Fro Ninja; Hey, hey, hey beautiful people. The Fro Ninja here with another release here for you! Seeing as how Jester hasn't been along for the ride for the entirety of this arc, I'll spare you the meaningless quips, and get right into the action! First off, let's see who left comments.
The Book; Hello good sir! Good to see you're still checking in! Don't you worry, I don't plan on having Kote do the typical, 'I'm a beast out of control and I accidentally kill everyone'. I don't want to say much about this update, only to just keep reading, as the arc is soon coming to an end.
NeonPartyDude; Dude, dude, dude, calm down. We're not gonna kill off Kote man, no worries! Instead, you'll just have to see what we have in mind for him and the rest of the cast. Also I think it's funny that you say he's brooding, because I think he was rather calm and unassuming. Just keep reading is all I can say.
Now then, let's get this party started!
Third person perspective
Somewhere near the town clock tower.
A few blocks away from the square.
The buildings came crashing down around the others, along with the sounding of a hundred thunder bolts. Debris fell down upon the helpless victims that tried to escape from the scene of destruction. The beast form that young Kote had taken was doing more destruction than one could even imagine. This was all according to Harmon's predictions however, all the way to the letter. The conflict between Kote's noble wolf blood and the power of the cryptic-type, augmented with the power of the Lunaag crystal proved to be too much for his body to handle, and so had driven out of control, just like the discarded Original-types of old. Currently, he had no recollection of himself, or of the others. Only Huey stood in the way of his berserk carnage. He was no longer himself, he was a beast.
"Kote! Snap out of it! This isn't you!" Despite his pleas, Huey's words continued to fall on deaf ears.
He continued to evade the onslaught of the beast's attacks, by jumping from building to building, constantly dodging the beast's claws by close seconds. His left claw came raining down on Huey after landing on a small blue roof. He barely dodged the attack, and jumped on the arm of the beast in order to launch a counter attack. As he began to run up his arm, the beast let out a huge howl that released a huge shockwave that stunned Huey for a brief second in his tracks, and ended up getting hit by the other arm that was still stationed near one of the ruined buildings, launching him a few feet away from the beast, and knocking him into a wall near the clock tower. Fortunately, Huey quickly recovered from the blow.
"Darn! I'm a sitting duck out here!" He then used his katana to climb up the tower to get a better vantage point for the fight.
Seeing that he was about to make a quick retreat, the beast took a bite out of a steel pole standing next to his position. Within a few seconds, its body had transformed into a metallic like shell and form, with its skin morphing into steel itself, durable to offensive attacks. Huey took quick notice of this, and immediately began scanning for a weakness, while at the same time dodging rapid hits from the monster. The beast extended its steel arm out for an attack, which had knocked off half of the tower. Huey was able to dodge at the last second, and began to hop on the falling debris, and used it as a trail to follow along to lead into an attack. He then focused his strength into his weapon, and brought down the blade onto the beasts skull.
"AHHHHHHRRRRR!" Huey let out a huge howl as the blade gave a clean impact into the beast's body, although it didn't do much damage overall, as it barely left a dent. The beast then quickly succeed with a counter attack by throwing its body into a nearby abandoned building, knocking Huey through the window of the building, landing on the floor.
He slowly got up from the impact, and with his labored breathing getting even worse. Blood and bruises spread all throughout his body, but he had little time to accumulate the damage. The only way to fade the pain, was to keep moving. As he saw the beast beginning to sniff him out, Huey hid behind a tall pillar in the small observational room he landed. He took a brief second to catch his breath, and surmise what has happened so far.
"Hah...hah...This is too much..." He barely managed to etch out words in his tired state."Looks like he can adapt his body to whatever metal he consumes. How does that even work? Actually...better not to ask too many questions at this point." As the beast drew even closer, Huey masked his presence by stilling his breathing, and staying perfectly still in its position. The nose began to peek around the corner of the pillar. Its nostrils circled around the pillar, attempting to find its target. Huey closed his eyes, praying not to be found. After a few seconds, its eyes began to slowly peak around the pillar, almost having him in its sight.
"HEY! YOU BIG FUCKING LUMMOX! OVER HERE!" All of a sudden, a loud voice could be heard from the opposite direction where the beast was at. Intercepting the noise loud and clear, the beast soon turned around to investigate it.
"There's only one person I know who would do something as stupid as that..."Huey thought.
He then let out the huge breath that he had been holding for a solid minute, and then stepped out of his hiding spot as soon as he felt the lack of presence in his range. He then put his finger on his temple and sat down on his knees.
"Dammit. This is getting out of hand. I have to get Kote to calm down the only way I know how, but I have to make sure I have a direct link with his mind first. But still, of all the things that could happen..." He looked out at the ruined town and the piled debris and dead bodies that filled the streets, and sighed deeply."Damn you Terry...You knew this would happen, didn't you? Is this your way of testing me again?" He dropped down to the streets and started to run towards where the beast was heading to at top speed."Karina! You better be okay!"
Karina's perspective
I'm in trouble. I was barely even thinking when I decided to shout at the colossal thing that was starting to make the town look like a bad Michael Bay movie. I only saw what it looked like for a brief second while it was smacking around Huey, but from what I can draw, it's definitely not something to fuck with.
"So...what part of getting the attention of the giant ass monster was a good idea?!" Sis started to yell my ear off. I rubbed the wax out of my ears after I went deaf.
"I dunno. I let you know if we make it through this."
"I'll kill you if we make it through this."
I sigh.
"Love you too sis." Furball came in between our argument.
"Now's not the time for this you two. It's best if we prepare for what's coming our way. First! At your command. What's your plan?"
We then all turn to The First Blade, whom I thought was just a regular ol' doting super nanny. I should have known there was more to her than met the eye, like how she could tell I had a long history with fighting. I honestly never sat down and talked to her on a personal level, but after this is over, I'm thinking about rectifying that fact.
