Fro Ninja; Hey guys what's up! The Fro Ninja here with another ditty to lay down. So yeah, if you didn't get the memo, this arc is slowly starting to wrap to its conclusion, but me and Jester still have plenty of story left to tell, so don't count on it going under anytime soon. So before we get into it, let's see who left comments!
The Book; Thank you always for continuing to read on every update! I agree with you on the fact that Harmon is constantly five steps ahead of everyone else. That's the kind of character of wanted him to be. Somebody that all of the events that are unfolding, center around him somehow and that he has some sort of role in orchestrating it. And rest assured, not ALL of the Pure-types are as disturbed as our friends Kaos and Fetcher. Lastly, Kote will not be broken beyond repair, but the event will still be with him as a character. What that might mean, well, you'll just have to keep reading.
NeonPartyDude; Hey dude! Thx for checking in once again! I can't really say much about the relationship between Huey and Kaos right now, but that definitely lies in the realm of possibilities!
Okay! Now that that's over, let's get into it!
Meanwhile at the warehouse
Kote's Perspective
My eyes felt heavy. My breathing felt soft and rough at the same time.
I could barely move my body as I tried to open my eyes slowly. My first instincts told me that I was pretty much in a fucked situation. As my eyelids dragged open, I started to scan the room and grasp as much of the environment as possible to get a better bearing of what was going on. Dark, and black. That's the only color that was present in my eyes and all I felt around me. I tried to move my body around to see if I was restrained in any way, sure enough I was right, as my hands were chained over a balance beam that reached up to the ceiling, and my neck was restrained from the ground by tightly knit rope that was covered and smelled like blood. My blood, I assumed.
Struggling to break free, my body tried to make motion, but every time I did, a sharp pain could be felt everywhere. Even worse, I felt tired and exhausted. My vision was blurry, and my mouth felt like someone was holding it with a nail so it was hard to even mutter a word, let alone a breath. Aside from my getting myself free, my thoughts were dwelling on everybody else. It doesn't take a genius that these 'Pure-types' are way above our league. Then again, we've never even seen any other Cryptic type than just us three.
I summoned even more strength to try and break the chain, only to find even more pain coming onto my body, particularly in my right arm. Glancing over, I take a big notice that it's no longer the arm that I know and love. Instead, it was a giant malformed mess, with skin and bone deteriorating right before my very eyes. As much as I wanted to shout, the injury that pink haired chick gave me from her sword began to sink back in. Blood began to spurt from my mouth with every second. With what little of my strength that remained began to fade, and my body started to give up on itself.
"Boy, they sure messed you up huh?"
Suddenly, I heard a voice somewhere around me. I tried to concentrate in order to see if I could sense anything without having to rely on my eyes or other senses too much. I could then feel something feint, but alive somewhere near me. I struggled to move my sullied mouth to form a sentence.
"w-who's...there?" My voice came out weak and faded. I felt so tired, and didn't even try to reiterate.
"Hmmm, nobody really...Just somebody who came to help you out!" I then heard a slithering noise coming from in front of me. It went on for a few seconds and then stopped. Whatever it was, I assumed that it was now in front of me. "Arentcha gonna open your eyes big guy? How else are you gonna see me?"
"i-it...hurts..open them..."
"You don't have to keep them open, just at least see what I look like friend!" I then slowly crept open my eyes, to see an orange, gelatin like thing with huge black eyes with a white tint and weird looking squiggly mouth looking straight at me. He was smiling. His voice sounded off, with a little cooing tone stringed on to it."Wow, they really did a number on you. Most people wouldn't even be alive after a beating like that. You must be super tough!"
"w-what...are you...?"
"Who? Me? I dunno! I just am! I don't really know a lot about me, but I do know one thing. I'm happy! Especially happy to see you big fella!" I honestly didn't know what to make of the situation. I think my skull was cracked more than I thought."Soooo what's your name?"
"k-Kote..."
"Kote, huh? That's a weird name! But you know what, I like you Kote! And now I'm gonna do you a solid!" I then saw the little thing starting to climb up my leg. For some reason, I felt...warm and compassionate somehow. I then began to feel my pain begin to slowly drain away as he crawled around my body. My body started to feel a little bit better as his gelatinous body wrapped around me.
