~Hakurei Shrine~ > Kosuzu's Grand Bookstore
Third Eye In Pure Waters
Von Stein:
I can just see the two of them reaching for a large bottle of Rationalization.
At least you made Sango likeable, so the shitstorm over the OC getting to kiss Everybody's Favorite Catgirl Mk. II should not be too bad.
Hmm... I want to give criticism, but sadly I can't find anything. Anyhow, a very enjoyable read. :)
Kiro:
That was totally predictable and I think it made me love that sequence even more.
Dizzy H. "Muffin" Muffin:
--- Quote from: Kiro on September 04, 2009, 04:44:04 AM ---That was totally predictable and I think it made me love that sequence even more.
--- End quote ---
This.
Mouth-to-mouth = kissing-joke. No two ways about it.
FinnKaenbyou:
Suddenly, MORE ACTION SCENES
-----
The crowd hung around the door, approaching slowly to make sure their targets didn't slip around them. Getting back into the water wasn't an option - all they'd need to do is dip the tazer in the water and carry the bodies to Rikako.
"This is...bad."
Sango took a few nervous steps backwards. Purified Greywater might have been able to take them all out, but in this enclosed space there was no way she'd avoid friendly fire. Orin stood firm, staring down the crowd with uninterested eyes.
Is she still out of it!?
The kappa walked further forward, only a few paces away from Orin. The cat simply took a single step backwards, holding her arms behind her back. It looked to the guards like she was retreating, but Sango's viewpoint offered her a very different perspective.
That thing in her hands...what is it!?
A sphere of blue fire was emerging above Orin's hands, growing brighter and fiercer by the second. She continued to slowly walk backwards, the guards giving her plenty of time to prepare with their over-cautious approach.
"You aren't much of a fighter, are you?"
The flame was white hot now, and wider than Orin's palms. Stunned, Sango shook her head as Orin finally had her back to the wall. The guards began to walk towards them freely, no longer afraid of being strafed past.
"Well, then...looks like it's my turn to save you."
"Cover your eyes."
An unspoken warning was enough for Sango to squeeze her eyes closed. With the guards still a few steps away, Orin released her attack like a trained professional. In a single, fluid motion, she pulled her arm out from behind her back and threw the flaming orb at the crowd, landing square in the middle of the pack.
"Come on out, zombie fairies~!"
The sphere exploded, momentarily filling the room with a blinding light. Sango and Orin had closed their eyes in preparation, while the unprepared kappa were left grabbing at their eyes, stunned. A tap on her shoulder was Sango's cue to open her eyes and witness exactly what Orin had unleashed - an army of fairies had emerged from the sphere, a pale shade of blue with halos hanging over their heads.
She's a necromancer!?
The fairies jumped on their dazed prey, grabbing onto their faces and refusing to let go. The kappa started to wrestle with their attackers, struggling to pry them away. Most importantly, none of them were in any state to take out the intruders.
"Now!"
Orin blitzed at the crowd, grabbing Sango by the shoulder and pulling her along. The kappa were knocked aside, distracted by the spirits currently pulling at their ears. Running through the open doorway, they were dashing through the halls hand in hand.
"...Since when...did you know how to-"
"Long story, not important, let's get outta here!"
Orin nipped Sango's question in the bud, looking for the way back to the waste disposal room. For a moment both of them shared the same thought: Why do all of these corridors look the same!?
With no idea which way to go, the pair decided to turn right and hope for the best. Another identical corridor met them, with exactly the same twists and turns. Orin briefly wondered if this was all some sort of illusion and they were actually just running down the same corridor over and over.
"Wait! Over there!"
Sango pointed at a door as they ran past it, prompting Orin to come to a stop as quickly as she could. It wasn't the exit, but it was the first door they'd passed with letters on it, clearly spelling out EQUIPMENT ROOM. There didn't seem to be anyone following, so they quickly peeked in to try and find something of use.
"Hey, the tank! Good call, Sango!"
Orin's air supply must have been thrown in here after she was knocked out. She strapped it back around her waist - she was going to need it on the way out - as she grabbed the flashlight which had also been left there.
