Anime Exiles 4
Chapter 4: Undead Tendencies Conclusion
"We have less than three hours till we go into a battle in which most likely we are going to die and I take it no one is going to sleep?" Guyver stated as he sprinted through a number of rocks and craters to be found through the werewolf civilization. His blades tore against the walls as he continued his training regiment, the rest of the team training alongside him.
"Yeah well, a little hard to sleep when you start thinking about an army of vampires bearing down on you for ANOTHER time." Vash dodged the various assault of pebbles and shrapnel blasting back it him from his teammates' training. He quickly took out more bullets from his red coat and slammed them into his guns' chambers. "I'm running out of bullets by the way."
"Yeah well, you could've been more careful about it, bristle boy." Ryoko's fist cracked against the side of the cavern, causing the wall to shake and splint.
"Oh sorry, I should have seen being trapped on a parallel world where I would need an unlimited supply of bullets at the ready. These sort of things happen all the time right? Should have seen it coming!"
"The thick sarcasm is noted Vash, however, please keep our training regiment as your top priority." Tenchi's light wings flashed out of his back, the blinding light causing Vash to trip on a rock in front of him, landing him flat on his face.
"Ack. Don't see how us dodging debree from Go-bot is going to help us in this upcoming scuffle."
"It will help cement the old saying 'expect the unexpected'." Sazuka brandished her sword into her sheath next to her side and ran alongside the walls, as if they were the ground under her feet.
"Lovely. I need rocks flying at my face to realize that." Vash sarcastically said as he rubbed his head.
"Plus we need the teamwork and junk, y'know." Allenbee winked with a smile as the energy in her hands kept changing to adapt to the situation. From gun to sword to claws, her mastery over said weapons were apparent.
"All I know is that right before I got here, I was helping one of the cities near me get a new source of power. If I don't finish with this whole 'alternate reality missions' crap, the city of August is going to whither and die like so many else in the desert." Vash slumped to the ground, scratching his head with the barrel of one of his guns. "What were you all doing before you got here, if you don't mind me askin'?"
"Well," Allenbee said as she and the rest of the group stopped their training exercises. "I was just finishing setting up my dojo to teach young fighters how to operate and perfect their Gundam capabilities. The Domon Dojo it would have been called. Don't know if I'll ever see it finished now."
"I'm sure you will." Sazuka smiled as she placed her hand on Allenbee's shoulder, the young girl astonished at the assassin's compassion. "As for my experience before being plucked away from my respective home, I had just finished completing an assignment dealing with a bounty hunter named MacDougal, quite a despicable man."
"Yikes. Hope I never have to be one of your 'assignments'." Vash gulped.
"Stay on my good side and you will not." Sazuka smiled.
"For my part, I had just finished signing a treaty that would unite all the provinces of Jurai. I was ushering in a brand new age for our civilization, with Ayeka at my si...." Tenchi stopped in mid-sentence, noticing Ryoko's distress at yet another realization that this was not the man she knew.
"You and Ayeka, that must be something." Ryoko snarled. "I had actually just finished knocking off one of Jurai's major banks, making most of the aristocracy bankrupt. I burned most of the money on principle."
"*Sigh* I'm sure your Tenchi would not have approved of that." Tenchi smiled.
"Yeah well, there's a difference between the man I know and you, pal." Ryoko teleported from sight, surpising everyone.
"I suppose we must face the facts that I am not who she knows and she is not the woman I once knew."
"Women. Can't live with em, can't live without their bodies." Vash said jokingly.
"Must you always act the fool?" Sazuka questioned.
"Hey, comes with the jacket babe. So what about you Guyver? What were you doing before our little get together?"
"......I would rather not talk about it." The man machine darted from the rest of the group, without so much as another word, continuing his training.
"I'm going to go with him." Allenbee reformed new energy weapons in her hands and followed Guyver down deeper into the gigantic cave.
"Wow. This group is a reeaaaaallllll barrel of laughs. I think I'll go play Russian Roullette with the Wolf tribe or something, that would be much more fun." Vash began walking away, but not before Sazuka reached to his head and plucked out one of his hairs. "OW! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"
"Perhaps this will be the answer to our plight." Sazuka replied, blending into the shadows behind her, out of Vash's sight.
"What a creepy woman. You coming with me prince?"
"I'm afraid not, I'm going to go over the battle plans with the lycanthrop council. Hopefully I will be able to perfect our strategy for the upcoming battle. Enjoy yourself." Tenchi flew out of Vash's sight into the middle of the city, leaving the alien gun slinger alone.
"........God I need a drink."
Meanwhile, in the deeper part of the cavern, Guyver continued to train, with Allenbee behind him.
"Think you can keep up with me?" Guyver asked as he kept pounding his fists and blades against the various slabs found throughout the cave.
"Hey, before each tournament I would spend a week without sleep in whcih all I did was train. Pounding a bunch of rocks isn't going to be that difficult." Allenbee formed a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, keeping up with Guyver's every move as he blurred in and out of sight. Their blows collided with the walls and rocks of the cave that a large smoke began flowing around them. For several minutes, the training continued with each warrior noting the other's moves and attacks.
"Guyver?"
"Yea?"
"What's your real name?" This question caused Guyver to become so rattled that he lost concentration of what he was doing and flung his punch a few inches past his desired target of a large boulder sitting against the cavern wall. His arm flung to the side, pulling his body, causing him to fly upward and slam against the ground. "OH NO! Sorrysorrysorry."
"It's all right." Guyver got up almost instantaneously from his downed position, his arms pushing his body up and his legs hitting against the ground underneath them. "I'm very sturdy."
"No duh." Allenbee smiled and started laughing, Guyver following suit. "Wow, so you do laugh."
"Hahaha...." Guyver stopped in mid-laugh and cleared his throat. "Sometimes. It has been a while though."
