Chapter 4 The Serpent and the Rattlesnake
Ricco smirked as he saw that the main hall had been cleared of dark mages. "Alright Marco do you think you understand what to do yet?" There was no answer. Ricco frowned "Hey I know your not used to all this but... where did he go?" Ricco looked frantically around the room but Marco was nowhere to be found.
"Where the hell did he go?" Sakura asked. "He was right here a few seconds ago."
Ricco sighed. "I guess we'll have to go and look for him. I'll check the right hall and you can take a look at the left."
Sakura nodded. "Alright that sounds like a plan. Just remember to keep an eye out for the Heads alright."
"Yeah Yeah." Ricco said waving her off. "You forgot who your talking to I'm a professional so there's nothing to worry about."
"That doesn't ease my worries in the slightest." Sakura sighed.
Marco however was hopelessly lost in the castle. "How did I even get here?" He asked himself. Marco continued to blindly wander throughout the base as he stumbled upon a group of dark mages.
"Hey it's one of those kids!" One of them yelled.
"Let's take him out!"
"He can't fight all of us at once!" The dark makers were about to charge.
"Hey can you all wait a second?" Marco asked preventing their approach. "Alright thank you, so if I came from this direction and took a left then the main hall should be to the right."
"I don't think there is a way to get downstairs from there." One of the dark mages said.
"No they just installed that stairwell remember?" Another added.
"Huh that's strange I didn't take any stairs." Marco mused.
"There's a ramp on the left side of the hallway." Another Serpens Fang member chimed in.
The leader of the group rubbed their temples. "Did you all forget what we're trying to do here!"
"Oh yeah!" They all realized at once "attack!"
"Mind Dragon Roar" The mages didn't get very far though since Marco blasted them away. "Well that was rude." He grumbled. "And I'm still lost."
Yoro carefully wandered through the castle halls checking each room for any trace of the remaining Serpens Fang guild members. Until finally he spotted a room with water spread along the floor. The rest of the room was pitch black. Yoro carefully walked inside before the door suddenly closed behind him.
"Yarrr." Yoro stiffened as the gruff voice echoed throughout the room.
"Hey who's there!" Yoro asked. "Show yourself!"
"Yarharhar!" The voice bellowed. "So ye want to know who I am?" Three spotlights shown on a stage that resembled the deck of a ship. "My name is Sesor the Serpent head of Serpent's Fang."
The rest of the lights turned on revealing the rest of the room. Opposite of the stage was the front of a full sized pirate ship. Flags and maps littered the walls and barrels and crates were placed in the corners of the room.
Yoro smirked. "So you're pretty strong then huh?"
Sesor laughed. "Not even close kid! There are plenty of dark guilds that could take us out if they wanted to. But if we're talkin in terms of you verses me then yeah I'll be a tough fight."
"That's perfect." Yoro said excitedly. "I've got someone I need to surpass so I hope you won't feel to bad when I pound your face in."
"Now wait a second lad can't we just talk this out or something?" Sesor asked.
"A dark mage wants to talk things out?" Yoro laughed. "Oh that's priceless!"
Sesor sighed. "I knew that damn title would come to bite me in the ass."
Sakura during her search for Marco stumbled upon a greenhouse plants and vines grew to giant proportions and the outer walls were covered in glass. "What would a dark guild need a greenhouse for?" She wondered.
"It's for me." Sakura looked at the sky as Nina rode one of the vines back towards the ground. "My name is Nina Serpent Fang's Cobra Head."
"That makes sense." Sakura said. "You must use these things to fight then."
Nina gasped and hugged one of the vines. "Don't you dare call them things!"
"But they're only vines..." Sakura said confused "It's not like they can hear me or anything."
"Oh your just like Roku." Nina huffed. "They are alive and you know how I know?"
Sakura rolled her eyes. "How?"
"Because they're creeping up behind you."
Sakura jumped forward as vines sprinted out ready to puncture her. "What the hell is wrong with you!" Sakura asked.
"I told you I'm not doing anything." Nina said. "The vines do what they want, even if I told them to they wouldn't stop their attack. They don't care what I say they're a separate entity entirely."
"If that's the case then..." "Summon Tengu." Sakura took a card out of her Requip space and wind came bellowing out of it. A small twister appeared in the middle of the battle field and all of the nearby plants and vines were sliced to pieces.
When the wind dispersed a child emerged. He had red skin and a long nose with long flowing white hair. He had a small sword strapped to his side and wore wooden sandals, baggy white pants, and a blue vest. "Hey Miss Sakura!" Tengu said excitedly. "What do you need?"
Sakura took a naginata out of her requip space. "We're doing some gardening today."
Nina growled. "Not if I have anything to say about it."
Sesor blew a whistle hanging around his neck. "Get out here ye lazy bastards!"
At his call two men and a women scurried into the room and gave a salute. The largest man wore a red sailor's suit and a red bandanna. The other male wore the same outfit except he was clad in yellow. The women was the shortest of the group and wore a green variant of the outfit. "Yes Sesor sir!"
