* * * Chapter Three: One Last Trick * * *
The slimy blue limb lanced down toward Genki's relaxed face, and the Jelly Hare sneered as he brought it down with all of his might. Too easy, his mind repeated, and his leering smirk grew wider as his whip-like arm smashed down.
Suddenly Jelly Hare snapped to attention. His arm had suddenly halted in midair, seemingly of its own accord. Glancing down at his two victims, the rabbit hybrid gasped. Genki's clear eyes were wide open, and the boy's fingers were locked around the half-Jell's wrist. A knowing smirk was on the kid's face, and he tightened his grip around the squirming limb.
"Too easy," he teased, clear eyes twinkling. Jelly Hare just gaped at him and Mocchi, who was also wide awake and was staring at the rabbit hybrid with a curious look on his pink face. A low growl rumbled behind them, and Jelly Hare quickly glanced over his shoulder. His already pale blue face blanched even more as he saw energy dancing around an obviously wide awake Tiger of the Wind's horns. Behind the lupine monster, Holly, Suezo and Golem glared at the hybrid, their eyes accusing and strangely knowing.
"This trick's gone long enough," Tiger snarled, curled lips revealing shiny white teeth. "Where have you hidden Hare at?"
Jelly Hare gaped at the wolf, and replied the only way he could think of; by saying aloud what was repeating over and over again in his mind: "Oh crap…"
"Wrong answer," Tiger growled, and the electrical energy building around his horns became even brighter. The hybrid's eyes doubled in size, and the flailing squirms of his trapped arm became even more desperate. Genki's fingers remained tightly clamped around his blue limb, and Golem stomped up to help by pinning the rabbit hybrid down.
"How…how did you know?" Jelly Hare rasped, glaring up at the group. Tiger snorted in reply.
"Baka," the blue lupine snarled. "Your scent gave you away the moment you came running up. I'd recognize the furball's scent anywhere, and yours isn't the least bit similar to his. I tipped off the others, and warned them not to act like anything was wrong. I wanted you off guard…"
"In other words, Tiger actually used his brain for once instead of just killing," Suezo quipped. Tiger silenced the eyeball monster with his death glare.
"I'm sick of stalling," Genki interrupted, glaring at Jelly Hare. "Tell us where Hare is, NOW."
"And if I refuse?" Jelly Hare hissed. Genki didn't reply, but his clear eyes suddenly became alarmingly piercing as he glared at the rabbit hybrid. His fingernails dug into clear blue gel, and Jelly Hare gritted his teeth in agony. Risking a glance over at the others, the hybrid gulped as he noticed that Tiger had stepped closer, baring his fangs in a very pissed-off looking snarl. The electricity around his horns made them shine like twin torches, casting frightening shadows over his angry face, and golden eyes gleamed as if lit by an inner fire.
"…Back in the village," Jelly Hare relented, eyes never leaving Tiger's face.
"Where?"
"In an old shack at the edge of the town. You'll know it by the blackened old sign near the entrance. Captain Icy Jell chose it because he figured you'd pass the place over as being unimportant. It doesn't look anything like a baddie hideout, so he knew you'd pay it no mind."
"Let's go," Genki said, getting to his feet and yanking on his skates. Holly, Mocchi and Suezo were already turning and heading back toward the village, and Golem loosened his grip on the Jelly Hare as he began to get to his feet. Suddenly the stone giant cried out as something blazed into his hand, and he let go of the monster's lifeless form. As it fell to the ground and transformed into a lost disc, Golem turned horrified gray eyes to stare at Tiger. The energy that had been building around the blue wolf's horns steadily was gone.
"Tiger…why?" he asked, clearly stunned. Golden eyes glanced up at the stone giant's horrified face disinterestedly, and the lupine monster sniffed as he went after the others.
"We couldn't risk him warning his friends, and he needed to pay for trying to trick us in the first place," Tiger replied over his shoulder. He paused, and a grin twisted his lips for a moment as he added, "Damn, I'd been wanting to do that. It felt good."
He dashed after the others, leaving a visibly shaken Golem standing alone on the hilltop. The stone giant stared disbelivingly after the lupine, and it took a few moments before he could muster enough sense to follow after the others.
* * *
A sneering face of unspeakable ugliness hovered a few inches away from the little rabbit's face, its draconian features twisted into a demonic sneer.
* MOO! *
Hare all but shrieked the name, and he leveled his paws with the baddie's eyes and poured all of his strength into lashing out at him. As the crimson fireball surged toward Moo, the terrible dragon just leered down at him and reached out with one massive hand. The blaze slammed at full force into his hand and dissipated harmlessly, and as Hare opened his mouth in a silent scream, the monster's voice echoed in his mind:
I'll deal with you later. Right now, I want to get rid of some other pests first.
