Koichi stood baffled before Ro-Ten as if he had no idea what he was putting himself through in the first place. As soon as Ro-Ten looked away, Koichi quickly turned his head down and to the side and slapped himself with both hands. The sound of Koichi slapping himself echoed through the room and into Ro-Ten’s ears, causing him to snap to attention, and Koichi looked sharply back. This time Koichi gave a confident smile and tucked his hands behind his back.
“Think fast or you’ll blow it.” Koichi thought. He nodded his head and said, “I thought you’d never wake up.” Ro-Ten returned a blank look to Koichi, and the young warrior continued, “Of course, you might not remember what happened with the bump on your head, but we’re so glad you’re awake and alive.”
Koichi began to inch towards Ro-Ten cautiously to show him he meant no harm. However, when Koichi came into grabbing distance of Ro-Ten, the Guardian swooped up from his bed and grabbed Koichi’s arm. He started to pull at Koichi in an attempt to throw him on the bed, but Ro-Ten’s muscles were weak and gave out on him. He staggered and dropped to the ground with limp limbs, clinging onto Koichi as he fell down.
“You were hurt worse than I thought.” Koichi said, “I knew it. This is exactly how you acted when I first found you.” He kneeled down next to Ro-Ten and asked, “Do you remember who I am? Do you remember who your master is? Your master, Koichi?”
Ro-Ten looked up at Koichi and mumbled, “W, who… master?”
Koichi lifted Ro-Ten and set him back on his bed and said, “It’s good to see you can still talk.”
Ro-Ten looked towards Celia in the next bed and slowly uttered, “Who… master? Who?”
Koichi looked back at Celia and felt a chill go up his spine as he thought, “How am I going to explain Celia?” A long flash of thoughts sped through his mind as he turned back to Ro-Ten and answered, “She is your mother. She is very sick right now.”
The Guardian tried standing up and shortly staggered and fell down over Celia’s bed.
“Mother?” Ro-Ten asked as he poked at Celia’s belly.
Koichi sighed and thought, “She’s going to kill me when I wake up, and I’m only human!” He looked down at the bed, then quickly looked back and found Ro-Ten over Celia and exclaimed, “Hey!” He pulled Ro-Ten away from Celia and said, “You don’t do that to your mother!”
“What mother?” Ro-Ten asked. He then pointed at himself and asked, “What name? Me?”
“Can’t even remember your own name…” Koichi said before another rush of thoughts passed through his head, “…Samuel.” He put his hand on Ro-Ten’s shoulder and said, “It seems you have much to regain.” Koichi kneeled down next to him and helped him up to his feet and told him, “But first let’s take things one step at a time.”
Koichi stepped forward and Ro-Ten hobbled along next to him until his legs became strong enough to walk on his own. The ‘master’ provided the ‘student’ with a change of clothes as an award for his progression. They then took a short tour of the hotel, and then they exited the building and took a tour around the city. ‘Samuel’s’ intelligence began to boom the longer they walked around the area, but the more the Guardian wandered with Koichi the more curious he became of the world around him. He wanted to reach out and touch his surroundings, feel and carry them, and even throw and break them. However, every time Samuel came in contact with anything he was not supposed to touch, Koichi presented him with a swift smack over the head. For every smack Samuel received he cried and equal number of times as a needy child that never knew better in the first place.
As the two approached a bakery, Samuel stopped and spoke, “Master?”
Koichi stopped and turned to him and responded, “Yes?”
Samuel’s eyes lit up with curiosity and slowly asked, “What are you a master over to me?”
The first word to come through Koichi’s mouth was, “What?”
“All you seem to do is hit me when I look at things. What does that teach me?” Samuel asked.
“I am your tutor. I am a mentor over many levels. It is my duty to teach you right from wrong, and this is how I work.” Koichi explained.
Samuel did his best to imitate a disgruntled townsman with his arms folded in front of him and said, “Well I don’t like it. It hurts too much.”
