From the Side
Chapter 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Disgaea 2 or any of the characters in it
A/N: First time that I'm skipping some parts in the game, I will admit to that. It's not much, and while it may have been important to the game I personally do not find it important to our main characters. Thanks to those who reviewed (all of 1 again! I know I have more readers out there!) and thanks to gamefaqs for helping me out with the stuff I forgot.
Also, I apologize for any typos involving the letter 'n' because my n on the keyboard only works some of the time. Unless I catch it, the letter will end up just dropped.
~*~
After a brief encounter with a strange demon who appeared as neither an ally nor a foe and an encounter where the Dark Hero attempted to prove useful until he realized the enemies were standing on "invincibility" geos. That made Waffle and Zane go off to herd the enemies off of the squares. Silently, Zarame wondered why they didn't just run past the enemies, but if the others wanted blood he wasn't going to say no. So with that slowly won fight, they found themselves traveling through the dark cave on what seemed to be roots.
"Trees grow down here?" Nagi stated with obvious interest in the strage environment.
"Maybe Veldime trees do," Miriam muttered, sharing the same enthusiasm.
"No, Veldime trees are just as normal as everything else," Adell noted defiantly. He crossed his arms and turned so that for a brief moment his red hair was no longer over his ears. Waffle turned in surprise at what she saw: pointed ears of a demon. Adell continued, not noticing Waffle's reaction. "It's Zenon's curse that's making these trees grow in weird places I bet."
"That doesn't even make sense," Zarame muttered. "Yeah, the curse affects the people who live there and the environment, but as far as I recall it just turns them into what every other Overworld is like. And there are no underground trees where I come from."
"So it's a Veldime specialty!" Nagi cheered, cutting off part of a root.
"Careful," Zane stated as the root that Nagi cut off went to attack the Skull.
"Eep!" Nagi called, dropping the detached plant like a hot potato. He turned to Zane, glasses crooked from the sudden reaction. "Did you know that was going to happen?" The ninja shrugged in response.
Waffle, having failed to find an opening in the conversation, mumbled to herself and followed back with Fenrir. The whole place was also a bit lighter, though no one seemed to notice for whatever reason. Maybe their eyes were just adjusting. Whatever the case, the thief was starting to panic. She felt like eyes were watching her and then there was the moving roots.
"So Zane, how'd you know that the roots would attack?" Nagi asked, persisting to annoy the sword wielding ninja. Steel gray eyes glared at Nagi's yellow ones. It was the first major expression change that had ever happened to him. The skull backed up and bumped into a large root that seemed to groan behind him. Despite that, it seemed less scary than Zane.
"These roots are all attached to one very old tree. On some other planets there are similar trees that are called Yggdrasil or other sorts of names and believed to hold magic skills, both good and bad. This one's not like that other than as it became part of an Overworld it probably came with its own way of defending itself from its increasingly hostile neighbors." Zane sighed, rubbing his head and going back to his neutral gaze. "Of course, there are other worlds with a similar creation. Ran and Shito have probably seen one themselves." He began to walk away, successfully diverting Nagi's attention to the siblings, who were also becoming a mystery.
"Hey, Ran? Shito? Have you seen any other large trees?" Nagi asked, eyes shining with curiosity.
Shito and Ran both gave wide-eyed gazes at Zane's back. How'd he know? Ran was the first to turn her gaze, shrugging bitterly at the excited spell caster. "I suppose, but I don't know much about it. Our mother just watched over the tree and treasured it."
"I see," Nagi muttered, obviously disappointed. "I'll have to investigate this tree more then."
"I can see it now," Brandon stated, nudging Zarame as he spoke. "Nagi, the great Star Skull, dies from tree, and I don't mean a Flora or a Wood Golem."
The yellow spell caster spun around from the tree to glare at the gunner. "Ha ha, Brandon. You know, you too can be replaced with an inanimate object." However, he did stop trying to take a sample from the tree.
"Yeah, but then it wouldn't be as much fun," Brandon replied, shrugging.
"And we'd be down a fighter," Zarame stated. He hesitated afterwards. "Which means more kills for us. Maybe we should replace him."
"Hey! What kind of friend are you?"