"Prepare fer battle lads for the glory of Serpent's Fang!" Sesor roared.
"Yes sir!" The three ran out of three separate doors and a mechanical whirring filled the room.
"What in the world is going on?" Yoro asked.
"Don't you worry about a thing, I just need to prep the battlefield." Sesor answered.
"Oh is that it? Go ahead then I guess I'd never grow stronger if my opponents were handicapped." Yoro said.
Sesor frowned. "Is that why yer all doing this? To grow stronger?"
"Ha! Like you don't know why we're here." Yoro laughed. "Dark guilds are evil. That's just a fact of life."
"Were not all that bad ye know." Sesor countered. "You've never met me before how would you know if I'm evil or not?" Before Yoro could answer the room began to change. Water began pouring out of holes in the wall. The ship and the stage detached from the wall and combined into a single large boat that Yoro and Sesor jumped onto. There were three balconies near the rooms ceiling each of which containing a sailor and a cannon.
"Battle preparations completed sir!" The three said in unison.
Sesor shook his head. "I really don't like frighten kids but..." a large anchor appeared in Sesor's hands. "I also ain't a fan of little punks beaten up my buddies. Let's see if you can combat my Captain magic." Sesor threw the anchor at Yoro who blocked it with his "Earth Make Wall"!
"Fireball" Yoro quickly jumped out if the way of a fire ball that came from one of the cannons in the room. "So I guess that's what you meant by preparations then?"
"That's right lad not only do you have to worry about me and my captain magic but you'll also have ta worry bout my crew's cannons." Sesor said.
"That's just like you dark wizards you can only win in an unfair fight." Yoro said "Earth Make Rifle" "Let's even up the odds." Yoro aimed the rifle but before he could make a single shot a cannon ball rammed into his side. Yoro glared at Sesor and froze.
The man looked at Yoro with pure rage. "You ain't hurting any of my crew while I'm still standing."
"Go captain go!" His crew roared.
'What the hell?' Yoro thought. 'This... this isn't how far wizards usually act.' Yoro shook his head "That's a pretty good trick, but I won't fall for your deceptions!"
"Sails" "At this point I don't care what you think of me." Two large sails appeared next to Sesor and created large bursts of wind roving the boat back and forth across the flooded room.
"Fireball" "Windball" "Thunderball" While Yoro struggled to keep his balance blasts of thunder, wind, and fire came from the cannons above.
"Earth Make Dome" To protect himself Yoro created a dome of solid earth.
Sesor pulled up his sleeve "That won't protect you fer long lad." He cocked back his fist and punched straight through the dome.
"Earth Make Cannon" Sesor flew back and crashed into the deck of the ship. "I'm going to end this in one last attack." Yoro said.
"Quickly protect the captain!" "Fireball" "Windball" "Thunderball"
"Earth Make Wall" four walls of earth surrounded Yoro protecting him from the incoming magic "Earth Make Mace" and armed himself with a mace immediately afterwards.
That was when Sesor recovered from the sudden blast of magic and noticed that Yoro was charging straight towards him. "Nice try kid, but you ain't winning that easily." "Cannons" Two large cannonballs shot out of Sesor's open palms.
Yoro batter them away with his mace and leaped into the air "Finishing Blow" Yoro slammed the mace on Sesor's head successfully knocking him out."
"Captain!" Before Yoro could celebrate his victory Sesor's crew jumped down from the balcony and onto the ship. "Don't you lay your hands on him!" The red one yelled.
"We'll fight you in the captains place!" The yellow one continued.
"We're Captain Sesor's Sailor triplets Tauna!" The one in green.
"Guana!" The red one continued.
"And Rauna!" The yellow one finished.
"Oh that's going to get confusing real fast." Yoro muttered. "Rauna." He said pointing to the red sailor. "I want to ask you something."
"No I'm Guana." Guana said. "He's Rauna."
"Well then Tauna can you answer a question for me?" Yoro asked.
"No I'm Tauna." The girl said. "The red one is named Guana."
"Aright thank you now Fauna can you..."
"None of us are named Fauna." They all said at once.
"I'm Tauna, the red one is Rauna and the green one is..."
"No I'm Guana!" The red one yelled. "That's Fauna and..."
"Wait I thought none of you were named Fauna..." Yoro said.
"God damn it now we're all confused!" Rauna yelled.
"You know what I'm going to call you green, red, and yellow deal?" Yoro asked.
"Yeah that works." Tauna/green agreed.
"Alright then green can you answer a question for me?"
"Sure"
"Alright why are you all part of a dark guild if you don't act like dark wizards? You care about your comrades, you tried to talk before fighting, and you weren't actively trying to kill me during the fight. You all are better behaved then some legal guilds, so why be a dark guild."
The triplets shared a glance. "We can't really tell you that." Guana/red said. "It's the captain's secret so I wouldn't really feel comfortable telling you."
"We joined because it's the captain's guild." Rauna/yellow continued. "But we can't really tell you more then that."
