Chapter 50- Kushanku and his group's confrontation with the Man with the Upside Down Face part one
The night continued along with the activities. However, a critical turning point was coming up. The quest-goers with the exclusive Nine-Realms Potion ingredients were now back on the Land domain and were making their return journey to Cair Paravel. Some of the groups had lost group members during their perilous quests to obtain the ingredients such as Beaver's group with some Rabbits and two of the Pigs, Straw and Woody because of some of the Rabbits succumbing to the temptation of touching the forbidden treasure in the Forbidden Cave of the Treasures of Vanity on the Narnian Moon, the ONLY place to get one of the Nine-Realms Potion ingredients, the lunar mushrooms. Thankfully, Beaver and the other surviving members who entered the cave with him including Brick had managed to escape death from the DEADLY cave. However, they were not out of the danger woods yet. The next perilous stage was getting the ingredients to Cair Paravel and combining them into the Nine-Realms Potion to administer to High King Peter and pull him from the road to death, and he was heading there faster and faster now. The quest-goers HAD to keep a hold on the ingredients at ALL costs as the potion will NOT work without even one of its ingredients. If ANY of the ingredients went missing, at ALL, then it was all over for High King Peter and the country of Narnia itself so the quest-goers had to move FAST and they knew it. There was two pieces of news for them. The good news was that escorts had been sent by King Edmund and Queen Susan to meet them and guide them back to the castle. The bad news, however, was that another set of interceptors had been sent their way by an accomplice of Jadis whom we met in the previous chapter (and throughout the story too) and they had a COMPLETELY opposite aim in mind for those ingredients...
Later
The night continued but soon, dawn will be making its appearance. It was still dark as it was now the early hours of the morning. In one area of Narnia, one of the quest-goer groups, the one sent to Asgard Sky City in the Sky Domain to obtain some rainbowberries, hurried as fast as they could back to Cair Paravel on horseback, their Talking Horse escorts having waited at the Bifrost transporter pad for their return. Among them were Kushanku, Alexandrite, Padparadscha "Paddy", Rattus and his band of warrior Rats, warrior Mouse group Sordward, Shielbert, Athos, Porthos, Aramis and Squea'tagnan and Rattus' adopted Lightning Pika brother Mjölnir. Kushanku carried the capsule containing his precious harvest of rainbowberries on his back as well as a mysterious mirror he found while he was traversing the dangerous gates to the Rainbowberry Orchard. Kushanku's group was in an utmost hurry as they had no idea of how long High King Peter had left but they knew that it was not very long now. Furthermore, they did NOT want to run into any trouble from ANY of the still-roaming minions of Jadis who will NOT hesitate to attack them and steal the rainbowberries, the LAST thing Kushanku and his group wanted to happen. However, they were on the alert and the current escorts were prepared to take action should the group run into any trouble. At the same time, they continued their hurried return journey. However, a major minion of Jadis and Dimitrescu whom Kushanku and company were still unaware was Alcina's true form and colours, was about to confront the group.
After travelling on the Horse escorts for some time, Kushanku called from the front, "We should be approaching the homestretch of Cair Paravel by now."
"'Tis been a long an' exhaustin' journey," said Rattus as he rode on his Horse escort with some of his Rat underlings and Mjölnir, "Once this is over, we're gonna 'ave some form o' holiday."
"Look, Rattus, this first, holiday later, okay?" Athos called from another horse, Porthos, Aramis and Squea'tagnan riding with him. Rattus obeyed and resumed his attention to the crucial task. Nearby on another Horse with her sister Paddy, Alexandrite gazed dreamily into the distance of the still-dark landscape.
"And I look forward to having some well-deserved family time, especially with my Tiger Kushanku," she said, "Not to mention look forward to reuniting with our grandkids such as Alexandrite, Seishan and Elsa."
"I hope they have been found and rescued from wherever they have been taken before we departed for these quests by now," said Paddy, "Once this is over, we'll be having a MASSIVE family outing."
"Let's just get this over with first," Paddy and Alexandrite's steed, the Horse said as he continued to gallop along with the sisters on his back. Paddy and Alexandrite then put aside their plans and resumed their focus on the most important task in the here and now.
