Disclaimer: I, despite my brilliance, don’t own Witch Hunter Robin. Such a shame.
Kitsune: Are you almost done?
Puff: Perhaps, but I think I could work a little faster if a certain annoying fox shut her mouth.
Kitsune: *eyes widen* Why you little brat! *Launches herself at Puff and starts to beat her*
Puff: *incoherent, muffled screams of pain*
Kitsune: *Continues to beat Puff*
Puff: I’ve got it!
Kitsune: *pauses* ‘Got’ what?
Puff: How to get Amon out of the box, silly!
Kitsune: Ok, you can write it down just as soon as I finish here. *Hits Puff*
Chapter Twenty: Is it Hot in Here, or is it Just Me?
“Very good, healing nicely I see,” Dr. Takahashi commented offhandedly, ignoring Amon’s death glare. The doctor finished up his exam, flicked off his flashlight, and ushered Robin into the darkened hospital room quickly. The craft user flicked on a light, causing both men to squint slightly at the sudden brightness that permeated the entire room.
For a brief second, Robin couldn’t help but wonder why the room had been so dark; then her emerald eyes fell on her partner. As her orbs widened in shock, it took every single ounce of will power she had in her body not to burst out into a fit of giggles on the spot. Amon’s naturally pale skin was still like normal, except for the fact he was covered in vivid orange spots that were the size of quarters.
“Robin, I suppose you are wondering why Amon is covered in spots,” Dr. Takahashi began slowly, noticing the amusement scrawled across the girl’s innocent face. Just as the doctor was going to explain why Amon had spots, the seething hunter decided it would be better if he explained himself.
“They’re a side effect of the pills the doctor gave me,” Amon said sarcastically, letting his dark eyes flick over the spots on his arms. His eyes narrowed in disgust, letting his gaze shift to the now extremely sympathetic looking Robin.
“Amon won’t let me give him the antidote to get rid of the spots,” Dr. Takahashi whined, sounding more like a kindergartener who was tattling on one his playmates instead of a professional who was tattling on one of his patients. The cold hunter was about to speak, when Robin cut him off and probably averted someone’s injuries.
“Well, I can see why Amon would be a little wary of trusting the medication,” Robin said, carefully measuring her tone so as not to seem to be favoring one side of the argument over the other, “But it would be wise to take the antidote before the other members of the hospital staff get suspicious over that fact that Dr. Takahashi won’t allow any of the nurses in.” Robin let her eyes flick from one man to the other, cautiously gauging their responses to her words.
The trio stared at one another, eyes passing over one another suspiciously. Finally, as if he were growing tired of playing games, Amon stuck his arm out so the doctor could inject the antidote. Several twitches later, three misaligned jabs of the needle, and uncountable growls of anger, Amon’s color was returning to normal hues.
“Amon, Robin and I are going to wait outside while you get dressed,” Dr. Takahashi explained, pushing a certain fifteen-year-old girl out in to the hallway while he contemplated his words and continued with an afterthought, “Hurry, though. We don’t have all day to incinerate you and complete the test.” Before Amon could react to the doctor’s teasing comment, the metal door swung shut with a loud bang. The hunter grumbled as he searched for the spot where somebody had hidden his day clothes.
‘Who ever hid my clothes is going to die!’ Amon thought to himself, searching behind planters and the wall mounted television. He knew exactly where all of his pajamas were, because everyone knew that he had too much pride to try and escape while wearing his nightclothes. No matter how much they looked like his day attire. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity of clothes hunting, Amon found a small suitcase wedged between his headboard and the wall.
Quickly, the cold man snatched a shirt and a pair of pants from the case, angrily shuffling off to the bathroom. He wet his ebony locks and finger combed the hair into place before he changed his clothes. After a final inspection in the mirror, Amon walked out into the much too brightly lit corridor.
“Daddy!” Javan screamed, jumping up and down with happiness. The child hadn’t been allowed to see her father since his spots developed after the first dose of medication. Since then, she had been bugging Robin for information; the craft user hadn’t been able to give her any as the only person granted access to the hospital room was Dr. Takahashi himself.
“Javan,” Amon responded weakly, not knowing quite what to say or to do when one has a hyperactive two year old bouncing around the floor. He rapidly patted the top of her hair, earning himself a set of wide grins; not only from Javan, but from all of those who were observing. The hunter glared viciously, uncomfortable with all of those eyes pinned on him.
“Well, let’s go. Better wrap up that test while your still nice and refreshed,” Dr. Takahashi said cheerfully, beaming in delight with how this would be a good time to scrutinize the effects of Orbo on a craft, “Javan, you’d better stay here.” He began to push Javan towards the nurse standing a few feet away, but he would have had better luck if he’d attempted to remove all the viruses from the face of the planet.