"Well now that I've made you able to do it, you think you could go ahead and tell me your name now? And I swear if you say 'Guyver', I'll clock you one." Allenbee held up her fist threateningly, a big smile strewn across her face.
"It's....well....." Guyver paused. Allenbee did not need to see his face underneath the alien armor exterior to realize that he was reluctant in getting close with anyone. "Shin. I'm Shin."
"Well Shin, Its good to meet you." Allenbee stretched her hand out to Guyver. She once again noted his uneasiness as his shaky hand reached out to meet hers. The two hands touched and began shaking up and down with one another.
"Yeah. Nice to meet you." Guyver smiled underneath his armor.
"How's about we cut out with the training for now and take a breather?" Allenbee suggested, plopping down on the ground.
"I don't really get tired.......but I'll give it a shot." He sat down next to her, looking down at one of the many dillapidated huts that made up the werewolf city. "This is a strange world to be sure."
"Yeah. It hard to believe that a place like this exists at all." An awkward silence filled the air as the two continued watching the lycantrops continue their daily lives.
"Do you miss him?" Guyver asked out of nowhere, startling Allenbee.
"Who?"
"You're....boyfriend? Domon right?"
"Yeah. Yeah I do still miss him. I think..." Allenbee looked up to the ceiling of the cavern. "I think there will always be a part of me that misses him. He was the one."
"I know the feeling."
"I guess we can be sorry for each other then huh?" She smiled at Guyver, looked him in the eyes, then continued staring up at the ceiling. "Guyv.....Shin?"
"Yes?"
"What were you doing before you were brought here?"
"I....The....." A tear fell down from Shin's eye underneath the armor, unviewable from Allenbee's eyes. "The bomb sent by the UN to destroy the Zoanoids had just hit Tokyo. Everything had been wiped out amd I was looking for anyone in the rubble. I....knew....that no one had survived but I had to make sure. I went to her house and I found her there, clinging onto a torn picture of me. Right before I had been taken to this place, I had been cradling her body in my arms....in these arms."
"Oh God." Allenbee said as Guyver held his arms out.
"I can....understand the UN's decision but I'm starting to thank God that I was chosen for this. For whatever reason, I am so thankful for it because had I not been taken, had I been left there on my world, I would have killed them." Guyver clenched his fists and began shaking. " I would have killed every last man and woman in that building. I....I.....I lost everything."
"Shhhhh..." Allenbee wrapped her arms around Guyver as he began to sob, his alien face never changing.
"God....You....you mustn't tell the others. I need to be strong. I have to be...for those I've lost. I won't lose anyone else."
"Don't worry." Allenbee said as Guyver got out from under her arms and stood up.
"I'm going to go check out the city a little more. DO you want to come?" Guyver extended his hand out to Allenbee and lifted her off the ground.
"I would be delighted. By the way, I have one more thing to ask you."
"Yeah?"
"How do you stay so calm during all the battles? You're like a rock out there."
"Oh that's easy." Guyver pointed to his left arm. "You see I have a cd player in this arm that lets me listen to American Metal bands. Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, System of a Down. When you have stuff like that playing, fear seems to fall to the weigh side."
"SHUT UP!" Alennbee shouted laughing.
"It's true!"
"SHUT UP!"
"A beer, a beer, my kingdom for a beer." Vash said, on the other end of the large town, walking amongst the werewolves. With each step, Vash caught more and more stairs from each creature. The werewolves snarled under their breaths as they watched the gun slinger walk to a heavily populated hut. He slammed his foot against the door and jumped in. "YOU KNOW WHAT ALCOHOL IS OR WHAT?"
"*Sniff* Hrrrnnnn." The werewolf in front of Vash snarled, as all the werewolves in the hut began snarling. "Look like human, smells like stink. Heard about you. Supposed to bring down the vampires?"
"Yep, that's me. Me and my homies. Me and my amigos. You got anything that resembles an alcoholic beverage in this place."
"Don't think you should be here stink smelling human. Think you should be on your way. Think you be ripped apart otherwise." The werewolf brought his claws up to Vash's chin, and just as fast, the gun slinger brought the barrel of his gun under the creature's chin.
"Well I think that if you don't get out of my face right now, the last thing that will go through your head won't be the thought of what happens in the afterlife, but will be a bullet." Vash smiled as the werewolf backed away and bought his bluff.
"I am sorry for their actions traveler." The old werewolf who had originally brought Vash and the rest of the group to the cave appeared in the hut. "They are....hesitant when it comes to other species."
"Great, but the next time one of them tries that, give him a prozac or something would ya?"
"I will be sure to keep that in mind. I overheard that you were looking for....alcohol was it? Well I'm sorry but stimulants and hallucinigenics were human creations and are thus outlawed to be used by the lycanthrop community."
"OH GREAT! Can't even get a good shot or two before I go out into battle. Oh well. C'est la vie." Vash stomped out of the hut and made his fingers into the shape of a gun and pretended to fire at the werewolf who was causing him trouble earlier, winking as he did it.
"Ryoko? Ryoko, are you in here?" Tenchi walked into the room that Ryoko was given by the lycanthrop council.
"Go away." She sat in the air, levitating above her bed, her hand resting on her cheek, propping up her head.
"I know how you are feeling." Tenchi sat on the bed underneath her. "We have an uneasiness between us because we both know different versions of one another."
"That's putting it bluntly."
"Yes, well, I do know what you're feeling. When you.....when she died, I was crushed. My world felt like everything in it was going to hell. I had lost the only woman who....the only woman who I ever loved."
"......" Ryoko floated down next to him, sitting on the bed as well.
