how troublesome im not in the fanfic / dont have a pic.
Actually, I DID draw a picture of you, but it didn't come out the way I wanted. I'll post up something for you later.
Right now, it's time for Chapter Seven, Part A!
CHAPTER SEVEN “Wait, WHERE are you now?” Pajitnov’s voice crackled over the receiver. He must have been near an overpass or something; their connection was getting pretty bad. Suddenly, however, his voice cleared up.
“We’re…uh…” Gray looked outside the window to the forest they were located in. He put his hand over the receiver, and whispered to Smith. “Where are we again?”
Smith shrugged. Gray didn’t bother asking Christopher since he never really remembered much anyway. “Maybe Ruben knows,” Smith said.
Gray rolled his eyes and went back to talking to Pajitnov. “Er, we really don’t know.”
“The mainframe computer aboard the
Captain Jack has a built-in map radar system,” Pajitnov responded. “You can access it through the kiosk located next to the pilot chair.”
Gray looked around. Smith and Ruben were both slouching on the couch, exhausted from the pirate battle, while Christopher was pacing around, worried. He looked where Pajitnov directed him, and found it almost immediately. Gray immediately went to the computer and saw “Map Radar” in the upper-right hand part of the screen.
Clicking it opened another window that featured the surrounding area.
“Wow,” Gray breathed, astounded. “How far does this radar go?”
Pajitnov answered. “It can go nearly 300 miles in each of four directions. Do you see any nearby towns?”
Gray scanned the monitor as Christopher looked over his shoulder, staring at the same monitor. After a few seconds of viewing, Gray spotted one. “Found one,” he chirped. “It’s roughly 56 miles from where our current location.”
“THAT’S THE SPIRIT!” Pajitnov’s voice was suddenly so excited and loud that Gray actually dropped the phone, much to Christopher’s horror. As Gray picked it up off the ground (Quickly, I might add), he heard Pajitnov clear his voice over the line. “I mean, ‘that’s the spirit.’ Ho, ho.”
Christopher looked at the top of the map window. “So…” he began, “The name of the forest we’re in is… the Veros Woods?”
Pajitnov piped up again. “The Veros Woods, you say? Hm.” After a few seconds of thought, he once again shouted in a loud voice—“A-HA!”—that made Gray once again drop the phone. “You break it, you buy it!” Christopher warned.
Pajitnov seemed more excited this time, as the speed of his voice could barely be comprehended. “TheresatownneartheVerosWoodscalledHighwind! Yououghttogothereandseeoneofmyoldfriends!”
Gray tried to keep up, but ultimately failed. “Say that again, slower, please?” he requested.
He heard Pajitnov breath hard on the other end, perhaps a little too excited for his old age. After a few seconds, he calmed down. “The town you’re seeing on the radar map is called ‘Highwind.’ Go there and ask around for a man named Cid. He’ll help you.”
“Is he an old friend of yours?” Gray asked.
“You could say that. He DID build the
Captain Jack.”
This was awesome, Gray thought. Now he’d be able to meet the guy who built the coolest airship ever. He grinned as he thought of the two of them shaking hands, the way a fan would daydream of finally meeting his favorite celebrity.
“Anyway,” Pajitnov continued, “It should take you only an hour if you go by buggy.”
“
Buggy?” Gray repeated. Smith and Ruben both laughed like immature kindergarteners over a naughty joke.
“Yes,” responded Pajitnov, “buggy. The Captain has a small garage near the bottom. There’s a buggy in there.”
Gray coughed. “Uh, Pajitnov—”
“Please, call me ‘Alex.’”
“Alex. We crashed. Remember? I just got through telling you that.”
After a minute’s pause, Gray heard Pajitnov laugh the way he usually does. “Yes, yes, I realize that. However, you must realize: Cid thought ahead and had the buggy magnetically attached to the floor of the garage. That way, it wouldn’t slide around or take damage when your friend Ruben attempts his daring plans.”
Gray chuckled. “Okay, I bite. But if it’s magnetically attached to the floor, how will we—”
Pajitnov hushed Gray over the phone. “There’s a computer kiosk in the front of the garage. You have to input a code to turn off the magnetism.”
Gray responded, “Ooooohhhh,” like it was his first idea.
Pajitnov continued. “The password is—uh, get a pencil and paper, you’ll have to write this one down.”
Gray turned to his friends. “Get some paper and a pencil!”
Smith rummaged around in his pockets and pulled out a pen. He handed it to Gray as Ruben searched his jacket for some form of paper. “Uh….”
Gray just decided to use his hand. “OK, what’s the password?”