"W-what are you doing? S-stop, that tickles!"
"Feeling a little better I see huh? That's great. It's always good to feel happy isn't it?"
"I don't have much to feel happy about..."
"Why's that?"
"My body feels like shit. This weird old guy stabbed me with my own sword, then these two chicks beat the ever loving shit out of me. Plus the only guy that's ever considered me a friend probably hates my guts by now."
"Your friend huh? What did ya do? Did you take his lunch money or something?"
"No. I punched him, really hard."
"Why did you do that?"
"Honestly...I-I don't know. It's just something that he said, really got under my skin. Everything that he said about me was true. And those people that showed up...I guess I'm not as strong as I thought I was..."
The gello thing got off me and reappeared in front of me.
"Why do you blame yourself for what has happened? None of it's your fault. Accept what has happened to you, and become stronger because of it! And about your friend being mad at you, you don't have to worry about that! He's definitely not mad!"
"How do you know that?"
"Hmmm...I don't really know...But I can just tell that he's going to be coming to save you! After all, that's what friends do for each other, right?"
"Is he...going to...save me...?"
"Ah, making new friends I see..."
I then heard a sinister voice pop from out of the darkness, and it was a familiar sounding one. The gello thing scrambled and attempted to escape.
"Oh no! He's come back! I have to leave you now! But don't worry, I'll come back with help!"
"wait! Who are you?"
He then looked back at me before dissolving into a nearby drain.
"Can't you tell? I'm your friend! See you later, Kote!"
And just like that he was gone. I then felt a cold splash of water hit my face. I could then hear loud footsteps coming from in front of me. Soon, a figure stepped out from the dark. Unsurprisingly, it was that smiling psycho once more. Only this time, he looked even happier.
" I must say, you have quite the aptitude socialization, given your personality my young friend. It almost makes me think that you aren't a fatherless weakling."
"What did you-!" He then grabbed my mouth to prevent me from speaking, and held it by his hand.
"Ah, ah, ah. You don't get to have a say in the matter." I then felt a punch go through me so hard, my stomach felt like it expanded. Blood then came spewing out of my mouth like garden hose, and it felt like I got hit by a car. What is this guy made of?! "Much better. I wouldn't want you to get any ideas of fighting back now. That would put a damper in my plans that's for sure, although judging by your appearance..." He then pulled out a mirror and showed my reflection.
'W-what the hell?! What happened to me?!" That was my first thought after getting the image. I honestly couldn't believe what I was looking at!
"What did you do to me?!"
"It's not what I did, it's what you did yourself my dear boy. You see, as it stands, you possess a certain...material inside of you. Something that could greatly benefit me in the near future, but sadly it is forever bonded to your bloodstream, and I cannot remove it by...normal means. However, I will be taking liberty with the effect that it grants, due to your less than stellar condition. I of course would go over the details of this plan, but of course, that would mean it counts as an evil monologue wouldn't it, and how cliché does that sound? Now then, it appears it's time for this show to reach its climax pretty soon, and your friends will be the main cast in this feature. But don't worry, you'll have the front row, all to yourself. Insert maniacal laugh here. Sweet dreams."
He then put a knife to spot where he punched me at, and then clicked a red switch that was on the handle, releasing a huge electric shock all throughout my body. Deja vu. Soon, my body felt the kick of everything else, and slowly my eyes turned shut. My mind then fell deeper, and deeper into something. Something that had been growing inside me this whole time.
An hour later
A heliport outside of town
Harmon's Perspective
I do love it when a plan comes together, especially when it comes full circle with benefits. I stepped out of the car that I used to drive here, and gazed upon my getaway vehicle. My precious Blackhawk stood in its glory. This lovely thing has been a reliable tool to me as long as I can remember. I then grabbed my young friend Kote, who was still taking a nap, from out the trunk and slung him over my shoulder, and made my way to the heli. Even though it hadn't started yet, I was still anxious for the upcoming show that myself, and all of the others helped playwrite. I honestly couldn't wait. But first, my last obstacle of the day had arrived.
