Night of the Walking Z's
Pure Heart Castle was under attack, and from the inside no less. A giant moth was knocking out guards left and right, and others ambled the halls, attacking anything that moved.
Mao Mao peeked around the corner, checking for any signs of life. He held up his hand, flashing signals to Tanya, silently telling her the coast was clear. The two moved in sync through the halls, falling seamlessly back into the habits from their bounty hunting days together.
Geraldine's glow had been reduced to a dim light, barely illuminating the floor in front of them. After their encounter, Mao Mao surmised that the light Geraldine gave off was equivalent to a beacon, telling the ambling guards that he and Tanya were just down the hall.
Tanya held the hat Violet gave her against her chest. Her thoughts were focused on what Mao Mao had said mere minutes ago, about how Violet planned ahead when she had given it to her. Did she just figure it would be useful to them, or was there another reason?
Mao Mao stopped dead in his tracks, holding out his arm to signal Tanya to stop too. In the darkness, they quickly learned to focus on their sense of hearing. Something was scraping the tiles ahead of them. If Tanya had to guess, it was the talons of a bird sweetypie.
Mao Mao turned off Geraldine's light completely, and sidestepped to the wall pressing his body against the wall. Tanya followed his lead, and did the same.
The scraping continued, slowly getting louder and louder. Mao Mao's ears flicked at each scrape, with each flick he reactively tensed up, waiting for the source to come down the hall.
It seemed like forever when the tall shadow ambled into their view. It's claws scraped the marble tiles, digging shallow scratches into them.
Mao Mao held his breath. Undoubtedly he and Tanya could take a single guard, but if it alerted the moth, they'd be in trouble. There was clearly a connection between the moth and the brainwashed guards. Case in point, they don't even know the extent of the moth's abilities.
The guard continued down through the corridor, the eerie scrapes leaving with it. When they reduced down to barely audible, Mao Mao pushed off the wall, setting off at a brisk pace.
Working their way through the elaborate maze of corridors and stairwells, Mao Mao was getting to see more of the castle than usually does. This hallway doesn't even look familiar.
The hallway was lined with portraits of lion sweetypies with bright pink manes. Some were men, others were women. Mao Mao found on of the king, under it was a plaque that read: Snugglemane XXV.
"These must be all of the rulers of Pure Heart's past," Mao Mao said softly. Looking to the wall opposite of the one the king's portrait was on, was a painting of a regal woman, with piercing blue eyes, and a gentle smile. It's plaque read: Snugglemane XXIV. "This must be the king's mother."
Tanya looked at the painting out of curiosity. "She's pretty."
"Yeah she's gorgeous, but we shouldn't be getting distracted by paintings," Mao Mao pulled himself away from the picture, and back down the hall.
"You're the one who pointed them out," Tanya counted the paintings on their way down the hall, their golden frames catching her eye more than anything. Eleven, twelve, and thirteen. Wait, thirteen? "Mittens, wait!"
"What?" Mao Mao dropped into a stance, glancing around the hallway, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
"The paintings," Tanya answered.
Mao Mao rolled his eyes, slouching his shoulders. "Tanya, we don't have time. We have to find the king and deal with the moth."
"Yeah, yeah, but do you know why there's only thirteen paintings?"
"What?"
"The current Snugglemane is the twenty-fifth, right? So why do the paintings start at thirteen?" Tanya gestured to a painting of Snugglemane XIII. A tall and lanky fellow, his arms clasped behind his back, and his face wore a demeaning look, as if he was staring at something barely worth his time.
Mao Mao looked back down the hall, twelve paintings faced each other from the opposing walls, making six sets of two. Thirteen being the odd one out. Albeit this was weird, it wasn't what they needed to focus on; they won't be able to ask the king about the paintings of the get caught, or dusted.
"Since when are you so interested in history?" Mao Mao asked Tanya, raising his brow.
"I've always been interested history, you're just a fuddy duddy who focuses on fighting and slashing," Tanya remarked.
Mao Mao growled softly through his teeth. "I am not a fuddy duddy." Looking at Tanya, Mao Mao noticed where she was looking, and it wasn't at the paintings, but the expensive looking decorations. "Oh I get it now, you're just trying to stay a little longer so you can case the joint!"
"That doesn't sound like something I'd do," however Tanya's tone didn't match her words. It was totally something she'd do.
"I can't believe you're thinking about stealing, considering the circumstances," Mao Mao scolded. "We need to save the king, not rob him!"
"What's the point in helping people if you don't get something out of it?" Tanya walked past Mao Mao, having already taken note of everything in the hallway. "We save the king, he gives some of his goodies as thanks. I'll bet he wouldn't even miss them."
Mao Mao almost couldn't believe what he was hearing. Then again, he was talking to someone who had their Aerotruck plated gold. "He won't be able to give you anything if he's dead!"
