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The Adventure of Yami Cheza, part 3 (the end) |
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Part 3: The Dragon
Hiroto gulped loudly as the snapping got closer. The vibrations in the ground grew stronger. The fox was on the alert, now on all fours like a cat about to pounce, his little ball of blue fox fire somehow managing to levitate in the air in front of him. Cheza wondered what the fox planned to do. He probably planned to run past it if it could fit in the cave. Yeah, that would definitely be the smartest thing to do since she had nothing to defend herself with.
...Wait a second, she thought as she slipped her bag off its stick and opened it up.
"What are you doing?" the fox asked puzzled, watching her open her bag.
She studied the cracked stone bowl and wondered if she could use it somehow. The fox eyed the bowl and then her with a look that she could have swore was a raised eyebrow (if he were to have eyebrows like a human). "You better not be thinking about cooking me still."
She narrowed her eyes at him and held up the tiny wooden dagger. "You should know I'm not, since you read my mind." stare
"You told me not to, remember?"
She snorted and said, "Wow, I'm surprised you actually did what I said for once." She petted his head and said, "Good boy."
He growled and moved her hand away with a little paw. "I'm not your pet dog!" stressed
Hiroto let out a little nasal giggle, followed by a quack. The fox shot a glare at Hiroto, making him nervously cover his beak. "Sorry," he squeaked. sad
Cheza quickly tied her bag back up into a bundle and placed it back on her stick. Maybe she could whack it with her bag, because she doubted she could deal any damage with that little wooden knife. The fox looked at it skeptically and said, "You don't seriously plan to use that thing, do you?" neutral
She sighed and said, "It's all I've got."
"As close as you have to get to use that little thing, it will be having you for dinner. And then, your death will be in vain, because the most that will do is just give it a splinter."
She frowned at him and said, "You have to shoot down all my hopes whenever you get the chance, don't you?"
He gave her a sarcastic smile and she hit him on the head with her knife. "OW!" he said clutching his head. "We have a spider demon to face! Don't wound me before the battle's even begun!"
"Keep your thoughts to yourself then!" she hissed as she turned her eyes to the darkness ahead. The three stood in silence, Hiroto looking worried, the fox looking nervous and somehow determined at the same time, and Cheza with her dagger out like she was ready to deal some real damage with it (which she knew wasn't possible).
Suddenly there was the sound of heavy, hurried footsteps, like several giants were entering the cave. Slowly, out of the darkness, a giant spider came into view. Its many big, red eyes looked almost purple in the light of the blue flame. Hiroto started to shudder and quack in fear, but the fox stood up and placed a hand near him whispering, "Don't worry. I think the fire's keeping it away."
"How did we draw it in here then if your fire is keeping it away?" Cheza asked out loud. Just then they heard some rustling noises behind them. They looked over their shoulders and listened to the distance noises of movement in the background.
"Oh dear," Hiroto quivered and he placed his webbed hand to his beak like a human trying to biting his finger nails.
The fox's black eyes grew noticeably larger. "Oh, shi..." eek
"RUN!" Cheza yelled as she threw her bag at the spider in front of them. She easily hit one of it's large eyes with the bag. She remembered the letter from her grandmother, surprised it had actually proved useful.
"The basin is from Sakaguchi-san from down the road. She said she’d chased her husband with this and so she gave it to me because she couldn’t use it anymore." Cheza could imagine the middle-aged neighbor lady running out of her house after her cheating husband, throwing the bowl at him.
It screeched in pain and she had to cover her ears. She wondered how a spider was able to screech, and then she took in it's huge size, reminded that it was not your normal spider. The fox darted forward, calling for Hiroto to follow behind him.
"B-b-but Cheza-san! We can't leave her!" he yelled in panic, turning it's round little head to give Cheza a desperate and sad look. gonk
"Don't worry about me, Hiro-chan! I'll be fine!" she yelled, even though she was 99.9% she was going to die in the next 1.5 seconds. How she came up with such a calculated estimate in such an intense moment was a mystery to her.
"Get your green butt out of here!" the fox yelled at Hiroto as he stood up on his back legs and gave Hiroto a firm kick forward so he would be in front of him. He let out a loud quack as he lurched forward and wobbled. He then quacked again in panic as he realized how close he was to the hairy legs of the giant spider.
