Anasatsuken 2
Xander led his group across Channing Street so they could solicit more candy from another row of houses. Xander was, without a doubt, having a great time. First, he was getting a lot of compliments on his costume, and naturally he'd basked. Secondly, a couple of alluring ladies told him he had the arms to pull of the whole cut-off sleeves thing. Woo!
Only thing that put a damper on the night's festivities was the way Willow acted at Buffy's. Xander couldn't remember the last time she looked at him like that. The night Buffy came back from summer vacation, remember? An annoyingly matter-of-fact voice in Xander's head reminded him. Quiet you! Xander snarled at it and decidedly shoved the image of Willow's doe eyes out of his head. Buffy… yeah, he'll think about Buffy and her strange attachment to a certain pointy-toothed dead guy.
Xander couldn't not notice how Buffy kept a skittish lookout for Angel whenever her group of kids and his crossed paths. She was eager to have Angel see her in her fancy dress. She'd never dress uncomfortably to impress me, Xander thought sullenly.
Of course she can wear jogging pants and a T-shirt and still dazzle me—provided they're tight enough.
A scream jolted Xander out of his reverie. Looking around he noticed most of his kids took off in all directions, growling and chasing people like the little monsters they dressed as. Off in the distance he heard the rapid, explosive spit of machine gun fire and more screams.
"What the…" Xander started to say before he was overcome by a weird sensation like falling and floating at the same time. He blacked out only to regain consciousness a moment later and discover he was no longer in control of his body, someone else was…
She tried to find something, anything remotely familiar to her, yet her surroundings remained a mystery—a nightmarish one at that. Feral monsters lurked everywhere, attacking innocents with no provocation. Chun-Li waded into the thick of these attacks six times so far to save those she could. With nothing but her skills as a fighter, she dealt with the beasts quickly and efficiently, despite the obvious demonic power many of the creatures possessed. It was a good thing none of them had any skill in the martial arts. The last thing she needed to deal with was another Akuma.
Chun-Li patrolled the neighborhood where the activity seemed most dense, and though she still heard cries and howls off in the distance, she saw no trouble nearby. That is until a girl dressed in a leopard-print leotard came running across a lawn toward the street and Chun-Li. The girl was screeching and a huge hairy thing chased her. Chun-Li quickly bound into action.
The girl caught sight of her and cried out for someone named Willow to help. Chun-Li disregarded her plea, and when she came within a few feet of the girl Chun-Li leapt over her head to deliver a dozen lightening kicks to the shaggy beast's face and chest. Before she touched the ground, it dropped to the ground, groaning in pain. The beast climbed to its feet, bellowing an outraged roar at Chun-Li before it charged at her. The girl screamed for Willow again.
Chun-Li held her ground until the last second before kicking her left foot straight up over her head, her sole striking the beast under it's chin. The blow snapped the creature's head back then she followed the kick with a quick jab to its stomach, followed by another and another until she launched into a combination of elbow strikes as well as punches.
When she was satisfied she inflicted enough damage, Chun-Li stepped back from the creature and let it fall to the ground, unmoving and moaning. She'd held back from killing the beast, as she had the many other beasts she encountered, though she didn't know why she showed mercy. Something restrained her, an inner sense Chun-Li learned to listen to over the years. She just hoped whatever instinct stayed her fiercest attacks was the right instinct to follow.
The rescued girl stepped up beside Chun-Li and stared down at the felled beast. "Willow! You beat the crap out of him!" she exclaimed breathlessly.
Chun-Li looked at the girl—who happened to be dressed as a cat and was some inches taller than her—and wanted to ask who this Willow person she kept going on about was, but it wasn't important enough to delay her patrol. Instead, she said, "You need to find a safe place, Miss. As you can see tonight is no time to be wandering." With those last words of warning to the girl, Chun-Li started on her way again.
"Okay, what's up with the accent? And are you brain-damaged, I'm not walking anywhere by myself! Did you see Jo-Jo, the dog-faced boy over there? Willow, are you listening to me?" the girl asked, hurrying after Chun-Li.
Chun-Li stopped walking and had to catch herself from stumbling when the girl collided into her back. She whirled around to face the cat-girl. "Why are you calling me 'Willow'?" she asked irritably.
"It's your name, duh!"
Chun-Li narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the young woman. Then she realized the cat-girl must have been injured; she possibly received a blow to the head after the trouble started. Maybe I should bring her along to make sure she doesn't get hurt, Chun-Li decided.
Then, nodding in a very conciliatory manner, Chun-Li smiled at the girl. "You come with me, don't panic. Everything will be all right. But I must warn you I'll be searching for any dangers threatening this place so please try not to put yourself in jeopardy," she said.
The cat-girl pursed her lips then fixed an equally patronizing expression on her face and nodded. "O-K, I will." They began walking again, the cat-girl sauntering beside Chun-Li. "Since when did you become Slayer Gal, anyway?"
Chun-Li didn't even want to know what the befuddled girl was talking about now. "Since we're friends--"
"Uh, ex-squeeze me, friends? Step away from the punch bowl, Willow!"
