Chapter 8
REBIRTH
Guylos City Hospital, night…
"Will she be okay?" James asked, or rather, demanded.
"She's been pretty badly bruised up, but she should pull through" the doctor replied. "Now how exactly did this happen?"
James flinched. He didn't want to imagine what Anubis would do to them if he got the law involved. Unless the ZBC got involved somehow, there was little or no chance that psychopath could be brought to justice, considering he had the Backdraft standing at his side. And even if the ZBC got involved, it's not like they've been able to catch the Backdraft yet, so what did that say about them? "There was an accident." James said finally. "We were attacked by a gang. They had guns… their leader had a vendetta with her. She told us to stay back…"
Around this time Cooper walked into the room. "I called her father. He said he's coming."
After the doctor left to wait for him and bring him the news, James and Cooper sat themselves on a nearby bench, looks of worry and disbelief crossing their faces.
"Think she'll be okay?" Cooper asked.
"The doctor said she got pretty banged up, but she should make it" James replied.
"I'm not talking about the physical injuries. Did you see her face when that maniac shot Kali? He killed something that mattered a lot to her, just to hurt her... and she couldn't do a thing to stop him."
At this time, Axel walked over, holding a newspaper he was reading. "There may be something we can do…" he said quietly, showing them the article.
Guylos City Hospital, morning…
Everything was dark, with brief images flashing here and there, but all of them too quick for Shiva to make out. A prisoner within her own mind, Shiva then witnessed over and over again the horrible experience from earlier. Anubis laughing, Kali falling lifelessly to the ground, her teammates watching helplessly with guns trained on them. When she watched helplessly as Anubis brought an abrupt end to Kali's life. Anubis was looming over her, ready to end her life as well. "Helpless….." escaped her mouth. The images repeated themselves, but in reverse. As though her mind wished to see if she had made a mistake during the course of what happened. Suddenly it all faded white.
Shiva awoke to find herself in a hospital bed. After examining her surroundings, and noticing some discomfort on her left arm, she quickly removed the sharp needle which had been imbedded there and sat up. Her body still felt a little sore from the beating, but most of the bruises were fading. Finding the strength to stand, she climbed out of the bed and wandered around the room a little.
The hospital gown she'd been fitted with had replaced everything she had on before. This became more evident when she reached the full-length mirror in the room and examined herself.
Her dark purple hair was down, now just touching her shoulders. The lack of the bulky masculine clothes as well as the absence of the bindings she wore to further conceal her figure made her look slimmer, more… feminine.
Feminine. Female. Girl. Weakness. That's what she saw looking back at her. Her outer shell she had placed around her to guard from that had been stripped of her, and all that was left now was what she had spent her life denying was there; a scared, insecure young girl named Ayane Makino.
All these facts overwhelmed her, causing her to collapse to the floor, but she could not take her eyes off her reflection. At that girl she barely knew, or tried to deny the existence of. Now she couldn't. Seeing herself there, weak, scared. It all brought back what she'd seen in her dreams.
FLASH! Anubis standing over her, laughing…
FLASH! Cooper, James, and Axel being herded back and forced to watch…
FLASH! Anubis training his gun on Kali, the cruel pleasure he took in taking the monitor lizard's life, and she couldn't do anything to stop him…
FLASH! Anubis, again, standing over her laughing…
FLASH! Kali's lifeless body striking the ground when Anubis fired his final shot…
Then she remembered what Anubis had said to her. His words biting deep into her…
"A battlefield is, simply put…. No place for a GIRL!"
"When are you females gonna learn that? When you lose, it's 'cause you're weak. When you win, you just got lucky"
"Just be glad I'm sparing your life this time, you weak little BITCH!"
The girl brought her knees to her chest and lowered her head, falling into a sitting fetal position, The words constantly running through her mind.
"Well, aren't you a sight?" A familiar, cruel voice said to her.
She snapped to attention and looked at the mirror. Standing behind her own reflection, she could see Anubis, grinning his cruel grin and looking down at the girl in the mirror, as though he were standing in the room, right behind her. It wasn't him, but that part of her mind that called her weak for so long had chosen a form that, after last night could intimidate her with little trouble.
"What do you think you can do, Ayane?" He asked her. "Think you stand a prayer of a chance against me in the tournament?"
"You want me there…" she said quietly, continuing to look at the mirror
"Yes, I do want you there…" Anubis replied. "You may not believe it, but you've got a strength I can't ignore. Or maybe it's just a stubborn side that needs to be slapped. I know you're not just gonna let what I did to your precious pet slide."
"I won't." She slowly stood up, her expression hardening as she didn't take her eyes off the mirror, watching her reflection stand up with her, and the image of Anubis taking a few steps back, surprised. "You've taken away a lot that mattered to me that night. I'll at least make sure you… or anyone else… don't take what's left." She said sternly, watching as Anubis' reflection faded and disappeared.
And then she awoke.
Shiva found herself alone in the room again, still in front of the mirror. She looked at her reflection, and stood back up. Around this time, the door opened, and her teammates, her father, and the doctor came in.
"Oh, god…" James and Cooper said simultaneously, resisting the urge to run over and hug her.
"She should be able to leave today. She just needs some more rest till the soreness goes down. I just need you to sign some things" The doctor said, leading Shiva's father to the waiting room.
"Oh… we got something for you." Cooper began "It took all what was left of the prize money from before to afford it…" He turned and faced Axel, who came in with a strange black box of some kind, and pushed a button. Shiva's eyes widened when a holographic image of Kali appeared above the box, sleeping.
"A new technology used for pets who are sick or have recently died. They can be converted into something called "Anizoids"." James explained. At this time, the anizoid Kali woke up and looked at Shiva, recognizing her instantly and wanting to be held. Axel handed the box to Shiva, who was left speechless. "They can assist in zoid piloting as well. Kind of like those organoid creatures that supposedly went extinct long ago. I can imagine Kali would like to get a shot at that jerk."
"Thank you…" Shiva responded quietly, taking the box and holding it tightly. Anubis would pay for what he did. He would not take anything else from her. "When we get home, we have work to do."
TO BE CONTINUED….