[Author's Note: Sorry it has been so long since the last chapter. At the time of this writing, there has been a lot going on. First I am involved in an online RPG, next my parents are going through pre-emptynest syndrome because of my brother leaving for college, then taking a college class to finish a requirement for my sophmore year at high school (which is coming up this fall of 01,) and finally I'm working on writing my book "Pure Hearts" (working title.) So it might be a while before I make the final chapter. Okay welcome back to Rei no Kigen To.. On the last episode, Tora and Janice are outside when they hear a rustle in the bushes. This chapter's translation: Tora's Tiger-Human Tansformation!]
Chapter 10: Tora no Tora-Jin no Henshin!
The rustle in the bushes became louder, and the two children could hear branches breaking. Suddenly it stopped, there was silence as the sun set in the crimson sky. It became dark. Only Tora and Janice's breathing could be heard.
"It might be the monster," Tora whispered to Janice.
"What should we do?" Janice asked in a quiet voice.
"We can't move, it will see us if we do."
"What if we yell and call everyone?"
"Don't be stupid, you're smarter than that!"
"So, what do we do?"
"Wait for it to make its first move, maybe everyone will come outside if we don't come back inside for a while."
"That is a pretty iffy plan, Tora!"
"Well, YOU come up with an idea!" Tora said while trying to stay in a whisper.
Janice didn't say anything. The eerie silence continued, Tora and Janice continued to stare into the darkness. Waiting, waiting, waiting. It was a sick game to the demon's mind. The rustling continued again. Then the moster broke out of the forest. The monster was taller than the forest trees and barely fit into the corridores made by the trees and vines. It resembled an unusually large bugbear.
The demon made the first move. "Janice!" Tora yelled as the monster hit Janice. The force of the impact sent Janice flying through the air and to the ground. Tora ran towards the monster, hoping that its size would make it slower. Tora used his claws to scratch the demon. The demon started to bleed in long jagged streaks where Tora used his nails. This didn't help the situation as much as Tora had hoped. The monster became angry and attacked the nearest target, namely Janice. Janice had just gotten back up from the first blow when she was hit again, this time the force exerted sent her into the stone wall of her own home. The wind was knocked out of Janice. The demon then turned its rage at Tora. He was also sent flying into the wall. Suddenly he felt a trigger inside him go off. All of his energy started to pool into one concentrated action, the energy in his body started to make a large wind current around him. Tora started to yell as if he was in pain.
"Tora! What are you doing?!" Janice shouted when she regained her breathing.
Tora didn't asnwer, little sparks that resembled embers started to come out of the ground around him. This was very similar to what happened to Rei when he cast spells, or transformed. The pitch and tone of Tora's screams seemed angry and painful at the same time. The transformation commenced, Janice could only watch in horror as her brother changed into a demon like the monster that attacked her.
Tora completed the transformation, he looked around from the larger perspective that he now had. Tora extened his claws and attacked to monster again. The monster drew back, and started to bleed from new wounds.
"Janice, get back into the house!" The transformed Tora shouted in a deeper voice than normal. But she wouldn't move, she was paralysed with fear.
"Janice!" He yelled. But she still wouldn't move.
Tora ran towards the monster again, but he didn't use his claws this time. Instead, he transferred his velocity into the demon. This sent it back into the woods. "Janice! Now is your change! Get inside!" Tora yelled. Janice screamed, and ran towards the door.
"It can't be my brother!" Janice thought to herself as she ran inside.
"Mom! Dad! The monster is outside! Tora's out there! He changed into a demon!"
"SHIT!" Rei yelled as he got up from the table where everyone was sitting.
"Nina, you and I will stay in the house!" Momo yelled.
"Ryu, come with me. We'll fight the monster. Since we both transform, it will be easier for Tora to understand. Let's go!" Rei said as they rushed out the door.
Momo ran over to Janice and put her arms around her, she started to cry.
"Janice, I'm sorry! I wanted to tell you! But I couldn't! I'm so sorry!" Momo said as she continued to cry. Janice didn't say anything. She just stared off out the window where Rei and Ryu were. "Can you ever forgive me?" Momo asked.