"Now, there should be a map around here somewhere..."
As Orin ruffled her way through the documents liberally thrown around the room, Sango was looking around for something that could work as a weapon, ignoring the various tazers and stun guns the kappa were keeping around.
"How about...this?"
She pulled out an ornamental trident, its prongs still surprisingly sharp. Orin looked at her unimpressed for a few seconds as she pulled out a blueprint of the facility's layout.
"Uh...you're kidding, right?"
Sango looked at her, puzzled, as if to ask 'what's wrong with it?' Orin could have been there forever explaining, but they didn't have the time for it. The guards could be back on them any minute now.
"Fine, but I hope you know how to use it. Come on!"
They ran back out of the room, now a little more enlightened as to where they had to go. Orin took the lead again, the only one of the pair who actually knew where she was going.
"Okay, left here, right there, then right again and - that's it!"
They could make out a door at the end of the corridor, hanging open as if to beckon them in. Orin picked up the pace, practically hauling Sango behind her.
"Come on! Just a little swim after this and we're home free!"
She whizzed past the door, greeted by the sight of dismantled and destroyed machinery. Sango's rampage was hardly going to fix itself, after all, but someone seemed to be doing their best to-
"Hm hm hm."
CRAP!
Standing between them and the lake was a familiar looking scientist, casually repairing a nearby terminal. She looked at the fleeing pair with an expression of total calmness.
"What are you, morons? Did you seriously think I'd leave the job of eliminating you to a bunch of hired goons?"
Despite her apparent occupation as a scientist, Orin could feel immense magical power rising from Rikako. She adjusted her glasses again, placing her hands in her coat pockets.
"Now, if you lay down your arms now, I promise to make your deaths relatively painless."
Orin grit her teeth. Behind her back, the fires of the undead were beginning to rise again. She turned to Sango, a severe expression running across her face.
"Okay, we need to double-team her right now. We're only gonna get one shot at this, so we need to make it count. Got it?"
Sango nodded. Her grip on the trident tightened slightly. Again, no luck with Purified Greywater. She wished she had a spellcard that worked a little better in tight spots like this.
"I'll give you until three. One..."
Orin and Sango braced themselves, looking for exactly the right moment to strike. Rikako seemed unaware of their plans, still looking at them as if they were ready to surrender.
"Two-"
"NOW!"
"Fairies, go!"
Orin hurled the flame at Rikako, aiming straight for her face. It was headed straight for her, no way it would miss-
"What the!?"
The flame, still potent, hung in the air inches from Rikako's eyes. She looked at it intently, and slowly the sphere began to shrink, its power waning.
"No way...she's this strong?!"
Sango leapt forward, seeing this as her only chance to get an attack. She stabbed at the scientist with the trident, hoping to at least injure her enough for an opening-
"!?"
Rikako must have seen it in the corner of her eye, because she caught the trident between her fingers without so much as a thought. The orb continued to fade, as Sango looked down at Rikako's hand in awe.
"How...did she..."
"Three."
She suddenly pushed forward, sending the hilt of the trident straight into Sango's stomach. The dolphin was knocked back across the room, winded heavily by the impact. Orin quickly started to channel another orb.
"Dammit, why didn't I bring a spellcard!?"
Obviously Rikako wasn't going to simply let her do whatever she pleased. She pulled out a card and began chanting her own spell.
"From the fusion of two, produce overwhelming flames!
Fire Sign [Exothermic Reaction]!"
Rikako opened her arms, a pair of spheres emerging at her palms. As they fully formed she brought her hands together, causing the spheres to collide together. They formed a third sphere, from which burst a massive wall of embers.
"Not gonna make it...!"
Orin focused harder on the summoning, but without a card to act as a catalyst it was a slow process. The wall began to cave in on her, leaving no room for escape.
"Oh, shi- AAH!"
The flames enclosed her simultaneously, attacking her body with a tremendous heat. Her hands desperately started fanning the flames, her own attack long forgotten, as she fell on the floor and started to roll around. Eventually the fire died out, but the effort for that alone was enough to leave her exhausted and still reeling from the pain.