"With her gone, I found Ayeka. She was there to comfort me and with her, I found the strength to defeat Kagato, but not before he destroyed my world. I had lost my earth, but through Ayeka, I gained a new one in which I could call home. I became ruler of Jurai and made my place there. I never forgot about my Ryoko though, I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep since she died. Not a day goes by that I don't miss her."
"My....actions always got between me and my Tenchi. We agreed on our terms, but I still miss him. To me, it's as if he died. I put on a happy face and lose myself in my crimes, but it doesn't really help. Anger makes me forget, but I'm growing hollow." Ryoko wrapped her arms around her shoulders, shaking and holding back the tears.
"Maybe...we've found each other....." Tenchi looked into Ryoko's eyes as she looked back into his. The two leaned closer toward each other as they were ready to embrace. Inches from one another, Ryoko pulled back, tears streaming down her face.
"No. I can't." She got up from the bed and walked to the door. "You're...You're not him and....I'm not her. I can't. We can't."
"But....."
"Good night Tenchi." With that, Ryoko phased out of Tenchi's view, her tears remaining in the air and then slowly falling to the ground.
"Good night."
"We attack here." The leader of the council pointed to a large wall drawn on a slab of rock, as morning broke. The group stood around him with an army of werewolves behing them. "The castle is enclosed by a spell of darkness, which allows the vampires to function during the day as easily as they do in the night. Fortunately, this will help us as well as it will allow us to retain our bestial forms. The entire pack shall be needed in order to overtake their army and most importantly, cause a distraction to avert the eyes of the vampire king. However, we may have a problem gaining entrance into the king's throne room."
"Why?" Guyver questioned.
"Spells have been placed upon it so that only those without heartbeats may enter. Any who try to enter who have blood rushing through their bodies will be cut down before they lay one foot into the room."
"Yep yep. That's the way it goes. Aheh." The former hand of D croaked, from his container prison.
"Where the hell is Sazuka?" Vash looked around at all the fanged creatures standing around him, finding the sorceress to be nowhere.
"Too late to worry about her now." Allenbee replied, practicing her reflexes by quickly changing the energy in her hands to different weapons.
"So we need people who can get in who don't have heartbeats? That mean's I'm in." Guyver pointed to himself.
"What? Wanna run that past us again gear boy?" Ryoko asked.
"My heartbeat doesn't register while I'm in the suit. Its how I escaped from the Zoanoids when I stormed the Kronos corporation. They thought I was dead after not finding my heartbeat, but it turns out that the suit dampens my heartbeat as I live through its abilities."
"Nifty." Vash spun his guns around his fingers, trying unsuccessfully to impress everyone around him.
"I shall accompany him." Tenchi placed his hand on Guyver's shoulder, causing the man machine to growl under his breath. "When my light hawk wings surround me completely, I am able to bypass any security or spell as I walk through realities."
"Wow. My Tenchi only managed to harness a fraction of the light hawk wings' powers when he used them." Ryoko flew next to the prince of Jurai.
"Yes well, had I not learned how to use them to their full potential, Jurai would have fallen under the attacks of the mad scientist, Washu."
"WHAT?" Ryoko gasped.
"Very well. Our chances of victory lie upon the success of you two strange beings. We are putting our faith into you. Are you unable to destroy D, our deaths are assured, along with the deaths of your friends."
"Sure do know how to make people feel better right before their about to go into bloody war don't they?" Vash laughed uneasily. "By the way, I don't see why we don't just use our main guns, ie my angel arms or Ryoko, to just nuke the place."
"Because Vash," Guyver angrily said, becoming irritated at the gun slinger's constant attitude. "the vampires have living, breathing human beings in there to feed on, and we cannot endanger them. This is the only way that we will be able to minimize the human casualties."
"You tell the wolves that?" Vash whispered.
"Its a need to know basis, they don't need to know."
"You must understand our situation. We do this only because we have little time before the vampires amass to destroy us themselves. We will put an end to them before they put an end to us. Without their king, their viciousness will fall apart as leaves in the flame." The werewolf leader spoke with a thunderous voice, rallying the spirits of the lycanthrop troups, along with the spirits of the Exiles. "THOUGH WE MAY FALL INTO THE DARKNESS, THE SPIRIT OF OUR PACK WILL LIVE ON! WE WILL NEVER DIE!"
"Oh wow. He's quite the speech giver." Allenbee whispered to Guyver.
"Yes, he has to be. He's leading his people into hell."
"THE SPIRIT RUNS ALONGSIDE US! OUR PREY IS THE VAMPIRES! LET US BRING ABOUT THEIR DESTRUCTION ON THE BACKS OF THOSE WE HAVE LOST! WE WILL NOT FAIIIILLLLLL!" With that, every wolf in the pack howled as loud as they could and began running at full speed out of the cave. The group of exiles were astonished at the wolves unity as they strove, almost feeling anxious about the battle ahead.....almost.
"Off we go I guess." Vash sighed as he began following the wolves. "Man, can I ever get a break or what?"
"You two." The leader of the wolf pack pointed to Guyver and Tenchi.
"Yes?"
"May the spirit watch over you in this battle." The wolf knelt down in front of them, showing them respect that the two thought was completely absent from these once bloodthirsty beasts. With that, he ran on all fours behind the rest of his pack.
"Ha. It would seem we are in fact not coming back from this one." Tenchi noted, a smile crossing his face.
"Everyone will come back from this, I'm sure of it." Guyver responded as he dashed behind the werewolves, the rest of the group following suit.
Many miles later, as the wolves had been changed into their weak human forms in the blistering sun, after running their hearts out, the army came upon the darkened area. The sun seemed to vanish from the surrounding blackened clouds, various creatures and demons circling the sky. Strewn throughout the wasteland were large picks protruding from the ground with human corpses impaled upon them. Each face on each corpse was locked in a hideous fashion, as if they had faced an end worse than anything they could have imagined in their darkest fears. Many of the corpses, strewn on these bitter, blackened spikes, were children.
