Episode 12 Surprise Attack!
Kunai peers around as the afternoon begins to wane. Already, the sky glows with a faint tinge of orange, as the sun prepares to set. The forest of trees in the Mushroom Shrine still remains thick for miles around, as the group follows the path leading towards Showa Town.
“Damn it,” Kunai curses, “we’re not gonna get to Showa Town for a while still. We’ll have to find a place to set up camp for tonight and continue tomorrow.”
“How about there?” Mira suggests, pointing ahead to a narrow clearing off the side of the road where the ground dips down into a bowl-like crevice.
Kunai nods. “All right, that place looks good. Some of us will have to gather firewood.”
“Me n’ Mira’ll take care of that,” Zack says, “she can chop up the trees with her sword and I can teleport ‘em back. You n’ Ophelia can set up camp.”
Kunai nods again. “Sure. Just remember to take care.”
Zack and Mira wander deep into the darker parts of the wood near Mushroom Shrine, as the trees grow progressively thicker and taller around them. A thick undergrowth makes the road difficult to navigate.
“These trees look good,” Zack says, pointing to a grove of trees nearby.
Mira releases her Heaven’s Gate. “All right…here goes nothing!”
As she swings, a massive cloud of black smoke suddenly engulfs the area. Both Zack and Mira bend over coughing, closing their eyes to keep out the smoke.
“Did ya do that, Mira?” Zack coughs.
“Of course not!” Mira replies, opening her eyes into a narrow slit to peer around her. Her eyes suddenly widen and she leaps backwards as a Dragon’s Tail emerges out of nowhere and strikes at her.
“Mira!” Zack howls, stumbling blindly around. “Where are ya?”
A dagger strikes him from behind right between the shoulders. Zack gives a cry of surprise, before falling to the ground wordlessly.
The Dragon’s Tail flies towards Mira again; this time, she swings her sword to counter the blow. The sword and the dagger collide with a clang of metal.
“Oh? You have good eyes to see in this smoke,” the voice behind the Dragon’s Tail says. “As expected of a White Knight and Hermit hybrid.”
As the smoke clears at last, Mira finds herself staring into a pair of dark brown eyes, a scar across his right eye. The dark-haired Chief Bandit smirks as Mira’s eyes widen.
Mira turns to glance at Zack, who is laying on the ground facedown, not showing any signs of life. Two other Bandits stand over him. A flashback returns to Mira of the scene inside Ellinia Forest, as Soma kills her comrades. Her body suddenly locks up, as Mira stares into the sneering face of the Chief Bandit before her.
“Charm, Dangle,” the Chief Bandit says briskly to the two Bandits by his side, “bind her hands and feet. Take care not to hurt her until we get ‘er back to the boss.”
“Yes, Captain Zaram!” the two Bandits shout. They rush over to Mira with some rope. Mira surrenders without much protest, her body unable to move.
Suddenly, two arrows of white light pierce the two Bandits right in their backs as they move to tie Mira up. The two of them quickly collapse to the ground unconscious. A third arrow sails through the air towards the Chief Bandit called Zaram, but he leaps backward to dodge the attack.
“Oh?” Zaram growls, as Zack grins at him, his staff raised. “You must be something to take a knife in the back like that and get up again so soon.”
A flush of green light envelops Zack. Zaram bares his teeth in retaliation. “I ain’t a Bishop for nothing,” Zack growls. “I had a feeling we’d get in a fight, so I’ve been spammin’ my Heal shield the entire time we’ve been out here. My wound was already healed soon as your lackeys touched me.”
“So in other words, you were only playing dead and waiting for an opening to strike,” Zaram replies calmly.
“Heh heh!” Zack laughs, grinning widely. “I’m only a Bishop. We don’t have that many offensive weapons t’use, so we gotta be clever if we wanna get our shots in.”
“Tch!” Zaram shouts. “I don’t care how clever you are, there’s no way you can take me one on one!”
Zaram bounds forward, his dagger a mere blur as he rushes towards Zack. However, Zack successfully dodges each consecutive attack. Timing his counter, Zack finally reaches forward with his staff and blocks Zaram’s last blow, effectively locking their weapons against each other.
“Probably not,” Zack smirks, “but I don’t need to. Mira! Ya gonna come help me any day now?”
