UPDATE: I decided that releasing this once a week might be a bit too long of a wait to get the series updating at a decent pace so I'm changing the upload times to range between 5-7 days instead of every Saturday because it will take an entire year to upload it all and frankly, I don't think that's entirely fair.
Promotional artwork: tigressa101/art/Arcee-and-the-Isle-of-the-Allspark-Cover-931607333
"Please tell me your end of the virtual tracker is picking up the same signal as mine?" Bolt scowled.
Arcee tapped her handheld tracker with a dot popping up just off to the right of them. She gave Megatron a shrug who returned with an unsure expression. The giant willow tree was only a few thousand feet away and yet there was something to their right just blaring in energy.
"What are you reading?"
"My scanners indicate there is Allspark energy to your right, but I thought it was coming from the willow when my crew and I originally explored this area. Maybe you don't have to climb that infernal tree after all! I hate to bother you, but would you mind exploring that signal? I want to see just what it is if it's the gem at all."
Arcee huffed, "Or another creature?"
"Hey, we all knew what we were getting into when we made this pact to fight the Allspark's forces and retrieve it. Didn't expect it to be easy, did you?" Bolt said amused.
Megatron laughed to Arcee's slight ire, "Monsters and misadventures! There's nothing like it."
The creatures from across the galaxy, condensed on such a small island, was one of the largest headaches and she had only seen one twelfth of the damn thing. If creatures like Swift and Ferra were naturally in Cybertronian-like worlds or neighboring ones, she couldn't imagine just what horrors the Allspark took from Cybertron's past wildlife and expanded on given very few were still alive before the Great War that knew about said creatures, one of whom being the late Alpha Trion.
Thinking on that, the many species among the cybernetic worlds were seldom seen or talked about. Even their own native species like singlehorns and rust cattle weren't appreciated as much as the creatures here native to Earth were.
She had heard tales of earlier species that roamed Cybertron even when Primus was alive and moving. Some were protectors of their world, a mighty force to deal with while others were much more sinister in purpose. Granted, these past creatures of Cybertron just did as they were made to do but they had horrific attributes that any Cybertronian would fear today.
Arcee heard a miniature roar, but it was in a lighter pitch than the creatures they had encountered. It was a lot less threatening too. A rabbit-like marsupial hopped among the water with a baby in its protected pouch. It was nearly the same hue as the marsh around it, but thankfully the light caught on the water's reflection and gave some detail to it that differed from its environment.
"That's a Rozarian peridrop, kind of like Earth's kangaroo in structure. Those things are excellent swimmers and mainly eat small fish and reptiles. Manipulating the water around them, they tend to drown their enemies. The arctic species back in Rozaria's northern hemisphere are known to be more territorial and are rarely seen together in groups. You don't bother them and they won't bother you."
As cute as the peridrop was, Arcee knew there was no time to dwindle on whatever that thing could do. The marshlands rumbled with life as they treaded through it towards the unknown energy signature. If they were lucky, it was indeed the gem. If they weren't...
"What type of tree is that?"
Arcee snapped out of her sight-seeing and followed Megatron's gaze forward.
A large tree, quite puny in comparison to the willow but still huge to them, sat slightly below a hill lip. Invisible to the unsuspecting, what stood out most about this tree was what it was made of. Most trees were wood based as one would think of when hearing the word "tree" in general. This particular species was...metal?
Its leaves weren't even actual leaves but spines attached to the various thinner limbs that seemed to not move at all, not even from a breeze. However, the tree also supported single thick branches that had no spines but instead had large pickaxe-like ends that seemed to be designed for some type of defense. The whole entity of this metal tree was as still as a sculpture. Its light grey metallic color resonated oddly with the murkiness of the marshlands.
Arcee eyed it before speaking, "Either someone built it or the Allspark stole more than just creatures."
Then they noticed the faint white glow hidden among a thick entanglement of its smaller branches. Bluish white just like the Allspark, they got their first glance at was presumably the gem itself. It was hovering, slowly rotating in its metal branch cage.
"So, did you find it?"
"Yeah, it's in this weird tree," Megatron frowned. "Something isn't sitting right about it though."
"What type of tree? Rozaria pink? Aquatron waterfall willow? Don't tell me it's a vined Porosso's golden bloom from Caminus. Those things grow so fast and get everywhere, you'll be cleaning your yard for years and hoping their vines don't get into your home. Because once you lose track of them-!"
