Riruka was exhausted, physically, mentally, and emotionally. All she wanted to do was shut her eyes and take a quick nap in her seat, to let the soft rhythm of the rainfall lull her into dreams of better times. Times when she could get her hands on tasty desserts and cold drinks with only a command and where she was never alone, even if the company provided did get on her nerves from time to time. The bus hit something, most likely a speed bump, jolting the young Fullbringer awake. She sat there in her seat, blinking for a few moments before sighing and looking out the window, somewhat thankful for that speed bump. She needed to be awake if she was going to carry out her mission.
Her mission to kill a monster.
The bus continued to drive through the dying rain for a few minutes more, allowing Riruka time to reflect on just how she found herself in this situation. At least, as much as she could remember. "Ok, so there was this guy, this maniac named Michael Myers for a reputation for not dying. Ginjo thought he might be a Fullbringer and wanted us to investigate and then...and then..." Riruka racked her brain trying to piece together what was left of the story from the past. It wasn't fear or shame that kept her from remembering the rest but a literal mental block that wouldn't let her through, a dark patch in the place of memory. She immediately thought of a horror novel she once borrowed from Tsukishima that mentioned such spots. The Something Zone, she was sure. "Dammit!," She thought. "I can't remember. No matter how hard I try, I can't remember the rest." She sighed again as she sunk back in her seat. "All I know is that this Myers guy nearly killed us and we vowed to come back to America and destroy him one day."
She turned back toward the window, watching as the last of the raindrops slid down the glass like tears on a crying face. "But now, everyone's gone. Ginjo, Tsukishima, Giriko. It's just me, Yukio, and Jackie now. And Jackie's lost her powers." Riruka noticed the bus stop ahead of her as well as the bus slowing down to a crawl. "It's just us now. We're all that's left to destroy this monster." Riruka grabbed her things and waited for what few other people were on the bus with her to leave. Once she got off as well, she watched the bus pick up its new partons and drive off, sending a puddle's worth of rainwater at Riruka. She nonchalantly brandished a cutesy umbrella and shielded herself from the water, then she twirled it around quickly to remove the excess moisture. As she moved it out of her field of vision to hold over herself, she noticed a large grocery store across the street from her. Inside, right before the actual entrance to the store, was a row of crane game cabinets, full of stuffed animals.
"Looks like luck is on my side," Riruka looked both ways before crossing the street. To the right, she only noticed more road and more people walking up and down the sidewalks but to her left, she noticed a sign hanging from a street light. It was more like a banner, flapping in the wind.
WELCOME TO HADDONFIELD: HOME OF THE HUSKERS!
"Haddonfield," Riruka repeated grimly before she started walking. "Where this all started." Once she was in the parking lot of the store, she found herself staring at the sign again. "And hopefully, where it ends."
Riruka made her way to the inside of the store and straight for the claw machines. They, much like the store itself, were new here. She could tell just by looking at them. a relatively new addition to the old-fashioned town of Haddonfield. She got out her purse and dug around for the case that Yukio had given her. It was a small grey thing that continued several sets of U.S dollar bills, a set for one, five, ten and twenty dollars inside. She pulled out the one dollar stack and fed one of the bills onto the claw game. Then she put everything back and started playing. She wasn't all that good at the game but she had won once or twice back in Karakura Town. She tried to remember what those moments felt like, wanting anything she could use to assure victory in this round. She remembered she had her hand twisted a certain angle and repeated it, only for the white bunny's ears to slip out of the claw's grasp, ending the game.
"Dammit!" Riruka fed another dollar bill to the machine and tried again, this time just focusing on the prize inside. She settled for a soft-looking yellow duck and grabbed it by the bill. There were too many other animals weighing it down, however, and the machine rose up empty-handed. Riruka groaned as she paid for a third attempt and grabbed a small blue bear by the ankle. She dragged the poor thing against the glass plane before it slipped away from the claw. "Oh come on!" Riruka could feel a childish fit rising up in her and had it not been for the voice speaking behind her at that moment, she might have just had it.
"Excuse me Miss," Riruka spun around to see two American teenagers approaching her. The one speaking to her had black curly hair and an orange shirt with a skull on it while his friend had spikey blonde hair and wore a multicolored jacket over a black shirt. "I don't mean to be nosey but me and my friend over here couldn't help but notice you struggling with the claw machine."
"S-So what!?" A flustered and frankly embarrassed Riruka challenged. "Are you here to make fun of me or something?"
"Oh no no no!" The man held his hands up. "It's just that I happen to be something of an expert when it comes to his here game and if you'd like, I'd be more than happy to win you something,"
Riruka stared at the two teens with a bewildered, defensive stare. At any other time, she would have walked away after telling them off, steaming from the sheer audacity they had to embarrass her like that. But she needed a plushie if her plan was going to work and this wasn't even the hard part of her mission. So with a heavy sigh, she swallowed her pride and said, "Ok, fine. Just make it quick."
"Nice," The black-haired boy smiled as he walked up to the machine. "By the way, I'm Trey."
"And I'm Donovan," The blonde punk greeted as he practically jumped in front of the young Fullbringer. "What's your name, sweetness?"
"R-Riruka," She answered, quickly becoming uncomfortable with the boy's forwardness.
"Riruka," Donovan repeated. "Sounds exotic!" He put great emphasis on the word "Exotic", showing off the stud inside his tongue. His breath smelled rather minty and Riruka wasn't sure if he had downed an entire bottle of mouthwash or an entire pack of mint gum. "Y-You're not from around here, are you?"
