Sorry for the wait… Writer's block struck me… Thanks to God, however, everything turned out all right in the end, so please enjoy this story!
Also, I believe that I'm able to implement the new characters from the new Touhou games into my build-up stories and also the story that is being built up. Please look forward to seeing some of them!
Also, out of curiosity, how many people realized that Dr. Akihiro is related to Akemi before it was brought up in the previous chapter?
Chapter 4
Identified Beast
The bit of blood that Dr. Akihiro extracted from Nue while she was put to sleep was now inside his body, and the scientist wondered what sort of effect it would have on him. After all, it was the blood of a creature that was thought to exist only in myths, and who knows what the former could do to humans if it got inside them.
Dr. Akihiro used a machine for checking one's blood status to look at his blood veins. It was a computer-like machine with an arch-shaped device next to it. By placing his hand through the arch, he was able to see an x-ray image of his arm on the computer screen that showed his blood veins instead of his bones. The screen also displayed a message telling him that there was something foreign inside his blood veins, and he knew that it was the nue's blood.
The scientist took his arm out of the arch and wondered if he should try to remove the nue's blood. However, a part of him also wanted to see what sort of effects it would have. Suddenly, something came to him, so he quickly exited the blood testing room.
He made his way to another part of the same floor and came upon a room that was filled with bottles. "Since these pills maximizes one's full potential, I wonder what will happen if I consume it when the blood of a nue is inside me…" he thought.
He opened one of the pills and then consumed it. After that, he waited for several seconds for something to happen, but nothing ever did. He looked around his body to see if there were any changes. More than a minute passed, and there were still no changes.
He thought that maybe his performances had become better, so he tried to see if he could do something that he usually couldn't do, such as lifting a table that had heavy equipments on it. He tried lift such a table from its side using both hands, but he had a hard time doing so. Realizing that he hadn't changed at all, he angrily said, "These pills are a failure! Something will have to be said to the workers tomorrow! What a failure of a product!"
The scientist then decided that he had enough of staying in his workplace for the day, so he got ready to go home.
Dr. Akihiro came out of the office building, walked to the side of the street, and waved his hand to stop a taxi. When a taxi stopped, he got inside and told the driver where he wanted to go. The taxi only started driving for a few seconds when the scientist suddenly felt pain in his body that gradually became stronger and stronger.
Seeing the scientist in pain, the taxi driver asked him, "Sir, are you all right?"
"Just a bit of aching, nothing big…" Dr. Akihiro replied while beating his chest with his fist. The pain kept on increasing, and the scientist started to feel as if something was going to burst out from all over his body. The pain became worse and worse, to the point where he could no longer endure it, so he screamed in pain.
"Sir! What's wrong?! I'll take you to the hospital right away!" the taxi driver said in shock. Suddenly, a loud roar frightened him.
Mamizou wasn't happy at all. After hearing from Nue about what happened, the tanuki was furious. "I can't believe that madman did this to you!" she said. "I'm going to call the cops first thing in the morning and have him brought to justice! You can't kidnap someone to use as a test subject just to satisfy your curiosity!"
"How about we just forget about it?" Nue asked her. "I'm back and in a good condition, so let's just forget that it happened… We can simply leave Tokyo and go somewhere else if you are still worried that he'll come after me. Even with a tracking device, I'm sure he'll give up looking for me once he finds out that I'm too far away."
"I don't care! Nobody hurts my friends and gets away with it!" Mamizou said. "The more I think about it, the angrier I become! He's going to pay for this!"
"All right, all right… I get it… You're mad and want to avenge me… but seriously, I don't need you to do that for me…" Nue said to her. "I'm mad at him too, but I managed to get back at him in some way, so that's enough for me!"
"I'm still calling the authorities tomorrow!" Mamizou said. "He even put me to sleep just to kidnap you! I'm not going to sit still until he gets what he deserves!"
"You're angry about that too…?" Nue asked.
