Chapter 12: Tricking a Trickster
Rom's unconscious head rested against Yozakura's shoulder, a tense breeze flew through the forest, chilling Yozakura's spine. With her friend Shiki beside her, they stood across from the large metallic menace, CFW Trick.
"Now, now, Tricksty. Surely we can like, be reasonable here. What's your damage with this kid anyhow?" Shiki asked.
"I will give you persistent broads one last chance. Give me the kid and we can both walk away from this peacefully. I'll even forgive that little inappropriate hook you delivered to me earlier." Trick glared at them, baring his black teeth.
"I would rather you break half the bones in my body… then watch this child be violated by your corrupt, unscrupulous filth!" Yozakura flared up.
"Hmph. Very well." Trick's low, intimidating tone then exploded into an aggressive shout, "the HARD WAY IT IS!"
"Well then. One gauntlet in the treetops, one arm holding a kid, and a big, fat, grody, robot lizard on the other side. Ya got any plans, Yozie?" Shiki looked at her friend.
"Just one. Shinobi… Kekkai!" A scarlet sphere expanded around them all, the landscape changing to that of a more open, but uneven forest with lots of crevices and inlets.
"Huuhr!? WHAT IS THIS?! Some kind of illusion?!" Trick looked around as he tried to get a feel for his surroundings. Yozakura meanwhile had jumped over to a tree that had a small inlet at the base of it's trunk. Removing one of her sashes, she laid Rom down, using the sash as a pillow for her head.
"You'll be safe here, little one. I won't let them harm you." Yozakura looked fondly at her, kneeling down. Memories of brushing siblings teeth, making their beds, handing out pajamas, shushing them when they made too much noise as she read them bedtime stories, and tucking them all in one-by-one flashed in Yozakura's mind.
"Uh, Yozie." Shiki tapped her shoulder. "That's a nice Kekkai and whatnot, but big, bad, and yellow-bellied over there is like, not gonna sit still forever." The ground shook, Yozakura and Shiki losing their balance as Trick jumped down from a sloped area.
"An impressive display. You might prove interesting to fight after all. But it will all be FRUITLESS IN THE END!" Trick roared.
"Shiki! Hold him off while I recover my gauntlet!" Yoza called out quickly. Shiki nodded running at Trick, who took the first strike. Shiki leapt to the left, feeling the ground vibrate as Trick's massive tongue slammed the ground like a hammer.
"Like, Eeeww! Gag me with a spoon, you use your tongue as a weapon too?! Don't you ever like… feel grossed out?" Shiki then jumped upwards aiming to strike at his head when Trick's tongue whipped around pursuing Shiki's path. Shiki yelped as the tongue knocked her down into the leaves and grass below. Quickly sitting up, she rolled over as he tried to whip her.
"Now… HOLD STILL you old hag!" Trick yelled,
"As if! And who the hey ya callin' old hag, huh?" Shiki retorted as she rolled over, avoiding another strike to jump back on her feet.
"NOT SO FAST!" Trick called out. Shiki then saw Trick's tongue whip around to where Yozakura was attempting to sneak by. Yozakura jumped upward and, with her left gauntlet, brought her fist down onto Trick's tongue, to which the large felon let out an incredibly derpy yelp.
Shiki couldn't help but giggled before breaking out into laughter. "Yozie! Like, do that again, girlfriend. That was like, toootally hilarious." Yozakura's grimace showed annoyance as she sighed Shiki's name. "Oh! Yeah right!"
Trick retracted his tongue. "You barbaric wench! Just wait till I-… huh?!" Trick looked back to see Shiki riding a red mist led by a swarm of bats. Smashing into him, Trick was knocked back, some marks on his armor showing from the attack. "That was a dirty trick!"
"Says the guy whose name means liaarrr~. Like, you use your tongue to fight. I don't wanna hear it coming from you." Shiki spun her scythe to her sassy tone, before lunging at Trick, spinning it rapidly. Trick hopped backwards before using his tongue to knock Shiki's weapon out of her grip. "Huh?! EEP!" Shiki felt squeezed to the bones as Trick's tongue restrained her.
