Hope people still remember my design for Nitori, as mentioned in Evil By Nature… Just saying…
Chapter 7
The End Surfaces
"What?! The culprit is likely someone from here?!" Nitori said in shock when the leader of the white wolf tengu squad came back to the lab and reported what they found.
The squad leader nodded and said, "Yes, but that doesn't necessary mean the person is someone from here, though the chances of yes is quite high. Otherwise, why would that person run back here after burying the dead body?"
Rikako placed her hand underneath her chin and said, "You said the culprit has the scent of a human, right? As far as I remember, the only humans here are Rika, Akemi, and me… There may be some human workers here, but I wouldn't know, since I didn't take my time to find out who all the workers here are…"
Everyone looked at Rikako and Rika as if they were the culprits, and Rika said, "No way am I the one who did this! I don't have the guts to kill anyone! I'm innocent!"
"Calm down," the squad leader said to her. "The scent does not match either of you. In fact, the person with that scent isn't here."
Rikako and Rika looked at each other when they realized something. "Do you think… it's Akemi that she's talking about…?" the latter asked.
"Well, she said the scent belongs to a human, and none of us match that scent, so the only likely person left is her…" Rikako said. "And speaking of which, I haven't seen her all day today yet."
"Akemi is the killer…?" said Nitori, not believing what she heard.
"We'll be the judge to that," the squad leader said. "Please take us to this Akemi person, and we will interrogate her to see if she knows anything."
"She's either in her office or her living quarters," Rikako said, and then she led the way. "We'll check the former first."
The scientist led the white wolf tengus to Akemi's office. When there, Rikako knocked the door and called out Akemi's name, but there was no response. She knocked and called out to her again, but once again, there was no reply. "Looks like she's not in there…" Then she tried opening the door. "It's locked…"
"I can tell that the scent went in there," the squad leader said.
"You can't be serious… Is Akemi really the one who killed that guard…?" said Rikako, who had a hard time trying to believe the truth. The scientist pounded the door harder and harder while shouting louder and louder for Akemi to open it. "Akemi! Open the door at once! Do you hear me?! You won't get away with this if you've committed a crime and disgraced us science department! Do you hear me?! OPEN THE DOOR AT ONCE!"
When she shouted, the tengus suddenly felt as if a large amount of magical energy was coming out of Rikako, and it made them jump back. They saw a pink aura covering Rikako's body and her hair slowly floating up, too.
However, the pink aura quickly disappeared, and then Rikako took a deep breath. "Phew… Got a bit too agitated there… Keep calm… Keep calm…" she told herself, and then she turned to look at the squad leader. "Would you please break down this door? I won't mind."
"Um… If you say so…" the squad leader said, and then Rikako moved away from the door for her to approach it. The tengu gave the door a powerful kick that instantly caused it to fall over. After that, everyone went inside, but they didn't see anyone.
"Strange… She's not in here?" Rikako said.
"Her scent is here, however," the squad leader said while looking around. "She must be hiding here somewhere."
"But other than underneath the desk, there is nowhere else for her to hide," Rikako told her.
"You'll never know if she's got a secret room here," the leader said, and then she commanded her subordinates to search the room for secrets.
The tengus searched all over the place for anything suspicious. They looked underneath the desk and even moved the various pieces of furniture away from their spots to see if there were secret passages underneath them. They also pressed all over the walls to find secret entrances, and one of them even opened up the ceiling to search up there. Because the ceiling consisted of removable panels, it was a task that was easily done.
After minutes of searching, the tengus still could not find anything and were about to give up. However, one of them, while pressing her hands against the wall at the back end of the room, thought she heard a sound coming from behind it. She placed her ear against the wall and listened carefully. "There's something behind this wall!" she told the others.
"Really?" the squad leader said as she walked up to where she was and pressed her ear against the wall. "You're right! I think I hear something coming from behind this part of the wall, too! Good work, Momiji!"
"There's sound coming from behind that wall?" Rikako asked. "But there shouldn't be any room behind that wall!"
"Whatever the case is, there's got to be something behind this wall," the leader said. "Now how do we get behind it?"
Behind the wall, Akemi could clearly hear everything they were saying. "Looks like I'm busted…" she said to herself as she looked up from working on something. "Good thing those three are ready, and these are near completion as well. I'll let them distract them, while I continue working on these. Just a little bit more and then I can carry out my plan! Plus, it's not like they can come in here anyway, since I locked the entrance from the inside."
"Looks like we'll have to use explosives to break down this wall," the squad leader said while looking at where the secret door was.
