Chapter 63: Help from the Sand
Further downstream, Zanna surfaced carrying Rosso on his head. He then limped onto a pier and walked down it before hiding behind an abandoned shack.
A few moments later, Zanna's nose tickled. Crap! They followed me here already?
Zanna held his breath and lay perfectly still as the sound of faint footsteps drew closer. But after a while, they seemed to become distant causing Zanna to sigh in relief.
"Looks like I lost them," Zanna murmured.
"Think again."
Surprised, Zanna looked to his right and noticed Favon, now resembling Zephyr in normal form with the squiggly lines across his face, wearing Zanna's jacket.
"You used the jacket to hide your scent," Zanna realized. "That's why I couldn't smell you."
"Yep," Favon nodded, and took out a throwing knife. "And now you're going to die!"
Unable to move, Zanna closed his eyes. But when nothing hit, he looked up and saw a strange wooden object wearing a black cloak which Favon had penetrated the throwing knife into.
"What the hell is this?" Favon asked out loud.
Zanna looked over his shoulder and noticed Oscuro (Kankuro) standing behind him with nature energy lines stretching from his fingers into the wooden object. "So I wasn't imagining things when I caught your scent before jumping into the water. Care to explain why you're here, Oscuro of the Rena (Sand) family?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Oscuro said sarcastically. "I'm here to help you."
Maneuvering his fingers, Oscuro caused the wooden object to attack Favon who backed away.
"So you use puppets, huh?" Favon remarked. "He's all yours, Zephyr!"
From above the shack appeared Zephyr who was still in his demonic form as he grabbed Oscuro's face and clenched it tightly.
Realizing what was going on, Zanna shouted, "Get out of there! He's going to try and fuse his body with yours!"
"Too late for that," Zephyr smirked as he hands dug deeper. "Huh?"
The sides of Oscuro's face cracked, causing sand to drip out. Then as the sand filtered out, it was revealed that Oscuro was actually another puppet but unlike the first one which Zanna remembered being called Corvo (Crow), this one had red horns sticking out of its head and a long face.
"Nice try, demon," Oscuro said as he emerged from the wrapped bundle behind the puppet's back. "But Soldiers (minor members of the Mafia) of the Rena family aren't pushovers, unlike our Foglia (Leaf) neighbors. And if you stand close enough to Antica Nera (Black Ant), you'll get bitten!"
From the puppet's multiple arms appeared several sharp blades which pierced Zephyr's flesh as they simultaneously grabbed him. Then the puppet let Zephyr go, causing him to collapse. Afterwards, Oscuro commanded it to go after Favon who dodged its attacks and transformed into his demon self before standing in front of Zephyr who was back to normal. The clash caused a cloud of debris which briefly kept Zanna and Oscuro from seeing anything. Then when it subsided, Zephyr's head was sticking out of the back of Favon's while Antica Nera had been knocked away.
"Thanks for the save, brother," Zephyr muttered breathlessly. "Now let me rest a bit."
"You're so weak," Favon mocked.
"Did these guys escape from a freak-show?" Oscuro flinched. "What's going on?"
"This is one of their abilities," Zanna explained. "When they merge together, one brother gets to heal while the other takes over and fights for him."
"Precisely," Favon confirmed as he changed from his demon self back to his normal form. "My wounds from our earlier battle have already healed thanks to it. However, I don't have much nature energy left so I'll give you guys quick painful deaths."
Oscuro gritted his teeth. "You trying to mock me or something?"
"These guys aren't joking," Zanna warned. "We should retreat and regroup for now."
"I can't do that," Oscuro stated, and waved his hands toward Corvo. "Rena family Soldiers never back down from a fight, no matter how strong the enemy is!"
Grasping him with the nature energy strings, Oscuro sent Corvo flying toward Favon and Zephyr. The two dodged the puppet's attacks effortlessly, even when it sent throwing knives and poisoned needles from its mouth and hands. Yet Oscuro grinned during all of this. Using his other hand, he sent Antica Nera behind Zephyr and Favon. There were several clicks and Antica Nera's body opened up revealing a hollow chamber that was big enough to fit one person. Realizing where they were going, Zephyr cried out alerting Favon. Unfortunately, Favon was so surprised that he tripped causing them both to fall into Antica Nera's chamber allowing it to trap them inside.
"Nice," Oscuro remarked, placing one arm over the other. "Right where I wanted you to be!"
Suddenly, Corvo's head detached from its body along with the multiple arms it carried. From the bottom of the head appeared a sharp blade along with the end of each arm. Meanwhile, Oscuro had relinquished control of Antica Nera causing its legs to buckle under which made Zephyr and Favon grunt in response.
"Let me out!" Favon demanded. "Your death will be merciless once I get out of here!"
"Now let's have some real entertainment," Oscuro announced, ignoring Favon. "Pygmalion* Art Cave of Nyx**(Black Secret Technique Machine One Shot)!"
As he spoke, the bladed arms and head of Corvo penetrated Antica Nera's body from all sides. The cries of Zephyr and Favon echoed from inside the chamber before dying out altogether. Then as Zanna watched, he saw trickles of blood pouring out from the chamber.
Oscuro chuckled. "Looks like the show's over."
"So where are your siblings?" Zanna abruptly asked. "I smelled them too."
"They went on ahead of me," Oscuro replied as the nature energy strings disintegrated. "Once I've cleaned up here, I'll take you back to the Foglia family headquarters."
"Thanks," Zanna said, still feeling stiff. "But…why are you guys doing this? I thought we were enemies after what happened during the Gladiator Games."
"That wasn't entirely our fault," Oscuro reminded him. "Typhonragazzo manipulated us by pretending to be our leader, and now we've called a truce to be your allies for the time-being."
"Oh, I see."
After that, Zanna rested along with his dog while Oscuro took care of Zephyr and Favon's body.
End of Chapter 63
*Pygmalion was a sculptor who fell in love with the statue he created who came to life
**The Cave of Nyx is where Cronus was banished to after he and the Titans were defeated by the Olympians (the main Greek Gods)