Yoro looked away and grit his teeth. "All dark guilds are evil that's a fact of life. But I'm going to give you guys the benefit of the doubt here don't make me regret it. Take your captain and leave, just try not to be spotted by a guy in a leather jacket and shades.
The three nodded. "Thanks a lot." Rauna/yellow said. The three then lift their unconscious captain and escaped in a dingey attached to the ship.
Yoro sighed. "This whole day has been backwards and confusing." He then noticed a much more pressing issue. "Wait a second that was the last dingy! How the hell am I supposed to get off this ship!"
Marco continued to wander around the castle halls until he heard a loud noise. "BWAHHHH" he tripped and fell on his face. "What the hell was that!?" He asked himself. Marco looked frantically for the source of the noise but couldn't find anything. What he didn't notice however was that a blue light flowed on a large metal door behind him.
Tengu groaned "Gardening Miss Sakura? I thought we were going to do something fun!"
"No Tengu were not actually gardening we're going to be fighting that women." Sakura clarified.
"Huh? Then why didn't you just say that Miss Sakura?" Tengu asked.
"Well I was trying to be clever and... you know what it doesn't matter." Sakura sighed.
"Huh?! What do you mean it doesn't matter? That's not fair I wanna know!" Tengu whined.
"Did you really bring a child to a battle field?" Nina asked. "You call me evil but that's just downright cruel."
Tengu froze and glared at Nina. "What did you say about Miss Sakura?"
"Uhhh I said she looked really cool." Nina hastily amended.
"Oh alright then." Tengu said cheerfully.
"What the hell is wrong with that kid?" Nina asked herself.
"Tengu come on we're supposed to fight her." Sakura said. "We can play afterwards."
"But all we ever do is fight." Tengu whined. "Can't we do something else?"
"How about this..." Sakura opened up her Requip space. "Fight and I'll give you a chocolate bar alright?"
"Hmmmm, make it ten and we got a deal." Tengu answered.
"Four" Sakura rectified.
"Nine." Tengu bargained.
"Five."
"Nine."
"Six."
"Eight."
"I changed my mind they both have some screws loose." Nina said.
"Seven take it or leave it!" Tengu argued.
"After your done fighting." Sakura said.
"Deal" Tengu and Sakura shook hands.
"We done yet?" Nina asked impatiently. "Because I'm tired of just watching you bargain with each other."
"Yeah we're ready." Tengu answered cheerfully. "Sorry for the inconvenience."
"Don't apologize to her she's the enemy!" Sakura yelled.
"Oh right sorry about that Miss Sakura." Tengu said sheepishly. "Battle Form"
"Battle what now?" Nina asked in panic.
Tengu grew to twice his original size and his body became much more muscular. The sword strapped to his side and the fan on his back grew as well. "I'm ready to fight Miss Sakura." "Wind Blade"
Sharp blades of wind came from Tengu's sword and raced towards Nina. The attack was ineffective however due to a wall of vines protecting her. "What have you done?!" Nina screeched. She picked up the shredded vines off the ground. "My precious children! Why have you done this to me!"
"Your children?" Both Sakura and Tengu asked.
"The vines!" Nina growled. "How dare you cut them down! These were a gift from home you monsters!" "Thorn Wall" Walls of vines rose up from the ground and quickly began to close in Tengu and Sakura.
"Helicopter Chopper" Sakura spun her naginata and used it to shred the vine wall to pieces. "We're the monsters? Aren't you the dark mage in this situation?"
"Miss Sakura please don't provoke her." Tengu said. "The wind is talking to me again."
Sakura sighed. "If I was talking to anyone else I'd think they were crazy. What does it say Tengu?"
"It says that..." "Vine Saw" Tengu was interrupted by Nina launching buzz saws made of vines at the two of them.
"Hurricane" Tengu took his fan off his back and spun it around to create a massive burst of wind blowing away both Nina and the buzz saws. "Wind Blade" Tengu then send a sharp blade of wind at Nina to send her back even further.
Nina stood up dizzily. "I.. won't let you.. get away with what you've done." "Thorn Cannon" Vines rose up from out of his the ground a fired thorns like bullets at Tengu.
"Hurricane" Who easily blew them away with his burst of wind he created also blew Nina through the glass wall of the greenhouse knocking her unconscious.
"Alright we won. thanks for your help Tengu." Sakura said. "Now I just need to make she isn't faking it." Sakura went to check if Nina was truly unconscious when she was surrounded by vines. "What the? She's unconscious how can she use magic?"
"That was what the wind was trying to tell you." Tengu said. "The wind told me that you shouldn't treat her like any other dark mage. It said that you don't know her past."
"The wind's right I don't. But now it's made me curious..." Sakura sighed. "I'll trust you- I mean the wind's judgement I'll leave her here and hopefully Pete won't find her."
At that moment Marco was frantically searching the hallway in an attempt to find out what exactly made the loud annoying sound he heard earlier. "BWAHHHH"
"God damn it there it is again!" Marco said. "Where the hell is that noise coming from!?" Marco continued to search the hall once again ignoring the large metal door that now had two glowing lights on it. One blue and one green.