"Geez… I didn't expect this search to end up causing destruction…" Rikako grumbled. "Akemi… You better have a good explanation for all this! Anyway, I'll get the workers to bring in an explosive that is strong enough to break down this wall, but not the whole room."
"That's good," the squad leader said. "Please do as you said."
Rikako nodded, and then she turned to the exit and saw some kappas standing there, so she told them to bring an explosive. They nodded and then ran off to get it. While waiting for them to return, the squad leader approached Rikako and quietly said to her, "If you don't mind telling me this… I sensed a large amount of magic coming from you when you were shouting for Akemi to open the door…"
"I don't wish to talk about it," Rikako replied in an unwilling tone. "Yes, I know magic, but dislike using it. Science will always be my interest, not magic."
"Okay…" the leader said.
About a minute later, the kappas returned with a plastic explosive. Under Rikako's command, one of them took it to that part of the wall and stuck it there. Once things were ready, the kappa told everyone to get out of the room. When everyone was out the room, including the kappa herself, she pressed a single button on a remote control to detonate the plastic explosive.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Pieces of the wall flew all over the place as smoke instantly filled up the room, but because everyone was outside the room and thus out of the blast radius, nobody was hurt. Everyone waited outside for the smoke to dissipate before going in, but then they saw a pair of glowing red eyes from within it. "What…? What is that?" the kappa who detonated the plastic explosive asked.
Suddenly, a stream of fire shot out from the smoke and burned the kappa, as well as some white wolf tengus who happened to be in the way. They screamed as they ran around with their body on fire, and some fell to the floor and rolled around to put out the fire. Some kappas quickly ran to get fire extinguishers to help put out the fire on them.
"What was that?!" Rikako said in shock as she turned back to the smoke. Suddenly, a robot similar in design to the previous ones, but with a height that was close to four meters and a bulkier body build, came out of the smoke, much to the horror of everyone.
"What… What is that robot?!" Nitori said.
Both the robot's arms were arm cannons, and it pointed one of them at the group before it and then released a stream of fire, but they quickly ran out of the way. The squad leader shouted for her subordinates to attack, so they jumped at the robot and swung their swords at it, but they were unable to cut through its exterior.
The robot swung its arms and stomped around to get the tengus around it out of the way, and then it shot streams of fire over the place. Some got burned, but some managed to get out of the way. Rikako quickly ran to a safer distance and then said, "That thing's going to burn down this whole place at this rate!" Suddenly, the sprinklers on the ceiling activated, and the drops of water that rained down all over the place helped minimized fire. "Oh right… The smoke alarm… Forgot about that…"
"There's another one!" another kappa shouted while pointing at Akemi's room. Everyone turned to the room and saw another robot of the same kind coming out, but instead of arm cannons for hands, it had axes instead. The robot started stomping around the place while swinging around its axe hands. The white wolf tengus standing in its way quickly held up their shields for protection, but the axe sliced their shields in a single swing, so they ended up getting hit by the axe.
Seeing that her subordinates weren't able to do anything to the robots, the squad leader decided that she should step out to help them. Unsheathing her sword, the white wolf tengu charged at the axe-handed robot and swung her weapon at it, and the robot did the same thing with one of its axes. The squad leader and the robot swung their blades against each other constantly, and both sides weren't showing signs of letting each other have the upper hand.
When the robot swung its axes at her from both sides, she jumped into the air and raised her sword over her head to bring it down onto its head. Suddenly, the back of the robot opened, and a large two-sided axe came out and swung at her. The squad leader, acting quickly, brought her sword in front of herself in a horizontal position, and when the axe hit it, she was knocked back through the air and hit the floor. "Phew… That was close…" she said.
With her hands raised into the air, Nitori gathered together the drops of water that was sprayed everywhere by the sprinklers. Once she created a glob of water that was slightly larger than a beach ball, she ran in the direction of the fire-using robot that was still shooting fire all over the place, as its fire was too strong for the sprinkler to put out. "Try this one for a size, tin can!" Nitori shouted at it.
The robot turned to her and shot a stream of fire, and she countered it by hurling the glob of water forward. "Hydro Meteor!" The glob of water doused the fire on contact, plowing through it and striking the arm cannon with such a force that the robot itself fell back.
Nitori jumped towards the robot with her arms raised into the air to gather water again. This time, she formed the water into a sword and fell towards the robot to plunge it into its chest. However, the sword made of water wasn't able to pierce through the robot's exterior, even though she was capable of solidifying water. The sword broke down into drops of water when it hit the robot's body.