"My....God." Allenbee gasped as tears began running down her face.
"Never said this was gonna be pretty." The blades on Guyver's arms sprung to life as he anticipated the oncoming battle. "TENCHI! TAKE US IN NOW!"
"I hardly need to take orders from...." Tenchi stopped, realizing it was not the best time to start an argument. He sighed as the light wings burst from his back and wrapped around Guyver and himself, making them invisible to everyone.
"Where did they...?"
"They will make their way into the castle and do their job, and so will we!" The leader of the wolf's body cracked and shaked as fur began to erupt all over him, his form changing into his true self. The rest of the pack did the same as they all began to howl.
"Great. I am so not ready for this." Allenbee said, shaking as she formed a shield in one hand and a blade in the other.
"Ready or not kiddo, we're going." Ryoko flew into the sky, energy crackling in her hands.
"Funny that Sazuka never showed." Vash cocked the triggers of his guns as he watched tens of thousands of vampires pouring out of the castle/city. The group ran behind the wolves as the two armies intercepted and began to fight viciously. Ryoko flew fast through the vampire armies, causing various explosions, breaking apart the legion. She flew up into the air, a group of vampires grabbing at her as she skyrocketed.
"GET OFF!" Ryoko spun as fast as she could in the air, shaking all the vampires off. The vampires flew to the ground and hit it with such force that the bones in their bodies snapped like twigs in a hail storm, allowing the wolves to bear down on them.
"HOOOOO YA!" Vash began firing shot after shot into the crowd of vampires, blowing off various parts of their bodies. He spun and twisted his body to avoid the claws of the vampires around him. A knife sprung out of each of his boots as he kicked hard into two of the creatures' heads. The vampires, impaled but still alive, brought him down to the ground hard. "OH CRAP!"
"Nowwwww yooouuu diiieeee." The vampire hissed as Vash tried to reach for his pistols. Right as the fangs found their way to Vash's throat, two members of the wolf pack ripped into the vampires and tore their legs from out of their bodies.
"Wow. Saved by the wolfmen. Ha!" Vash smiled as he gave a thumbs up the werewolves, the wolves not understanding his gesture. The armies were suffering casualties on both ends, even though the wolves were horribly outnumbered, they fought hard.
"We're getting killed here!" Allenbee said as she rammed an energy dagger into a vampire's heart.
"WE HAVE TO HOLD OUT UNTIL GUYVER AND TENCI KILL THE LEADER!" Vash pumped more and more bullets into the vampires. "AND COULD SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHERE THE HELL SAZUKA IS??"
"Are we there yet?" Guyver asked, shrouded in the bright light of Tenchi's light hawk wings.
"Hard to say. The map that the wolves gave us is sketchy at best. We could very well be going in circles."
"WHAT? But we've been at this for an hour. Who knows how they're doing out there?"
"Take a right and you're there." A voice came out of nowhere, scaring both Tenchi and Guyver.
"What the hell?"
"You take a right and you're at the throne room." The severed hand of D crawled up on Guyver's shoulder and used one of his fingers to point in the right direction.
"Who...? Oh God!" Tenchi looked up at the hand waving at him, and held back the vomit caused by its repulsiveness.
"Yeah, nice to see you too kid. I'm here to make sure you don't screw up the job, that and gloat over that ungrateful bastard's corpse."
"All right. All right. Just don't get in our way." Guyver pressed his hand up against the side of the dank wall, searching with his fingers for possible clues. Coming upon none as he reached the door to the throne room, he motioned to Tenchi. "Ok, on 3."
"3!!!" Tenchi immediately jumped through foolishly with Guyver intow.
"DAMN IT!" Guyver screamed out as the two entered the throne room, standing in the middle. A large throne made up of blood and sinew stood in front of them.
"We made it." Tenchi brushed off his shoulder right as Guyver grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground.
"That little stunt you just pulled could have got us killed prince, you pull something like that again, I'll twist off your neck." Guyver immediately let go, causing Tenchi to slump to the ground, holding his neck in disbelief.
"Idle....hack....threats don't work well with me."
"Do it again and see if its idle." Guyver stood in front of Tenchi, doing his best to intimidate the prince.
"I have.....visitors." The throne began to become amassed in bats flowing from the ceiling as water flowing from a faucet. As the bats congregated, a form began to develop amongst the rodents. The form became the shape of a man, a tall thin man draped in black. A tall black hat sat atop his head, as if made for a broken down scarecrow. D smiled, his fangs glistening in the room. "Despite your many talents, I'm afraid you've underestimated me."
"That him?" Guyver asked the hand, shivering on his shoulder.
"Ye...Yeah."
"I see my hand has found its place with you." D raised the stump on his arm at them. "Then everything I planned has come to fruition."
"What? HEY!" With that, D's severed hand balled itself into a fist and rammed hard into Tenchi's face, stunning him if nothing else. It crawled its way to its master before Guyver could realize what was happening. D picked the hand up and placed it against the stump of his wrist, and in a matter of moments, the hand was back in its rightful place as if nothing had happened.
"Sorry kids, D never betrayed me. I betrayed you and those stinking wolves. Ahehehehe." The hand giggled, the old face on its palm seeping back from sight.
"SONUVA!"
"Do not be worried. You shall find a quick death. I daren't risk changing you into one of my kind, much to risky." D smiled, grabbing the hilt of his sword on next to his waist. "No matter, your friends are already dead outside."
"NO!"
"Yes. More than half the vampire population was brought to my castle, over 100,000 if I'm not mistaken. Things look bleak for you, but needn't worry, oh no. You'll be joining them soon enough."
End Chapter 4
Next Chapter: An Exile Dies.....