Mira suddenly jerks out of her trance. She stares at Zack and Zaram, and reacts at last. With a roar, Mira rushes straight at Zaram, her sword raised.
Zaram turns towards Mira and swiftly counters, flicking a coin her way. It explodes immediately, stopping Mira in her tracks. She skids to a full stop, as the explosion hurls clouds of dirt into the air.
However, Zack uses the opportunity to fire another Holy Arrow at Zaram before he can return his attention to him. Another explosion rocks the scene, as Zaram cries out loud, clutching his right arm. A tiny hole has appeared in his forearm, its edges singed black.
“Dammit!” Zaram curses.
Zack steps back to avoid a potential counterattack. “Tch,” he growls, “if I had another second or more I coulda blown that arm right off.”
A crunch of footsteps sounds behind Zaram. He looks over his shoulder, where Mira is standing, her sword pointed straight at him.
“It’s over,” Mira says confidently, “you’re cornered.”
“Dammit!” Zaram growls under his breath again.
Zack narrows his eyes, his own staff pointed at Zaram’s throat. “Answer my questions. Why were you tryin’ to kidnap Mira?”
“I ain’t saying anything,” Zaram mutters, averting his eyes from Zack’s glare.
Mira clenches her hands more tightly around the hilt of her sword. “Answer him!” she shouts violently.
Zack glances at Mira momentarily. “Calm down, Mira.” He turns back to Zaram. “All right, so ya ain’t tellin’ us a thing, huh?”
In a flash, Zack fires another Holy Arrow at Zaram, this time aiming for his foot. The arrow flies straight through Zaram’s boots and into the ground, creating another smoking hole.
Zaram screams in pain, twisting around in agony. Zack smiles with satisfaction. “Okay. Ya mind tellin’ us now?”
Breathing heavily, Zaram finally nods. “Fine, fine, I’ll tell ya everything! Just stop shooting at me.”
Zack smiles once more with glee. “All right. So why were ya tryin’ to kidnap Mira?”
Grimacing hellishly, Zaram still manages to raise his head to gaze defiantly straight into Zack’s eyes. “We wanted hybrids for something called the Anti-Paradox.”
Back in the narrow indent at the side of the road, Kunai and Ophelia huddle close together as true night begins to fall around them. Kunai stares silently at Ophelia as she begins shivering. Finally, he sighs and rises to his feet. He pulls his cape off of himself and walks over to Ophelia, draping his cape over her.
Kunai sits back down with a slight crunch of leaves. Ophelia stares wide-eyed at Kunai, feeling his warm cape over her chilled shoulders. “Th-thanks!”
Kunai does not reply, but merely gazes out into the middle of the darkened road next to them. He sighs again. “Damn, they sure are taking a long time. I wonder if they’re all right.”
Ophelia’s eyes widen dramatically. She twists her face in a comical fashion. “What if Mr. Zack is coming on to her?! In the middle of the forest, too! That dirty old man!”
Unexpectedly, Kunai abruptly bursts into a laugh. His smile penetrates even the darkness. “Zack is definitely the type to be a pervert like that, but I doubt even he would pull something like that. I don’t know him very well, but I’ve seen enough to know that he definitely would not try anything that messed up.”
Ophelia’s mouth drops as she sees Kunai’s smile. “That’s the first time I’ve seen you really smile since we left on this journey!”
“Eh?” Kunai exclaims, surprised. His smile immediately falters. He opens his mouth to say something, but instead simply shakes his head and averts his eyes to the ground gloomily.
“Aww, don’t stop smiling now!” Ophelia shouts, waving her arms wildly. “You…you…you…” Ophelia stutters.
Kunai glances over at her, his eyes dark. “You look a lot kinder when you smile!” Ophelia suddenly bursts out. She narrows her eyes gloomily too. “Up until now, you’ve been kinda scary…I didn’t want to say anything, but if something’s troubling you, you should definitely talk about it!”
“Nothing’s troubling me,” Kunai answers curtly. He stands up suddenly, evidently in a foul mood again.
“But…but…” Ophelia replies, faltering slightly at the coldness in Kunai’s eyes and voice. “But I’ve been talking to Zack, and he seems to think something’s bothering you too. Who are Ivy and Lily? I’m sure you’d feel better if you talked about i—”
“Stay out of business that doesn’t concern you!” Kunai interrupts, his voice stern and icy. Ophelia cringes at the harshness of Kunai’s voice. She eventually looks away, sadness in her eyes.
