CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Hunted
"No…let her go…let her…wha?"
Marcus stirred awake after what felt like an entire night to find himself (of all things) strapped to a pole, but not like the ones he had seen on the sacrificial platform. It took him a moment to shake off the nausea of being tossed about in the raging waters of a river and while being strapped to a pole seemed a little familiar, that was it. Everything else was completely new…like the ten blue-furred, scantily-clad, and very angry-looking women surrounding him with spears.
"What the…" he started, looking at his bonds before glaring at the women. He knew in a second exactly what they wanted with him. "Untie me right now!"
The closest one slapped him hard across the face and started yelling back at him in Cerinian.
"Iae kyxx gcuow ktub gcawub ha!" she yelled.
Marcus knew exactly what that meant, and he didn't like it.
"Yeah, well, fuck you, too!" he spat.
Suddenly, another woman who didn't have a spear approached him. She was regally dressed but was still just as scantily clad as the others. The most important thing was that her eyes were completely bloodshot and she had an overall malevolent air about her. That alone was enough to make our hero dislike her, but it only got worse once they struck up a conversation.
"Who are you supposed to be?"
"Ah. A Cornerian, are you?"
"Damn right I'm a Cornerian, and like a Cornerian I don't like being bonded for no reason."
The woman grabbed his throat and squeezed harshly, forcing Marcus to gag on whatever other words he had.
"Hold your tongue, boy. Like you don't appreciate being bonded, I don't appreciate being talked back to."
She released his neck before leaning in closer.
"My name is Aphrodite, Queen of Cerinia, and I deal harshly with sharp-tongued intruders… or any kind of intruders, for that matter."
"I don't mean any harm towards you or your people."
"Regardless of that, I'm sure you'll make a wonderful sacrifice to our goddess."
"Shit. They ARE worshipping Kursed…"
"What was that?"
"Nothing…"
"No matter. You won't need to repeat yourself after we're done with you."
"Hold on. You don't understand. My name is Mar…"
"Silence. I care not what you have to say, and neither will you in a few moments."
She turned to the other tribeswomen.
"Do with him what you will. I have other matters to attend to."
She snapped her fingers and disappeared, leaving the tribeswomen to menacingly approach, raising their spears.
"Oh, shit." Marcus thought. "Oh shit oh shit oh…aha!"
He noticed now that he wasn't spread-eagled against the pole. He simply had his hands tied behind it, and thankfully he could feel a loose knot. He quickly began to work at it with his fingers, but he knew a few seconds wasn't going to be enough time to get loose.
He decided he'd have to resort to the oldest trick in the book.
"What the hell is that?!" he yelled, looking behind the tribeswomen.
Apparently the book hadn't been published on Cerinia, because they looked. Even just that one moment was enough for Marcus to loosen the knot enough to get loose…and whip the rope out from behind the pole and use it as a weapon.
"Heads up! …oops! Too late!"
The monkey fist end of the rope slammed into the tribeswomen's heads, knocking them all into a state of dizziness and giving Marcus enough time to flip over them, sling the rope over his shoulder in case he needed it later, and slide down a nearby slope to begin his escape.
"Qabh xuh htoh febh suh okoi!" one of the tribeswomen yelled.
"You know I can understand what you're saying, right?! I may be arrogant, but I ain't stupid…and I know I'm a little late in asking this, but where the hell are all the guys?!"
He picked up his pace as the women began running after him until he was flat out sprinting across the grass, jumping over small trenches, hopping over a stone ledge here, wall-kicking to get up to another ledge there. His lungs were ready to burst from both panic and exhaustion, but there was no way in hell he could stop now. One wrong move and he'd find a spear sticking out of his chest.
And for a moment, it looked like it would end up that way as the women began throwing the spears at him like javelins. Thankfully, his ESP was kicked into high gear and he was able to dodge them and (better still) even manage to catch one and throw it back at them.
Finally, after taking a true dare and jumping into a rather deep trench and sliding along the wall to prevent any serious injury, he seemed to have fully escaped. All ten of the tribeswomen looked down at him angrily, all of them having lost their spears.
"Iae zahtufrepwuf!" one of them yelled at him.
"Language, young lady!" Marcus mocked.
At first it seemed like Marcus was in the clear, but then it happened: the women noticed a boulder conveniently sitting next to them, and as soon as one of them got a smirk on her face, Marcus began fearing he'd have to start running again at a breakneck speed to get out of this predicament.
