𝕯 & 𝕯 23 - Carp and Waterfall
Kryslin
[Has Delusions of Authorship]
- Location
- Mythic Iowa
The dawn broke cold and misty. The forest upslope of the beach was quiet, not even the birds wanting to sing in the gloom of the early day. There was silence as the man and child kitsune ate the last of the food they had.
"I don't wanna die," Tsukiko mumbled.
"Neither do I," Kenta answered. "However, we have to go that way to get to the next town. You do not need to worry," he added, quietly. "I will protect you."
"Really?"
"Really." Kenta stood up, looking for the road that led up into the mountains, and around the steep and rocky inlet. "Did I ever tell you that I have a daughter?"
"No?" Tsukiko answered. "Where is she?"
"I had to leave her behind," Kenta explained as they started gathering up what few things they had. "I had been tried and sentenced for a great many crimes, and had to leave my family. Fortunately, someone thought I could be saved, or at least learn from my mistakes." He looked down at the young fox. "I think you would have gotten along well with her."
"Is that why you're protecting me?" Tsukiko asked, looking up at him with what could only be called puppy dog eyes.
"While I would be lying if I said I don't miss my daughter and my wife," Kenta said, "it isn't the only reason I decided you needed protection. A child should not be left to the uncaring world until their parents have taught the child what they need to know to survive."
The little fox looked at him with eyes that he suspected saw into the depths of his soul. "You were a bad man," she said quietly. "I have seen some men with tattoos like yours. They were not nice, demanding money for protection from bandits."
"Yes," Kenta admitted, "I was not a nice man. I have killed many people, and taken money from them by force. I started young and improved only a little as I lived on. And then I was shamed by a dragon, who could and probably should have killed me but instead told me that she was sparing me because she refused to take a father away from his daughter. That left me with a debt I couldn't repay and a life to reconsider.
"Despite my crimes, I am an honorable man," he continued. "I have little use for the law when it interferes with my life. However, my word is my bond. If I say I will do something, I will do it."
Tsukiko looked at him, staring, before nodding. "I believe you."
They walked on in silence for a while, before arriving at the bridge that crossed the gorge. To their right was a waterfall, one of the more beautiful examples he'd seen. While the overly commercialized Niagara Falls certainly exceeded this for sheer power and majesty, but beauty? This small fall, set in the wilds of his native land? It had it beat. It blended in with nature cascading down the cliff and finally falling into the pool below the falls.
"Sugoii," the little fox said, her eyes wide.
"Yes, it is."
"Brothers, why are we here?" The speaker was a large, brutish looking oni.
"Because, brother, Shin'ya is too wrapped up in honor and keeping his word, instead of doing the job." This oni was scrawny compared to the other two in their group.
"So instead, we are going to kill a child," the third said, of a size between the first speaker and the second. "We really deserve our reputation as cowards and outcasts."
"By doing this," the second growled, "we'll be accepted back."
"I dunno, brother," the first one said. "It's wrong, killing kids. Bandits do that."
"And bandits usually get killed," the third added.
"I said it before, and I'll say it again: If Shin'ya fails to do the deed, either by being beaten, or by winning and deciding not to go through with it, then it will be our job to finish it."
"I'm not sure," the first oni answered. "I'm more afraid of dyin' at the Kyuubi's claws than I am at some soldier's spears. She'll make it slow and painful."
"So, Susano-oh?"
"Yes, Goku?"
"… My name's Sun Wukong."
"You're in my realm, your name is Son Goku."
"Point. So, think we've got enough of a reason to interfere?"
"Not quite yet."
Susano-oh looked at the third speaker, who happened to be his older sister, Amaterasu. "And why not now?"
"Both Kenta and Shin'ya have a lesson to learn here," she quietly said. "When they interfere, then, and only then, can you intervene, and only to keep them from interfering. Their actual punishment will be handled by the lord of all oni."
The walk across the first span of the bridge was a quiet one. The enormity of what was about to happen weighed heavily on both of them. The young kitsune's ears drooped, and her tail dragged on the planks.
Kenta bore a grim scowl, more grim than any bushi who was heading off to battle. Birds circling overhead sensed his mood, and veered off for the relative safety of the trees.
