Title: Distorted Mirror
Author: Zelgadis55
Series: Saiyuki and Monkey
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: The character from Saiyuki and Monkey do not belong to me, a fact that will haunt me to my dying days… well, maybe about Saiyuki anyway, Monkey I enjoy and have a good laugh at the dubs but I'm not so worried about that :-P Slaard, Slintha and her brother do belong to me however and any use of these characters needs permission.
Pairings: None, while this story may have hintings, it is not a yaoi or shounen ai fic.
Distorted Mirror
Pt 14
The eel laughed, "That's rich! A mere human, threatening me?" He started to build up a large charge, watching his hands as electricity started arcing between them. He smiled nastily at Sanzo who continued to look disdainfully toward him, an act, which only served to further infuriate the eel.
Gojyo's eyes went wide as he saw a small dragon shaped object plough into the infuriated eel, knocking him off balance and into the ground. "Hakuryu!" Gojyo cried out happily, "Where's Hakkai?"
"Right here!" Hakkai called, smiling as usual, even as he ran though the entryway. He made his way to Gojyo, dropping shakujou on the way. The relief at seeing the kappa was strongly evident on his face.
"Get me out of these chains first!" Sanzo demanded irritably.
A slightly embarrassed expression crossed Hakkai's face as he turned to smile at the monk, "Gomen nasai," he then hesitated a moment before adding, "but I think I will have to deal with this eel youkai first."
Sanzo scowled, realising Hakkai was right and Gojyo looked dismayed as the monster attacked Hakkai. Hakkai was obviously tired and it showed. The healer could barely defend against the flurry of kicks and punches coming from his opponent. Luckily Slintha's brother didn't seem inclined to use electrical attacks very often.
"Hakuryu!" Sanzo demanded, "Get the Maten Kyoumon. It's in the corner over there!" Not surprisingly, considering the chains holding his arms above him and to the wall, Sanzo was only just able to point out the said corner.
"Kyuu!" Hakuryu flew over and struggled to pick up the scroll from underneath the items dumped unceremoniously on top of it before flying back to the blonde carrying his load. With a great effort, the little dragon managed to get the Maten Kyoumon to Sanzo's bound hands, where the monk could grab it. Sanzo managed to unroll the scripture and Hakuryu helped Sanzo to get it draped around his shoulders where it belonged. Once done, Hakuryu flapped higher into the air once more, turned around, flew out the entryway of the cave and down the passageway. Finally, Hakuryu saw what he was looking for and what he was looking for saw him.
"Hakuryu!" Goku said, happy to see him, "Where are Sanzo and Hakkai?'
"Kyuu!" Hakuryu turned and flew back the way he had come, Goku chasing close behind.
- - -
Just after Hakuryu had left the cave, Hakkai faltered and his adversary gained the upper hand. The eel's face twisted as he went for a killing blow, Gojyo yelling desperately to his friend, telling Hakkai to move, defend, dodge or just plain do something!
"MAKAI TENJOU!" Sanzo finished chanting and the eel monster was ensnared in dozens of twisting, swirling lengths of scripture that originated at Sanzo's shoulders. Hakkai pulled himself back to his feet and stumbled over to the blonde monk where he released the restraints keeping Sanzo in place. Typically, Sanzo didn't bother to say thanks, he just hurriedly moved over to the corner of the cave where his Maten Kyoumon and other things had been thrown. He picked up his banishing gun from the pile and turned it onto the ensnared youkai.
"SANZOUUU!" Goku's voice yelled as he chased the small white dragon into the cave.
Sanzo's face twisted, "I believe I made you a promise." And pulled the trigger.
- - -
"BROTHER!" Slintha screamed, falling to the ground in shock and fear. A few minutes previously, she had awoken, tied tightly to a tree. Slintha had easily made short work of slithering free from her Monkey induced bondage. In fact, she had found it amusing that Monkey thought mere rope would hold one such as herself. Like snake monsters, all eels needed to do was wriggle in just the right way to get out or through almost anything. Once free of the tree, Slintha had begun running back to the cave, realizing that Monkey would be heading that way. She had grinned as she ran past the unconscious, still smiling Pigsy. A couple of minutes and a lot of ground later, the eel's world had fallen apart.