"I-I'm from Japan," Riruka admitted, hoping that Trey would hurry up with the game soon.
"Japan huh?" Donovan's eyes widened in surprise. "Damn girl, you're really not from around here." He draped an arm over her shoulders and brought her close. "How about me and Trey here show you around? Let you take in the local color?"
"T-Thanks but I'm not staying for very long," Riruka said, fighting the urge to gag from Donovan's minty breath. "I just need to take care of some business."
"Oh is that so?" Donovan giggled. "What kind of business?"
"Um...well..." As Riruka searched for an answer, a small orange ball of cloth was suddenly shoved in her face, causing her to scream out. She backed out of Donovan's arm and held her chest as Trey approached her slowly. "Sorry!" He said. "Didn't mean to startle you, I just thought you might want to have this," He tossed the orange thing to Riruka who struggled to catch it, moving to and fro to keep it from falling to the ground, only finally getting a hold of it by slamming it against her palms.
"The spoils of war," Trey said in a voice that was cleary meant to be seductive.
Riruka rolled her eyes and examined her new prize. It was a Jack-o-Lantern, a single square tooth adorning its dorky smile. There was a tiny tuft of green fabric that Riruka assumed was meant to be the leaves. It had been torn and frayed by Trey's expertise on the claw machine, making the pumpkin look like an overinflated Troll doll.
"It's not exactly cute but I suppose it'll have to do," Riruka thought. She bowed to Trey. "Thank you."
"Yeah, I thought you'd might want something a little in season you know?"
"That's right," Riruka thought. "Today's the first of October. And that means in a few weeks it'll be..."
She shook her head and bowed again. "Thank you both." She walked briskly past the boys, her mind racing with the next, more dangerous stage of her mission. Deciding it would be worth a shot to check it out despite the small chance of success, she turned back to the boys and asked them one final question. "Just one more thing," She turned back to them. "Do any of you boys know where the old Myers place is?"
Trey and Donovan's face both lost all color as she asked this. Their pupils shrank and Donovan's lips quivered. "T-T-The old Myers place? Why do you want to go there for?"
"Oh no reason," Riruka said, enjoying the loss of confidence in Donovan's face. "I just heard that the place burned down a few years back and I wanted to check it out for myself."
The two American boys exchanged discomforted looks. "I-It's just down Lumpkin Lane. You can't miss it. Mostly, because it's the only part of the neighborhood that doesn't have a house."
"Lumpkin Lane, huh?" Riruka repeated. "Thanks." She turned around and made her way down the road, her newly acquired plushy clamped tightly in her right hand.
"Damn," Trey muttered as he and his friend watched the Japanese girl vanish down the road. "You think she's one of those goth freaks who's into Myers?"
"Nah," Donovan denied. "Her wardrobe was way too colorful for a goth. Maybe she just wants to pose for pictures in front of it or something."
"In front of what?" Trey asked.
Both boys looked at each other, smiled, and brayed in laughter.
"Wow," Riruka thought as she stood on the sidewalk. "Just...wow.."
Stretched out before her was a blackened patch of ground several feet wide. Through the scorched earth and ruined wood, Riruka could see an opening into the basement underneath. This was all that was left of the old Myers place, a house no doubt infamous in this town and many others.
The House of the Bogeyman.
Riruka gripped the pumpkin plushie tightly as she tried to recall the last time she had stood in this exact spot and what she had done there. But once again, a dark patch of nothingness clouded her mind. She wasn't even able to remember how she had gotten there in the first place, hence why she had to ask for directions. All she could recall for sure was that it was a dark night for her, one filled with terror, evil, and even tragedy. All because of the man who once called this place home.
"I'm not sure what I was expecting to find," She thought. "He's not here. There isn't anything here to be." She sighed and began walking down the sidewalk. The Sun was beginning to sink into the sky and the autumn wind blew through Riruka, forcing her to close her coat. As she continued her trek down the sidewalk, she found herself drinking in the orange, red, and yellow hues of the trees around her, watching as their leaves parted from the stem, danced in the air as a final swan song, and finally settled down onto the earth to return the nutrients that once gave them life. With these dying leaves flying about and the scent of rain still hanging in the air, Riruka had to admit there was a real sense of beauty about this place.
If only it didn't carry such a dark burden with it.
Riruka wasn't sure exactly where she was going. She figured most likely to a motel to sleep for the night. But as she continued to walk, she slowly realized that her feet were carrying her away from the downtown area and further into the countryside. She considered stopping herself and turning back but something stopped her, something she couldn't quite explain. The best way to put it might have been instinct, as if something was guiding her. Maybe her Fullbring? She pushed those thoughts to the side and continued on her path to the unknown, hoping that it wouldn't lead to her grave as well.
By now, the Moon hung over the sky, a bright crescent queen ruling over her twinkling subjects. The wind had stopped but the air was still freezing cold, even more so without the dim warmth of the Sun. Riruka shivered as she held her arms over herself, only vaguely aware that she was walking alongside a metal fence. It was the hooting of a faraway owl that finally dragged the young Fullbringer's attention toward the other side, into the field of headstones and flowers.
Riruka was standing before the gates leading to the Haddonfield Cemetery.