Trick growled, "I'm going to teach YOU the same lesson I taught Rommy-poo! A little paralysis should shut your smart mouth RIGHT UP!" Shiki struggled, but upon hearing the word paralysis, her body began to shake, unable to tell if the effect had already begun to happen or if the mere mention of it sent her into fear.
"OORGH!" Trick yelled as a pair of fists smashed into his side, making him roll over on his Tummy. Yozakura and Shiki both landed on their feet.
"Thanks, Yozie." Shiki said, grabbing her weapon.
"Enough talk, Shiki. We need to protect Rom, so let us finish this!" Yozakura ran at Trick, who was trying to roll back upwards.
"Tch. What's her damage?" Shiki pouted, but ran after Yozakura, who knocked Trick off balance again, sending him rolling. Yozakura jumped into the air for another strike, Shiki following after her. But a grounded Trick sent his tongue upward like a rocket, smacking both Shiki and Yoza back down to the ground, knocking them down on their rears.
"Oh NOW you old hags have gone and DONE IT!" Trick rolled back upwards with an angry grunt.
"Oowww… So much for that gentlemanly behavior." Shiki groaned, getting on her feet, only to look up and now see Yozakura writhing in pain as Trick's tongue tightened around her.
"I'm going to make sure those arms of yours never move again!" Trick growled as Yozakura began screaming. Trick cackled, "Now you know how a tube of toothpaste feels. Maybe I should make you my bruuush~"
"YOZIE!" Shiki tried taking several slashes at Trick, but to little avail.
"Hah! Your weapon is USELESS against my armor. Watch helplessly as I crush your friend! And to add insult to injury…" Trick turned to Yozakura, "How about a little poison?" Yozakura's screams slowly began to turn to a desperate gasp as tears choked from her eyes. Shiki rapidly looked around, thinking for a solution. That's it! Running behind Trick, she threw her scythe at a moderately thick tree which was already leaning and rotting at the base.
"Come on, come on!" Shiki's heart raced, throwing the scythe again and again boomerang style, sweat dripping down her as she looked back at Yozakura, the life painfully being wrung from her. Shiki dashed at the tree, sending her blades into it with all the force she could muster, the tree then crumbling over.
"Nani? I mean, what?!" Trick looked back over his head only to have the tree come down on him. "AYEEEEEEE!"
Yozakura rolled as she was released from his tongue. Shiki ran over to her comrade, who was breathing heavily, her torso to the ground. "YOZIE! Yozie, please be alright!" Yozakura groaned, slowly struggling to her feet, Shiki helping her up with a hand. Yozakura caught her breath and thanked Shiki, but the moment she did she almost scolded her. "Just what the hell happened, Yozie?! I know speed isn't exactly, like, in your frame data, but I also know you too well to know you could've gotten out of the way!"
"Mm! Well, if you must know I just… looked over to make sure Rom was okay!"
"Like, for realsies? Yozie, you are letting your motherly emotions for that kid get in the damn way!"
"I-… I am NOT!"
"Yeah, you like, totally are. If you care so much about that kid, you think she's gonna fare well if you're DEAD?!" Shiki barked. Yozakura went silent, Shiki placing an arm around her shoulder. "I ain't one much for philosophy, but sometimes a little selfishness can be a very selfless thing to do."
"You're… right Shiki… I'm sorry. But one thing doesn't make sense." Yozakura then squinted Shiki some hesitant eyes. "Frame data? Just what did you actually say back there?"
"Uum… I don't really know, it just kinda came out." Shiki shrugged. A shadow engulfed the spot where they stood prompting Shiki and Yoza to look up, leaping out of the way of a tree. Shiki's eyes followed the tree over to Trick's hand's, the strange face-like encasing above his head had now been cracked in half, sparking.
"Now you've done it. I will send both of you uppity broads straight to the underworld!" Trick gripped his hands into the tree bark so that it cracked. Yozakura winced as she moved her leg. Her whole body felt like yeast through the roller, the poison beginning to itch. When Shiki asked if she could still fight, Yozakura gave her a reassuring look and nodded. The girls ducked and dodged as Trick tried a few more times to club them with the loose tree. At one point, Shiki jumped on the trunk as Trick smashed it into the ground and rode a bloody mist of bats straight into his face.