"The kind that is at least not suggesting that we off you for our own kill score? Count your blessings." The samurai was grinning while saying this, though, showing at the very least he didn't mean it. Still, Brandon hit Zarame on the head playfully, resulting in a powerful punch in the stomach in return. As the gunslinger fell on the floor out of breath, Zarame held back the smile, raising an eyebrow.
"J… jerk," Brandon gasped.
"And proud of it. Come on, let's go."
~*~
"Here, drink this," Kuno mumbled, having run out of what little items she had already and being forced to hand Taro a handful of water from a nearby stream. Most of it soaked into her fur, but she insisted that Taro take what he could since he couldn't move down to the water himself. If only she hadn't broken her bottle trying to cut off the root.
"Thanks, Miss Kuno," Taro said as Kuno pulled her hand away. "You know, you're pretty nice for a demon."
"Same to you, Taro," Kuno stated, smiling. She pulled on a ribbon, letting her pink hair drift down to her shoulders. "And it's not so much kindness as it is instinct. Where I'm from, my tribe, we were taught to respect your fellow tribesmen. No one else, but right now I consider you guys my tribe."
"Why'd you leave your tribe?"
"I just felt it was time," Kuno replied, shrugging. She began to braid her hair instead, hoping it'd stay up longer this way. It wasn't that she didn't like it down, it was just a lot easier to fight without pink strands whipping her face every few seconds. However, a braid was hard to do with one hand, so she sat with her legs holding her hair straight while her one good hand twisted it. "Anyway, I hope the others get here soon. I can hear howling."
~*~
"No, a guy named Adell, not Dylan," a white dragon growled at Friday, the warp agent.
Friday shrugged in response, her bouncy blonde hair shaking from hidden laughter. She dusted her green dress and put on her best professional smile. She liked Adell, and these guys looked dangerous. Why put the boy in any unnecessary danger? "Sorry, Sir Eclipse."
Maybe the guy she sent them to was a hint. A male fighter, beaten half to death, sat against Bridgette, who was healing him. The person who had hurt him stood just behind and to the side of Eclipse, standing as if he meant to attract no attention. The power radiating off of him, to say nothing of the aura that made him practically glow, called all eyes to him. Except Eclipse, the white dragon, and Friday, who were glaring at each other. Still, Friday was forced to nervously look at the man every chance she got.
He had spiky, long gray hair, a very muscular body and an array of weapons behind him. Everything but a staff and gun was littered around him and it was obvious he had use of it, though he favored the axe strapped to his back. However even with the appearance of a walking armory, hair included among the weaponry, and a gray aura that smelled of death and blood, nothing quite got to her like the pitch black skin and completely white eyes, a contrast that seemed to force her to shake in fear.
"I don't know who you're talking about then," Friday stated after sucking in a shaky breath. "He must use another Warp Agent. Besides, what does your Lord want with him?"
"He's looking for someone in his group," the scary man stated, now leaning on poor Dylan. When did he get back to Bridgette?
The white dragon continued his statement. "We're not after the brat himself, just a mercenary he hired. They… owe us money. Bought a dragon a few weeks back and only paid half so we're calling in for the rest," Eclipse explained.
"I forgot that you guys sell dragons," Friday muttered. She beamed though. "You should've said that in the beginning then. Adell went to the Dallas River, but I think I saw him jumping into the Cave of Evil on the new recently. You know, with that shark?"
"Thanks," Eclipse growled. He hated liars. His partner straightened.
"I'll send my troops."
~*~
The three ninjas somehow eventually ended in the back, and the moment Ran felt no one was looking, she grabbed Zane by his collar and pinned him against the wall. "Okay, what do you know?" she stated, her voice not at all intimidating. Just… curious.
Zane sighed, sending a steel gray glance at the party walking away, oblivious to the three left behind. If he didn't answer quickly he'd lose them completely. "I worked for Aki for a bit. I remember her having a small orphanage and bringing in a few kids she would train. She was an odd one for a ninja, and even odder for an Overlord. Kind, tough, and willing to give us holidays any time we asked so long as we gave her a long enough heads up. I had left her group about three years before she got attacked, though. My master called me back." Zane shrugged.
Ran still held him up, but it was Shito who asked his own question. "How old are you? I thought you were our age."
"Demons age differently," Zane stated, wondering why he had to explain this to demons themselves. "I'm probably 500 years old or so. My master is even older, or rather was." Zane scratched his head and looked at Ran's purple eyes. "May I go now or else we'll lose the others."