"H-How did I end up here!?" She asked herself in an accusing voice. "How do you just accidentally wander into a cemetery?" That's when she noticed the gate to the cemetery was slightly ajar. At her feet lay the broken remains of the chain that once held the doors closed. Riruka felt her heart rate increase ever so slightly as it dawned on her who could have been responsible for that. Slowly, she lifted her gaze toward the gravestones laid out before her, her eyes peeled for even the slightest hint of movement. No such luck. Nothing but the rustling of the tree leaves as a smaller, gentler autumn breeze rolled by and the faraway screeching of that damned owl.
And yet, she knew on no uncertain terms that her quarry was here, waiting for her.
The tides of predator and prey would not be turned so easily, it would seem.
Every cell in Riruka's body screamed at her to run away now. Her very soul itself cried out in terror. She wanted to forget about the mission. What good was it if she couldn't even remember her beef with this manic? Where was the point in possibly being killed for a reason you couldn't even recall? Riruka wondered this and yet, even as her heart pounded in her chest and her skin secreted sweat all over her body, she stood her ground. "This monster. I don't know how but he hurt Xcution in some way. He needs to be taken out, someway, somehow and like it or not, I'm the only one who's here to do it!" Riruka swallowed her fear and forced herself through the gate. Putting one shaky foot in front of the other, she walked through the field of headstones, all too aware that she was stepping over the dead. The only source of comfort for the poor Fullbringer girl was that the light of the Moon shone brightly, allowing her to see her surroundings, allowing her even to read the names on the tombstones.
Samuel Loomis.
Jamie Lolyd.
Laruie Strode.
"This is getting creepy," Riruka whined. "Dammit Yukio! Why couldn't you come here instead!? You're the one with money, you stupid je-
Then she felt it. The very presence of death itself right behind her. Even under the light of the Moon, Riruka felt trapped in the shadow of the monster she had come here to slay. The sweat on her body dripped endlessly, her heart felt as if it was going to burst out of her chest and bounce away to safety. She wanted to scream, to cry, to shout anything but to her horror, her lips, her entire body was frozen by sheer terror. It took every single ounce of willpower she had to turn around and face the nightmare.
He almost blended into the darkness, still and silent as he was. His mask, white and expressionless, covered his entire head like a second skin. The blue mechanic's suit adoring his body allowed him to blend more easily into the night, exposed only by the glint of the butcher's knife gripped firmly in his right hand. Slowly, he brought the knife to his chest, allowing Riruka to see her own horrified face in its reflective steel. She could feel Michael's eyes starting through her but could not see them, only the two gaping holes of blackness that passed for his mask's eye holes.
Michael Myers had returned just in time for Halloween.
"I-It's you," Riruka whispered, her voice shaking.
Michael simply continued to observe, the wind blowing through the brown hair of his mask.
"It's really you," Riruka croaked. "Even after all these years, even after that fire, you're still alive." She found herself trying once again to recall the night that she had first encountered this monster and once again, she failed. But she didn't need to remember to know that he nearly destroyed Xcution that day, that he had taken innocent life as he always had. Life she could no longer remember. From her eyes, tears trickled down her cheeks and intersected at her chin before falling and staining her coat. "Y-You bastard!"
Michael's only response was to cock his head to the side, a mild display of curiosity for the strange girl before him.
"You killed them! You...You nearly ruined everything!" Riruka cried. "Y-You...you monster!"
Michael had apparently decided that he had had enough of the strange girl's squealing for he took a step toward her. Then another, and another. He approached her at the same speed one would walk down the stairs in their home, knife in hand and ready to rend her supple milky flesh. He remembered her alright but only as he remembered anyone else who had ever managed to escape his blade the first time.
A corpse walking.
Riruka gasped as he began to approach her and once again fought off the instinct telling her to run away. It proved to be a much harder battle than last time. "I-I'm not afraid of you!" She screamed. "You hear me, you son of a bitch!? I'm not afraid of you!"
Michael continued walking toward her, his knife poised to strike.
Against the will of every fiber of her being, Riruka held out her shaky arm, fighting to keep it still. As the sleeve faltered and fell down her arm, a bright white and gold gauntlet with a heart symbol on it. "I'm here to kill you! Addiction Shot!" Riruka launched a small heart from the gauntlet toward Michael but in her intense fear and panic, she couldn't properly aim and the heart flew off with the wind away from the masked murderer advancing toward her. "Come on, Addiction Shot!" She tried again but this time, the heart didn't even come near Michael for in its endless shaking, her arm fired the heart upwards toward the sky. It flew right above the Shape's head before vanishing into the night. Now Michael was within striking distance and swung his knife as Riruka. The blade nicked the skin of her fingers and she jumped back in a burst of Bringer Light. Michael seemed shocked by how fast the girl had moved away and ceased his assault for a moment. After a few seconds, however, he pressed forward.
"Come on! Come on!" Riruka pleaded with herself, knowing that if she missed this next shot, she most certainly would die. "Please work! A-A-Addiction Shot!" She fired one more heart, one last dig and victory and survival...
...and gasped in happiness and relief when it hit Michael square in the forehead.
"I did it! I did it!" Riruka cheered.
Michael once again stopped his assault and felt his head. It didn't feel any different but he was certain he just felt something latch onto his face just now. As he indignantly rubbed his mask up and down in a futile attempt to get it off, Riruka wiped her face with her sleeve and took the pumpkin plushie out of her pocket. "Michael!" She shouted.
The Shape stopped his rubbing and looked at Riruka just as she presented the plush pumpkin to him.
"I permit you," She stated.