"Spread out to separate sections of the square. If we stay in one place and bunch up, whatevers out there is sure to take is down effortlessly. We don't the exact size of this 'thing', but judging from the impact of its footsteps, I'm guessing it's at least four to five stories big, so staying at a high point is a plus in this fight. Scan and analyze the enemy for a good minute or so, and then if you see a chink in its defense, take it. But keep on guard nonetheless. We're not looking to obliterate it completely, yet." I think I might like this broad. "Karina, Tessera, you'll be on point in this defense. Try and draw the attack pattern in the beast, memorize and then intercept at its seems. Unless it's a semi-intelligent being, its pattern is bound to be easy to read and follow through with. There's nobody else that could do this job better than you two." Yep. I DEFINITELY like this broad.
"First. What about me and Osgood?" Furball said.
"I want you two to act as pincers. The minute that a hole appears in its defense, I want to catch in a deadlock so it can have barely any time or room to maneuver in its range or trajectory. Take it in any method you see fit."
"Yes First!"They both yelled simultaneously. Wonderful hierarchy at work here...
"There's no guarantee that this plan will work, as we don't yet know what we're up against, so I don't want any heroics any of you. Any questions?" We all stayed silent. I always hated this part. "Well alright then, let's move out!"
"If I may ask, what are you gonna be doing the whole time?"
She smiled.
"Oh, don't you worry about that." She then grabbed a nearby broken stop sign post, and placed on her shoulder, and sat down near the fountain. Whatever she was planning, I had a feeling I was gonna need a seat belt.
"But what about Huey? He ran off to fight that thing you know!"
"I honestly can't say...We just have to pray he's at least far from death's reach."
"Yeah, REAL encouraging lady..." I scoffed.
"Karrie!"
"It's okay Tessera." She then placed her hand on top of my head, and suddenly my head filled with a positive vibe. "Believe me, I'm as worried about little Huey as you are, but right now, we can't afford to allow our emotions to dictate our actions. Not at a time like this. Don't worry, you will see him safe and sound. Both him and young Kote. I promise." For some reason, my doubt was pretty much faded after receiving that lip service, and I no longer feel the urge to punch her out of frustration. Just who is this chick?"Everyone, go on ahead to your positions. I suspect we don't have that much time before whatever is out there gets here. So let's be quick about this."
And with that, we all took off to our designated play positions. Me and sis took our positions on the rooftops of nearby buildings that were adjacent to each other and stoodby with our weapons at the ready. Furball and Osgood took cover inside of buildings a few feet where we were positioned, while Boss lady was just chilling in the spot she decided for herself. It must suck to be the boss.
"OW!" All of a sudden, I felt a tiny rock ping on my head. I then looked across from me, only to find my sister signing me.
'S-T-A-Y F-O-C-U-S-E-D, D-I-P-S-H-I-T!'
Really? We haven't done this since we lived in Islam.
'D-O-N'T W-O-R-R-Y! I- G-O-T T-H-I-S!' As soon as I finished signing her, I began to feel loud thundering footsteps heading our way. They felt so hard that I thought the ground was actually going to rise above my feet. With every inch, the footsteps began to close on in, and they became even louder and more booming. Soon, I started to close my eyes and count with how many breaths I took in order to time the attack just right. As I started on my third breath, I heard a loud ass crash go off in the background, and my body snapped to action. I pulled out a few of my knives and threw them towards the biggest target that my eye could spot around the corner I placed myself at on the roof. I then heard a thud, indicating that my knives had reached something. After the acknowledgment, I signaled sis to charge in with a double strike.
Her sword lead with the first strike as she popped out of cover, and I succeeded with my scythe. As our weapons landed on the target that we were trying to find, we suddenly found our blades deflected, as if they just swung against pure metal, knocking us off our attack axis, and sending us back a little. I quickly recovered by swinging back around a pole using the blade on my scythe, and bolted right back into whatever blocked my shot. As I came back 'round, the only thing that was waiting for me was a pair of giant ass yellow beast like eyes, ones so wide I could see my own beautiful reflection.
"Grandma...what big eyes you have!" I found myself yelping out, all of a sudden. In the corner of my eyes, I saw a giant paw coming towards my left. 'Oh shit!'I quickly opened a portal and fell through it, bringing me crashing inside of a nearby building. Judging by the amount red velvet cakes present, my guess was that this was a bakery of some sorts. Such a great time for croissant.
Eager to get back into the swing of things, I quickly run out of the shop, only to see Tess dancing around that giant like monster. What the hell is that?! I've never seen something that even looks like that and exists!
"Karina! Stop lollygagging, and help a sista out!"
"Coming dear!" I started to climb up a few of the signs found on some of the nearby stores to try and get a better vantage point. Upon reaching the roof of a bookstore, I managed to get a better look at the thing I'm up against. Whatever it is, it looked like a giant colossal beast of some sorts with steel like skin all around it, and dissolving flesh. It also looked it was in the form of a wolf with its sharp fangs and paws and...wait a minute...
'Oh you gotta be kidding me...' And with that, the thoughts suddenly came rushing into my head, and I immediately knew the situation. Goddammit! Note to self, start listening to Huey more. As I was coming to the sudden realization, sis was still doing in the fight. She managed to dance around its paw swipes and bites by vaulting around the sides of the buildings and the nearby poles, looking like Tarzan's little sister. After a minute of dodging attacks, she landed on the back of the beast, and brought down her sword, only to have it deflect at the tip.
"Dammit!" Thinking that it's probably a ploy, she attempts to bring out another sword as the one lodges begins to dissolve, and then the beasts gives a big lunge in its back, launching her in the air. Thinking fast, I quickly jump on the back in her previous spot and launch myself in the air catching her by her forearm, and throwing her back into the action, and tossing her my scythe along as she brandished her newly formed sword.
"Don't fly now!"
"Much appreciated!" With her cornering back around in her trajectory, she brought down her impact by stabbing the blade of her sword in the beast's back leading it to let out a huge cry of pain. She then held herself up from the weight of the handle, and then in the spur of the, she held her feet out in the air in a straightforward position. Seeing the signal as I was coming down. I planted my own two feet on top of hers. She then pushed a good thirty degrees forward, and jumped in the same arched direction using her bended legs which then sent me flying in that direction. Then with her free hand, she threw me my scythe which landed perfectly in my left hand."Give me a berth lil' sis!"
