The more alternatives, the more difficult the choice.
Abbe' D'Allanival
Chapter 7:
The Choices
We Make
"He did what!" shouted out a voice from within the Takenaka Corporation. In a private conference room, Hitomi was reporting via monitor to the higher ups about the status about Daisuke but when she mentioned that he took the classified envelope it immediately cause uproar from her superiors.
"You're telling us that the person that has become a thorn in our sides has in his possession the information that could very well make him an even more of a problem?" Fearing for her actual life, Hitomi kept her mouth shut, knowing that if she said anything she'd most likely be dead by the end of the conference.
"Fortunately it'll take his group sometime to decipher all of the information that he took. Nonetheless, you better do something to distract him so our salvage teams can have the chance to gain the items in our possession."
Feeling some of the tension being lifted off her shoulders, Hitomi let out a sigh of relief. "I promise you sirs that I'll put all my resources so that our little problem is taken cared of."
"Make sure that it is but remember, don't kill anyone. We wouldn't want to cause any further complications. Also, just to make sure that things go our way you'll be getting some added assistance." Suddenly, the doors to the room opened which allowed a red skin demon which had some strange black tattoos across his body, most noticeably the two strips that went down each of his eyes. The outfit that he was wearing was completely black with a black poncho covering most of it. Perhaps the most standout thing about him was that his eyes were pitch black expect his pupils which were an eerie green.
"This is Tracer. He'll be assisting you on completing the project." Checking the demon the once worried Hitomi was now starting to relax even more. By his appearance alone he seemed to be a tough obstacle for anyone. "Be warned Hitomi, do not fail with this assignment. If you don't come back with the item that we seek than you'll be in for a severe punished." Knowing that was no idle threat Hitomi nodded her head in understanding.
With that over with the monitor went to black, severing the connection to the higher ups. Letting out the breath that she unknowingly was holding in Hitomi looked towards Tracer. "All right then, it's time we get to work. First off, we need to deal with the Daisuke issue. We have to do something to keep him busy so that he won't interfere and I just might have an idea on what that something could be.
-/-/-/-/-
"Are you done with those things or what?" questioned Daisuke from his desk. Currently both he and Ken were at his place with Ken trying to figure out what was in the envelope that Daisuke swiped from the Takenaka Corporation a few days ago. So far there had been minimal progress.
"Be patient man. The computer disks are heavily incepted and the documents that came with them have only helped so much. It's unknown when I'll be able to crack the codes."
"Well, try to crack those disks as soon as you can because whatever was inside them could help us to prevent whatever the Takenaka Corporation has planned. It's unfortunate that you're the only one who knows how to do this stuff seeing as though the rest of us know no more than basic computer knowledge."
"Speaking of the others, where are they?"
"The girls went to some renaissance fair that's happening downtown. Hikari thought that it would be a good idea to show Mimi and Miyako something that didn't involve with anything that bumps in the night, if you know what I mean." As if knowing what was coming, the front door opened and in came the girls who judging by the looks on their faces they had a good time. "Hey you guys. It's nice to see you back. I guess you enjoyed your little outing?"
"We sure did Daisuke." spoke Miyako as she walked over to Ken who was still struggling with the computer disks. "I must admit that the people from your dimension have some unique but quite interesting events. They even had something called a beauty pageant where they had a bunch of girls showing themselves off to a crowd of horny men. You wouldn't believe what some of those women were wearing. They practically had nothing on."
When they heard that, both Daisuke and Ken couldn't help but picture in their heads the load of scantily clad women walking around and showing their goods. Snapping out of his day dreaming Daisuke notice something new strapped to Mimi's back. "Hey Mims, what's the deal with the bow?"
Removing the bow from her back she placed it beside a chair. "It's just something that I got while at the fair. I guess I've always had a thing for it."
"Don't be modest cousin." voiced Miyako. "Truth be told you guys, she was perhaps the best person with a bow an arrow in Panthran. She could practically hit anything. Why don't you show them an example of how good you are?"
With the focus of everything on her Mimi was starting to be a little embarrassed. "I don't know. It's been a while since I've ever use one. I might be rusty." Hoping to lighten the mood, Daisuke came up with a solution.
"Why don't you just do a little exhibition of your skills? If anything it'll show if you happen to lose your touch or not. It's really up to you to decided Mimi."