"I'll help Cheza, you just get out of here!" the fox said, but Hiroto was beside himself panicking. He was incessantly quacking and shaking. The spider took a step toward him and he clung to the fox in fear.
"AHHH!" Hiroto screamed. "It's going to step on me! QUACK! QUACK! QUACK!" gonk
"It's going to squish both of us if you keep clinging to me like that!" the fox yelled. He shoved Hiroto away and said, "Stop quacking in my ear!!" scream
He then extended his flame toward the spider, making it take a step back. The movement behind them grew louder in the background and Cheza looked over her shoulder. She could faintly see smaller spiders, spiders as tall as she was, inching closer toward them. She turned back to the fox and said, "We have to get out of here! This is its nest!"
Hiroto continued to shake and stuttered, "Wha-wha-what do we do? We're c-c-cornered!"
The fox turned to Hiroto and said, "You said you always wanted to be useful, right? You wanted to be a hero and stop being a failure, or something like that?"
Hiroto nodded, still shaking. "Y-y-yes. But what can I do? I'm just a little k-kappa."
"Trust me. You'll be very useful in the next second."
"Huh?"
The fox suddenly picked up Hiroto and held him above his head with his two front paws. Hiroto immediately began panicking again, quacking like never before. He had tears flowing from his eyes and he was flailing like when he had been drowning in the pond earlier. "QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK...!!!"
The fox threw him forward, launching him into the air, Hiroto quacking all the while, tears flying from his eyes. Cheza gasped, holding a hand to her mouth in horror. Cheza thought that the fox was using Hiroto as a distraction and that it would be the end of the little kappa, but surprisingly the hard white shell on his head hit the spider in the eye like the stone basin had in her bag, making it screech again and retreat a few steps.
"NOW!" The fox yelled as he grabbed Hiroto's hand and dragged the unconscious green creature out of the cave with him, running on his two back legs past the spider. Cheza ran forward and picked up Hiroto. His tears were still on his face, his mouth stuck in the shape of a permanent quack of fear. They ran out of the cave and dashed into the trees. There was little twilight left to light their way, but it was nearly night by this time. As they ran she yelled furiously at the fox, "What were you thinking?! You could have killed Hiro-chan!!" scream
"I was thinking of what you did!" It yelled as it now switched to all fours to run since Cheza had Hiroto in her arms. "You inspired me when you threw your bag at it! I remembered that cracked bowl was in there and it made me think of the dish on the kappa's head!"
Hiroto eyes started to flutter open. "Wa-was I a hero...?" he groaned as he awoke. "I hope I didn't fail again..."
Cheza and the fox hopped over a fallen tree and kept running through the trees. "You were very brave, Hiro-chan! You saved us all!" she said breathlessly through a smile.
He smiled back at her, opening his round black eyes a little more. Suddenly the fox stopped, causing Cheza to nearly run over him. He shot her a glare and said, "Whoa! Be careful lady!"
"You should have gave me a warning that you were stopping, dumb fox!" she complained. mad
He sat up on his back legs and his ears twitched.
"Why are we stopping?" she asked between breaths.
He pointed into the darkness in the trees ahead and said, "There's something in there."
Her eyes widened and she groaned, "Oh, c'mon! Not another spider demon! We already faced once!"
Then she noticed a faint glow in the trees. It was yellow and soft. They carefully walked forward and saw that it was coming from a golden, glowing lizard on a rock. It looked up at them said pleasantly, "Hello, there."
Their eyes widened, stunned speechless. eek
I guess this shouldn't surprise me. I've already found a talking fox and a talking turtle-duck-thing. I mean, kappa. She cleared her throat and said, "Uh, hello to you, too. How's the, um, weather down there on that rock?"
The fox rolled his eyes at her.
"Very nice, thank you. I imagine about the same as up there with you three, but slightly cooler, you know. Rocks aren't very warm and its always colder near the ground," it said very matter-of-factly like it was normal to strike up a conversation with people...and, err, talking animals and demons.
She gulped, still surprised to see it's small mouth had moved. "I don't mean to be rude, but uh..."