They soon reached the end of the first span, which was a small island in the middle of the river. Standing there was Shin'ya, dressed in a simple robe, his weapons currently sitting off to one side.
"Can I not persuade you from this path?" Kenta asked the oni standing opposite him in a tone that hinted at his Cape name.
"You cannot," came back the reply. "Why do you insist on protecting her?"
"Because she is a child."
"Nothing else?"
"Nothing more important."
"I see."
The pair were silent for a moment.
"How do you wish to do this thing?"
"Until one yields, is plainly incapacitated, or is dead," Shin'ya answered.
"So be it, then," Kenta growled. "Tsukiko, if you could go sit in the hut, please?" His voice had gone from the growl of a dragon to that of a kind father. "I don't know how long it will take."
"Hai," she answered, and went to sit under the overhang of the fisherman's hut on the island.
"Then let us begin," Shin'ya said as the girl sat down in the shade.
Both combatants assumed a stance, and at an unseen signal, charged each other.
How does one describe the clash of elemental forces when two beings of respectable power battle? Words simply fail most men. The fight between the champion of the oni and the disciple of the Monkey King was such a contest; thunderstorms clashing in the open sky, thunder coming from the force of their blows. The earth shaking as they slammed each other into the ground, and the silence of everything living as they watched in awe and fear.
Vicious blows would cause Kenta to lose ground only for him to exploit an opening a moment later, forcing his opponent to give ground himself. Both were pacing themselves, the one whose efforts started flagging first would be the one to die. Kenta kept tight control over his Power, allowing himself to grow slowly, only enough to continue fighting.
One particular close exchange led to the pair grappling, which ended with Shin'ya's left arm getting wrenched around and dislocated at the shoulder.
"So that's how it's going to be, eh?" the oni said with a fierce grin. With a shout and a pull, he forced the shoulder back into the socket.
"I expected as much," Kenta said as he and his opponent circled each other. "We appear to be equally matched." With that, another exchange of blows began.
The pair separated after the exchange as Shin'ya watched the slashes caused by his claws heal across Kenta's torso. "Ah, one of those," he said. "Not insurmountable." He spat some blue blood and wiped the corner of his mouth. "You're very good."
"Thank you," Kenta answered, then grinned. "I've worked very hard to become so."
"Who taught you?"
"The Monkey King himself."
"That makes you a worthy opponent indeed!"
With that, the fight was on again, with both men holding back little.
In the end, it came down to both men attempting a choke hold. Kenta had his arms forcibly pried open on his attempt, which allowed a battered, bruised and bloody Shin'ya to reverse their positions and render his opponent unconscious.
As the oni stood there, he looked at the young kitsune where she sat and then back at his opponent, whose regeneration was already putting his body back together.
"I will not do this thing!" Shin'ya shouted to the world.
"I knew it," the smallest of the three oni watching the proceedings cursed. "The coward. It's up to us now. Do it," he instructed his brothers.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," the middle one said as he nocked an arrow and drew his bow back, while the largest one charged forward.
"Now you may intervene," Amaterasu said with a grin. Without acknowledging her words, Sun Wukong and Susano-oh charged forward.
Kenta slowly regained consciousness. He had lost to the oni in what he had to admit had been a fair and honorable duel. In his dim vision, he noticed that Shin'ya was walking away from Tsukiko, when suddenly the oni turned and charged towards the girl. Not at the girl, but to move directly in front of her.
The reason why soon became apparent as an arrow appeared in the oni's shoulder, which would have been lethal to the child.
It was then he realized he had another problem: Someone was charging at him. Large, heavy footfalls. He needed to get up and out of the way.
It turned out to be the wrong thing to try and do, as the charging oni hit him with such force as to throw him off his feet, off the island, and into the water.
Sun Wukong and Susanoo had made short work of the three oni that had interfered. They were soon bound, and were awaiting Shuten-Doji's displeasure. Sure, the one who had taken the shot at the kitsune was minus his hands, and the small one who'd been in charge was sporting both broken legs and arms. And the large one was currently sitting with his arms tied behind his back, and had a rather large lump on his head.
"Well, that about wraps this mess up," Sun Wukong stated as he sat on his cloud, watching the water where Kenta had been pushed in. "Should we fish him out?"
"No," Amaterasu said quietly. "He shall find his own way out."
Kenta was drowning.