For about a minute Mimi said nothing as she was deciding on whether or not if she wanted to go ahead with the suggestion. "All right, I'll do it."
An Hour Later…
To better help display their friend's talent, Hikari and the others decided to do the little exhibition in the backyard. As they were preparing Daisuke could only watch from the safety of his shaded patio since there was still sunlight outside. Soon everything was ready to begin.
"Okay Mimi, are you ready?" Nodding her head Mimi readied herself for what was about to do. The first part was simple one as it was to simply hit a balloon that was up against the fence. Taking some deep breaths to calm herself she brought her bow up. Aiming carefully she released the arrow and let it soar through the air and pierce right into the balloon, popping it as a result. To show their appreciation, her friends gave Mimi a small applause. "All right, that was good now let's move on to the next performance."
This would be a more difficult challenge as Mimi was going to try to hit a moving target. For this part she would get the help from Hikari as she was going to be the one to toss up the target, which was one of Daisuke's kitchen plates, n the air where hopefully Mimi will break before it hit the ground. Nodding to one another was all that the girls needed to that the other was ready.
-/-/-/-/-
Unbeknownst to any of them was that from the top of a nearby house were none other than Hitomi and her new trouble shooter, Tracer. "Remember, any two of them are up for grabs but the vampire is off limits."
"I understand." replied Tracer with a voice that lacked any emotion. "Besides, I would rather face the vampire honorably."
"Apparently it doesn't matter if your human or demon. When it comes to men they would rather go at it face to face." Ignoring Hitomi's banter, Tracer pulled out some sort of sniper rifle and took great aim at the two targets that he selected.
-/-/-/-/-
"Here it comes, Mimi. Show us what you got." Just as Hikari threw up the plate into the air a small projectile went flying through the air unseen by anybody and struck the base of Hikari's neck. The reaction was almost instant as she began to sway side to side from the shot. Shortly after Mimi joined her as she too was shot just as she was pulling her arrow back.
With her now losing her bearing as well, Mimi began to lower her bow more to the ground to the point that it was pointed at Hikari. Unable to hold it back anymore Mimi let the arrow go where it went straight at her friend. It seemed as thought it was going to go right into Hikari but just as it was about to hit, Daisuke intervened by stepping in the way. As a result the arrow became imbedded into his back but he ignored it as he quickly grabbed her and brought her back into the house before he was burned up by the sun.
Laying his friend down on the couch he started to examine her body while Ken and Miyako were bringing in Mimi. "What the heck is going on?" questioned a reasonable concerned Miyako. "They were okay a moment ago and now they're unconscious."
Paying no mind to his friend's ranting, Daisuke managed to remove the arrow from his back before continuing with his examination. As he did that he spotted the small dart that was stuck on Hikar's neck. Moving over to Mimi he discovered that she had a similar dart on her as well. "I believe we just found the reason for our friend's sudden change of condition.
Tossing the two darts onto the desk they could see drops of some sort of blue liquid dripping from the tips of the darts. "They were injected by some type of poison. The question that needs to be asked is who would do something like this?" Without warning a larger projectile came crashing through a window and stuck itself to the wall. "And I do believe we just got our answer."
Being the closes, Miyako went over and removed the item from the wall. Once it was removed they realize that there was a piece of paper wrapped around it. Taking the paper off she took a quick glance over it before she roughly handed it over to Daisuke, who after reading it was just as angry as she was.
Not wanting to be left in the dark, Ken decided to speak up. "Okay, can one of you please tell me what the deal is?"
"It's from Hitomi and the Takenaka Corporation." answered Daisuke as he was barely able to contain his anger. "They said that if we want our friends to be cured I can't interfere in any of their businesses for the next twenty-four hours. When the time has passed they'll give us the antidote. If I don't follow their demands, let's just say that I won't be the only one dead this time tomorrow."
Before the discussion could go any further, a beeping sound could be heard from the computer. Rushing over to it Ken quickly began to work furiously on the keyboard and once he was done he let out a shout of joy.
"What are you so happy about? If you haven't notice, this isn't the time to celebrate." Daisuke knew that it was wrong to get angry with his friend at the moment but at the moment he wasn't thinking all that clearly.