* No…you CAN'T! *
Hare's protest fell on deaf ears, for the massive leader of evil monsters rose into the air on powerful wings and swept past the drained rabbit. The little rabbit had put all of his energy into attacking, and watched helplessly as the reborn Moo swooped down upon his friends. Screams filled the air, and Hare winced as he recognized each voice: first Tiger, then Genki. Golem. Mocchi. Suezo. And finally Holly's.
* STOP IT! *
Hare shrieked the command, and suddenly a new fire raged in his chest. Driven by a force he couldn't recognize, the rabbit leapt to his feet and pointed his paws toward Moo again. The fire erupted from his chest and through his hands, and Moo screamed as the energy tore through him…
* * *
"Hare?"
Hare opened his eyes and stared blankly up into Holly's face.
"Holly?" he asked, disbelieving. The girl smiled, even as she tore away the gel that encased most of the rabbit's body and held him down. The second his body was free, Hare attempted to get to his feet, glancing quickly around.
"Looks like I missed a lot," he commented, seeing the Icy Jells sprawled out over the floor. The other rebels were standing nearby, surrounding the two protectively. Tiger blasted one backwards and gave Hare an annoyed look.
"'Bout damn time that you decided to join us," he snarled. Hare just rolled his eyes.
"Good to see you too," he returned mildly. Tiger grumbled something that the rabbit couldn't quite make out and turned his attention back to the battle. Genki glanced over his shoulder and smiled reassuringly.
"Don't let him get to you," the boy told him. Hare smirked back and got to his feet, assuming a battle position as all of the rebel's eyes turned to Captain Icy Jell, who was looking considerably peeved.
"You've forced us to use our deadliest attack," the Ice Jell captain snarled, glaring at the rebels. Throwing back his arms, he yelled, "All attack formation!"
"Hey, that's my line!" Genki fumed. The other rebels glanced at the furious boy and sweatdropped. They were a little bit more interesting in what the Jells were doing than they were in what their commander had just said.
"What are they doing?" Hare asked, confused. Genki glanced over at the Jells, who were all diving at the captain…and going straight into the captain's body. As the rebels watched, confused, the Jells merged into a single, trembling blob of clearish-blue slime. Genki stared at it, something nagging at the back of his mind.
"OH NO!" Genki screamed aloud as recognition suddenly hit. Whirling to face the others, he warned, "Take cover! They're gonna use the Cannon attack!"
"What?" the others asked. As one, they looked back at the blob of Jells, and sweatdropped as it morphed into a gigantic cannon. The blue gun swiveled and pointed itself directly at the rebels, and Genki screamed again as a huge blast of glowing yellow light surged toward them. It was too late to dodge. The boy flung up his hands in a futile attempt to ward off the attack, squeezed his eyes shut, and waited for impact.
Instead of feeling energy sear through his flesh, however, the boy felt a sudden rush of heat rise before him, then fade away as quickly as it had come. Opening one eye a crack, he gasped as he saw a familiar reddish glow shining inches away from his face. Glancing around, he quickly spotted Hare standing in front of the group. A red aura spread from his paws and formed a glistening shield around the rebels.
"Good timing," Genki cheered, and Hare glanced back at the boy, nodding slightly in reply.
"Don't think it's that easy," snarled Captain Icy Jell's voice from somewhere inside the massive blue cannon. The rebels whirled to face it, and another blast of yellow energy shot from its slimy barrel and crashed into the barrier. Suezo screamed, then gasped thankfully as the crimson light deflected the shot again. The voice of Captain Icy Jell cursed, and the cannon began to fire mercilessly at the searchers, who cowered behind the flame shield.
"We can't just sit here!" Tiger growled, every muscle in his lean body tensing. "We have to attack!"
"You go ahead and go first, Tiger," Suezo urged. "Call me crazy, but I have a thing about dying needlessly."
"It doesn't matter, anyway," Hare mumbled, wincing as he poured more of his energy into the barrier. When the others looked at him, he continued, "The Ice Jells won't be able to keep firing like this forever, though it looks like it doesn't matter to them what will happen if they try. Eventually…their bodies will start to fuse together from the heat of the cannon, and when that happens…boom. Bye-bye Ice Jells, and anything that happens to be close enough to be caught in the explosion."
"What?" Genki gasped, and the other rebels exchanged nervous glances.