“I’m going,” Javan said darkly, her innocent face suddenly deeply shadowed. She stepped forward slowly, the malicious look in her blue-gray eyes unnerving even Amon. A devious grin spread across her features slowly, a sadistic glow lighting her pale skin.
“Of course you can come with us,” Dr. Takahashi said suddenly, not to mention nervously, “What was I thinking when I said you couldn’t come with us?” As soon as the words left his mouth, Javan’s murderous demeanor simply vanished as she skipped forward to catch the doctor’s hand. Dr. Takahashi sighed softly, knowing that either Amon or his daughter would be the death of him.
They quickly went through the winding halls, Javan clinging timidly to each of the three in turn as the lights dimmed. Robin ended up carrying her, as Amon flat out refused to pick up his child. He didn’t want her getting spoiled, though he didn’t mind Robin spoiling her.
Javan was overjoyed when they reached the well-lit laboratory, her happiness cloaking the mysterious and somewhat sinister tools that filled the room. She pranced around for a few seconds, finishing her wild dance with a spin of some kind. Robin smiled lightly at the child, Dr. Takahashi beamed, and Amon just glared impassively.
“Ok, now Amon, you go stand over there and put those flame retardant goggles on. Don’t want to burn your eyes out if Robin misses,” Dr. Takahashi joked, waving his hand towards a table with a few items on it, “Robin, you come stand right where I am. Put your glasses on; I know what kind of aim you have without them and so does my wall over there.” Robin blushed furiously as she pulled her half moon spectacles out of her pocket and stood on the exact spot where she had been indicated to stand. Amon, on the other hand, was less willing to cooperate with the doctor’s instructions. He languidly strolled over the table and put the goggles on; however he did not stand right on the mark where he was supposed to.
Robin aimed where she had been told to aim, but it seemed a little off. But she couldn’t stall when Dr. Takahashi told her to unleash her craft on Amon. She did and her partner’s hair nearly caught on fire.
“Amon, you aren’t standing on the mark. From where Robin’s standing, the only spot she can hit perfectly would be on that mark. I did that on purpose so she wouldn’t have to worry about taking the time to aim,” Dr. Takahashi stated, pushing a rather annoyed Amon back onto his spot. The hunter glared, sending the doctor scampering back to Robin.
“I probably could have aimed wherever Amon wanted to stand,” Robin whispered, knowing that the doctor had another reason for wanting Amon directly on that mark but she didn’t quite know. She was going to find out if it killed her, though.
“Well, yes, you could have. It’s just that’s the spot where I installed the heavy duty fire suppression system in case something should go awry,” the doctor whispered back, desperately trying to push Amon’s death glares to the back of his mind where they wouldn’t bother him while he finished his conversation with Robin, “You see, I adjusted the spray so that it could only shoot the water in the little circle and nowhere else. It put out the fires in my tests the fastest. Go ahead now and try to start Amon in to a burning inferno of searing flames.”
The craft user paled noticeably, making her skin just about the color of liquid paper. Dr. Takahashi chuckled lightly at her reaction to his odd choice of words, before he sprinted off to stop Javan from falling into a machine that looked like a super sized meat grinder. Robin carefully targeted Amon’s arm, releasing the smallest amount of energy she could. A tiny flame licked the flesh, dancing about briefly before a sickly green light repelled it back towards its owner. She blocked it, of course, but was completely shocked as were the two other occupants of the room who knew what was going on.
“Why are Robin and Daddy fighting?!” Javan screamed, shocked for a different reason that the other three. She squirmed out of Dr. Takahashi’s arms and ran, teary eyed, to stand between Robin and Amon. Once there, she sat down and cried like the world was going to end the next day. Robin, without hesitation, went to try and comfort the whimpering toddler.
“We’re not fighting,” Robin cooed, her soft voice almost sing-song, “We’re just seeing how well your father can fend off energy attacks. No one’s going to get hurt.” Javan looked suspicious as Dr. Takahashi led her off to a secluded part of the laboratory where there were a few toys for her to play with. Amon looked uncomfortable with Javan’s sudden outburst, as if her display of emotions reflected badly on him as a parent.
“Now, when you’re fighting, does Orbo send a craft back at its originator like it did just a few minutes ago?” Dr. Takahashi questioned, with his notebook and pen in hand.
“No,” Amon responded, gazing at his arm blankly. He noticed the skin seemed cooler than normal, but he wasn’t going to willingly share that tidbit with the other two.
“Really, that’s interesting. We should get back to testing; it was probably only a fluke anyway,” Dr. Takahashi stated nonchalantly, walking off to his ‘safe’ spot way off to the side. Each of the hunters quickly returned to their respective places, carefully preparing themselves for another round.