Michael felt a strange sensation suddenly overcome his body. Without warning, his entire being was enveloped in a dark pink light which dissolved his body. This light shot up in the air, hovered for a few minutes while Michael's consciousness struggled to comprehend just what the actual fuck was going on, and then it sped into the plush pumpkin. Once the light had fully disappeared inside the plush, Riruka posed like a Pokemon trainer while proclaiming "I got him! I got him!" She jumped up and down, her intense fear replaced with unbridled joy. "I got him! I go-
Her one-woman celebration was cut short by her phone suddenly going off. Grumbling to herself, she put the pumpkin now containing the Shape himself into her backpack and picked up the phone, already aware of who it was on the other side and already done with the upcoming conversation.
"So, did you do it?" Yukio's voice asked.
"Yukio, you jerk!" Riruka cried. "You're the one who sent me on a dangerous mission to find a serial killer! The least you can do if ask if I'm ok first!"
A moment of silence followed.
"I mean, you're talking to me on the phone right now, right? That means you're alive. So there's no point in asking such stupid questions."
"You bastard!" Riruka shouted.
"So did you do it?" Yukio asked again. "Did you find him?"
Riruka sighed. "Yeah, I actually caught him just now with my Addiction Shot."
"Were you injured?" Yukio asked.
Riruka nearly dropped the phone in surprise, not expecting an actual question of concern to come from Yukio. As she played Hot Potato with the phone, she realized that her nicked fingers were still bleeding, her blood helping to keep the phone out of her grasp. With a final smashing grip, she caught the phone and resumed her conversation with Yukino. "I just got nicked in the fingers is all. Nothing a few bandages won't fix."
"Alright, so you'll have no trouble coming back home tomorrow then?" He asked.
"I should have known that's why he was asking!" Riruka thought, angry at herself for believing Yukio was actually worried about her. "Stupid jerk just wants to get this over with!" She sighed again as she looked at her still-bleeding fingers. "And frankly, so do I." She shook her head and said. "Yeah, I'll be on my way back."
"Good," Yukio replied. "The sooner we can destroy that menace, the sooner we can tie up this loose end. I'll arrange for your flight back tomorrow. Goodbye, Riruka."
"Goodbye," Riruka moved her finger to hang up on her fellow Fullbringer only to hear the phone click off. Her blood boiled and she wanted to throw a fit over not being the one to hang up but stopped herself. Last thing she needed was to be caught freaking out in a graveyard and hauled off to a mental institution. "Yukio, you big jerk!" Riruka sighed as she took the pumpkin plushie out of her backpack and examined it closely. It moved violently within her grasp, no doubt trying to escape or hurt her, possibly even both at the same time.
"You might as well stop it," She said. "Until I give the ok, you're stuck inside that plushie. Struggling won't do you any good!"
The pumpkin stopped moving.
Riruka smiled and stuck out her tongue. "Serves you right, you ugly old man! As long as you're in that pumpkin, you can't even hurt a fly!" She chuckled to herself as she slipped the pumpkin back inside her backpack, closed it up, and headed for the exit. She was sure there had to be a motel somewhere around here that she could spend the night in. After a few minutes in the cemetery, what she wanted most in the world was a hot bath, a tasty meal, and a nice soft bed to sleep in. As she neared the exit, however, she started to feel a pit form in her stomach. She stopped and listened for any rustling from her backpack. When there was none, she left the cemetery, that pit of fear growing larger by the second.
"As long as he's in that pumpkin, he can't even hurt a fly huh?" Riruka gulped, now painfully aware that even if she did find a nice soft bed to sleep in, she wouldn't be able to sleep. Even if she did sleep, she would just suffer nightmares that would wake her back up. It was dawning on her that real fear, real evil was inside her backpack and while it was rendered helpless for the moment, they both knew that was only a temporary situation.
As long as Michael Audrey Myers was still alive, there was no such thing as safe.
Bleach: Jigoku Files: THE SHAPE OF EVIL ARC (Start)
Yukio must have spent the entire day waiting in that dingy old warehouse for Riruka to show up. He booked the earliest flight for her that would still allow some time for her to rest. Knowing her, of course, he figured that she would remain ungrateful and have quite a lot to say once she finally did show her face. He would be proven right when the limousine pulled up in front of the warehouse and she stormed out of the backseat.
"What the hell, Yukio!? She practically roared. "I got a wake-up call at 4 in the morning back there telling me I had two hours to board the next plane home! Do you have any idea how late I had to stay up!? I was lucky to get a micronap in!"
"Calm down, will you?" Yukio replied. "I'm sure you got plenty of time to sleep on the plane. I just hope you didn't keep those poor other passengers awake with your awful snoring."
"I do not snore!" Riruka shouted. "And another thing," She paused to fully take in the derelict building behind Yukio. "Why are we doing this in some crappy old warehouse?"
"First of all, this warehouse used to belong to Ginjo," Yukio revealed. "He prepared it while under the Book of the End's power back when we were trying to take Ichigo Kurosaki's power."
"Don't remind me," Riruka muttered, her face burning with shame over what she and the others almost put Ichigo through.
"Second, we are about to perform an unauthorized execution on a man from a completely different country. I would prefer his blood be spilled somewhere that isn't my property or that will be easily traced back to me."
"So," Riruka asked. "I take it that means you've got everything set up in that little game of yours?"
Yukio nodded as he brandished his game console. "All that's left is for you to release him from that plush. You did bring it with you, right?"
Riruka growled, dug into her bag and held up the pumpkin containing Michael Myers inside. "Of course I did, you idiot! Do you really think I would forget something this important!? Do ya!?"