Koichi shrugged and said, “That’s too bad for you.” He thought for a moment to conjure up more lies and said, “Besides, you never were like this before. You were always calm and followed directions like an obedient child.”
“Really? It doesn’t feel that way to me.” Samuel snapped, throwing his right arm back.
With the swing of Samuel’s arm the sand began to sway and shift behind him momentarily. A narrow shard of hard earth shot out from the shifted sands and flew over to the other end of the town. Koichi’s eyes widened at the sight of this emotionally uncontrolled force and decided it was time to take a different approach to things.
Samuel looked at Koichi for a moment and then turned around and asked, “What are you looking at?”
“Nothing. Some crazy town people is all.” Koichi said, shaking his head briefly, “Why don’t we put aside differences, get a quick bite to eat, and…” his thoughts raced around before he said, “return to see your mother.”
“My mother?” Samuel asked, “Do you think she’s recovered by now?”
“Yes, she should be fine.” Koichi told his student with a nod.
He patted Samuel’s shoulder and walked into the bakery. As Koichi reached the clerk he looked back to see his pupil standing at the entrance leaning against the side. He nodded knowing Samuel was not appearing to do anything dangerous and turned towards the clerk again and prepared his order.
“That’s right, I don’t have that much money left.” Koichi thought with an irk as he looked over the menu, “Better keep my order down to something simple like a single loaf of bread.”
Koichi pointed at the menu and paid the clerk for the food. Upon receiving the loaf he turned towards Samuel and handed it to him.
“What’s this? What do I do with it?” Samuel asked.
“It’s bread. You eat it.” Koichi told him. He lowered his head and closed his eyes and said, “You could use some food. You haven’t eaten in days.”
By the time Koichi opened his eyes and looked back at Samuel the bread was already devoured.
“You were right, master. I did need to eat.” Samuel said, “Now what about you?”
Koichi turned a rotten look and left the bakery as he said, “I’ll be fine. When we leave the town I can catch my own food.”
Samuel followed close behind Koichi and asked, “You’re sure?”
“Oh yes, I’m positive.” Koichi told him. As he walked down the street with Samuel he looked up into the sky and thought, “If I don’t be careful with how I treat this guy I may end up restoring him to his old form. I can’t allow anyone else to suffer under his hand. But if bad goes to worst then I hope all of our training has paid off.”
As Koichi and Samuel entered the hotel they had found the hotel clerk walking out from the hall towards their room. When the man caught sight of Koichi he immediately came to greet them.
“Welcome back.” The clerk greeted them. He edged near Koichi and said, “The girl has awakened and she’s waiting in the room for you.”
Koichi nodded and said, “Thank you. Did you talk with her?”
“I did see how she was.” The man told Koichi, “She remembers everything, so you shouldn’t need to help her with anything complicated like this lad here.” He began to walk by Koichi, but stopped behind him and grabbed his shoulder and whispered, “Just don’t mention anything about fairies to her for my sake.”
As the man walked off Koichi spent a moment to think of what he meant and then dropped his head and sighed in disappointment.
“Fairy?” Samuel asked suddenly, “Explain.”
“Think nothing of it.” Koichi said, shaking his head.
As Koichi entered his room he saw Celia sitting on her bed looking down at the floor with a blank expression on her face, and Celia soon took note of him by his creaking foot steps.
“Where were you all this time?” Celia asked Koichi.
“I was…” Koichi said, trailing off for a brief second, “Taking your son for a walk around town.”
“My… son?” Celia uttered slowly.
Samuel slowly inched his way into the room and around Koichi and said, “Hello mother, are you feeling well?”
Celia locked onto Samuel, looked over him, and then let out a few twitches. She then reached her arm out and lifted one of the candles from its holder, quickly throwing it towards Koichi. The young master caught the melting wax candle as it came within reach and calmly used another hand to catch any falling bits of melted wax. Koichi calmly walked back towards Celia and placed it back in its holder, and then he wiped his hands clean of wax.
Celia jumped up, still enraged by the situation, and softly snarled at Koichi, “You didn’t?”