Chapter 4: Undead Tendencies Conclusion
"We have less than three hours till we go into a battle in which most likely we are going to die and I take it no one is going to sleep?" Guyver stated as he sprinted through a number of rocks and craters to be found through the werewolf civilization. His blades tore against the walls as he continued his training regiment, the rest of the team training alongside him.
"Yeah well, a little hard to sleep when you start thinking about an army of vampires bearing down on you for ANOTHER time." Vash dodged the various assault of pebbles and shrapnel blasting back it him from his teammates' training. He quickly took out more bullets from his red coat and slammed them into his guns' chambers. "I'm running out of bullets by the way."
"Yeah well, you could've been more careful about it, bristle boy." Ryoko's fist cracked against the side of the cavern, causing the wall to shake and splint.
"Oh sorry, I should have seen being trapped on a parallel world where I would need an unlimited supply of bullets at the ready. These sort of things happen all the time right? Should have seen it coming!"
"The thick sarcasm is noted Vash, however, please keep our training regiment as your top priority." Tenchi's light wings flashed out of his back, the blinding light causing Vash to trip on a rock in front of him, landing him flat on his face.
"Ack. Don't see how us dodging debree from Go-bot is going to help us in this upcoming scuffle."
"It will help cement the old saying 'expect the unexpected'." Sazuka brandished her sword into her sheath next to her side and ran alongside the walls, as if they were the ground under her feet.
"Lovely. I need rocks flying at my face to realize that." Vash sarcastically said as he rubbed his head.
"Plus we need the teamwork and junk, y'know." Allenbee winked with a smile as the energy in her hands kept changing to adapt to the situation. From gun to sword to claws, her mastery over said weapons were apparent.
"All I know is that right before I got here, I was helping one of the cities near me get a new source of power. If I don't finish with this whole 'alternate reality missions' crap, the city of August is going to whither and die like so many else in the desert." Vash slumped to the ground, scratching his head with the barrel of one of his guns. "What were you all doing before you got here, if you don't mind me askin'?"
"Well," Allenbee said as she and the rest of the group stopped their training exercises. "I was just finishing setting up my dojo to teach young fighters how to operate and perfect their Gundam capabilities. The Domon Dojo it would have been called. Don't know if I'll ever see it finished now."
"I'm sure you will." Sazuka smiled as she placed her hand on Allenbee's shoulder, the young girl astonished at the assassin's compassion. "As for my experience before being plucked away from my respective home, I had just finished completing an assignment dealing with a bounty hunter named MacDougal, quite a despicable man."
"Yikes. Hope I never have to be one of your 'assignments'." Vash gulped.
"Stay on my good side and you will not." Sazuka smiled.
"For my part, I had just finished signing a treaty that would unite all the provinces of Jurai. I was ushering in a brand new age for our civilization, with Ayeka at my si...." Tenchi stopped in mid-sentence, noticing Ryoko's distress at yet another realization that this was not the man she knew.
"You and Ayeka, that must be something." Ryoko snarled. "I had actually just finished knocking off one of Jurai's major banks, making most of the aristocracy bankrupt. I burned most of the money on principle."
"*Sigh* I'm sure your Tenchi would not have approved of that." Tenchi smiled.
"Yeah well, there's a difference between the man I know and you, pal." Ryoko teleported from sight, surpising everyone.
"I suppose we must face the facts that I am not who she knows and she is not the woman I once knew."
"Women. Can't live with em, can't live without their bodies." Vash said jokingly.
"Must you always act the fool?" Sazuka questioned.
"Hey, comes with the jacket babe. So what about you Guyver? What were you doing before our little get together?"
"......I would rather not talk about it." The man machine darted from the rest of the group, without so much as another word, continuing his training.
"I'm going to go with him." Allenbee reformed new energy weapons in her hands and followed Guyver down deeper into the gigantic cave.
"Wow. This group is a reeaaaaallllll barrel of laughs. I think I'll go play Russian Roullette with the Wolf tribe or something, that would be much more fun." Vash began walking away, but not before Sazuka reached to his head and plucked out one of his hairs. "OW! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?"
"Perhaps this will be the answer to our plight." Sazuka replied, blending into the shadows behind her, out of Vash's sight.
"What a creepy woman. You coming with me prince?"
"I'm afraid not, I'm going to go over the battle plans with the lycanthrop council. Hopefully I will be able to perfect our strategy for the upcoming battle. Enjoy yourself." Tenchi flew out of Vash's sight into the middle of the city, leaving the alien gun slinger alone.
"........God I need a drink."
Meanwhile, in the deeper part of the cavern, Guyver continued to train, with Allenbee behind him.
"Think you can keep up with me?" Guyver asked as he kept pounding his fists and blades against the various slabs found throughout the cave.
"Hey, before each tournament I would spend a week without sleep in whcih all I did was train. Pounding a bunch of rocks isn't going to be that difficult." Allenbee formed a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, keeping up with Guyver's every move as he blurred in and out of sight. Their blows collided with the walls and rocks of the cave that a large smoke began flowing around them. For several minutes, the training continued with each warrior noting the other's moves and attacks.
"Guyver?"
"Yea?"
"What's your real name?" This question caused Guyver to become so rattled that he lost concentration of what he was doing and flung his punch a few inches past his desired target of a large boulder sitting against the cavern wall. His arm flung to the side, pulling his body, causing him to fly upward and slam against the ground. "OH NO! Sorrysorrysorry."
"It's all right." Guyver got up almost instantaneously from his downed position, his arms pushing his body up and his legs hitting against the ground underneath them. "I'm very sturdy."
"No duh." Allenbee smiled and started laughing, Guyver following suit. "Wow, so you do laugh."
"Hahaha...." Guyver stopped in mid-laugh and cleared his throat. "Sometimes. It has been a while though."
