Chapter 4
"When should we dispose of the royal slayer's little...friend, my brother?"
A pale-blond haired girl said in a voice that was unlike hers. Her voice was dark, scratchy and in some way, it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. It was obvious that she was not herself. She spoke to a boy around the same age as her, and had blue hair.
"I say soon, before he gives the great slayer advice or help of any kind." The boy replied in the same kind of voice. The quality of air around him gave a strong stench of hate as he talked about the 'slayer'.
"Ai, brother. We must not let them escape from our grasp, when they are already in the palm of our hands." The girl gave a low growl and nodded slowly. Her eyes were so dark, it looked as if it sucked in light, like a black hole. Her skin, if you felt it, was as cold as the shadows of space.
"There is one problem. They know of us being shadows manipulating their friends." The blue-haired boy now seemed as if he was glowing black. "We must be extra careful not to be caught." He looked at the girl sternly. "Or we will fail and the realm of the shadow will lose more of its people."
The girl silently agreed. She closed her eyes, as did the boy, and their dark aura faded away. They seemed like normal teenage kids, except with a bigger vocabulary than they should and a hell of an attitude. Literally. The two stepped out of the dark alley, swung on their school bags and walked to school.
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"Please do not tell me that none of you know what is the square root of 3905.83333 after we divide it by 0.73854." Miss Kamiya said vainly as she scanned the classroom with pride. She was superior to them, and she made sure they knew that. "Well, I guess all of you didn't have enough homework…such pity…I thought that the 25 pages of math would be enough…" She shook her head as she erased the question on the board and put on numbers of pages the class needed to do.
"Do all these pages on the board, I expect it done before the end of this period. It is only 18 pages; I expect it will be easy work. The whole class has learned of the-"
Just then, the door swung open noisily. Alice and Henry barged in without a word. They handed 2 late slips to the teacher and marched to their desks.
"Excuse me, Alice and Henry. One does not barge in and disturb the class without an apology." Miss Kamiya frowned.
"Gomen nasai sensei." Alice said quietly in a voice unlike hers. Her eyes bore no emotions and there were no shine in the blue.
"Gomen, sensei." Henry said coldly. His skin was pale and lifeless.
The teacher, however, did not notice any of the unusual behaviors caused by the two students. She simply told them to sit down and turn to page 295.
"Do you see that?" Ryo muttered under his breath to Rika, who replied with a 'yeah'. Ryo was worried that the two would come for him first. Without him, the slayer is more vulnerable. She did not master her power's full potential yet, so she is still an apprentice at her magic. Ryo, on the other hand, remembered and discovered long ago and now has enough experience to take on a shadow controlled person.
Rika, on the other hand, was not worried at all. It was hardly likely for them to attack Rika and Ryo when there are lots of people around. They would either be stopped or noticed and become conspicuous. However, they didn't care what happens to Alice and Henry, so perhaps they might risk it and jump into a river or something. Rika shuddered; she could not lose her friends to a shadow. No way in hell.
Time passed as the class scribbled away in silence. The only sounds heard were the scribbling of pencils, rustle of paper, breathing of students and a whisper here and there, causing the teacher to shush them loudly. Then, the bell startled everyone by giving a loud ring that cut through the thick, boring silence.
Miss Kamiya stood up. "Alright, whoever did not finish can have what they have left for homework. Everyone, the actual homework will be the 14 pages after what you were supposed to do in this period. Write it down or mark your homework, I will not put up with not finishing homework. You have many hours at home, USE IT. Now, you are dismissed."
Silently cheering, Rika packed up her stuff, wrote down her homework and picked up her books for the next lesson. She then walked out the door, down the hallway into a room on the other side of the hall. The, Ryo caught up.
"I am starting to really hate our teacher." Ryo grumbled as he fumbled with his books.
"I always hated our teacher…" Rika replied.
"Yeah, but still…she looks so nice and sweet…who knew that she would give out so much work?" Ryo sighed and tucked a book that was slipping back into his arms.
"Sure. Whatever."
"Anyways…about Alice and Henry…" Ryo's eyes darkened.
Rika frowned. "Should we worry about them? They haven't been doing anything suspicious yet…" She shrugged.
"Yet." Ryo reminded her as he flashed his trademark smile. "Its ok, everyone forgets sometimes."
Rika scowled and punched his arm.
