Chapter 8. Scary Doll

Yueret opened his eyes and realized that he was in his room. His little sister lay next to him. Unana had no clothes on, and only a white blanket somehow covered the girl's chest, stomach and crotch. The sister's arms hugged the pillow, and one of her legs lay on her brother, bent at the knee.

"Unana, wake up!" Yueret slightly pushed his little sister. "You have your own bed in your room. Why did you come to me again?"

Unana did not wake up. A brown puppy that looked like a bear cub crawled out from under the bed and pulled the blanket off the girl. But this did not help awaken Unana. Then the puppy jumped on the bed and began to lick her face. Unana opened her eyes, moved the puppy closer to her brother, and then sat down on the bed with a pillow in her hands.

"Kimchan woke me up again," Unana said in a sleepy voice. "He's lucky he's inedible."

The puppy jumped off the bed and ran out of the room.

"We need to feed him," Yueret said. "We'll have to go to the kitchen to cook."

"I'm afraid that something bad will happen today," Unana rested her chin on the pillow.

"What could happen today?"

"Have you forgotten what happened yesterday?"

"Was there anything special yesterday?"

"It would be surprising if you remembered."

Unana told her brother about how he went to look for a robot buyer and what it led to. Yueret got out of bed and looked out the window.

"They can come."

"It's because you got involved with other girls. I warned you."

"You don't allow me anything, although you are a little sister, not an older one. I can't do anything. Because of you, I am forced to live outside the city in an almost extinct village."

"There are a lot of people in the city and it's noisy. And it's quiet here; there are a lot of wild animals that you can touch, like this pillow."

Yueret went to the kitchen and started frying meat on the stove. After some time, Unana came into the kitchen. Clothes appeared on her. These were large black headphones with antennas that the archer often wore on her head.

"You came early," Yueret said. "The food isn't ready yet."

Unana sat down on the floor next to the low table. Her breasts pressed against the edge of the table and expanded to the sides like jelly.

"I was lying in bed, and then I smelled the smell and came here," Unana said. "Is this squirrel meat?"

"Yes," replied Yueret.

"I feel sorry for the squirrelies, but they have delicious meat. What are their names?"

Yueret took the meat package and placed it on the table in front of his sister. At that moment, a puppy ran into the kitchen and grabbed the packaging with its teeth. Unana did not want to give her portion to the dog, so she grabbed the opposite edge of the package with her hand and pulled it towards herself.

Kimchan growled and pulled the prey towards himself, but Unana somehow managed to snatch the object from the beast's mouth. Kimchan approached Yueret with a loud bark.

"It's a good name," Unana read the text on the package. "I wonder how they take their meat from them."

"They cut off parts of the body that contain a lot of meat, or simply kill them," Yueret answered.

Unana touched the headphones on her head with her hand, and then began to twirl a strand of hair around her finger. Kimchan tried to jump on the table to get to the package, but Unana stopped him with a hand movement. The puppy left the kitchen barking loudly.

"It's sad," Unana said. "The squirrels are probably being killed. They are too small. They have nothing to cut off."

Yueret took the package from the table, opened it and placed a piece of squirrel meat on the metal bars of the stove.

"Yes, they just kill squirrels," Yueret confirmed. "Now I'm cooking two squirrels – one for myself, the other for you. I have already fed Kimchan. Usually one animal is enough for us if it is large, but the squirrels are too small, so there are two of them."

"It's good that they are so small. If you eat a bear, you will become fat."

"Why eat a whole bear?"

Unana laid her head on the table and yawned.

"First, you eat one piece," the girl said. "Then another piece. Then again. And soon your belly is completely full, and you eat more and more. There comes a moment when you realize that you've eaten like a snake. And then you gain a lot of fat, like a bear."

"You can stop eating when you feel that there is already something in your stomach."

"No. When I see food, I eat it completely. I can't accept the fact that some of the food will go uneaten."