"Well, that was even easier than I expected it to be. Then again, what else could I have expected from a pair of magicians?"
The word rolled out of her mouth like poison, as she walked towards the incapacitated pair.
"...We screwed up, didn't we?"
...Yeah. We sure did.
Their hands slowly stretched outwards, and their hands touched.
"At least...I have someone else to blame it on."
Despite the pain she was in, Orin managed to give Sango a smile, squeezing the hand she'd managed to grab. Sango returned the favour, squeezing back.
I could say the same thing to you...
They let out a little laugh together, glad that at least they weren't dying alone. Rikako was unaware of the entire exchange, charging a pair of simple bullets in her palms. In their current state, neither of them had a hope of dodging one, or surviving it.
"You're as good to me dead as you are alive, I suppose. Reiuji won't be aware of it until it's too late. Farewell."
The bullets reached their apex, glowing a bright shade of green. Orin and Sango each stared one down, waiting for the end to come-
"Won't be aware of what?"
The bullets vanished suddenly, as Rikako faced an unexpected development. She spun hastily around to the source of the voice she heard, and was immediately greeted with a control rod in the face.
"Ah-"
""Okuu!""
Utsuho stared her down, a cold hatred in her eyes. Orin and Sango slowly pulled themselves to their feet, enawed by their friend's sudden appearance.
"There isn't much that gets me angry. But let me tell you something-"
With her other hand, Utsuho lifted Rikako effortlessly into the air. The scientist thrashed around, desperately fighting her attacker's grip, but the only thing worse than a nuclear-powered raven is an ANGRY nuclear-powered raven.
"Start threatening my friends, and you're in BIIIIIIG trouble."
Rikako's glasses fell off, shattering on the ground below her. For a moment Orin was afraid that her friend would kill the human there and then from the cold, furious glint in her eyes.
"...Good thing you're not worth my time."
Utsuho threw her into the distant corner of the room, sending her flying into the one machine that Sango hadn't managed to wreck earlier. The impact was enough to at least break a few bones, and Rikako was knocked out instantly. Even when she woke up, with injuries like that she'd be in no fit state to fight.
There was a moment of silence as the injured pair realised that they weren't going to die after all.
"Okuu!!"
Orin stumbled across the room and embraced the raven in gratitude. Almost immediately her rage subsided, and she was back to the simple Utsuho that everyone knew and loved.
"Unyu...don't scare me like that, Orin. I was worried I wasn't gonna make it."
Sango, still clutching her chest, walked over and joined in the hug as best she could.
"Thanks, Okuu...but how did you know what was happening?"
"Satori-sama was monitoring your hearts carefully, and when she lost contact with both of you at once she worried that something was wrong so she sent me to check things out."
That must have been when they were knocked out.
"But wait...Okuu, that was maybe an hour ago. What took you so long?"
"Well, it's a long tunnel, and I never got that whole swimming thing down...Unyuu..."
Orin couldn't help but laugh at that. It was amazing - only a few minutes ago they'd been staring death in the face, and just like that they were laughing it all away.
"...Anyway, let's get back to the surface. Satori-sama must be worried sick by now."
She broke off the hug, walking towards the water. The tank had been lucky enough to survive the attack unscathed, and it still did its job at least well enough to get Orin out of here.
"Good idea. We need to get her to turn off this Heart-to-Heart thing, anyway. I'm sick and tired of having you in my head!"
Sango joined her, throwing out a playful insult as they stood at the river's edge together. They shared one last smile together before they dove in unison into the water. Utsuho was the last to leave, smiling for her own reasons.
"They're getting along now. ...Guess Satori-sama was right after all."
-----
And it'll still take me a few more installments to wrap this thing up. Jeez, how long is this story now? -_-
Von Stein:
My guess? Not long enough. :D
I had a feeling that Otsuho had gone for a walk though...
Spoiler: I do think that Rikako had some sort of plan though...I smell sinister things done to Lady Reiuji. Sinister...
or maybe I am just talking out of me sweet behind.