I've been waiting to release this chapter in particular for a long, long time! I'm really happy with this one, and a lot of big events also happen here as well.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

As the servant men quickly rushed to the side, everyone already on land helped pull them up before anyone could get in harms away. Many watched the sheer speed of the Serpent as if weaved its' way in their direction once more, going at such a hasty rate that water skidded in the air around its' body as it moved.

"Tatara!" Nashie shouted, turning to the older man. He nodded, and pulled off even more seeds from his necklace, emptying a good portion of the trinket as he tossed the little pits into the water. He held out his hand, jogging a little until he was right before the water gate on the ground. The symbol on the back of his hand glowed brightly, and everyone watched in wonder as green tentacles shot out of the water in unison, tangling itself around the wooden planks and binding them together tightly.

Suzuno turned her head as she saw the men watch in amazement, and even the Princess looked stunned at how quickly their morning project seemed to be coming together. A welling of pride filled her, and she was glad that they recognized just what he could do.

She admitted, just saying one could control plants didn't sound like much, but when they actions were put to use, it was a completely different story. As the vines tightened, a heavy tread of thorns grew on them. Now everyone turned to the Serpent, who was coming ever so closer . . .

The water creature's body skidded as it swiftly turned, finally realizing the gate in its' way, but too late; the thin but muscle-built body slammed against the Watergate, cracking the wood the men had spent so much time putting together. The vines made the development hold its' ground, but the needles didn't do the damage that it was planned to make; they snapped off at the contact with the steel-scale form.

The Serpents' head drew over the water, and many of the men who were brave enough to stay and watch turned tail and ran to the castle. Just as they did, the monster took a dive to the gate again; this time, Tatara's powers couldn't hold so well together. Large pieces and planks of wood flew everywhere.

"Ah!" Suzuno shouted, stepping back as she watched one come flying at her. Her eyes were wide, and it was almost as if she could see it in a slow movement. Her concentration to everything was snapped out when she saw Lanva dart in front of her, his leg masterfully breaking the wood in two, the parts going to both sides.

"You really need to be more careful," Lanva told her, smirking at he ruffled her hair a bit. "Remember; don't freeze up!"

"Right . . ."

Lanva moved towards Subaru and Tatara took his place in front of the Priestess, now pulling off so many seeds that he had to spin it around to reach some in the back of his necklace. He tossed more of them in the water, the symbol on his hand growing even brighter. This time, thicker, conjoined vines sprouted and caught the body of the Serpent, tightly squeezing it. The water creature began to screech and flail, water skidding all around.

"Let's see how long he can take it with this," Amefuri said as he let out an acid towards the Serpent. Though struggling, he was still blinded and this made it much easier to target than when he was a free swimmer days ago during their first battle. The peachy liquid splattered right around at where the Serpents' neck would be on its' belly side, and immediately a satisfactory sizzling was heard.

Tatara pulled off more seeds again, this time throwing them at the feet of the men that were still there. Vines grew, and the warrior quickly demanded everyone grab a hold of them, and they obeyed as if he were the Emperor himself. The vines the held onto creeped into the water, conjoining with the ones already in the river and helping with hold the grip around the Serpent. The men could suddenly feel a force behind the plants, and many dug their feet into the ground.

"Keep struggling! Come on!"

Suzuno, who was watching the powerful thrashing from the water monster, was brought out of her thoughts when she could have sworn she heard someone calling. She looked around, seeing if it was anyone near her, but it was strange. It didn't sound like it was close in the least. What was even stranger to her as she watched everyone else helping in the fight to calm the Serpent was that no one else noticed.

"Please, you can do it! Get out!"

There it was again. This time, Suzuno was sure it wasn't her imagination, even if there wasn't so much as a flinch from her friends and the men. She turned, looking far across to the woods on the end of the castle. She never questioned what was in there, not ever finding a reason to, but this time something was drawing her there. 'Something is there . . .'

"Amefuri!" Subaru, who was with Lanva helping some of the men who were injured from the wood being thrown everywhere, came next to her fellow companion. He also had a vine in his hand, and was pulling on it so hard his heels were pushing the ground. He turned in her direction, being careful not to let go. "Use your acid to poison the entire river; then there's no way it can get away!"

He looked at her skeptically, but her expression remained firm. "I'll heal you afterwards; just don't make it too much for me!"

