Pride of Sakura

Chapter 3: Government-Appointed Best Friend

AN: :D And the doom train rolls anew~ TENBLASSSSSSTTT! (cue a lot of light and multifarious explosions, but when the smoke clears, nothing has happened and I have been defeated by a swarm of random Mormons) Also new character. YEY.

Disclaimer: I honestly do not own PSU.

X x X

I walked in silence alongside my partner, who was both silent and mortified. The green hue had faded from his face, but it was still ashen and his eyes were a bit glossy for my taste. I pondered asking him if he was alright, but figured that would be salt in the wound. So I stretched, straightening my collar and coughing.

The Mizuraki Conservation District was awash in the usual red-orange hues, the crisp smell of decay, and crimson leaves flying anywhere and everywhere. They particularly liked getting caught in my hair, I noticed. It was mildly irritating. At one point when a strong gust of wind blew in our faces, I swore the leaves had intelligence and were strategically bombing my eyes. I was picking about eighty-million petals out of my eyelashes when Yuu raised a hand in the "stop" gesture. I did so, still mumbling and pulling leaves.

"This is about where things can get truly dangerous, Gray-san," the Neudaiz native said, his voice serious. "Gohmons and Agetas are cake compared to the droves of Tengoghs ahead. Pick them off A.S.A.P. We'll work on separate targets."

I nodded, summoning my stave and trying to avoid thoughts of delicious cake. It dwarfed me by just a bit, glowing mint-green in the fading sunlight. Black eyes focused closely on my as I raised the staff above my head and brought it down, calling the necessary elements for the buffing Technics.

He flexed his fingertips. "This is good…" he mumbled, summoning his rifle. "It's somewhat hard to believe you're human."

My face turned completely pink, deadly virus like it was. "I-I've been doing it a while now, especially buffing. I had lots of friends who helped me out," I said, drawing out my other wand. It crackled with ice energy, cool and waiting in my hand. What I did not tell him was that my "friends" were really a bunch of drunk guys at a bar. I had stood behind the half passed-out mass and just casted Shifta and such over and over until the sound made the not-so-drunk denizens insane, and I was kicked out on my rather large ass. Also it caused buffed-up bar fights. None the less, I thought it was a genius plan to advance my Technics, and it had gotten the job done. I still gave myself an inner pat on the back, even to this day.

"You must have nice friends," he said softly, positioning his rifle in a comfortable way. He shook his head until the goggles strapped up there fell onto his face.

Impressed by his overall coolness, I opened my mouth to say something thoughtful and kind in return, but Jenna ruined it, as this was her job.

"ADORABLE OF YOU TO THINK SHE HAS FRIENDS. MOST OF HER OFF TIME IS SPENT DEVOURING ICE CREAM AND CRYING ABOUT THE FACT THAT SHE DOES NOT HAVE ANY COMPANIONS. I AM PROBABLY HER ONLY FRIEND AND I AM OBLIGATED TO DO SO BY THE GOVERNMENT. OTHERWISE I'D PROBABLY LEAVE HER, TO BE HONEST. SAD, YES?"

She may be fixed, but she was still Jenna. I put my hand on my forehead, still charging ahead. She was right, in a way. Government Appointed Best Friend. Oy…

The Numan paused to look over at the petite CAST, and then looked to me, his expression unreadable. I sighed, looking at Yuu. "Uhh," I said intelligently, and then noted the fact that one of his goggle straps was sort of caught in his hair. Without thinking, I reached forwards and fixed it. He stared, ebony eyes wide.

OH, SHIT. For some reason, I just got the mental image of him turning into a Tengogh and eating me. 'By the way,' he would say menacingly, cheesy horror movie music wailing in the background, shifting into a weird shape with fangs coming out of his nostrils, 'Numans have the latent ability 'Tenblast'. It's for dealing with pesky humans, and tourists.' He would continue to change menacingly, but add an afterthought. 'But don't tell the Beasts, copyright infringement and all', he'd say as he finished sprouting wings and giant claws.He'd flash large pointy teeth. 'Anyway, time to get gutted. Let's go. If you struggle too much, I'll be late for MAIDEN BOMB'S show.' I let out a blood curdling scream due to my own overactive imagination, and he looked at me in alarm. Seeing his confused expression, I laughed nervously and took a good smack at my boob. "Spider in my bra," I said sweetly.