"Sorry Daisuke, I wasn't happy about what happened to our friends. I'm happy because the codes for the computer disks that you stole have finally been broken."
"They have? But I thought you said that you weren't able to get pass the security that was placed on them."
"That was the case at first. However, before we helped in Mimi's exhibition I started a little program that I've been working with on the side. Basically it's a system that is supposed to take down the safety precautions that are installed on system programs and what not. I wasn't sure if it would work on the disk but thankfully it did."
Leaving the care of their sick friends in Miyako's hands, Daisuke went to join Ken at the computer to see what was so important on the disks that they would put so much protection on them. At first there was nothing more than specs of some areas that apparently they've already searched over. After looking for a little longer Daisuke started to become fed up.
"This is pointless. Why would the Takenaka Corporation put such high security on disks that have nothing more than blueprints of places that they already expected thoroughly?"
"Maybe you spoke a little too soon there Daisuke." muttered Ken. Hearing that Daisuke looked back towards the computer where it showed another blueprint of another area but what caught their attention was that at the corner of the screen was the day that the place was suppose to be checked out was today. "I guess we found out why the Takenaka Corporation doesn't want you to get involved in their business. Judging by what it said here, the area is about two miles from town."
"Does it say what they're looking for?"
Checking for a bit longer Ken found the answer. "I can't find anything specific. All I could find was that whatever it is, it'll mean bad news if the enemy gets it."
Before the two could elaborate further on the subject, Miyako came running in. "Uh, guys, you should get over here quick." Hurrying over they saw that both Mimi and Hikari were getting worse as both of them were sweating profusely. "They're burning up badly. If this keeps up they won't last for very much longer."
Seeing how much his friends were suffering, Daisuke headed straight for the weapons' cabinet. Realizing what this was leading up to, Ken tried to intervene. "I know what you're thinking Daisuke and I'm telling you that it's not a smart move." Ignoring his friend, Daisuke continued to look for the proper weapons to take with him. "You know just as well as I do that if you go ahead with this there's a very good chance that we won't get the antidote for Hikari and Mimi. So, please, just wait for the twenty-four hours to pass so they can give us the cure."
Daisuke had seemingly had gotten what he wanted as he closed the weapons' cabinet and was walking towards the door. "And what if they don't? In case you've forgotten the Takenaka Corporation hasn't been known as being trustworthy and reliable when it comes to us. Besides, you said it so yourself. If we allow them to get their hands on whatever they're after it could result in dark times ahead." Grabbing his coat he put it on then stuffing his smaller weapons into the pockets. "That's why I'm going to pay them a little visit."
"Then it would be wise that I join you." announced Miyako who had been attending to Hikari and Mimi.
"No. You stay with Ken in case something goes wrong. Also, try finding the possible cure for whatever Hikari and Mimi was given. Start with magical potions that are similar to it. I mean, it's unlikely that the Takenaka Corporation would use something common. The books that I have about that type of stuff will help."
"But what if we can't find an antidote?"
"Then whoever is at that sight better know what it is or they'll suffer something greater than our friends could ever be."
-/-/-/-/-
"Come on, get a move on. I'm not going to keep this up all night." hollered Hitomi. It was now the late hours of the night and the salvage group of the Takenaka Corporation was still searching for the item that they wanted. Not far away was Hitomi who was over seeing what was happening.
"It looks as though the man isn't going to show up." exclaimed Tracer who was standing beside Hitomi. It was obvious who he was referring to.
"Looks like it. I guess he knew better than to challenge my threat." As if arguing her statement, a gunshot went out and when that did one of the diggers fell to the ground with a dark stuck to his chest. He wouldn't be the last as one by one they all crumpled to the ground. "He's here. The son of a bitch is actually here. Find him at all cost!"
The few people that remained quickly went on the search knowing what the price would be if they didn't do as they were told. Remembering what the higher ups said would happen to her if she failed this time, Hitomi began to panic for her well being.
"You better be ready to do your job Tracer." Hearing no reply she turned around and saw that her trouble shooter wasn't anywhere around. Before she had the chance to really react the sound of a struggle had her turn back to the dig site.
From her vantiage point Hitomi could see that her guards were being dealt with as if they were nothing. It wasn't difficult for her to realize who was responsible for this. Things appeared to her sides favor as four guards had their target surrounded. Despite being out numbered Daisuke remained calm and the reason for that came when he reached into his pocket and pulled out some small object.
