Bloody Roar III: Deception Strikes From Within
By Tiger5913
Sequel to Bloody Roar III: Reunited by Chance, a Reflection of the Past
Chapter 3
Starting The Task On Hand
"Her name's Alica."
Her head ducked down, the Kenpo student had just scooped a forkful of scrambled eggs into her mouth when her fiancé said that. A few strands of her long brown bangs fluttered down, grazing against her plate, and she quickly used her free hand to tuck them behind her earlobe. Even with all the talking of the other people around the couple in the small diner, she still managed to hear him. The morning after the zoanthropes had arrived in the USA; she awoke to find out that everyone had gone their separate ways to look for their purpose. She and Kenji had their own territory to cover, but they both agreed to eat before exploring, and found a place that served breakfast edibles.
Glancing up to meet his eyes, she chewed and swallowed her food before asking, "Alica? And who's that?"
A wry smile played about his lips as he answered, "'That' Alica is the reason why we're here in the States, Riko."
Lifting her glass of orange juice to her mouth and taking a sip, she questioned, "What'd she do here?"
At that moment he started to consume the contents that were on his own platter: poached eggs and two pancakes coupled with a side order of hash browns; his meal almost mirrored hers. A few seconds later, her companion paused to reply, "According to Strider and Uranus, this Alica person is the one that's been unleashing a bunch of apostate zoanthropes to go out and terrorize normal human bystanders. She thinks that humans shouldn't be living in the same area as 'her kind', and that they should instead serve zoanthropes."
Uriko wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Great, another version of the Zoanthrope Liberation Front, in other words…"
"At least it's not a clone in charge of the group this time…" he kidded weakly with a shrug.
"That's cute, Kenji." She remarked with a hint of sarcasm as he began eating again. "So we were brought here to take care of 'em, right? Exactly what are we supposed to do?"
"Well, today, it's just to look around, explore, kinda get to know this place, and the people," the dark-haired ninja informed her. "And it figures that we've got most of the teenage hangouts to check."
"…The terrorists are teenagers too…?" Somehow, the thought of clan her own age participating in the cause of such significant problems hadn't occurred to her.
His grimace told her that he'd felt the same way. "Yeah… You know, it's people like them that give us teenagers in general a bad name, heh…"
"That's real thoughtful of them," she muttered dryly. "I mean, normal teens only have to worry about drugs and stuff like that, but zoanthrope youths have reputations to maintain. After all, when was the last time you saw anyone trembling in fear of death from hearing about adolescents taking drugs? You'd definitely get that reaction from the same person if you told him or her about teens that have the power to morph into animals and hurt others…"
"I'm not a hundred percent sure about how the inhabitants here feel about zoanthropes," the seventeen-year-old male said, his voice growing quiet as he continued, "but I don't think they exactly trust them. And I guess we have Alica to thank for that, since she's been wrecking havoc or whatever to the people here in America."
"Oh well, let's just try to do what we can. I mean, we took care of the ZLF, right? So this isn't too different from that. …At least, I hope not," his fiancée sighed as she turned her attention back to her plate.
"I don't know if it's gonna be that easy though," he commented slowly. "We knew our way around back at home, but we could easily get lost here, since this place is still new and kinda foreign to us."
"Okay, maybe so, but there's hope for everything to work out!" She chimed enthusiastically after finishing the last remains of her breakfast. "Just… promise that you won't leave me behind whatever places we go to, okay Kenji? I'd get really nervous if I were lost here…"
He gave her a half-smirk. "'Course not; if I did, Alice would kill me-"
"Hey!"
"-And also because I just wouldn't do that to you," Kenji quickly finished with an assuring smile. "If I ever did something that stupid, Alice wouldn't have to kill me 'cause I'd do it myself first."
The feline zoanthrope frowned slightly. "No death jokes… One of these days, if you were serious, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference and who knows what'd happen then?"
His expression turned somber. "I wasn't joking, Uriko."
She squirmed a little. "Um, I-"
"Uh, excuse me," a voice from beside them spoke up all of a sudden.
The couple adverted their gazes to the newcomer; a young male appearing to be around their age was standing by their table. His lengthy blond hair was tied back in a short ponytail, hanging over his dark blue T-shirt and navy-colored jeans, the attire making his hazel-green eyes stand out and seem lively. A smile spreading over his tanned lips, he inquired in a pleasant-sounding tone, "Are you part of the Yugo Ohgami company from Japan?"
Who's this guy? The mole zoanthrope wondered silently, then answered for both him and his compatriot, "Yeah, we just flew in last night… …Did Strider or Uranus send you here to us or something?"
"Uh huh, there's some business regarding you that we need to clear up," the nameless individual told them. "Are the two of you free right now?"
Kenji glanced at his fiancée for her input and she nodded, pointing to her empty plate. "I'm about done too, so… yeah, I guess you can talk to us now."