"B-but we'll be okay, right?" Suezo stammered, pupil dilating slightly as he laughed nervously. "You can keep this shield thing up and protect all of us, right?"
"I can keep it up…" Hare replied, pausing as another ball of yellow energy slammed into the barrier and faded away harmlessly, "But…"
"But. But is never good," Suezo groaned.
"Even if I can keep it at this strength, it won't be able to stand up to the full effects of the blast. If we were further away…" Hare let his voice trail off hopelessly, and turned his watery eyes back toward the Jell Cannon, which even now was beginning to show signs of an imminent explosion. The blue slime glowed with yellow energy, and it crackled warningly as it pulsed around the unheeding Jells, even as they launched another attack.
The crimson shield flickered as the wave of energy slammed into it, and for a breathless moment seemed to vanish completely before regaining its steady glow. The rebels all tensed, then sighed in relief as it held. Holly glanced over at Hare, wondering just how long he could keep the shields in place.
Not long, she decided glumly. Sweat was rolling down the rabbit's face and back in rivulets, and she could clearly see the strain of keeping the barrier up in the pained expression on his face. Tears brimmed in his narrowed eyes, and Holly assumed that they were caused by the obvious pain and exhaustion he was suffering. She had no idea that there was another cause.
"I guess…I'd better get this over with," she heard him whisper. As she and the others stared at him, Hare closed his eyes and stepped out of the barrier, a fiery aura surrounding his fur the moment he was outside. He turned and looked back at them, a slight smile on his face.
Genki stared at Hare, trying to figure out what the rabbit was up to. Why has he left the safety of the shield? Is he planning on attacking by himself?
"Hare, what are you doing?" he heard himself ask. For some strange reason, his voice cracked as he spoke. Hare met Genki's gaze, his eyes wavering slightly. A sad smile flickered on the rabbit's face as he noticed the honest confusion in the boy's expression.
"You guys…thank you for letting me stay with you for so long," Hare told them, his eyes sweeping over their confused faces. Almost as if he wants to remember this moment, Holly thought, a tight knot forming in the pit of her stomach.
"Hare?" she asked, her throat constricting.
"I know that you've suffered through a lot trying to protect me from Naga, and now it's my turn," Hare continued slowly. "I'm going to make certain that you don't have to worry about my problems anymore."
"Hare, what are you talking about?" Genki asked, wondering as he did why his voice was starting to tremble. The rabbit just looked straight into the boy's eyes and smiled. Something about the sad, almost pleading expression on his face made the boy's heart pound, and his clear eyes wavered as they searched for the reason why.
"Good-bye, you guys."
The whisper was so faint that Genki wasn't quite sure that he had heard correctly. Suddenly he felt something tug at his body, and nearly fell to his knees as the ground seemed to drop away from beneath his feet. Glancing down, the boy realized that the shield had spread completely around him and the others, and it encased them like a bubble. Only Hare was left outside of the glimmering crimson sphere, and as Genki stared at him, the rabbit seemed to move farther and farther away.
No…it wasn't Hare who was moving. The shield was, and Genki gasped as he finally caught on to what was happening. As he and the others shot away from the battlefield –from ground zero– Genki desperately looked back at Hare, keeping his eyes locked on the rabbit's figure as it became smaller and smaller. Reaching out one hand toward his friend in a helpless attempt to stop what was about to happen, he heard his own voice call out the rabbit's name.
Hare gazed after the sphere-shaped shield containing his friends as he cast it away from him. Even as it was lost to his sight, he could sense the eyes of the others upon him, staring at him in horror as they realized his intentions. His sharp ears could still just barely hear their voices screaming his name, pleading with him not to go through with it.
The Phoenix's Tear flared and gleamed at his neck, and Hare absently grasped at it with one paw. The feel of its familiar warmth under his palm was a comfort. He knew that it would protect him from the full effects of the coming blast. He'd be knocked out for a while, and would have one heck of a headache when he came to, to say the least, but he would survive.
The others didn't know that, though. And Hare planned to keep it that way.
"You all have enough problems of your own without having to deal with mine," he whispered, knowing that they couldn't hear him. "You should concentrate on finding the Phoenix…not trying to protect me. I'll deal with Naga in my own way."
A voice at the back of his mind attempted to convince him that this wasn't really the end. After the Phoenix has risen and Moo and Naga are defeated, it said, then maybe I can find the others again and start over. But the chances of that ever becoming a reality, he knew, were too slim for him to realistically hope for.