The purpose of the object would become clear as he threw it to the ground and when it hit it let out a blinding light that cause his opposition to be temporarily blind. Too bad for them was that the same couldn't be said for Daisuke as he concealed his eyes before the flash. As a result of this, it allowed him to quickly put an end to the last obstacle to the person that he was after.
-/-/-/-/-
"Things are getting worse." At Daisuke's place both Ken and Miyako were continuing to tend to both Hikari and Mimi, whose conditions were taking a slide to the worse side. "If this keeps up they won't last much longer."
"Thanks for stating the obvious." muttered Ken who was surrounded by musky old books. Seeing that he was getting angry at the wrong person he quickly apologized. "Sorry Miyako. I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just getting frustrated with all that has been going on. I mean, how does Daisuke believe that I can understand half of this stuff that is in these books?"
Feeling that her friends would be okay for the time being, Miyako went over to Ken. "Why don't you let me help you with the research? I do after all have some knowledge in this area."
Going over the two of them began to really get into the books. They went through half the stacks in no time. Both of them soon finished their respective book they each went for another one. What they didn't realize that they were going for the same one. So, when they went to grab it they accidentally grabbed each others hand. Neither one of them did a thing as they just looked at their joined bands. It would be Ken who would break the moment by pulling his hand away and grabbing a random book.
"Uh, we should really get back to work. We don't have that much time to waste." Regaining her composure, Miyako went back to work as well.
"Yeah, there's too much at stake to be fooling around."
With that the both of them went back to researching but neither of them could shake the feeling that they felt when their hands were holding one another.
-/-/-/-/-
At last the flash of light went away and when Hitomi finally regained her vision she saw that the few guards that were still standing were now out cold as the others were. Fearing now for her own well being she hurried to her car and it looked as though she would make it until she tripped on a rock. Not allowing that to slow her down she got right back up and continued to her only escape.
She finally reached the car and it appeared a though she would make a clean getaway only for her to be stopped by a hand grabbing her tightly on the shoulder. "Now where do you think you're going?" questioned a voice that she already knew who it belonged to. "You listen and listen well. I'm going to ask you a question and you better give me the answer I want or you'll regret it. What's the cure to the poison that you gave to my friends?"
"Listen Daisuke, I can't-" Apparently not liking her response, Daisuke tossed Hitomi to the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry. That wasn't the answer that I was looking for. Care to try again?" Still on the ground Hitomi tried to back away from her foe.
"Hold on a minute Daisuke. I don't have the antidote on me and even if I told you what it was the higher ups would kill me." Hitomi continued to back away but Daisuke didn't allow her to get far as he stayed a short distance from her.
"Well, if that's the case I might as well speed things by dealing with you for them." It looked as though he was actually going to go through with it until out of nowhere an arrow came out of his chest. Turning around Daisuke was quickly met with another arrow that barely missed his heart.
"Apparently I missed the heart." A few feet away was Tracer with a multi loaded crossbow in his hand. "I assure you that I won't miss a second time." Aiming again he fired at Daisuke but miss as his target ducked behind a boulder. Having the chance to escape, Hitomi took it and got in the car and drove away, allowing the hired gun to deal with the current problem.
"Come on out and fight. Hiding doesn't suit you." Walking over Tracer moved to the other side of the boulder to finish the job but when he got around there was no sign of Daisuke. "You still continue to hide? Why don't you just come out and take your death like a man?"
Hearing those words raised the anger of Daisuke but he managed to stay behind his hiding spot as he attempted to remove the arrows that were embedded in him. Taking a few deep breaths he yanked them out one at a time while at the same time trying to hold in the yells of pain that were trying to escape. The pain soon subsided and Daisuke started to think about what to do next.
"All right now think. You're exhausted and running low on weapons. To top it off, I still have to deal with a demon that obviously got a good deal of fighting experience and with me currently injured it won't make things any easier. I better come up with some sort of plan or I'm done for." Realizing that just hiding out wouldn't do him any good he decided to go on the offensive.