They walked into their class. There was 5 minutes before the teacher comes, so the class broke into a cluster of different conversations. The most noticeable was the high-pitched giggles and shrill whining about boys and make up from the girly girls, such as Jeri and Nikki. Then, came the roaring and cheering of the Digimon freaks, which Takato, Kazu, Kenta and co. were part of.
Ryo plopped down beside Rika. She was about to object, when the teacher walked in. "Settle down, class." He said in a deep and almost scary voice. "Today, we review the motions of the world and how they move. There are 4 types of motion, which all motion fall into. Can anyone give me an example?"
A few people raised their hands.
"Yes Nikki."
A girl with pigtails stood up. "Linear, when something moves in a straight line."
"Well said. Alice?"
Alice stood up; her eyes were dark and devilish. Her skin remained pale and her voice was low and quiet.
"Circular, when something moves in a curve, yet it does not have a center point."
The teacher lowered his glasses and looked at Henry. "Alice, are you alright?" He asked as he took notice of Alice's dull complexion and unusual attitude.
"Yes sir."
The teacher frowned. "Why don't you take a friend and get a drink, or splash your face with water or something. You look kind of sick. I'm not quite a doctor…why don't you go see the school nurse?"
"Ok, thank you." Alice whispered. Her piercing glare fell on Rika as she motioned the chestnut-haired girl to come with her. Rika was surprised, but figured it must be part of the act of not being strangely unusual.
"Be very careful, and keep your eyes on her all the time. Don't let her out of your site, or she will do something to harm you." Ryo hissed at her before she got out. Rika frowned, nodded, stood up and left with her.
After walking in silence down the hallway, Alice smirked. "I suppose you know about me?"
Rika's frown deepened. "About you?" She lied, trying to pretend she didn't know anything about the shadow slipping into her.
"Don't play dumb, you fool…" Alice snarled as she took hold of Rika's collar. Her now unusually long nails were cold and sharp against Rika's neck. Just then, a teacher walked by.
"Alice McCoy, what on Earth are you doing?" Miss Kamiya cried as she saw Alice and Rika in that position. Alice let Rika go right away.
"Oh, Miss Kamiya. I was just trying to kill Rika for being such a hater of what I am and what happened to me. I am planning to dig my claw into her flesh and take her apart." Alice said truthfully. "Did you know I am also a deadly thing inside and I have the capability of killing mortals on will? I can also take control of them too."
Rika looked, eyes wide with disbelief, at Miss Kamiya's response.
She laughed.
"Oh, Alice, you imagination never cease to amaze me. Well, good day." She walked off.
After she was out of sight, Alice turned back to Rika. "I guess the truth is always good, isn't it?" She grinned menacingly, showing pointy fangs and hissing.
"Alice, nurse's office…there is something wrong with you. You might need to go to a doctor, or even a psychiatrist." Rika nodded with fake seriousness.
Alice growled as she pulled Rika into the girl's washroom. She made sure no one was inside. Then, she took hold of Rika's neck with her icy fingers that were choking Rika and almost stopping her breathing. Rika gasped for air. She growled and launched a light spell, but the Shadow in Alice just laughed.
"Remember, I am Alice now. I am no longer disturbed by sunlight. You will have to kill me to live, Slayer."
Rika winced. I can't kill Alice; she is my best friend. She's always been there for me. Would I rather die? Yes, at least I could be reborn into another. Alice…she will die and go to heaven. I have lived longer and been through more…she deserves to be living…
The shadow tightened her grip. "You little twit, weak with emotions. You think you killed all our kind, but you didn't. Some of us survived that fight and the last attack, just as you did. We are here for revenge, and if I have to kill you here in this pathetic washroom, I will. Or should I say, Alice will." Alice, or the shadow, crackled evilly. She flexed her claws and smirked. Her cool blue eyes bore a heated and unusual glint of red. "I will avenge my people once and for all. Hear me? I will kill you and avenge my ancestors. There will be your blood on your friend's hands…" Rika choked, there were barely enough air in her to let her think straight.
She leaned closer and hissed, "Now, Shine …Die, Slayer… "
In a flash, Alice's, or the shadow's hand, dove towards Rika's stomach. A glint of light on Alice's nails were the last thing Rika saw before she closed her eyes and expected to feel the blinding pain in her stomach and the blackness of death.
However, it did not come.
Wait: there was something else. Rika had seen someone at the door…
Rika opened her eyes, there was Ryo, and his hand had a tight grip on Alice's to make sure she could not kill Rika. Rika, seeing the chance, closed her eyes and kicked Alice.