"You got it!" As soon as she said the magic words, I sprang into action. In the middle of me beaming to the front the beast's face, I started to turn my body in a clockwise rotation, holding out the blade of scythe as well, carving a twisted and zig-zagged path in its back all the way to the skull. By the time I was done, I was already in front of the beast's face, staring him dead in the eye, which he it then began to open its mouth in attempts to swallow me whole. "Tess! Lane change!" I then quickly concentrated energy in my right hand, creating a makeshift portal. I calculated the distance from where I was to the top of the beast, and then threw towards sis's position.
"I see it!" Since I couldn't see from where I was, I decided to rely on brain power, something I don't usually have to do. According to my calculation, she should be using the force from her own her blade to launch herself forward. Then, seeing the path I created for her, she begins to separate the cleaves with quick shots from her gun by opening up seems in the middle of the breaks. After that, she should well be on her way towards the portal I sent for her in the middle of her trajectory, which I set up to lead her right in front of the beast, in his most compromised position, in his mouth, or to be more precise, my position. About 1.89 seconds later, my calculation was right on the money, and sis appeared right in front of me, holding up the beast's mouth using her own sword as a prop. "Eat this shit!" With that, she fired off about six rounds down its gullet, making not only a big glop of blood gush out of its mouth, but it letting out a loud bloodcurtling cry. "YES!"
After precisely two seconds, I managed to land on the ground safely from my falling position, and I then heard a sharp whistle coming from the opposite direction of the square. In that moment, Furball and Osgood charged from their position inside the nearby buildings. Furball rushed forward, by bringing out what he called his 'sweeper', and then started to suck up various objects and debris around him on the ground. The beast began to move again despite the lead sis put in him not that long ago, and pursued after Furball.
"Watch out Furball! It's headin' your way!" Sis yelled out at him.
"No worries!"
"What about me?! Am I chopped goat nuts or something?!" Osgood yelled out.
"Oh yeah! Don't die Osgood!"
"You bitch!"
I never got a chance to watch a detailed viewing of the other Blades in action besides sis, so this will be a feast for the eyes.
Furball's perspective
'I suppose everyday has its due highlight doesn't it?' I thought that to myself as I came into charge the beast as it intercepted my running path. I slipped to the right side to avoid its left foot coming down on me. Pretty soon, it brought down its opposite foot, to which I quickly wrapped my arm around a street lamp, and climbed up the whole thing spinning around the pole with roller skates hidden in the contents of my shoes. As I reached the top of the lamp, I came face to face with the beast, along with Tessera still propping its mouth open with her sword. Judging by the quality of her sword which was quickly deteriorating, she didn't have much time until its jaw shut completely.
"Okay...This seems like a good spot." I then pulled out the gadget strapped on my back, which I refer to as, well for now I'll refer to it as a 'Sweeper'. I then activated the battle function on it via a the red button on the handle, which made it transform it into a guitar shaped weapon, only with steel outlaying the front, with a green orb planted in the middle with the hands of a clock placed inside, and the nose of a vacuum cleaner attached to the end of it.
With its function activated, I aim down on the sights from the tip of the nose and then pointed it towards the eye of the beast. Once I had my target, I let loose the trigger, and out flied a medium sized platinum ball that hit directly in the retina of the target, making it roar out of pain. With the beast distracted, Tessera was then allowed enough time to escape the beast's clutches before it brought down its jaws.
"Tessera! Now's your chance!" She then made her way out of its mouth and retreated to her safe spot along with her sister, leaving us to our pincer assault.
"Thanks! Good luck handsome!" I really wish she would stop saying things like that...
After seeing it indisposed, I signaled Osgood to charge in with his attack. He equipped his spiked brass knuckles and began hammering away at the beast's legs, attempting to cripple its standing. Unfortunately, its skin was too tough and durable at this point to even land a dent in it. Then, almost as if he could hear my thoughts, Osgood ran up the side of the nearby buildings until reached a position in the air.
"Yo Furball! Hit me man!" Just what I was thinking. I quickly rotated the dial near the center of the orb until the arrow hit a sign with the two arrows pointing to the rightwards. After the dial clicked on the sign, the green orb turned to a yellow glow, and as a result, my green eyes also turned to yellow. I then aimed my sweeper on Osgood and pulled the trigger at him, launching a shining yellow crystal which had hit him against his back, allowing his body to absorb the contents of the crystal.
Pretty soon, a yellow glow began to radiate around his body. Noticing him in his range, the beast had regained its senses and went forward to strike down Osgood. As soon as its paw came within a close hair of Osgood, he had disappeared into thin air. A few seconds later, he had reappeared again, only this time under the beast, or to be more precise its stomach.
"Feelin, hungry fido?!" His fists flew upward into a huge uppercut that managed to lift up the beast off the ground, but only by barely a few feet. Seeing this, he doubles both the speed and power of his punches and they begin to come in one after the other. Pretty soon, the beast began to float above the ground a few more feet until its body began to peak over rooftops. After that, Osgood disappeared again, and then reappeared ontop of its head and kicked the top repeatedly, nearly smashing the skull in. After a while, his movements and attacks began to become quicker and more fiercer as he disappeared and reappeared as the fight went on. He began to multiple points around its body at the speed of light, which made it seem like the beast was being knocked around by the wind.
How is this possible you may ask? It's done with a little help from my sweeper, which is capable utilizing special crystals that are capable of manipulating the contents of time and space, and anything that it touches. The function I just used know was one that was able to speed up the movements of anything I aim the sweeper at, which just happened to be the effect that Osgood is experiencing right now. The only problem being...
"Osgood! Three more seconds!" It has a time limit...
Since he was busy smashing away, I doubt he could hear me. I decided to move on in by circling around the beast with my sweeper at the ready. Before I knew it, time had run out for the power up, and Osgood's speed began to drastically slow down to a fault, and the yellow radial glow began to fade, as did the color in my eyes and on the orb.