"Very…well?" he said with great incredulity, balancing his rifle against his chest to touch the place I just had on his shiny black head. Seeing it satisfactory, he pointed ahead. "The first is coming, be ready," he warned. I squinted at where he was pointing. I couldn't see shit, to be honest. Stupid miracles of bioengineering. Then!

"Oh, the flying…thing," I noted wisely, raising my staff. It approached until the point where I could see the glow of its' eyes when Yuu got down on one knee and started shooting. To be honest, I was really impressed. He was a completely different person with a gun in his hands. Poised and dangerous, yet incredibly at ease. The recoil barely moved him as he shot. The Tengogh screeched and fell some twenty feet away, crumpled in a quiet heap. I was still fixated on him, watching his breath synced with every shot. Adjust, breathe, shoot, adjust, breathe, shoot. Spellbinding.

Oops, I hadn't done anything to the Tengogh. Cue fury…

"Lucy."

Now.

"WHAT WERE YOU DOING?"

"You have long eyelashes," I whined like that was an explanation, then turned and marched ahead.

"Good explanation there, Forteuseless," Jenna piped in. I sighed, and kept walking, eyes on the sky. Yuu seethed behind me.

"Another approaches," he warned in semi-monotone. "Ready this time?"

"Yea bi—Yes," I said, composing myself. I held my stuff above my head, and pictured the blue comet in my head. It flew true, and hit the approaching beast right in the face.

"BUA HA HA HA! Jenna will aid you!" The poor Tengogh got ice-faced yet again, until it too, was silent. I turned back to the Numan who wanted to flush my head down the toilet. He tilted his head at me, which was rather adorable due to the length of his ears. His face lit into a smile. A SMILE.

"Good aim, Gray-san," he smiled. My mouth hung open.

"You will catch flies, should your mouth remain like that. Or spiders. You don't need mouth spiders ON TOP OF boob spiders." Jenna loved to ruin moments.

"T-thanks, you as well," I said, and then kept my eyes on the sky.

"Or maybe instead of insects, you could lure Tengoghs. In fact, yes. Do that. Stand on a hill with your mouth open," she continued, obviously displeased with not having managed to hurt my feelings for once.

Things, for about two hours, passed in peace. Well, as peaceful as it can get when you're fighting giant carnivorous bats that sound mysteriously like cows in the middle of the night. In its own way, though, it was exhilarating. The sounds of wind and footsteps, our own breath as we ghosted along the hills under the Mizuraki trees. It was warm out, with a nice breeze at our backs. I was under the foolish impression that things were going to go completely well from this point on.

Wrong, of course. Recently I have developed a theory that the reason my breasts are so large is because they are filled with misfortune.

"Three at once, Gray-san," Yuu said as he went down on one knee, then thought against it. I gripped my staff. In truth, I was a little tired. Even in its esoteric fun, I could feel the pull of the Technics draining me. I really wanted to sit down.

But alas, this of course when we ran into the Onmagoug.

The words "HOLY CRAP"! couldn't even truly summarize my feelings, but I let them loose none the less. Yuu said nothing, his mouth a grim line as we edged away. The former three Tengoghs had been disposed of. We had only just noticed that there was a mass of about eleven in front of us, circling something. This should be fabulous.

"I didn't expect to meet the Onmagoug here," he said honestly. "I don't really know if we should back up, or try to take it down."

"I think…I think H.Q. would rather have us alive…" I whispered, feeling like a coward. Well, it was true! I'd be dead and Laia would still mark it as an absence misdemeanor. "My record…", I mumbled. Yet another strange look for the gunner, and then he resumed looking panic stricken.

"You-you're right. Let's back out. There's no way they can expect us to fight this thing, it's….it's…".

"Like MAIDEN BOMB on steroids, five angry beasts Nanoblasting on you in a bar not that I'm speaking from experience, and basically a giant pillar of annoying death that comes screaming up from hell to grab you in the ass?"

"Who is Maiden Bomb and why do I suddenly want to put her name in all caps?" Jenna asked. "Is she a wrestler? And that time in Moatoob was your own fault, you shouldn't have pointed out that your breasts were bigger than every other woman's in the bar simply because you overheard them talking about it."

"Y-Yes, roughly." He sighed, ignoring Jenna and I like a pro. "Alright, let's just back up."

"Affirmative," Jenna said, then proceeded to scream. "BACK UP! BACK THE HELL UP!"

Of course, every beast in the distance turned to us, swooping down from the night sky. Great.