He'd never been a strong swimmer, and when he'd gained his Powers he'd somehow gotten worse.
Still, he couldn't drown. He had to protect Tsukiko from the treachery of some of Shin'ya's people. He became angry. Anger at his inability, anger at the treachery, and angry at the thought that someone would harm an innocent child. Fire burned in his heart, in his spirit. He would finish the job he'd set himself, and make sure the child would live, machinations of the gods notwithstanding.
He reached past his Parahuman abilities, deep into his being, to the core of his most essential self, and focused on that fire.
He was Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu!
From under the water, the dragon roared.
Those on the island felt it rather than heard it, a rumbling from the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. The water began bubbling, then frothing, and became even more agitated. And then the surface of the water exploded as something large and serpentine flew out of the pool.
Its scales were steely gray, and its eyes glowed with the fires of a volcano. It had four toes to each foot, and its fur and beard were a lighter shade of gray, almost silver. It ascended into the air where it soon stopped and hovered, looking down on the bridge, waterfall and island.
The dragon slowly circled, eventually coming to coil around the island and look at the collection of beings. The monkey, who was applauding, he knew. The storm shaped like a man, he didn't know, but he could sense the power the kami had. And the woman? He knew who she was.
But most importantly, there was the child. Tsukiko was staring at him with eyes wide with wonder and awe. She then ran up and tried to give him a hug.
And for once, everything seemed right with the world.
It hadn't taken long for the group to get settled in Amestris, setting up the instant keep on land Ed and Al owned on the outskirts of town. Once that had been accomplished Taylor, Maddy and Melissa all got ready to travel back to Sigil to give Yasmina the necklace they'd retrieved from Avanth's lair.
"At least this trip won't take as long," Melissa stated. She had a smug look on her face.
"Planning on using your Powers to bypass the distance?" Taylor asked.
"Yep. I've currently got a warp going from near the airfield to above the ridge we flew over, and I'm moving the far end toward the city right now," she answered. "We could actually walk there, if you wanted."
"Nah, we'll fly," Taylor answered. "And I'll deliver the necklace as Naurelin."
"So long as you don't go on a rampage in the city," Maddy said, "things should be fine. I hope."
"I don't wanna die," Tsukiko mumbled.
"Neither do I," Kenta answered. "However, we have to go that way to get to the next town. You do not need to worry," he added, quietly. "I will protect you."
"Really?"
"Really." Kenta stood up, looking for the road that led up into the mountains, and around the steep and rocky inlet. "Did I ever tell you that I have a daughter?"
"No?" Tsukiko answered. "Where is she?"
"I had to leave her behind," Kenta explained as they started gathering up what few things they had. "I had been tried and sentenced for a great many crimes, and had to leave my family. Fortunately, someone thought I could be saved, or at least learn from my mistakes." He looked down at the young fox. "I think you would have gotten along well with her."
"Is that why you're protecting me?" Tsukiko asked, looking up at him with what could only be called puppy dog eyes.
"While I would be lying if I said I don't miss my daughter and my wife," Kenta said, "it isn't the only reason I decided you needed protection. A child should not be left to the uncaring world until their parents have taught the child what they need to know to survive."
The little fox looked at him with eyes that he suspected saw into the depths of his soul. "You were a bad man," she said quietly. "I have seen some men with tattoos like yours. They were not nice, demanding money for protection from bandits."
"Yes," Kenta admitted, "I was not a nice man. I have killed many people, and taken money from them by force. I started young and improved only a little as I lived on. And then I was shamed by a dragon, who could and probably should have killed me but instead told me that she was sparing me because she refused to take a father away from his daughter. That left me with a debt I couldn't repay and a life to reconsider.
"Despite my crimes, I am an honorable man," he continued. "I have little use for the law when it interferes with my life. However, my word is my bond. If I say I will do something, I will do it."
Tsukiko looked at him, staring, before nodding. "I believe you."
They walked on in silence for a while, before arriving at the bridge that crossed the gorge. To their right was a waterfall, one of the more beautiful examples he'd seen. While the overly commercialized Niagara Falls certainly exceeded this for sheer power and majesty, but beauty? This small fall, set in the wilds of his native land? It had it beat. It blended in with nature cascading down the cliff and finally falling into the pool below the falls.