Traffic jams weren't anything to be happy about, and Maribel and Renko could testify to that. Stuck in the middle of the street on a bus, the two girls were bored out of their minds while waiting for the vehicles in front to move. "We've been riding for more than thirty minutes already…" Renko said. "It normally takes only about fifteen minutes to reach where we live from where we boarded this bus… This traffic jam is really horrible…"
"Can't be helped…" Maribel said. "It's actually still a bit of a distance from where we live, so we're going to tire ourselves out if we get off now and walk. None of the subway trains go to where we live as well, so we have no choice but to wait… At least there are still a few hours before midnight, and I'm sure we can get home before then."
"Let's hope so…" Renko said. She leaned her head against the window and looked out with a bored expression. She was about to fall asleep when she started hearing screams that started off soft, and when they became louder and louder, she became curious. She looked out the window to see people running ahead of the bus in panic.
Eventually, the amount of people running out in the streets made everyone in the bus curious. The sound of crashing was soon heard, and the people in the other vehicles got out and looked back to see what was happening. When they saw what was happening, they became scared and abandoned their vehicles to run on ahead.
"What's happening?" Maribel wondered while watching the people running outside.
"I don't know… Looks like bad news, though…" Renko replied.
Someone on the bus asked the driver to open the door so he could go outside to get a better look at what was happening, and the latter did as he said. Some people stepped out and looked back, and they also became scared and ran for their lives, but not before telling everyone in the bus to run.
Suddenly, a car fell at the side of the bus and crushed another car underneath it, but the driver in the latter had already evacuated earlier. The people in the bus were freaked out by the sight of this, so they quickly got down from the bus to run. "I think we better run with them…" Renko suggested. "I really do have a bad feeling about this…
Maribel nodded in agreement, and they both got out of the bus and then looked back to see more cars being hurled in their direction. Luckily, none of them flew into them, only around them. "What's happening back there?!" Renko asked in shock.
When they looked more closely, they saw a muscular figure at the back that was throwing the cars and scaring people. "I think there's a large animal or something over there!" Maribel said.
The "animal" let out a roar as it knocked away everything that was in its way by swinging its arms. Seeing that it was approaching, Maribel and Renko quickly turned to run along with the other people. Because the vehicles on the street made it hard to move forward, they quickly made their way to the sidewalk before running ahead.
The creature flung a car into the air and against the side of a building to cause a sign and pieces of the wall to fall down, and Maribel and Renko were right underneath them. "Watch out!" Renko shouted. She quickly jumped forward to avoid it, but Maribel moved back instead.
Renko got up and grunted in pain from the injury on her knee that was created when she scraped it against the sidewalk upon landing. Maribel ran around the debris and over to her friend to help her up. "Are you all right?" Maribel asked her.
"May have a bit of problem running now…" Renko replied.
Mamizou and Nue were flying through the air. The former was in the form of a sparrow and the latter hid herself behind an illusion of the same kind of bird. "Geez… You're impatient, aren't you?" Nue asked her friend. "I don't think the police are going to do anything about it at a time like this…"
"In the very least, I'm going to go and give that guy a piece of my mind!" Mamizou said in anger. "If he's already gone, then we'll see if we can obtain information on where he lives, and then we can contact the police to get them to go to his house and arrest him! Or we go and find him ourselves first."
As they were flying high above the street, they heard the sound of screaming and crashing coming from below, so they looked down to see people running for their lives. "What's happening down there?" Nue wondered.
Mamizou noticed something farther ahead that was rampaging through the street, throwing away smaller vehicle that got in its way and occasionally roaring in a loud voice. "Over there! I think that's the reason!" she said.
"What is that thing?!" Nue asked in shock.
"Look! It's Renko and Maribel!" said Mamizou, pointing at their two friends, who were trying to escape the creature on the sidewalk.
Due to injuring her knee, Renko wasn't able to move properly, so Maribel helped her by carrying one arm over her shoulders, but this resulted in them getting left behind by the crowd. The creature, while on the street, was only a few meters behind them, and they hoped that it wouldn't come after them.
Nue and Mamizou flew down onto the sidewalk and quickly put on their human disguises before approaching the two from behind, and the latter called out their names.
Maribel and Renko turned around, and the former said, "Nue! Mamizou! What are you doing here?"