"OOOOOIIIIIIII!" Trick yelped, his eyes would have been popping if they could, to which Shiki began laughing. Shiki looked up to see Trick's tongue about to pound her when it stopped midway. Looking down, She saw that Yozakura had a hold of Trick's tongue, struggling to keep it held in place. "Oh come on, that isn't very ladylike of you."
"Shiki! Now!" Yozakura's arms trembled, the poison creating a prickling feeling just below her skin.
"Sure, sure YozieeeeAAH!" Shiki grabbed onto a branch as Trick attempted to shake her off of the tree.
"OH no you don't! I am not falling for the same trick TWICE! Why do ya think they call me TRICK?!"
"Caaauuseee Ayyeeeee… You're Waaaahh… G-g-gullibllllleee!" Shiki shouted dizzily. Trick growled, throwing the tree off to his right. Shiki managed to let go, but tripped her landing, rolling and spraining her ankle a bit.
Yozakura could feel her grip on Trick's tongue loosening as her breathing became heavier, sweat dripping down the side of her cheek and onto her neck as if a warning sign of the energy leaking out of her. "You must realize by now… that YOU cannot win." Trick's green eyes glared into Yozakura's, but she held her ground.
"Don't be so certain." Yozakura yanked hard on Trick's tongue her direction before letting go, causing it to whip Trick in the face, Shiki immediately following up by taking several slashes at his vulnerable licker. Trick screamed as his tongue unraveled, slightly hitting Shiki by accident.
Shiki landed about 7 Meters (25 Feet) from Yozakura, "Like Yowztacular. For all that tongue lashing we gave him a tongue slashing, eh Yozie?... Yozie?" Shiki ran closer to Yozakura, who's breath was heavier. She coughed, Shiki making out a barely noticeable purple mist from her breath as Yozakura scratched all over her body.
"I think the poison's getting to me, Shiki… If I go… please… protect Rom. Tell Yumi, Murakumo, Minori… tell them what you saw." Yozakura leaned on Shiki.
"Y-yozie! No! No, you can't leave us!" Shiki's eyes began filling with tears.
"I didn't say I was leaving, you idiot!" Yozakura glared up at Shiki with pouting lips. "I just said if. I'll just grab an antidote back at Gessen." Trick slurped his giant tongue into his mouth, moving it around inside. "But I'll be damned… if I let someone like that… do what he wants… with someone like her." Yozakura and Shiki both looked back at Rom, who appeared to be sleeping soundly.
Trick let his tongue loose, which was now mostly healed from the cuts, but still had marks where Shiki slashed him. In a slow, imposing manner, he hopped towards the girls "I must say you've proven to be quite the challenge indeed. But I'm going to end this! And make sure you meddling Guild broads NEVER INTERFERE AGAIN!"
"Guild? Like, whuuuuut?" Shiki raised an eyebrow.
"Last Resort Ninja Art." Yozakura barely muttered the words.
"Speak your last words louder! I can't hear you!" Trick said.
"Namu… AMIDA!" a long, wavy pair of ghost-like, golden fists emerged from Yozakura's gauntlets, extending towards Trick. Trick shot out his tongue response, but with one fist, Yozakura parried the strike and with the other hand, grabbed his tongue.
"Wha?! This again!? AAGHEYAYAGGLLLL!" Trick yelped as the Golden Fists tied his tongue up into a knot before punching him repeatedly.
"To all those who corrupt good, may justice reign down like a hammer!" Trick shrieked as Yozakura continued to land blow after blow before finally retracting both golden fists only to send them into one final double punch, sending Trick flying across the park, the Shinobi Kekkai deactivating.
"YEAAAH! That was like totes bitchin' Yozie!" Shiki cheered, but her cheers were short-lived as she looked to her friend, who coughed a light cloud of purple.
"Come on, Shiki… help me… get her back to Gessen." Yozakura coughed as she stumbled over to Rom, picking her up in her arms.
Shiki reached her arms out. "Here. Let me, Yozie. You're too injured."
"But Shiki!"
"Don't fight it, Yozie. You take care of us all the time, it's my turn to care for you, come on." Shiki gave a smile to which Yozakura nodded, staggering along with her friend.
Author's Note: Ironic that my shortest chapter so far (this one) is up against the longest chapter so far, (the previous chapter). Again, any feedback is appreciated.