The group galloped through the area where the Battle of Beruna took place. However, the group soon slowed down and eventually stopped for something audible echoing in the night air had alerted them. The Horse escorts for the rainbowberry quest-goer group felt suspicion regarding those sounds well within them hence why they had slowed down. They had been alerted that the Cartoon Shadow Cat had gained a boost in power from consuming some apples in the Garden of Youth and had been severely advised to be EXTREMELY careful. And though the Cartoon Shadow Cat wasn't wandering around this area, the LAST thing the group, ESPECIALLY Kushanku who had fallen victim to the Cat creature's puppetry mind-control powers to use as a mouthpiece, wanted was to cross paths with that evil creature resembling a black and white fictional cat character from the cartoons in the Pevensies' homeworld, Earth. NOT good for the Nekomata members at all for the Cartoon Shadow Cat's puppetry mind-control powers worked most effectively on Felines, and additionally, any plans Mjölnir had in avenging the deaths of his biological family on the creature were put out of the question. The Lightning Pika would not stand a chance against the Cartoon Shadow Cat in its powered up state anyway to his chagrin.
The Horse who carried Kushanku came up to the leader as he scanned the dark surrounds of Beruna intently, looking for any flash of movement.
"Anything suspicious, Jack?" he asked. The lead Stallion of the escorts, Jack, continued scanning the dark landscape of Beruna and didn't reply to this at the moment. Kushanku on the Horse's back shrugged.
"I'm saw it was nothing serious," said he, "Probably just some dumb night animals out hunting or something."
"Nothing serious Kushanku?" Jack snapped indignantly, "Those noises didn't sound like some dumb night animals out hunting. They sounded like cries for help."
Then the Horse, a Mare, carrying some of Rattus' Rat underlings came in.
"We need to continue our journey back to Cair Paravel," said she, "We MUST get those rainbowberries to the castle before any trouble comes upon us..."
Jack nodded to this in agreement and was about to call the other Horses together when suddenly, screams exploded from the rocks on the hills of the dark Beruna landscape. Those screams were from some familiar family members to a certain Nekomata. Kushanku's eyes lit up, his head hair spiked out and his ears pricked. His tail branches twisted and spun and he took off from his steed's back to his alarm.
"MALACHITE!" he cried, "SEISHAN, ELSA!" and before anyone could stop him and to everyone else's alarm, the metallic powder blue, grey and white Nekomata rocketed off in to the dark air. Alexandrite and Padparadscha, also alerted by the horrific cries and screams of Malachite, Seishan and Elsa, also bolted from their steed's back and charged off after Kushanku into the darkness, screaming the names of the three young Nekomata.
"KUSHANKU, ALEXANDRITE, PADPARADSCHA, GET BACK HERE!" yelled Jack and with that, he and the other Horses and also the other members of the group charged off after the Nekomata, especially Kushanku who has the capsule of precious rainbowberries on his back and he was setting himself and the precious berries up as a sitting cat by flying off on his own and away from the others.
Kushanku continued flying towards the dark hills, yelling Malachite, Seishan and Elsa's names when suddenly, his eyes, which like almost every other Cat members were able to see well in the dark and they glowed with the light, picked up some movement against the starry sky. Kushanku focussed more on the movement and made out a few bird-shaped outlines. Those bird-shaped forms were flying about, screaming in his granddaughters' voices. Immediately, Kushanku shot a glare to a nearby rock, seized it in a telekinetic grasp indicated by his eyes glowing neon blue and a neon blue aura surrounding rock and causing it to levitate, and struck fatally down the birds with it. The birds stopped screaming in his granddaughters' voices and fell out of the sky like stones. When one of the birds flew near him to attack him, Kushanku twirled round and struck it down with his spinning tails. That bird dropped to the ground also. Kushanku then heard the sounds of REAL voices calling his name, alongside Alexandrite and Paddy's voices as they continued to shout for Malachite and the twin Nekomata sisters. Immediately and finally realising that the voices of those three Nekomata were just from a type of bird with a talent of creating an exact vocal replica of the real owners, he flew down to the others, especially his wife and sister-in-law as they continued to shout Malachite, Seishan and Elsa's names frantically.
"ALEXANDRITE, PADDY!" he yelled and with that, he collided and got into a struggle with them as he attempted to restrain them and snap them out of their frenzied pursuit of Malachite, Seishan and Elsa, "LISTEN! IT WASN'T THEM! IT'S JUST A BUNCH OF MIMICBIRDS IMITATING THE SOUNDS OF OUR GRANDDAUGHTERS!"
