Tales of Mysterra I

Chapter 37-The Army's Intervention

"Is the coast clear?"

Renji slowly poked his head out from the hut identified as Teresa and Victor's house, glancing down both sides of the street. "...yeah. We're good."

At this time, Teresa slowly stepped out of the house, dressed in a black cloak not dissimilar to the one Renji wore, the both of them wearing hoods over their faces. "Don Patch, remember. You can't speak at ALL, got it?"

"I can't have that!" a muffled voice shouted from the pocket of Teresa's coat, prompting her to growl and try to cover it up. "You can't stifle greatness!"

Renji gave off a scowl and turned towards Teresa, uttering, "If we don't 'stifle greatness', then said greatness will be dead, got it? The Celestial Alliance will find and kill you."

A few moments passed in silence, Renji's words having seemingly made an effect on Don Patch. "...I'll be good," he uttered rather quietly.

"Good boy," Renji murmured, turning around and beckoning for Teresa to follow. "Come on, we'll have to be quick."

A nod from the dragonness, and the duo began rushing silently through the streets, trying to evade the attention of any passerbys. A few minutes passed and Renji looked up, murmuring, "There..."

Teresa looked up as well, taking notice of the tall, metal tower-like structure where several zeppelins were set up along the edges of large walkways, people going to and fro the structure. "The zeppelin station," she murmured, glancing at Renji as they began approaching the building.

"We'll get on a zeppelin to the town in Twilight Plains. I've already got our credentials sorted out, so we'll have no problem actually getting through," Renji murmured lowly. "The only issue would be getting through a security check...if they find Don Patch, we'll be done for."

"I don't think we'll need to worry about that too much," Teresa murmured lowly, looking up ever so slightly. "We'll be fine, so long as he keeps quie-"

"I'm hungry!" The orange blob's timely shouting prompted Teresa to cover him back up and earn some curious glances from those around them. "Feed me! Feed me!"

Teresa gave off an irate growl, bending down to his location and hissing, "What did we just tell you about being quiet?"

"But I'm huuuuuuuuuuuuungry!" the blob whined back, thrashing about and causing Teresa to growl steadily louder.

Renji gave off a sigh, rubbing his face and glancing back at Teresa. "Our zeppelin doesn't arrive for a little while longer...go ahead and fetch him something so he'll shut up and doesn't compromise our entire operation."

Teresa glanced back at the shinigami, pausing for a moment before sighing irritably. "Fine..." She began walking off, uttering to her pocket, "If we get caught I'm denying any association with you."

Renji gave off a slight sigh and glanced back at the schedule, staring at the time given for their zeppelin to arrive. Thirty minutes passed. The shinigami gave a slight frown once he noticed five minutes were all that was left of the wait time. "...where the hell are they...?"

He promptly turned around and began wandering through the building, looking around and calling, "Teresa? Teresa! Where are you?"

His attention was diverted when he noticed a slightly opened door, a sign on the front of it reading "Do Not Open". Renji furrowed his brow; something about the scene caused him to gravitate towards it. He slowly poked his head out, stepping forth a little more and looking ahead at the expanse of plains before him. The door simply seemed to lead to an open portion outside of the town. It wasn't until Renji looked down that he noticed the few small droplets of blood on the ground. His eyes widened; they seemed fresh. "What the-"

Before Renji could finish his comment, an extremely heavy force was slammed onto his head, smashing the shinigami face-first into the ground, knocking him unconscious in an instant and generating a small nosebleed. His body gave off a tremble as the door was closed behind him, a rather deep, guttural and energetic laugh being heard above him. A rather large, round figure toting what seemed to be a massive hammer stood over him, a smirk being carved into the beak on its face. "Grahaha! Gotcha!"

The figure snapped its gloves fingers, calling, "Round 'em up!" With this comment, several small, round, orange creatures with rather docile faces arrived from behind the large figure, scooping up Renji and beginning to drag him away from the building, soon arriving at a cage hidden in the underbrush that an unconscious Teresa and Don Patch were already inside of. The shinigami was tossed inside, the large figure stepping forth again and laughing once more.

"Grahahaha! That was almost too easy!" A smirk once again found its way onto the figure's beak, and he mumbled lowly, "The Army's gonna love to get their mitts on you..."

-Meanwhile-

Tails, Chopper, and Patamon continued to walk through the forest path, the trees slowly opening up a bit more and the smell of salt becoming more and more evident in the area. Tails tilted his head back and took a few sniffs, uttering, "We're close..."

