Chapter 13 on the house!
Apologies if this took long.
Review Time!
SulliMike23: We'll find out soon enough…
DB-19: Oh ye of little faith…
Pyromania101: Had a great New Year and im still sticking with the canon pairings. Your idea sounds great but I have something special planned for her!
Arkham Knight: Thanks for the review!
Gemm1mt: Yes, I plan to do chapters just like that in the near future.
Noob6: they did kinda team up in the manga once.
Junior VB: And not a moment too soon!
King of Fans: Let's hope they do just that!
NRG: Thanks. I had a hard time finding the best track that captured that feeling and I think I nailed it.
Thaqif: You could've warned me that it was a hentai, so no.
Strike the Blood: Much appreciated!
Trzn: Here ya go!
Red John. Exactly. Read on and find out what happens next.
Jfazend5,Guest #2, The Guyver and Godzilla: I get it, you guys are Sheele fans but try to keep the review section centered on the story for next time. Thank you.
Colossalblackening: Bingo! I'm planning something major for Esdeath.
MUTO TOHO: FINALLY someone agrees with me! He had an awful poker face! The Emporer was as dumb as a brick!
Wayward Son: Read on for a surprise!
Dark Avenger: I'll give those a listen and I'll see if I can use them. You offer some pretty good tracks. Najenda was desperate to find out what the hell was going on and had no idea the perpetrators were invincible metal monsters. Desperation can cause someone to not think straight.
RaptorRapist: MEGATRON IS IRRELEVANT.
Shadowlord: It's updated now!
The Question: I will reveal that in future chapters.
Writing Warrior: Not unless he can explain himself.
Crime Fighter: Oooooh! That's a good one.
Guest #1: WHAM!
DeathlyDue: Thanks. It really means a lot to me.
Orga: Don't worry, she gets better soon.
Samurai Jack and Akame ga Kill belong to their respective owners. I do not own either of them.
Chapter 13
Unexpected Help
KYOROCH
Night Raid stared in dumfounded shock at their rescuers. Never in a millions years did they think that two of the Empire's most powerful and monstrous Generals would save their lives. It was impossible yet they had just witnessed it happen before their eyes. Being the newest member of Night Raid, Tatsumi didn't share his friend's looks of disbelief and analyzed the two imposing figures before him.
The first was a woman wearing high heels and an Imperial army uniform standing around the same height as Najenda and was a striking vision of beauty: silky blue hair, steely yet beautiful eyes, a slender body and porcelain colored skin gave her a stunningly gorgeous appearance. But Tatsumi could tell that behind her alluring figure lay a hardened warrior with years of combat experience. There was no doubt that this woman was the infamous General Esdeath his friends had talked about so much.
But she too had fought a hopeless battle against the metal monstrosities. Her uniform was shredded to pieces, bandages were wrapped around her wounds with blood seeping through them and she looked ready to fall over at any second. But the one thing that caught Tatsumi's eye was the massive, bloodied slash mark running from her left shoulder, through the tattoo on her chest and snaked down to her waist. He took note that her tattoo was the same as the brandings on the bodies of the Imperial soldiers they had found in the northern territories a few days earlier.
The second one was a literal giant. He towered over the others and sported rippling muscles that put Bulat's to shame. He wore a black shirt and white pants while multiple plates of grey colored armor covered his chest, feet, shoulders and other parts of his body. He had a stony demeanor as well as spiky blond hair with two tufts peaking outwards, making it look like he had antenna. One noticeable feature was the pair of golden colored gauntlets he wore with piston like attachments. Judging by those numerous bolts of lightning from earlier, those gauntlets had to be the Teigu known as Adramelech that Susanoo mentioned days ago. Could this man be Budo, the General second only to Esdeath?
Like Esdeath, he too looked like he had been through a wringer. His armor was cracked in several areas, his Teigu had been heavily damaged, bruises decorated his face, his legs were almost completely encased in bloody bandages and looked just as fatigued as Esdeath. It was shocking to see two people who wielded Teigus that could decimate entire armies be reduced to barely standing wrecks.
"Wow…" Leone croaked, still in pain. "Those things must've hit my head really, really hard."
Najenda was just as shocked and confused as everyone else. Why would Esdeath and Budo of all people save their lives? There had to be some kind of ulterior motive here. Nothing added up. She turned to Esdeath and the two briefly locked gazes before Esdeath instantly looked the other way. Najenda blinked in bewilderment. She was fully expecting Esdeath to gleefully chew her out for her failure and gloat about how superior she was. To just look away was not like Esdeath at all. But Najenda noticed something before Esdeath avoided her gaze. For the briefest moment…she could've sworn she saw what looked like shame on her face.
Ignoring Esdeath for the moment, she looked up at Budo who was now looking down at her. "So…come here to finish the job?" She said spitefully.
"On the contrary, it's the exact opposite." He replied as he held out his hand. "Come with us if you want to live." Everyone, save for Tatsumi, stared wide eyed at the General with hung open mouths.
