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RPC Background Stories Part Two: Second Encounter (sec. 6) |
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“This is the worst plan you could’ve come up with, Bakar!” Daichi shouted over the roaring flames that surrounded him. A flame began to tickle his foot and he stepped back. He felt his back collide with someone else’s. He turned around and was hit in the face with a splash of water. “Watch where you’re casting those spells, Nerio!”
Rei scowled, but kept her eyes on her work. “What a way to thank someone who’s trying to keep you from dying! A simple ‘thank you’ would suffice!”
“You keep me from dying? Like that’ll ever happen!”
“Would you two nimrods stop arguing for five seconds?!” Bakar shouted as he threw a handful of throwing knives at a demon, striking it in the face.
“Who the hell are you calling a nimrod?!” Daichi snapped.
“You,” Rei mumbled.
“Why you little--!”
“Stop arguing! You’re going to get us all killed!” Ichiro shouted.
Bakar’s plan to sneak up on the group of fire demons had failed miserably. The fire demons had set fire to the trees around the clearing where everyone was now trapped. And the flames were getting closer and closer…
Presently, Rei began coughing. “The smoke is too thick! We’ll suffocate if this keeps up!” she shouted.
“Can’t you cast a spell to get us out of here?! You’re a sorceress, aren’t you?!” Bakar asked.
“The smoke is keeping me from thinking straight! I can’t remember how to cast anything besides simple spells.”
“Well, you’re useless!” Daichi spat.
“If you guys cover me, I should be able to get us out,” Ichiro said, flipping through a small notebook he had produced from his pocket.
“Can do!” Daichi said, emptying his revolver into a few demons.
A few moments later, a cloud began to form under the feet of the group and it began to rise. But instead of going through it, everyone stood on it as if it had been earth.
“Get towards the middle! It’s easier for me to keep this thing solid if everyone’s in one place!” Ichiro commanded.
Everyone moved to the middle as the cloud sped away from the ring of fire. The fire demons followed, intent on ending their lives. They didn’t even seem to notice that they were leaving the village they had been trying to attack and were moving towards a river.
“They’re all low-level demons,” Kuro observed. “The only reason we’re having trouble fighting them is because of their large numbers. If we can get enough of them into the water, Stella Mare should be able to finish them off.”
Daichi considered asking why that was, but decided against it. Instead, he said, “Maybe if you lured them into the water I could send a couple hundred amperes through the water. That should kill them.”
“That would kill any fish that are in the water as well. Let us avoid something that might kill those that are not our quarry,” Stella Mare said. “And I will have to be in the water to lure the demons into it. That reminds me,” Stella Mare looked at Bakar and Daichi, “do you two have good earplugs?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Just to be safe, It wouldn’t do to have the two of you drown yourselves along with the demons,” Stella Mare said, smiling.
Daichi and Bakar exchanged looks of uneasiness.
“Don’t worry! As long as you put your earplugs in when you’re told, everything will be fine,” Rei said, smiling slightly.
They landed near the river in a matter of minutes, the demons not far behind. Stella Mare had come up with a plan and everyone else agreed that it was better than Bakar’s plan at the very least. The plan was for Kuro, Bakar, and Ichiro to cut down as many of the demons as they could. Rei would make water projectiles and Daichi would give each a strong electric charge before Rei hurled them at their enemies. After enough of the demons had been killed, Stella Mare would lure the remainder into the water to be drowned. Daichi and Bakar had yet to be informed how Stella Mare would do this nor why they needed earplugs.
“How fast can you make those water things, Nerio?” Daichi asked, jogging in place and bouncing from one foot to another.
“Pretty fast.” Rei looked at Daichi and raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing? You look ridiculous.”
“Building up the electricity in my gloves. See?” Daichi held up one of his hands to show Rei his glove. Arcs of electricity danced across his hand.
“You have to dance like a child who needs to find the toilet to build up the electricity?”
“No. I just have to move around.”
“Then why…?”
Rei, they’re coming, Kuro said telepathically to Rei.
“The demons are coming, demon slayer. Get ready,” Rei said as she began casting a water spell.
“I was born ready,” Daichi said with a confident smirk.
Cocky b*****d, Rei said to herself.
Finally, the first of the demons broke through the trees, only to meet his end at the end of Ichiro’s katana. More demons soon followed. They all met similar ends. Bodies began to little the forest floor, their acidic blood killing whatever small plants it happened to touch. But even as their numbers began to slowly fall, an ominous feeling hung in the air. It was not long before everyone realized that it was far too easy for them to fell the demons. Even the slain demons seemed to be smiling defiantly as if they had just laid a clever trap for their killers.
Suddenly, the sounds of battle ceased. The demons had stopped coming out of the trees. Kuro, Bakar and Ichiro exchanged nervous looks; they knew that that couldn’t be all. There had been over one hundred demons in the clearing and only seventeen demons were lying dead at their feet.
“Maybe they decided to retreat,” Bakar suggested.
Kuro shook his head. “They’re too proud for that.”
“Could the demons we killed have been a distraction while the rest went to attack the village?” Ichiro asked Kuro.
“It’s possible…”
“Shh! Listen for a moment,” Stella Mare said quietly from her perch on a thick branch of a nearby tree.
Everyone stopped talking and listened. There was a soft rustling of leaves and a hushed chanting coming from nearby. Suddenly, a sound like an explosion rang out. A shock wave ripped through the area, tearing up trees and throwing about debris and small animals. Bakar, Kuro, Ichiro and Stella Mare were thrown towards the river. Rei and Daichi, who had been standing on the banks of the river, a little ways away from the others, were thrown towards the waterfall that had been at their backs. They hit the wall of water, but instead of hitting solid rock, they went right through it. They soon hit a wall of rock, getting the wind knocked out of them. They were in a small cave hidden behind the waterfall. Before they could catch their breath, the ground began to shake. The ceiling in the front of the cave collapsed, trapping Rei and Daichi inside.
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 Kyokiri · Sun Jan 06, 2008 @ 01:27am · 1 Comments |
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