"Good," Chopper responded with a nod. "Once we get on the boat, we'll get back to the mainland, and there should be a zeppelin station we can use. Renji should be departing from Runisk at any moment now, so we'll be able to rendezvous without any diffi-"

Chopper didn't finish his sentence, instead abruptly changing to Heavy Point and draggging Tails and Patamon to the ground, right as several daggers flew overhead, almost spearing them. "Wh-what was that?" Patamon squealed in a panic, paws over his head as he looked up, trembling.

Tails glanced at Chopper slowly, the reindeer growling lowly and standing back up, calling, "We know you're there! Now quit hiding!"

A faint chuckle came from all around, Tails and Patamon slowly following Chopper to their feet. "Well well...I must admit, that was a little impressive. But will you be so lucky again?"

Suddenly, several figures appeared before the trio out of nowhere; all but one of them were clad completely in black. The other was a teen with somewhat long, gray hair tied in a ponytail with a pair of glasses on his face, a purple vest and slacks and a white undershirt decorating his body. Chopper's attention, however, was kept at the headband wrapped around his forehead, with a metal plate sticking from the front with the insignia of a music note on it; an eighth note, specifically. "Chopper, isn't it? It's been a while."

"You...you're with Orochimaru..." the reindeer growled, Tails slowly glancing back at him; that name again, the same that he had mentioned in Twilight Plains.

The ninja gave off a light chuckle, closing his eyes and nodding rather slowly. "Ah, you do remember me. I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't remember who you were on first glance, though." The human's gaze went to the rather stoic Tails and the visibly anxious Patamon, and he uttered, "Ah, your little friends don't know who I am...I am Kabuto Yakushi, right-hand man to the world famous missing-nin Orochimaru."

"And in line with the Army of Darkness to boot..." Chopper growled lowly, earning a shocked glance from Tails and Patamon. "What are you doing here?"

Kabuto gave off another slight chuckle, tilting his head back with a slight sigh. "Ah...isn't it obvious? I'm here to collect something that an associate of ours failed to take when he passed by here."

The image of Crocodile passed through Tails' mind, and he quickly pulled his namesakes towards him as if to try and protect the Chaos Emeralds stored within. "So you're here to pick up the pieces left behind by Crocodile?" Chopper remarked, holding up his fists slightly. "Don't count on it."

Patamon very slowly looked up as well, Kabuto giving off a wide smirk and chuckling lowly. "I am, actually...and there's little you can do about it." He proceeded to motion forward, uttering, "Take them."

All of the cloaked figures abruptly lunged forward at a high speed, Chopper crouching slightly with a light growl. "Get ready, you two!"

"Wh-what?" Patamon stammered in alarm, watching as Tails scooped him up before leaping into the air, two of the ninja leaping after him. A quick spin and Tails had kicked both of them away, down towards where Chopper was leaning away from several dagger swipes from two more. He managed to duck under the attackers and abruptly reverted to Walk Point, ramming his antlers into both ninja and sending them flying backwards. Tails landed at this time on Chopper's back, watching as several more began approaching. "Th-they're still coming!"

"Don't worry, we can handle them," Chopper responded, looking up at Tails. "On my mark, shoot straight for Kabuto, alright?"

Tails nodded in response, Chopper ducking down and warping to Heavy Point, grasping Tails in his hands as Patamon scrambled to Chopper's hat. "Heavy Vulpine Pitch!"

The ninja lunged towards Chopper, only for the reindeer to powerfully fling Tails at a high speed towards Kabuto. Using his downwards momentum, Chopper reverted back to Walk Point and jerked his head back, slamming into all of the ninja and sending them flying backwards; as they flew through the air, however, they abruptly vanished in a puff of smoke, Chopper looking back at them with a gasp. "Clones?"

Kabuto simply stared at the quickly approaching Tails, giving off a slight smirk and quickly reaching his hand forth. He managed to grab Tails' wrist in midflight, abruptly halting the fox's momentum and jerking him to an abrupt, a rather painful halt. Tails let out a rather shrill scream from the feeling of his arm being popped right out of its socket, dangling above the ground as Chopper and Patamon turned around to him. "T-Tails!" the little Digimon shrieked.

"Hmhmhm...such a risky tactic," Kabuto remarked, glancing down at the trembling and quickly tearing up Tails. "Of course, it'd rely on fast arms to stop it...but I am a ninja, so fast reflexes are all a part of what I do."

"Let him go!" Chopper shouted, stepping forth with a slight growl.

"Ah ah ah," Kabuto remarked, abruptly holding up one of his hands. A few quick movements of his hands, and it began glowing a faint blue, Chopper's eyes widening. "Don't make any sudden moves, we wouldn't want your little student to suffer even greater damage."

Chopper gave off another slight growl as Kabuto moved his glowing hand to Tails' throat, the fox opening his eyes in between winces and whimpers. Patamon's rather frightened and nervous gaze caught Kabuto's attention, and the ninja chuckled. "Curious? This is my Chakra Scalpel. Usually used as a medical jutsu, it's capable of creating incisions inside of the body without opening a wound, limiting the risk of an infection. However..."

