Disclaimer:
*sigh* You know, if I say I don't own BOF III for every chapter, then I'm gonna
say I don't own it like 150 times! (Exaggeration) So this shall be the last
time I say it-I DON'T OWN BREATH OF FIRE III!
Chapter
3-Doing Some Actual Work
Rei
slammed his dagger into the face of a goblin, killing it. "Whew, that was
close." He slapped his dagger back into the sheath at his side.
Teepo
shook his head. "You know, I really hate those things." The goblin that was now
dead had jumped, seemingly out of nowhere, onto Teepo just seconds before.
Rei
and Teepo jumped up a small hill. At the top was a log cabin with piles of
firewood outside the door.
"Hey,
this is it!" said Teepo. He looked around. "Wait, where's Ryu?"
"Over
here." Teepo turned to see Ryu on the other side of the cabin, panting. "I took
the actual path up."
Rei
shrugged. "Whatever. Come on." He hopped over the firewood and walked over to
the door. It had a lock on it.
Rei
placed his hand near the lock, and a claw eased its way out of his finger. With
a quick swipe, the lock fell to the ground. Rei smiled, and, for the heck of
it, he tossed it up into the air and quickly slashed it a lot.
In
total, about 50,000 locks fell to the ground.
Rei
grinned and crushed the remains of the lock. "That was fun." He kicked the door
open and went inside.
Teepo
shook his head. "You like making a point, don't you, Rei?" He ran inside.
Ryu
hesitated a bit. He knew stealing was wrong…but from what he had heard from Rei
and Teepo, they would die if they didn't. Making up his mind, he walked inside.
He
saw Rei and Teepo already peeking in the cabinets, under the table, and a few
other places. He took a few steps forward-and tripped, landing face first on
the floor. It shook a plate off the table.
Quick
as a flash, Teepo ran over and caught the plate. "Jeez, Ryu, you're gonna give
us away! Be more careful a bit, will ya?"
Ryu
sighed and rolled his eyes. "How can we give ourselves away if there's no one
here?"
Teepo
blinked. "Hm. Good point. But even so, be more careful." Teepo put the plate
back on the table and continued raiding a closet.
Ryu
shook his head and looked around. There was a hatch nearby that looked like the
entrance to a basement. Intrigued, Ryu walked over, popped it open, and climbed
down the ladder.
There
was a cabinet in the corner.
Ryu
raised an eyebrow. Why would anyone have a cabinet in the basement? He
walked over and opened it up.
Inside
was a very delicious looking beef jerky.
Ryu
widened his eyes. First try, too! "Hey, I found some!" he yelled up the
ladder.
Rei
and Teepo jumped down and walked over to Ryu. Teepo noticed the beef jerky and
started to drool.
Rei
smiled. "Nice job, Ryu. Now let's-"
There
was a thump above.
Rei
got a look of horror on his face. "Great. That might be old man Bunyan. I'll go
check." He climbed up the ladder.
Teepo
and Ryu waited a bit-and suddenly heard something like a pounding.
Teepo
raised an eyebrow. "I'm gonna see if he's all right, okay, Ryu?"
Ryu
nodded, and Teepo ran over to the ladder and scurried up like a squirrel. About
five seconds after that, Ryu heard the exact same noise he had heard after Rei
went up.
He
rolled his eyes. "Might as well check." He, too, climbed up the ladder-but noticed
there was no one in the house. He heard someone talking outside.
Without
thinking, Ryu walked outside the door, saw an enormous, gorilla-sized fist
flying towards him, and he blacked out.
Ryu
woke up to find he couldn't move his arms-they had been tied with a rope that
extended around his body.
He
looked to his left and noticed that Teepo and Rei were in the same condition as
him.
"Ha
ha!"
Ryu
looked up to see Bunyan cracking his knuckles.
Ryu,
Rei, and Teepo all simultaneously gulped.
"Heh!
I thought I told this young feller here-" he pointed at Ryu, "that I'd give Rei
and Teepo a pretty hard beating if I ever saw 'em again!" He laughed again.
"Well, now I'll show you I'm a man o' my word!" He raised his fist.
