deliberately paused the burning glass over Stir and snickered evilly, and then moved the burning glass over Cassis and snickered evilly again. It kept on doing this, snickering each time it paused over one of the girls.
…do something…
Then the gilded magnifying glass with no lens swung down, creating a blur of gold, and there was a sudden inversion of color.
IIIIIII
They hadn't even seen him move in to take the blow.
Jing stood before the two girls, his body trembling as shadow-gold energy twisted around his form. Their enemy lifted up the golden burning glass, chuckling softly. Cassis heard chuckling that was dry and crackly. Stir heard her own chuckling.
As the adversary vanished into shining dust, the Bandit King collapsed.
"Jing!" they called out, only barely hearing the others shouting to them below. They hurried over to the boy in the blazing coat the fastest they could with their injuries. At least the whirlpools weren't spinning anymore…
The boy in the blazing coat opened his eyes groggily as he felt the girl's shadows floating over him.
"Are…are you allright…Cassu…Stir…" he whispered, smiling faintly.
Then, as the Bandit King's gray eyes slipped shut, everything began to break. The glass discs shattered one by one at a brisk rate, the pieces melting into colors as they fell. The dark blue around them began to be swallowed by black patches rapidly infecting it. Their own disc was smashed under them, dumping them and the unconscious Jing into a free-fall.
As the last of the deep blue was consumed by the black, several thin strings of color formed in the air, loosely orbiting around the sleeping thief. Their rotation grew faster and closer, blending into one another and forming a liquid cocoon around him.
"Jing!" they called out, but there was no response as the vibrant essence seeped over the last of the holes in the fluid shell. It began to glow slightly.
Then all the black around them exploded into color, and then they knew no more.
I know the battle at the very end was probably confusing, but hopefully you got a better idea of what was going on as the battle progressed and POVs were switched around. If not, it'll be better explained later on. The next chapter needs some editing, so it may be awhile before its posted, though hopefully not as long as it took to post this chapter. Hang in there guys!