Yukio squinted. "A pumpkin? How ironic. Anyway, let's go inside and get this over with." Yukio turned around and headed for the entrance. "They'll be tearing this building down soon and with it, all evidence of what transpired here tonight will be lost."
Riruka stiffened as she watched Yukio disappear inside the darkness of the building. She looked over the plush pumpkin one more time. It hadn't moved an inch since the cemetery but Riruka knew this was not because Michael had died or given up. He was simply waiting.
"You won't have to wait long," Riruka growled. "Soon, you'll be nothing but a bad memory and you're hardly that now. This is the fate a monster like you deserves." She followed her fellow Fullbringer inside the warehouse. "To die and be forgotten in a world beyond your own."
The plushie remained perfectly still.
As Riruka entered the building, her eyes were assaulted by the sheer intensity of the darkness. She walked forward for only a moment, decided she rather not risk bumping into something and stood and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Just as it seemed like that was happening, however, the sudden flood of bright lights in the room blinded Riruka. She cried out in pain and dropped the pumpkin plush to the ground. "Gah! My eyes! My eyes!"
"Oops, sorry." Yukio said in a completely unapologetic voice as he stood on a platform overlooking the empty room. "I just figured this would go more smoothly if we had the lights on."
"Yukio! You jerk!" Riruka snarled. "You could have given me some warning before you turned on the lights!"
Yukio waited for the pink-haired Fullbringer to wipe the pain from her eyes. Once it seemed like she was done, he turned on his console and asked. "Are you ready?"
Riruka stiffened again but then relaxed. "Yeah, I'm ready."
"Alright, I'm saving you both now then." Yukio messed with a few of his controls and from the floor surrounding Riruka, four digital walls began to form. They rose several feet high before the blackness comprising them started to bleed above Riruka's head, forming a roof. The same thing happened with the floor beneath her feet and beneath the plush pumpkin. Riruka and Michael were now in the realm of Invaders Must Die.
Yukio's bored face suddenly appeared on the screen above Riruka. "Alright, the room's all set. You know what to do," He turned away, clearly not wanting to see what Riruka had to do next and while she could understand his disgust, that didn't stop her from getting just the tiniest bit offended.
"Jerk!" Riruka muttered as she dug into her backpack and pulled out a single novelty feather. She tickled her nose with it for a few seconds until she felt a sneeze coming on. Once it was in motion, she discarded the feather, grabbed the pumpkin, and held it up to her face. "I'm going to enjoy doing this to you, Michael." She said with a smirk before the sneeze took control. "Ah...Ah...ACHOO!"
The pumpkin took the full brunt of Riruka's sneezing, a few strands of snot drooping over its still-smiling face. Quickly, Riruka threw the pumpkin away from herself and backed away. No sooner did it hit the floor did a 250-pound man in a mechanic's suit and a white Halloween mask suddenly materialized above it. The pumpkin vanished underneath the man's body as he hit the floor, sprawled like a dead body. Only a single foot remained in the air, twitching ever so slightly.
If it weren't for the spotty past these two shared with the monster, they might have had a laugh at his misfortune.
Instead, they watched as Michael slowly picked himself up, tightening the grip on his knife. A single hateful eye glared at Riruka as he got to his feet, clearly not amused with the journey she had just put him through.
"Michael, it's time." She said.
Michael stood upright and started approaching her, his knife poised to strike. Riruka gulped as she waited for Yukio to save her from being stabbed, her lips quivering as the Shape grew closer.
"Yukio, it's time to let me out now!" She called.
Michael was even closer now.
"Yukio! Yukio! Yuk-
Just as Michael was about to ram the blade into her shoulder, Riruka vanished in a mess of pixels and rematerialized back in the real world next to Yukio who she promptly slapped in the back of the head.
"Ow!" He shouted as he rubbed his head. "Watch it! I need to focus when Invaders Must Die is in effect!"
"Effect my butt!" Riruka screamed. "Why did you drag your feet saving me back there!? I could have been killed!"
"It's called dramatic effect," Yukio explained. "Pick up a book every now and then."
Riruka grumbled about how Yukio was the last person on Earth who had any right to tell people to read books, especially with the way Tsukihima used to scold him for not doing such. Yukio sighed and turned his attention back to his game console and the bewildered killer trapped inside. "Hello there, Micheal Myers was it? It's been so long since we'd seen each other, I could hardly remember your name."
Michael's only response to the giant face on the screen above him was one of his trademark head tilts.
"No words, huh? That's alright. I don't tend to stand out all that much so it's only understandable that you don't remember me that well either. That being said, the fact is you caused us quite a bit of grief in the past and I'm afraid now it's time to pay." Yukio started to mess with the controls again. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not the sentimental type who wants to avenge his friends or anything like that. I just don't want to be in debt to a bunch of dead people."
Michael wasn't sure what was going on anymore nor did he care. He took a step forward, intent on finding an exit to this strange place and finishing off these two people who abducted him. As he tried to take the next step, however, he found that it was rather heavy, nearly slamming into the black floor. He tried a third step and it took everything he had just to lift the foot off the ground. With each passing second, his body felt heavier and heavier. His knife felt like a bunch of hammers he was attempting to hold with one hand and as he dropped it, it plunged deep into the ground, only the handle visible. Michael fell to his knees and on his hands, as if bowing to an ancient God against his will. And his body grew heavier still.