Rei
clenched his teeth. "Whoa, wait a minute. How about if you give us a chance?"
Bunyan
stopped abruptly. "Chance? Give you a chance? Haven't we all been doin' that
lately?"
"Just…just
let us go and we won't bother you…" said Rei pathetically.
Bunyan
seemed to consider this. Then he gave a hoarse laugh.
"Haw
haw! All right, I'll let you three live. But, I've got some jobs fer the three
o' you!"
"Jobs?"
said Teepo.
Bunyan
nodded. He walked over to Rei and kneeled. "Rei, you seem like a fine, strong young
lad. How about if you go over to Mt. Glaus and…er, take care o' the problem
there?"
Problem? thought Ryu. What kind
of problem?
Rei
blinked. "That problem? Uh…well, I guess I could handle it."
"Good
boy." Bunyan took one of Rei's daggers and sliced through the ropes holding
Rei. Rei stood up and massaged his arm.
"Here
ya go." Bunyan handed Rei the dagger. "Just don't get yerself hurt now, hear?"
"I
hear." Rei turned and walked down the path.
"And
as fer you two…" Bunyan said as he turned to Ryu and Teepo.
They
gulped. Ryu had a feeling he wasn't going to like what Bunyan had in store for
them.
It
turned out it wasn't as bad as Ryu thought. All Bunyan wanted him and Teepo to
do was to chop some firewood.
"All
right, kid," said Bunyan. "You got a sword, right? And you know how to use it?"
Ryu
nodded timidly.
"Well,
Teepo here puts the firewood onta this stump, and Ryu cuts it. Careful,
though-the firewood is unbalanced and will tip over in a second or two. And
make sure you don't hit Teepo, hear?"
"Yeah."
Ryu drew his sword.
"I'll
check how many ya cut for twenty seconds. Ya get more than 20, you're home
free. Ready, and…GO!"
Teepo
slapped a piece of firewood onto the stump and as soon as he released it, it
began to tip over. Ryu quickly sliced and it fell to the ground, cut in half.
Teepo
put another firewood up and Ryu swung before Teepo released it. Fortunately, he
didn't hit Teepo's hands.
After
the third time, Ryu and Teepo got into the hang of it. Soon Teepo and Ryu were
going so fast Bunyan could barely keep up.
Finally,
Bunyan yelled, "STOP!"
Ryu
and Teepo collapsed, breathing heavily.
Bunyan
raised an eyebrow as he counted the pieces they had cut. There were over sixty
on the ground. "Whew! Ya got more than 30, fer cryin' out loud!" He shrugged. "All
right, you can go."
"Whoo-hoo!"
yelled Teepo and jumped into the air.
Ryu
looked at him strangely as he got up. Funny, Teepo had been lying on the ground
just a second ago.
"Hey,
Ryu, let's go after Rei!" said Teepo jubilantly. "Uh, where'd you say he was
going, Bunyan?"
"Up
to Mt. Glaus," said the lumberjack. Heck, if they die there, it might save
us a whole lot of trouble.
"All
right! C'mon Ryu!" With that, the purple-haired boy took off like a bullet in
the northern direction.
"H,
hey!" yelled Ryu and ran after him.
Bunyan
smiled. "Kids." He sat down where Teepo was standing and began to chop some
firewood.
Teepo
ran up the path to Mt. Glaus, humming a little tune along the way.
"Hey,
Teepo! Wait up!"
Teepo
stopped and started tapping his foot. Ryu finally caught up to him, out of
breath.
"When'd
you get so energetic?" asked Ryu.
Teepo shrugged. "I dunno. C'mon, we're almost there!" He ran towards the
mountain again.
Ryu sighed and ran after him.
Suddenly
Ryu tripped, falling into Teepo, and they rolled along the ground for a long
way, all the way to the foot of the mountain.
Ryu
sat up. "Oops." He gave an innocent "I didn't do it!" look as Teepo got up and
glared at him.
Teepo
sighed and brushed himself off. "Well, look at the bright side, we're all the
way to the mountain. Let's go help Rei!" He started running up the path, with
Ryu in close pursuit.