Chun-Li rolled her eyes and wondered why karma decided to saddle her with this annoying teenager. "Fine, since we're not on a shoot each other at first sight basis, what's your name? I don't want to call you cat-girl all night long."
"You know my name."
"Pretend I don't."
The girl sighed. "Fine, the name's Cordelia."
"How… Shakespearean." And beautiful, Chun-Li admitted.
"Huh?"
"King Lear. It was a play written in 1605, by William Shakespeare."
Cordelia snorted. "God, even as an amnesiac you're geek girl. Nice costume by the way."
It was blind fear that led her to this quaint cottage during her escape from the demons and uncouth peasants loitering about town. She fled from shadow to shadow in search of aid from a gentleman—hopefully one armed and so inclined to use his weapon in her defense. But as time passed her hopes grew wane.
She believed she was well and truly lost by the time she heard the unmistakable sound of fisticuffs ahead of her. She almost turned ran in the opposite direction before it occurred to her there might be someone there who could help her. She decided to follow the ruckus. Instead of finding a regiment of the King's men combating demons, she found just one man surrounded by all manner of beasties; his fists and feet a whirlwind of motion as he felled each creature with grace and power.
Her heart was racing and her breath caught by the time the last creature was laid out. It was then she knew she'd found her protector in this strange land.
"Sirrah! I say, kind sir!" she cried out when she saw him about to disappear into the night. Grabbing two handfuls of her billowing skirt, she ran to him. Her previously bound dark hair came apart and her locks flowed freely due to her efforts. She felt relief when he stopped and turned to her, his clean-shaven face showing no distaste at her disheveled appearance.
"Oh, thank goodness I have found you! You must protect me from this… untamed place! And these…" she pointed at the creatures sprawled at their feet, "… things!"
The dark-haired man studied her, from the top of her head down to her unseen toes, and yet somehow she knew he was being nothing close to lecherous. However, she still felt the need to hold her head high as he judged her. "I will help you. Follow me," the man said finally, his voice was deep and reposed.
"Can we not retreat to your abode?" she asked, sweeping her arm at the cottage.
Without halting his steps the man said, "I don't live there."
She reined in her skirt again and jogged after her new protector. "I do hope our destination will provide safe shelter?" she asked.
"We'll see what we can find for you."
Falling in step with the mysterious man, she took his hand in hers. "Thank you, Sirrah… If I may be so bold, what is your name?"
"Ryu."
Ryu was not a name she recognized. It certainly was not a proper Englishman's name. It sounded Asian to her unworldly ears, but clearly Ryu was not Oriental, though now that she really listened to his voice he did have a slight accent.
She never felt safer while being pulled along by Ryu through the night. The strength she sensed in just his hand thrummed through her entire body. If Ryu hadn't been a brute of low stature, and possibly of foreign blood, she could almost desire a courtship between them.
They eventually left the area settled by the odd looking cottages, to a place where taller brick buildings stood. A place where the streets were cracked, filthy, and revealed as such by torches hanging from towering metal poles. But there were more places to hide and more ways to evade the creatures longing to feast upon their flesh.
Ryu came to a stop and hushed her before she could question him by firmly squeezing her hand. Belatedly her ears picked up voices ahead of them. They crept forward until they found their origin.
She and Ryu stumbled upon five men dressed in black harassing a group of youths in a dimly lit area paved with the same strange black stone the roads were made of, enclosed by three tall brick structures. The youths huddled against a huge machine with wheels, cowering as the hooligans closed in on them. Ryu pulled her behind a similar but smaller contraption like the one the youths pressed against, and started to let go of her hand. She tightened her hold on Ryu's hand and yanked on his arm once she realized his intentions to abandon her. "Please, you must not get involved!" she hissed.
"Right, kiddies, I'm only gonna ask once," one of the men said. "Have any of you seen an annoying little blonde bint named Buffy Summers? 'Bout yay high? The first one to answer me gets to go home, the rest end up heaps in the morgue."
"Don't move," Ryu commanded, prying his hand from hers, and then he darted out from behind the machine.
"No! You will be killed!" Then who will protect me? Though she did feel pity for the youths, and wished them saved, her safety must come first.
Her station demanded it!
Her cry alerted the black-garbed men and they turned away from their current prey and saw Ryu dashing at them. She let out a startled yelp when she saw their faces. Hideously deformed countenances that were bumpy and wrinkled in places no human being should have bumps and wrinkles. And their eyes glowed with a ghastly yellow hue. But what truly terrified her were the long, sharpened teeth protruding from their mouths.
"Vampyrs!" she gasped.
"What the hell!" one of the Vampyrs shouted. He was the strangest looking beast; even among those he allied with. His hair was purest white and slicked back on his head. He wore a long, badly beaten leather coat of a design she did not recognize. The white-haired creature looked bewildered by Ryu's bumsrush at first, but his confusion soon turned to amusement and he smiled with deformed and sharpened teeth.
"Maybe you can tell me where the Slayer is, 'ey mate?" he asked.