Pajitnov responded, rather slowly, this time. “G-E-J-J-J.”
After writing it down, Gray pursed his lips awkwardly. “What a password…”
“What a password it is, indeed!” Pajitnov shouted, once again causing Gray to drop the phone a third time. Ruben was at least fast enough to catch it before it hit the ground. “I want my phone back,” Christopher growled in a tone unlike his usual cheery one.
Ruben spoke into the receiver. “Uh, Alex? Could you do us all a favor?”
“Sure, anything!” Pajitnov cheered on the other end. “Just name it!”
“Could you tell our families where we are? Just so that they don’t worry.”
Pajitnov was silent for a bit, then sighed. “You DO know what their reactions are going to be, right?”
They all frowned. Gray and his friends never expected to be shot down by pirates and stranded in a forest, so they hadn’t told their parents where they were going. It was irresponsible of them, they knew; but shoving that responsibility on Pajitnov’s shoulders was even worse.
“You’re right,” Ruben answered. “We’ll call our parents.”
“Thanks a million!” Pajitnov shouted as he laughed heavily. “As much as I love talking to you kids, I’m going to have to run along now. Goodbye, and good luck!”
And with that, he hung up.
“Well, at least now we know what to do,” Gray said as he shrugged. Ruben handed the phone back to Christopher, who quickly put it into his pocket, never to be touched by Gray’s hands ever again. Smith stretched as he got off the couch.
“So, let’s go,” Smith snorted. “Time’s-a-wasting.”
“Shouldn’t we call our parents first?” Christopher asked.
The other three nodded in agreement. Smith just sighed as he lowered. “Okay, but make it fast.”
* * * * * *
Youkai and John circled each other like gladiators calculating their opponent’s next move. The dining car was a certifiable mess, with upturned tables, smashed vases, broken chairs, and glass and food everywhere. The sounds of glass and such crunched as they stepped on them.
If it were one thing John could tell from this guy, it was that he was nothing like his previous three opponents. His eyes never darted away from his quarry; they never really seemed to even blink, for that matter. In addition, John could just smell the bloodlust this guy was looking for.
“I did almost ten years in the pen,” Youkai said, breaking the silence. “I tell you one thing: prison left me hungry. I wanted to go out and do what I loved: kill.”
John gulped, trying not to show signs of weakness to his enemy.
Youkai continued. “I was originally going to be given the chair, for the murder of fourteen men and three women. But, ten years to die? Goes to show you how long that execution line has grown, hm?”
John clenched his fist and hardened his resolve.
Youkai readied his rod, which had begun to glow red again. “The President is willing to let me go out and kill even more people, just so that I would bring you back to him.”
John felt it was time to pose a question. “Do you know what he’ll do to me?”
The glowing rod emitted a low, threatening hum. “Dunno, don’t really care. It’s sad to see how long the government will sink to get what it wants. But hey, so long as I bring you in, freedom and murder are mine to have.”
Youkai changed to an attack position suddenly. “The only challenge here is leaving you
alive!”
He brought the rod down on John, aiming for his left shoulder. John immediately dodged it as he spun to his right. During the spin, John raised his foot for a kick, only for Youkai to grab it mid-swing.
While still holding John’s foot, the eerie clownlike murderer swung the rod horizontally, aiming for John’s thigh. Suddenly, John did what Youkai didn’t expect: he jumped, bent over, and tried to land a punch on Youkai’s face.
Youkai immediately threw John off him, canceling the attack. They backed off a few feet, then swooped back at each other.
Youkai spun, swinging his rod in large, long, deadly arcs. John knew that even switching into “stone mode” wouldn’t save him from the sheer power of Youkai’s weapon. So instead, he immediately bent down, picked up a chair, and threw it at Youkai.
The chair was predictably shredded by Youkai’s weapon. However, the explosion sent sawdust from the chair into the air, sending it into Youkai’s eyes. This was John’s chance!
John immediately dashed at Youkai and tried to land a strong punch to Youkai’s torso. However, Youkai dodged in the nick of time and plunged the side of the rod into John’s middle.
Just touching the thing sent throngs of pain through John’s body. John’s innards rumbled violently; his delicate spine nearly shattered. John pushed himself off Youkai, black-flipped, and perched himself on top of a still-standing dining table.
John felt his ears ring, and he could tell he had some internal injuries. That weapon… what
WAS it? He had never seen any technology like it before…
* * * * * *
Before she knew it, the Panzer had lunged, its teeth hungry for flesh.