"...What am I?" It asked with what looked like a little smile on its golden scaled face. It crawled to the highest point of the rock (which isn't very high; they were all bent over a little to stare at it properly) and raised its head slightly so it could see them better. "You've been asking that question quite a bit this evening, haven't you?"
She nodded her head and asked, "How did you know?"
"This mountain isn't your normal mountain, as I'm sure you've seen." It had a knowing look in it's little eyes that made Cheza wonder if it could read minds, too. "This mountain is enchanted due to the presence of so many spirits that live here. Their energy, or magic as some call it, tends to affect things around them. This mountain is full of spirits, some mischievous, some harmless, some good, some bad."
Cheza frowned at the fox and said, "Like him; mischievous." mad
"Well, he may be, but he's not a spirit," it chuckled.
They all gave him surprised looks.
"What do you mean? He's a fox!" she said, pointing at the fox, bewildered.
"Yes, he is," the golden lizard replied.
She narrowed her eyes and said, "Then why did you say he's not a spirit?"
"Because he isn't."
"But you just said he's a fox."
"Because he is."
She growled in frustration. "Stop playing mind games and going in circles. Be straight forward and tell me what the heck you're talking about."
"I mean exactly like I said."
If this were present day Japan, Cheza would feel like she was in Wonderland talking to the smoking caterpillar. "Just spit it out and explain!"
"You are very impatient, Cheza-san," it said, tilting its little head at her, making her feel small somehow, like she was being judged, even though she was much larger than it. "However, you proved you think of others. The way you saved the kappa and vowed to never abandon it, and you kept your word by nearly sacrificing yourself to the spider demon." It then turned its head to the kitsune and said, "Where as the fox nearly sacrificed the kappa to save himself. Albeit, he thought the kappa might live, he also knew the kappa could have died."
The kappa sat up in Cheza's arms so she sat him down on his feet. He stood up as tall as he could, looking eye to eye with the lizard. "Oh great Lizard-sama," he said respectfully as he bowed, "I would gladly let the fox throw me ten more times at the spider demon if it meant I could help them. I don't want to be a failure anymore."
The lizard sat up on it's back legs, just like the fox, and bowed to Hiroto. "You are a very kind spirit, Hiroto-san. I assure you, you are destined for happiness and will be well cared for as long as you stay with Cheza-san."
Cheza looked at the lizard surprised and felt that she should bow, too, so she did. "Thanks, lizard-san. I'll do my best to take care of little Hiro-chan."
"To reward you and Hiroto-san for your acts of selflessness, I will grant you your wish, Cheza-san."
Cheza's looked at it puzzled. "My wish? You mean you're a magic lizard?" confused
The fox rolled his eyes again and said, "You're just now figuring that out? The glowing and all-knowing attitude didn't tip you off?"
She frowned at him and muttered, "Shut up stupid fox. The magic lizard is talking." stare
"And by granting this wish, not only will Hiroto-san and you be rewarded," it said as it pointed a tiny claw from it's webbed hand at her. "You will also be punished for your impatience and the fox will be punished, as well, for his selfishness."
Their jaws dropped and the fox said, "What?! Don't throw me in with them!" scream
"But I thought you wanted the curse on you to be broken?"
He gave the glowing lizard a puzzled look. "Just who are you anyway?"
Cheza sighed and said exasperated, "That what I've been wanting to know all along!" Then it donned on her. She snapped her fingers and narrowed her eyes at the lizard. "Wait a second...don't tell me you're supposed to be the wise golden dragon Buddha talked to? The dragon in the legend was supposed to be huge! You're just a little lizard!"
"Humans embellish, yes, but who says I cannot turn into a dragon if I want to?" the lizard replied, tilting his head to the other side.
"Good point," she said, considering it knew everything about them and apparently had the power to grant wishes.
"Very wise choice of words, Cheza-san," it nodded with a little smile, and she blushed a little, realizing it knew somehow that she had been about to argue some more, but had stopped herself. He turned to the fox and said, "I am a spirit here on this mountain, some would call me a deity. And you, kitsune-san, are not really a kitsune. You are a man cursed as a kistune."
Cheza looked at the fox and gasped in shock. Hirtoto looked at him, as well, and quacked in shock. That explained how he could read and knew about tales. The fox looked just as shocked as the other two. "What the heck?" he said, confused. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the glowing lizard and said, "What have you been smoking, you little glowy reptile?"