Arcee sighed, "No, no, it's metallic, steel grey."
The comm line suddenly went dead silent. She wondered if Bolt got upset about being cutoff or it had something to do with the tree. She eventually did get her answer a minute later.
"Metal...grey...you're saying...hang on, hang on. I need to check something. Um, don't...don't go near it for the time being."
"Will do, didn't plan to."
Megatron brought out his sword and twirled it in his servo, "I say we chop it down and grab the gem."
Arcee stepped in front of him, "Megatron, no! You heard the concern in Bolt's voice. He's not sure about it! It could be a trap! We need to stay away from it."
"You want the gem, don't you?" He growled back.
She nodded reluctantly, "Well, yes but-"
"Then what are you afraid of? Bolt means well, but we are on a time limit here. The longer we waste time facing this island, the less of a chance we have of going home. Now, if it's such a concern for you, you'll take my initiative and do what needs to be done."
Arcee wanted to argue but Megatron was right. They were running out of time. "I wish you would trust Bolt's judgements more...and mine. He's trying as fast as he can to keep us safe and we need to be on the same page if we're going to work together. Alright, okay, um, we'll go with your plan for now. And what, pray tell, is it exactly?"
"Chop it down. I don't care if that tree is worth millions of credits, it's in our way," he said.
Arcee sighed and brought out her arm blades as she had yet to find a suitable enemy to test her katana on and a tree made of thick metal was hardly a suitable subject. She wasn't sure about going against Bolt's orders but what they needed was so close.
Unusually, a strong scent of flowers unlike anything she could describe slowly built in the air. The fragrance was nice and it seemed to be coming from the tree. She was growing an urge to walk towards it to investigate when a blade appeared in front of her. She looked at Megatron scandalized as he shook his head. Then he pointed at a creature coming up to the tree.
A marsh buck, native of central South America, wandered close to the tree. The deer seemed interested in the small but beautiful, bright flowers that grew at the base of the metal tree. For a tree that had no natural connection to the ecosystem on the island, it struck Arcee as odd it had flowers. In fact, she didn't even remember seeing flowers there when they first saw the tree. The buck sniffed at the nearest purple flower before licking its petals. When it was about to eat the flower, all the lovely vegetation around the tree suddenly retreated underground.
The deer, Megatron, and Arcee were stunned by the phenomenon with the latter two sharing a puzzled glance at one another until the sound of creaking was heard. The deer looked up and didn't even register the danger it was in when immediately a limb of the tree snatched it up. It bellowed in terror as it was hoisted high, unable to flee from its captor. To everyone's horror, including the rest of the wildlife that immediately scattered from the area, the tree turned vicious.
The tree didn't give any mercy as its limbs holding the buck swung back before brutally and intentionally slamming itself forward and smashing the deer into the ground. In a blink of an eye, the tree kept doing this over and over, most likely over ten times if it was to be believed by Arcee, to the point where the ground it hit was covered in deer guts and blood. The deer was dead indefinitely by the second mashing but the fact that they tree kept going drew the concern of just what its purpose was other than destruction.
After a few more hits, the tree suddenly flung the carcass of the deer far into the background of the bots' sight. It was still in the air but no larger than a speck by the time it began descending towards the ground...or the ocean given how far it was flung past the willow.
Mortified, both bots stared at the ungodly sight as the tree settled and its flowers at its base popped back up to lure another victim. The tree, however, didn't go back to being completely still. It shook off the excess remains of what got caught among its branches in its horrific attack and it seemed to know Arcee and Megatron were there among it.
It, a tree, let out a roar as its larger limbs with large singular claw-like features on it raised up in anger. The smaller branches holding the gem began to untangle until only a single limb held it. In a flash, it twisted before precisely launching the gem at the willow top. The gem soared through the air for roughly thirty seconds but right as Arcee thought it would hit the willow and bounce off, a shadowed form appeared to cling onto the side and caught the gem. Barely did the light illuminate the shadow's features enough to make out what it was but it was gone before a good deduction could be made.
"Arcee, Megatron, I need you two to listen to me very carefully. The tree is deadly! It will kill you!"
Megatron scoffed, "Oh, we have an idea. Call it a hunch."