"Sneaking around? You're getting rather unscrupulous in your old age."
Turning around, I then spot burly black cat with combat gear on, and gun pointing directly at me. Fisk Black, my final obstacle has arrived finally.
"Sneaking? I prefer to think of it as a 'silent assault'."
"Haha. I see your quips are as entertaining as ever. Tell me, how is your sister Lucy faring these days? I've been out of contact with her for years now."
"Happily married with a kid. Anymore questions?"
"A child? It's not mine is it?"
"You know damn well it's not. You never even slept with her!"
"That is true. If she did, she wouldn't very well be married, would she?" I then heard him growl under his breath. Despite his calm demeanor, I knew exactly how to push his buttons. You think he would have put up defenses for that kind of tact by now, considering how far we go back. But, I decide to keep things professional, despite the amount of fun I'm having right now."Now then, let's talk business. I assume you're here for our young friend Kote here? If you are, you're free to take him."
"...You're joking, right?"
"This is hardly the time to joke here Fisk! I have in my possession, a young man with his life hanging by a thread due to unforeseen circumstances that were strictly out of my power! I would never jest here old friend." I put on faux concerned face for my audience, although they weren't particularly moved.
Suddenly, I felt a bullet graze past my cheek. I then caught it by my two fingers on my free hand and let it roll on the ground."Hmmm, it seems nothing gets past you, doesn't it Black?"
"Listen Harmon. I had to fight through an entire battalion of those soundwave creatures single -handedly, plus rescue a group of old people out of a burning bus. Do you have any idea how hard it is moving a group of elders during an emergency? And after this, I have to pick up diapers for my daughter, plus get a nice book to read at night before she cries in the middle of the night. I'm not having a good day, and you're not about to make it worse."
"... So, how's your mother these days?"
Next thing I noticed was Fisk firing off four more rounds off towards me. I dodged all of them without even trying by simply seeing them faster as they flew through the air. While it sounds ridiculous, it is a simple feat for me. Although Fisk probably saw that coming seeing as how he dashed toward the middle of my evasion trajectory and attempted to quick draw a knife into my chest. I blocked him off at his forearm and tried to knee him in the gut, which he blocked with his free hand that soon lead into a sweep with his right leg. I of course foresaw this and hopped over his head to a safe position, all while carrying little Kote happily over my shoulder.
Seeing as how this pretty much the threshold of plan, I decided to kick back and pass the time with my old friend. As soon as I landed, he was already there with three more rounds to greet. As each round fired, I deflected the direction of the gun with only my hand so that the bullets hit nothing but air in their aiming. With my free hand, I gave a flurry of jabs to Fisk's pressure points, all to which they were blocked by his fast hands. He then countered with a roundhouse that lead into a straight side kick. I dodged both by maneuvering around his attacks with my pivot foot, and slid around him with each strike. Although carrying something clearly puts me at a disadvantage, I'm nowhere near of giving an edge to him, and neither is he, as I could give out one strike, and he could either block it or counter it in an instant.
Reading my pattern after only a few seconds, Fisk went for a tackle and tried to take me down. I then jumped over his attack path by vaulting over his back, leading trip off a bit. He quickly arched his back with another drawn out gun, and fired them at me while I was in midair. Instinctively, I drew my katana and cut down all of the shots as they came to me. Deciding to get back on the defensive, I pulled out a gun myself and fired off a couple of rounds around his feet to draw his attention. Unfortunately it didn't work as he stood perfectly still in his firing position, and gave me a few more rounds, this time towards my head. I smoothly dodged all of them as I hit the ground, and went charging at him at full speed brandishing my sword for a quick attack. He saw through me by deflecting with his survival knife head on. We exchanged attacks for about a minute until we both retreated to get a better edge on the other. Now that I think back on it, out of all of the people I have ever fought, Fisk was probably 3rd strongest person in terms of ability. I smiled as I looked at slightly labored Fisk Black.