"We'll talk about that later! We better get out you both out of here first!" Mamizou said.
"What is that thing anyway?!" Nue asked while looking at the creature. The cars blocked the creature partially, so she wasn't able to get a very clear look at it.
The creature let out of roar before suddenly leaping through the air and landing on top of a van that was ahead of Nue and her group, and the force of its landing, combined with its weight, flattened the vehicle somewhat. That was when the four girls managed to get a better look at the creature, albeit only its back. What they saw surprised them, especially Nue and Mamizou.
The creature wore a pair of black trousers and had a body covered in brown fur. The head had black fur, and the legs had yellow fur that was accompanied by black stripes. It had a green snake with a pair of fangs for a tail, and needless to say, it was sentient and swaying around while hissing menacingly. It also had six red and blue appendages, three of each color, growing out of its back. The red ones had pointed tips, while the blue ones had arrowheads for their tips.
The creature raised his head into the air and roared loudly, and then it leaped forward a large distance, crushing another car underneath it when it landed.
The four girls were shocked beyond words at they just saw. They stared at the creature as it went farther and farther into the distance for several seconds, and then Maribel asked, "What… What… is… that…?"
Mamizou and Nue looked at each other with wide opens mouths and eyes, and then the former said to the latter quietly, "That… That's… a… nue… right…?" The latter slowly nodded her head in response.
In the morning of the next day, some scientists and policemen were gathered at the eleventh floor of Ota Tech, as something had been stolen from one of the rooms on that floor.
The red-haired woman looked at the glass box for several seconds with a displeased expression. "So… who put that device into this box before leaving yesterday?" she asked. "That person forgot to use the lock on it, and look at what happened!" She turned around to look at the scientists who where in the room, and they were all just as curious as her as to who didn't lock up the glass box. "Nobody can answer me? Well, then we'll have to look at the security camera to see who it is, and that person better be prepared for the consequences of being careless!"
She then walked up to a button at the side of the door leading out to the hallway and pressed it before speaking into the speaker above the former. "This is Professor Okazaki calling the security room. I want you to check Room 1103's security footage. Check and see yesterday's footage at around nine o'clock at night to see who it was that put the mysterious device found in Akihabara into the glass box."
After that, everyone in the room waited for the guard in the security room to respond. About thirty seconds later, the guard responded through the speaker, "This is the security room calling. Professor Okazaki, are you there?"
"Yes, it's me responding," the red-haired woman replied. "Did you find out who it is?"
"Um… Yes… It's… It's… you…" the guard nervously replied.
The woman was stunned upon hearing this, not to mention the scientists. She tried to recall what she was doing yesterday and eventually remembered how things were, so she turned around to face the scientists with one hand at the back of her head. "Um… Sorry… I remember now… It was me who put that device into the glass box yesterday and forgot to lock it… I left the room last…"
"Geez, I can't believe that you can be this forgetful, Yumemi!" a blond girl with two ponytails dressed in a sailor outfit said to her. "So much for being a fine example of the perfect scientist around here…"
"Not everyone is perfect, okay?" the red-haired woman, Yumemi Okazaki, said to the blond girl. "Everyone makes mistakes."
"True, but certain mistakes really shouldn't be made by certain people," the blond girl, Chiyuri Kitashirakawa, said to her. "This mistake is a really big and unforgivable one, you know? As one of the top scientists here, you really should feel ashamed of yourself for making a mistake that caused something important here to be stolen! Just wait till the chairman hears… TOOF!" She was silenced when Yumemi karate chopped her in the head to knock her out.
"So anyway, it's my fault that this device got stolen, so I'll be the one responsible to get it back," Yumemi said to the scientists. "According to the guards, it is believed that a girl dressed in a black dress with red and blue appendages sticking out of its back stole it. Even though we still have no idea what that device is, we will not allow anything here to be stolen! For all we know, that thing may actually be a dangerous weapon that can be activated through unknown methods, so we must get it back at all cost!"
"I think you're exaggerating the situation, Professor Okazaki…" one of the scientists said to her.
"Well… it may be true… That device being a dangerous weapon, I mean…" Yumemi said to her. "Anyway, my assistant and I will get it back, so all of you don't have to worry about it."
