[DISCLAIMER: Total fantasy from my own brain. No real characters were used in this story, only fictional.
This chapter will feature much more Botan and Lamy (for my reviewer who reviews) and for all those others. Some kickass bros, Botan and Okayu. Our fave shrine maiden, Miko, and Pekora, Moona, and Korone at the end of the chapter.
CONGRATS ON 1M SUBS FAVORITE DOGGO! She will become the ultimate super-hero doggo. Please run to her channel and subscribe.
Happy Late Halloween, and Thanks for reading y'all!]
Chapter Five
Winds picked up, temperatures lowered, as the clouds rolled up in a hurry. Lightning struck in a chain across the sky, brightening everything, and then the thunder clapped rumbling extremely loud at the elevation.
"Storm is close," Okayu remarked. "Maybe we should move a little faster."
"Yeah."
They jog-walked up the mountain road.
Rain started quickly, falling with giant plops and then rushing toward them.
"I hate these storms up here."
Botan laughed at Okayu, looking wetter and wetter. "You're totally a cat."
"I just don't like water." She tightened the string on the hoodie of her raincoat.
They both chuckled along the road, having the habit of laughing when they felt uncomfortable. The eeriness was truly uncomfortable.
Botan held up her hand, causing them both to slow down.
"Did you hear that?"
Okayu spied around where they stood, when she saw a quickly moving shadow move to their left.
"Did you see that?"
Botan slowly pulled down her rifle. "Come on, let's get to the shrine."
Both their senses were on overdrive, listening and seeing things that were either there or not. The eerie darkness, and storm overhead, might have been playing tricks on them.
A low growl was definitely coming from the left.
"I know I heard that," Botan stated, moving faster. "Come on."
Several growls were low and in the trees to the left. Okayu pulled her small pistol out of the sleeve on her holster.
"Whatever is moving its quick," Botan stated holding her rifle forward. "When I say run, run."
Okayu nodded.
"Run!"
They took off up the mountain road, and were suddenly met with a dark creature up on the side to Botan's left. She pointed her rifle, waiting to fire in case it was a person from a nearby village.
It looked like a person, but deformed, and she realized it looked like the Primals from the Demon Realm, but was smaller and moved faster.
Botan stopped, pointing her rifle toward the thing.
"What is that?" Okayu stepped back, nearly tripping.
It was growling and leapt toward Botan, who shot.
It was fazed, but kept moving forward.
Okayu wanted to shoot, but it was close to Botan, biting at her rifle, which she used to block it's teeth.
"This thing's… relentless." Botan smacked across it's head with the butt of her rifle, pushing it back.
Okayu took the chance to shoot it again and it fell to the ground.
"Man, what is that?"
It started getting back up.
"Whoa," Okayu shot again, three times hitting its head, until it finally stopped moving.
Growling came from the trees, and when they looked out there were at least six or seven more.
"It's like the rain made them grow," Okayu joked. "Let's just run."
"With you."
They took off, and the group of creatures ran after them. Okayu was fast, running slightly ahead of Botan.
Botan turned, shooting at the creatures, trying to thin them out. "Keep going, Okayu. I'll slow them down."
One shot after another, and Okayu hesitated. "I can't leave you."
"I'll be right behind."
She continued to shoot. Her AR15 held 20 bullets, military issue. Under her breath she counted.
Okayu took off, finally seeing the shrine in the distance. She stopped to look behind and couldn't see Botan.
"Ah… crud."
She really hated playing hero, and wasn't what she considered brave, but she pulled out her pistol and ran back, yelling, "Shishiro! Shishiron!"
That's when she saw Botan being inundated by at least six of those creatures, more headed toward them.
The lion was kicking and smacking them with her gun. With one hand she was doing headshots with her pistol and kicking another, or elbowing one. All appendages were in use fighting off these strange creatures.
Okayu was impressed with how she fought. And then, three more came up from the woods, and Okayu started shooting. She had already used four shots and the clip only held nine bullets, and she used at least another four.
A creature leapt with it's mouth open, and Okayu shot inside, killing it instantly.
"Yes!"
Another leapt to her and she shot, but nothing. It knocked her down and she grabbed a stick from the ground, bringing it around and blocking it's teeth. It just kept chomping, and she was terrified, but fighting it off.
She glanced others headed their way, and felt hopeless suddenly.
A shotgun blast hit the creature in the head, it finally stopping and when Okayu looked over it was Botan, standing with a shotgun. She instantly shot the other two, and anything that moved with the shotgun.
She grabbed Okayu hard by the arm, "Hurry."
Botan was holding to her side, as they both ran to the shrine.
"Thanks, for the save," Okayu said quickly.
"Told you to leave."