As she lay on the ground gasping for breath, she knew, beyond a doubt that her brother, the only person she cared about, was dead. Slintha swore revenge. She knew there was no way that Tripitaka would have been the cause of the foul deed but, she thought, any of the others could quite easily have been responsible. Well, maybe not Monkey. Any other time? Yes! However, he seemed to realize that he needed Slaard, her brother and herself alive. Why else would she have still been alive when it was well known that the monkey king was notorious for finishing off his enemies? The only normal exception to that had been over the last few years when that blasted Buddhist priest made his disciple leave them alive. Yes, they would suffer. All of them! That included her new pet, soon to be 'Kappa Delight', Gojyo.
Face grim, Slintha picked herself off the ground and again began running back towards the cave, thinking about all the various ways she could torture Gojyo, Sanzo and whoever else was there. They would pay dearly! Nobody would get away with defiling the bond that she and her brother had shared.
Finally, she reached the caves. Monkey was there, as was her king. They were desperately fighting, 'Well,' she thought, 'King Slaard is fighting desperately.' King Monkey, the so-called Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, almost looked as though he were playing. Slintha felt disgusted at the apparent weakness of her king. He was more powerful than any of the rest of her people as naturally befitted his station but he was short sighted and he never seemed to be able to fully utilize his power, unlike Slintha herself. Her own brother had never come close to being able to use the kind of power she could. She just chose to play mind games since it amused her. It was so much more satisfying that way, terrorising her victims, especially when they began to despair in their mistaken belief that she was nuts.
Slintha scowled as she ran straight past Monkey and King Slaard, who were both far too busy to pay her any attention. She ran inside and negotiated her way through the caves until she reached the one in which the captives were held. The eel took a deep breath so as to try to keep control of her emotions and prepared herself to fight her brother's murderer.
- - -
Hakkai had now freed Tripitaka and Gojyo from the restraints that had been holding them against the cave wall. He watched with light amusement as Goku tried, unsuccessfully, to tell Sanzo off for killing the youkai from Tripitaka's world while simultaneously expressing his relief that Sanzo was alive and alright. Hakuryu kept circling around the cave in agitation.
Hakkai smiled in relief at his best friend, "What happened to you? Why didn't you wait for us or try to wake me?" he questioned. The healer then took a deep breath to steady his voice. "I was very worried, especially when we found shakujou half buried in a fallen tree."
"I didn't know you cared." Gojyo said a little shakily, smiling as he let his friend help him to his feet. Once up, due to the many electric shocks that the hanyou had endured, he needed Hakkai's support to remain standing. He didn't feel very steady on his own.
The two made their way to where Hakkai had dropped Gojyo's weapon, Gojyo explaining to the healer how he had found his way to the cave and how that S.O.B. had somehow managed to surprise him outside. Before he could finish his story however, Goku appeared in front of the kappa.
"Are you okay?" The saru asked in a small voice.
Gojyo grinned, "Couldn't be better! As soon as we get back to town, I'm gonna go find myself a pretty young nee-chan to celebrate life and freedom with."
Hakkai glanced at Gojyo's face and then chuckled, "You never change, do you?"
"Nope! Never will either!" Gojyo replied cheerfully.
"Everyone and everything changes." Tripitaka said, smiling gently and looking at both Gojyo and Hakkai. "It is the way of life and of the Buddha." She explained.
Gojyo and Hakkai looked a little taken aback by the priest's words and then Gojyo shrugged slightly, turning to face Goku. "Hey, saru! Pick up shakujou for me, will you?" the kappa asked, grinning down at Goku, waiting mischievously for the teen's reaction. He needed to do something to snap Goku back to normal, as the bakazaru still seemed to be a bit down.
As expected, Goku snapped, "Why don't you get it yourself, ero-kappa? And don't call me saru!"
"Oh that's right, you're not just a saru, you seem to have some pig in you too" Gojyo teased as Hakkai tried not to laugh.
"I do not! And even if I did, it's still better than being a perverted cockroach!" Goku yelled, his face becoming awfully close to the kappa's face. It was weird how close their faces became, considering the height difference between the two and the fact that they were both standing.
Sanzo had been watching the exchange with an obvious twitch but at this point, he could take no more. "Shut up! Both of you! Bakazaru, pick up the damned kappa's weapon! I'm getting out of this shit-hole, whether you idiots come or not is up to you!"