The robot turned to the side to make Nitori jump off, and then it pointed its arm cannon at her to burn her, but she quickly jumped out of the way. It was suddenly struck by rockets in the side, so it turned to the source to see three kappas pointing rocket launchers at it. Missile launchers appeared from the shoulders of the robot and fired missiles at them, so they quickly jumped out of the way.
Rikako was hiding behind a machine. She searched around her coat for anything she could use to defend herself, but all she found was a taser that wouldn't be of help in this situation. Suddenly, the missiles fired by the robot struck the machine Rikako was hiding behind from the front and destroyed it, blasting her forward.
The explosion made Rikako's lab coat catch on fire, so she quickly took it off, revealing a white shirt and a black skirt underneath. "That does it! You're making me do this!" Rikako angrily said as she turned to the robot. Her irises gave off pink light as a bright pink aura appeared around her, and then she stretched her arms to the sides to form what appeared to be miniature suns. She pointed her arms at the robot, and the miniature suns flew at it and struck it in the chest rapidly, pushing it back with each step.
The robot managed to retain its footing, and then it fired missiles at Rikako. The scientist created more sun-like projectiles to counter the missiles by blowing them up in midair. The robot got ready to fire another set of missiles, but suddenly, another robot shoulder bashed it in the side to send it tumbling across the floor. Rikako looked at the newcomer and saw that it was a black robot with purple limbs. It didn't have a head; instead, it had a one large eye with a red iris and black pupil in front of its chest. It was about three meters tall, a few heads shorter than the other two robots.
"Sorry to keep you waiting," Rika's voice spoke out from inside the new robot. "It's been a while since I used the Evil Eye Omega, so it took a while to get its engine heated up and running."
The fire-using robot got back up and turned to look at the new robot for a few seconds before firing missiles at it, and the latter fought back using missiles fired from the same locations. Most of the missiles collided with each other in midair and destroyed each other, but some went past each other and headed for their targets. Both the robots stepped aside to avoid the missiles, and then Evil Eye Omega changed its right hand into arm cannon before firing a rapid burst of energy bullets at the robot's chest.
While Rika was attacking that robot, the axe-handed robot approached her from behind to attack with one of its axes. However, thanks to its radar that allows it to detect threats from all directions, Evil Eye Omega quickly turned around and pushed away the axe that was going to hit it. The former changed its other hand into an arm cannon as well and then blasted that robot in the chest at point blank to push it back a some steps.
The fire-using robot attacked from behind with its flamethrower, but Evil Eye Omega moved to the side in time to avoid it, so the fire ended up hitting its own comrade. Evil Eye Omega pointed both its arm cannons at the robots and took a few seconds to charge up before firing a pair of powerful energy blasts that sent both robots shooting back through the place.
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!
Both robots were seemingly out of commission after coming to a stop. Nitori walked up to Evil Eye Omega and commented, "That was awesome! I never saw you use this in a real fight before, and you've managed to put up a spectacular show with it!"
"I never actually I thought I would be able to use it in a real fight, too," Rika said. "Glad that I finally put it to good use! It's very effective, too!"
The two robots started to get back up again, so Nitori and Rika both got ready for another round. "Looks like they still need to be thrashed around more," Rika said. "Let's give it to them, then!"
"You bet I will!" Nitori said.
"There's another one!" shouted someone. Rika and Nitori turned around to see some kappas and white wolf tengus running from another robot of the same kind, but it had chainsaws for hands instead.
"What?! Just how many are there?!" Nitori said in shock.
The robot activated its chainsaws and then rushed forward while swinging them around to try to hit people with them, but everyone managed to get out of the way in time. The robot headed in Evil Eye Omega's direction and rammed into it, pushing it across the place. "Rika!" Nitori said in shock upon seeing this. Suddenly, she noticed missiles flying at her from the side, so she quickly jumped out of the way and turned to see that they were fired by the fire-using robot.
The axe-handed robot ran towards Nitori with its right axe pulled back to take a swing at her. However, a large ball of energy was fired at it and sent it flying back. Nitori turned around to see Rikako holding a large bazooka-like weapon on her shoulder. "Whoa… You took out that energy bazooka!" the kappa commented.
The fire-using robot got ready to fire more missiles, but suddenly, it retracted its launchers back into its shoulders, a move that made Nitori and Rikako curious. Openings appeared on various parts of the robot's body, and then canisters came out from them. Large amounts of smoke suddenly came out from the canisters and quickly filled up the place.
"What the?! Smokescreen?!" Nitori said in shock.
Everyone breathed in the smoke and started to cough uncontrollably. While they were all unable to see because of the smoke, Akemi, wearing a gas mask, came out of her room, pushing a trolley that was carrying three black triangles the size of fire extinguishers. She took advantage of the smoke to make her through the place without being seen, and she also took out a remote control and pressed a button on it.