"What's wrong?" Yukio asked. "Can't walk? I'd imagine it'd be pretty hard to walk in constantly increasing gravity. You see Michael, that room that you're in is my Fullbring's power, Invaders Must Die and within that room I can control everything, including gravity."
Michael tried to look up, tried to glare at Yukio but at this point, even his head was too heavy to lift.
"With each second that passes, the gravity increases ten times over." Yukio continued. "It won't be long now before you're flat as a pancake."
Michael sank down into the ground, once again sprawled like one of the many corpses he had created in the past. From inside his body, he could hear his bones begin to crack and a dark red trail of blood leaked from the nose opening of his mask.
"Farewell, Michael," Yukio said. "The world will breathe easier with you gone."
Riruka said nothing as she watched the masked manic slowly crushed to death on the screen of Yukio's game console. Part of her even wanted to look away from what was certain to be a gory aftermath, yet her eyes were glued to the screen all the same. She knew that the man, the monster on the screen had harmed Xcution in the past, hurt them to the point where they would vow vengeance. But what exactly it was, Riruka could not recall. Try as she might, her memory refused to claim those missing fragments of her past. She considered asking Yukio about it once Michael was dealt with but something told her that he wasn't any the wiser.
'Any second now," Yukio muttered. "At any moment, he'll be nothing but a red stain." There was a hint of pleasure in his voice that unnerved Riruka. "Just a litt-
And then the screen glitched. The picture devolved into a scrambled mess of pixels and colors while a blaring whine erupted from the device, causing Yukio to shudder and Riruka to cover her ears. "Y-Yukio! What the hell's going on?" She asked.
"I don't know," Fighting through the blaring noise, Yukio fiddled with the controls, trying in vain to get either the audio or the visuals back under control. On the screen, the image of Michael lying on the floor blurred in and out of the darkness, just below the digital chaos. "My Fullbring's never acted this way before!"
"Well get it under control before that noise kills us!" Riruka shouted. She opened her eyes to see the black box below them, the pocket dimension Michael was to be executed in. It was now glitching as well, changing shape as it seemed to flicker in and out of existence repeatedly. The sight freaked Riruka out and she found herself backing behind Yukio who had finally noticed it was well. "Something's wrong here!" He cried. "Something's really wrong!"
As if to fully solidify Yukio's statement, the screen displayed a new image from within the dimension. It was Michael, bleeding from his face profusely but still standing tall. He had wrenched the knife out of the ground without breaking it and, perhaps most horrifying of all, there was an eerie green light glowing from his body, much like the energy of a Fullbringer.
"Oh no!" Riruka whimpered as she saw the light. "So it was true! He's a-
"Dammit! Yukio cursed as he twisted the knob on his console. "Why won't he die!?"
The dimension continued to glitch as did the screen until finally, as the blaring whine grew to its absolute most unbearable, the latter cracked. Yukio gasped as the sudden damage to his Fullbring and Riruka screamed as she watched the cubed dimension below them violently evaporate. Michael was all that remained of the room now, his light gone but his body still covered in blood. With an inhuman rage emanating off of him, Michael stomped toward the weakened legs of the platform that Yukio and Riruka were standing on and kicked one of them in. The bent leg could no longer support its share of the platform's weight and the whole thing collapsed, sending the screaming Fullbringers falling to the ground. Once they were only a few feet from hitting the ground, both of them manipulated the air beneath their feet and bounced off of it, allowing them to land on their feet and cushion the blow of their landing. Before they could fully recover, however, a thick cloud of dust brought up by the downed platform blinded them, entering their nostrils and throats. They coughed violently with Riruka holding her sides and falling back down.
Yukio was able to recover from the debris first and as he looked around for any sign of Michael, her heart raced with undiluted terror. "W-W-Where is he?" Feebly, he got to his feet and stumbled toward a still-coughing Riruka.
"Riruka," He said with a shocked look on his face, quite unlike himself. "Are you alright?"
Riruka opened her mouth to speak, only for another cloud of dust to come out. Instead, she nodded uncertainly as she began to pick herself up.
"That's good," Yukio said. "I'm gl-
Michael rushed Yukio from the surrounding dust, grabbed him by the throat, choked him for a few seconds, and then slammed him against the still-standing leg of the former platform. The game console slipped from his hands as he was attacked.
"Yukio!" Riruka screamed.
The blonde Fullbringer kicked and struggled against the Shape's grasp but it was all for naught. Michale continually slammed his head against the leg, creating a smear of blood behind his head. Once he was done with that, Michael jammed his knife into Yukio's gut, causing him to utter a bloodcurdling cry of agony. Michael thrust the knife in deeper and deeper until with one final thrust, he stabbed the tip into the leg behind Yukio, impaling the boy to it. He stepped back and watched with sadistic interest as Yukio slowly and pathetically struggled to free himself. His hoodie was off his head, showing his messy blonde hair, dazed eyes, and the line of blood trickling from his mouth.
Michael intended to watch the life leave the boy's eyes and would have gladly done so if not for the piece of debris hitting him in the back of the head. Sharply, he turned around to see Riruka, the girl who brought him here in the first place. She was scared, that much he could infer from her rapid shaking and the tears welling beneath her eyes, yet she forced herself to stay, another piece of debris in her shivering hand. "Come on, Mikey! I'm the one you want! Come after me!" She shouted as she tossed the debris right onto Michael's forehead where it smashed into pieces. Then she finally allowed her body to take off, running out of the building and onto the streets.