Alexandrite and Paddy continued struggling against Kushanku until finally, they snapped out of their frenzy, especially when Alexandrite spotted a dead black bird, a Mimicbird, nearby. The others came in and surrounded the three Nekomata but as Sordward, Sheilbert, Athos, Porthos and Aramis appeared, more female voices, this time those familiar to THEM, erupted out of the darkness. The Mice released squeaks of terror as they heard the sounds of their wives' voices in distress and began to run after the voices but Kushanku yelled at them to not listen to them.
"THEY'RE JUST MIMICBIRDS!" cried he, making the five Mice stop and shoot him a disbelieving look, "DON'T LISTEN TO THEM! THEY'RE TRYING TO TRICK US!"
Then Mjölnir rushed in and saw movement in the air against the starry sky. Immediately, his red cheeks sparked and he charged his war hammer with electricity. Then Mjölnir threw his hammer forward and fired a bolt of lightning at the form, another Mimicbird as it continued to utter the voices of one of the Mice's wives and zapped it, cutting off its voice. As he did that, Rattus had his Rat underlings brandish their weapons while the others armed did the same with Kushanku brandishing his sword-within-a-sword GC. The Horse escorts also got prepared for action and began to scan the dark surrounds intently.
"Those Mimicbirds must have seen us and have attempted to create a diversion," Kushanku told the others, his eyes aglow as they examined the dark area. Near him, Paddy and Alexandrite were trembling from hearing the distressed cries of three of the granddaughters. It was clear that the devastation of the successful kidnap of Malachite, Seishan and Elsa was still fresh on them. Nonetheless, they got prepared for action, their swords poised. The group huddled together, their eyes scanning the dark surrounds for any flinches and flashes of movement and their ears cocked for any suspicious sound for another few tense minutes until finally, more sounds, this time from the planting of feet onto grass, took gently leaps out of the darkness and the group's suspicions were finally confirmed; there was trouble for them.
Kushanku and Alexandrite turned and spotted pairs of glowing fireflies hovering in sync as they emerged from behind some of the rocks of the area. However, on closer inspection, these weren't fireflies, but pairs of eyes and as Kushanku, Paddy and Alexandrite looked harder with their night vision which was a number of times better than a human's due to them being Cats, they saw that the owners of the glowing eyes were quadrupeds, had catlike ears and forked tails like an adult half-Nekomata. In regular daylight their fur was platinum white and their ears and tails were neon green and their eyes were a menacing blood red but in the dark, they looked more terrifying. A wave of disgust and distaste flashed within Kushanku as he identified these creatures.
"Ugh, Neko-Cabbits," he hissed and with that, he aimed his sword at them to warn them to stay back but the creatures, the Neko-Cabbits just kept advancing, their faces plastered with bloodlust as they looked forward to a violent battle. Some of the Neko-Cabbits also had their eyes on a certain container on Kushanku's back and Kushanku knew this. Opposite to where the three Nekomata were stood, Sordward, Shielbert, Athos, Porthos, Aramis and Squea'tagnan, their rapiers and swords poised, shot fearful looks this way and that and made out the outline of more Neko-Cabbits and another creature called a Xenojaw. More Mimicbirds were also present and they perched atop the rocks nearby, their glares fixed on the group. The lead Horse also got ready for battle as the group of creatures began to close in on them like a pack of wolves. As the evil creatures walked closer, Kushanku and company with their swords and other weapons pointed threateningly at them, one of the Horses, Jack, began to boldly approach a Xenojaw but before he could rear up and slam onto the alien-esque creature, he suddenly felt a strange sensation with his hooves. It was like the feeling of electricity and within seconds, his hooves began to ease up and shudder. Immediately, he shot an accusing glare at Mjölnir nearby, his war hammer which was electrically charged aimed at another Xenojaw with Rattus nearby.
"Mjölnir, can you STOP... shocking my front hooves... with your electricity pl-pl-please," he demanded, "I-I-I cannot stand..." he stumbled forward onto his front leg knees as his hooves continued to tremble. Mjölnir shot a look at the Horse as he continued to struggle to stand as his hooves and front legs continued shaking.
"I'm not shocking you with your electricity," the Lightning Pika said. Then suddenly, Jack collapsed onto his side and began to shake violently, his limbs thrashing and his body writhing like a fish to the alarm of the others.