"Getting tired in your old age Fisk? I would have thought you southerners were built tougher than that." I said with a grin on my face
"Funny. I was just going to say the same thing about you Alaskan mavericks. Hunting fish and dog sledding aren't enough entertainment you gotta kidnap kids too?"
"As you know, I'm a business man. Age is hardly a factor to me, merely quality, which is a factore young Kote here has plenty of that given his heritage."
He then formed a priceless look of shock on his face.
"Y-you know he's a half-breed?!"
"Of course Fisk. You should know by now that I ALWAYS do my homework, and this 'team' that you and those fatcats have built is no different. I know all about Kote and his bloodline, and I even know about Karina and her family or what's left of it. And of course, the true purpose you've brought those kids together."
"And Huey? What will you do with him?"
"Hmmm? What about him?"
"What about him?! Harmon, he's your son!"
"Yes, I'm aware of that. What else is there?"
"Wha?!"
I then turned my back to Fisk and looked out at the sky.
"As it stands, that boy is useless to me right now. I know of what he is meant to be, and what he's supposed to do for the world, but because of circumstances he has grown incredibly weak since I last saw him. Considering that he was taken away from me by those neanderthals down there who claim they're protecting the Cryptic-types, when really, they're old tired mercenaries who are simply looking for their next meal by chasing a fairy tale. Alas, that does not mean I don't acknowledge him at all. I truly love my son with every fiber of my being, and I would kill every last person that would stand in between and him, including you Fisk, and another person that I'm sure you're familiar with."
"...So, it was you. You killed Saris."
"Indeed. What of it?"
"What of it?! That was your wife, you heartless asshole! And Huey's mother! Do you have any idea how inhumane that sounds?!"
"Inhumane, please. I passed that stage a long time ago old friend. Nowadays, all that's keeping me alive is a silly promise I made. But that's nothing really worth exploring right now. We're discussing young Kote right now! You still haven't even come close to retrieving him as you have come here to do." I give the sack that he's tied in a little pat to get a reaction.
"Harmon, listen. I'm not even going to try and understand you, because I sure as hell don't want to. But listen, and listen close...I AM GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU, if it's the last thing I do. You're immoral psychopath who's actions don't even approach proper logic, and I'm going to send you six feet under pretty damn soon."
"*sigh* You big and burly types and your eloquent ways of speaking. Sometimes I wonder if you people get these lines from the visual stenographer of a snuff film."
"Think what you want, but I'm gonna give you yours with pleasure." He get's back into his stance as I turn back around to face him, with a gun in both hands and knife sitting on the bottom part of the handle. CQC based huh? Not the most finer rendition I've seen, but it's impressive to look at to say the most.
It seems he plans to throw away his life for the sole purpose of killing me. But I know exactly what type of person he is. Time to use big boy words to throw him back to reality.
"Is this wise Black? To keep blindly chasing after me like this? You can't kill me, and we both know why. Besides, we both know that unlike me, you have something to lose."
"Don't you dare..." He started to growl as my sentences started to reach him. I guess I'll end it here.
"I'm simply stating the truth. You have a family to think about after all. A beautiful wife, a daughter, and even a son on the way. You certainly have your work cut for you in that regard. But don't worry, should you perish in our encounter, I'll be sure to take very good care of them."
"GRRrRRRrrrr! HARMON!" He then screamed to the top of his lungs as he let two shots go off near my leg. Although they were missfires, he came charging at me regardless. My sword was already ready in my hand, all ready to end it, but then a voice came to my head to stop, and simply give the man his dues. He came top speed at me with his knife that went straight in my right arm, and then he headbutted me directly in my nose making me fall back, or so I thought. He then pulled me back by my tie and headbutted me a couple of more times before firing off a few shots in my stomach, sternum, and legs, all while making slices around my body and screaming like a madman. Incidentally, I dropped the bag holding Kote in the scruffle. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground having my face completely pummeled in by his fists that came in from left and right. It didn't hurt in the slightest, but it's always entertaining to see the enraged face of a family man.