"Fuck!" I assume he knew considering his body wasn't moving the way he wanted it to anymore when he tried to boost his movement again, only to fall off in his trajectory and fall straight to the ground. Not only that, the beast had begun to make its descent, and Osgood was smack dab in the middle of the impact circle. "Furball!" Hearing my name in a plea for help, not surprising. I then turned the dial on the handle to another part. This time, the arrow clicked to a sign with two blue parallel lines. I then hit the trigger, activating the 'pause' function of my sweeper. The orb on it turned blue as did my eyes, as the status of the environment around me had completely stopped in its place, the time process of everyone and everything had been frozen by me. The crashing debris of the buildings, and the falling of the beast on top of Osgood, all had been stilled, but that didn't mean I had forever to just wait around. My sweeper had five different functions that manipulated time in a distinct manner. But like everything game breaking, they all have a time limit of about 5-7 seconds tops. Meaning that I had to move pretty fast in order to save him.
I jumped down from my position on top of the lamp, sliding down off the sides of the building with the clock still ticking in my head. I came around to the position where Osgood was about to be squished to absolute nothingness, and then pulled him out of the fray. As soon as I grabbed him and got him to a safe position on a nearby rooftop, his body began to animate once more. Whenever I'm in the pause function and I touch something or someone, time begins to flow around it once more. It's kind of like adding a negative and a positive together. They will eventually cancel themselves out. "Damn! Cutting it a little close there huh?"
"You're welcome." I snidely remarked. Before I knew it,seven seconds had passed and time had begun to move once more. The beast had made the drop to its crashing position, although he lacked one Osgood though. As soon as it noticed us, it came charging at both of us, knocking down the building we were standing on, but not before we were able to safely jump out of the way in time. Piles of rubble and rocks appeared in front us, and the beast began to charge through every single on of them. I then activated the 'slow' function on my sweeper, turning the orb and my eyes a bright yellowish color. The environment around me had began to slow down to its absolute breaking point, allowing me to move as fast as I could among everything else. Seeing my chance, I started hop on the pieces of debris, creating a path for me to reach the beast, flipping and swinging my way through. As soon as I reached him, I clicked the release trigger on my sweeper as I glided over the beast, releasing a flood of acidic grenades along its body. One by one, they began to explode and erode through the metal skin that it had made for itself. Even though it was working somewhat, by eating through the steel, it would take a lot more to take it down.
When the time limit for the 'slow' function ran out and the beast found us at our new position, it was already time for the next phase of the plan. I tapped Osgood on the shoulder to move on.
"Wait, are you serious?! Now?! But we could take Spot out right here!"
"I know that, but we were told by the First to lead it back to her with it a little broken down. We've done that to some extent."
"But we could do a LOT more than this you know..."
"I'm aware of that, but we have our assignment, and to be honest we shouldn't be hasty until we know full well what's going on here."
Osgood scoffed and smiled. "But you know full well what's going on here, and what's going to happen, don't you?"
I chuckled. "I got no idea what you're talking about. Let's move for now!"
"Got it!"
We then began to move on to the next spot as rehearsed. Even though we could end it, we were given strict orders not to put it down until the First could properly assess the situation. As we retreated with the beast letting out a fierce growl and it hot on our backs, I grasped my sweeper's trigger and a whole bunch of other gadgets in my pack. Even Osgood had a cocky grin and restless fists to have another go at it. But orders are orders.
We then retreated to the position that the First told us about, and made sure that it was following us as well. I'm guessing there is something more to this situation, if she has a plan to this, and more than likely it involves young Huey.
Huey's Perspective
Trying to catch my breath as well as suck up the pain of my bruises and broken bones, I started to make my way to the town square, where I had been hearing a lot of noises coming from that direction. I knew that whatever was going on, it had involved Karina and the others. I moved my feet as fast as I could, and I even wounded up taking a shortcut on the side streets to get there quicker. Along the way, I spotted three familiar figures in the middle of taking down a squad of soundwave creatures.
"Is that...?" I then got in closer to the action to get a better look at the situation. It was Carly, Zeo, and Red, fighting off the creatures, despite them not having much experience going up against them. Though I'm not really one to talk. Carly had one of them pinned against the floor with a three pronged halberd, completely grasping the weapon with tenacity. Red was picking them off one by one with quick shots from her dual pistol wielding, going for headshots and bodyblows every now and again. Zeo was in the middle of her combo with her brass knuckles and was using an unfamiliar style of fighting. She was striking at the vital spots on the creatures, while at the same time allowing her body to take free reign of her actions in countering and dodging, meaning she could be offensive and defensive at the same time. While I was intrigued, I quickly noticed that she had left one out in the middle of her string and it had began to come toward. I sprang into action by jumping in the air slicing it in half with blinding speed, almost so much so that it didn't fall apart until a few seconds after the fact. As soon as she saw me with my brandished sword, she had a surprised look on her face.
"Huey?! What are you-"
I cut her off. "Fight now! Talk later!" She strongly nodded, and we began to take down the remainder of the monsters. I started to slice through them from left to right in a straightforward path, until I came at Red's side, who placed her back against mine as the creatures circled around us.
"Where have you been short stuff?"
"I've been trying to find everyone else. What about you?"
"I came here with Fisk not that long ago. We split up. Said something about going to chase some guy named Harmon or something."
The name rang in my head. I didn't to think to hard to remember what he did.
"How long ago was that?"
"I don't fucking know! I've been out here killing these things for an hour now!"
As soon as she said that, two of them began to charge after us. She shot both of them in vital spots, while I went forward and cut them both down with a wide spinning slice. In that same moment, two more charge at us from the back.
"Don't forget about us too!" Carly and Zeo both engaged them, backing us up. Carly's halberd pierced straight through its body, coming out on the other side. Zeo then gave a huge punch to its head, decapitating it straight to the neck. As the second one started to charge up, Carly took the halberd still piercing the creature and slammed on top of it, crushing it down to nothing.
After a few seconds of waiting, it seemed like we got rid of them all. We then took a minute to catch our breaths.
"Whew! That was something huh?" Carly yelled out.