The 'glowy reptile,' extended its webbed hand and pointed a claw at him. The fox glowed for a second, making Hirtoto jump back with a loud quack. Cheza looked at the fox confused and suddenly the glow turned into a blinding light. Cheza had to cover her eyes, and when she opened them the fox was no longer there, but a man in fine robes standing in his place. She noticed the black eboshi hat on his head and she was able to put everything together. "Wait a second..." she said, as the former fox now looked over himself in awe. "You said by removing his curse, you were punishing us, but granting my wish, which would mean Hiroto would be well taken care of as long as he was with me. My wish coming up here..."
"...Was to marry into a wealthy family," the lizard said with a knowing grin.
She bugged her eyes and pointed to the finely dressed court noble beside her who used to be an annoying fox. She noticed he had stopped staring at his himself and was now scratching a flee bite on his neck. "You mean this is the rich guy I'm going to marry? The annoying, stupid fox?" eek
The court noble glared at her the same way the fox would. There was no mistaking that they were the same person. "Hey. You can't call me that anymore. I'm not a fox." mad
It was the same voice, as well. Sure, he was kind of cute, but he was too darn annoying. "No way," she said, raising a hand to him and turning back to the lizard. "I am not going to be stuck with this annoying flee-bitten man for the rest of my life. Anyone but him." talk2hand
"It's him, or no one, Cheza-san," the lizard said, narrowing his eyes. "You should be grateful for what you have been given and not be picky. This is also a punishment for your impatience and greed which you inherited from your grandparents."
She sighed at the memory of her grandparents kicking her out of the house, sending her to marry a wealthy man so she could come back and make them rich. "I think I'll make it okay on my own, even if I am poor."
"But it's too late," the lizard said with a grin, making Cheza and the court noble's eyes widen in horror. "You two are already bound and married."
There was a thump on the ground near their feet and the noble picked up a scroll that wasn't there a second ago. He unwound it and laughed. "I can just burn the license, lizard-san!"
"You don't have fox fire anymore, remember?"
The noble frowned, making Cheza laugh. He glared at her and said, "Shut up."
"No way," she said, narrowing her eyes up at him. He was taller than her now.
"I said you are bound. It cannot be burned," the lizard explained. "I will show you."
Suddenly the scroll wass on fire, making the noble drop it and step back. The flames soon died out, but the scroll was unharmed. He groaned and said, "I'll hide it then and nobody will know!"
"Would you like to return to being a fox?" The lizard asked with a smile. The noble glared at it and said, "Fine! But that doesn't mean I have to stay around her!"
"Yes, it does actually. I said you are bound."
"Bound how?" Cheza asked.
Suddenly the court noble was running away, holding his hat on his head since he had dropped the scroll. He became a small figure in the distance and then he suddenly started crying out in pain. He turned around and ran back. He was breathless and said, "Curse you, lizard!" scream
"What happened?" Cheza asked, as she picked up the scroll.
He narrowed his eyes at her and said, "Why don't you try running away and see for yourself?" mad
She glared at him and said, "I'm not stupid, like you. I'll listen to the glowy lizard."
Hiroto jumped up, raising his hands in the air and said, "Hurray! Now the three of us will be together forever!" He quacked in joy and bowed several times to the lizard, earning bewildered looks from Cheza and the noble. "Thank you so much, wise great lizard-sama! Thank you!" xd
It bowed in return and said, "You are welcome, Hiroto-san. Now that I have granted your wishes and punishments, I will remove you form the mountain."
There was another blinding flash of light that happened so quick without warning, Cheza didn't get to cover her eyes in time, so she was seeing spots for a little bit once the light had subsided. She blinked several times and then took in her surroundings. She was at the foot of the mountain with Hiroto at her feet like before and the court noble beside her, looking around at the dusty dirt road. There was nothing in sight but trees either side of the road. He looked helpless and muttered, "We're in the middle of nowhere."
Cheza started walking forward and said, "Yup. Fortunately for you, I had to walk this road to get to the mountain. I'll lead you back to civilization."
"But it's night now! We can barely see where we're going!" he said like she was crazy for wanting to keep going, but she thought it was very reasonable.