"They wouldn't…"
They did. The ten women slammed their backs against the boulder and pushed until it rolled down the incredibly steep slope leading into the trench and began rolling after Marcus.
"Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit SHIT!"
He took off running in probably one of the most obvious Resident Evil 4 rip-offs you've ever seen, going faster and faster still and yet never getting any distance from the boulder, and judging from how narrow the trench was, diving out of the way wouldn't cut it. The whole thing felt like one giant quick-time event, where if he didn't make the right move at the right time, he was…well, I didn't want to use any strong profanity since I'm the narrator, but here goes: if he didn't make the right move at the right time, he was filibustered…what?
And he saw that he'd have to make that right move sooner than anticipated, because in he and the boulder were closing fast on a massive ravine.
"I said it once and I'll say it again… Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit SHIT!"
There was no possible way he could jump over something like that, even with his miraculous enhancement. In a last ditch effort, he looked up. Thankfully, coming out of a cliff jutting out from the ravine was what looked like a tree, with one of its branches sticking out far enough that it was certainly possible that bringing the rope was a good idea on his part.
"Just gotta give it my best throw…" Marcus panted, grabbing the rope off his shoulder and twirling it around a little bit before throwing it as high as he could.
Success! The monkey first end wrapped around the branch and Marcus was able to swing like Tarzan and jump to safety as the boulder fell into the abyss. Or at least, he thought he was safe, because as soon as he landed, his foot slipped and he only had time to grab the ledge with one hand. Since he had spent all of his energy running from both the Cerinian natives and the boulder, he had almost no energy to even try and pull himself up.
Let it be known I said almost. With a moment of struggling, he managed to grab the ledge with both hands before hauling himself up and out of danger. Before running off, he took one look down into the ravine. There was no sign of any sort of life down there, and with good reason because all he could see was blackness.
He said nothing. He just took a moment to catch his breath before walking off into the forest, following the dirt path and not caring to look at the oddly hued leaves and plants. He didn't care. He just wanted to get back to the warp point and get off the planet.
"No…I can't get off the planet yet. I have to save Coyote…there's no telling what Kursed will do to her. Wait a second…"
He felt around at his back. He felt nothing…and that was the problem.
"My staff!"
A few lost causes of walking later…
Marcus stumbled his way into a small stream, got down on his knees, and started cupping the water up into his mouth. His head had been aching for the past few hours as he had been walking around with no sense of direction or, for that matter, any idea where to go. The entire evil aura about this place was starting to give him a migraine.
There no questioning or denying it. He was lost. Lost on a planet he couldn't get off of simply because of pure devotion.
"I have to save her…but where is she?"
He sighed and continued to cup the refreshing water into his mouth, but he stopped when he got the suspicious feeling of someone watching him. He looked up in dread which turned to shock when he met with the face of another Cerinian tribeswoman. He let out a loud yelp and jumped backwards before he realized that she had been looking at him in wonder, and now that she could see his face, she smiled and came closer to him.
"B-back off!" Marcus hollered. "I'm warning you!"
She still came closer until finally their faces were just inches apart, and in a swift motion, she embraced him.
"Marcus…I finally get to meet you." she said happily.
Marcus sat in confusion as the girl held him lovingly, beginning to get slightly disturbed. In fact, this whole world disturbed him. He didn't know if it was because of how primitive it was compared to Corneria or if it was because the women seemed to be trying to expose as much of their bodies as possible without looking too indecent (it happens), but he really wanted to get off the planet now that this girl had taken an attraction to him. But there was a bright side to it. At least she could speak English.
The girl finally parted from him and took his hand right as she heard something approaching.
"Come with me." she said.
"Doesn't look like I have much of a choice." Marcus thought sourly.
He allowed her to drag him along through the forest quickly, his heart racing the entire way from fear that she was probably just going to throw him in a pit of giant snakes or venomous spiders, but no. She didn't. She led him to what appeared to be a large treehouse, and she was quick to flip back and forth between trees and wall-kicking to get up to the platform, showing off her amazing agility.
"Hurry." she said, offering her hand down to him.
Marcus looked behind him to make sure that there was no one that would see or hear him, then took a flying leap at the Cerinian's hand. She grabbed him as soon as he came close enough and showed off some incredible strength by hauling him up after her. She then shocked him again by pressing her body flat against him and forcing them both to roll inside the house. Before he could object to it, she pressed a finger to his mouth and pricked her ears up to listen carefully. There were footsteps below them, and they seemed to stop for a moment as their owners sniffed at the air.