"Sugoii," the little fox said, her eyes wide.
"Yes, it is."
- - - - - - - - - - - -
"Brothers, why are we here?" The speaker was a large, brutish looking oni.
"Because, brother, Shin'ya is too wrapped up in honor and keeping his word, instead of doing the job." This oni was scrawny compared to the other two in their group.
"So instead, we are going to kill a child," the third said, of a size between the first speaker and the second. "We really deserve our reputation as cowards and outcasts."
"By doing this," the second growled, "we'll be accepted back."
"I dunno, brother," the first one said. "It's wrong, killing kids. Bandits do that."
"And bandits usually get killed," the third added.
"I said it before, and I'll say it again: If Shin'ya fails to do the deed, either by being beaten, or by winning and deciding not to go through with it, then it will be our job to finish it."
"I'm not sure," the first oni answered. "I'm more afraid of dyin' at the Kyuubi's claws than I am at some soldier's spears. She'll make it slow and painful."
= = = = = = = = = = = =
"So, Susano-oh?"
"Yes, Goku?"
"… My name's Sun Wukong."
"You're in my realm, your name is Son Goku."
"Point. So, think we've got enough of a reason to interfere?"
"Not quite yet."
Susano-oh looked at the third speaker, who happened to be his older sister, Amaterasu. "And why not now?"
"Both Kenta and Shin'ya have a lesson to learn here," she quietly said. "When they interfere, then, and only then, can you intervene, and only to keep them from interfering. Their actual punishment will be handled by the lord of all oni."
- - - - - - - - - - - -
The walk across the first span of the bridge was a quiet one. The enormity of what was about to happen weighed heavily on both of them. The young kitsune's ears drooped, and her tail dragged on the planks.
Kenta bore a grim scowl, more grim than any bushi who was heading off to battle. Birds circling overhead sensed his mood, and veered off for the relative safety of the trees.
They soon reached the end of the first span, which was a small island in the middle of the river. Standing there was Shin'ya, dressed in a simple robe, his weapons currently sitting off to one side.
"Can I not persuade you from this path?" Kenta asked the oni standing opposite him in a tone that hinted at his Cape name.
"You cannot," came back the reply. "Why do you insist on protecting her?"
"Because she is a child."
"Nothing else?"
"Nothing more important."
"I see."
The pair were silent for a moment.
"How do you wish to do this thing?"
"Until one yields, is plainly incapacitated, or is dead," Shin'ya answered.
"So be it, then," Kenta growled. "Tsukiko, if you could go sit in the hut, please?" His voice had gone from the growl of a dragon to that of a kind father. "I don't know how long it will take."
"Hai," she answered, and went to sit under the overhang of the fisherman's hut on the island.
"Then let us begin," Shin'ya said as the girl sat down in the shade.
Both combatants assumed a stance, and at an unseen signal, charged each other.
How does one describe the clash of elemental forces when two beings of respectable power battle? Words simply fail most men. The fight between the champion of the oni and the disciple of the Monkey King was such a contest; thunderstorms clashing in the open sky, thunder coming from the force of their blows. The earth shaking as they slammed each other into the ground, and the silence of everything living as they watched in awe and fear.
Vicious blows would cause Kenta to lose ground only for him to exploit an opening a moment later, forcing his opponent to give ground himself. Both were pacing themselves, the one whose efforts started flagging first would be the one to die. Kenta kept tight control over his Power, allowing himself to grow slowly, only enough to continue fighting.
One particular close exchange led to the pair grappling, which ended with Shin'ya's left arm getting wrenched around and dislocated at the shoulder.
"So that's how it's going to be, eh?" the oni said with a fierce grin. With a shout and a pull, he forced the shoulder back into the socket.
"I expected as much," Kenta said as he and his opponent circled each other. "We appear to be equally matched." With that, another exchange of blows began.
The pair separated after the exchange as Shin'ya watched the slashes caused by his claws heal across Kenta's torso. "Ah, one of those," he said. "Not insurmountable." He spat some blue blood and wiped the corner of his mouth. "You're very good."
"Thank you," Kenta answered, then grinned. "I've worked very hard to become so."
"Who taught you?"
"The Monkey King himself."
"That makes you a worthy opponent indeed!"