His hands then grasped me by my windpipe and lifted me up off the ground, and threw me into the window of the helicopter, the impact of my body crashing breaking the glass. He then quickly grabbed my katana and stabbed me right in my gut for a good measure, piercing cleanly through my body and the glass itself. Blood then spilled from the afflicted area and spurted out of my mouth in absolute clumps and landed on Fisk's brazen face. "Sit there and die you bastard!"
My sword lodged in my guts, I look down at the blood running down the steel as it reached the ground, and my eyes started to fade through into darkness.
Third Person Perspective
Fisk walked away from the impaled body of Harmon, assured finally of his death after so many years cursing his very existence. But it wasn't over. The situation that he had built was all dependent on gathering all three of the team together. But for some reason, he was more interested in Kote. Was it because of he knew something about him that not even Fisk could predict? Or was there honestly something bigger that had yet to be unraveled here?
He thought about all of this as he approached the sack where Kote had been placed in throughout the the whole conflict. Fisk quickly untied the tight knot wrapped around the mouth of the sack, and pulled Kote out of the sack.
"Kid! Are you okay?! He didn't hurt you did he?" Despite him holding his body in his arms, there was no response at all from the young man. Before he thought about what could have been, Fisk stayed calm and inspected the body to see if there were any alterations. "Legs are okay. Arms. Hands. Head. Everything looks fine. So why is he...NO!" He then arrived at the inspection of Kote's face, to find it in the complete misshaped form of a dolls face. It was a fake, through and through. "No! What the hell is going on?!"
"I believe the phrase is 'trollolol'? As the kids say it of course..." Hearing the voice of a dead man, Fisk turned around to see Harmon's body moving from its spot of impalement, dragging himself up through the blade lunged into him until his body came clean through it. He then dusted off his suit as if he had just been in a minor tussle. Soon, the afflicted spot of his sword has began to heal itself, with its veins, arteries, bones and skin slowly repairing itself and stitching back together until it looked like new. He then pulled out his sword that was stuck in the helicopter's broken glass and slowly walked over to Fisk who was still in shock at his discovery. "Hahaha. Yes! You used to give me that exact same look whenever I beat you in Battleship, A shame the situation isn't high school, huh Fisk?"
"You bastard! How are you still alive?!" He then pointed his gun at him.
"Oh come now Fisk. You mean to say you don't remember that I used to be apart of a certain organization. One that is particular about 'protecting' Cryptic-types from destroying themselves? I seem to recall me leading them at one point to. Isn't that a surprise?"
"But the serum was supposed to wear off ten years ago! You can't still have some in your bloodstream!"
"Not when you triple the amount. That, and I have my own natural abilities to thank for withstanding the side-effects. But enough about me. Young Kote wasn't in the bag?! What a shocker that is, wouldn't you say? And things were going so great for you until now weren't they? You finally managed to kill me after all these years, you rescued your protege, and you were well on your way to regrouping with the others in the town to weed out the rest of the creatures, and save the town. But then it turns out I'm still alive, Kote is not here, and the others will most likely die from what I have in store. This is, how you say, 'finally going down on a chick, only to find out she has a penis that's bigger than yours', right?"
Fisk emptied his entire clip at Harmon, who had effortless dodged all of them with impossible to see speed, leaving behind very faint after images in his steps. Seeing the front approach was off, Fisk rolled a dud grenade on the ground near Harmon's foot thinking that he would be distracted by it, and quickly moved into a full assault dash with the M14 stashed in his back pouch and fired off several rounds towards him. Unfortunately he had foreseen this,as he simply picked up the dud casually and crushed while at the same dodging the rapid fire of the assault rifle by casually swaying from side to side, until they came face to face yet again.
Fisk tried to get the upper hand, by throwing a small knife to catch him off guard to get in close with his rifle. Harmon grabbed the knife in midair and tossed back into the nuzzle of the rifle as it was firing. Quickly noticing this, he tossed the rifle just before it exploded in his hands, and came at him with his survival knife, swinging from right to left and hitting nothing but air. Harmon made a break and tried to catch him off guard with a quick draw, which Fisk saw coming by slowly ducking out and deflecting the trajectory of the blade, knocking it slightly off course. The two then began exchanging blows with eachother, which both of them reading the others moves flawlessly.