Luckily, she was nimble enough to jump to the left, dodging the Panzer. It circled and turned around to face its prey. The Tanuki had drawn her weapons (Two small, razor-sharp Tanuki leaves), and readied an attack stance, ready for anything.
The long barbs on the Panzer’s back became electrified, signaling that something really, really bad was about to happen. She knew she had to strike before it fully charge, so she made a dash and slid a bit to the right as the Panzer swung its left claw.
As she slid to its left, she opened a gash on its ribcage with her leaf, then jumped backward as the thing’s tail swung at her, electricity dancing through the air.
The Panzer growled at her as the barbs began to electrify again. She jumped backward onto a tree trunk, then leapt off and into the air as the Panzer shot a bolt of lightning at the tree. The explosion of splinters accompanied the Tanuki as she shot through the air and threw the leaves at the beast below.
The Tanuki’s leaf shurikens sailed straight for their target, but just as they were about to connect, the Panzer…
vanished. That’s when the Tanuki remembered George’s words: The zenith of speed, the king of lightning!
She looked above her and saw the Panzer jumping off a nearby tree toward her direction. She threw more shurikens at it as it sailed straight at her. The three shurikens she threw became lodged in the Panzer’s—
No, wait, it vanished again! Did it? It looked as though the shurikens had hit it… but then they went straight through it, as if it were an afterimage.
The Tanuki suddenly felt an extremely heavy blow to her back, sending her straight for the ground. She slid across the dirt, finally stopping a good twenty feet away from the monster. Her body ached all over.
She shook as she struggled to stand up. Her nerves were stick racked, and her back hurt like hell. She was lucky she was a lithe gal—if she weren’t, her spine would be soup right now.
She turned to the Panzer, who had landed on its feet like all felines. The Tanuki’s body was in pretty bad shape, and her weapons and attacks were apparently too slow to keep up with this thing.
She began to waver, unable to keep her balance. She felt faint as her breathing became heavier. Just one hit, and it was all over? The Panzer sure seemed excited about it, as it closed in slowly, perhaps to build suspense.
This is it, she thought. Her freedom would be lost, and her life would most likely end. She closed her eyes as she waited to either pass out or be forced into unconsciousness by the growling monster.
Suddenly, she felt a warm glow. She opened her eyes as her breathing returned to normal, the pain in her back disappeared, and the wound on her head was mended. The Panzer appeared to be just as confused as she was.
Suddenly, the Tanuki saw it: a small fairy-like person was hovering just above the battle. She had long blonde hair, bright blue and pink clothing, green eyes, and shimmering pixie-like wings. The fairy waved down at her.
“Hey!” the fairy called. The Panzer looked up at the fairy it did not sense before. “Looked like you needed a little help down there!” the fairy continued. She then raised her fist into the air. “Now give ‘im hell!”
The Tanuki girl was one of those old-fashioned folks who disapproved of cursing, but this time, she’d let it slide. She turned to the Panzer who… wasn’t there anymore. Again.
Her ears detected something large behind her. She drew her leaf shurikens, waiting for an opportune moment. Just as the beast was directly behind her, she spun to her right, dodging a pounce, and throwing a shuriken into the monster’s side.
The Panzer turned and lunged again at the Tanuki, who spun once more and slashed its face.
By now, the Panzer was becoming tiresome of this wily prey. It fired another lightning bolt in her direction, suddenly slashing across the ground, vaporizing a hollow log as it split forward.
The Tanuki wasn’t fast enough to dodge the bolt. Just as it was about to connect, however, it… just bounced away, blowing up a nearby tree.
Both the Panzer and the Tanuki were once again stunned.
They fairy waved again. “I’m a magic-user,” she said. “After I healed you, I cast a reflect spell. Now the lightning bolts won’t hurt you.”
With this information, the Tanuki smiled as she turned toward the—it was gone again.
This time, the Tanuki’s ears sensed its presence, but… it wasn’t going for her. It was going for the fairy.
Apparently, the Panzer wasn’t a big fan of fairies. Perhaps to a Panzer, a fairy is little more than another bug to squash. In this case, however, the fairy was truly getting on its nerves, having saved its prey twice already.
The Tanuki decided to chase it and prevent it from killing her new ally. After running up the side of a tree, she shot off of it towards the fairy. The Panzer was already lunging at the pixie girl, its mouth wide open for a bite. Actually, it looked as if it could have swallowed her whole.
The pixie, predictably, was a natural flyer, as she nimbly swerved out of the Panzer’s path. The Tanuki managed to throw another shuriken into its back as she flew towards the next tree.