"I thought I could help."
Botan kept running toward the shrine and then sounding breathless, "Thanks, but you didn't have to…" Botan held to her side. She was slowing, but kept going.
They were just at the gate of the shrine, as Botan began to falter.
"Shishiron!" Okayu grabbed around her, "I got you."
Botan held around Okayu's shoulder, as she helped her get across from under the Shrine gate, the creatures at their heels.
Both fell to the ground, as the creatures growled and clawed, but couldn't enter. They were multiplying, coming from the forest.
"What's going on?" Okayu couldn't believe what she was seeing. "What is that?!"
"It must have… a protective barrier." Botan grimaced, amazed they were stopped at the shrine gate. "Ah, it burns." She held her side tightly.
She had seen them attack Okayu, kicked away the one by her and others clawed as she pulled out her shotgun to save Okayu.
"Shishiron!"
The two on the ground turned to see Lamy and Miko behind.
Lamy rushed to Botan. "You're hurt. Oh, my goodness, you're bleeding."
"I'm okay." They looked to one another, into each other's eyes. "Why are you here?"
"I was here to visit Joseph's Village." The growling was growing, as the creatures were pounding at the side of the shrine's gate.
Lamy kept her hand on Botan's cheek, concern apparent, as she held to her.
"I placed a barrier," Miko stated. "It's a good thing." She stepped forward, recognizing the clothing of some. She couldn't believe that this was possible. Were those Joseph Villagers?
"I can help her up," Okayu looked to Lamy, who was still holding Botan's hand tightly.
"Thank you, Okayu."
Lamy got on one side and the cat girl on the other, and they lifted her to her feet, helping her get to the inside of the temple.
As they helped her inside, Okayu spoke to Lamy. "Your wife saved my life – she's pretty awesome."
"Yeah, she is."
Botan squeezed her wife more tightly, as she helped her inside.
"You're lucky, cat. You should have left when I told you, but thanks."
"Sure."
They made it inside the temple, Miko guiding them to where they should lie Botan down. She had a futon on the floor, and once she was down, Lamy began to heal her, placing her hand over the wounds.
Botan placed her hand on Lamy's cheek, holding her and staring into her eyes. "I wish you hadn't come."
"I'm glad I was here. This is bad." A tear fell from her eye. "We need to stop the bleeding."
"I'll be okay." Botan coughed, "I've had worse."
It was obvious her wife, the snow elf, was concerned at the wound. It was deep. Miko brought over water and cloths to help clean the wound.
Lamy wasn't only a healer, but a practicing nurse, and she began placing cloths and pulled out a bag to suture the open wounds, as well.
"Do you need help?" Miko asked.
"I think I have it. I just need to stop the bleeding and heal."
"I'll go put on some warm drinks for us all. Please call me Lamy, if you need help. I'll just be outside."
"I will." Lamy smiled up to Miko. "Thank you."
Okayu stood. "I'll leave you two and go chat with Mikochi. Go do some catching up with an old friend."
Leaving the room, she closed the screen.
Lamy turned to her wife. "You are always so brave."
"Those things weren't like anything I've ever seen." Botan grimaced, as Lamy began stitching. "They were like Primals, but so much smaller and faster."
"Like in the Demon Realm?"
"Yeah, ugh…" Botan was shaking and as Lamy sewed, she noted this wound was different. There was redness like burning and swelling around where she'd been clawed. She held her hand over it, feeling and then removing the poison from the claws. "This is a Primal wound. The poison, and the burning at the edges. I thought they were bigger."
"They are bigger. These ones were faster and more tenacious. I've never seen anything like it."
Botan actually sounded worried. "If… those things head down to Holios. I need you to heal me and I need to make a phone call to my deputies." Botan was speaking, her breathing heavy. "I need to warn them. I think… oh man, my gear is all over there on the road."
"Sweetheart, please let me heal you first."
Botan squeezed the blanket as her wife worked on healing her. This was more difficult than she'd ever dealt with and she slowly healed her wife.
Outside the room, Okayu followed Miko to a small area, with a table.
"Mikochi, how's it been?"
"Not too bad. I have something for you from Pekora."
"I heard. She told me to come here and get something from you. I don't think she knew we had been friends back in the day. And… I have a bad feeling it has to do with those things we just fought."
Miko walked to her tea pot. "Come, sit and have some tea. I'll go get that notebook for you."
The shrine maiden was considering what was going on, and how Pekora had seemed the last she saw her.
She left to retrieve the notebook, then brought it back and handed to Okayu. She placed tea in two cups, carrying them to set beside on a table.
The cat opened the notebook, reading from the beginning all of Pekora's notes.
"Have you read this?"