"You didn't listen to me, did you?"
Arcee stepped in, "Technically, we didn't do anything but one of the wildlife species got too close and it triggered whatever...that is."
Bolt groaned, "The flowers."
"How do you know about-?"
"Kanjian Metalwoods are some of nature's most horrifying inventions. Here's a passage in one of the data pads I...borrowed from Cybertron's old Iacon Archives regarding Kanjis. I have a few on many other planets too and their native species. 'The Metalwoods are an ancient breed and one of the most bloodthirsty creatures found across Kanjis' surface. They will kill any living entity that comes near it or that it wants to kill by luring its prey close with the sweet scent of its flowers' as you've just seen apparently. 'Once the prey is in range, it will do an assortment of things to kill them, most notable behavior witnessed being taking its prey and pounding them to the ground into a pulp before getting rid of the dead by ejecting it away from itself.' There's a saying on Kanjis I've heard before and the data pad seems to know as well, 'watch out for flying corpses!' Now we know why."
Arcee mused, "Why is it every time I hear about Kanjis, everything's bad?!"
"Easy, Kanjis is a planet that is said to be alive, not like Cybertron exactly where it's one being confined into a planet alt mode, but a living planet unlike anything you can imagine. Everything on that planet can and will kill you. It's like the Australia of worlds, worse maybe, as a human could describe it as. It's...a planet that needs some direction in how to do a proper evolution line. Let's put it that way."
"Enough chatter, Bolt! How do we kill it?" Megatron said impatiently.
"Kill it? There's nothing that data on Kanjis wildlife says about that, but you can immobilize it. Uh, unless you have something powerful enough to topple it, something that it can't break apart or kill, you're out of luck. Kanjis has specialized plows capable of dealing with these things that apparently grow like daisies as they drop seeds that move slowly across the ground until they find a good home, but it's never a guarantee it'll always get the job done."
Arcee scowled, "Guess we're going to have to make our own way."
Bolt laughed, "Or you could just leave it alone. After all, it did get rid of the source of the energy signature, I assume it was the gem, so no need to stick around."
"If we leave it operational, it could hurt every other creature on the island...and spread!" The femme emphasized as she watched the Metalwood grab a piece of mossed over logs from a long-dead tree and lifted it high, ready to throw.
The comm went silent before Bolt coughed out, "...That's a pretty fair point. Metalwoods have a type of seed that grows every third season or so and that could be bad if said seeds accidentally got off the island. Uproot it and you'll sever the energy required to make those seeds. Won't kill it, like I said, but it will be of no threat anymore."
"Incoming!" Megatron suddenly shouted. He pushed Arcee out of the way first before moving himself.
In the place Arcee once stood, the tail end of the same mossy log hit the ground, pieces of bark breaking off as it tumbled a few yards before sliding to a halt. She glared at the Metalwood as it shook with rage, its vines and branches whipping madly trying to find more things to throw.
Arcee was quick to dodge another piece of destroyed tree, a dead willow she had no doubt the Metalwood may have demolished if it came to rest near one upon being warped to the island. Then she heard trumpeting and peered back to see a herd of monogoliaths looking at them in response to all the ruckus. A smaller herd of African and Asian elephants were behind them.
She had an idea. Metalwoods killed anything they touched and monogoliaths were titans that could flatten anything they came across. What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?
"Time to find out." She then immediately called to Megatron, "Stall it while I go get us a little more power."
The warlord flinched back from a muddy rock flung just past his faceplates and scowled at her, "Stall it? With what?"
"Your charming personality! What else?" Arcee laughed as she ran off.
Megatron huffed but found himself kind of smiling at that. He would have never thought in a million years he would ever hear Prime's most stubborn lieutenant be playfully sarcastic with him. Guess she was finally over the hostility between them.
His smirk was put off by another rock flying past him and a tiny pebble that broke off it upon bouncing on the ground nicked his cheek. He slowly turned his helm and sent a glare at the Metalwood.
The tree hissed and Megatron frowned, "So, that's how it's going to be? Alright then."
After she left Megatron to distract the Metalwood, she transformed and drove towards the large herd. She knew he would at least buy her enough time to lure the monogoliaths to him because if Bumblebee and Optimus couldn't kill him for the longest time, she had some doubts a tree would do the job of all things.