Harmon went for a vertical, Fisk then weaved to the left and switched to a reverse grip of his knife and tried for a pincer move against his face. Harmon ducked and stabbed his sword into the ground, lifting him up for a brief second and then delivered a right kick which ended up being blocked by his opponent, though the impact was strong enough to push him back a couple of feet away from him. Fisk then regained his sense of balance and stood back into an attack position. Harmon came at him with a flurry of attacks from his swords coming from all directions. Fisk's knife ended up deflecting all of the strikes, and seemlessly moved into a counter attack with a second survival knife hidden in his left pouch and attempted stab Harmon in his right attack arm. Reading into his move, he then knocked down the knife in his hand by smacking it down with his left elbow, and with his right arm, swooped in with a right swipe of his sword, leading Fisk to block with his first knife, and for them both to quickly draw their hidden pistols in their back pouches, and aimed at each other.
They were in point blank range, with the either of them capable of taking out the other right then and there. Their eyes not didn't stray for a single second as they both stayed in that deadlock position.
"What are you waiting for?" Harmon asked with a smile.
"I could ask you the same thing..." Fisk replied with a smug face.
"You do know that I'm simply killing time right?"
"No shit. You haven't changed a bit. Still attempting to hide the truth with pretty words and plenty of fluff..."
" And yet you've put up with it for so long..."
"Don't remind me..."
"You do know that neither of us can kill the other right? It has nothing to do with high school, or bleeding in the same field, or healing each other's wounds. We're simply that good. You know it as well as I do."
"Don't be smart ass, I know you were holding back. You could have gouged my throat six times by now..."
"Same goes for you old friend. You were the only I knew that could keep me interested during a fight, yet I know you are definitely more skilled than this. But you know, don't you? If we were to both go all out, we will both die." They both slowly pulled their weapons away from each other, not taking their eyes off the other. "Although you can rest assured. I have no intentions to kill you. I never have."
"Why's that?"
"Because who else will keep Elizabeth warm on those cold nights? Certainly not I."
"A lady killer as always huh?"
" Fortunately, I'm married. And she keeps me in line, let me tell you."
"Forgot about Saris?"
"Never. She was the love of my life. She can never be replaced."
"*sigh* Where have I heard that before?"
"Haha. Indeed. Although, can you really afford to sit and chat with your enemy like this? I did tell you that I have something even worse planned for the town. And now that a broken Kote is alone with the Lunaag crystal, well...you can guess what's about to happen next."
"Dammit!" Fisk then rushed back to his car. Upon opening the door, he then looked back at Harmon, who was still standing there and smiling.
"Go on ahead. I won't stop you. I've already finished everything that I want to here after all."
"Harmon Jones. Who are you?"
Smiling at the question, he simply bowed in a gentleman like manner.
"I... am a businessman. I fulfill the wishes of those who ask for services with a smile. No more, no less."
Scoffing at his response. Fisk got back into his car and drove away back towards the town before it was too late. As his car drove off, Harmon simply waved goodbye to him, as if it were simply an event to pass the time to him.
Suddenly, he could feel the presence of another resonating behind him. It was dark and corrupt, but at the same time powerful. Although he hardly reacted to it at all. A portal of darkness than manifested out of thin air, with powerful crimson aura surrounding it. Out of it came a curvaceous yellow fox woman. She was drabbed in a tightly knit red and white kimono with lily flower details running from top to bottom, complemented by geta slippers. Her luscious and long yellow hair flowed all the way down to her feet, and her vibrant and piercing yellow eyes seen on a smiling face.
"So you didn't kill him..." She spoke with a gentle and honey like tone.
"I didn't see any reason to do so."
"Because you are old acquaintances?"
"No. Because he let me know through our fight that there is still hope for this godforsaken earth. And that my son is it. As cliché as it sounds, I'm at least somewhat inclined to believe him. I believe in Huey as well, and the good that he will do to for the world."
"This coming from a father who sold their son as a toddler?"
