Standalone
Chapter Four: Valley Forge

Death the Kid wheeled around in horror to find that his two weapon companions were seemingly buried beneath the enormous weight of the creature. For about half a second, he was convinced that all hope was lost. But then, a thunderous cry shattered the silence as the monster reeled back in agony. Just before the crushing blow was delivered, Patty had managed to get into her weapon form. With the tiny bit of space available, Liz had fired the gun and sent the monster tumbling backwards.

The creature's bizarre proportions made it stumble awkwardly before falling backwards flat on its back. A nearly-flattened Liz arose from the crater it had made.

"Jesus!" she screamed as her sister transformed out of her weapon form, "What the hell is that?!" Kid dropped down next to Liz; he had finished straightening the sign anyway.

"Are you okay?" he demanded. Liz stretched her hand out and grabbed him by the neck, wringing him back and forth several times.

"No I'm not okay!" she screamed, "The next time you stand idly by and screw with a sign instead of save your partners, give us some warning, huh!?"

"It… had… to… be… fixed…" stuttered Kid between gasps for breath. Liz had enough and released her deathly grip on Kid's neck. The Shinigami gasped with relief, panting heavily.

"Alright," he choked, "Let's beat that… thing." Liz and Patty transformed into their weapon forms and slid upside-down into Kid's hands just as the strange rectangular monster righted itself up again.

"BAHAKI…" it groaned scratchily, "WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME? WHY, BAHAKI, WHY?"

"Bahaki?" said Kid, "Who's that?"

"BAHAKI…" the monster moaned, "I LOVE YOU, BAHAKI!" Suddenly the red streamers at its sides snapped straight and dove towards Kid, who made a quick run to the right and avoided them. Several of the streamers spun after him, but he quickly mounted Beelzebub and shot upward over the battlefield.

"What, is it mourning its lost love?" muttered Liz.

"What a sentimental bunny!" Patty cheered.

"It's not a bunny!" snapped Liz.

"Pay attention!" Kid said as the streamers dove up towards him. He twisted around the red ribbons and headed straight down towards the main body. Raising Liz and Patty up, he began to shoot at the monster's face. Just as he was beginning to fire, however, the creature slid sideways, retracting all the streamers to its sides and slipping under the snow once again. It was completely undetectable under the sheet of white snow.

"Where did it go?" uttered Kid. He looked around, but there wasn't even a lump to indicate its presence.

"Kid," Liz said, "I think that those streamers make that thing aerodynamic or something, because when we hit it before and its streamers were limp, it just collapsed and didn't try to get into the snow."

"So if we destroy the streamers, it won't be able to hide?" said Kid, "That's a worthwhile strategy. For the time being, we need to find out where-" The rectangular creature leapt out of the snow behind Kid and slammed him into the ground with a streak of streamers to the back. Kid quickly righted himself, turning around to look at his opponent. What he saw was a barrage of streamers shooting towards him. He aimed carefully and fired several times. A few of the streamers received bullet holes, but they were still speeding towards him. Kid dove out of the way just moments before they struck the cold earth. One red streak managed to hit Kid, slicing his sleeve and leaving a large cut on his arm.

"Damn," said Kid, "Those things are razor-sharp." The creature turned to face Kid.

"BAHAKI," it cried in agony, "LOVE ME, BAHAKI! ACCEPT ME!" All of the red streamers at its sides snapped to attention and swung from both the left and right towards where Kid was.

"Kid!" screamed Liz, and the boy sprung up with Beelzebub not a moment too soon as the mass of streamers tangled together into a large mess. The monster tried to retract the ribbons, but they were all smashed together and were immobile; it could not put them at its sides to go underground.

"They aren't destroyed," said Kid, "but this'll work." He spun over with Beelzebub, now positioned directly above the monster, upside-down, with Liz and Patty facing downward. And the rain of bullets began. The beast cried out in agony.

"NO!" it screamed, "BAHAKI! PLEASE! I LOVE YOU, BAHAKI!" The monster's eyes began to glow fluorescent red, and before Kid could react, he was shot into the air, Beelzebub thrown far away and Liz and Patty falling to the ground. Kid sailed, flipped, and slammed into a suspended steel railway. He fell down into a snow bank and remained motionless. Liz and Patty returned to their human forms.

"Kid!" Liz cried out as Kid sat up in the snow, "That monster's enraged! There's no stopping it while it's angry!"

"The bunny just wants to be with this Bahaki," said Patty, "We should reunite them!"

"Forget that!" said Liz, "We don't even know who 'Bahaki' is! For all we know, this 'Bahaki' guy could be dead!"

"Maybe he is," Kid sighed as he pulled himself to his feet, "but that monster clearly doesn't realize that." Kid slowly approached the creature, which was screeching loudly, its red streamers flailing in every direction.

"BAHAKI," it cried, "WHERE ARE YOU, BAHAKI? PLEASE, ACCEPT ME!"

"Oi!" Kid cried, the beast's attention turning towards the tiny figure behind him, "Bahaki's gone. Long gone. Whoever he is, he hasn't been here in years."

"THAT'S… NOT TRUE!" the monster screamed, its anger rising, "WE LIVE HERE! BAHAKI AND I! THIS BUILDING IS OUR HOME!"

"You might live here," said Kid, "but Bahaki hasn't been around for a while. Your 'home' has long been abandoned. You're here alone." The creature screamed louder than ever and its eyes began glowing red again.

"Kid!" Liz said as she scrambled to her feet, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Bahaki isn't here anymore," said Kid, "so there's no point in preserving this place, attacking anyone who gets too close. Bahaki abandoned you." The monster screamed and its eyes began to glow not red but gold.

"BAHAKI," it cried, "I… YOU WOULD NEVER…" It let out a final scream of rage before it disappeared in a blinding flash of golden light. All that remained of its existence was a large crater in the snow and several broken streamers scattered about.

"Well…" said Liz, "problem solved?"

"I think so," Kid said as he examined the limp streamers in the snow, "At any rate, we'd better check out the Lam Building. It's what we came here for, right?" The meister and weapons clambered through the snow and Kid managed to pry open the door to the Lam Building. A look of horror swept over the three kid's faces when they saw what was inside.

"Umm… Liz?" said Patty, "What… is this stuff?"

"I don't like it," wailed Liz, "It looks creepy, like some sort of twisted laboratory. Do we have to go inside?"

"Normally I'd say yes," Kid groaned, "but to be perfectly honest, I don't want to go in there any more than you two do." There was a moment of silence.

"I'd better get a report to father right away," said Kid as he began to shut the door, "Someone should look into this place further… just not us." And with that, he slammed the doors closed.