Arcee slowed down as she approached the herd of monogoliaths. Given they probably wouldn't take well to something running up to them, she minded her distance. The Asian and African elephants among them trumpeted and fumed, warning her not to get close, and she could see why as both calves from the elephants and the monogoliaths were hidden just beyond the sea of legs behind the herd as they formed a wall. The organic ones thought they were imposing to her but failed to realize she was half their height and powerful enough to kill them yet they stood their ground to protect their young, but it was the monogoliaths that were the beasts of burden as they towered above her.
One of the largest of the herd, the matriarch she presumed, met her halfway. They weren't stupid animals; she knew they could sense distress and worry off of her enough to give her a chance to show her true intentions. What intrigued her the most was the matriarch monogoliath stared down at her with interest before using its trunk to get to know just what she was. Its tusks were so large, they circled her as it drew far too close but perhaps that was a test of patience. If she was a threat, she would attack in this moment and she already knew how that would end with the herd standing right there. Arcee hoped it didn't get the scent of Titanium's death on her.
"I need your help, just for a moment," she said in thin air, not that she expected the monogoliath to understand.
The deep red of the four colossal optics bearing down on her studied her intensively but to her surprise, the matriarch looked up past her and she followed its gaze only to realize it was looking at the Metalwood from afar causing a scene. It growled but not at her. That was the only confirmation she needed to figure out monogoliaths were enemies of the Metalwood.
Then it hit Arcee. Monogoliaths and Metalwoods both came from Kanjis. If they were enemies here, it would stand reason that they weren't on good terms with each other back home. Kanjians made plows capable of bringing down Metalwoods akin to the monogoliath's ability to topple anything that got in its way. It made perfect sense now.
Arcee backed away and gestured to the Metalwood in the distance. "Help? Please."
The leading monogoliath peered at her then the Metalwood again and upon hearing Megatron shout something, the elephants snorted and made small, quick sounds which the monogoliaths seemed to respond with their own grunts. Then the matriarch trumpeted and all of them went silent.
Arcee expected the matriarch to refuse and simply leave. She wasn't prepared for it to rear up and give a massive bellow.
As Megatron cracked his neck, the Metalwood seemed to pronounce its spines in response, rattling them. Its vines and larger, deadlier limbs were ready to strike. He aimed his cannon and began firing to jolt the brash tree into giving everything it had to try and kill him. To his guess, the Metalwood roared and swung its vines rapidly around it with the hopes of hitting him as he came close to it. He flipped over a set dragging on the ground in an attempt to sweep him off his feet and blasted at one of the larger limbs. The shot did nothing but cause a dark grey spot to appear on its gunmetal coat.
Even though he was in range of the tree to die if it ever caught him, he did his best to be a big pain in the aft to it in the meantime. It threw itself forward when he dodged one of its pickaxe-like limbs that embedded into the ground and Megatron barely managed to get out of the way again as it hit his spot with all the rage it could give. Had he not moved, he would've indeed been nothing but spare parts as there was now a large impact mark with upturned grass and soil. The Metalwood shook off the dirt stuck to it and growled.
Now aware his gun had no effect, he brought out his falchion swords as the tree whipped its vines towards him again to grab him. He sliced two of the smaller limbs off and the tree coiled back in shock before changing its strategy quicker than he could adapt.
It positioned its limbs curled facing down toward the ground before giving a fiery screech and sinking every one of them into the soil. Paths of uprooting soil curved outward, rock and dirt overturning as something beneath the surface it could control snaked at Megatron. The warlord was running backwards in response and he nearly tripped at such a pace it had with the intent to drag him below and most likely crush him beneath layers of rock and soil, assuming it didn't tear him apart as well.
When the roots or limbs...whatever it used...finally reached its max distance, which was longer than the tree could normally reach as he observed, Megatron snarled, "Is that all you got?!"
The Metalwood seemed to contemplate his boast before the dirt trails became flaccid and its limbs emerged from the surface again. However, on the way up, it had grabbed not only chunks of deep sedimentary rock to throw but also...bones. Animal bones not unlike anything he had seen walk on Earth's surface currently, most likely creatures of past. Several bones were sauropod in shape, kind of reminded him of the Dinobots. Then to his horror, the same flowers that the Metalwood grew at its base, wrapped around the bones connecting it into a massive saurus monster.