"JACK!" cried the lead Horse and with that, the other Horses gathered round. Mjölnir walked over to the downed and seizing Horse when suddenly, a Rat paw appeared and tapped him hard in the back.
"NOW look what you DONE, you MORONIC PIKA!" Rattus snarled, "HOW COULD YOU BE SO NASTY IN CAUSIN' ONE OF OUR ALLIES T' STUMBLE LIKE THAT!?
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" Mjölnir retorted. Then suddenly, some of the members including a few of Rattus' Rat underlings began to feel their legs move involuntarily and moments later, they launched into a violent dance. Rattus shot his dancing underlings an IRRITATED glare.
"Rats, can YOU LOT GET YASELVES T'GETHER at ONCE!?" he barked.
"WE'RE NOT DOIN' THIS OURSELVES!" one of his underlings shouted back as he continued to uncontrollably dance. Nearby, two Neko-Cabbits, a Mimicbird and a Xenojaw sat down and watched the Rats dance like maniacs as though it was some sort of comedy show. However, this was NOT at all funny. Rattus then turned his accusing glare at Mjölnir to the Lightning Pika's confusion.
"WHAT!?" the Lightning Pika replied with his paws held up in the nonverbal gesture.
"I think he's shocked 'em so much with his electricity that he's caused 'em to dance, Rat," one of the Neko-Cabbits crooned, the creature attempting to stoke the fire between the two adoptive brothers. This worked as Rattus finally snapped. He lunged at Mjölnir and violently pushed him backwards, knocking him onto his butt. Mjölnir shot his adopted Rat brother an ASTONISHED glare while the two Neko-Cabbits, the Mimicbird and the Xenojaw looked on and laughed. A surge of humiliation swept through Mjölnir SO MUCH that the Lightning Pika did the very thing that he knew he would NEVER do to his adoptive Rat brother and commander. Rising to his feet, Mjölnir charged at Rattus and knocked him down. Then he zapped him with his electricity to the cheer of the four onlooking evil creatures. Then the four launched into a chant as Rattus and Mjölnir began brawling, "FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!"
"Just like in the Fighting League arena," crooned the Xenojaw bloodthirstily, the desire to see blood flow from the two brawling Rodents boiling within it.
Nearby, Sordward and Shielbert, together with Paddy and Alexandrite and some of the other Horses, also struggled with the urge to dance uncontrollably, threw Mimicbirds looking on and Squea'tagnan had gotten into an argument with Athos, challenging his authority and leadership. However, before the two Mice could start a swordfight, Athos snapped out of his anger and commanded Porthos to restrain Squea'tagnan. The hulking Mouse did so and seized Squea'tagnan from behind, the enraged Mouse squeaking at him to let him go.
"SNAP OUT OF IT, SQUEA'TAGNAN!" demanded Porthos while Athos darted to the brawling Mjölnir and Rattus as the former sent the latter flying into a tumbling crash with his back feet, the pair having been in a brawling roll. Then a remark from one of the two onlooker Neko-Cabbits heated Athos' blood to boiling, "KILL IT LIKE YOU WOULD DO IN THE FIGHTING LEAGUE ARENA! HER MAJESTY WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT!"
Then as Mjölnir brandished his war hammer, charged it with his electricity and was about to fire a lightning bolt at it to his adoptive Rat brother and commander, Athos yelled as LOUD as he could to snap the frenzied Lightning Pika out of his rage, yelling LOUDER than he had EVER yelled before. His yell was so PIERCING that it dispelled the red mist smothering Mjölnir's vision and making the evil onlookers flinch violently with some clasping their paws and wings over their ears.
"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!"
His screech pierced the night air and stopped all that was happening... DEAD. Alexandrite, Paddy, Sordward, Squea'tagnan and the dancing Rats snapped out of their dance; Mjölnir and Squea'tagnan in Portos' grasp were yanked out of their rage and Jack the Horse stopped thrashing like a fish in an electric current. Mjölnir, his paw grasping his electrically charged war hammer poised to fire a bolt at Rattus, shot Athos a stunned look and then turned it to Rattus who lay on his back with his paw held up and hyperventilating. Then Mjölnir felt a sense of UTMOST remorse at what he was about to do to his commander and adopted Rat brother, one who had cared for him and treated him like a brother and as a Rat along with his siblings, and backed away. Rattus also felt a wave of remorse at launching into a brawl with his own adopted brother wash over him and he began to weep and shake. There was a moment of silence among the group until finally, Kushanku spoke. He had deduced the reason for the uncontrollable dancing, seizures and unprovoked and violent arguments but he did NOT like it one bit. His GC sword poised, he began to scan the dark air, demanding that what or WHOEVER had caused as this chaos show itself RIGHT NOW!