"Well now that I've made you able to do it, you think you could go ahead and tell me your name now? And I swear if you say 'Guyver', I'll clock you one." Allenbee held up her fist threateningly, a big smile strewn across her face.
"It's....well....." Guyver paused. Allenbee did not need to see his face underneath the alien armor exterior to realize that he was reluctant in getting close with anyone. "Shin. I'm Shin."
"Well Shin, Its good to meet you." Allenbee stretched her hand out to Guyver. She once again noted his uneasiness as his shaky hand reached out to meet hers. The two hands touched and began shaking up and down with one another.
"Yeah. Nice to meet you." Guyver smiled underneath his armor.
"How's about we cut out with the training for now and take a breather?" Allenbee suggested, plopping down on the ground.
"I don't really get tired.......but I'll give it a shot." He sat down next to her, looking down at one of the many dillapidated huts that made up the werewolf city. "This is a strange world to be sure."
"Yeah. It hard to believe that a place like this exists at all." An awkward silence filled the air as the two continued watching the lycantrops continue their daily lives.
"Do you miss him?" Guyver asked out of nowhere, startling Allenbee.
"Who?"
"You're....boyfriend? Domon right?"
"Yeah. Yeah I do still miss him. I think..." Allenbee looked up to the ceiling of the cavern. "I think there will always be a part of me that misses him. He was the one."
"I know the feeling."
"I guess we can be sorry for each other then huh?" She smiled at Guyver, looked him in the eyes, then continued staring up at the ceiling. "Guyv.....Shin?"
"Yes?"
"What were you doing before you were brought here?"
"I....The....." A tear fell down from Shin's eye underneath the armor, unviewable from Allenbee's eyes. "The bomb sent by the UN to destroy the Zoanoids had just hit Tokyo. Everything had been wiped out amd I was looking for anyone in the rubble. I....knew....that no one had survived but I had to make sure. I went to her house and I found her there, clinging onto a torn picture of me. Right before I had been taken to this place, I had been cradling her body in my arms....in these arms."
"Oh God." Allenbee said as Guyver held his arms out.
"I can....understand the UN's decision but I'm starting to thank God that I was chosen for this. For whatever reason, I am so thankful for it because had I not been taken, had I been left there on my world, I would have killed them." Guyver clenched his fists and began shaking. " I would have killed every last man and woman in that building. I....I.....I lost everything."
"Shhhhh..." Allenbee wrapped her arms around Guyver as he began to sob, his alien face never changing.
"God....You....you mustn't tell the others. I need to be strong. I have to be...for those I've lost. I won't lose anyone else."
"Don't worry." Allenbee said as Guyver got out from under her arms and stood up.
"I'm going to go check out the city a little more. DO you want to come?" Guyver extended his hand out to Allenbee and lifted her off the ground.
"I would be delighted. By the way, I have one more thing to ask you."
"Yeah?"
"How do you stay so calm during all the battles? You're like a rock out there."
"Oh that's easy." Guyver pointed to his left arm. "You see I have a cd player in this arm that lets me listen to American Metal bands. Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, System of a Down. When you have stuff like that playing, fear seems to fall to the weigh side."
"SHUT UP!" Alennbee shouted laughing.
"It's true!"
"SHUT UP!"
"A beer, a beer, my kingdom for a beer." Vash said, on the other end of the large town, walking amongst the werewolves. With each step, Vash caught more and more stairs from each creature. The werewolves snarled under their breaths as they watched the gun slinger walk to a heavily populated hut. He slammed his foot against the door and jumped in. "YOU KNOW WHAT ALCOHOL IS OR WHAT?"
"*Sniff* Hrrrnnnn." The werewolf in front of Vash snarled, as all the werewolves in the hut began snarling. "Look like human, smells like stink. Heard about you. Supposed to bring down the vampires?"
"Yep, that's me. Me and my homies. Me and my amigos. You got anything that resembles an alcoholic beverage in this place."
"Don't think you should be here stink smelling human. Think you should be on your way. Think you be ripped apart otherwise." The werewolf brought his claws up to Vash's chin, and just as fast, the gun slinger brought the barrel of his gun under the creature's chin.
"Well I think that if you don't get out of my face right now, the last thing that will go through your head won't be the thought of what happens in the afterlife, but will be a bullet." Vash smiled as the werewolf backed away and bought his bluff.
"I am sorry for their actions traveler." The old werewolf who had originally brought Vash and the rest of the group to the cave appeared in the hut. "They are....hesitant when it comes to other species."
"Great, but the next time one of them tries that, give him a prozac or something would ya?"
"I will be sure to keep that in mind. I overheard that you were looking for....alcohol was it? Well I'm sorry but stimulants and hallucinigenics were human creations and are thus outlawed to be used by the lycanthrop community."
"OH GREAT! Can't even get a good shot or two before I go out into battle. Oh well. C'est la vie." Vash stomped out of the hut and made his fingers into the shape of a gun and pretended to fire at the werewolf who was causing him trouble earlier, winking as he did it.
"Ryoko? Ryoko, are you in here?" Tenchi walked into the room that Ryoko was given by the lycanthrop council.
"Go away." She sat in the air, levitating above her bed, her hand resting on her cheek, propping up her head.
"I know how you are feeling." Tenchi sat on the bed underneath her. "We have an uneasiness between us because we both know different versions of one another."
"That's putting it bluntly."
"Yes, well, I do know what you're feeling. When you.....when she died, I was crushed. My world felt like everything in it was going to hell. I had lost the only woman who....the only woman who I ever loved."
"......" Ryoko floated down next to him, sitting on the bed as well.