His face brightened. "Great, then come with me please."
"But wait, we need to pay for our meal-"
The man held his hand up. "Already taken care of," he gestured his head toward the counter, where a young red-haired woman was handing the cashier money.
"Oh… uh, thank you…" the cyan-haired teenager felt a bit mystified at the stranger's kindness.
"You're welcome; don't worry about it," their new companion voiced. "Now, let's get going…"
With that said, he turned and began heading out through the back door of the restaurant, and then the woman followed him a few seconds afterwards. The couple exchanged a curious look, but both shrugged and followed the mysterious duo together.
*****
"But Ally, you said that you'd only take fifteen minutes to look around…"
"I know I did, Yugo, but that was before I knew there were so many stores here!" The blue-haired nurse gazed at her boyfriend with adoration shining in her large red pupils. " I want to buy some souvenirs for Danielle, Aunt Mitsuko, and the others… Come on, please?"
"Damn it, that's not fair, you know that's my weakness," Yugo grimaced a bit as he felt his resistance dissolving; she already had him carrying two bags of purchases from her earlier shopping. "…Okay, okay, you win. But ten more minutes is all I can stand, I'm telling you, before I bail and run away from this street… I don't really like browsing through stories unless I really, really have to get something."
"Well, you buy clothes often for you and Kenji, don't you?" She asked while the couple started strolling down the sidewalk again, and she peered into the windows of the shops.
"Yeah, but remember how I always asked you to go shopping with me after you moved in with us, Ally? And also whenever Kenji needed new clothes, I told him to ask you to take him, but he was a little embarrassed with that situation so that's when he learned how to buy them himself."
"Yugo!" She exclaimed, aghast, stopping to face her companion. "That's such a rotten trick…"
He scratched his head sheepishly. "Uh, well, he had to learn somehow… Hey, maybe I should've told him to ask Uriko for shopping duty instead-ow! Geez, what'd you hit me for?"
The female zoanthrope smiled sweetly as she watched him set down one of the bags to rub his arm with his now-free palm. "It wouldn't have helped, because my sister doesn't like shopping. And besides, you deserved that; it's on the account of what you did to your poor brother, hehe!" She giggled.
Her beau rolled his eyes. "Alright, we're even now then."
"Sure-oh! Oh, look at that store over there, Yugo! Isn't that the cutest place you've ever seen??" Her head tilted to gaze at a shop further down the street, Alice darted off toward it, while the brown-haired boxer sighed and followed her, thinking to himself, Here we go…
She came to a stop before a large window and gazed at the accessories aligned inside, letting out a soft sigh as she did. The male zoanthrope groaned inwardly at the delicate crystalline figurines that were sitting atop a red-clothed platform. Small rays of sunlight reflected off their glimmering bodies and it almost stung his light cinnamon pupils to look at them. He glanced to his side and found his girlfriend admiring a little crystal bunny rabbit that was posed next to, strangely, a slightly larger wolf chassis. The small mammal appeared to be sniffing its companion, who was looking about elsewhere curiously.
A caption under the artwork read, "Friends, Not Predator and Prey."
"Huh, cute, I guess…" he murmured. I should get it for Ally.
"Kinda reminds me of us," she said, turning to look at him with a bright smile.
He gave her a half-smirk. "Yeah, it does…"
The dark-haired woman peered at the single bag that was hanging off his elbow, a frown etching her eyebrows. "…Oh! Yugo, you left one of the bags behind on the sidewalk!"
…Huh? He turned around and discovered that she was right. …Damn. "Sorry Ally," he told her sheepishly, then quickly jogged over to pick it up. Something furry brushed against his thumb as his fingers closed around the handle, and he raised an eyebrow. Spying an ashen tail poking out of a corner, the young boxer took a hold of it and lifted the object up into his view.
It turned out to a stuffed wolf animal, Hmm? I don't remember Ally buying any stuffed animals… A small grin made its way over his expression when he saw it, and he was about to call out to her in question about it, but he suddenly went speechless.
The toy was about the size of his palm, and its dark coarse gray fur felt soft at contacting the rough skin of his hand. White fleece made its presence as the wolf's oval-shaped belly, and the four little paws were smaller than Yugo's fingers. It would have been a perfect gift for a young child… except the fact that the poor animal's head was missing from its shoulders.
*****
"…Jane, do you have the feeling that we are being somehow monitored?"
Casting her fiancé a slightly bewildered gaze, the leopard zoanthrope inquired, "What do you mean, Long? Something wrong?"
The Kenpo master shook his head wearily. "I just have the strangest feeling that we are being followed, watched, or in some other situation of the sort…"
Her cool blue eyes narrowing, she paused from their previous walking state, and focused on sensing beings of her own kind in the area. Her companion did the same, bafflement reflecting in his dark brown pupils that were mirrored behind his glasses. The blonde woman scanned their surroundings, her irises flickering upon the bystanders strolling around the various pathways of the park.