“Play along or we’ll lose him.” Koichi pleaded to Celia, “We call him Samuel now.”
Samuel moved close to Celia and touched her face with his hands and asked, “Are you really feeling well? Your skin does not look normal.”
Celia became annoyed by the question and said, “I dunno. Maybe it’s my natural skin color?” She felt Koichi jab his elbow into her side, and she cleared her throat and said, “Don’t you remember, dear son of mine?”
“No, not really.” Samuel said, shaking his head, “I can’t remember anything other than waking up here. Everything else before that is black.” He turned to Koichi next and said, “I’m not really sure I want to believe that man there is my master and teacher.”
“He could beat you up.” Celia mumbled under her breath.
Koichi’s widened his eyes and pulled Celia back, covering her mouth as Samuel perked up and asked, “What do you mean beat me up?”
“She means nothing!” Koichi exclaimed, “Because I only fight and teach in self defense!”
Samuel turned away and said, “Oh, how boring.” He walked to the middle of the room and shifted into a battle-ready position and said, “I’d like to beat on something for a while rather than get beat on.”
“Well now, you’re an eager one.” Koichi said with a grin. He stepped up to Samuel, evaded several swings, and then placed a hand on Samuel’s head before saying, “We have more important things to do than study violent activities, though.” Koichi looked to the side for a moment as he held Samuel in place and thought, “The hunger and the heat must really be getting to me.” He looked down at Samuel again and said, “We need to get to a place called Argund in New World in a hurry for your mother’s health.”
“Why? I thought you said she’s well.” Samuel argued.
Koichi shook his head and said, “She is for now, but she’ll be sick again real soon if we don’t hurry. The only cure we’re aware of now is in Argund.”
“Really? Then let’s hurry!” Samuel exclaimed, “Mother’s safety is most important to me. You’re right.”
Koichi opened the door to the main hall and said, “Then we shall waste no more time.”
The three left the room together and found their way to the lobby where the clerk bid them farewell.
“Thank you for your kindness, sir.” Koichi thanked the man, “I am deeply sorry that we have no money to pay you with for your hospitality, though.”
The clerk bowed his head and said, “Please, think nothing of it. It matters more to me that I was able to help you take care of two sick people.”
“We’re travelers. One day we may be able to pay you back for much more than the room’s going price.” Koichi told him.
“Good luck then, travelers.” The clerk told the three, “It shouldn’t be hard for you to come across it with such a lovely fairy-like lady in your group.”
For an instant Celia turned red and shook a fist at the man with a deep snarl.
The group left on good terms with the hotel clerk and in healthy conditions themselves. Koichi walked Celia and Samuel to their horses and helped them up on top.
“Wait a minute.” Celia said suddenly as she looked around her party, “We only have two horses. What’re you going to ride, Koichi?”
“Don’t worry about me, m’lady.” Koichi said with a graceful bow, “If you wouldn’t mind going down south ahead of me, I have one last thing I’d like to do here.”
Celia blinked several times at Koichi’s request before saying only, “Okay, whatever.”
Koichi ran off and disappeared into town, and Celia began riding her horse down town to the south exit.
“What a dope.” Samuel said as he followed Celia around, “He’s going to exhaust himself to death. But that’s what he deserves for smacking me around on the head all day.”
“Koichi isn’t one to laugh at like that, boy.” Celia told Samuel with her nose high in the air.
“But he’s a jerk. Why do you trust him like you do, mother?” Samuel asked.
“Because he’s a close family friend.” Celia answered. She reached into her bags and removed her maps and looked around the area and said, “It looks like we need to go through some mountains to get to where we’re headed. It’s really close.”
They both looked far ahead where they found the mountains covering the south areas of the town. Passed the exit stood the entrance to a rather wide tunnel that passed through the tall, rocky grounds. The tunnel entrance was well guarded, and the two travelers were checked thoroughly for any illegal possessions. Once allowed into the tunnel they were presented with a well crafted tunnel with a well built street. Torches lined the walls on either side of the street like street lamps.