"Hmm, you make a good point, let's move."
Mao Mao looked out a window, checking the moon's position. Looks like barely an hour has passed since entering the castle, meaning another three and a half until sunrise.
He let out a sigh, Mao Mao had spent most of the night partying, cleaning up the party, now he's tracking down the king in a castle full of brainwashed guards and a moth that can knock people unconscious with its scales. "Drained" doesn't even begin to cover how he feels at this moment. Eventually the exhaustion will catch up to him.
"Mittens, you coming?" Tanya waved Violet's hat, motioning him to come join her. She stood just before another bend in the hall, this one going in two directions, left and right.
Rolling his eyes, Mao Mao walked to the divide in their path. "Okay, so right or left?"
"Flip a coin?" Tanya suggested.
"Oh no you don't, I'm not falling for that again!" Mao Mao exclaimed in annoyance. Tanya used this truck all the time when they had only known each other for a short while. She would pull a coin, which was actually one of her leaf talismans, and changed its faces while it was spinning in the air to whatever face she needed. "I have a better way... Eeny, meeny, miney, moe. Catch a monster by the toe, if they roar slay em dead. Eeny, meeny, miney, moe!"
Mao Mao's finger pointed to the left. Tanya just stared at him with an unamused look. "Really?"
"Adorabat isn't here to echolocate, so this was the next best thing I could do," Mao Mao didn't wait for Tanya to reply before walking on to wherever the corridor lead.
Coming up on another bend, Mao Mao peered around the corner, no guards here either. So far they've only encountered two guards, even brainwashed to walk the castle and attack anything that moves, they're still terrible at their jobs.
The two of them walked down the long corridor, all the while Tanya had been smiling to herself.
"You know, this reminds me of when we infiltrated Dr. Fear's secret lab," Tanya noted, nostalgia washing over her. "The dark hallways, the countless bends and turns, not to mention trying to navigate that labyrinth."
Mao Mao smiled at the memory, he and Tanya must've spent what had felt like three days navigating that lab. Dr. Fear was a big name in the underworld, he had a eyes and ears in almost every hospital on the continent, using his connections to collect organs and body parts from patients attending the hospitals. This triggered an upset where people, no matter how sick or severe their injury, refused to go to a hospital.
"Yeah," Mao Mao agreed. "Except there were a lot more pipes on the ceiling."
The memory was interrupted when a rapid clacking sound began to originate behind them. They both stopped in their tracks. The rhythm was drastically faster than the ambling guards, whatever was running towards them, it wasn't a guard.
Mao Mao made a split second decision, run like his life depended on hit. Tanya was ahead of the game, shapeshifting her legs into those of a cheetah, using them to run faster than the wind. Tanya easily closed the distance between her and Mao Mao, and even began to overtake him.
"Oh you've got to joking," Mao Mao gasped, gritting his teeth, he struggled to keep up. The clacking sound grew louder, Mao Mao could feel that was almost on him. Whatever it was, it was faster than he was, and about to catch him.
The shadowed form ran on all fours, claws extended, giving it extra traction on the marble floor. A few more strides and would be able to pounce on him.
Mao Mao made a sudden stop, simultaneously spinning on his heel, throwing his fist at the shadow. It connected, the force of Mao Mao's fist and the shadow's inertia going in opposite directions, sent the shadow spinning through the air. Gripping Geraldine, the sword glowed brighter, revealing the shadow's true identity.
Minori pulled herself off the ground, a trail of blood dribbling from her nose, the plasma glinted in the sword's light. With milky white eyes, she growled at her brother, holding her hands up in the standard ready position.
Mao Mao took a step back, his suspicions confirmed. The moth and the brainwashed guards were definitely connected. While everyone was at the party, the moth had been flapping around, turning the guards into its personal army.
Minori wasted no tome, she lunged at her brother, throwing lethal strikes at his vital points. Mao Mao used Geraldine to parry the attacks, but Minori was moving faster than when she did in their sparring session. Minori, with her clawed fingers, aimed for Mao Mao's eyes. He swung his sword to the side, knocking her arm to the side, while moving his head in the other direction to widen the distance between him and her claws.
Minori then tried a low kick, attempting to strike the side of Mao Mao's knee, so that his own weight would cause him to buckle.
In response, Mao Mao jumped upwards, Minori's kick going al the way through and under him. Gravity pulled Mao Mao down to the ground; Minori followed through on the low kick, using it to build up momentum for an elbow strike to her brother's sternum, knocking him onto his back.
Mao Mao's chest flared with pain, his hand gripped Geraldine harder out of reflex. In response, the sword unleashed a torrent of light, illuminating the hallway.
Tanya didn't know that Mao Mao had been caught. She just kept running, this hallway had to end at some point. The light from Mao Mao's sword caught up with her, a long shadow of herself in front of her. She slowed to a quick halt, looking back to where she came from, she could barely see through the golden light, but the source of the light was at ground level, meaning Mao Mao was in trouble. "I'm coming, Mittens!" Tanya shouted.