"I could swear I saw her here a minute ago!" one of the women said in their native tongue.
"Keep looking! There's no way she could have gotten too far!"
The footsteps proceeded until finally they were gone. The girl got off of Marcus, who right away spotted something leaning up against the wall.
"Hey, that's my staff!" he said. "How did you get it?"
"It fell by the riverbank when they dragged you off to be executed."
Marcus retrieved his staff, checked it over for dents or scratches, and clipped it back onto his belt.
"Thanks…so who are you?"
The girl looked at him with a warm smile.
"My name is Aileen. And you're Marcus James McCloud."
Aileen...he remembered the vision of the girl watching her father being decapitated right in front of her. This was that same girl? She certainly seemed world-worn as one would be after something such as that. There was a bigger question at hand, however.
"…how do you know my name?"
"That's not important. I need your help."
"Uhh…alright. With what?"
Aileen looked out the window and pointed to a shady stone building far off in the distance. Marcus could just barely see it through the fog clouding around its towers, but he could immediately see the infamous symbol that Kursed had associated herself with.
"What about it?"
"I saw some of the villagers drag a man in there not too long ago. I think they have the intention of sacrificing him to the evil spirit."
"And let me guess: you want me to help you get him out."
"Precisely. Will you help me?"
"Don't worry, kid. I'm there as soon as you mention anyone being in danger."
Aileen smiled and nodded.
"Okay. Let's go, but be sure to stay quiet. The villagers may still be out scouting."
She performed a ninja-like flip and landed perfectly back on the ground, whereas Marcus had to slowly edge himself down to avoid breaking his legs. As soon as he had set foot on the soft earth, the two of them took off running toward the temple. For quite a few moments, Marcus looked up at the sky in moderate disbelief. It had been nighttime when the team had landed, and he had been running around looking for where to go for hours.
"Sheesh. Sure is taking a long time for the sun to rise." he said aloud.
"The sun hasn't risen here in three years, Marcus."
"…huh?"
"It's too complicated to explain. We have to rescue the man I saw first. Then I'll take you and him to see the village shaman."
"I thought we were trying to stay away from the villagers."
"The shaman is a pure being who lives outside of the village. She's a very wise woman, Marcus. You'll be glad I took you to her."
Aileen stopped running, stretching out her arm to stop Marcus from going any further.
"We're here."
The temple looked even more ominous now that the two of them were standing right in front of it. The stones that had been used to build it looked black as charcoal, and the temple itself was almost sky-high. Marcus sucked in a breath.
"Well then, let's get in there and save the guy."
"There's bound to be someone in there. Running in like a grimtiger will be suicide."
"Two questions. One: what the hell is a grimtiger? Two: what do you suggest?"
"Two answers. One: I'll explain later. Two: you sneak inside through the window at the back, and I'll create a distraction so that the villagers inside will come outside and give you enough time to unbind him and get him out."
"The only sane person on this planet so far AND a decent strategist. I'm starting to like you already."
Aileen gave him a warm smile.
"Thank you. Now get going! There isn't much time!"
"Right."
Marcus took off towards the back of the temple, rounding a few corners until he reached it. He didn't think about what was going on with this planet, what the villagers were doing sacrificing innocent men to Kursed, and just who this Aileen person was, but did he really have any choice but to just do as she said? After all, she just saved him. The least he could do was help her.
He spotted a small rut just above his head, and high above it was a stained-glass window. He didn't make a second thought; he jammed the spear end of the staff into the rut, pulled himself up and crouched down on top of it. He then put down as much of his body weight onto the staff as he could before extending his legs and launching himself up towards the window, seizing the ledge underneath it. Finally, he sucked in a breath before athletically flipping upwards and smashing through the window, landing on a wooden platform high above the temple's main room. It wasn't until he heard voices that he realized just how big of a noise he had made.
"What in the Great Mother's name was that?!" a native said.
"Don't ask what it was. Go see for yourself. I'll stay here and finish the ritual."
"Fine."
Marcus pressed himself flat against the floor, looking down through a crack in the boards to see two natives. One was proceeding up a set of stairs to the platform he was on, while the other was standing in front of a man strapped to a sacrificial post similar to the one Marcus was on not too long ago. Speaking of the man, he was a tall, blue-furred cat that looked to be in his later adult years, though he was certainly nowhere near Peppy's age. He wore a leather jacket, a red muscle shirt, worn jeans, and of course a terrified look on his gagged face.