"Alright," Amefuri replied as he handed her the rope-like plant. She already seemed to be having a lot of trouble with keeping her ground, but with so many people helping to keep the Serpent at bay she was doing fine. Amefuri started with his right arm, closing his eyes and leaning over the river to let the drippy contents pour in. Water from the thrashing splashed in his face, but he ignored it.

After a few moments he opened his eyes, looking down at creepily orange water. He used his left hand to hold his other shoulder where he had stopped, his palm over the sore red. It was throbbing a considerable amount since it was so rare he used that much of his body to make an acid. Sweat mixed with water on his pained expression. He couldn't wait until it was over so Subaru could turn back time on his body.

The water began to bubble slightly, the acid mixing in and heating up the liquid as it brightened in color and spread around the Serpent. Its' screeching became even louder, but unfortunately what Amefuri had chosen was melting away at the plants. Though in pain, the Serpent was quickly binding itself free of its' prison. Amefuri felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see Lanva next to him.

"Hey," he started, his eyes completely focused on their enemy. "Is the acid you put in the water going to hurt people?"

"What?" Amefuri asked, though with his friends' expression he was sure he had to answer quickly. "No, it's another type that humans are immune to- Hey!"

Lanva dove into the water as soon as he heard the words, earning a scream from Subaru and a curse from Amefuri. He swam quickly to the Serpent, which was still blinded well enough that it couldn't move entirely. He grabbed hold of one of the melting vines that was starting to wear off the creature and pulled on it, his hands trying to find grip on the slimy scales.

"That idiot!" Nashie, who was also helping with the vines, shouted. "What does he think he's doing?"

"Maybe he thinks there's a weakness on the Serpent?" Subaru suggested. She was standing at the edge, her hands near her mouth and her nails being bitten slightly. Amefuri could easily tell how nervous this was making her.

Lanva kept using the vines on the body of the Serpent to pull him up until he was at the near the top, his body on the back at the heard of the monster. He gripped at the plants tightly, thankful that they had yet to be loosened from Amefuri's acid. He pulled at a vine to drag him a little higher but it slipped. He caught his hand on another one and his eyes widened.

"You guys!" he shouted as best as he could, his hands gripping the vines tightly as he yelled. "This thing is a Toroki creature! It's got the symbol on its neck here!"

"What!" Everyone shouted in unison, all of them equally surprised.

Nashie nodded, grunting at she pulled further on her vine, even if it was starting to become futile. 'I knew it . . .'

Lanva was the only one who could see the phenomena of light, which glowered over like a tattoo over the Serpents' body. It was embedded into the fresh, silver scales. Gripping onto a vine with his one hand tightly, Lanva felt there was nothing better to do before finding a weakness near the face the touch it, just to see if it had any effect.

Almost instantly the dazzling white light shone brighter than ever, and the cry of the Serpent stopped as its' body froze in midair. Lanva watched in fascination as the symbol itself chipped away from under his hands like broken glass, the scales following. All of them splashed into the water individually and the head itself was separated from the carcass, withering away into little sand pearls. Before he knew it, there was nothing but floating vines to hold onto and he too fell into the water.

"Lanva!" Subaru called as she kneeled by the water, pulling him out quickly as he swam to the shore side. She gripped him tightly in a fierce, protective hug, then began pulling off his clothes in a rushed manner. "Oh, you'll get a cold fast with these . . ."

"What did you do?" Amefuri asked, looking over at the result. Little silver chips were floating in the water, the light from the sun reflecting off of them and sparkling the river more than ever before. It was an ironically beautiful site from a creature that was so deadly.

Lanva shrugged, moving his arms accordingly as Subaru pulled off his shirt. The warrior was surprised he hadn't made one of his usual jokes about it. "I dunno. I just touched the symbol."

"Really? That's all?"

"I guess . . ." Lanva started, smirking, "This brings us one step closer to defeating our enemy!"

Tatara had long since let his grip fall of the vine he was holding, and he looked around to see that others were doing the same thing. Many were flexing their fingers, trying to get the life back in them after holding on so hard to the plant. He smiled, glad that there didn't seem to be anyone too badly injured aside from a few hit from the wood.

But, as he looked around for the person he was trying to find, he realized that she was the only one who wasn't around. He doubted she would run; she proved herself to be someone to stay and help in a fight already, but she had yet to shield herself before another. He walked up to Lanva, Amefuri and Subaru near the edge. All of them noticed him. "Have you seen Suzuno?"

"Suzuno?" Amefuri repeated, being the first to look around. Before he was watching Lanva and his ridicules yet life-saving stunt but now . . . "She's not here."