“There must be a Transitional Station to New World through here somewhere.” Celia said. She looked up and noticed a camera built in next to a light and said, “Definitely going to New World.”
“Why are you saying we are going to a new world, mother?” Samuel asked, “Is there something that separates this world from another world?”
Celia raised her hands off her horse and into the air in a big shrug and said, “I don’t know. This world and that world just don’t want to mix together, I guess.”
The further into the tunnel they traveled the easier it was to see. This was because there were more lights further in to accommodate for the lack of sun light. Torches became replaced by electric-powered lights, and the walls of the mountain tunnel appeared to be more metallic than rocky. Eventually they found themselves at a dead end in the tunnel; however this looked more like an irregular metallic wall. A window opened up as they approached the wall, and inside they found a lady sitting there at a control panel.
“Hi there!” the lady cheerfully greeted them, “Are you going anywhere today?”
Celia dismounted from her horse and approached the window and said, “Argund.”
“Oh, going to see the fighting arena out there? I heard it was great.” The lady told Celia. She looked down at the panel before her and pressed several buttons before saying, “I’m going to need to see a passport or a means of identification, and then we’re going to check you for any illegal items before letting you through.”
Celia reached for her bags and looked for her license card, but what she had found was a small melted sheet of plastic.
“I’m sorry. My ID card must have melted in the heat outside.” Celia said, showing the lady her bag.
“How about him?” the lady asked as she turned to Samuel.
Celia looked back at Samuel and quickly said, “He’s not old enough to hold an ID card.”
The lady pressed several other buttons on the panel and quietly read down a list that appeared on a screen to her side. She nodded and pressed another key, which in turn caused another panel of the metallic wall to open.
“Okay, you must not be from around here then. And we’ve had people have the same problems with their ID cards as you.” She told Celia, “We’ll let you through, but we still need to do one final check over you for anything illegal.” As the panel finished moving, the lady said, “Just step through the light and the computer will do the rest.”
Celia walked up to Samuel took his hand to help him down from the horse, quietly mumbling, “Come on you little brat.” She pulled him up to the front and said, “Come on and let’s go. We’ll wait for Koichi on the other side.”
Samuel shook his head, resisting Celia, and said, “No mother. Why don’t you go on ahead and I’ll wait for the master to come.”
“Well I guess it is taking him a bit long to catch up with us.” Celia said. She thought about it for a moment, but she grabbed Samuel’s arm and tugged him into the scanners and said, “I don’t think so. Come on.”
Even though Samuel struggled he was no match for Celia’s developed strength. He was quickly dragged into the scanning machine behind Celia. As he slid and tripped through the frightening bright lights he wiggled, whined, and screamed, but this did not cause Celia to stop moving him ahead. At the end of the scanner two men reached out and caught Samuel by his shoulders and stopped both of them.
“Uhoh. Busted.” Samuel sighed.
Celia looked back with an annoyed look and said, “I should have known.”
The two men carried Samuel off to the side and sat him down in a chair. They lifted his left pant leg up and revealed several wraps of fabric tied around his leg.
“So do you mind telling us what you had planned for these special fabrics in the next world?” one of the security guards asked the boy.
Samuel looked helplessly around as if he never knew better and cried, “No! Help me mother!”
Celia leaned forward and said, “You never change, do you?”
“Stealing is against the law no matter where you go.” The security guard said.
As Samuel felt more alone with each word from each person around him he shook his head and cried, “But why? It’s mine. I took it fair and square.” He looked up sorely at Celia and asked, “Why, mother? Why are you against me?”
“Oh please. I don’t even like you.” Celia insultingly said.
Samuel cried and howled, and then he snarled with hatred and said, “This is all just a big lie! I knew it! Mother, Master Koichi, you’re all fakes!”