"Come with you?" Akame repeated, immediately suspicious as she gripped her broken arm. "And how will that help us live?" Everybody else shared Akame's feelings of distrust. These two couldn't be trusted, especially Esdeath.
"G…..guh….guysh….!" Sheele gasped in horror, her torn open cheek impeding her speech. Everyone saw that she was pointing a shaking finger to the enormous smoke cloud, that had been created by Budo and Esdeath's combined attacks, a considerable distance away from.
Night Raid went white with fear.
The Generals visibly tensed up, their teeth clenched in frustration.
(Theme of the T-1000)
They were getting back up. Those things were getting back up.
From within the smoke, they could see the silhouettes of the creatures stand up and every one of their blood-red eyes focus directly upon them. All of Night Raid felt like they were trapped in a nightmare. These monsters just took the combined might of the Empire's strongest Generals and they were still alive and unscathed.
"Aw no,no,no,no,no NO! THIS CANT BE REAL, MAN! WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE THINGS?! THIS AIN'T POSSIBLE!" Lubbock panicked.
"I had a feeling that wouldn't stun them for long." Esdeath said dryly. Channeling a mist of ice in her right hand, she thrusted her fist into the ground and the mist seeped into the earth. The creatures emerged from the smoke and immediately began rushing over to their targets-
THRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
A massive wall of thick ice, almost as tall as the walls that surrounded the Empire, encircled the creatures! Esdeath also had ice close off the top to prevent the ones that could fly from escaping and another layer beneath them to prevent the one that could burrow through the earth from tunneling an exit. Esdeath collapsed to her hands and knees while taking labored breaths. "That's it…that's all…..I can do for now…but it won't hold them…"
Budo nodded and turned to the ruined building behind him. "Gather the survivors!" He shouted. From out of the hole in the building, four men (one in armor) and a small dog emerged from the building and hurried towards Night Raid. One thing that the three men had in common was that they were wall covered in wounds and bloody bandages just like Esdeath and Budo. All of them clear signs that they had fought against the monsters and lost. Horribly.
The first man was around the same height and had the same muscular build as Budo but was shirtless and wore a disturbing looking gas mask. His mask and pants were torn in several places and wore a large gasoline tank on his back with a skull-like nozzle attachment, indicating that it was some kind of flamethrower. He scooped up Lubbock, Mine, Sheele and Akame and carried them underneath his arms.
The second one was a young man with fair blonde hair and golden eyes. His clothing consisted of torn and burnt white robes worn over black shirt and pants with a brown belt. He also had a feather pin behind his ear but like his clothes, that was burnt too. But one the most astounding feature this young man bared was the bird-like wings that emerged from his back! Upon closer inspection however, the wings emanated from the pair of intricately designed discs that floated behind his back. He picked up Leone in a bridal carry.
The third wore black, full body armor that was cracked, caved in and broken in almost every area. A defensive film hovered behind him that extended to his shoulders but it had been shattered like glass. One half of his helmet had been cracked open, revealing the wearer's left eye (which was a dark blue in color) and a tuft of his black hair. Tatsumi and Night Raid instantly took note that the armor was almost identical to Incursio's armored form! He went over to Susanoo and carefully stood him up while slinging the humanoid Teigu's arm over his shoulder.
The last one was an aged man in his 40's with spiky gray hair with a long ponytail and a pointed mustache that curved upwards. He wore damaged clothing that was the same as Esdeath's Three Beasts, Daidara and Nyau, meaning that he was most likely the third and last Beast. He went up to Bulat and the former Imperial solder's moth fell open in shock as he recognized him.
"G-general Liver?!" Bulat gasped in astonishment.
"Bulat." Liver replied with a nod as he helped up his longtime friend.
The tiny dog that accompanied the men trotted up to Tatsumi and Chelsea on its abnormally stubby legs. The two of them noticed that something about this dog was…off. It looked more like walking stuffed animal than and actual dog. Before the two could react, the dog suddenly grew in height and its tiny arms were now hideously muscled and human-like while its head was disproportionally huge with the rest of its grotesque body, a line of drool hanging from its toothy mouth!
"Kyuuuuuuuuuuuu…"The dog slurred, its blank eyes frighteningly reminiscent of a shark.
"AAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Tatsumi and Chelsea shrieked as the dog monster grabbed them and carried the pair in its meaty, cow-sized hands.
Budo went over and helped Najenda up as he looked over to the prison of ice. He could hear the sounds of drilling, punching and muffled explosions coming from within. Esdeath was right; it wouldn't hold for long.
"Back to the ruins! MOVE!" Budo commanded and he carried Najenda in his arms. With a nod, the four men and the dog monster bolted through the streets as they carried Night Raid, with Budo and Esdeath up front.
"Wait! The horses-"Najenda began before she was cut off by Budo.
"There's no time!" He yelled.
They ran through the streets until they escaped into the open desert, ignoring the blistering heat of the sun shining down upon them. They continued to run as fast as their legs could carry them and they weren't going to stop for anything. Esdeath looked behind her to see that that everyone was leaving their footprints in the sand. If the creatures did escape, they would have a way to track them.