Robin aimed again, this time sending a fractional more amount of her craft at Amon. Yet again, the flame seemed to hit his arm fully before it ricocheted back at the craft user with as much force as when she sent it. Dr. Takahashi’s eyes lit up with amusement and amazement, his pen scratching furiously across several pages of his notebook.
“Splendid, continue!” Dr. Takahashi ordered, setting up high-speed cameras as he spoke. Robin followed her orders, sending her craft at Amon every time the doctor told her to. Each time Robin increased her energy output, Dr. Takahashi added another piece of equipment to his repertoire so he could better observe the exact reactions. About half way through, you could barely see the pair of hunters behind all the wiring, monitors, and all other manners of expensive electronics.
“Robin, send a very small flame at Amon. But don’t aim for his arm, aim for somewhere else so I can see if the Orbo in his arm protects the rest of him as well,” Dr. Takahashi said, stationed behind many viewing screens. The Orbo didn’t protect the rest of Amon, as he found out in a slightly painful way. Robin had sent her craft straight for his chest, and Amon didn’t dodge. The result was a first-degree burn, and an upset hunter.
The test continued until Amon couldn’t block Robin’s craft, a flame about three quarters of her maximum level of energy that she could release in one shot. Amon didn’t get burned though, because when he realized the Orbo wasn’t going to work anymore, he simply jumped out of the way. The flame toasted quite a few machines, much to Dr. Takahashi’s annoyance.
Robin was shaking from the effort of both sending high-level amounts of energy out and having the block them when they returned. Amon was shivering, his arm like a solid block of ice. Dr. Takahashi, when he dragged himself away from his notes and replays, voiced that it was a side effect of the Orbo in his body and would probably wear off. All in all, both hunters were down for the count. They each settled down in brocade chairs, planning on resting up for a few moments before they went back.
“I have a really good idea!” Javan stated singsong as she ran out from her seclusion, skipping about in front of her father and Robin.
“What?” Amon asked sharply, not troubling himself to look down at the small child.
“I need a proper mommy,” Javan began, wringing her tiny fingers together nervously. Robin batted her eyelashes over her emerald eyes, making sure Javan was actually there and she wasn’t just hallucinating from exhaustion. Amon sat upright, his dark orbs narrowing dangerously.
“No, you don’t,” Amon contradicted in a tone that signaled finality, glaring unmercifully at his daughter. Javan, however, was unfazed by his death glare of doom.
“I want Robin to be my new mommy!” Javan exclaimed, throwing her arms around the shocked silent craft user.
Author’s Note: Hey, do you all remember the link that I gave you to a writing forum not too long ago? (If it showed up, that is) I’m posting a story there, and (currently) that’s the only place it will be. Go check it out. Oh, yes, I know I wasn’t supposed to update this week, but my vacation has been postponed until later this month. I’ll keep you current so you know when I’ll be gone.
To the Reviewers:
Linkinthepast: Thank you, and don’t worry about it.
CrazyFemaleDragon: I’m a little late, but at least I updated instead of just saying ‘Well, I’m not supposed to anyway…’ {grins}
Wake-Robin: I thought so. Poor girl, though; soaking wet in a basement.
Amon’s Angel of Darkness: Hm, Amon afraid of needles? Perhaps, but I don’t think he’d show it. Especially not in front of Robin and Javan. But it would be hilarious if he jumped up screaming like a girl. {giggles}
Shawn Provoncha: Thank you.
Jcgamer: I thank you for that information, but you lost me right around ‘leet’. {hugs} I kind of understood, though. Enough, barely. {grins}
Carri: Actually, no, my older brother gets more stuff than me. He just asks more, though. Nothing biased or anything. I want to go to a shrink; they sound FUUUNNNNN!!!!!!
Suki1: {Hands over brownie plate} That’s kind of a bribe to keep coming back, but consider it a gift betwixt friends.
Beautiful Witch Hunter Robin: I updated, a day late, but I updated. {smiles softly}
AngelD: When was the last time you took your temperature, my dear? {pats head}
Goth Musician: I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. Here, have some choco-chip cookies. Who and who get together? I’m confused. {looks blank}{laughs}
Miechan: Mind-numbingly cute? I’m good. {bounces} Okie dokie! I shall keep on torturing.
AnimeReviewer790: {glomps} You reviewed every single chapter. All around the same time. I love you. But, then again, I love all of my reviewers to pieces. {glomps everyone}
Miakako: I like your new name; it doesn’t take as long to type. {grins} Thank you, thank you, I’m glad you think so.
Shisuku: Puff-chan updated! See, look-look, Puff-chan updated!
De Lethe: Hm, coffee it is. Here ya go. Amon’s powers? I don’t know what you are talking about… {tries to look innocent}