I'm coming, Mittens!
The sentence bounced off the the walls of the hallways. Figures stood in the dark, waiting, listening. The cacophony made itself heard, and the figures turned their heads in simultaneous order. One by one, the shadows began to march.
Tanya ran back at full speed. Having to squint through the light, she pulled out one of her leaf talismans, changing it into a pair of shades. Even after putting them, she was just barely to make out the silhouettes of Mao Mao and his adversary.
Mao Mao laid on the ground, holding his katana out in front of him. His opponent on the other hand was reeling back from the miniature sun that Mao Mao held in his hands.
When Tanya was at a good distance, she planted Borge her feet, and jumped! Using the inertia from her sprint, she flew towards the silhouette, striking at it with both her feet in a drop kick.
The body soared a few meters, before tumbling across the floor. Tanya herself hit the floor hard. The light from Mao Mao's sword began to dim as she got up. She wasn't the only one either, the silhouette, who Tanya now recognizes at Minori, pulled herself off the ground too.
"What the-?" Tanya wasn't able to even finish the thought when Mao Mao rolled over and grabbed her bicep, pulling her along as he ran. "What's going on with you sister, Mittens?"
"We'll have to figure that out later," Mao Mao said through a grunt. "For now, just run!"
Tanya wasn't sure what to think, but she followed Mao Mao's lead and ran.
They ran through the hallways, forgoing all attempts at stealth. If they slowed down for even an instant, that would give Minori time to catch back up. They came out of the hallway, and into a four-way intersection. They looked down the three hallways spread before them, looking down each dark corridor. Tanya grabbed Mao Mao's hand and veered left!
They took a few steps into the hallway before Tanya spun on her heel. With fists full of leaf talismans, she threw them down at the floor of the entrance to the hallway. Two of the talismans became copies of Tanya and Mao Mao, the rest formed a giant wall with an image of the empty hallway behind them. Tanya included a peephole in the wall, near the actual wall of the hallway.
Peering through it, Tanya watched as her clones ran into the opposing hallway, just in time for Minori to run in all on fours and give chase. Mao Mao rested his head against the wall, listening to the clickety clack of Minori's claws fade away.
The duo let out a sigh as they dropped to the floor, only now realizing that they were holding their breath.
"What happened to her?" Tanya asked.
"I'm just as confused as you are," Mao Mao pulled himself back up. Leaning against the wall, Mao Mao began walk down the hall. "But we won't find anything if we just sit here."
"We won't be helping anybody if we run ourselves ragged either," Tanya countered. "Mittens we've been up all night, and we're tired from the party and running around the castle's many corridors. We're running on fumes!"
Mao Mao didn't argue, he couldn't. His legs were feeling weak, and his eyelids were starting to feel heavy. If they kept going, Mao Mao wouldn't be in condition to fight a palace guard, let alone his sisters.
Wait a minute. Violet and Minori both got hit by the moth's knockout dust. Now Minori is one of the sleep zombies patrolling the castle. That means Violet is also wandering around somewhere, right? Mao Mao cast another look an Violet's hat, clutched under Tanya's armpit. Did she know what it was, what is was going to do?
"Let's find somewhere we can rest," Mao Mao continued to scuffle down the hall.
Rolling her eyes, Tanya pulled Mao Mao off the wall, pulling his arm over her shoulders. "Come on ya lug, don't pretend like you need to act cool, because you don't."
"Heroes don't need to act cool, we are cool!" Mao Mao and Tanya laughed, the severity's of the situation fading from their minds, even if only a little.
Sadly, that was short lived; bouncing of the walls were the sounds of scuffling feet, not just one or two, but judging by the inconsistency of the rhythm, had to be a dozen—at least. The two of them stopped in their tracks, the silhouettes of the approaching group ambled toward them.
Tanya and Mao Mao felt their hearts and spirits plummet. Mao Mao was so tired he could barely stand, and Tanya was beginning to run out of leaf talismans. If she had to make an estimate, maybe twenty.
"We can take 'em," Mao Mao held out Geraldine towards the closest guard, daring them to come closer.
Tanya rolled her eyes, maybe they could, but if one of them got a solid enough hit on her, it could potentially break her focus, thus dispersing the copies that were keeping Minori busy, not to mention the wall that was keeping her from coming after them. They're best option was to avoid the confrontation if they could. But how to do it?
She could transform her arms into wings and fly them over the crowd. But that would use up a chunk of the remaining talismans Tanya had left. Looking down at Violet's hat, she wonder if she could use it herself. Pulling it out from her pit, Tanya placed the golden straw hat on her head, peering out from under it.