Sorry Alice… Rika apologized silently. I don't want you to live and be in control of a shadow…it is even worse than being dead…I'll make sure you are free.
Rika closed her eyes and her mind flew open to search for a stunning spell. She found one that was not to bad and cast it on Alice. Blue lightning sprouted from Rika's fingers and they went into Alice. In a moment, Alice fell to the ground, numb and stunned. Ryo, who was trying to keep her under control, sighed.
"Now, we hide her until after school."
"Or we skip school…" Rika suggested. "Saving this city and probably the world from shadows is much more important that the kinds movement. Besides, I learned that 5920 years ago, at my old school."
"What about Henry?" Ryo frowned and thought about the other one infected by the Shadow.
Rika bit her lips. "How about I stay in school, and you can lock Alice in a cupboard somewhere in your house."
Ryo snorted. "And let you get killed?"
"It's better than risking Alice waking up." Rika said shortly.
"But I can go and say that you went home with Alice. While you cannot say I went home with Alice, right? I'm a guy. I'm barely her friend." Ryo pointed out.
Rika thought. "Alright. I'll go. Give me your keys, I'll be back in…5 minutes." She surrendered.
"Great. Do you realize we are in the girl's washroom?" Ryo said as he flushed slightly. "We better get out before break."
Rika nodded and stretched her wings out of the invisibility spell. Now, all who has magic will be able to see them. She put a special floating spell on Alice and took her into the air as she flew out of the window of the washroom.
Ryo hastily ran out the door and went back into the class.
"Oh hello Ryo. Where are Rika and Alice? They've been gone pretty long too. Have you seen them on the way?" The teacher, Mr. DeFazio asked.
"Alice went home because she felt sick, and Rika accompanied her. Rika said she would be back in a while, sir." Ryo answered as he returned to his seat.
"Poor girl." Mr. DeFazio shook his head and glanced at the clock. "Oh, look at the time. 5 minutes before break. Well, why don't we pack up and if there are a few minutes left, you can go early," he sad to the class with a smile. The class all scrambled to get their stuff. Chairs shuffled and books hit against the table as everyone neatly placed the inside their bags after matching them all up on one end. Soon, the whole class said a 'sayonara' and went out the door of the class.
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Henry's low growl tickled his throat as he passed Ryo, who was still gathering his books. Could Alice be taking Rika into a trap? Or did the two defeat her already? Before anything could be done, he would have to make sure Ryo is defeated. If Alice isn't dead, which was highly likely, knowing Rika's personalities, there were still a chance. He could kill Ryo, then go after Rika himself. He would have to awake Alice as well, but that wouldn't be a problem.
He waited outside until Ryo stepped out of the class. He then started to follow him.
"Hello, slayer." Henry said in a snake-like voice. His pupils turned to slits as he growled again. "Tell me, where have the other slayer taken my brother?"
"Sorry, no can't do." Ryo said in a false cheery voice.
"Tell me or else!" Henry snarled in a voice that was unlike his in so many ways. Ryo shook his head and stopped.
"If the else is me being dead, I have no problem with that." Ryo shrugged and started to walk off again.
Henry's nails slowly started to extend into claws. "I am going to kill you, since you don't seem to mind that much."
"There are people around, so I can't fight you back. Do you not have any pride?" Ryo growled back at the Chinese boy, whose eyes narrowed.
"Are you saying I have no pride?"
"I don't know, am I?"
"I have more pride than you, boy. Don't dare challenge my being you little filthy slayer."
Ryo laughed at the comment, mocking the possessed Henry. "You call me filthy? You have pride? That's why you were planning to kill me in somewhere where I could not defend myself?"
"Even if you could, you wouldn't be able to." Henry snarled.
"I might want to challenge that statement." Ryo smirked. "Let's fight somewhere where I could defend myself."
Henry's eyebrow twitched. "I must follow my orders and kill you at anywhere I could…but I will meet you else where, for I do have pride. Rooftop, after lunch period."
Ryo smirked and stretched his wings, which were invisible to the naked eye and the eyes that were 'dressed' of humans. "You're on."
"One last thing…" Henry growled. "That girl, the other slayer, Rika, cannot interrupt."
Ryo frowned; Rika would want to join the fight. She would be angry, but this is his chance to prove himself of a slayer. "Alright." Ryo nodded to Henry.