"It can also be used offensively..." Chopper uttered, giving an irate growl and shiver. "To damage the insides of the body, killing the target from the inside..."

Patamon's eyes widened even further as Kabuto placed the glowing hand closer to Tails' neck, the fox's eyes widening a little further as some tears streamed onto Kabuto's hand. "Now then...I suggest you hand over the Chaos Emeralds, or your little friend here's going to die."

Chopper gave off another growl, trembling as his eyes trailed to Tails. The fox had, during this time, clenched his working arm into a fist, generating a light within it and forming a small, white object. The reindeer blinked as Tails managed to grunt, "I...don't...think so..."

Kabuto abruptly looked down as Tails flicked the small mouse-like machine towards him; the ninja's eyes widened and he quickly made a swiping motion towards Tails as the device exploded, sending them both flying from each other in the process. Tails toppled to a halt in front of Chopper, Patamon hopping down to his side and squeaking, "T-Tails!"

The fox gave off a tremble, now coughing hoarsely and beginning to spit up a fairly decent amount of blood. Chopper growled lowly, uttering, "He didn't make a lethal cut...but if we don't get him some help immediately, then it'll become fatal..."

Chopper looked back up, taking notice of Kabuto slowly standing up, his body slightly charred and burnt from the attack. "T-tch...damned mutt," he growled, turning towards the trio witgh an irate glare. "It looks like he's signed your death warrant."

With this comment, Kabuto lunged forth, both hands now enveloped in light. Chopper's eyes widened and he quickly scooped up Tails and Patamon, dashing towards Kabuto as well. "Patamon...get Tails to the port and get help!" the reindeer shouted, abruptly flinging them both behind Kabuto. The ninja looked around slightly, the distraction being enough for Chopper to grasp onto his forearms, putting him out of range of the glowing hands. Patamon and Tails toppled to a halt, the Digimon slowly looking up at Chopper, who shouted, "Go, now! I can't hold him off forever!"

Patamon began inching back slightly, holding onto Tails with a light whimper. The fox gave off another cough and spit up some blood, murmuring shakily, "C-...Captain...w-..."

"Go, NOW! That's an order!" Chopper shouted, Kabuto abruptly plowing his feet into Chopper's chest and knocking him onto his back. "QUICK!"

With little else to do, Patamon began attempting to drag Tails away, the fox managing to muster up the last of his strength to spin his namesakes about, propelling them away as Kabuto landed a short distance in front of them, holding up his glowing hands in defense. "You're not going anywhere."

"Oh yes we are..." Patamon mumbled shakily, taking a breath and causing his entire body to puff outwards as if it were a balloon. Kabuto blinked as Patamon abruptly spit out a blast of condensed air, shouting, "Boom Bubble!"

The attack impacted Kabuto with enough force to send him staggering backwards, enabling for Tails to slide in between his legs and slowly pick up speed, his disorientation conflicting with the adrenaline of the situation and enabling him to run somewhat sloppily through the path, occasionally tripping only to be kept going by his rotating namesakes. Kabuto looked around as the duo vanished from view, growling lowly, "Tch...got away."

"YAH!" Kabuto was quickly forced to turn around as Chopper lunged at him, fist wound up. "Heavy Gong!"

"I don't think so," the ninja remarked, barely able to evade Chopper's punch and plowing both glowing hands into his stomach, Chopper's eyes shooting open.

"G-guh..." The reindeer slowly slid down to his knees, reverting to Brain Point and trembling, his vision fading.

Kabuto looked down at him, furrowing his brow and scooping up the cervine, uttering, "Hmph...I might not have the Emeralds...but you might still prove your usefulness yet."

The ninja gave off a slight chuckle and closed his eyes, abruptly vanishing. Meanwhile, Tails and Patamon had managed to dash into the port, looking up at the boat they had planned to take. The machine gave off a dull, resounding horn blow that caused Patamon to gasp. "W-we're not going to make it!"

"Oh yes we are..." Tails uttered, now beginning to get light headed, his vision becoming hazy. With what strength he had left, he leaped off of the edge of the dock, managing to flop onto the ship behind some boxes, both of them panting heavily as the fox gave off a few more wet coughs, some more blood being splashed onto his front. "N-nn..."

"W-...we made it...!" Patamon stammered, quickly turning to Tails; his relieved expression turned to one of horror when he noticed the fox's slightly glassy eyes beginning to trail shut. "T-...Tails...?" Now genuinely panicked, the little creature began shaking him about, squealing, "Tails! TAILS! NO! SOMEONE! HELP! PLEASE!"