"With her gone, I found Ayeka. She was there to comfort me and with her, I found the strength to defeat Kagato, but not before he destroyed my world. I had lost my earth, but through Ayeka, I gained a new one in which I could call home. I became ruler of Jurai and made my place there. I never forgot about my Ryoko though, I haven't been able to get a good night's sleep since she died. Not a day goes by that I don't miss her."
"My....actions always got between me and my Tenchi. We agreed on our terms, but I still miss him. To me, it's as if he died. I put on a happy face and lose myself in my crimes, but it doesn't really help. Anger makes me forget, but I'm growing hollow." Ryoko wrapped her arms around her shoulders, shaking and holding back the tears.
"Maybe...we've found each other....." Tenchi looked into Ryoko's eyes as she looked back into his. The two leaned closer toward each other as they were ready to embrace. Inches from one another, Ryoko pulled back, tears streaming down her face.
"No. I can't." She got up from the bed and walked to the door. "You're...You're not him and....I'm not her. I can't. We can't."
"But....."
"Good night Tenchi." With that, Ryoko phased out of Tenchi's view, her tears remaining in the air and then slowly falling to the ground.
"Good night."
"We attack here." The leader of the council pointed to a large wall drawn on a slab of rock, as morning broke. The group stood around him with an army of werewolves behing them. "The castle is enclosed by a spell of darkness, which allows the vampires to function during the day as easily as they do in the night. Fortunately, this will help us as well as it will allow us to retain our bestial forms. The entire pack shall be needed in order to overtake their army and most importantly, cause a distraction to avert the eyes of the vampire king. However, we may have a problem gaining entrance into the king's throne room."
"Why?" Guyver questioned.
"Spells have been placed upon it so that only those without heartbeats may enter. Any who try to enter who have blood rushing through their bodies will be cut down before they lay one foot into the room."
"Yep yep. That's the way it goes. Aheh." The former hand of D croaked, from his container prison.
"Where the hell is Sazuka?" Vash looked around at all the fanged creatures standing around him, finding the sorceress to be nowhere.
"Too late to worry about her now." Allenbee replied, practicing her reflexes by quickly changing the energy in her hands to different weapons.
"So we need people who can get in who don't have heartbeats? That mean's I'm in." Guyver pointed to himself.
"What? Wanna run that past us again gear boy?" Ryoko asked.
"My heartbeat doesn't register while I'm in the suit. Its how I escaped from the Zoanoids when I stormed the Kronos corporation. They thought I was dead after not finding my heartbeat, but it turns out that the suit dampens my heartbeat as I live through its abilities."
"Nifty." Vash spun his guns around his fingers, trying unsuccessfully to impress everyone around him.
"I shall accompany him." Tenchi placed his hand on Guyver's shoulder, causing the man machine to growl under his breath. "When my light hawk wings surround me completely, I am able to bypass any security or spell as I walk through realities."
"Wow. My Tenchi only managed to harness a fraction of the light hawk wings' powers when he used them." Ryoko flew next to the prince of Jurai.
"Yes well, had I not learned how to use them to their full potential, Jurai would have fallen under the attacks of the mad scientist, Washu."
"WHAT?" Ryoko gasped.
"Very well. Our chances of victory lie upon the success of you two strange beings. We are putting our faith into you. Are you unable to destroy D, our deaths are assured, along with the deaths of your friends."
"Sure do know how to make people feel better right before their about to go into bloody war don't they?" Vash laughed uneasily. "By the way, I don't see why we don't just use our main guns, ie my angel arms or Ryoko, to just nuke the place."
"Because Vash," Guyver angrily said, becoming irritated at the gun slinger's constant attitude. "the vampires have living, breathing human beings in there to feed on, and we cannot endanger them. This is the only way that we will be able to minimize the human casualties."
"You tell the wolves that?" Vash whispered.
"Its a need to know basis, they don't need to know."
"You must understand our situation. We do this only because we have little time before the vampires amass to destroy us themselves. We will put an end to them before they put an end to us. Without their king, their viciousness will fall apart as leaves in the flame." The werewolf leader spoke with a thunderous voice, rallying the spirits of the lycanthrop troups, along with the spirits of the Exiles. "THOUGH WE MAY FALL INTO THE DARKNESS, THE SPIRIT OF OUR PACK WILL LIVE ON! WE WILL NEVER DIE!"
"Oh wow. He's quite the speech giver." Allenbee whispered to Guyver.
"Yes, he has to be. He's leading his people into hell."
"THE SPIRIT RUNS ALONGSIDE US! OUR PREY IS THE VAMPIRES! LET US BRING ABOUT THEIR DESTRUCTION ON THE BACKS OF THOSE WE HAVE LOST! WE WILL NOT FAIIIILLLLLL!" With that, every wolf in the pack howled as loud as they could and began running at full speed out of the cave. The group of exiles were astonished at the wolves unity as they strove, almost feeling anxious about the battle ahead.....almost.
"Off we go I guess." Vash sighed as he began following the wolves. "Man, can I ever get a break or what?"
"You two." The leader of the wolf pack pointed to Guyver and Tenchi.
"Yes?"
"May the spirit watch over you in this battle." The wolf knelt down in front of them, showing them respect that the two thought was completely absent from these once bloodthirsty beasts. With that, he ran on all fours behind the rest of his pack.
"Ha. It would seem we are in fact not coming back from this one." Tenchi noted, a smile crossing his face.
"Everyone will come back from this, I'm sure of it." Guyver responded as he dashed behind the werewolves, the rest of the group following suit.
Many miles later, as the wolves had been changed into their weak human forms in the blistering sun, after running their hearts out, the army came upon the darkened area. The sun seemed to vanish from the surrounding blackened clouds, various creatures and demons circling the sky. Strewn throughout the wasteland were large picks protruding from the ground with human corpses impaled upon them. Each face on each corpse was locked in a hideous fashion, as if they had faced an end worse than anything they could have imagined in their darkest fears. Many of the corpses, strewn on these bitter, blackened spikes, were children.