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Rika gritted her teeth as her spell almost disabled a few times during flight. She was, in the end, successful in getting Alice to Ryo's house and locking her with a sleeping spell. Now she was on her way back to school, the hell of the 21st century. She approached the school building as her stomach started to complain. It was, after all, a pretty decent time to eat now. She sighed and started to dive, just when she saw specks on the roof. To be specific, a speck with white things behind it and another speck glowing with purple. Her eyes widened.
Ryo is fighting Henry! Rika's mind slapped her mentally as she rose from her dive and onto the rooftop of the school. Gently, she touched down upon the edge, her feet shuffled for a good grip on the slippery surface of the edge of the roof. She walked over to the two.
"Ah, speaking of the Devil." Henry's eyes shone menacingly. His smirk widened.
"Leave Rika out of this. We made a deal." Ryo growled to him.
"Yes, and part of it was for Rika not to interfere." Henry, or rather the shadow in him, snarled and a glint of red showed on his claws. Rika glanced back and forth at Ryo and Henry.
"Ryo…what, in the name of the Slayers, are you doing?" Rika said with an irritated voice. "Didn't we agree not to fight them alone? Plus, do you really trust this thing inside Henry?"
Ryo gritted his teeth. "Rika, I have to try something."
Rika rolled her eyes. "I'd suggest that killing yourself not be one of them, but obviously, I was too late."
Pulling out his sword, Ryo pointed it at Henry. He was about to charge forward when Rika yelled stop. Ryo frowned and turned to the girl.
"No…Ryo…" Rika shook her head and her eyes were closed. "Don't use your sword…you'll…kill him!" Rika said in a furious voice as she opened her eyes. "Can't you see? This is what the Shadow wanted. It wanted us to hurt our friends so we'd become weak."
"Yeah, but if I don't attack Henry, I'd be saying to the shadow 'sayonara, Shadow, you can go free'!" Ryo insisted.
Rika shook her head. "Try stunning him! Just don't hurt him, it's not worth it!"
Hurt formed in Ryo's eyes, but it was soon replaced with anger. "Rika, I'll try not to hurt him. But I am not going to hurt him just because you're afraid your boy friend's going to get hurt! I don't give a fuck if you don't want him hurt, but I have more pride than that! If you want to protect him so much, you can just go stand in front of him now. If you do, I will go through you do get to it. The world depends on this! The world, that is more important than this bastard here!"
Falling on her knees, Rika looked at Ryo with disbelief. She slowly shook her head. Not moving, Rika kept her eyes on the brown haired boy. Her eyes hollowed. "Ryo…"
Ignoring Rika, even though it pained him, the slayer turned towards Henry. "You're going down."
The shadow within Henry smirked at Rika. "Thank you, Rika, for taking down Ryo already. You make life so much easier for me." Then, turning to Ryo, it raised its clawed hand. "Bring it."
Then, in a sudden moment, the two flew towards each other. A bright light filled the sky for a brief moment as the two threw their attacks at each other. Ryo, as the Shadow in Henry said, was weakened. He had put away his sword, hoping it would make things better. It didn't, it only made things worse for him. Ryo glanced back at Rika, who hadn't moved since, and then a sudden flash of pain in his right arm shocked him. Ryo winced and clutched his right arm, kicking Henry back so it would give him a moment of time to take in what happened. He took his left hand away and saw that it was stained with blood.
Angry, Ryo launched at Henry one more time, sending a punch and blades of ki, which Henry and the Shadow dodged easily. Eyes narrowing, Ryo blasted a solid ki blast and it skinned Henry. Part of Henry's leg was burned by the attack, which he winced and ignored. Ryo frowned and was about to charge again when suddenly Henry disappeared, causing the brown haired boy's eyes widened in shock.
He knows that technique. He moved…so fast…it must have been the Shadow's technique. I've never heard of it before…
Scanning the 'arena', there wasn't a sign that Henry was anywhere. Then, suddenly, an explosion of pain grasped Ryo's right arm. Wincing, Ryo turned around in a fast speed and delivered a ki blast, which sent Henry flying over the edge of the school, buying Ryo some time. Ryo looked at his arm and found a long thorn-like knife embedded in it. Warm, wet blood poured down and dripped off of Ryo's arm. Ryo closed his eyes and pulled the knife out, causing more pain to the already 'dying' arm. The brown haired boy sent a minor freezing spell to his arms to stop both the pain and the blood. Before Ryo could muster a simple healing spell, Henry floated over the edge, a small streak of blood on the left side of his mouth.