She put her hands on her hips and looked over her should at him. "Do you want to stay in the middle of nowhere, near that mountain you were cursed on where there are giant spider demons? Throwing Hiro-chan at them again is out of the question."
He stared at her a moment and then dropped his head a little. He walked up to her and said, "Lead the way, wife."
She huffed and said, "I can't believe this. Of course, I get stuck with the most annoying husband of all."
He grinned wickedly at her and said, "I'm going to make you miserable." twisted
"Back at you, pretty boy," she said as she walked forward with Hiroto and the court noble following. stare
The noble quickened his pace so he could be walking beside her. "You think I'm pretty?" he said surprised.
She laughed and said, "You're used to being a fox still, aren't you?" lol
He nodded and said, "I forgot what I look like." He then smiled smugly and added, "Of course, I must be dashingly handsome." cool
She groaned loudly and looked up at the sky. "Why me?! Who cares about money! I want to be poor again! This is not an improvement!" gonk
She suddenly turned around and marched back toward the mountain.
"Where are you going?" Hiroto and the noble asked in unison.
"I'm going back up that stupid mountain and finding me another god to grant me a new husband!"
The court noble stopped Hiroto from following her by sticking his foot out in front of him. Hiroto looked up at him puzzled and the noble smiled. He bent over slightly and whispered to the little kappa, "Just wait here. She'll be back. Trust me." twisted
Hiroto watched her puzzled, and once her image was lost in the darkness they heard her scream. She came running back out of breath. "OW!" She yelled furiously. She pointed to the noble who was bent over laughing. "My whole body was in pain! That lizard cursed me! This is all your fault!" scream
rofl "No, it's not!" he said, still laughing. "You were punished for your greed and impatience!" He stood up straight and added, "You wanted to marry a rich man; you got one. Too bad I didn't get the pretty wife I wanted."
She slapped his arm and said, "I am going to be so high maintenance, you will regret those words!" stressed
Two days later
"Did you hear about prince Hatsuharu's bride? Some say she's a demon, others say she's a cursed peasant! She'll bring bad luck to the palace, maybe even the whole country, I tell you!" a man in the fields said to Cheza's grandfather. Rarely anyone associated with the Yami clan, because of the name alone, but he was so eager to gossip, it out weighed his fear.
"Oh, really?" her grandfather said intrigued. "Who is she? And wasn't he missing for a few years?"
"Yeah!" the man said as he leaned on his hoe. "He showed up yesterday with a girl, they say, demanding they get married as soon as possible because he said his life depended on it, and something about not wanting to be a fox, whatever that means. I think he's kind of lost it." neutral
"And to think, he'll be ruling our country some day," old man Yami said with a shake of his head. "Sad times we live in. Sad times."
"Say, whatever happened to your grand daughter?"
sweatdrop "Err," her grandfather stuttered. Just then he felt a familiar whack to the back of his head. "Cheza?" he said surprised as he turned around.
There she stood with a fan folded in her hands and a glare on her face. She was in expensive robes and a carriage with servants was coming toward them from the distance. "Cheza-hime, please don't take off like that!" one of the servants called as they ran toward her.
"Cheza...hime...?" her grandfather said, stunned. eek
"That's right, pops," she said, spreading her fan out to actually fan her face with it. "You see, I had originally planned not to come back here since you kicked me out, but I need good karma."
He gave her a funny look and she reached into her robes. She pulled out a small leather bag and handed it to him. He felt the weight of it and heard the sound of coins clanking against each other. His face lit up and he opened it to see gold coins. "There, I did my duty as your grand daughter. Don't expect me to come back and give you more. That should be enough to get you a better house, maybe even take care of you and grandma for the rest of your lives. Sayounara." stare
His jaw dropped and he watched Cheza walk away. For some reason he was just now noticing there was a kappa perched on her head. A talking kappa. A demon. "DEMONNN!" he yelled as he pointed to her. Everyone noticed the green demon perched on her head. It looked around curiously and said in a little voice, "Hello there, townsfolk. Nice day, isn't it? Quack!" 3nodding
The quack got the attention of everyone in the town. "AHHHHHHHH!"
The End.
YamiCheza · Wed May 26, 2010 @ 06:30am · 0 Comments |
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