He struggled some more to free himself from the guards. He slammed his head into the one to his right, knocking him back to the wall. Samuel then grabbed the guard to his left and bit him like a rabid and crazed child, then pushed him back. As the guards stood up and charged for Samuel again, the boy began to flail his arms around madly to avoid getting caught and restrained again. Samuel began batting the palms of his hands forward to push the men away when jagged shards of rock shot out rapidly from his palms and into one of his opponents, sticking into them like needles.
The other guard stood still at this sight, deciding not to make any quick moves without thorough planning. His partner fell down to the ground next to him, aching in pain as the shards of rock stuck through his body. The guard’s first decision was to back off and pull the rocks from his partner’s body and to call for help.
Samuel turned slowly back towards Celia and cried, “Mother, look what I’ve done!” He pointed at the men with an uncontrollable energy around his hand, causing stone spikes to shoot out around the two soldiers, and said, “I am strong.”
He then began to approach Celia, first in a slow walk, and then in a quick advancing dash. Celia made quicker falls back before she removed her weapon from its holder and guarded herself from the maniacal youth before her. The pole of her spear deflected many of Samuel’s fist attacks, and she had to act quickly to dodge his uncontrollable earth shots. She ducked and rolled about as shards of rock flew through the air, and when she felt the ground rumble through the metallic corridor she jumped quickly to avoid the stone spikes shooting around from the walls.
“You are nothing to me!” Samuel cried, “Let me cause you pain and make you suffer! I want blood to spray all over these walls!”
Celia charged forward and called out, “Wake up Samuel! You want to gain your mother’s respect?” She dodged several more showers of rock shards and found herself behind Samuel, “You need to prove to me that you’re not a worthless demon filled with hatred.”
She brought the sharp end of her spear forward and began jabbing Samuel in the back. The blade pierced through his skin with several stabs, but then Samuel’s skin hardened like heavy stone. Before Samuel could turn around and attack Celia again with this new discovery, Celia turned her spear around and batted him away with the blunt end. This heavy strike caused her spear to crack down the middle.
Samuel fell down on his face, but he crawled to his feet in his stone body and smiled, saying, “Samuel is not my real name, is it?” He folded his arms and put a hand to his chin and said, “No, it’s not. You tried to control me, but you failed miserably. Now I remember everything.” He brought his hands to his sides in fists and said, “You’re that stupid, hopeless girl from the castle you couldn’t save.”
Samuel thrust his fists forward and two large rocks shot down at Celia through the ceiling. Celia gasped and raised her arms in defense as the boulders flew toward her. This time it was Celia who was crying for help and mercy with no where to run to. She hoped and she prayed in these moments for a miracle to happen, but no fortune came for the young Guardian. The rocks struck her down and crumbled. Samuel waved his right hand and caused the shattered boulders to come together under Celia as a bed and lift her up.
The young crazed man looked over Celia’s broken body and noticed her still breathing and said, “That’s right. You are one of us.” He walked up next to her and put his hand over her neck and said, “I’ll just need to take care of this to get rid of you then.”
Samuel began to squeeze at Celia’s neck, but as he tightened his grasp he found himself holding his own neck. He suddenly began to receive pounding headaches and backed away.
“What the…. What the hell?” Samuel moaned. He looked up at Celia and thought, “That is mother. I can’t kill my own mother.” He shook his head violently and thought, “No, it can’t be true. My body is not yet complete! My… souls… I’m losing control over them. My human counterpart!”
He began to hear footsteps approaching from the gateway and then heard, “Well, I guess my attempt to tame you and help you become a better person failed.”
Samuel looked up and saw Koichi and said, “You! You’re that knight that was able to penetrate my defenses the last time we met! I remember.”
Koichi appeared from the shadows and nodded, saying, “That’s right. No matter how strong you think you are there will always be someone one step ahead of you.” He brought forth his right hand and revealed that he was carrying a large, pillar-like club and said, “Were you looking for this? Ro-Ten?”
“Ro-Ten? That is my name! And that is my weapon!” Samuel roared. He reached out towards Koichi and demanded, “Give it to me!”