"Oh, uh, right." Ran blinked slowly. She obviously hadn't expected a straight answer. As she lowered Zane to the ground, the ninja nodded at her.
"Aki was a good woman, even with her oddities. I'm sorry for your loss, and I'm sorry I wasn't there to help," Zane stated, eyes lowered so they couldn't see his expression. A few moments of silence trudged by before Zane turned to catch up with Adell and the others again.
As they approached, Fenrir instantly ran to Zane's side. The older ninja knelt next to his loyal companion and stared ahead. It wasn't too far ahead of them that they saw what they had been searching for. Taro sat next to Kuno, both seeming to have a pleasant chat.
Rozalin and Zarame both muttered under their breath the same words. "I was worried about them and here they are sitting having a wonderful time."
"Taro!" Adell called, stepping forward so that he could see them better. "Taro, it's alright now, you're safe! Kuno, hold on just a bit more and we'll be over there!"
The Nekomata stood up. "Okay, I can handle whatever comes for now, but we'll both need a good heal when you get over."
Rozalin leaned forward, her gaze seeming to lock on the female across the path. Tink floated next to her, his blue contrasting with her dress as he sat on her shoulder. "What iz wrong, Rozalin? Iz zere something you aren't telling me, your childhood friend?"
"Her arm, Tink. Doesn't it look like it's hurt?"
"Well that would explain why she needed healing," Zarame mumbled, walking towards the two on the other side now. He stopped only a little of the way across, though, as a roar was heard.
"Is that what the woman was talking about?" Hanako asked, showing the first sign of concern for her brother.
Kuno's hairs stood on end as she glanced around, her eyes eventually stopping on the right path beyond them. Taro had the same frightened gaze going the other direction. Zarame grabbed his sword and pulled it out without seeing what was around either corner. If it could make Kuno that scared then it must be dangerous, besides they had the warning from the female demon in the mask, whatever that was worth.
The warning was proven true after a few more roars and two monsters came stomping out. Guns were strapped to one arm and they towered over the entire group. Intimidating, powerful, deadly were too weak of words to describe them. They seemed unnatural to the area.
"The flute!" Adell called, spinning around to the others. "We need the flute!"
Zarame relaxed slightly, believing that all would be alright. A familiar argument started, though, and ruined all hope. No one knew how to play the flute. Zarame threw down the sword he held and spun around to glare at the others. "Are you saying you're just going to leave them to die because you can't play a silly instrument?" he barked.
"Never!" Adell responded, putting up his fists. "I'll save Taro even if it means I have to beat them up myself. That's more my style anyway."
Rozalin tossed the flute behind her. "He's right, besides I can't lose my servant either." The others began to talk amongst themselves, all agreeing that they'd at least try to kill the two beasts before surrendering their friends. "Only problem now is we have to get there first."
"Let us handle it," Brandon stated, gesturing to Waffle, Aerin, himself, and, in a grand gesture, Rozalin. "If we can move fast enough, we can get in range and distract them."
"If we can hurt them enough," Aerin growled, but she didn't protest the idea entirely.
"Okay, let's go!" Waffle shouted, raising a fist in the air. "And once they look at us, let's flee behind the ranks! Go Team! I better get extra for this!"
"Yes let's-- wait, do you hear that?" Adell asked, looking around.
"Hear what?" Rozalin also began to look around before she realized what Adell heard. "It's a flute? Who's playing a flute?"
"Ah ha! Axel, the Dark Hero, returns to the scene to find the princess in distress! He will save her and then receive that reward from her heart and her father's riches! You better get this on film Director!" All eyes turned up to see the man in the white cloak holding a flute.
"You can play that silly thing?" Hanako asked, giving Axel an annoyed stare.
"There is little the Dark Hero can't do, little miss. Now, come with me monsters!" And with that Axel left, the music guiding the two behemoths away with him.
Silence surrounded the others for a few moments. "Well, that was interesting," Rozalin said.
"Who would've thought Axel would be useful twice?" Adell added, nodding.
"I'm not sure if that was twice," Hanako suggested, shrugging.
"No, it was twice, but don't think you owe him anything. It's his fault we're in this predicament," Zarame responded, spinning around to face Kuno and Taro. No over powered creatures lurked there, but instead there was several other monsters: a few orcs, flora beasts, and hell hounds. "Well, Fenrir, see anybody we could use to play fetch?"