The man let out a series of muffled screams, to which the native in front of him responded by slapping him across the face.
"Be silent." she said coldly. "Screaming isn't going to save you from your only purpose on our beloved world."
Marcus gritted his teeth and was about to jump down to save this poor man, when he realized that he had made the stupid decision of just leaving his staff outside. Before he could even think of leaning out the window and telepathically retrieving it, he heard the footsteps of the other native slowly getting closer.
"Damn…guess there's only one thing for it."
The moment the Cerinian stepped onto the platform to look at what had happened, Marcus jumped out of the shadows, covered her mouth and hit her hard on the back of her head. She was unconscious before she even hit the ground, where Marcus gently placed her on her back. Just when it looked like that the other one was going to stab the knife in her hand into the man's chest, a loud clatter sounded from outside. She lowered her knife and looked over in moderate confusion.
"What in Echo's name could that be?"
"The Echo again, huh?" Marcus thought.
Thankfully, the woman walked outside to inspect what had just happened, and as soon as he heard the door close, Marcus dashed down the stairs after taking the unconscious native's knife. The man took one look at him and started thrashing about again, thinking that Marcus was no different from the others, though he was in for the relief of his life when the gag was removed from his mouth. The man took in a few deep breathes and then spoke.
"Nice of you to drop in."
Marcus nodded before getting around behind him and beginning to cut the ropes.
"So I guess you're not like them?" the man asked.
"No." Marcus replied. "Far from it."
"Peachy. So who are you?"
"Name's Marcus. Marcus James McCloud."
"Wait…you must be related to Fox McCloud, then."
"I'm his son. What's it to you?"
"A guy can ask questions, can't he?"
The knife finally split the ropes and the man was able to step forward and stretch.
"Phew. Thanks for that. Never once have I had a girl get that upset with me."
"It happens. And you are?"
"Isaac Monroe. Professional vigilante at your service."
"Katt's brother, eh? She's talked about you before."
"How do you know my…Falco, right?"
"They're married."
Isaac stumbled backwards in near disbelief and ran his fingers through his fur.
"Are you serious?! That knucklehead finally settled down, and with my big sister no less?!"
"Will you keep you it down? You're gonna draw the whole forest towards us if you keep that up."
"Sorry…you got a smoke?"
"Nope."
"Gum?"
"Nada."
"Balls of steel?"
"My buddy does, but I don't know about me. Do you?"
"More or less. So what are you doing here?"
"I should be asking the same thing."
"Oh, good. You got him loose." Aileen sighed as she came inside the building.
"Uhh…" Isaac said nervously.
"Don't worry. She's cool." said Marcus.
"Sorry…she just looks a little too well-armed to be necessarily friendly."
"Well-armed?"
Aileen flashed Marcus the twin swords slipped to the belt around her torso.
"Huh. That answers that. Come to think of it, why are the other natives hunting you, let alone taking the two of us prisoner?"
"You know Kursed?"
"…unfortunately. Why?"
"Come with me. Both of you."
"Where now?"
Aileen looked over her shoulder just as she was ready to head out the door.
"To have your questions answered."
How 'bout that? Two chapters in one update.
I finished these two a bit ahead of schedule, so I decided I'm going to move up the deadline of that contest I have going on (Go back about two chapters if you have no idea what I'm talking about). Now the contest will be over when I upload the twentieth chapter. That's a bit more fair, right? For those of you who know what I'm talking about and are participating, be sure to send me a message as soon as your entry is finished. I'm looking forward to seeing it.
SOUNDTRACK SO FAR
Krystal's nightmare- "Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)
Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method
F-Zero race- "F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System
Space pirate attack- Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime
Ridley- Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M
Falcon takes down Ridley- "The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X
The date- Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Coyote versus the shadows- "The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson
The star Lylat- Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime
Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Fox versus Kursed- "Du Hast" by Rammstein
Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)
The Nightstriker- "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath
The death of Commander Dane- "Mad World" by Gary Jules
The prisoners of Kew- Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64
Escape from Sargasso- "Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch
Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl
To Cerinia- "Laser Cannon Deth Sentence" by Dethklok
Aileen- "Working Class Hero" by Green Day (Originally by John Lennon)