Mao Mao saw the movement out of the corner of his eyes, turning to see Tanya now wearing the hat. "What are you doing?"
"Trying something," she responded. Reaching up towards the hat, she expected her hand to bump into the top of the hat, but it met no resistance as it kept rising. Tanya moved her hand from side to side, searching for anything to help out. The tips of her fingers brushed against something, and wrapped her hand around it. Pulling it out of the hat, she felt the item jerk her arm down, nearly taking her and Mao Mao with it. "What the-," The item she pulled was a one hundred pound weight.
Mao Mao pulled himself back up to full height, gripping his sword in both hands, steadying his breathing. He was ready to leap at the guards if need be, despite how heavy his body felt right now.
"Let's try that again," Tanya reached back into the hat, hoping she could pull something useful this time. Her fingers gripped something again, pulling it out of the hat, Tanya brandished a golf club, specifically a nine iron. "Oh come on, there's no way she's a golfer!"
"Hope you got some golf balls to go with that!" Mao Mao joked.
"Very funny," discarding the club to the side, Tanya tried her luck with the hat once more, hoping there was some truth to the whole "third time's a charm" phrase. Her fingers gripped something, it wasn't a handle, it felt like a bundle, wrapped around a number of objects. Pulling it out of Violet's hat, Tanya wasted no time unrolling the bundle. Fastened to the inside of the bundle, glinting in the faint light, we're a series of six inch blades. Tanya smirked. "I can work with this."
Tanya pulled a couple out from their resting places. Shifting the blade in her grip, Tanya tested the weight of the blade. Flicking the blade into the air, she caught it by the blade between her thumb and forefinger. Reeling back, she threw the blade, burying it into the right wall over the heads of the sleep zombies, and out of reach of their spears. Tanya began to pull the blades and bury them into the walls, each going further down the hall than the last.
Once the bundle had no more blades to give, Tanya clapped her hands together, feeling confident in her plan. "Mittens!" She called out.
"I see it," Mao Mao sheathed Geraldine. He recognized the plan that formed in Tanya's head. It was one they used to avoid triggering any ground based traps: trip wires, pressure plates, etc. Running over to the wall, Mao Mao jumped onto the wall, angling his body to wall run up to the knife. Step after step, he got closer, step after step, gravity tried to bring him back to the ground, and it got stronger the further he went.
Before the sense of weightlessness could sit in, Mao Mao kicked off the wall, arcing toward the blade. Mao Mao rested on it for less then a second before leaping towards the next. Tanya followed after him, the two skipped across the like stepping stones. Once they cleared the mob, they leaped to the ground, taking off like a pair of bats out of hell.
Unlike Minori, the mob didn't chase them at full speed, instead they slowly turned around and ambled after them.
Mao Mao and Tanya took as many twists and turns as the could, making it as difficult for the hapless zombies to follow them as they could.
"Up ahead," Tanya said. "What's that?" The two neared a door with emerald green light seeping through underneath the cracks.
"I don't know, but I think it might have something to do with all of this." replied Mao Mao, the two of the slowed down to a stop outside of the door.
Gasping for breath, the two waited until their lungs weren't starved of oxygen to enter the door. Once they were ready, Mao Mao grabbed the door handle on the left door with his left hand, and Tanya grabbed the handle of the right door with her right hand. Mao Mao raised three fingers, counting down, he and Tanya bursted through the door, coming into an archive, with countless shelves, each holding countless books.
The green light illuminated the room, light seeping through the cracks between the books on the shelves. Mao Mao turned around and closed the doors. Pulling off his cape, he stuck it under the doors to keep the light from leaking into the corridor.
He and Tanya navigated the towering shelves. Tanya gazed upwards, the shelves seem to almost touch the ceiling, she was almost worried that all the weight from the books would cause the whole archive to become the world's largest set of dominos.
Mao Mao, following the light, turned the final corner. The sight before him had him stop in his tracks, his jaw dropping to the floor.
Tanya, still gazing at the ceiling, bumped into Mao Mao. "What is it?" Looking around him, she saw what had him frozen in place. A giant green sphere, placed in the center of a clearing, probably the center of the room, where one would read the archive's texts. "Again, what is it?"
The sphere was roughly had a fifteen foot radius. It also didn't seem to be made of a solid matter, instead made of a matter that would burn anything that touched it.
Mao Mao, with a now somber look, only had one thing to say about this. "I know exactly what this is."
Writer's Note: okay, I wanna say thank you all for reading this far. I was reading the comments, and I saw one that said "I hope this story doesn't get abandoned". I want you all to know, I have no intention of ever abandoning the story until it's finished.
I read all the comments, and I appreciate all the positive feedback. That feedback gives me the motivation to keep writing.
And to anyone who's curious, I've already finished the story, I finished it shortly after posting chapter 5, and all that's left is to write it.
I can't wait to read your all's reactions to what's to come!