Fenrir responded with a glare, flicking his tail as he bounded ahead to fight. Zane followed, both immediately meeting the two hell hounds. Claws hit each other while a sword kept a mouth at bay. Wind picked up from all four fighters, but that didn't stop the three orcs from charging past them.
Ran and Shito jumped ahead for this, Shito letting out a roar and a blast that hit all three as Ran forced them to one position. Spinning her staff, the female ninja ran straight up to one , smacking the helmet down to knock him out. Shito tricked another orc with a quick log replacement, punching his back so that he fell hard onto the ground, but in turn leaving his side free to be hit. The other orc went to strike, only stopping as an arrow pierced his hand. As the orc turned to face the attacker, both Aerin and Waffle let loose a volley of arrows into the poor beast.
Nagi was left with a flora beast, one that was easily conquered by a blaze set on it, however the fire pinned him down which left Brandon and Rozalin to take out the remaining beast, an easy accomplishment with six shots in just a few seconds. As the flower fell, the two gunners gave each other a nod.
Zarame, Adell, and Miriam watched as the two dogs were the last to be finished off, Zane and Fenrir taking out their partner's target rather than their own. The red head brushed his hair back and gave Miriam a grin. "I think we've got this whole teamwork thing down, what do you say?"
The samurai jumped, turning wide eyes at Adell. It'd only been a few days, maybe a week, since they joined up, but even Zarame had a few moments where he truly felt a part of the team. This idea scared him. He picked up his fallen blade and held it against the human's throat before he could block it. "Don't you dare say that again. Demons work alone, got it Mr. Chivalry?"
"Za… ra…me…" Adell whispered, fury and a hint at a challenge sparking in his eyes. Fury dominated his gaze.
~*~
"Well at least they came back unharmed," Eclipse noted, a smile forming on his face at the annoyed expression his companion had and the confused ones the Rifle Demons had. He folded his wings and laid his head on his paws as the axe-wielding man kicked a chair up and slumped down on it.
"Not the point," he mumbled. "They should've come back with him or not come back at all, though I will admit I'd hate to lose such good companions. The Overlord will not be pleased."
"Don't tell him. We can wait a few moments before we launch another attack, though whether or not we succeed we will have to report that time," the white dragon stated.
"He's going to go crazy if he doesn't get his brother back."
"I know, I know. Let's try to prevent that, shall we?"
"Then you call your white dragon allies and I'll get my team. Let's plan for when we can attack next."
"Let's go back to the base for now then," Eclipse replied, standing.
"Right, come on Snipe, Tarj," the man stated, gesturing to the baffled beasts. They left, exiting the house of a zombie who lived in the town.
~*~
The others had freed Kuno and Hanako was about to make a wise crack at about "how could Tardo get himself into such trouble," when they heard the crack of a bone breaking. Everyone quickly ran, seeing Adell and Zarame together and Miriam trying to pull them apart.
"Zarame!" Kuno yelped as she ran up, seeing Zarame's arm bent backwards.
"Calm down you two!" Miriam shouted. "I need to heal everyone, do make it more of a job for me."
"Oh just leave him for the Dark Hospital when we get back!" Adell shouted. He turned to Kuno and Brandon who had on a worried expression for their swordsman. Turning a glare back to Zarame he hissed "Is that truly what you think of the people who are that worried about you?" He gestured at the two again and Zarame looked before spinning away quickly.
"Leave me alone, I'll get tended at the hospital, like our boss wishes." He began to walk back towards the entrance.
"Zarame!" Rozalin called, running after the black haired man.
"Ugh, he ruined our happy ending," Hanako mumbled.
"Tink, follow them and help Rozalin out. Miriam, tend to Kuno's wounds. Everyone else can tough it out of the dungeon without much of a problem," Zane stated, proving to be the only level headed one at the moment. Aerin was shouting a stream of curses while Waffle was laughing. Fenrir was calmly sitting at his feet, but was obviously unable to communicate his ideas.
Somehow, Zarame succeeded in making the return worse than the trip down.
~*~
Pleeaaassseeee Read and review? Please?
Next Chapter: A break in Veldime, a crush on two people, and Miriam goes over some plans.