II
Cherry leaves her hometown sneakily so that she would not be stopped from entering the forest that leads to mountains that finally leads into Castlevania. As she walks through the forest, she looks toward and seems that the forest is filled with endless trees. She seems to become bored and then realizes that she is walking through the forest that she saw that dog – beast with yellow eyes that stared at her while in class. Fear starts to claim her in her mind, so she starts to speed up her walking. All of the sudden, she hears heavy breathing. She stops walking, and then turns around very slowly as though she's expecting something big. She sees the dog – beast with yellow eyes stare at her viciously. Both stare at each other eye to eye for a while, and then it stops as it starts to growl at her. She quickly starts to run away without noticing that she has weapons on her. She runs and runs and notices that the dog – beast with yellow eyes is chasing her. She continues to run until she sees a man with spiky yellow hair with a whip and pistol on his waist drinking water out of a well. At that very instance, she knew that it was the man that lived across from her back in town. She yells at him,
"KILL IT! KILL IT! IT WANTS TO EAT ME!" She then wraps her arms around Val tightly.
Val quickly takes out his pistol and aims where Cherry came from, but sees nothing at all. He then puts his pistol away and then asks,
"What's the 'it' thing that wanted to eat you, or more like, WHERE IS IT?"
Cherry un – wraps her arms around Val and turns around. She walks a few steps ahead and then answers,
"That dog – beast thing with yellow eyes! It was chasing me, and it wanted to eat me! Did you see it coming after me as I approached you?"
"You have been eating too much candy have you little girl?" Val asks stupidly.
"For your information, I'm not a little girl. I'm fourteen and I haven't had any sweets today", Cherry replies angrily.
"Okay! Okay! I was being sarcastic. I believe that what you explained, you were chased by a werewolf. It's kind of odd, because we haven't seen a werewolf set foot in this forest for nearly a hundred years", Val explains. He then scratches his head and asks,
"What are you doing in this forest by yourself?"
Cherry takes a deep breath and then explains,
"I'm going to Castlevania to find my friend Shauna who has been missing for two days already"
"HA!" Val laughs as though it was a joke. "You think you can go to Castlevania?"
Cherry looks at him angrily and then says,
"Oh! You don't have to be mean about it! Why are you going to Castlevania for? Mr. Think he has the chance of kicking some monster butt!"
Val stops laughing and says,
"You're serious about this then, huh? The reason I'm going to Castlevania is because I have unfinished business to attend to"
"Well then, I'm coming with you!" Cherry declares confidently.
"Are you serious?" Val says as though Cherry was crazy. "Castlevania is filled with vampires, werewolves, and all sorts of monsters. It would be hectic to bring you along"
"Oh please! I need to know how my friend is doing", Cherry pleads.
"So", Val replies as he sighs.
"You're going to let a fourteen year old girl stranded in a forest with a werewolf waiting to eat me? I shou -" Cherry stops and then grins evilly. "To even set foot on this forest, you need to have permission from the general back in town. So, where are those papers?"
"You're in this forest too, and you'll be in deep shit too", Val says happily.
Cherry just smiles and says, "I'll say that you kidnapped me. Goodbye!" She starts skipping away and then Val shouts,
"Wait!"
Cherry turns around quickly and asks happily,
"What is it, kidnapper?"
Val sighs and thinks in his mind,
"Let is be the last I ever do this! I'll let you come with me if you keep the pace with me, don't wander off a lot, and not be annoying!"
Cherry jumps with joy and replies,
"Of course!" She reaches her hand out to Val to shake it. Val sticks his hand out and both heroes shake each other's hand.
"It's Cherry", Cherry says as she shakes his hand.
"Oh! Its Val", Val responds as he lets go of Cherry's hand.
"Okay then! Let's get movin'!" Cherry commands happily.
Both heroes manage through the forest of endless trees and then enter the mountains. As they enter the mountains, Cherry shouts and points out,
"There's a man lying on the floor!"
Both heroes see a man on the floor that seemed to be in his mid – thirties, brown hair, and seems to wear clothes that have been torn out.
"Wait here", Val Commands as he runs toward the man. He checks for a pulse and then states suspiciously,
"He's dead"
Cherry runs toward the dead man and Val and then asks,
"Is there any bite marks or anything?"
Val examines the dead man closely and then replies,
"No bite marks at all, but it seems that he has been beaten to death with something very heavy. It wasn't the work of Dracula or any of his mistresses, but these beating marks are very odd"
All of the sudden the ground shakes. Cherry and Val get up quickly and try to maintain their balance. It felt to them as though they were in an earthquake.
"What's happening?" Cherry asks loudly.
Val responds by taking out a long, shiny sword that he had in a hung case on his back quickly while maintaining his balance. Cherry looks at him seriously, and then takes out her two sharp golden ring – blades. Both heroes get ready for the battle that awaits them.