Janice still didn't say a word.
Rei and Ryu ran outside. "Where is the monster?!" Rei yelled to Tora.
"I pushed him back into the woods! It is huge, you better transform as well!" Tora yelled back.
"H, How did you know?!"
"It doesn't matter now! Just hurry!"
Rei focused his energy and changed his shape like before. His transformed self was larger than Tora, due to the age and size of the origional selves. Ryu felt inside himself for the Infinity and Failure genes and changed into the Kaiser dragon.
"Wait! Ryu, you can't use a breath attack! You will burn down the forest if you do!" Rei shouted.
The moster re-appeared when it pounced on Tora, slashing his chest. Tora stabbed the demon in the throat with his claws. The demon pulled back off Tora and slashed blindly at Ryu and it cut him across the face. Rei took this opportunity to clench his hands together and bring down the fist on the head of the opponent. Tora made the final blow, he sratched the demon across the neck. Doing so, he severed the carotid (The carotid is the artery that feeds into the brain, if one cuts this blood vessel it is lethal.) The monster fell to the ground and the function in the brain ceased and the heart stopped. The blood from the severed veins became red from being oxidised. Ryu changed back and applied a piece of cloth on his face to wipe the blood from his injury off his face. The wound healed itself when he changed back. Rei instructed Tora on how to return to the normal form.
Janice finally replied to her mother, "Mom... I.. I, I.... forgive you." Momo embraced her daughter. Ryu came in and Nina ran towards him to ask about Tora and Rei who were still outside.
Tora walked over to the well and sat on the edge. Rei stood infront of him, anly a few feet away. Tora's tail moved back and forth as he stared at the ground. Rei waited for his son to talk first.
"Father, are we demons?" Tora asked.
"Is that what you believe?" Rei asked.
"I... don't know, I don't know. That is all I can say."
"If you don't ask, I can't answer."
"What are we?"
"We are what you want us to be."
"I don't want to be a demon or monster!"
"You are not telling me what you are."
"I've always felt different from everyone else... I've never been able to fit in anywhere, there is no one else like us anywhere in the world. I've wondered why I have this monsterous body, but... it can't be because we are demons. "
"Why do you think we are not demons?"
"We can think for ourselves! We can act for ourselves! We have a controllable mind. So, what are we?"
"Father and son."
Tora looked at his father. He knew that Rei was trying to hide the truth from him. Tora got off the well and walked over to the pully and pulled up the water. He didn't say a word.
"You know that you have to understand.."
Tora didn't say anything, he just continued to use the pully.
"... that you cannot abuse your power. You cannot just transform when you want to."
Tora continued to pull up the water.
"There has to be reason. If you abuse your power, people will believe that you ARE a demon. People will not understand."
Tora grabbed to bucket of water and poured it into a large glass container. He didn't look at his father at any time.
"Tora..."
"... I understand," Tora replied.
Tora carried the water inside and Rei sat down on the well. He slammed his fist on the side of the stone well. "Damnit! I hope that I would have never needed to do this. I wish that he could live a normal life. But he will never be able to. He'll go through the same thing when he has children," Rei thought to himself.
"I guess we will have to do something with the carcass tomorrow, doesn't that just beat all," he said to the air. He walked inside. He saw his wife, and his children using their home-made computers. Rei noticed the familiar papers. "I can't beleive she has kept them for all this time," Rei thought to himself. Ryu and Nina were being very good guests and were trying to prepare the evening meal. Momo was showing the information on the diskette.
"This," Momo explained, "is my father's legacy. It was his greatest work. But he died for it."
The night continued on and they ate the late meal made by Ryu and Nina. Tora and Janice understood what happened, and they continued to act the same around each other. Janice actually became closer to Tora, and Tora decided to mainly use his ability to protect her. When daybreak came, they cleared away the corpse of the demon. Ryu and Nina left and returned to Wyndia to report everything.
It was ironic, that evening. Momo showed her father's greatest work when he was alive, and they were going to visit his grave that very same day.
To be Continued...
On the final episode of Rei no Kigen To...
Chapter 11: Watashi no Otousan no Izou...
My Father's Legacy...