"What's up with the spike in energy around that Metalwood? Let me see your feed. What's happening?" Bolt asked out of the blue.
"Trust me, you don't want to know," Megatron spoke, a little defeated as the saurus bones attached three different skulls to its body. That was three heads of a creature Megatron certainly didn't want to be stuck with.
"Now what can possibly be that bad...OH PRIMUS! WHAT IS THAT?!"
"Your Metalwood."
"Metalwoods can't do that! Metalwoods can do that?! I've never read of this in any text?!"
Megatron then said, "Maybe because everyone who witnessed a Metalwood using remains as a makeshift body didn't live to tell the tale!"
The boney monstrosity emulated the Metalwood's horrifying roar, swinging its tails and raising its multiple disjointed limbs eagerly to disembowel him. The flowers and vines linking the bones was off-putting in a ridiculous manner but given it was a creature that could and would tear out his spark at the first opportunity, not glisten in the fading sun, the flowers weren't that laughable.
The skeletal dinosaur lunged as the Metalwood raised its vines up threateningly. Megatron was prepared for whatever outcome that was going to be this battle. But before he could run towards the creature, a shadow stomped over him like he was nothing. All he saw at first was the underbelly of something massive. A trumpeting bellow and a familiar voice made him smile.
"Let's go baby!" Arcee hollered as she rode on the back of the monogoliath that hit trees left and right out of its path without losing any momentum.
The monogoliath matriarch charged, focused on the sauropod monster first in which it made sure its tusks were ready to hit head on with no fear. The audible gasp from the creature's immediate pause lasted only a second before the full force of the monogoliath hit it. Bone pieces scattered everywhere and the flowers that had preoccupied it shriveled.
Megatron and Arcee both saw, in their respectful perspectives, the Metalwood yelp and cower back slightly at the sight of the monogoliath destroying its creation. Seeing a brash creature such as a killer tree show fear was a sight to behold which either spoke of the monogoliath's power or perhaps the Metalwood knew its own mortality.
The monogoliath was followed by others but the herd guarded the perimeter and Megatron instead of pulling forward to join the matriarch as it stopped just short of the Metalwood's reach. Arcee stayed on the Kanjian titan with her own snarl as the monogoliath roared at the tree. The Metalwood returned the call, all its vines flaring to life. It seemed to have gotten over its fear enough to face its worst enemy.
"Arcee, you are insane!" Megatron grinned, "Look at you."
The femme gave a feral smile back, "Of course! Nothing stands in my way! I adapt and overcome! One of the reasons why I was chosen as queen anyways!"
"Now I certainly don't doubt it. You were always a bold soul. Even I was impressed back then and still am today."
"You may have been king of the Decepticons back then but out here, sit back and watch the queen conquer," she boasted.
Megatron put his servos up in mocking defeat and backed off, letting the queen and the monogoliath take over. He didn't mind when a stray African elephant pulled up beside him with a playful trumpet. He simply responded to the wayward creature offhanded, "I'm going to let her handle this. No argument there."
"Hi-ya!" Arcee made the call, urging the monogoliath forward. It obeyed.
The Metalwood swung its nearest large limb downward and sliced the shoulder of the monogoliath but the latter only grew agitated, butting its strong tusks against the trunk of the tree. The Metalwood tried to relieve the pressure its enemy was putting on it by wrapping its vines around any body part it could reach. Still, the monogoliath pushed forward.
The sound of its root trying to pull upward out of the ground signified that the monogoliath was doing everything to topple the tree. However, the Metalwood gave a cry and then a powerful roar, pushing back and striking the monogoliath more with its deadlier axe-like limbs, trying desperately to impale the creature to kill it.
Arcee, stuck on the back of the monogoliath, shot the vines that crawled up the neck and backside in an attempt to help her steed gain the upper hand. But she was quick to react when one large limb tried to crush her. She did a backflip upright from sitting to standing and kept firing. One limb managed to stab the monogoliath near the spine, blood leaking from the wound. It did it again and again.
The monogoliath gave a hoarse trumpet, its stance slowly giving out as the Metalwood began pushing it back. It was losing the fight. It was only a matter of time before its legs would collapse under the assault and topple not only itself but Arcee as well.
"Come on, you can do it!" The Autobot assured her new friend. She tapped it on its wounded shoulder trying to coax it to continue. "You can do it! We can do it!"