"I did it for safety reasons. If The Elders had found him, they would have most likely killed him. I decided to place him in a location that was filled with so much grief and corruption amongst the people, they couldn't sense him at all. But I knew that someday, he would find Huey eventually, and then send Fisk of all people to retrieve him. And I also knew that mannequin would stay with Huey, altering his memories so he doesn't remember anything from before, and sealing off the true power that is still sleeping inside of him. Even now, I'm questioning the choices that Saris took with our son, and why didn't want him to wield such an ability. But nowadays, I'm simply watching how things will unfold from here on out."
"Can you really afford to suffer just a little while longer before he realizes his true ability."
"If it's for him, I would wait forever. I've waiting for someone to kill me for the longest time. And it can only be him. It has to be."
The fox woman then came behind Harmon and softly hugged him closing both of their eyes
"My goodness. I certainly married a pitiful man, haven't I?"
"Indeed you have my sweet Kurohana. Indeed you have..."
Meanwhile in town square
Huey's perspective
After about an hour, we finally managed to cut a huge hole in the creatures numbers. About a few hundred to a thousand deep in amount. My body honestly felt like it was going to drop just after I hit three hundred. Although the others looked like they hadn't even broken a sweat. I shook my head while trying to catch my breath after we took out another few hundred just a few minutes ago. Karina came up behind me, and slapped me in the back.
"Wow! We really showed them huh?!"
"Owwww! That hurt you know!"
All of a sudden, she looked at me with a quizitive face.
"Wait, you're Huey right?"
"Uhhh. Last time I checked yeah."
"I thought Terry was fighting with us?"
Then it hit me again. I never even told Karina what had happened to Terry yet, although the timing couldn't be more bad as we were still in the middle of a battle.
"Listen, I'll tell you later about it. Can we just focus on our enemies?"
"What's the big deal? We've pretty much won this thing."
That's not it. I couldn't shake the feeling something else was about to happen. Even though it wasn't obvious, clearly Terry was wary about something, which was why he made that sacrifice. And it had to something do with Kote. Even if I tried to explain to Karina and everyone else, I would most likely fall short on words. So I decide to keep my mouth shut.
"Never mind. Come on. We better regroup with the others."
We had split off earlier from the main group to take out some stragglers to the east of the square, and now we were just coming back to everyone else at the rendezvous point. The town was pretty much in shambles, and was even more ruined the more you would look at it. Piles of rubble and concrete stacke on top of corpses, and debris filled the streets. It looked like a tornado ran rampant here.
We soon got back to Ms. Ellen and the others, who were already finished taking out their part of the stragglers, and were waiting for us by the fountain. She walked up to us as we came down the street.
"Are you two unharmed?"
"As you can see, we're perfectly fine!" Karina happily answered. "Though I gotta say, the town has pretty much gone to shit by our inspection! It's a shame too, this day started out totally normal. We were gonna have a festival, there was gonna be a play about Shakespeare, we were gonna blind that senior chick that wanted fuck Kote and have one of his three stooge friends come in and fuck her instead while her boyfriend watched, hahahaha! *sigh* That chick is probably dead by now, as well as the three stooges! Isn't that a shame Huey?!" She then nudged my arm.
"What are you looking at me for?"
"Oh nothing, nothing at all!"
Tessera, Karina's sister than walked over to us with a big smile.
"Well you two certainly get along great, huh? That's a surprise coming from Karina!" She then grabbed Karina her neck, and started to give her a noogie.
"Dammit sis! Get the fuck off me!"
"Hey! Watch your damn mouth!"
"Make me!" She bit her sister's hand releasing her grip and ran off.
"Oww! You're cruising for a bruising, ya little brat!" Tessera then chased her around the fountain with her sword. We all just looked at the situation with awe.
"They certainly are alike aren't they?" The man called Furball spoke out as he was sitting by one of the benches. He then stopped by me."Don't you think so?"
"I'm trying not to."
"Haha. You are a wonder youself as well. I can see why the First has taken such an interest with you."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, she constantly talks about you in our group conversations. She even mentioned the fact that she has pictures of you in her room that she looks at to give her motivation for the day."