Goku seemed to wilt slightly under the irritated monk's verbal barrage and intense glare. He bent down to pick up shakujou, all the while anxiously watching the person he looked up to before handing it to Gojyo. "Take it cockroach!" he said sullenly.
"Tch!" Sanzo swore in annoyance. "Now that the two of you have finished your male bonding ritual, can we leave?" he asked sarcastically.
Gojyo and Goku's jaws dropped. Neither of them had a thing to say in return to Sanzo's comment. Tripitaka appeared stunned as well and as for Hakkai, well, he fell to the floor unable to support Gojyo, let alone himself, since he was laughing so hard.
At Hakkai's laughter, Gojyo wore a betrayed expression. With his best friend on the ground, he was now leaning on shakujou to keep standing.
Sanzo focussed his glare on Hakkai, who was now wiping the corners of his eyes and turned, stalking to the exit of the cavern, Goku meekly following. Tripitaka smiled down at Hakkai and extended a hand, which the healer gratefully accepted. Then they and Gojyo followed Sanzo, Hakkai once again supporting the kappa as they walked.
Just as Sanzo reached the exit, Slintha stepped into it snarling, sharp pointy teeth bared and short angry sparks emanating from her tense body. Gojyo and Hakkai glanced at each other. They hadn't seen anyone looking quite so angry in a long time.
Hakkai felt concerned, was that actually fear he had just seen in Gojyo's eyes, he wondered, watching as the hanyou gripped shakujou a little more tightly.
Slintha's eyes surveyed the occupants of the cave, lingering momentarily on Gojyo before settling their seething fury on Sanzo. "For the murder of my brother, everyone here dies." She hissed savagely.
The whole cave seemed to become electrically charged, everything giving off pops and crackles of energy. A lot of small and medium metallic objects took to rising from their resting positions, supported by the slight magnetic field, which was caused by the charged atmosphere. The lights were buzzing, fading and brightening in time with Slintha's furious breaths.
Sanzo glared at her, "If you'd been smart, you wouldn't have come back. I will keep my promise to you as I did to your psychotic brother." He raised his gun, pointing it straight at her, the weapon held horizontal.
Slintha laughed hollowly and then hissed, "Your threats mean nothing to me, pathetic little priest. The only reason you were able to kill my brother is that, while he is not stupid, he is certainly not renowned for using his brain when he is lost within his emotions. Myself, on the other hand, well, you were safer before you made me angry!"
"You talk too much." Sanzo stated coldly. He pulled the trigger.
As he spoke, Slintha stared straight into the monk's eyes. The smile that crossed her features was enough to make almost anyone shudder. Just as the bullet was about to hit, a surge of energy flashed out. The bullet melted in mid-air and dropped with a wet splat on the ground. Sanzo pulled the trigger another three times in rapid succession with the same result.
Sanzo swore and reloaded his gun. As he was doing so, Slintha transformed into her true form, becoming more like a giant eel than the woman than she had appeared to be. Her electricity surged outwards with her new form and every single light in the cave exploded, showering everybody with pieces of tiny, razor sharp glass. The glass bored its way into any exposed skin with Gojyo and Goku copping the worst of it due to their shorter sleeves.
The eel woman laughed, now much more of a sibilant hissing sound through her sharp, pointed teeth. "Now, just try me! Oh, what fun this is. You can't see me in the dark." Her voice, which didn't sound much like it had previously, hardened. "I, however, have an advantage. I can sense the locations of everyone. You disturb the electrical field, you see." She then sighed, "This will be too easy."
"Hakkai!" Sanzo called, "How about giving us some light?"
"Hai." Hakkai replied, worry evident in his voice.
Gojyo spoke softly in the healer's ear, "You've used too much ki in the last couple of days, haven't you?"
"Hai! You've seen right through me, haven't you?" He laughed a small apprehensive laugh before concentrating and forming a small, very dim energy ball. It wasn't much light but it was better than nothing. 'I do hope this fight is short.' Hakkai thought to himself, sweating from the effort he was current making.
Goku began attacking Slintha as soon as the healer provided the light. Slintha, for the most part, ignored him. Though every time he came into contact with her, he got zapped, "Why don't you fight fairly?" Goku asked.
Slintha snorted, "Where's the fun in that?" The giant eel slapped her tail in Sanzo's direction, hoping to slam him into the rock wall. She tried not to let her frustration show as the monk managed to dodge out of her way. She wasn't prepared to give the human the satisfaction of seeing her annoyance, even though she suspected that he could tell how she felt anyway.