As he did that, the Xenojaws, Mimicbirds and Neko-Cabbits took some time to recover from Athos' scream; their ears ringing it had been so loud and piercing. Athos then opened his mouth to speak but he found out that the only sounds he could make were croaky words. Paddy, Alexandrite, Squea'tagnan (who was now back to his usual self but could NOT believe that he would challenge his own LEADER to a fight for no reason), Aramis, Porthos, Sordward and Shielbert came over. Nearby, Rattus called for his underlings and the Horses to both help Kushanku to look around for whatever entity was behind this chaos and hold off the Xenojaws, Mimicbirds and Neko-Cabbits.
"Can you speak, Athos?" asked Porthos. However, the only response he got were croaks from Athos. The lead Mouse clasped his neck with his forepaws and shook his head to indicate that he could not. Dismay swept through the others.
"Can he talk at all?" asked Alexandrite. Aramis turned to her.
"It seems that that IMMENSE scream he poured out to snap us out of our frenzied dancing, rage and seizing up has damaged his vocal cords," he said, "He can't say anything at ALL!"
Suddenly, a loud hiss from Kushanku pierced the air nearby.
"Save Athos' voice issue till later," said Alexandrite, "We have some pesky minions of the White Witch to deal with first."
And with that the group, including Athos who, despite having damaged vocal cords from his scream, was still his usual self, rushed over to Kushanku and joined him while the Horses got prepared to hold off the surrounding Mimicbirds, Xenojaws and Neko-Cabbits as they also recovered from Athos' scream's assault on their ears and got prepared for battle.
Kushanku glared furiously at whatever was in front of him, his large and deceptively dense-looking GC sword's tip pointing threateningly at the monster, his face twisted into a fierce scowl. As Alexandrite and the others including Mjölnir (who was still brimming with utmost guilt at almost injuring Rattus) appeared but as they paralleled their gaze with the Nekomata's, they flinched VIOLENTLY. Standing, or rather hovering a few metres in front of them was a Human-like creature dressed in a suit. This Human-like creature resembled a male Human or Son of Adam but his skin was a deathly bone-white like the White Witch's had been. Unlike a normal Son of Adam whose face was arranged with forehead, eyes, nose, mouth and chin from top to bottom; this creature's features were in the reverse of that order. In other words, the creature's face was upside-down. His hands resembled long-fingered claws, the scant amount of flesh present giving it a severely emaciated look and saturating his inversed face were UTMOST scorn, rancour, bloodlust and rage, the eyes flooded with this toxic, vitriolic concoction piercing Kushanku and company. Then he spoke, his near-fleshless hands rubbing his ears.
"(Bleep)in' Rodent with its cry," he growled. His voice was deep and snarly, like a Troll's and it sent shivers down the spines of some of the members of Kushanku's group, especially Alexandrite and she trembled at the sight of this hideous creature. "They sure are pests, ain't they?"
The creature then pushed aside its sarcastic irritation at being stymied by Athos' scream and jumped to the main course as it then glared properly at Kushanku and company, the former with his GC sword aimed at him threateningly. Mjölnir, Rattus, Athos and the other Rats and Mice also brandished their weapons ready for action as Alexandrite spoke.
"Wh-wh-who are you?" she demanded to the creature in a stammering voice.
"The Man with the Upside Down Face," Kushanku replied in a low and deadly voice, "One of Jadis' most loyal creatures capable of stirring up SERIOUS trouble by igniting violent arguments, frenzied dances and thrashing seizures."
A chuckle escaped the mouth of the creature, the Man with the Upside Down Face or Upside Down Face for short, his inversed mouth which was on the top of his head rather than at the bottom stretched into a toothy grimace. His teeth resembled pieces of bread bearing black and green mould; they were disgusting to look at just like the creature itself.
"Spot on, Cutesy Kitty-followin' worm," he crooned in his wolfish voice in response to Kushanku's answer to Alexandrite's question.