"Nice try, Ryo, I guess you forgot I can levitate." Henry said in a voice that was unlike him.
"I didn't forget." Ryo said through gritted teeth. "Damn it!" He roared as he took the knife that was stabbed into his arm and charged at Henry. Ryo gave a couple of wild swings at Henry, which he all dodged. Then, out of nowhere, Ryo disappeared and reappeared immediately behind Henry. He dropped the sword and gave a big ki blast that burnt the skin of Henry's stomach, causing him to double over in pain. "You're luck I didn't choose to let the ki blast go through your stomach." Ryo snarled as he pulled Henry's hair so that he was facing forwards and his head was up. Taking his sword once again, Ryo put it to Henry's neck.
"Go ahead." The Shadow said in Henry's voice. "Kill me, its for the – ugh – best." Henry groaned of pain.
For a brief second, Ryo loosened his grip on Henry, giving him the chance to escape from the near-death position.
"Yes…" the Shadow hissed, not in its own voice. "Kill me, I DARE you."
Ryo's eyebrow twitched as his mind worked.
Seeing Ryo was coming up with a new strategy, the Shadow within Henry growled and rushed up to the brown haired boy to deliver a punch. Right when Henry was about to reach him, Ryo disappeared. The Shadow, thinking Ryo was about to use the same trick, turned around and sent a ki blast. But there wasn't anyone there. It turned out that Ryo had slipped on an invisibility shield for 4 seconds. Henry, who just realized he was concentrating for the spell and not for a plan, was about to turn around. That's when Ryo knocked him in the back of the head, causing him to go unconscious. The limp body fell first onto its knees, then onto the concrete face first.
Ryo winced.
Then, a black wisp of smoke-like shadowy thing came out of Henry's body. The Shadow snarled at Ryo. "I will get you one day!" It yelled and tried to escape. But Ryo grabbed his sword and sliced it through the air, where the Shadow was. The Shadow released a chocking sound and after a moment, it started to evaporate. Then, another moment later, it was engulfed in a bright light and destroyed.
A small cough came from Henry, who was lying on the ground, conscious. Surprised, Ryo paused time for the Chinese boy. Then, he healed the damage he did. Slowly and carefully, Ryo erased Henry's memory and replaced it with normal things. Then, Ryo unfroze the time around Henry, who was now unconscious because of the sudden change of memory and health.
Turning around, Ryo looked right into Rika's eyes. A moment later, he found himself almost being chocked to death…
…By a hug…
Then, he was released before he got a chance to hug back.
"Ryo, I'm sorry…I should have let you fight…you always knew how to take care of things…" Rika muttered.
"I'm sorry too…" Ryo sighed. "I shouldn't have said those things…"
"Well, damn right you shouldn't have!" Rika said, suddenly furious. Ryo looked at her with surprise and disbelief.
Suddenly, Rika's frown turned into smiled. "I forgive you." Then, her smile disappeared. "We need to get to Alice now. My spell might not last that long…"
Ryo, who was serious as well, nodded. "Alright."
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Thank you to all who reviewed for the previous chapter:
Ao-Senshi: Yeah, I know the characters are quite OOC. Well, I can't help it, I don't quite own the show, and so I can't decide how they act and stuff. But thank you for saying my story is taking shape and stuff. Thanks for the review too!
alexian-goddess: lolz, I'm so glad that you're enjoying my fic. Well, most of the confusing stuff are kind of part of the, -koff-, 'mystery' of this fic. It leaves you thinking about it and stuff… :) anyways, well, you get the plot already perfectly well. Yeah, the plot…lets just say, I had a crazy day and came up with something crazy. Please don't rip out your hair, it does hurt…- -;; ignore me
Dragons star: -bows- thank you for your compliment. I read a little description of the came a few years ago, but I can't find the site anymore. So I kind of had to trust my crappy memory, ah well. Thanks again.
Luzr-Gurl13: Hmm…lets just say the excitement kicks up a notch in this chapter. Thanks for the compliment!
Blast-Hornet: Thank you for your compliment. You've waited, and here it is. :-)
Forlorn Melody: Hmm, I'll take what you said into consideration when I start the next chapter and stuff. Yeah, the plots pretty original…it came from my crazy brain…XD anyways, thanks for reviewing!
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Ryuki: Yeah, another chapter. This is the longest one I've written, I think. Anyways, don't tell me, I know, Rika is major OOC in the end. Ah well, don't blame me. I would have had Alice do it, but she's kind of tied up at the moment…yeah…