"Well, look at that," Gojyo laughed weakly, "that psycho couldn't hit the broad side of a barn if she tried."
Slintha scowled, she didn't like the fact that dinner was mocking her. "For a main course, you sure have a nerve."
"Main course?" Hakkai asked, his eyes widening a little at the thought.
"Yeah, that's what she believes and since she believes that, then the psychopathic, wannabe worm would probably also believe she is good at serenading a guy." Gojyo answered. Then he snorted, "Well, I have news for her!"
"Philistine!" Slintha snapped, bringing her tail crashing down to where Gojyo and Hakkai stood. The two dove frantically out of the way, barely making it. Hakkai could no longer retain the concentration or energy that he needed and his ki light-ball went out, leaving them all in darkness once more. "Lucky you moved or I would have had to eat 'Kappa Pâté' rather than 'Kappa Delight'." She snarled.
Her eyes narrowed, she heard a chanting starting up from Sanzo's direction, 'That can't be good.' She reasoned to herself, then spoke aloud as she made the decision to try and end this quickly, "Well, while fresh kappa tastes much better, I guess I can handle kappa that is a few hours old."
"Eww! You wanna eat that perverted cockroach? That's disgusting, you might catch something." Goku screwed his face up at the thought.
"Cockroach?" Slintha asked in confusion, "Ah, I see, because of his antenna. Well, don't worry little monkey, I'll eat just about anything, including hairless apes such as yourself. It is just that kappa has the best flavour." Everyone heard her smack her lips.
Gojyo made a disgusted sound. 'I can't believe this woman!' he thought, his eyes trying to search through the darkness.
Goku yelled, "Don't call me an ape you…" Goku's voice cut off as he saw the eel's tail coming toward him with almost unbelievable speed. As the tail hit, sparks flew everywhere and the cave shook violently. A crack appeared where it had hit and small stones and rocks started falling from the ceiling.
Gojyo suddenly realised that he could see, there was a small amount of light emanating from Slintha's own body. She was so pissed off by this stage that she was glowing with anger. 'It's now or never,' Gojyo thought, "this woman can't be reasoned with!'
Sanzo's eyes narrowed as he cried out, "MAKKAI TENJOU!" The ends of his scripture seemed to multiply and they rushed out to ensnare the infuriated eel. To Sanzo's disgust, she started struggling and was actually, somehow, starting to slip free.
Gojyo noticed her beginning to escape as well and attacked her using shakujou, the crescent shooting out with the chain trailing behind. Gojyo controlled it with a skill borne of much practice, guiding the sharp crescent on its mission. The blade sliced through Slintha, zigzagging through and around her body close to twenty times, despite her wild thrashing and the slamming of her tail repeatedly into the ground and walls of the cavern. Gojyo soon succumbed to the natural electric defence that Slintha's body held, as his weapon became a conductor for the current.
As he fell unconscious to the ground, Slintha breathed her last, muttering, in shock, "My dinner… a worthless half kappa, half human… actually ma…" her body then disintegrated into dust as she followed in her brother's wake. The light originating from her body naturally also dispersed, leaving the cave and everyone else within in total pitch darkness again.
"Gojyo!" Hakkai yelled. There was no answer so he called again. "Gojyo! Can you hear me?" The healer had been watching while Gojyo was attacking Slintha and he had started making his way over to help his struggling friend but before he had reached him, Gojyo had won and the light from Slintha disappeared. He had seen where the kappa fell but getting there in the dark was another matter, especially with all the rubble surrounding them and the still falling small rocks disrupting his path.
Hakkai tried to produce another ki ball for light but it fizzled and died before it could even form properly. The healer heard Sanzo swear and thought to himself, 'My sentiments exactly.' "Gojyo, I need you to answer me." However, due to the hanyou's unconscious state, there was still no reply.
Suddenly, there was a soft striking noise and a small light flared up. Hakkai gave a brief smile of relief. He could just make out his friend, he was laying only about three meters away. Goku arrived at the kappa's side just as he did.
"Will he be okay?" Goku asked Hakkai anxiously.
After checking to make sure, Hakkai nodded, "Yes thankfully. I'm sure he will be."
"Tch!" Sanzo said in annoyance as the match almost burnt him and went out. He lit another. "Hurry up! I only have a few matches." He said irritably, wincing slightly as a falling pebble hit his outstretched hand.