"What?!"
All of a sudden, Furball was floating in the air and then fell on the ground after a few seconds. All I could see was staring down at him with a smiling face, but there was no happiness behind it.
"Furball. What did I say about relaying our conversations to civilians?"
"Whoops, very sorry First. Didn't mean to spill the beans there!"
As he picked himself up, she sat down near the fountain and sighed. I sat down next to her, and looked at her.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
"Oh nothing. Just thinking about what Karina said. About this day starting out normally, and then coming to these series of events. Though I'm not ignoring the part about the senior girl though."
"Figures... But if you knew what I was this entire time, why didn't you tell me. Did Fisk tell you not to talk?"
"Actually...no, he didn't. He told me if I wanted to, I could tell you everything. But I chose not to because I didn't want you to think that all Normal types were not despicable as you've been lead to believe. The bonds that you've made so far are with both Cryptic-types and Normal-types right?"
"I guess so."
"So now that I'm telling you, you feel at least a little better because of that, right?"
"A little, yeah."
"That's good. You would do well to remember not to fret when it comes to those kinds of notions. Believe in the people that support you, and do your best to always be there for them."
I started to think about everything that had happened so far, and how it was connecting to what everyone has told me so far. My friends mean the most to me. And despite our differences, I could say with confidence that Kote falls in that category. Which was why I was going to do whatever it took to save him.
"Yeah, you're right."
"Good! Now come, we should look for more survivors, and get them to safety."
I nodded my head in agreement and began to get ready to move on. And then, I felt an enormous amount of mental pressure coming from somewhere nearby. My head wreathed in pain from the sensation, I had to hold it together just in case it would explode. What am I feeling?! What is this pressure?!
I then heard a loud noise go off just a few yards away from us. Little by little, buildings began to get knocked down and crumbled like they were simple paper maches.
"What the hell was that?!" Tessera shouted out.
"Keep your guard up! There still might be more stragglers!" Ms. Ellen called us all to attention. We then started to scan the area to see if there were indeed stragglers left in the area. We then saw even more buildings get knocked down in the process. Soon, we even saw people running from the destruction, trying their best to get away.
"Look! There's people over there! They need our help!" I ran over to lend my help.
"No! You don't know what's out there!" Ms. Ellen shouted out at me as I ran down the street.
I took out my sword signaled the people to come over to my position. Though hesitant, they complied and started to run to me.
"Almost there...almost there!" They got closer and closer to my position, where I was waiting for them. All of a sudden, I then heard a large boom that made me turn my head a few feet away, and then suddenly, the people that were running towards me, were crushed to absolute bits?! What just happened?! I then looked around the area, to spot anything out of the ordinary. Then right in front of, a huge figure had appeared. It was a beast like thing with giant proportions. It's body was made out of a weird moving organic like flesh and it's face looked malformed, with its skeletal structure sticking out of its face surrounded by a gray mane. There were mountain like structures emerging from its back all the way to its tail. It set its eyes on me, and within a few seconds, it delivered a blinding strike that sent me flying all the way ontop of the roof of a bakery.
Struggling to get up, I noticed it making its way toward me. I quickly jumped down from the roof just before it slammed its claw down on it and tried to outrun it. In just a few seconds, it completely passed me and appeared in front of me as it tried to attack me again. I managed to evade just by a couple of feet, and then I dodged again as another strike came toward me. This isn't good. I have to get better leverage here.
I then jumped back on the roof to try and get a better position from the beast. As I made eye contact with it, a bunch of scrambled thoughts and voices came rushing into my head all at once. It was the pressure I felt from earlier. It was from this creature no doubt. My head started to be flooded with voices, but once I started to filter everything, my head started to sort it out. There was one word that stood out to me. 'Family. I'll do anything to protect them...'
And then, it all made sense. What Terry was warning me about all along had come true. I looked at the beast's piercing yellow eyes as it stared directly into my soul.
"...Kote, is that you?"
Part VIII of Trexwell Arc END..
Fro Ninja; Hope you liked our little ditty. Be sure stay on the lookout for Part IX coming sometime next week. Peace!