As Yumemi and Chiyuri rode the elevator to a first floor, the latter asked the former, "So… how are you going to find that girl?"
"I'm sure the footage from the security camera is sufficient enough for us to find her," Yumemi told her. "We'll have to do stuff like gathering information from guards first regarding how that girl could've come in here in the first place and what she was doing here. After that, we'll compile the information we gathered and try to find out who and where she is."
The elevator stopped at the fifth floor, and Dr. Akihiro came inside with two briefcases in his hands. "Oh hi, Doctor Machida!" Yumemi said to him. "What's wrong? You look… under the weather today…"
"Had a rough night yesterday…" Dr. Akihiro replied. "Because of this, I plan to bring home some of my equipments to work there…"
"Is that so? I know you value work, but you should remember to take care of yourself as well," Yumemi told him.
"I will, and thanks for the concern!" the scientist told him.
The elevator reached the first floor, and all three of them came out. Chiyuri asked the scientist, "By the way, Doctor Machida, you were around here until nighttime, were you not?"
"Yes," the scientist replied. "What is it?"
"Well, you see… A girl stole that strange device found in Akihabara yesterday night…" Chiyuri told him. "I'm wondering if you know anything about this…"
Hearing what Chiyuri said, the scientist wondered if she was referring to Nue. After thinking about this for a few seconds, he asked, "Does that girl have red and blue appendages sticking out of her back?"
"That's the guards' description," Yumemi replied. "So you did see her?"
"I saw her being chased by the guards," the scientist replied. "I also remember her as one of the participants in the tour here yesterday. Other than that, I don't know anything else about her. Anyway, I'm leaving now, and I hope that you manage to find that device soon!" Then he headed for the exit.
The two watched him leave, and then Chiyuri said, "Well, I think we're still in step one… What ideas do you have now? I think we should call the police for help in investigating this…"
"Maybe…" Yumemi said with a nod.
Mamizou and Nue were in their inn rooms, thinking about what they saw the previous night. Even though they didn't get to see the creature's front, seeing its back was more than enough to surprise them beyond words, not to mention letting them identify what it was. "I can't believe that we would actually run into a nue here in Tokyo…" Mamizou said. "Encountering such creatures in the outside world isn't something that will never happen, but the chances of encountering one rampaging on the street are… next to zero… Nues almost never make themselves known to humans in their true forms, but that one…" Then she shifted her eyes to Nue, who appeared to be staring into the air. "Nue? Are you all right?"
When the nue didn't respond, the tanuki went up to her and patted her shoulder to grab her attention. "Oh, Mamizou… I'm fine…" she told her. "I was simply thinking about the nue from yesterday…"
"Quite a surprise to find your kind out here, eh?" Mamizou asked her.
"Yeah, but I'm thinking… I don't have proof of this, but for some reason, I'm somewhat convinced that the nue from yesterday has something to do with Ota Tech…" Nue told her.
Mamizou raised her eyebrow upon hearing this. "Ota Tech? Why do you say that?"
"Well, you see… That guy who took my blood is a scientist who studies biology, so maybe he's smart enough to use my blood to create a nue…" Nue explained.
"Um… Sounds a bit bizarre… but you'll never know…" Mamizou said. "I think the best way to get to the bottom of this is to go and ask the man himself. We didn't get to go and see him yesterday because of that nue, so I'm not missing my opportunity to do so now!"
The two wasted no time in rushing over to Ota Tech using flight while disguised as sparrows. After donning their human disguises in a nearby alleyway, the two girls went into the building and headed for the front desk. Mamizou asked the receptionist, "Excuse me, ma'am. We would like to meet the head scientist of the biotechnology department. I think his name is Machida or something…"
"You mean Akihiro Machida?" the receptionist asked her. "I saw him leaving this place less than thirty minutes ago."
"He went outside? Do you know when he will return?" Mamizou asked her.