"You're telling me! Who knew these guys would make such good target practice?" Zeo agreed with her.
"Looks like there's more to you girls than meets the eye huh?" Red chided.
"Yup! Our mom taught us everything we know."
I was surprised at that statement.
"You say your mother taught you guys? "
"That's right. Since the day we could crawl we got trained in a lot of ways we can break someones arm and then some."
"Funny. Kote never mentioned your mom a lot." I said. Both of them started to chuckle.
"Trust me. When you meet her, you'll see EXACTLY why he doesn't."
All of a sudden Red stepped in with a serious face.
"Not to interrupt this fun conversation, but we have an army of freaks destroying the town."
"Oh yeah! Huey did you manage to find big bro?" Carly asked me, along with Zeo who looked at me with anxious eyes. I knew this was going to come up sooner or later, so I didn't see any problem with stating the truth to them, although I not going to enjoy it.
A few minutes later
In that moment, the pleasant eyes of the two sisters that were filled with confidence, suddenly turned to despair. I pretty much told them everything that's been happening so far, especially what happened to Kote and his transformation, seeing as how they were going to find out eventually. I also told them the effects of the Lunaag crystal, and what it was doing to him in this state. I could tell it it hit them rather hard, considering that Zeo was nearly on the verge of tears when I told her, and Carly looked like she wanted to hit something, a lot.
"But, how is it possible? H-how do you know it was him?" Zeo asked me.
"I...was able to hear his thoughts even in that state. It involved feelings and thoughts about his family, protecting them, and killing anybody who crosses him. I pretty much connected the dots from there, plus he looked like a giant wolf from the angle I was looking at. I'm sorry you had to find out this way..." They didn't say anything. They just stayed quiet for a couple of minutes. I didn't have to read their thoughts to know what they were going through right now. I tried to look at Zeo to try and cheer her up, seeing as how she was the one who asked me to look for her brother in the first place. I then looked at Carly, who seemed to be contemplating something."Carly, what's wrong?"
"Well...it's just, I kind of knew this was going to happen."
"What do you mean?" I asked her.
"Well, I only remember from the bedtime stories mom used to tell us when we were little. Something about an ancient tribes of noble wolves who were capable of transformations that altered their appearance and powers through rituals of some kind. Apparently, the blood that flowed in their veins were sacred, and was not to be disturbed any kind of substance."
A tribe of noble blooded wolves? I remember reading about a certain group of nomads that recently settled down in South America. But what intrigued me the most about her story was about the noble blood. Since Kote is also Cryptic-type, as well as being a descendant of this tribe, he has a unique genetic makeup. But if you add in the fact that he has a crystal inside of him that's supposed to enhance the user's ability, I'm guessing somewhere along the line, the conflict with his Cryptic-type blood and his wolf blood became conflicted, and it caused his 'transformation' to spiral out of control, putting him in a sort of berserk state. And from what I was watching, its body is capable of adapting its to other metals, and he seems to get stronger with every attack he takes. However, if my hunch is correct, The Blades might find some way around this and have the ability to kill him. But since Ms. Ellen knows we're there, she might come up with some way to subdue it. Hopefully, that will be my chance to get him back to normal. But I honestly don't know what will happen then, or if it will even work on him in that state. But I-
"Huey, what's wrong?" Carly's words snap me out of my deep thoughts. I shake my head furiously.
"Nothing, I was just thinking."
"Thinking isn't going to do us much in this situation kid. We need a plan, and right now, you seem like the most intelligible person for a few miles that could do that. No offense girls."
"None taken!"
"So yeah what's the plan?"
The plan, huh? It's a long shot, but it's certainly better than nothing.
"Well, I have a plan, but first we have to head to the town square, there's some people there we need to meet up with."
They all nod, and we ended up heading in that direction.
At the town square. Five minutes later
After we finally reach the town square, the fight was looking pretty one sided, with Karina and the rest of the Blades pressuring the beast into submission. From the looks of it, this was all planned out beforehand. Looks like I had been worried for nothing. The beast was stuck up on the rooftop of the city hall building, and the everyone else gathered around its entrance. Both forces eyeing each other down, not giving an inch. I could tell that this fight was about to end pretty soon, and I was the only one who could end it.
I saw Ms. Ellen, sitting by the fountain with relaxed demeanor on. She saw me and the others coming and came to greet us.
"Little Huey! Thank goodness you're alright. Oh, I see you have some company." She looked at the three girls I was with. "Red, it's been sometime hasn't it?"
Red smiled playfully."Hey Ellen. Hoping to teach the young kids a little something huh?"
"Isn't Fisk with you?"
"He had some business to take care of. Something about him going after Harmon or something like that."
Ms. Ellen had stayed quiet with a look of grief for a brief second before talking again.
"I see. I had expected as much. The entirety of these events does seem like something he would do." And before I knew it, her usual demeanor had returned. "But anyway, it seems the two little ones look a bit familiar." She then walked over to Carly and Zeo, and looked them both straight in the eyes. I could tell they were seeming a little uncomfortable of having a random stranger state them as familiar. "You two must be...Carly and Zeo right?"
They both looked surprised at her guess.
"Do...we know you?" Carly asked.
She giggled. "I suppose not, but I do know your mother however. I have to say, you're a lot more well behaved then she was at your age. Speaking of her, where is she anyway?"
"She said she was going around town to look for Kote, since he went missing and all. That was this morning now that I think about it." Zeo said.
"I see. She must be dreadfully worried."
"Not really. The social worker is coming next week, and she wants to make sure he's still living in a stable condition. She is still claiming him after all."
"Oh...of course. Typical Lisa." For the first time since I've known her, she had a look of annoyance on her face. Something tells me to not get her upset.
All of a sudden, we heard a huge roar bell out from the city hall rooftop, that reached out to the skies. Tessera, who was still in the front line, rushed back over.
"First!"
"What's the situation?"
"It looks like the beast is starting to feel cornered. I think we got him on the ropes. So it's only a matter time before...we...oh..." Tessera stopped short in her report, and then got the look of fear in her eyes. What could she possibly be afraid of after all this time? My question got answered as I looked at a red faced Red who was teeming with anger.