"No," Miko poured them both tea, "I promised her I wouldn't and I didn't."
"Seriously?"
"Okay, I might have taken a peek." Miko giggled. "Honestly, I didn't understand most of it and Peko's crazy scribbles, but I did recognize MoonaTech. Quite a few of the Joseph Villagers worked there."
"Seems they were trying out some research on the residents of Joseph Village. They also have a really elaborate terraforming project at the center of MoonaTech." Okayu found a small map, holding it up and turning it this way and that. "This is wild."
"What is?"
"I think… this can't be right."
"What is it?"
"The digging and tunnels seem to have been dug all the way under leading toward the Demon Realms to… I need to ask Shishiron's advice on this really quick."
The cat hopped up and headed over to show Botan and when she entered Lamy was still healing her.
"Is she okay?"
Lamy turned to the cat girl. "This is really bad. What were those things?"
Botan lay there, looking pale, breathing in and out, definitely feverish. She looked to Okayu, "What do you need?"
"Maybe I should wait."
"No… no, bring it over."
Okayu held the map over Botan who stared at the markings.
"Where'd you get this?"
"Pekora left it for me."
"Why?"
"I think… I think she wanted me to come help." Okayu turned to Miko. "What was Pekora working on?"
Miko quietly considered what to say. "She was looking for a cure. You know about her mom; well she was working on a cure. Something to strengthen the body's defense systems to fight off cancer and any foreign disease."
"What about the tunnels?"
"That… I didn't realize. I'm not sure if it was a MoonaTech only type of project."
"Koro-san was at MoonaTech."
"Korone?" Miko asked, "I haven't heard from Pekora for over a week. She said she was meeting Moona for a meeting in the Demon Realm, and then heading to MoonaTech."
"I need to head to MoonaTech."
"I'll go with," Botan held to her side, trying to sit up.
"No, you can't." Lamy held at her shoulders. "I need at least another hour healing you. Removing poison takes time."
"It's still raining." Okayu considered how'd she would get there. "Mikochi, do you have a car or truck or something?"
"There is an old truck at the back. It might work. I think it most definitely will need some work."
"You should rest and let your wife heal you. I'll keep studying the notes Pekora left me and work on getting the truck to run."
"Kay," Botan breathed heavily, her eyes fluttering closed.
Okayu smiled toward someone she respected, Lamy, and said, "I'm sure she'll be fine once you heal her."
Lamy nodded once, inside she was worried. She'd never seen a wound like the one her wife had. It wasn't often she had to heal Primal wounds.
Miles Below MoonaTech….
Moona held around Pekora, as they watched the test subject on the table, specially designed to keep creatures down. They had strapped her down tightly, as the IV ran the fluid into her body.
"This is hard to watch," Moona commented. "She looks in pain."
"Well, it's this or her changing and dying to her old self – so we have no choice."
Korone was on the table lifting and screaming in pain, as she was being fed the cure the two scientists hoped would work. It would change her – they just weren't sure if it would be for the better.
She continued pulling at the straps across her body, lifting and crying in pain. Fortunately, Moona's secret lab was sound proof. She'd been advised by Pekora to build a room like this, just in case. She was always amazed how Pekora would always be two or three steps ahead of any move. She was brilliant.
"Peko, you need to stop this." Moona hated watching the Doggo looking tortured on the table. "We should just put her out of her misery. Let her die honorably."
"I can't." Pekora wasn't any happier with the situation. "I owe it to a friend to at least try and save that Doggo."
"She's in pain. You are torturing her."
"Many more will be in worse pain if we don't get this cure. She's our last chance. If you need to step out," Pekora finally looked to the taller woman, who had drawn her in immediately with her loyalty and brain. She loved smart women, and Moona was the smartest woman she'd ever met. She had finally met her equal in brilliance.
Pekora didn't want to watch anyone in pain, but she knew that this was the only way the poison and disease would work its way out of Korone's body.
"I think I need to up the dose."
"Are you insane?!"
"No, I'm practical." Pekora walked over to the drip, to increase.
Moona shook her head, "I'll be outside."
Pekora didn't look her way, working beside her patient, as she screamed in pain. She could hear Moona leave the room. As she continued to listen to Korone whimper in pain, she looked down and said, "I'm sorry, but if this works, you'll be better. I promise you – please be our last hope doggo."
When Usada Pekora stepped back, forcing herself to watch carefully her experiment a tear fell from her eye. "Mikochi, I wish you were here to pray for me. I'll definitely be cursed after this one."
[END NOTE: I hope you all like this one. More Botan x Lamy, Okakoro and our favorite bunny, Pekora with those who love her, Miko and Moona. Thank you for reading and I'd love a fave, follow and review]