Plus there was the matter of the disturbing vision that had begun haunting his dreams lately. The rabbit's eyes misted with tears at the memory: he hadn't been able to figure out its full meaning quite yet, but one thing had become clear to him.
In order to revive the Phoenix, a sacrifice will have to be made. I just hope that this qualifies, for all your sakes, Hare thought.
His senses told him that it was time. The energy building behind him would not be contained for much longer. Closing his wavering eyes in concentration, Hare willed a small ball of energy to form in his paws. Whirling around, he hurled it straight into the center of the glowing energy mass.
The explosion washed over him, enveloping his body. Only the flickering crimson aura that surrounded him kept Hare's body from being torn to shreds like the kerchief around his neck. Still, the pain that coursed through every nerve in his small frame was an oddly welcome release, even as his vision faded into blackness.
* * *
"HARE!" Genki shrieked as the blast shook the land. Clear eyes wavered as the light from the explosion reflected off of them. Holly gasped and covered her mouth, bright bronze eyes filling with tears even as she tore her horrified gaze from the sight. Suezo just gaped at the scene, his pupil becoming a single dot in his widened eye. Mocchi screamed something, the words lost in the sound of the explosion. Golem stared blankly, while Tiger closed his golden eyes and turned his head away.
Shockwaves crashed into the sphere-shaped shield, and the crimson shell flickered as it floated gently to the ground. It faded out of existence after depositing its passengers safely on the land, and Genki collapsed to his knees in front of a smooth rock that came up to his chest. Leaning against it, the boy began to pound his fist into the rocky soil, shoulders shaking convulsively with each strike.
"Why? Why did you have to go and do that, Hare?" he sobbed into the stone's surface, voice quavering nearly as much as his trembling body. "We're a team, remember? All for one…and one for…"
The rest of his words were lost as the boy buried his face in his arms and began to cry. Genki covered his face and let his angry tears fall on the rock's rough surface, apparently hoping that doing so would keep the others from figuring out that he was crying. If that was the case, it didn't work, for the remaining rebels gazed at the boy's back sadly.
"Genki…" Holly whispered, chestnut brown eyes wavering. Beside her, Mocchi buried his face in her tunic and whimpered, and she bent to wrap her arms around the little monster comfortingly. Golem hovered nearby, a glum expression on his stony face. He wanted to help his friends, but he wasn't quite certain what he could do, so he just stood, unsure, and tried to figure out what the best way to comfort everybody would be.
Through a mist of tears, Suezo abruptly noticed that Tiger had stepped away from the rest of the group, his back turned indifferently on the sobbing rebels. The blue lupine didn't appear to be the least bit affected by what had occurred. A new emotion began to boil deep inside the eyeball monster's body, and he trembled as he turned to glare at the warrior's back.
"Yeah, I bet you're not really upset by this at all, are you?" he whispered, his voice dripping with venom. Tiger made no move to answer; yet Suezo knew somehow that he was being heard, so he continued, "You always wanted Hare to just go away and leave you alone, and now you've got what you wanted."
Tiger didn't respond. A cold breeze ruffled his blue fur, and it blew into Suezo's face, unnoticed as he glared at the indifferent wolf.
"Tiger of the Wind," he called, his voice shaking with poorly contained outrage, "Are you happy now?" When no reply came, the eyeball monster shrieked, "ANSWER ME!"
The lupine monster glanced back at the eyeball monster, and Suezo fell silent as the glistening golden slits bore into his body. After a moment, the blue wolf growled softly in his throat and stalked away, leaving the others behind. Suezo watched him leave, knowing somehow that he would return soon, after he had regained control of himself. Turning back to the others, the eyeball monster hopped over to Holly and leaned against her, letting his tears fall onto the soft scarlet fabric of her tunic. The maiden glanced back at him and draped one arm comfortingly over his back, gently stroking him as she cradled the weeping Mocchi in her lap.
Far away from where the remaining searchers were gathered, a chill breeze swept through a barren, scorched field where moments before a makeshift fortress adapted from an old building had stood. A cluster of lost discs marked the area where the Jells had stood when they unleashed their final attack. A few paces away from there, the ruins of a stone wall propped up another figure. A gentle rain began to fall, as if mirroring the emotions that raged in the hearts of a small band of travelers at that moment.
Hare lay motionless against the remains of the wall, a slightly mischievous smile on his relaxed face. A gentle breeze played with his bangs, sweeping them away from his closed eyes, and drops of rain fell like tears onto his soft fur, washing away traces of dust and blood. His bandana hung in loose tatters around his neck, and beneath the red fabric the Phoenix's Tear continued to glow steadily.