“Fine.” Koichi said. He tossed the weapon forward towards Ro-Ten with ease and told him, “I thought I would bring it along just in case we couldn’t keep you under control. This way it would be easier for me to take you out on the spot.”
Ro-Ten looked down at his weapon and picked it up. He snarled as if he were insulted and threw Celia and the pile of rocks away to the side, setting the girl safe on the ground.
“I’ll teach you to treat me like an animal!” Ro-Ten told Koichi as he began charging with his huge club.
Koichi watched Ro-Ten come towards him and flicked up his sword. As Ro-Ten threw his club down at Koichi, the young warrior edged to the side and deflected Ro-Ten’s weapon with his sword. The Guardian slowly corrected himself and came back for another swing, however this time Koichi easily blocked the incoming attack using his free arm and a leg. Ro-Ten held his attack position for as long as he could stand, trying to pressure his weapon through Koichi’s defenses, but Koichi stood strong in keeping his opponent off.
The young warrior sheathed his sword with his other hand and brought it up to hold the Guardian’s club. He set his foot down and used his arms to lift the club out of Ro-Ten’s control, and Koichi slowly twirled Ro-Ten around by the end of his own weapon until the Guardian let go. As Ro-Ten scrambled back away from Koichi, Koichi tossed the weapon back down to the Guardian’s feet.
“You remember a lot, right?” Koichi asked Ro-Ten, “Do you remember how Guardian weapon strength is factored?” He brought his sword and sheath up before him and focused his spirit and chanted, “Spirit of the blazing elemental powers, come forth to my sword.”
As Koichi’s chant repeated and echoed through the tunnel, Ro-Ten’s eyes widened to the truth as he said, “Yeah. Our weapons… are as heavy… as our strength.” He recalled Koichi handling his weapon without a problem, and he gasped, “You’re stronger than I am!”
Koichi stood still and only continued his empowering chants. Ro-Ten became enraged at the idea of a human growing stronger than himself and began shooting a storm of stone shards at Koichi before picking up his club again and charging at him for one final attack. Every jagged stone that came near Koichi was deflected and destroyed by the flaming aura being drawn into his sword.
Finally Koichi brought his sword in place and unleashed the power he invoked into it as he called out, “Let’s finish this then! Crimson Charged Cutter!”
As the sword flew from its sheath a burst of hot elemental energy came from the blade. The stored energy enhanced the sword, and as Ro-Ten neared with his huge club he found himself and his weapon with a fine slice. The Guardian’s weapon had been destroyed by Koichi’s attack, and Ro-Ten suffered a lethal slash through half of his body.
Ro-Ten fell back again, missing his weapon and his right arm. Blood poured from his wound like water from a fountain. The Guardian wasted no time then at escaping the one he was no match for by throwing himself into the earth where he could not be reached. His cries could still be heard for quite some time after his escape as his voice echoed through the ground.
Koichi watched Ro-Ten flee and did nothing to stop him. He only smiled in success of proving that he was better than his opponent. However, he soon let in to his vulnerabilities and began rubbing his left arm after holding off the large club for so long. He looked down at Celia, who was up on her hands and knees healing herself and kneeled beside her.
“Are you done healing yourself yet?” Koichi asked his friend.
“No, what did it look like to you?” Celia asked in a stubborn, annoyed tone, “You let him get away! What good did it do us?”
Koichi shrugged and shook his head, then said, “It was all part of my plan. My training paid off, and I got the message through to him. He can’t run forever, but I doubt that we’re his primary targets still. He’s probably going to find Joel and try fighting him next after he recovers.”
Celia began to kick and scream at Koichi as she cried, “But I got hurt really bad! More people were wounded, more things were wrecked, and I had a horrible first mother experience!”
Koichi sat back next to Celia to relax, but he could not help letting out deep laughter at Celia until she smacked him. As they gathered their supplies once more they once again continued their travels to Argund. With the city so near their goal was coming to being met, and by the time the day ended they had found themselves entering a rich and shiny land full of vegetation and animals and bursting with lively people.
Return Next - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37