Michael briefly contemplated whether to go after the girl or now, decided that her friend was on the verge of death anyway and violently and mercilessly ripped the knife out of his gut. Yukio let out another pained gasp as he slid down to the floor and watched helplessly as Michael stormed off after his friend. "R-Riruka," He managed to utter before everything went black.
The Moon was obscured by the rolling storm clouds as Riruka ran down the lifeless streets of Karakura Town. "Somebody! Anybody! Help me!" She cried. Never in her life had she been this terrified. Even the entire debacle with Ichigo and Tsukishima was nothing compared to this absolute hopelessness. Little by little the rain began to fall upon her, threatening to cause her to slip as it wet the asphalt beneath her feet. Eventually, that's exactly what happened and Riruka fell face-first to the ground. She scrambled to pick herself back up, ignoring the stinging coming from the brand-new cut on her nose, and continued running.
She was starting to grow tired and she didn't want to risk slipping again and hurting herself worse so upon realizing she was now at the park, she allowed herself to slow down a bit. She recovered her breath in short gasps and wiped the blood from the bridge of her nose, wincing at the pain. "Y-Yukio," Her lips trembled as she considered her friend's fate, the only Xcution Fullbringer left beside her. She fought back her tears and began walking, not wanting to stop until she was sure she was somewhere safe.
"Is there even any safe place from him?" She found herself wondering. She recalled the feeling of dread she had when was carrying Michael back to Japan as a plushie. Even when rendered unable to kill, Michael was still an unnerving menace. Just his sheer existence alone was enough to devour all hope and light in an area like a black hole, leaving only destruction and fear.
"evil..."
"Huh?" Riruka looked around, certain that she had just heard someone whisper to her. Even through the freezing rain, however, she could see that she was completely alone in the park, nothing but the bridge before her and the raging river running underneath it. Nonetheless, through the endless falling of the rain, she could hear someone's voice speak to her.
"you released the evil!"
"Wha-What's going on?" Riruka continued to look around desperately for who could be speaking to her. Again and again, she failed to find anyone, panic setting in as she feared she was losing her mind. Then, just when she was about to scream in frustration over the situation, she finally saw someone and her blood grew cold.
Michael was standing before her. Knife in hand and the blood from beneath his mask washing away with the rain drops.
"Michael," Riruka whispered. She started shaking her head and cried out. "No. No!" She turned around and with a burst of Bringer Light, sped to the middle of the bridge. From there she ran normally, desperate to escape Michael, desperate to escape this living nightmare she had wrought upon herself. She ran through the bridge, through the pouring rain...
...and right into Michael's knife.
"Gah!" Riruka cried out as a burst of blood erupted from her mouth. Pain shot through her body from where the blade had pierced her torso. Subconsciously, she grabbed the arm digging the knife into her guts and tried in vain to pull it away. She cried out as Michael lifted her body with a single arm gripping the knife, staring the terrified girl right in the eyes as she bled onto the floor.
"H-How?" Riruka wondered. "How did he get ahead of me?" That was when she noticed the last traces of Bringer Light vanishing behind him, a much darker hue than hers or anyone else's she knew but Bringer Light all the same. "Dear God," She thought as she recalled Invader Must Die glitching out the way it did. "He really is a Fullbringer."
With what precious little remained of her strength, Riruka struggled and trashed about, trying to pry herself off of Michael's knife. She succeeded just as he held his arm over the edge of the bridge and down she fell, a trail of her blood following her into the river. "Yukio...Ginjo...everyone...I'm sorry...I failed..." Riruka shed a single tear more as she hit the surface of the river and vanished beneath it. A red spot formed where she had landed only to follow the river along its course.
Michael stood over the bridge silently for several minutes, his dark gaze never leaving the spot where the young girl had fallen. Once he was certain that she was dead, he slowly began walking back toward the streets. As he walked down them, he was quick to realize that he could not understand any of the signs on the shops or on the streets. He was in a new country, a brand new land with no easy way to return to Haddonfield.
Of course, this didn't matter to him one bit.
He needed to find somewhere to rest first but once that was settled, he would work toward making this strange place, this Karakura Town, his new hunting grounds. After all, it was still October back in his home and soon it would be Halloween. Ah yes, a Halloween no one would ever forget. Especially now that it was unsealed once again.
With a single motion, Michael vanished from the streets of Karakura Town, a small burst of Bringer Light lingering for a few moments before disappearing as well.
(And thus the next and possibly darkest arc of the series begins! Don't worry. Both Riruka and Yukio are still alive...for now. But now that Michael Myers is loose in Karakura Town, I think we can agree that their problems are far from over.
I was gonna try to tease Michael's nature as a Fullbringer in this story a little more but decided against it. After all, it's not that hard to figure out. What will be hard to figure out (I hope) is what his Fullbring does. You'll never guess it!
By the way, if anyone has any news on when FF is going to fix all this glitchy crap, please let me know.
That being said, I'm really excited for this arc. So much so that, in the spirit of Halloween and my current obsession, I've decided to bequeath you guys an alternate ending to this chapter. Enjoy!
"Michael, it's time," Riruka said.
Michael stood upright and started approaching her, his knife poised to strike. Riruka gulped as she waited for Yukio to save her from being stabbed, her lips quivering as the Shape grew closer.
"Yukio, it's time to let me out now!" She called.
Michael was even closer now.
"Yukio! Yukio! Yuk-
Just as Michael was about to ram the blade into her shoulder, Riruka vanished in a mess of pixels and rematerialized back in the real world next to Yukio who she promptly slapped in the back of the head.