After breakfast, Yueret decided to check the area around the house for dolls.

The house was surrounded by a palisade twice as high as a man's height. A narrow path of gray stones led from the wooden fence to the house, along the sides of which there was an alley of low coniferous bushes. In front of the entrance to the house, near a covered porch with two wooden columns, grew two tall coniferous trees with black bark, a sparse crown and light green needles.

"I hope the dolls don't come here," Yueret thought.

There really was no one near the porch and gate except for the flying beetles above the bushes. This was not enough for Yueret, and he decided to go around the perimeter of the house.

On the opposite side of the house, Yueret noticed a doll in a green mask, with green hair, standing near the window and jumping up and down. This doll seemed familiar to Yueret, but he could not remember where he had seen it.

"What are you doing here?" Yueret asked.

The doll looked at the guy and moved a little away from the window.

"You are someone," the doll said. "I'm Aibi. I saw you yesterday. You brought me on a boat to my creator. He sent me and my sister a signal and ordered to bring someone to him, but not you, but someone else."

Yueret remembered where he saw this doll and the man with the carrot nose.

"I refused," Yueret said. "I don't want to do what that guy with the nose told me..."

"I can't resist the signal," Abi explained. "I will have to bring someone else to my creator; otherwise the signal will torment me."

A doll with purple hair that looked like Aibi came out from behind the house.

"Did you find someone?" Suturu turned to her sister.

"No," Aibi answered. "It is not the same someone. We need someone else."

Unana ran out from behind the house with a bow in her hands. She was wearing black shorts and a yellow T-shirt.

"What are they doing here?" the archer said angrily. "I warned you, Yueret. You better not talk to other girls."

"Someone else came," Suturu said. "This is someone we need."

"Yes, it's that same someone," Aibi confirmed.

A small purple shield appeared on one hand near Suturu's elbow, and a short sword appeared in the other hand. The same shield, but green, also appeared near Aibi's elbow, and in her hand instead of a sword there was an ax.

A purple energy arrow appeared inside Unana's bow. Yueret summoned a shield, which was almost instantly surrounded by a blue energy aura.

A purple aura appeared around Suturu, after which her body rose to the height of the roof of the house. A purple energy circle with a design inside appeared in front of her. The doll touched the center of the circle with its hand, and it began to rotate slowly. Soon, purple energy darts began to fly out from there and aimed at people.

A blue protective barrier covered Yueret and Unana. Energy darts hit him and disappeared.

"You can shoot from the barrier," Yueret said. "He doesn't miss attacks only from the outside."

Unana fired a purple energy arrow from her bow, which flew behind the house. A few moments later, an arrow appeared from behind the opposite side of the house and then flew towards Suturu, but hit the doll's shield and disappeared.

"This shield attracts attacks and absorbs them," Yueret guessed. "I shouldn't have advised Unana to shoot from the barrier."

Aibi stood on the roof of the house and looked at what was happening below. Unana noticed this and shot a white and blue electric arrow at her. But this time the arrow was also absorbed by the doll's shield.

Unana ran out from under the protective barrier and took cover behind the wall of the house. A large purple energy bow with a charged spear-sized arrow of the same color appeared in the air in front of the archer.

"The dolls can't see me here," Unana thought. "They won't be able to notice when I shoot."

The energy bowstring tightened. The bow released an arrow that began to replicate itself in flight. The arrows instantly multiplied and were directed upward. Then the stream of arrows split into two parts: one part flew to Aibi, the other to Suturu.

Aibi covered herself with a shield, but there were too many arrows, and the shield was very small. Several arrows hit the doll in the torso and made through holes in it, and one hit the leg and smashed it. Aibi couldn't stand on one leg and fell from the roof.

Suturu noticed a stream of giant arrows quickly approaching her. The energy circle in front of the doll stopped firing darts and began to expand. It soon turned into a translucent protective barrier that surrounded Sutura.