Peeking out from behind his hiding spot he didn't see a trace of his attacker. He had no clue where he was until he spotted the crossbow perched on top of a nearby boulder. Seeing this as an opportunity to end this, Daisuke slowly tried to sneak over. However, no sooner then he stepped out into the opening he was hit by a swarm of arrows.
Thankfully his quick speed assisted him in avoiding all the arrows while at the same time advancing towards the source of the assault. When he got to the crossbow he saw that there was no one there. The only other thing that was with the weapon was a piece of twine tied to the trigger. "This was a very clever move that you did here." muttered Daisuke as he knocked the crossbow to the ground. "Tying the trigger so that the crossbow would continuously fire while at the same time you could maneuver yourself somewhere else to attack."
"You'd be right about that except for one thing." Turning around Daisuke came face to face with the demon. "That distraction wasn't meant to give me the chance to sneak attack you. It was meant to lure you out from your hiding spot so we could finish this like men, so to speak."
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Daisuke was unable to keep a small smirk from coming out. "Well, isn't this a surprise? Someone working for the Takenaka Corporation is actually showing a sign of honor."
"I may work for them but I don't let them tell me how I fight." Reaching into his poncho Tracer pulled out a medium size metal box and tossed it between him and Daisuke. "That box contains what they were after. If you want it you must fight me for it, vampire to demon."
Removing his coat Daisuke tossed it to the ground as well. "I like the sound of that idea. It's also not hard to understand that this is a fight to the finish. Am I correct?"
"That it is. Let's do this." Having said what they wanted to say the two fighters went at one another, knowing that only one of them would be left standing once the fight was all said and done.
-/-/-/-/-
"Get them off me! Get them off me!" shouted a feverish Mimi. Helping her to calm back down to the sofa was Miyako who had returned to treating her cousin and Hikari when their conditions worsen. "We've got to do something. They're starting to become delusional."
"I can see that." replied Ken who was still looking through the books for an antidote. "That's why I'm continuing to search for the cure in case Daisuke isn't able to get one."
"Speaking of Daisuke, what's taking him so long?" To seemingly answer Miyako's question, Daisuke came staggering in with blood dripping off his body. "My God, what happened to you?"
"I got my ass kicked, what does it look like?" answered a irritated Daisuke. "How are things going on here?"
"Not so good I'm sad to say." Miyako answered with a more somber tone. "The conditions of both Hikari and Mimi have been getting worse by the minute. If this keeps going like this they won't last for much longer. To make matters worse we haven't found an antidote yet. Were you able to find out what it is?"
"I'm afraid not. The people who would have know escape before I could get it." Soon the injuries became too much for Daisuke as he collapsed onto the closest chair. Reaching into his coat he pulled out the same metal box that he and Tracer fought for earlier. Putting it on the desk he slid it to Ken. "That box has what the Takenaka Corporation was so desperate in getting. See if you could figure out what the big deal is with it."
Taking a moment away from the books Ken grabbed the box and immediately noticed that there was a large amount of blood on it. "What's the deal with the blood?"
"Don't worry. It's not human and it's not mine." Taking off his coat the injuries that Daisuke suffered were more evident. "Well, not most of it anyways."
Hearing that seemed to click something inside the head of Ken as he opened up one of the previously read books and skimmed through the pages until he apparently found what he was looking for. "I knew I saw this somewhere before but I must've passed it over without really reading it. The poison is known as the Bite of the Demon. It's rare since it comes from the venom of a demon called a Drokken that lives in a dimension that I can't identify."
"That's good but does it say how to cure someone who has been infected by the venom?" questioned Daisuke. His injuries were still bothering but he ignored them as he felt that what they were talking about was more important.
"Unfortunately the cure that's mainly use doesn't exist in this dimension. However, it says that there is another cure that's been known to work and it's…" Ken just stared at the page with a disturbed expression his face. "It's…the blood of a vampire."
A moment of silence went over the three of them as this bit of information sink in. It would be Daisuke who'd break the silence. "All right then. If that's the case take as much from me as you need to make the cure."
"You can't be serious Daisuke." said Miyako. "You're in bad condition and with how much blood you already lost it could prove fatal if you give any."
Daisuke knew that what Miyako said was true. But when he saw the suffering that Hikari and Mimi were going through it made his choice a simple one. "Ken, give me a knife."
"You don't have to do this Daisuke." said Ken as he got up from his seat. "Give us some time and Miyako and I can get another vampire to-"
"I said give me a knife!"