"Zaldwick..."
"Oh...shit...uh...hey Red! Funny...uh...funny seeing you here again! You..uh...been liftin' weights of something cause...you are ripped girl! I haven't since...uh..."
"That sting operation in Budapest... You know...The one where you went MIA. The one I thought you were dead?!"
"Yyyeeeaaahhh...uh...see...what had happened was-" Her sentence fell short as Red punched her square in the face, knocking her down on the ground. She then grabbed her by her neck and began shaking her violently.
"Zaldwick, you dumb slut! Why didn't you tell me you were alive?!"
"I..sor...I'm sorry! I was sworn to secrecy! I couldn't tell anybody!"
"You couldn't even tell your own roommate?!"
Seeing this situation I felt inclined to stop it, but as I was going to, stopped me.
"Let them have their moment. Tessera had been saying for the longest how much she regret not saying goodbye to her friend all those years ago. Even after all this time, they still managed regain that connection." Connection? She starting to turn blue in the face."Friends are indeed eternal it seems. Even with all of the distrust and obstacles that come between us."
Friends...right. Me and Kote are friends. I have to make that clear to him.
As Red and Tessera were off in their little world, we heard a sound go off behind us. The beast had begun to make its move on the rest of us. It then jumped down from the rooftop, and targeted us for a pounce attack.
"Here it comes!" Karina shouted out. As its shadow began to hover over us from the sky, I saw tiny figure hop into the sky near its position. Within seconds, the beast had came crashing down near us, not in attack, but from getting hit. The impact was so large, it made the whole ground shake, creating shockwaves all around us, and making the already ruined town, collapsed even more. We all stood there with our mouths open as the beast lied unconscious on the ground. What could have taken it down so easily?
"My goodness. You're telling me your people couldn't handle a simple situation like this? You must be getting decrepit in your age Ellen." We then heard a voice echoing around us. I turned around to see a figure standing on top of the statue in the fountain, overlooking all of our surprise, it was a curvaceous wolf lady dressed in a white button up shirt, with a leather jacket, and black skinny jeans and black high heels. She hopped down from her spot, and walked over to Ms. Ellen and smirked."I honestly can't believe this is how we're meeting again after all of these years. I couldn't have picked a better setting!"
Ms. Ellen sighed, and that annoyed look came back on her face. "How did I guess you were going to show up eventually, and in such robust fashion too?"
"Hmmm? Is that how you greet an old friend Ellie? I would have thought you were raised thought you were raised better than that."
She calmly facepalmed herself. "As always, you're always rushing ahead, and never thinking of the consequences, or the situation beforehand. Instead arriving at the conclusion you set for yourself. I honestly don't know how you were able to raise three kids."
The wolf lady then puffed her cheeks. "That's rude you know! I've always had good moral judgment!"
"What part of good moral judgment involves faceplanting your own son into the ground?"
She stayed quiet for a second."...Family discipline!"
Carly and Zeo rushed over to the woman and hugged her, squealing with glee.
"Mommy!"
I was a bit surprised as those words came out.
"Mommy?! So this is..."
She then walked over to me and then buried me in her breasts. A lot of things were hurting all over. My suffocating, my injuries, my broken bones. Take your pick.
"Wow! You're even cuter in person! I've been looking forward to meeting you for the longest!" Karina then stomped over and separated us.
"Okay, sister! We don't need him dying in the best possible way just yet! Care to fill in some background for the rest of us?"
"Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Lisa Valentine. As you can probably guess, I'm the mother of Kote, Carly and Zeo. And I'm currently single." She then winks at all of us guys, to all of which filled the air with an awkward silence
"I'm so sorry everyone..." Ms. Ellen bowed to us in aplogy.
"Why the hell are you apologizing?!" Ms. Lisa yelled out at her.
"Wait? You knew that thing is your son?" Osgood asked.
"Of course! You think I, a noble wolf doesn't know what a transformed one looks like? Although I must admit, the energy that is coming off of him definitely feels different. Almost like it's fused with something, forcefully."
"He has a something called a Lunaag crystal inside of him. It's a tool that enhances the power of Cryptic-types. It's conflicting with his wolf blood and made him go berserk." I explained
"I see. I assume we have some other plan besides killing him? I would hate to be short one son you know."
Everybody started to ponder about what to do from here on out. I assume Ms. Ellen wanted to subdue Kote in attempts to figure out how to revert him back to his original state, but even she hadn't thought that far yet. It was now or never. I took a deep breath, and stepped forward in front of everyone.
"Uhh...I have a plan." As soon as I said that, all eyes lynched on me. I felt like I was giving a speech. "Well...I have...a...uh...method, that will allow me to go inside of Kote's consciousness. If I can find his inner self that's being affected by the crystal. If I can break the connection, I might be able to free him, and wake him up. Although there is a problem..."
"What's the problem?" Karina asked.
"Because he's been in that state for so long, there's a high risk that his mind and body might be damaged from the whole ordeal. Me severing the connection forcefully between him and the crystal might just make it worse. It might even break his inner psyche completely."
"That means, what exactly?" Osgood asked.
"It means, the kid might not be able to mentally function afterwards. Geez, read a book will you?" Tessera chided, who was still rubbing her neck from the gripping that Red gave her.
"Shut up!"
"But still, will it work?" Zeo sincerely asked me with a worried look in her eye.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. I just learned how to do it not that long ago, and I'm still not confident enough to pull it off effectively." It was the truth. I was able to pull it off because Terry was there to guide. That's not the case anymore it seems. Hearing no comments on the matter, started to make me lose what little faith I had that this was going to work. But I remained solid in that regard. "But still, it's the only option we have."
Everybody stayed quiet for a few seconds, especially the Valentines. The life their only son and brother was on the line, and I was the only one who was capable of reeling it in.
"Alright." Ms. Lisa said. "I trust you Huey. He may not seem it, but Kote talks quite a bit about you. I know that you two will be great friends. But this is a trial that will test that friendship. You have to be prepared for it the best way you know how."