"Kami-sama…" Yuu grunted, grabbing my wrist. I spun in the fabulous forced sort of way, and then ran like hell. Jenna followed suite, screaming all the gory details of what would happen if we didn't get out in time. Yuu held his rifle with his free hand, turning every few seconds to take a couple shots. Many missed, but of course quite a few hit. Four Tengoghs had fallen, and three more were flying in circles like wounded idiots when we approached a clearing. I had a good mindset to kill Jenna already, tears of anger stinging my eyes as we loped through the C.D.

"Ahead, there's a cave! We'll hide there, they can't fit. Once it's daylight they leave no matter what," Yuu said, grip on my wrist still painfully tight. I nodded, gulping and looking over my shoulder. Jenna was fine, not nearly tired after her complimentary full charge at Maya's.

"There!" I cried, pointing to our salvation. Thirty feet, twenty-five…my lungs were burning. But so close. It seemed we had achieved victory, when of course something terrible happened. There was a roar so loud my ears literally rang, temples vibrating in even the aftershock. The Onmagoug had landed directly behind us, flapping its massive wings.

I went sailing head over heels in the resulting gust of wind, Yuu's grip on my wrist breaking. Needless to say I screamed. I hit the ground with a painful oomf that knocked the air out of my lungs. Jenna cried in anger from somewhere to my right. I scrambled back up, clenching my stomach in one hand and my staff in the other. Yuu was motionless to my left. My heart froze. Oh God, Numans are so physically delicate that the impact may have…

I needed to act quickly, though. Resta didn't work on corpses. My own thoughts made me cringe, but I moved towards him anyway, looking back and forth between the Onmagoug and my fallen partner. Jenna glided to my side, her own wand in hand.

It watched us, a low growl building in its' throat. Okay Luce, think, think…What did the Guardians manual say about this?

I did not have time to access that whole personal data thing, because the winged giant took the opportunity to lunge, knocking Jenna a clean ten feet. She flew and landed on her back, and was still, too. My blood was rushing in my ears. What now, what now…My nightmares were promptly becoming reality, only I was clothed and without lobsters in specific locations of my body.

I held my stave up in defense, praying for my line shield to guard me. Or something. ANY sort of random event that would save me. Instead, there was another roar, one that almost outdid the Onmagoug's.

You know, Divine People, by "random event" I did not mean "more monsters". Please work on your phrasing, or listening. I realized this was probably in my own hands, and if I wanted to save my friends or at least go down honorably, I'd have to fight. I bolted for Yuu's prone form, holding my staff out. I'd go down protecting him, really, I would. It sounded terribly romantic but in truth I was near tears. I made plans, quickly and grimly. If it got truly hopeless I'd save just enough energy for one last fire spell. I would not give the bastard monster the satisfaction of eating us.

Another roar shook my ribs, this time approaching from the right. I turned just in time to see…something—And then turned just in time to see the Onmagoug's wing heading for me. I felt my rib break as it hid, a sickening crack that echoed to the stars. There was another roar, and I was again thrown by the gust of wind from twenty-foot wings. There was an odd eternity as I was airborne for what felt like the eightieth time in ten minutes. It was okay, though. Things were getting soft and dark. I figured this was just my organs shutting down, nothing to be particularly worried about. I was then hit by something else. In my haze of pain and fog I screamed and struggled against whatever else had me, arm around my waist. A growl rumbled from somewhere above, and I managed to beat my fists against…something? I realized that whatever holding me was warm and sort of fuzzy-tickly, but most importantly not eating me. Growling yes, and something was on my head, also warm.

Such a dramatic improvement. I squinted from an odd brightness, and things seemed to go sort of downwards.

Hushing me. Who was hushing me? My hair was being petted.

"Oh." I said aloud, still sinking to the dark.

"Yeah, 'Oh'," a male voice laughed. "You should be nicer to people who save you."

"Who… died and… made YOU King Bitch?" I somewhat slurred, still unable to open my eyes. My head was on something warm and I could feel myself moving, so I didn't care.

Then. Black eyes, and a terrible temper. Who…?

"Yu…u," I mumbled.

"If yer talkin' about the Numan, he's fine. So's yer dolly. And you will be too, once we get you to Ohtoku." I could hear the hum of an engine. A G-Flyer?

"Ah…please hit the doll for me…", I sighed, and let myself fall into the peace that was oblivion.

AN: Wah la la.