In the Hands of Young Chôjin
By Son Rhandi
Chapter 05: "The Chôjin Cavalry"
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The horses were in distress nearby, expressing their trepidation with high-pitched whinnies and riley snorts. That horse-- No, that knight, Checkmate's hooves trampled the red soil, bearing the weights of Terry the Kid and Seiuchin on his back. Gazelle Man vaulted beside them, taking long, bounding strides to guide his way, rousing up dust each time his foot smacked the dirt. Kinniku Mantaro ran as fast as humanly possible with Meat in tow, not having the privileges that came with possessing four legs or antelope genetics, and Kevin remained far behind the whole of them, seemingly more interested in looking about the landscape of the American wasteland rather than putting some pep in his step to lend a helping hand.
"We're comin' up on it now, Check," said Terry, keeping tight to his grip. "Stick at this pace an' we'll be there in a few minutes."
Checkmate gave out a positive snort, keeping at his thunderous pace. The closest coming up to them was the pen and stalls for the Terry Family horses. In the outdoor pen was a single, black filly--a favorite of the family--running along the fenced area and repeatedly rearing up in fright, her distressed neighs filling the air. As they made headway in their approach, Terry noticed a figure hopping the fence, and Gazelle's ears shifted toward the pen. The scraping of metal… A blade being unsheathed..? Terry kept his eyes on the lone equine, wondering what it was that caused her to act so wildly.
The shadowy figure ran before the horse, moving in a blur, then passed and raced to the stalls. Then came the silence. He got one final look at the filly as she was before her head tumbled off and over the wooden fence, leaving the body standing. "Beauty!!" Terry gasped in horror.
"Keep going!" Gazelle Man shouted as he skidded to change course. "I'll take care of it!" That crimson buck crossed the dark knight's path, springing to the horses' keep. Deciding it best to join him, Seiuchin threw himself from Checkmate's back, lending his body to a hard fall on the dusty ground.
"Seiu!"
"Go on! Your dad needs you!" The grizzled pinniped waved as Terry, looking back at him apprehensively, rode off to the homestead. Dusting off his backside, the walrus hurried to join Gazelle, already entering the stalls, leaving Mantaro and Meat to wonder what had just transpired.
Gazelle cautiously entered the holding pen. Two other horses stood quietly in their individual stalls, a white stallion and his chocolate companion. Keeping his wits about him, the buck ventured in further, approaching the white horse. It just looked back at him with its calm, dark eyes, leaning its head into Gazelle Man's touch. "What's this, then?" The crimson stag asked, scratching the horse behind its right ear. "A zebra without its stripes?"
He barely dodged the incoming blade, that Gazelle, ducking as soon as he heard that familiar metallic sound scraping against casing. His animal friend wasn't so lucky, getting a deep slice across its muzzle in Gazelle Man's place. Kneeling to the ground, he could barely concentrate in midst of the stallion's anguished cries. The assailant, a strange-looking fellow who appeared to be no more than a pair of scissors with box cutters for arms and two stocky legs to hold his elongated torso, stood before him, his arms--well, blades-- held up to his chest.
Retracting the weapons into the cutters' casings, he opted for switching to fists. Pushing off, he rushed to Gazelle with a straight, the buck barely missing the fist by a hairsbreadth. That last one unsuccessful, the scissors man sent a jab flying toward the antelope's face. Gazelle ducked under the large, pink pile of knuckles and countered with a hard straight to his opponent's abdomen. Angered that he was able to land a hit, the scissors man lifted his leg to deliver a sharp kick, but was knocked off his feet by a sweeping kick from the other wrestler. The opportunity having arisen, Gazelle Man hopped then leapt from a stall gate and performed a body press, the weight of his hard-wrought body slamming atop scissors' abdomen. The blade fellow twitched a bit, though not looking to be in a good enough form to try anything else.
The blood-red buck put on his usual smug face. Having given his foe what for, Gazelle stood over him, feeling quite elated. He wondered, momentarily, if the outcome would have been different had they been in the ring and held a captive audience, the history of his performance on the canvas poking at the back of his head. He dismissed the notion, letting himself enjoy the victory of the here and now.
"Gazelle Man!" Seiuchin came huffing and puffing into the stable, taking a moment to catch his breath. "What was… (puff)… that that… (wheeze) killed… the horse..?"
"This guy here," he replied, gesturing to scissors-for-a-head on the floor behind him. "He hurt this white one here, too. Poor guy…" Gazelle went back over to the stallion, seeming to be calm despite the dripping wound from its muzzle. "Hmm… Seiuchin, let me use your bandana."
"Hm? Alright…" He handed the cloth to his teammate. The crimson stag dipped the bandana into the horse's water trough, "It should be fine like this." and rung out the excess. He put a gentle hand to the left side of his half-dressed zebra's head and brought the moistened cloth to his wound with the other. The horse jerked back a bit, beginning to snort and give out other noises, but Gazelle simply shushed him and tried again, this time successful in his attempt. He ran his free hand down the stallion's neck, petting him as he dabbed gently at the steadily bleeding gash and allowing himself to smile in the peace of the moment. Seiuchin stood back, a smile gracing his face, as well, never having realized Gazelle Man had such a soft spot for animals.
