CHAPTER 11
What happened to Yuffie
Ayame looked all over for Espio but still didn't find him. She met back with Vector a half hour after they had split up and discovered he too hadn't had any luck. "I didn't even find Charmy," he added.
Ayame sighed in frustration. "Oh, this is ridiculous!" she said exasperated, "Where could they be hiding him?"
"Who?" he asked, looking at her. "Charmy?"
"No, Espio."
"Oh."
"OOOOHH!?"
"There's no need to blow up at me," he said, putting up his hand. "Maybe there's still somewhere we haven't looked yet,"
Ayame nodded, calming down. "Maybe you're right," she agreed.
They tried another direction. One they hadn't tried yet. Ayame's eyes survayed the tents trying to outline silloettes or anything else that would tell her where Espio was. It was next to impossible. Almost all the tents looked the same.
She sighed in frustration.
"Don't let it get to you," Vector said putting a hand on her shoulder, "we'll find him."
"I hope you're right," she said closing her eyes, "For his sake. I hope you're right."
"Answer me!" Sherikan shouted.
Espio said nothing. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths. There was no way this creep was going to get to him.
"Oh no," Sherikan said kicking Espio in the ribs, "there's no way I'm letting you put yourself into a trance!"
Espio's foot lashed out. He kicked Sherikan between the legs. The older chameleon fell over in great pain.
"Leave me alone," Espio spit just as angry as his look alike. He was getting sick of being abused, "I don't know where Ayame took that stupid sword. I don't care! I only brought that sword so I could get my friends back."
"Ha!" Sherikan laughed through the pain, "Like I'd let that happen." He stood. "I know what you were and still are," he said.
"Yeah," the sixteen year old challenged.
"Yeah," Sherikan said cockily, "you are a thief, a tramp, a bastard, and a no good vagabond."
"Liar!" Espio objected even though he knew it was true, every single word of it. "That's not true!"
"I'm not a liar," Sherikan said, "I know what I'm talking about." He sniffed in disgust as he pushed himself into a standing position. "What a horrible title you have. You should be ashamed to call yourself a ninja!"
At that moment Espio did indeed feel ashamed.
"You are worthless," Sherikan went on, seeing he was getting to the younger chameleon at his feet, "nothing but trash. Trash no one loves. How could anyone love trash?"
Espio felt that all too familiar depression wash over him. He knew what came after that. Sure enough thoughts of suicide crossed his mind.
No! he thought, I can't let him get to me! "No!" the sixteen year old screamed, desperate, "I am not!"
"Yes, you are," Sherikan insisted, grabbing him by the shoulders and looking him in the eyes, "try to deny it all you want but you know it's true."
Don't let him get to you!
"That was my past," Espio objected, "I am not like that now."
Suddenly a blade was in Sherikan's hand. "I don't care what you are now," the chameleon hissed in a sudden change of character and subject, "you are dead if you don't give me that sword."
The blade rested on the young chameleon's throat. He wasn't about to be intiminated though. "Go ahead and kill me then," he challenged, "either way you won't get your sword back."
Sherikan was getting steamed. He glared at Espio. "Maybe a little more time will change your attitude," he said lowering the sword.
The next thing Espio knew he woke up with his face stuffed into something. He pushed away from it and found himself rolling over. Now he could see the roof of the tent.
Where am I? he thought.
That's when he became aware of a throbbing in his head. "Oooooh," he moaned, "my head."
He rolled over again and got his face stuck in a pillow. "Hollao!" he screamed trying to turn himself over again.
He kicked his legs trying to use them for leverage. For some reason they wouldn't separate from each other.
Finally, after a little work, he was able to turn himself over. With some effort he sat up panting. He looked at his feet. His ankles were tied together.
Just perfect! he thought, angrily flopping on his back.
He missed the bed and found himself on the floor. His feet were sticking straight up making him look stupid.
Darn it! Now how am I going to get out of this?!
He rolled himself sideways. His legs fell off the bed and onto the floor with a thud.
He stared around himself. He wasn't in Sherikan's tent anymore. He was in a much smaller tent. This one held trunks and old scrolls and tapestrys. From what he could see the bed he'd been lying on was the only furnature.
Now how did I get here? he wondered, taking in the junk surrounding him, I don't even remember being moved or knocked out. What happened?
He slowly, painstakenly, pulled himself into a sitting position. With much effort and a little help from the side of the bed he was able to stand.
Maybe I'll find a sword in this mess.
Espio began to hop across the room toward a pile of junk near a tent support pole. He hadn't gotten more then three hops when he lost his balance and fell into a pile of junk with a loud CRASH!
As he struggled to get out of the mess he became tangled up in a rolled up tapestry. "HELP!" he screamed even though his voice was muffled by the thick cloth.
Then...Loud footsteps. Someone came into the tent.
"Damn it!" the person screamed, "now look what you've done!"
Espio recognized that voice. It belonged to one of Sherikan's hoodlems.
The thug untangled Espio from the tapestry and thrust him back onto the bed.
"Now, stay there," the hug chameleon ordered.
Then he left.
Espio lay there panting. He realized he wouldn't get anything done having both his wrists and ankles tied.
I'll rest a minute then try again.
After a few deep breaths he once again climbed carefully out of the bed and slowly slid to the floor. He slithered over the ground to the junk. This is better, he thought, smiling to himself. I still won't be able to look through that garbage since I can't use my hands.
Espio shoved some junk aside with the horn coming out of his face. Well I guess that has a use after all, he thought.
A scroll rolled out of a crate and unrolled reveiling its contents. Espio would have ignored it but he read the word "Yuffie" and forced himself to sit up. He read the japanese kanji carefully. He was shocked at what he read. It was a documentary about the chameleon and his little sister. he began to read it in the middle of a sentence.
"-the little girl chameleon touched the sword accidently as she fell. When her body made contact with it her eyes changed as well as her personality.
We had to hold her down as she flew into a fit of rage. Somehow she'd untied herself. With incredible strength she threw us aside as if we were nothing.
She grabbed the sword and proclaimed in a loud voice that wasn't even her own, "We will do things my way now! I am the ruler! I call the shots! I am God!"
One of our men went berserk. His own rage consumed him and he went after her.
She slew him instantly...
She held the sword above her head. "Yurai is mine! It belongs to me! No one will touch or face my wrath!"-"
Espio stopped reading. Yuffie was possessed by Yurai? But from what I can remember she was always so gentle. There is no way she could have done this!
Espio read the rest, which really wasn't much:
"Somehow my men were able to take the sword from her without any further incident. She acted like she'd gone completely mad. She screamed, bit, and even swore which was totally unreal for a five tear old. I couldn't believe my own ears as I watched them drag her away..
I realized I had to make a descition. Either get rid of the sword or..."
The rest of the scroll had been torn out.
Espio sat back. A sob escaped his throat. He knew what had happened next.
The voices returned.
"Please don't hurt my sister."
"Be quiet!"
"...Yuffie..."
"Your sister is dead...She's been dead for hours."
The chameleon rested his head on the ground and cried.