I nodded at her. I had no more doubts in my thoughts. I was going to have to do what I was capable of.
A few minutes later
While the other blades tied down the beast, I began to concentrate my energy in my mental reach. I had explained the plan to everybody that I needed intense focus and a signal to lock onto Kote's brainwaves. So far I wasn't having any luck. His mind is so clouded with anger and rage, I could barely find a something to go on that would allow this to work.
"Well?! Is it working yet?! Are you all mentally inserted in him and whatnot?!" Karina yelled in my ear.
"Clearly I'm not! And how was that going to convince you otherwise?!" I snapped back at her. "It's working as far as I can tell. I'm able to hear his thoughts, but it's not enough so that I can find a way around the clutter. I need a stronger signal to help me get through."
"I may be able to help you with that!" I then heard a small cooing noise coming from somewhere. I looked around to see where it came from. "Down here. In front of you!" I then looked down, to find a orange gello looking thing with big eyes staring at me.
"What the fuck is that? I feel like it's staring into my soul." Karina said.
"Stop it. You said you can help me?" I asked the thing.
" You are Kote's friend yes? I can help!"
"How?"
"I have seen his memories, and absorbed them in my body. I can feed them in your mind to help you." It didn't take me long to catch on to what he was saying. By using the memories that Kote has, I can open up a path into his mind that allows me to clear past all of the cloudiness that in his head. It was a long shot, but it was still worth a try.
"Alright then. Do it."
"Wait a second. You're going to trust the talking gello goop that just showed up out of nowhere?"
"What have I got to lose at this point?"
"...Good point."
I then turned to the gello thing. "So, what do I have to do?"
As soon as I said that, it started to slither up my arm and wrapped itself around my head, until I was completely engulfed in the stuff. I felt my air slipping away, but it made it easier for me to focus. I closed my eyes, and let my mind go silent. Soon, I could hear nothing but the sound of the gello thing as it spoke to me in my head.
"Kote is hurt. In pain. But it is not from fights, but from past. You must look at his memories. View them. Understand them. Delve into them. Only then, will you be able to understand him."
I then zeroed in on everything that it told me so far. I started to see everything about Kote. His memories, his thoughts and dreams. It was all stretched in front of me as I reached out an touched it. His entire life played back in front of me, as one memory lead to another and another. I then delved in deeper to find where all of the memories where coming from, and began to trace them back to their core. For the first few minutes, I couldn't see where they were all leading to, but I began to push my way forward. Past every one of the negative emotions until I made way to the center.
"Gotta find the exit..."Past the hate."Gotta find the exit..."Past the rage."Gotta find the exit..." Past the passion."Gotta find the exit..." Past the strength."Gotta find the exit..." Past the power. "Gotta find the exit..."Past the emotion."Gotta find the exit..."
When I opened my eyes once more, I was treated to wide open space with white as its primary background. It was empty. Nothing was in sight for miles. I wasn't even sure there was an end in this place I was in. All of a sudden, I saw a shadowy figure, staring at me surrounded by dark and corrupted aura. As I reached my hand out to it, it started to run away. I then started to chase it.
As I ran, voices began to flood in my head, and appeared before in words that I could see as visuals. 'Why was I born?', 'What is my purpose here?' , 'Can I protect anyone?' , 'My family...It's the only thing I have left' , 'Who the hell needs friends?!' , 'This team thing is holding me back!' , 'Why can't everyone just leave me alone?' 'Why is sex such a big deal to everyone?!' 'I don't want to in a relationship with anyone if they aren't going to understand me!'
They all came from the same place. And then, it finally stopped when I came down to the last one. 'I wish I had a friend...' As soon as I heard that, the dark figure had stopped in its tracks. Then in that moment, I felt a sharp sensation in my stomach, it felt as it something had pierced right through me. I then looked down at it, to see blood leaking out from it, and fist driving straight through it. I started to spit up blood as my eyes rested on the suspect at hand. The dark figure, who's dark aura began to fade, revealing a familiar figure.
"K-Kote..."
"It had to be you..."
"I-I told myself, I would save you...if this happened..."
"Yeah, and look where that got you. Ever think I didn't WANT to be saved. Maybe I like living as a mindless beast, just tearing apart everything that pisses me off. No more consequences, no responsibilities, and best of all, I get the isolation I always wanted. From everybody."
"Y-you can't mean that...You don't mean that..."
"I don't huh?! Whose mind is this again?! Who the fuck are you to say what I can and can't mean?! I'm supposed to believe that someone like you can save me?! I can't tell you how many school teachers, and preists have all said the same thing to me. They said it so much to the point that I would pretty much punch anybody that would so much as bat an eye at me or question me about anything! You're no different!"
"That's not true...I'm your..."
"You're my what? Friend? Don't play yourself man. I never gave a flying fuck about you. Why the hell would I want to be friends with someone so weak and incapable of controlling his own thoughts?! You become emotional at the drop of a hat, and then whenever you make a mistake, you blame yourself and try to rush and fix it! You can't even fight by yourself without Terry or someone else holding your hand! Fisk calls you the leader, when you can't even help yourself?! Give me a fucking break! You can't just face up with facts that you yourself are useless, and this just proves it."
"T-that's not-"
"Terry's gone, isn't he?" I was shocked."I don't sense his energy anymore, so I'm guessing he was killed somehow. I can see how already. He thought you would be in the way, so he left you to for a mercy killing huh? What an asshole. Can't even see that his host is hopeless by himself. But you know what, I can't say I blame him, you boring as they come Huey. A leader with no purpose, no drive, not even an ability to think for himself, but only by what others tell him. You're worthless."
He then pulled his fist out of my stomach, and my body fell backwards to the ground, surrounded in a pool of my own blood. I looked up at the white space and started to think of it as my new home. Everything that he said about me...it was all true. I couldn't really find the words to have along with it, but it was all true from every standpoint. I...am useless. I've had doubts in myself since the day I was made leader. I didn't know anything about fighting or killing anyone. When it came to it, I left it all to Terry. Now that I think about it, I relied on him for everything, but now that's not an option any more it seems. I didn't have a problem with it at all though. Whose to say I could help anyone? I couldn't save Anthony. I couldn't save Terry. I couldn't save the kids. And now at the end of the road, I couldn't save Kote. And now I'm laying here, waiting for death to pick me up on the way to get everyone else counting on me. Was this what my father wanted? For me to die like this? If so, thank you. I can at least die, knowing that I couldn't help anyone. Fisk, Red, Ms. Ellen, Karina. I'm sorry. I'm no good after all...