Couples, like her and Long, appeared normal as they were striding hand-in-hand, smiling at each other as they conversed. A few kids ran about the place, squealing and laughing, emitting their fun as they zoomed past one another. A little girl sat atop the shoulders of a man that was presumably her father, and was pointing at the bed of flowers in the center of the square. Bells chimed as an ice-cream saleswoman rolled her cart into the section; children immediately ran over to her upon sight.
After remaining stationary for a few moments, Jane shook her head and said, "I don't sense anything irregular."
"Neither do I…" the tiger zoanthrope remarked, his expression turning strange. "Hmm, it must be the foreign feeling of this new place. There is nothing to worry about then, I suppose."
"Yeah, guess not," But inwardly, she didn't feel so sure. Whenever a sense or a feeling was bestowed upon zoanthropes, they were usually right, and should take everything seriously. Yet then again, if her fiancé believed the cause was merely change of environment and wanted to dismiss the issue, she wouldn't press it any further. "Let's get going."
Nodding at her, he took her hand and the couple started walking down their pathway again, but the feeling remained dormant inside him.
*****
The woman politely held the door open for the young couple and they both smiled in thanks to her, then trailed after the other person outside of the restaurant.
"So… what's this business that you need to settle with us?" Kenji questioned when the male stranger had come to a stop in the middle of an area surrounded by a few fir trees.
"Did we forget to do something yesterday after we arrived here?" His compatriot chimed in, her tone sounding thoroughly curious.
"Well…" the voice came from the female behind them; they turned to face her. "In a way, yes…"
"Really?" The dark-haired ninja frowned. What did we forget to do? "I'm sorry about that then. What is it?"
A wide grin spread over her glistening red lips. "Ask my partner Bruce, he's more in charge of this than I am."
"…Oh, okay," he shrugged and proceeded to revert his attention back to the other individual.
As the seventeen-year-old was turning in his direction, he felt a sharp cuff strike the back of his neck, and he stumbled to his knees. Feeling albeit stunned, he grimaced and shook the effect off, then glanced up, "What the hell happened??"
Standing over him, looming like a tall tower was the man whom had been referred to as Bruce, and he was grinning saucily down at the mole zoanthrope. His hand was still raised, reasonably from just executing the blow, and he let out a snarl as he said, "Masters' order to dispose of you, scum!"
Huh? Scum?? Uriko started to step toward her fiancé, but was all of a sudden restrained when the woman grabbed her arms from behind and held them in a tight lock. "And where do you think you're going, sweetie?" She taunted.
His alerts instantly igniting, Kenji stood up and glared at Bruce evenly, dark suspicion hanging in his light brown eyes. "Who sent you?!"
He sneered at him. "Take a wild guess."
"Let go of me!" Irritated by her imprisonment, the Kenpo student made a nasty face and clutched the arms of her captor as well as she could. Gritting her teeth in determination, she flipped foreword awkwardly, but managed to catch the woman off guard and threw her to the ground. Landing a bit shakily, the teenager backed away from her and stepped closer to her significant other.
"Charlene!!" The man exclaimed, then growled at the ninja, "How dare your stupid damn deadbeat girlfriend do that to her!"
The mole zoanthrope got a dangerous glint in his irises. "Don't call her that, you nerveless bastard!"
"I will call her whatever I wish, child!"
Child, huh? I'll show you child! His expression set in an angry growl; he sprinted foreword, jumped into the air, and kicked his opponent in the chest while letting out a loud, "Kee-yah!"
"Kenji!" His fiancée gasped, but then felt her feet being raised up into the air and suddenly she found herself descending to the grassy ground. Her hands quickly shot foreword and she barely managed to stop her face from crashing to the floor, yet the rest of her body slammed down aimlessly. Swallowing a grimaced cry, the young woman kicked furiously at the person holding her ankles and got away triumphantly after hearing an "Ow!"
"You little brat!" The female that was called Charlene shouted. "I paid close to forty dollars for this manicure!"
The Kenpo student couldn't help smirking. "Then next time, be more careful choosing when you're going to fight!"
"Oh, you are so going to pay for that!" Springing up into a standing position, her foe spun around in a full circle with her leg outstretched, delivering a roundhouse kick to Uriko's side.
"Ugh!" The seventeen-year-old clutched the pained spot with her hands, but refused to falter. "Okay, if a fight's what you want, then that's what you're gonna get!"
Ignoring her injury, she raised her clenched fists and glowered at the woman through narrowed eyes, readying herself to battle. Looks like our mission has just begun…
"Geez, we didn't even get any time to look around first…" she muttered agitatedly as she ducked a punch from her opponent. "I'm gonna have to give Alica something special for her stupid flunkies."
End Of Chapter 3