Kunai kicks a rock impatiently. “Dammit, why aren’t they back yet?”
Zack widens his eyes slightly. He shares a quick glance with Mira. Zack then turns his attention back to the captured Zaram. “Anti-Paradox?”
“Yeah,” Zaram answers. “It’s a device that—”
“We know what it is,” Mira interrupts bluntly. “We were…just surprised that you knew about them.”
“Actually, a lot of people know about it,” Zaram replies casually. “I don’t really know that much about them myself, but I was just following orders to help make one.”
“Who are you working with?” Zack asks, uncharacteristically to-the-point.
“Well…” Zaram hesitates.
“Out with it!” Zack shouts hurriedly.
Zaram sighs. “The Boss is gonna be really pissed at me for revealing this…” he grumbles under his breath. “I’m working for the Cloud family of New Orbis.”
“Cloud?” Mira mutters perplexedly, glancing from Zack to Zaram.
“Cloud…” Zack murmurs as well, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully. “That name sounds a bit familiar.”
“The Cloud family.” Zack turns his attention to Mira. “They’re a pretty powerful family in New Orbis. They always were, in fact, even back in the times of Old Orbis, before the Myougun destroyed it. In fact, they helped finance the creation of New Orbis. But what I don’t get is why they would be supporting something like this…”
Zack rubs his chin pensively. “Ya sure your info’s correct? Maybe you got them mixed up with a different Cloud family.”
“Of course!” Mira exclaims. “My family’s from New Orbis. There’s no way it could be any other family.”
However, Zack remains strangely silent, his eyes narrowed from the strain of thinking hard. “That’s really strange…” he murmurs to himself. “That name…Cloud…it kinda rings a bell…”
The moon has now fully risen into the night sky. With a click, Kunai replaces his generic claw on his right hand. He stares up at the sky, moonlit shadows dancing about him in the clearing.
“I’ve waited long enough. Zack and Mira have been gone at least two hours now. I’m gonna go look for them,” he announces to Ophelia.
“Then I’m coming with you!” Ophelia cries.
The whirl of two throwing stars flying through the air suddenly sounds behind Kunai. In a flash, Kunai turns, intercepting the stars with the metal guard of his claw. The two Tobis fall to the ground with a chink of metal.
“Dieeeeee!” a voice suddenly howls from out of the darkness.
Next to the first voice, a second voice rings in the air. “For Captain Zaram, we are gonna capture you, dirty hybrid!”
Two Thieves jump on Kunai from left and right, surrounding him. Kunai struggles, stumbling around as he grapples with them in the dark.
“Damn it!” Kunai exhales, as he is lashed on the side of the face by the blunt end of a dagger.
“Kunai!” Ophelia shouts. “H-Here, I’ll help!” Frantically, she reaches clumsily in the dark for her bag. When she finally grabs ahold of it, she pulls out a fan.
“Light!” Ophelia screams desperately. Suddenly, with vivid brightness, a massive glow of orange light filters into the entire forest, temporarily blinding all within sight of it.
Kunai takes this opportunity of sudden surprise to grab a pair of Steelys from his side. He clenches them in his claw, readying to strike his assailants. However, one of them, the Assassin, grabs his wrist, preventing Kunai from launching the Steelys. Taking advantage, the Bandit strikes Kunai around the ribcage, bruising it severely. Kunai stumbles to his knees, gasping for air and spitting out blood.
“Hey, hey!” the Assassin cries. “Don’t kill him, just injure him enough so we can haul him back to Captain Zaram!”
“Yeah!” the Bandit agrees.
“S-Stop!” Ophelia howls, stepping forward feverishly. She raises her fan, and conjures a flaming bow and arrow in her hands. She bites her lip, preparing to fire.
But before Ophelia can even fire her arrow, two gunshots rent the air, silencing the entire scene immediately. The pressure on Kunai’s both sides is relieved instantly, as the two Thieves fall to the ground dead, bullet holes in the back of their heads.
Kunai gazes about at the scene in confusion, but his eyes quickly widen as he catches sight of the person approaching he and Ophelia. Soma Vesta saunters nonchalantly into the clearing, the barrel of his rifle resting on one shoulder. A demonic grin is on his lips.
—END TWELVE—