Suddenly, Arcee was bumped forward and tumbled over the monogoliath's head to catch herself on its tusks. Pressed against the base of its trunk looking directly at the Metalwood face-to-face. She gave a nervous grin.
"Not according to plan. Okay, new strategy. Just start blasting!"
Aiming at the center of the Metalwood's exposed middle between all its base branches and top of the trunk bent over to attack the monogoliath, she fired. The sensitive area proved fruitful as the Metalwood gave out a shriek and backed off. It coiled its branches to protect the soft area normally unseen by ground view but by doing so, it began losing the strength to repel the onslaught of the monogoliath that seemed to notice Arcee's bravery and pushed forward even more so despite its injuries.
Slowly, the Metalwood began to lean as the monogoliath backed off for only a brief second before hitting it hard again. The deep roots of the tree struggle to maintain its hold in the ground. Newly exposed roots curled from the fresh air as the Metalwood cried out. It tried again to stab the monogoliath with a mentality Arcee could presume was "if I'm going down, you're coming with me."
The large limbs eventually resorted from attacking its mortal enemy to trying to claw at the ground helplessly as it toppled. With one last screech, the Metalwood collapsed brutally. The vines it had flopped around uselessly and a majority of its branches could do nothing as it lay there. Even the larger limbs could only stab the ground begging for assistance.
The monogoliath stomped the ground and raised its head high with its trunk in the air as Arcee settled back to sitting on its spine. It gave a victorious trumpet as the herd responded gleefully behind them. The matriarch proved its title true although its injuries were a bit severe, but Arcee had no doubts the herd would do their best to keep their leader safe until it recovered.
Arcee jumped off of the monogoliath's back and bowed. The creature flapped its ears and gave a happy noise in response before turning to leave with its herd coming up to check on it, as proud as a family could be.
As the dust of the fall settled, Arcee noticed a blue glow from the Metalwood. Blue Energon dripped from its uprooted base into a large puddle of Energon. The Metalwood had been sitting on an Energon pool and feeding off of its energy to perform the stunts it did. It seemed odd a Metalwood would have been conveniently placed there but then again, the Allspark probably wanted something as powerful as a Metalwood to defend its gem so feeding it all the fuel it could take was a necessity to get the correct amount of indestructible defense.
Megatron clapped her on the shoulder, "Like a true-born leader. How did you figure out those beasts were the Metalwood's greatest enemy?"
Arcee shrugged, "They were the same, yet they were different. Both from the same planet, had the same brutal force that only each other could match but also came from two separate parts of the design of life. You wouldn't think they would be made for each other and yet, they ended up being the perfect foils of each other because of their similarities and their differences."
"Monogoliaths and Metalwoods. Autobots and Decepticons," Megatron said. "Two halves of the same whole."
Kneeling, Arcee placed a tracker down to Megatron's confusion.
"What are you doing?"
"Marking it so we can come back to it. Why waste what we can use? Besides," Arcee grinned, "I don't think the Metalwood is going to be a problem for quite some time."
Just then, Bolt's voice popped up, "Heard the ruckus, felt the shock waves. So, what did I miss? Is Synthamore down? Please tell me you got rid of that horrid monster!"
"We took care of it, don't worry, and we found an Energon pool. The Metalwood was sitting on it...Synthamore? Really, Bolt?" The Decepticon leader sighed. "That's what you came up with?"
"It was either that or Scythamore. You know, scythe? Synthesis? Sycamore, the tree...? I've got too much time on my servos. I need a new hobby but this is what happens when you leave me on an island alone for a year or so..."
Arcee shook her helm with a laugh before looking up at the giant, imposing willow they now had to scale. "One tree down, another to go."
They both ignored the grunt of the toppled Metalwood as Bolt said, "If the gem is up there, tread lightly. This is as far as most of my fellow crew got which means whatever is up there is dead set on keeping that gem."
Megatron was quick to scoff, "As if everything else was an Energon run?"
"Time to put the last of the marshland's enemies into the ground I say," she smirked, punching her fists together.
"Bring us one step closer to home, Arcee! Go get them!"
AN: Gave the monogoliaths some redemption and made a killer tree. What am I doing with my life? I'll tell you what. I'm having fun!
Featured Monsters:
Synthamore the Metalwood (Kanjis)