With that, the fight was on again, with both men holding back little.
In the end, it came down to both men attempting a choke hold. Kenta had his arms forcibly pried open on his attempt, which allowed a battered, bruised and bloody Shin'ya to reverse their positions and render his opponent unconscious.
As the oni stood there, he looked at the young kitsune where she sat and then back at his opponent, whose regeneration was already putting his body back together.
"I will not do this thing!" Shin'ya shouted to the world.
- - - - - - - - - -
"I knew it," the smallest of the three oni watching the proceedings cursed. "The coward. It's up to us now. Do it," he instructed his brothers.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," the middle one said as he nocked an arrow and drew his bow back, while the largest one charged forward.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
"Now you may intervene," Amaterasu said with a grin. Without acknowledging her words, Sun Wukong and Susano-oh charged forward.
- - - - - - - - - - -
Kenta slowly regained consciousness. He had lost to the oni in what he had to admit had been a fair and honorable duel. In his dim vision, he noticed that Shin'ya was walking away from Tsukiko, when suddenly the oni turned and charged towards the girl. Not at the girl, but to move directly in front of her.
The reason why soon became apparent as an arrow appeared in the oni's shoulder, which would have been lethal to the child.
It was then he realized he had another problem: Someone was charging at him. Large, heavy footfalls. He needed to get up and out of the way.
It turned out to be the wrong thing to try and do, as the charging oni hit him with such force as to throw him off his feet, off the island, and into the water.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Sun Wukong and Susanoo had made short work of the three oni that had interfered. They were soon bound, and were awaiting Shuten-Doji's displeasure. Sure, the one who had taken the shot at the kitsune was minus his hands, and the small one who'd been in charge was sporting both broken legs and arms. And the large one was currently sitting with his arms tied behind his back, and had a rather large lump on his head.
"Well, that about wraps this mess up," Sun Wukong stated as he sat on his cloud, watching the water where Kenta had been pushed in. "Should we fish him out?"
"No," Amaterasu said quietly. "He shall find his own way out."
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Kenta was drowning.
He'd never been a strong swimmer, and when he'd gained his Powers he'd somehow gotten worse.
Still, he couldn't drown. He had to protect Tsukiko from the treachery of some of Shin'ya's people. He became angry. Anger at his inability, anger at the treachery, and angry at the thought that someone would harm an innocent child. Fire burned in his heart, in his spirit. He would finish the job he'd set himself, and make sure the child would live, machinations of the gods notwithstanding.
He reached past his Parahuman abilities, deep into his being, to the core of his most essential self, and focused on that fire.
He was Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu!
From under the water, the dragon roared.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Those on the island felt it rather than heard it, a rumbling from the pool at the bottom of the waterfall. The water began bubbling, then frothing, and became even more agitated. And then the surface of the water exploded as something large and serpentine flew out of the pool.
Its scales were steely gray, and its eyes glowed with the fires of a volcano. It had four toes to each foot, and its fur and beard were a lighter shade of gray, almost silver. It ascended into the air where it soon stopped and hovered, looking down on the bridge, waterfall and island.
The dragon slowly circled, eventually coming to coil around the island and look at the collection of beings. The monkey, who was applauding, he knew. The storm shaped like a man, he didn't know, but he could sense the power the kami had. And the woman? He knew who she was.
But most importantly, there was the child. Tsukiko was staring at him with eyes wide with wonder and awe. She then ran up and tried to give him a hug.
And for once, everything seemed right with the world.
= = = = = = = = = = =
It hadn't taken long for the group to get settled in Amestris, setting up the instant keep on land Ed and Al owned on the outskirts of town. Once that had been accomplished Taylor, Maddy and Melissa all got ready to travel back to Sigil to give Yasmina the necklace they'd retrieved from Avanth's lair.
"At least this trip won't take as long," Melissa stated. She had a smug look on her face.
"Planning on using your Powers to bypass the distance?" Taylor asked.
"Yep. I've currently got a warp going from near the airfield to above the ridge we flew over, and I'm moving the far end toward the city right now," she answered. "We could actually walk there, if you wanted."
"Nah, we'll fly," Taylor answered. "And I'll deliver the necklace as Naurelin."
"So long as you don't go on a rampage in the city," Maddy said, "things should be fine. I hope."