The arrows reached the barrier and disappeared, but their flow did not stop. Part of the stream of arrows that hit Aibi headed towards Suturu and was absorbed by the barrier. The barrier increased slightly in diameter and became darker. Soon it burst and released a large amount of energy, which spread in different directions. Suturu began to fall down.

Yueret fired an energy beam from his hand, but the doll absorbed it with its shield and landed on its feet.

The flow of arrows stopped. The large energy bow Unana had summoned disappeared. The archer knelt down and leaned against the wall.

A pink energy aura appeared around Aibi. The holes on her body began to disappear, and her leg was restored. The doll rose to its legs and walked behind the house, where it met Unana.

"Someone, come with me," Aibi suggested. "You will become like me. It doesn't hurt."

Unana shot a red arrow with a burning tip at the doll. Aibi covered herself with a shield. The arrow touched the shield and disappeared.

Aibi closed her eyes and then opened them. Her eyeballs filled with green fluid, obscuring her pupils.

"What's wrong with her eyes?" Unana was scared. "If I become a doll, will the same thing happen to me?"

The doll tilted its head. Several drops of liquid came out of her eyes, which reached the ground and destroyed the herbaceous plants on it.

Aibi looked at Unana, and then released one stream of green liquid from each eye. The archer jumped up and found herself on the roof of the house. The green liquid ended up on the tree trunk and began to corrode its bark.

"This is acid," Unana guessed. "I hope it didn't hit me."

Unana examined the clothes. On the side of the shorts there were holes of various shapes and the remains of a green liquid. The archer took off her shorts and threw them down.

Aibi stood near the wall of the house and did not understand where the enemy had gone. Because of the acid that covered her pupils, she saw the world through a green film. But she couldn't look up, because acid was constantly leaking from her eyes and could get on her face. Therefore, the archer's shorts easily fell on Aibi's head.

The doll did not understand anything, but decided not to do anything. Soon, acid seeped into the surface of the shorts that touched the top of her face and created a hole. The shorts gradually dissolved in the acid, but the mask dissolved along with them. Soon, only separate parts remained of the shorts, which fell to the ground along with the remains of the mask.

Aibi closed her eyes and opened them a few moments later. There was no more acid in the eyes. The doll saw a purple energy arrow flying at it and covered itself with a shield.

Unana jumped from the roof and fired another arrow from her bow, but this time it was electric. Aibi covered herself with her shield again, and then threw an ax at the archer.

The doll's weapon flew past and then hung in the air. Aibi extended her hand forward, but the ax did not want to return to her.

From behind a thick leafy tree that grew near the house, a doll with red hair came out, surrounded by a purple aura. She looked with violet pupils at the ax that hung in the air.

"You did it," Aibi turned towards the red-haired doll. "Why are you bothering me? Can't you feel the signal?"

"I feel it, but I can resist it," answered the doll with red hair. "I'm Ikte. I'm your creator's older sister. This signal brought me here. I used it to find out what you were doing."

"The creator ordered us to bring someone to him," Aibi pointed her finger at Unana. "Do not disturb me."

The ax flew towards Aibi and stuck in her forehead, opposite the bridge of her nose.

"You are a very scary doll," Aibi said. "I'll have to use my very best skill against you."

Aibi tried to pull the ax out of her head, but couldn't. Her body no longer obeyed her, and was soon thrown against the wall.

"There should be another doll here, with purple hair, your older twin sister, Suturu" Ikte said. 

Ikte stopped looking at Aibi and stepped aside a little. Aibi took advantage of this, ran behind a tree, and soon came out with an ax in her hand.

Ikte looked at Aibi, but nothing happened.

"I lost concentration," Ikte thought. "I need to focus on the enemy."

Aibi hit the ground with her ax and created a small crack in it, which quickly expanded and filled with acid.

"Run away," Ikte said to Unana. "It's very dangerous here."