Hakkai and Goku picked up their fallen comrade, placing one arm each around their shoulders. They began making their way out, carefully trying to avoid what they could see of the loose rubble on the ground. Tripitaka picked up shakujou and followed them. She made a pained noise as a falling rock hit her on its way down but she kept going.
Hakkai glanced over his shoulder back at her, "Are you alright?"
"I am fine," she replied, "but the way these rocks are falling, I do not think that we should take our time in getting outside. That monster really did do some damage."
"Which way?" Sanzo asked. Since he had been unconscious when he was brought in here, he had no idea which direction was the way out of the cave system.
"To the left." Hakkai replied.
- - -
Out in the forest, Yuu–Loong suddenly reared up, throwing Sandy off his back and transforming to his human form.
"What did you do that for?" Sandy complained painfully as he picked himself off the ground.
"I nearly galloped over Pigsy's body." Yuu-Loong answered a little shakily.
"Pigsy's body?" Sandy scrambled worriedly to take a look. He breathed in relief when he saw the pig spirit was breathing. He then noticed the smile on the pig's face, 'What the…' he thought in annoyance, "Oi! Wake up you lazy pig! Our friends are in trouble and all you're doing is sleeping and dreaming about I-don't-want-to-know-what, going by the look of that disgusting smile on your face! Ugh! WAKE UP!" Sandy shook Pigsy violently.
"Uhn… Stop shaking me!" Pigsy whined. His eyes opened, widening in disappointment as he looked at Sandy. "Go away!" he pushed the fish spirit away petulantly and looked around the area. "Where's that beeyootiful lady gone?"
Sandy snorted in disgust. "You're delusional! What lady?"
Pigsy grinned, "The eel demon of course. She likes me. She even gave me the best kiss. I felt all tingly from it." He explained. He then added in a singsong voice, "It was wonderful!"
At Pigsy's mention of eel, Sandy backed away in fright and began looking all around him in the deep shadows of the pre-dawn light for any signs of movement that might signify the eel monster was still somewhere nearby.
"That's no lady and that tingly feeling would be you getting electrocuted. You're lucky to be alive." Sandy made a disgusted sound. "Eels eat people, you know."
"So? You used to eat people as well!" Pigsy then grinned a sudden lecherous smile, "That's one woman I wouldn't mind being eaten by, especially if I got to eat her in return."
"You're disgusting!" Sandy snapped. "Can we please go find our friends? Before they are eaten by those disgusting eels?"
"She wasn't disgusting or slimy." Pigsy sighed happily. "It's just a pity that Monkey was there or we might have done more than just kissing."
Sandy glared at the lecherous pig spirit a moment, then said, "Lets go Yuu-Loong." And he stormed off in the direction he and Yuu-Loong had been headed in before coming across Pigsy.
"Oi! Wait for me!" Pigsy called and when nobody waited, he whined to himself, "Why doesn't anybody ever wait for poor little Pigsy? Its just not fair…"
to be continued.
Thank you to those who reviewed:
Diva Urd: Thanks :-) I still need to get around to reading "Xi You Ji" myself. It's just so hard when I am at the computer to concentrate on something when there is so many interesting things happening on the net. I may have to do what I have been doing with some fics, print out a portion of it and read on the way to work.
Koinu-Chan: Gomen but I wont be turning Tripitaka into a 'balzing fist of furry' its just not in the character. I only had her revealed as a woman due to the fact that she is played by one in the live action series. That and I grew up believing that explanation :-) Sorry about the delay in the new chapter. Distractions… which included two other fics. One of which will be posted sometime in the next couple of days and the other was for a challenge and I cannot post anywhere until the first of December.
Me-Nuriko: That's ok. I'm sorry for continually getting distracted of late and therefore having trouble sitting here and typing… I know I have spoken to you since you reviewed but still, I hope your computer is better now. Don't worry, I will keep writing :-)
Tora Macaw: Thanks. I had fun with those… songs… when I came up with it late last year… Thanks to DSM for requesting the ginger sauce (we were definitely watching too much Monkey at the time.) What type of nuts? Cashews? Hazelnuts? I can't stand walnuts…
GEMINI: Thanks. I will try to go a little faster than I have of late. Good thing is, I don't need to type up three other stories now, only one other one.