"Ow!" He shouted as he rubbed his head. "Watch it! I need to focus when Invaders Must Die is in effect!"
"Effect my butt!" Riruka screamed. "Why did you drag your feet saving me back there!? I could have been killed!"
"It's called dramatic effect," Yukio explained. "Pick up a book every now and then."
Riruka grumbled about how Yukio was the last person on Earth who had any right to tell people to read books, especially with the way Tsukihima used to scold him for not doing such. Yukio sighed and turned his attention back to his game console and the bewildered killer trapped inside. "Hello there, Micheal Myers was it? It's been so long since we'd seen each other, I could hardly remember your name."
Michael's only response to the giant face on the screen above him was one of his trademark head tilts.
"No words, huh? That's alright. I don't tend to stand out all that much so it's only understandable that you don't remember me that well either. That being said, the fact is you caused us quite a bit of grief in the past and I'm afraid now it's time to pay." Yukio started to mess with the controls again. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not the sentimental type who wants to avenge his friends or anything like that. I just don't want to be in debt to a bunch of dead people."
Michael wasn't sure what was going on anymore nor did he care. He took a step forward, intent on finding an exit to this strange place and killing the two people who abducted him. Just as he took that first step, however, something...changed.
He was no longer in a black void but rather some sort of multicolored room, like something out of a children's play area in a restaurant. The only area not splattered in color was the black and white checkered floor beneath his feet which he now noticed ended in two flat wooden planks. Surprised, he quickly brought his hands to his face, or rather, the fat white gloves that used to be his hands. He was certain there was some sort of weapon within them but if so it was gone now along with his name.
Wait, his name?
He stiffened up as he realized he had forgotten almost all about his life up until that very moment. His name, his face, and even what object he was sure he was holding in his hand. It was all gone, nothing but a mental haze. Looking around desperately for any kind of answer to this situation, he noticed a mirror nearby and wobbled to it. He was unused to his new feet and fell down twice before he got close enough to see his reflection. A scarecrow with one eye a button and the other a baseball, stared back at him. He was clad in only a ragged shirt and a straw hat and his mouth was little more than a straight line of twine.
"Well, well, well, What do we have here?" A voice spoke from behind. The scarecrow turned around to see a rather peculiar collection of characters, including a short jester girl, a purple rabbit in overalls, a human-sized doll, a man with a chess piece for a head, a tragedy mask with a body of string, and a...mishappen thing that couldn't possibly be described. Before them all, inching far too close to the scarecrow for comfort was a human body with an oversized set of jaws for a head. Within these jaws were a pair of disembodied eyes, one blue and one green, and his body was clad in what looked like a ringleader's outfit. Floating next to the entity was a smiling bubble. "It would seem a new human has entered our realm!"
"Oh great, another sucker." The rabbit commented through his yellow teeth. "This oughta be good."
The inhuman ringleader pulled out a cane and poked the scarecrow in the chest. "Welcome my friend to the Amazing Digital Circus! I'm your ringleader Caine and you have stumbled upon the GAH!"
Now the scarecrow did not have any memories of who he was before he arrived here nor was he sure he could go back. One thing he was absolutely certain of, the one part of him this strange colorful hellscape could not strip away, was his desire to brutally murder everyone around him. That's why he grabbed the top and bottom parts of Caine's jaw and slammed them on his floating eyeballs. When he saw that this drew no blood, he became frustrated and repeated his actions again and again.
"This...OW!..isn't very...OW!... polite of you!"
"You know something, boss? I don't think this guy really likes you." The talking bubble commented. The scarecrow replied to his unwelcome commentary by unceremoniously popping him.
"Oh my God!" The jester girl muttered. "I think the new guy's trying to kill Caine!"
"This is bad!" The man with the chess piece for a head cried. "He hasn't been here for more than a minute and he's already gone mad!"
"Um, guys?" The doll asked. "Shouldn't we do something?"
"Nah!" The rabbit waved his hand. "This is a family-friendly place, remember?" He said in a mocking tone. "This guy can't kill Caine or any of us. He can only beat the c# ! out of him." Out of nowhere, he pulled up a lounging chair and laid down on it. He produced a bucket of popcorn in the same cartoony fashion and ate a handful. "Only question is how long will it take Haystack over there to realize that."
The entire room was filled with Caine's hammy pleas for mercy.
...
"Um, Yukio?" Riruka asked uncomfortably. "Just what the hell are we looking at?"
"A little project from one of the companies I've invested in," Yukio explained. "It's a little hard to explain but all you have to know is that Michael isn't getting out of there any time soon nor will he be able to hurt anyone in there."
"Company? What company?" Riruka asked. "Was it that JC Jensen one you're always talking about?"
Yukio shook his head. "No, it's a different one. Never really cared to learn their name. C & A or something of that nature." The blonde Fullbringer sighed as he turned off Invaders Must Die and stuffed the console into his pocket, leaving the enemy he couldn't remember making to his family-friendly Hell. "So, do you want to get something to eat?"
"Sure, why not?" Riruka followed Yukio off the platform and out of the warehouse. In a few days, the building would be demolished and any trace that they were ever there at all would vanish.
(Ok...so just to be clear, this part is not canon to the story. Not that the story itself is canon of course but this is like super non-canon. I just couldn't help it. I've become so addicted to The Amazing Digital Circus and when the idea popped into my head, I knew I just had to do it! If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend it! Anyway, that's all for now. Have a Happy Halloween and a blessed Samhain!)