…...
"COME ON! DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE GIVING UP ALREADY?!"
I then heard a familiar voice as my life met its end, and then appeared to a familiar setting. It was my room at the foster home. I was laying in my bed with someone watching over me as I slept, smiling, and it was one I would know anywhere.
"...Terry?!"
"No it's Chuck Testa. Of course dude, who else do you think it is?!"
"But! You died! Harmon killed you!"
"Yeah...he did. Did I mention the fact that not a damn thing happens when you die? Christianity is so overrated."Before I knew it, my eyes began to flood with tears after seeing him again. He then sighed and placed his hand on my head. "Just let it all out buddy. Just let it all out." Tears began to drown my eyes and blur my vision. I wiped them clean before I started to speak.
"*sigh* Okay...I'm fine now."
"Good! And on that note, how does it feel being dead?!"
"Dead? Oh yeah, Kote killed me didn't he?"
"That he did. I've said it before, but that kid's got some issues."
"But how am I?"
"Well technically speaking, he didn't exactly kill you. He merely killed off a part of you."
"A part of me? What do you mean?"
"Years back, your mother created a special mannequin that sealed everything about you in it. Your memories, your powers, your true abilities, even your personality, and replaced it with fake ones."
"Fake ones? You mean that I'm...?"
"Yep, not real. Well this side of you isn't real. It was made as something to seal off your true self. She did it as a method of protecting you from your own power, and after looking at Kote, I can see why she did it. He's going out of control because of ONE Lunaag crystal. We've got FIVE of those bastards in us! Ain't that some shit?"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I'm not real?! It was like a line out of a psychological drama. So what is everything that I've experienced so far?! A lie?!
"That doesn't make any sense! If I'm not the real Huey, then who is?!"
"You're looking at him."
"What?"
"Yup. I'm you dude! Well, more specifically, a back up of you. Everything that you are, and were. I'm it!"
"So, all this time, my imaginary friend, was actually...me?"
"In a manner of speaking. Of course, if you want it to sound really dramatic, you could say that I'm your true self or something like that."
I began to ponder on everything said so far.
"So everything that's happened to me so far in my life, those memories about my parents selling me."
"The selling part is true, but your mother tweeked your memories a bit so that you would be none the wiser, and then placed them inside of me. Everything that you've experienced I've experienced them too, but just not in a physical sense, as you could probably tell."
Then I got to the big question.
"But...why?"
"I'm not gonna lie to you Huey. Something big is about to happen. It's enough to shake the world and everyone living in it. Somebody out there generally believes that the world is something that should not be around anymore, and is seeking to drown it in its own chaos. Wars, slavery, murder. They're just the symptom. The real cause lies with those guys."
"Those guys? You mean this army you're talking about?"
"Yeah, they're growing stronger even as we speak. Those Pure-types that you went against, they are about a thousand more where those came from. And those were just the younger ones. The older ones are a force to be reckoned with, and it's only a matter of time before they completely spread out and conquer everywhere."
"But why are doing that?"
"Looking for you I suppose."
"Me? Why?"
" I can't really remember. I'm still fixing the memories even now. But it had something to do with they Harmon sold us. He did it to protect us. Either that, or he fell asleep watching Black Swan when you were born."
"So what am I supposed to do?"
"There's nothing you can do anymore remember?"
"Oh yeah. I forgot. Is that how you're still alive?"
"Yup. I sealed a part of myself inside of you before I ran off to my death with Harmon there, which I have to say, wasn't my best decisions."
"Neither was sending Kote to receive a sentient crystal that might kill him."
" I know, I know! Jeez, send one kid to retrieve a crystal that might kill him and you never hear the end of it." Terry sighed, or maybe in this case, I sighed.
"So what happens now?"
"Well, I'm going to be taking over from here on out. I'll try to preserve this state as best as I can for time being. Though it will be a long time before you ever wake up again. By that time, everything will have changed most likely."
"I see...well. I guess I better rest up until then. I'm just...really tired now after everything that's happened. I just want to pretend it's a bad dream."
"Don't worry. It will be..."
I tucked myself back into the bed and looked at myself one last time. Pretty soon, it was like looking in a mirror.
"Well... I'll leave it all up to you... Good night... Huey..."
I place out my hand, and I grab it firmly and tightly while I watch disappear before my very eyes.
"Sleep tight...Huey..."
Those were the last words I would hear for a long time, as I slipped into a deep, deep sleep. I then heard an unfamiliar voice in my head ringing.
"Don't worry. Don't be afraid. And don't forget.
You are the one, who will save us all"
Third Person Perspective
Kote's Inner Consciousness
All of a sudden to his surprise, Kote felt an unfamiliar aura presence resonating from behind him, as soon as he turned around, his face was met with a fist, one that launched him back several feet. Only at the last second did he manage to recover. He looked up at the figure that hit him, and it belonged to a person, whom he thought was dead.
"Whoooo! Been wanting do that for a while now! You know, you really ARE a brooding asshole!"
Kote struggled to get up, as it was a hit that he hadn't taken in a very long time. Not since the sparring days of him and his father. He then appeared confused at this sudden turn of events, as he struggled to make sense of it all.
"Your aura...Huey? Terry? No...it's completely different! Who the hell are you?!"
"Isn't it obvious yet dude?" The figure then pointed his finger straight at Kote and clownishly grinned at him. "I'm your friend Huey Jones! And I'm gonna kick your ass!"
Part IX of Trexwell Arc END.
Fro Ninja; Oooooo, I got goosebumps! I've been wanting for this to happen and it finally is! Next week, the showdown between Huey and Kote will begin in the final conclusion of the Trexwell Arc! See you then!