"Run! Cover our tracks!" She ordered to the one with wings. Nodding, Run looked to Leone who he still carried.
"Hang on." He said to her as he flew upward and rapidly flapped his wings towards the direction of the footprints so gusts of wind would blow the sand over them. The group continued to run for well over and hour while Run kept covering their trail. They came upon a sand dune and trudged upward until they got to the top and saw the ruins of some long lost temple partially buried in the sand a few feet away. They slid down the dune and headed towards the ruins, which soon turned out to big much larger up close than Night Raid thought.
After running through the winding columns submerged in the sand, they finally came upon a large courtyard with numerous ancient buildings in the background that had sunk into the desert. Two girls were present in the courtyard with one of them getting up and ran up to them.
She was a young girl with auburn-colored hair like Chelsea tied up in a ponytail. She was dressed in a black and white Imperial military uniform with upper body armor, grey colored boots and white stockings. The most startling thing about her was that she had no arms. They were gone! The only things in place of her limbs were bandages wrapped around where they used to be!
"Guys! You found survivors?" She inquired. The dog monster set Tatsumi and Chelsea down as it transformed back to its smaller form and trotted up to the girl's legs. "Are they hurt?"
"Badly." Liver replied. "Seryu, get what's left our medical supplies on the double."
"Right-" Seryu said before she stopped herself and noticed Sheele, Bulat, Akame and Najenda. She instantly recognized who they were. "You…I've seen you in the wanted posters….you..." He face started to visibly contort into rage and insanity as she turned to the man in armor.
"YOU HELPED NIGHT RAID?!" She raged.
The man in armor sighed. "We-"
"WHAT IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE IS WRONG WITH YOU, WAVE?! THESE VILLIANS ARE EVIL!"
"SERYU! We don't have time for this! Get first aid, now!" Wave shouted.
Biting her lip in frustration to the point where she drew blood, Seryu begrudgingly ran over to where the other girl was and grabbed one of the backpacks that were near her with her teeth. Akame noticed the other girl was sitting in a fetal position with her head buried in her arms. There was something about this girl that made her uneasy.
For one thing, she looked almost similar to herself. Her attire consisted of a black and red sailor uniform with a red side skirt, red gauntlets and her shoes and stockings were both colored black. Her hair was tied up in a twin tail style that made Akame's eyes widen. She knew of only one person who had that kind of hair style. The girl looked up and her eyes met with Akame's. A small gasp escaped Akame's lips.
It was her sister. Kurome.
She was alive!
Though she didn't let it show, Akame was immensely relived and overjoyed that her sister survived. But then it was replaced by sympathy when she saw just how terrible Kurome looked. She was as white as a sheet, shook like a leaf and her eyes were devoid of any life: hollow, empty and broken. It was evident to Akame that a combination of the Empire's destruction, the loss of Yatsufusa, the trauma from fighting the metal creatures and the resulting withdrawal from her drug laced cookies had taken a heavy toll on Kurome's body and mind.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmmmmmmbbbbbbbbbbblllll
A low rumbling sound caught everyone attention as they looked over to the sand dune.
Tatsumi went pale. "Oh no…"
KYOROCH
SKKKKKKKAAAAAAAAAAAKRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSHHHHHHH
The entire front portion of the ice prison exploded outward, sending shards of thick ice scattering across the ground. The invincible creatures sauntered out of the prison one by one and began to scan the area. So far there were no signs of life at all in the city but they found multiple footprints imprinted in the dirt, leading out into the desert. They all followed the footprints out to the desert where the trail seemed to end. Walking a bit more into the literal ocean of barren sand, they stopped to scan the area again for more footprints but could find none. It was like their targets spontaneously disappeared.
But they had to have fled somewhere. Concluding that they must've concealed their trail, Army Slayer rotated his head to the others behind him and pointed upwards. Scorched Earth, Tengu and Singularity flew up into the air stopped at a fixed height. There wasn't a cloud in the sky which made it easier for them to scan the landscape. The 3 of them were searching for any settlement or place where their targets could've hid and after several seconds, they found what they were looking for. A series of buried ruins several miles from Kyoroch looked like the most ideal place for their targets to hide. They began to run the numbers in their internal processors.
PROBABILITY….82.4%
They flew back down to the others and pointed north. The creatures then began to literally fold themselves back into their basket disguises, their limbs neatly compacting into their bodies. With the transformation complete they began to roll across the desert like a pack of tumbleweeds towards the ruins.
Meanwhile, on a sand dune at the opposite end of Kyoroch, the mysterious figure watched the rolling creatures disappear into the distance through his binoculars. Setting them down, he disappeared behind the dune and a bright flash of light followed afterwards, leaving only the howling wind.
To be continued…
I know this chapter was short but I felt like it was necessary, pacing wise.
I enjoyed making this chapter because I wanted to showcase the Jaegers finally arriving! I also liked adding in the theme for the T-1000 because there is no better track that captures emotionless, robotic horror. If you think about it, the original episode felt like an homage to Terminator.
Stay tuned for the next chapter!
Don't forget to review but please don't flame.