Unana ran to the place where her brother was supposed to be. Yueret stood between two trees, covered in a blue aura, with a shield in one hand and a sword in the other. A few steps away from him stood Suturu, covered in a purple aura. The doll held a sword in one hand and a small shield in the other.

Suturu crouched down and hit the ground with her shield. This action caused a shock wave that traveled across the ground within a radius of twenty steps. Yueret surrounded himself with an energy barrier.

The shock wave reached the walls of the barrier and lost its strength. Unana noticed the doll's attack and hid behind the nearest tree, but the wave did not reach her.

The barrier has disappeared. A copy of it separated from Yueret's aura and flew to Suturu. The doll noticed the attack, but it was too late. The energy copy of Yueret threw Suturu towards a thick tree. The doll hit her head on a thick trunk and fell to the ground. The aura around her disappeared.

"Finally, you were able to protect yourself," Unana came out from behind the tree. "I didn't even have to interfere."

"I was surprised by this myself," Yueret replied. "But you would hardly help. You look like you've lost almost all your energy. It's amazing how you can stand."

After these words, Unana noticed that she had almost no strength left. The girl really could barely stand.

The confrontation between Ikte and Aibi continued near the house. The doll with green hair swung an ax. Several bubbles rose from the acidic puddle.

"These are bubbles with acid," Ikte thought. "If I shoot lightning at them, they will explode. But I won't be able to stop them with my eyes. There are too many of them."

Bubbles flew towards the enemy. Ikte closed her eyes, lowered her hands and rose to the height of the roof of the house. The bubbles reached the edge of the roof and burst. The acid got onto the edge of the roof and left several holes.

Several bubbles rose from the acidic pool and flew towards Ikte again.

"She won't be able to reflect many objects with her gaze," Aibi thought. "My acid bubbles will appear again and again until they hit the scary doll."

This time the bubbles rose higher. Ikte disappeared behind the trees. The bubbles burst over the roof. Drops of acid scattered in different directions and left behind many holes.

Ikte disappeared, appeared behind Aibi, and then released lightning from her hand. Aibi turned around and managed to cover herself with a shield, which absorbed the attack.

"This is the very, very shield," Aibi thought. "He himself aims at the enemy's attack."

Aibi swung her ax, but no bubbles came out of the puddle. The acid doll felt that it could no longer move its weapon. Aibi looked at her opponent and noticed that he was looking at her weapon with eyes with purple pupils.

"The scary doll has scary eyes," Aibi thought.

Ikte looked away. The ax was no longer under her control, so it fell to the ground.

The acidic puddle and bubbles disappeared. Suturu came out from behind the trees and approached her sister.

"We're leaving here," Suturu said.

"You and me?" Aibi asked.

"Yes. The creator said: "If you can't handle it, I will send someone else."

"We'll have to go. This doll is too scary."

"Do you want to leave?" Ikte's voice was heard.

Suturu and Aibi noticed that a doll with red hair was approaching them. There was no longer any aura on her, but her pupils still emitted violet light.

"Yes, we're leaving now," Aibi said.

Aibi moved her fingers and the ax returned to her.

"You must answer the question," Ikte said. "If you answer, you can leave."

"I agree," agreed Suturu.

"I agree even more," Aibi repeated.

"Who exactly did you come for?" Ikte asked.

"For someone," answered Suturu.

"For someone," Aibi repeated.

Yueret without an aura and his little sister, who could barely stand on her feet and leaned on her brother, came out from behind the trees.

"This is someone!" Suturu pointed her hand at Unana.

"This someone else is shooting from a bow," Abi clarified.

"Why does Kuttanai need this girl?" Ikte asked.

"Who is this?" Suturu and Aibi asked at the same time.

"This is your creator," Ikte said.

The dolls looked at each other.

"Does the creator have a name?" Suturu asked. "Only I, Suturu, have a name."

"And I have a name, Aibi," Aibi added.