Plip.
The walrus crinkled his muzzle, a wet something dripped onto his nose.
Plip.
Again..! It didn't look as though it rained much in this area, so it couldn't have been a leaky roof. As he shifted his head upward, the liquid dripped on him once more, this time touching his lips.
Saltwater..? He looked up to the blackness of the roof, squinting to see what it was that was leaking or whatever. The sun had barely risen, but there was enough light to make out something… Seiuchin saw the whites of his eyes and gasped. The water dripping from above was sweat, and it was coming from someone or something positioned in the lattices..! "Gaz--"
Before he could even finish his warning, the one he saw and another who had escaped his sights descended, both clad in black outfits reminiscent of the traditional ninja of ancient Japan. One dropped behind the walrus, one in front, blocking him off from Gazelle Man, whose attentions shifted as soon as his ears picked up their feet touching the ground.
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Terry barreled through the front door, not even waiting for Checkmate to again become the king before searching for his father. "Daddy?!" He screamed, dashing from the living room to the kitchen and back again. The house looked undisturbed, as far as he could tell, but that didn't mean a thing. He took flight up the stairs, crying out for his father as he made his way down the hall.
"Terry, slow thy roll!" Checkmate called after him, fearing that with all the commotion, he may have alerted the enemy to their presence. He'd heard the sound of ascending footsteps and figuring the Kid had went upstairs, Check rushed to join him. Down the hall, he spied an open door, and putting 2 and 2 together, entered.
He saw the young Texan breathing heavily, standing over the foot of a king-sized bed. Poised in front of the bedroom window, his body was cloaked in the early morning light, revealing a relieved smile on his reddened face. His parents, were nestled under the covers, slumbering contently and looking as if they had been doing so undisturbed. "Thank God…" The Kid breathed. "Oh, thank God…"
Checkmate let out a sigh of relief. He leaned against the doorway and took on Terry's thankful expression, happy that Kid's story could have a happy... Someone in the window..!
"KID!!"
Glass shattered and shot every which way, some catching Terry in the back, some scattering atop his parents' bed. Two men--one with a giant horn and one with a dog's face, two of the three from before--crashed into the bedroom, Bighorn tackling the young Texan to the bed and Hoffman proceeding to rip the sheets off Terryman and wife Natsuko in tow.
Not one to stand by idly, Checkmate leapt across the bed to fell Hoffman with a flying kick to the face. The dog-faced foe shook his head, a little disoriented, then tried to come at the chess set wrestler, locking his arms around his waist for a suplex. "Chess piece change! Rook!" In an echo of his match with Mantaro all that time ago, Checkmate split his body into thirds, "Body Separate!" then allowed his torso to come apart from the rest of him, leaving Hoffman pinned to the floor to deal with his weight.
One down, one to go. Checkmate's lower half rushed to Bighorn, who had Terry in a painful submission hold. His disembodied legs ran up the green one's back, then did an aerial back flip and brought his stone knees down, smashing into Bighorn's head. The nasty, mustached fellow dropped like a brick, unconscious. Terry rolled Bighorn's weight from off his body, a little sore but otherwise fine.
"Hey, Check," Kid addressed his ally while picking up the green one by his horn. "Y'all can let that one up now."
The brick torso segment levitated and rejoined with its owner. Hoffman just lay there, sucking in air like a dying fish. Terry dragged Bighorn's limp body a little ways then tossed it atop ol' dog-face. "Take your friend and go," he said without any inkling of sympathy. Hoffman growled, gathering his teammate up in his arms and heading for the broken window.
"Dunkoff. This is far from over."
"You bet it ain't. Now, git."
Hoffman glared at Terry over his shoulder, then hocked up a nice one, spitting on the glass-strewn floor. With a final indignant sniff, he leapt out the window with Bighorn in tow. Terry and Checkmate came to the open hole in the room, watching the Bloody Arms boys make their retreat, noting that dog-face was headed toward the stalls. Without a second thought, Checkmate exited the same way, his feet planting him firmly in the dry, red soil. "Terry! I shall take it from here!" He called up to the young Texan, then took haste to make sure that Hoffman didn't try anything else.
The Kid released an exhausted sigh and plopped himself at the foot of his parents' bed. His ears picked up a little grumble from behind him. He turned and saw his father sitting up. He stretched and rubbed his eyes a bit from the sunlight penetrating his eyelids, that Terryman. "Daddy…" The young man smiled.
"Mmrrm… Huh..? What're…" He paused to yawn. "…you doin' here, boy..? I done told you to… knock first… b'fore comin' in……" Terryman plopped back down on his pillow, slipping back into slumber and snoring softly. The younger Terry just chuckled and ruffled his father's thinning hair, content in knowing he'd survive this day, at least.