Seeing that there was no chance of changing his friend's mind, Ken went into the kitchen and came back with a knife and a cup. Grabbing the knife in his right hand he placed the blade against his left palm. Without a second thought slit the palm. Reaching over he placed his cut hand over the cup and began to squeeze the blood into it.
He kept on squeezing the blood out until the cup was nearly full. "There you go. I believe that should be enough." At last, the combination of battle fatigue and blood lost took it's toll on Daisuke as he fell to the ground in unconsciousness.
-/-/-/-/-
Next Day…
"I believe he's coming to." Slowly the eyes of Daisuke opened to the sight of Ken and Miyako standing around what appeared to be his bed.
"H-How am I still alive?" Daisuke was still groggy but was still managed to get the words out.
"After you collapsed we installed a crude system that pumped in some pig's blood into your system." Looking at his right arm he could see that there was a needle in his arm with a tube connected to it. On the other end of the tube was a machine that had a bag of pig's blood in it. "I guess that means that I owe you guys for saving my life."
"You're not the only one who owes their lives to someone." Ken and Miyako moved aside so that Daisuke could see that both Hikari and Mimi were not only okay but back to their feet as if nothing bad had happen to them to begin with.
"Hey there, apparently the cure worked. It's good to see that you two are okay."
Not saying a word the two cured friends went over to either side of Daisuke's bed and without a word, hugged him. "Uh, as much as I enjoy having two lovely ladies hanging onto me you two don't have to really thank me. I was only doing what was right."
"That's nonsense Daisuke." exclaimed Hikari with a tone that shocked Daisuke. "You put yourself through numerous dangerous situations and never ask for anything in return. It's okay to allow people to show their appreciation for what you do for them."
"Hikari speaks the truth, Daisuke." added Mimi with a similar determination that Hikari showed. "You saved all of us at one time or another and yet you always say that it's no big deal. As much as you are for us we're just as much there for you and don't you forget it."
"Believe me, I understand what you're saying you guys and promise to not forget it." Before he could continue a yawn escaped the mouth of Daisuke. "Now if you excuse me, I'll like to get some rest." Understanding completely, all four of them left his room to allow their friend to get the rest that he deserved.
-/-/-/-/-
"Do you have anything to say for yourself Miss Mitchell?" Shortly after escaping from her disastrous mission she was ushered to the Takenaka Corporation conference room for a mandatory meeting with the higher ups. "From what we had gathered one man was able to take out every single person from our salvage and tactical groups. Let's not forget that while you ran off he eliminated one of our highly praised problem solvers then allow him to take the items that we were after. This doesn't look so good for you Miss Mitchell."
"But sirs, this wasn't completely my fault." A very worried Hitomi replied as she was worried about her fate. "Motomiya caught us completely by surprise that we couldn't put up an effective plan to fight back. Please, you must believe me." You could actually cut the tension with a knife as Hitomi waited for what the higher ups would do.
"Perhaps you're right. Motomiya has proven on more than one occasion of coming up with a surprise that causes trouble for us." Hearing that, Hitomi let out a heavy sigh, thinking that she was in the clear. "However, you should've planned better in case he arrived and you were warned not to fail us. So, I believed for now you'll be put in hold up until we feel that you are deserving of another chance."
Understanding what they meant by 'hold up', Hitomi tried to run for it but was stopped by two guards who started to drag her out with her yelling the whole way.
"Now the topic we must discuss is what shall we do about the items that our enemies have in their possession?"
"Let them hold on to them for the time being." answered one of the other higher ups as they were now alone in conference room. "It'll take them sometime for them to figure out what they mean so let them try to figure out what they mean."
Suddenly, a man came running in and it looked as though he had something very important to discuss. "Sorry for the interruption sirs. But I have something important to tell you. It's awake."
"What are you babbling about? What has awakened?"
"It's the big project that has been the main priority for us for sometime." The higher ups immediately understood what the man was talking about. "It's Serenity. She has finally woken up."
There you go readers, I hope you enjoyed that last chapter this story which I hope you liked as well. The next story part of the series, which at the moment will be known as 'The Path Taken' and I hope to have it up on in the near future. Until next time, see ya and please be kind by leaving a review.