This river," Suzuno said to herself as she paced down to the river line, "It's so long!"

Again and again as she walked to and into the woods by the castle, she was sure she was hearing someone. It was almost a surreal voice, more in her head. She had thought before that someone around her during the battle was shouting, but now that she was in a much quieter area, she knew that wasn't so. The voice was now a much clearer, whimpering sound.

Suzuno braced herself as she pressed her hand against a tree in the woods and stepped over a branch, following as the volume of the whine became just a little louder. No matter what, she had to prepare herself for what she was about to find, even if it sounded like whatever was making this noise in her mind was under great pain.

It was becoming darker in the woods the further she walked in; she could see the light barely from the entrance behind her, and the leaves from branches covered the thick top together in layers. She continued to walk and turned her head for just a moment when she turned around a trunk to see if she could still catch the light. In that moment her leg caught something and she fell to the ground, luckily catching herself with her hands.

'Ow,' she thought, sitting on her knees and wiping off the moist dirt from her hands. A little redness was in her palms; a scratch. Though the river quickly thinned as it came into the woods it was still to her right, and she dipped both her hands in to avoid dirtying the white gown she was wearing further. It wasn't even hers; she would rather it be wet from her hands than dirty.

The crying she heard before came again, this time louder than ever. This time, it wasn't even in her mind. She turned her face in one direction, her long hair swinging as she did so. There was nothing, but when she turned her head the other direction, she was surprised to see someone lying against a tree trunk, easily hidden with shadows.

Suzuno quickly stood, wanting to turn away from what she was trying to find in case they were any danger, but she decided to stay. And once she realized who they were, she was glad to. It was a little boy with stunning, perfect golden blond hair and large, wet blue eyes. His skin, though pale, was massacred with bruises and scrapes on his face, arms and legs. He was looking up at her in panic, his thin, bony hands holding onto each other so much that his nails pressed into his skin and bled.

"Who . . .?" Suzuno said quietly, wondering if it was her place to ask. She kneeled a little, one hand on her knee while the other held out to the person before her. He looked down at it skeptically, moving back a bit against the tree he was on as if trying to get away. He was still sniveling, but he hadn't said a single word. Suzuno smiled. "It- It's okay. Let me help you . . ."

She cautiously reached her hand out a little forward again, trying her best to gain his trust. He back away some more, then his eyes closed, his limp body falling forward. Before his head could hit the ground Suzuno caught him in her arms. She could feel tiny, quick breaths when she held her hand in front of him. She looked down at his face, frowning.

'He so pretty,' she thought, adjusting to find a way to pick him up so she could walk back to the castle with him. She had opted for the way both Amefuri and Tatara had carried her before, their hands on her back and under her legs, but her arms were a little weak to keep up the stance for long. The boy was almost too thin for it to be healthy, but that didn't mean he wasn't heavy. 'Giving him a piggy-back ride will probably be easier.'

With the boy on her back securely held by her arms, Suzuno did her best to hurry back to the castle. She wondered what everyone would think when she brought someone new into the castle.

X x x x

Well, as long as we've gone without a Warrior, I think we can all guess who the little blonde boy is. –Gasp- He has the same characteristics as Nakago does! But how can that be? XD Hahaha . . . Only I know! –Is so super happy right now-

Care- Well, 5'10 is a bit short for Tatara . . . Besides, Lanva is actually 6'0! Or I always imagiend him so . . . so maybe they could both be 6'0 or so? I think of them both as tall people, but I don't really see Lanva as taller then Tatara . . . I still see Ame-chan as a pretty average-height guy though. XD lol! How's that?

Kaeru Soyokaze- Yes, I feel a bit sorry for Oku too. XD Did you know that she was originally not going to have any more scenes other than that first one wher she woke up with Ame-chan? Lol, I changed that pretty quickly! I think she's such a cute-pie. XD lol! Hmm . . Yes, that would be hard to deal with. But, he's so cool that no one would care! –Knows that's not true- XD XD XD

RabidMantisGirl- Yes, I can't believe it myself! O.o It's almost crazy that I've kept up with it this long . . . It's my longest story to date, and I don't feel like quitting in the least! I'm very proud of it. :C I'm gonna cry when it ends too! It's a part of me now . . .

Suzuno Oosugi- Me too! XD I love Nashie and Ame-chan's relationship; it's so honestly sincere! But then again, I guess a lot of relationships in this story are like that, only in different ways. Yes, I do have plans with his sibling in the future. XD It'll be a while off though!