"My....God." Allenbee gasped as tears began running down her face.
"Never said this was gonna be pretty." The blades on Guyver's arms sprung to life as he anticipated the oncoming battle. "TENCHI! TAKE US IN NOW!"
"I hardly need to take orders from...." Tenchi stopped, realizing it was not the best time to start an argument. He sighed as the light wings burst from his back and wrapped around Guyver and himself, making them invisible to everyone.
"Where did they...?"
"They will make their way into the castle and do their job, and so will we!" The leader of the wolf's body cracked and shaked as fur began to erupt all over him, his form changing into his true self. The rest of the pack did the same as they all began to howl.
"Great. I am so not ready for this." Allenbee said, shaking as she formed a shield in one hand and a blade in the other.
"Ready or not kiddo, we're going." Ryoko flew into the sky, energy crackling in her hands.
"Funny that Sazuka never showed." Vash cocked the triggers of his guns as he watched tens of thousands of vampires pouring out of the castle/city. The group ran behind the wolves as the two armies intercepted and began to fight viciously. Ryoko flew fast through the vampire armies, causing various explosions, breaking apart the legion. She flew up into the air, a group of vampires grabbing at her as she skyrocketed.
"GET OFF!" Ryoko spun as fast as she could in the air, shaking all the vampires off. The vampires flew to the ground and hit it with such force that the bones in their bodies snapped like twigs in a hail storm, allowing the wolves to bear down on them.
"HOOOOO YA!" Vash began firing shot after shot into the crowd of vampires, blowing off various parts of their bodies. He spun and twisted his body to avoid the claws of the vampires around him. A knife sprung out of each of his boots as he kicked hard into two of the creatures' heads. The vampires, impaled but still alive, brought him down to the ground hard. "OH CRAP!"
"Nowwwww yooouuu diiieeee." The vampire hissed as Vash tried to reach for his pistols. Right as the fangs found their way to Vash's throat, two members of the wolf pack ripped into the vampires and tore their legs from out of their bodies.
"Wow. Saved by the wolfmen. Ha!" Vash smiled as he gave a thumbs up the werewolves, the wolves not understanding his gesture. The armies were suffering casualties on both ends, even though the wolves were horribly outnumbered, they fought hard.
"We're getting killed here!" Allenbee said as she rammed an energy dagger into a vampire's heart.
"WE HAVE TO HOLD OUT UNTIL GUYVER AND TENCI KILL THE LEADER!" Vash pumped more and more bullets into the vampires. "AND COULD SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME WHERE THE HELL SAZUKA IS??"
"Are we there yet?" Guyver asked, shrouded in the bright light of Tenchi's light hawk wings.
"Hard to say. The map that the wolves gave us is sketchy at best. We could very well be going in circles."
"WHAT? But we've been at this for an hour. Who knows how they're doing out there?"
"Take a right and you're there." A voice came out of nowhere, scaring both Tenchi and Guyver.
"What the hell?"
"You take a right and you're at the throne room." The severed hand of D crawled up on Guyver's shoulder and used one of his fingers to point in the right direction.
"Who...? Oh God!" Tenchi looked up at the hand waving at him, and held back the vomit caused by its repulsiveness.
"Yeah, nice to see you too kid. I'm here to make sure you don't screw up the job, that and gloat over that ungrateful bastard's corpse."
"All right. All right. Just don't get in our way." Guyver pressed his hand up against the side of the dank wall, searching with his fingers for possible clues. Coming upon none as he reached the door to the throne room, he motioned to Tenchi. "Ok, on 3."
"3!!!" Tenchi immediately jumped through foolishly with Guyver intow.
"DAMN IT!" Guyver screamed out as the two entered the throne room, standing in the middle. A large throne made up of blood and sinew stood in front of them.
"We made it." Tenchi brushed off his shoulder right as Guyver grabbed him by the neck and lifted him off the ground.
"That little stunt you just pulled could have got us killed prince, you pull something like that again, I'll twist off your neck." Guyver immediately let go, causing Tenchi to slump to the ground, holding his neck in disbelief.
"Idle....hack....threats don't work well with me."
"Do it again and see if its idle." Guyver stood in front of Tenchi, doing his best to intimidate the prince.
"I have.....visitors." The throne began to become amassed in bats flowing from the ceiling as water flowing from a faucet. As the bats congregated, a form began to develop amongst the rodents. The form became the shape of a man, a tall thin man draped in black. A tall black hat sat atop his head, as if made for a broken down scarecrow. D smiled, his fangs glistening in the room. "Despite your many talents, I'm afraid you've underestimated me."
"That him?" Guyver asked the hand, shivering on his shoulder.
"Ye...Yeah."
"I see my hand has found its place with you." D raised the stump on his arm at them. "Then everything I planned has come to fruition."
"What? HEY!" With that, D's severed hand balled itself into a fist and rammed hard into Tenchi's face, stunning him if nothing else. It crawled its way to its master before Guyver could realize what was happening. D picked the hand up and placed it against the stump of his wrist, and in a matter of moments, the hand was back in its rightful place as if nothing had happened.
"Sorry kids, D never betrayed me. I betrayed you and those stinking wolves. Ahehehehe." The hand giggled, the old face on its palm seeping back from sight.
"SONUVA!"
"Do not be worried. You shall find a quick death. I daren't risk changing you into one of my kind, much to risky." D smiled, grabbing the hilt of his sword on next to his waist. "No matter, your friends are already dead outside."
"NO!"
"Yes. More than half the vampire population was brought to my castle, over 100,000 if I'm not mistaken. Things look bleak for you, but needn't worry, oh no. You'll be joining them soon enough."
End Chapter 4
Next Chapter: An Exile Dies.....