Because she was inside Evil Eye Omega, Rika wasn't bothered by the smoke, but she couldn't see anything but the smoke itself. "The vent for sucking the smoke away… Gotta activate it!" she said to herself. She moved her robot in the direction of the switch, and eventually, she came to a blue button on the wall and pressed it. Once it was pressed, the air vents starting sucking up the smoke.
When the smoke was finally gone, Rika could see the others recovering from their coughing. However, she didn't see those three robots. "Hey, where'd they go?" she wondered.
Nitori finally stopped coughing and then turned to look at Evil Eye Omega and waved at it. "Thanks for clearing the smoke, Rika!"
The robot approached Nitori, and then its back opened like a door. Rika was carried out of its body by a harness that kept her in place inside, and then the harness automatically let go of her when her feet touched the floor. "Are you all right?" Rika asked the kappa as the former walked up to her.
"I'm all right," Nitori replied.
Rikako approached the two and adjusted her glasses while saying, "Those robots are gone… I think they must've run away while the place was filled with smoke."
"But where did they go to?" Nitori asked. After asking that question, her cell phone rang, so she answered it. "Hello?"
"Nitori! There are three large robots here!" said the feminine voice on the other side of the phone. "They're heading in the direction of the elevator that leads to the forest clearing at the western part of the mountain!"
"What?!" Nitori said in shock. "Okay! I got it! We're on our way there!" Then she ended the call and told the other two what happened.
"So they're heading for the surface?" Rikako asked. "But what for?"
"Whatever the case is, let's head over to where they went now before things turn for the worse!" Nitori suggested.
Akemi came to a hangar sort of place that had several machines designed for transportation that ranged from aircrafts to vehicles. She looked around until she found the aircraft she wanted, one that resembled a starship found in science fiction medias.
She went in the direction of that aircraft, but then a ponytailed kappa called out to her from behind. "Akemi! Several people are looking for you! Where have you been?"
Without saying anything, Akemi turned around and pointed her hand at the kappa, and then a burst of energy shot out from her palm and blasted her, zapping her badly. After that kappa was out cold, Akemi said to her, even though the latter wasn't able to listen anymore, "Took me less than thirty minutes to install this energy blaster into my hands. It's actually strong enough to kill a human, but for non-humans that have more durable bodies, they'll likely survive getting hit once. I can't say the same if it's fired from point blank, however. Now if you'll excuse me… I've got a place to destroy."
Shizuha and Minoriko were walking together through the woods near the base of Youkai Mountain, looking at the trees, most of which were bare. Even if they had leaves, there were only two or three of them, and they looked as if they were going to fall off any second.
"Winter is coming," Shizuha said while looking at the trees. "The end is near… Our end…"
"That's life for us," Minoriko said. "We are at our weakest during winter, but when spring comes, we will feel energized again, even if it's not as much as when in autumn. The beautiful sight of spring is still something to behold, however, so I look forward to it! It's been a great autumn this year. The farmers enjoyed harvesting their crops. They'll surely have a great winter this year!"
"Winter is a harsh season, the harshest of all the seasons in existence," Shizuha said. "It can bring joy to some, but hardship to some. Those prepared to live through it will enjoy it, but those who didn't will suffer from it."
"You're talking about the story of the ant and the grasshopper, right?" Minoriko asked her. "Don't worry; I'm sure everyone is prepared to go through winter this year. Plus, the citizens of the Human Village are friendly towards each other, so I'm sure they'll help each other go through winter happily! Christmas is coming up, and it's one season where everyone is happy!"
"Except those who do not have anyone to celebrate Christmas with," Shizuha said.
"Oh, sis… You're always talking about negative things, but what else can I expect from you?" Minoriko commented with an expression that was a combination of a smile and a "not again" kind of look.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of crashing coming from the front, which shocked them. "What was that?!" Minoriko asked.
"Look!" said Shizuha, pointing at a large mass approaching from the front that was cutting down trees as they moved.
It was the army of twenty robots built by Akemi…
TO BE CONTINUED
For a story that stars Shizuha, the goddess of red leaves doesn't seem to be getting that much focus. Rather, the story seems to be more focused on Akemi and the science department. Rest assure, however, that Shizuha is still the main character of the story, so you will still be seeing more of her.
Evil Eye Omega is my original creation based off Evil Eye Sigma. I find it awkward for Rika to use Evil Eye Sigma in that situation, so I came up with a new ride for her. What do you think of it?