The Panzer, also on a tree branch, eyed the Tanuki girl from afar. Since it knew its long-range lightning attack couldn’t hurt her anymore (Damn that pixie), it had to hatch another plan.
The Tanuki still couldn’t get over just how SMART this thing was. Even though it had the appearance of a pantherlike beast, it had the normal intelligence of a full-grown man. Its tactics were always changing, its strategy becoming harder and harder to top with her own.
Suddenly, it launched another lightning bolt, aiming not for the Tanuki but for the tree she was perched on. In less than a second, it was reduced to nothing, and the Tanuki fell from the explosion.
The Tanuki was grabbed mid-fall by the pixie. It seemed as if saving people were her job.
Suddenly, like a streak of crazy greased lightning, the Panzer leapt through the trees and knocked both the fairy and the Tanuki out of the air. The Tanuki, realizing her friend was most likely knocked out, began to swing her tail in order to keep afloat. However, the best it did was slow their descent. They landed on the ground below with a solid thud, sending the leaves into a frenzy.
The Tanuki had luckily landed on her feet as she laid the pixie down onto the ground. Her ears twitched with the sound of the large beast jumping in from behind. She immediately turned, ducked, then served an upward slash to its chest area. She was expecting blood, but none came out.
Oh. Right. The Panzer was only a figment of a demon’s perverse imagination. Of course it couldn’t have blood.
Anyway, the Panzer slammed into the ground face-first. Obviously, it felt the slash hard and fumbled in the landing. It struggled back up on all fours, its eyes staring daggers at the Tanuki girl.
This battle was pretty much over, and this next hit would probably mean everything. If the Tanuki were fast enough, she could stab the Panzer’s heart (That is, if it had one). She readied her leaf shurikens, and prepared for one final attack.
Tanuki were natural fighters, nimble without favoring physical power too much. However, their ability to turn into stone on a moment’s notice was an invaluable asset to their fighting ability. The leaves they used for weapons were of their own fashion, and could be used in multiple ways.
The natural abilities of her lineage were her only means of survival right now. She would have to bet everything on her next move. To say the tension was enough to crush her nerves was an understatement.
After a brief pause, the Tanuki and the Panzer blasted toward each other at a speed that shook the wind. Just as the Panzer was about to bite her, she turned into stone.
She was a slender lass, all right; so her stone form was likely more penetrable than, say, a male Tanuki’s stone form. But all the same, the Panzer’s teeth couldn’t break the stone.
He was, however, powerful enough to lift her stone form and throw it towards a tree. She transformed immediately, and landed gracefully upon a nearby rock. Perched there like a small animal, she glared at her quarry.
As she glared at him, he suddenly disappeared. Again with the disappearing act. This was getting old, she decided, and then perked her ears to listen for her predator.
Suddenly, it shot up from beneath the ground, smashing the rock she was on to bits. Before she could do anything, she found herself pinned to the ground, face-to-face with her enemy. Now that its face was only three inches away from hers…
It was really ugly. Not to mention it some of the worst breath ever.
It opened its mouth, ready to bite on her neck and end her life. The power being forced on her limbs was insane; she could barely breath. She was truly helpless here. If only she weren’t so careless…
Then, all of a sudden, the Panzer froze. Like ice. Covered in frost, the beast was completely immobile and, needless to say, very cold. After about a few seconds, the beast disintegrated into thin air, another effect of being just someone’s imaginary monster.
The Tanuki was very worn out by now. She was also cold from being much too close to the Panzersicle. She looked to her right as she sat up. The fairy wasn’t unconscious after all: she was up hovering above the ground again, with her hand pointed in the Tanuki’s direction.
Obviously, she had cast some sort of ice-freezy spell to destroy the monster.
The fairy hovered over to the Tanuki and helped her to her feet. “Oh!” she exclaimed suddenly, “I haven’t even introduced myself yet!” She bowed low and folded her hands. “My name is Shiva. I was named after one of the ancient gods.”
The Tanuki’s light brown hair, now messed up and covered with leaves, swished with the wind. It was starting to get darker, and more than likely, Shiva had a place to call home. If she were nice enough, Shiva could let her stay.
“My name,” the Tanuki responded, “is Kylie.”
GAME REFERENCES MADE IN THIS PART:
- The Veros Woods is actually the first forest you venture through in Castlevania 2 for the NES.
- The password for the magnetism device in the garage, GEJJJ, is actually the password used to get to the final level in Bubble Bubble for the NES.
- Cid is... well, if you 've ever played a Final Fantasy game beyond FFIV, you'll know where this is from. He's pretty much a staple of the FF series; there's a different Cid in each Fantasy. IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, etc.