"It's not afternoon yet, so he couldn't have been gone for lunch. If that is the case, then he shouldn't be gone for more than an hour," the receptionist replied. "He was carrying with him two briefcases when he left, so I think he went to do work out there…"
"Since you're not sure when he'll be back, can I ask for his home address?" Mamizou asked her. "That way, we can pay him a visit at his home. We have something urgent to talk to him about."
"Sure, I have his address here," the receptionist said as she started looking up the computer for the scientist's address. "Please wait a moment…"
Mamizou and Nue, after obtaining 's address, traveled through the air to head over to his house. "Let's see… It should be around this area…" Nue said while looking at the sheet of paper containing the address.
They finally arrived at Dr. Akihiro's house, but before they went to the door, they flew to the window and looked through it to see if he was in his room. They didn't see him, however, so they decided to go for the front door. The girls donned their human disguises, and then Mamizou pressed the doorbell and waited for someone to open the door.
Several seconds went by, and no one ever came out of the house, so the tanuki pressed the doorbell again. They waited for more than a minute, and when no one came out again, Mamizou said, "He's not home, is he?"
"Maybe we got here before him?" Nue asked. "Sure, he may have left earlier than us, but flying here is faster than walking or driving here."
"Maybe…" Mamizou said with a shrug. "However, while we were on our way here, there weren't that many cars on the street, so it shouldn't take long for him to get here."
"What do we do now? Wait until he's back?" Nue asked.
Mamizou wondered about this for a while. "Let's just take a look around this place and see if we can find him. It's also a good method for killing time before he gets back."
"If you say so," Nue said with a shrug.
The two girls donned their sparrow disguises again and then flew into the air to see if they could find the scientist.
After flying around for several minutes, they decided to stop on the rooftop of a warehouse. They sat down on the lower roof to relax, and while doing so, Nue turned around and looked into the window of the upper floor. What she saw surprised her, so she quickly tapped Mamizou's shoulder and also signaled for her to be quiet. The tanuki looked through the window and saw Dr. Akihiro inside, working on various lab equipments.
The two girls then went to the bottom and landed in front of the warehouse's entrance. "He's actually in there all along?!" Nue said in surprise. "I can't believe that we actually found him by chance!"
"Yeah, what are the chances…?" Mamizou wondered.
"So are we going to go in there and meet him?" Nue asked.
Mamizou placed her fingers underneath her chin and wondered for a few seconds before saying, "If he came all the way here, then it's probably because he doesn't want anyone to find out what he's doing. He's probably working on something in secret… If what you believe is true, then it's probably related to the nue we saw yesterday."
"Makes sense," Nue said with a nod. "After all, working on experiments related to a creature like that is something you don't want other people to find out, maybe except your assistants…"
"If that's the case, then I see the need to stop him at all cost," Mamizou said. "It's no laughing matter if he creates an army of nue for world domination or something like that! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating things… but it's still a serious issue." Nue agreed with what she said.
Inside the warehouse, Dr. Akihiro picked up a pill he finished working on. "Good! This modification will allow the effect of maximizing one's potential to happen the moment it is consumed! With the nue's blood inside me, I'll be able to transform the moment I swallow it! Heeheehee!" Then he consumed it.
Nue and Mamizou sneaked into the warehouse and looked around with caution. The first floor consisted of a large empty room that had some machines and old stuff placed close to the walls, and there was a staircase at the back of the room that led to the second floor.
"Try not to make any noise until we get to the second floor," Mamizou told her friend. "We don't want him discovering our presence… Also, be on the lookout for security cameras, in case he has them installed here…"
Suddenly, something jumped down from the second floor and frightened them. It was a muscular gorilla-like beast wearing a lab coat, and there were red and blue appendages and a snake coming out from its back. The creature glared at them and then let out a roar.
"It's… It's the nue!" Nue gasped.
TO BE CONTINUED
DeadTurtle said that this story reminds him of the movie The Amazing Spider-Man. Of course he would be reminded of that movie, because this story's plot IS based off that movie! Because of this, I think it's easy for one to have an idea on how things will unfold, but I hope that you will still find the reading experience fresh and enjoyable, so please stick around until the end!
Also, Yumemi and Chiyuri are indeed the other two outside world characters. It was obvious, wasn't it?