Veteran Duel

Veteran Duel

(Chapter 14)

*

[<<]

"mmm"—she wakes up—"…? Why'd you stop, Grandpa?"

"Do you even know what's up ahead? I honestly didn't give a thought about the route we took before or where we were goin'. I saw a sign a few meters behind us and decided it'd be best to wait for you to wake up."

"… And where does the sign say we're heading?"

"… It didn't say we're heading anywhere. It said welcome… welcome to Dead Man's Curve."

[>]

"My princess, it'd be foolish of us to think that they've left us alone. We can't use the road. At least, not like this."

"I don't think the other option will work either. Let's neglect the damage done to my arm and assume I can carry Alex. I can't run with him in his current condition. They'll definitely notice that we took a detour sooner or later."

"I know, but we can use camouflage and a decoy. They'd definitely wanna kill me. I'm gonna maul my way through the main route. While I'm doing that, you'll creep your way through the forest."

"But they'll still see me and we can't compromise you either."

"That's why I made mention of camouflage earlier. We're gonna tie some branches to a wooden frame that you'll be moving under. When you get to safety you can send help after me."

"Send help?"

"They won't kill me right away. You've seen that first hand now, haven't you?"

"… Then we can't afford to do this. One blow to the head—"

"Have more faith youngster," he says with a wide smile stretching across his face.

[Mom]

It seems like they woke up on the CREATIVE side of bed today; it's a total splurge. Fruit salad, pancakes, honey, corn syrup, butter… Or maybe they'd just consumed all the non-sugar foods. As usual, mom's in a chemise and Elmus is in a white T-shirt. (You're probably wondering what a t-shirt's doing here. Well there's no need. You can't change that even if you wanted to (^_^).)The son sits right next to his mom on the dining table and they have their breakfast.

"Seems like someone's going diabetic today," she laughs.

"Well, we both know I'm immune so who's left?"

"Silly"—she takes another bite, or should I say mouthful?—"I think I really missed this."

"Wow. Women think so erratically that I can't figure them out. Wasn't it 'sweets are bad for your health' yesterday?"

"Touché. But once in a while doesn't hurt."

"What? That's exactly what I said last time!" he whines.

"Maybe I didn't hear you."

"… I'm not gonna respond to that."

She plays with his cheek. "Don't tell me you're gonna cry, are you?" He can only break into laughter. "Baby, don't cry," she teases.

"Kay mom. I think I'm about done here." He gets up.

"Wait a second. Nowadays you barely eat anything."

"I've got other things to worry about. Don't tell me you're gonna cry," he says making a silly face.

"You're gonna go out like that, to where?"

"I'm gonna go see Eris."

"I think you should let that one wait."

"This is different. She got hurt."

"Just saying outta experience, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"Hmm. But wouldn't I turn out to be a jerk?"

"Weren't you the one who said she wasn't aware that you knew she was home?"

"True," he thinks aloud with his hand under his chin. "Either way, I'm just gonna see Ms. Laura then."

"It's impossible to keep you home," she slaps her forehead. "You aren't gonna forget Amitha are you?"

"Hunh?" he stops in his tracks. "{… Was I really about to leave Amitha behind? Come to think of it, I haven't even spoken to her this morning.}"

"What're you standing there for?"

"…Do you think I'm changing in any way?"

"Well… you seem to have grown an inch taller—"

"Mom!"

[Valentina]

She woke up rather early today; as usual, half-naked. With so much time in her hands she can only reflect on everything that has happened up till now.

"{I… I don't get so many things. I could care LESS about everyone around me… so why'd it even hurt me to hear that from Ms. Laura? Even now, it still hurts. Is it because I don't want to accept that fortune?

[<<]

She remembers a time that her Father came to visit her in the evening. She lay sound on her bed. She was probably about nine years old. Her room was luxurious, she actually had a golden bed frame, golden lamps-let me say everything supposed to be metal is gold. Anything else that was supposed to be wooden was glass; that is except the door and window frame which were metal. There was food on the table, more like a feast. Once her dad came in she pretended to be asleep.

"O Valentina. Do you really think you can trick your father?" She doesn't respond to that so he sits on the side of her bed and sits her on his lap. "Your nanny said you're refusing to eat again. Do you know how much this meal costs? This is a golden feast for a poor man."

"… why give me as much food as a man can eat?"

"If you come to loathe it… you'll be fine when you don't have much. Now tell me, what's the cause of the tantrum?"

"… Why do you keep me locked-up in here? I also wanna see the sun and the stars too."

"… I keep you locked up because I'd prefer to have you alive Valentina. You see… it's only natural that you'd want the only thing you don't have but if I let you out right now you'll lose everything, even your life."

"My—life?"

"There are people who will kill you. They won't have mercy just because you're a little child. They're actually monsters inside."

"… I don't really get it. Are you just trying to spook me out?"

"Definitely not. I have you train in the interior sun court so you won't be allergic to sun. You read far and wide. Why do you think I'm making you do all this? There'll be a day when you'll have to go outside and you might have to experience everything on your own. Failure then would mean death."

"And what's this death you've been talking about? I've seen it in a couple of books but I don't understand."

"Death… It's the scariest thing."

"Why?" she asks curiously.

"To you… death means you're never gonna see daddy again." She screams and buries her face in his chest. "Hey little Tina."

"I'm scared."

"What do I always tell you?"

"… Ignore fear. That's bravery."

"'Atta girl!" He runs his hand through her hair. "I promise you that we'll gaze at the stars together someday."

[>]

You're the one who gave me that fear of death, and you're the same person who told me to be brave… You better not have died on me dad!}

[The Twins]

The carriage arrives at the carriage station. They unpack their items and get down. They've arrived in En Salvador de Porto Novo.

"Almost died of boredom in there. I can finally go stretch my legs."

"Wait up Paz. We have to find somewhere to deposit our items."

"We can take everything along, can't we bro?"

"Consider the fact that we're unfamiliar faces. What if we're jumped?"

"Does it matter?" Paz asks.

"This is the most judicious approach. C'mon."

[>]

They walk along the sandy streets. It's not like Banlieue; the settlements are a bit nucleated. It's a small town but it's hard to tell where is where. There aren't any signs or anything. By the looks of it, this town isn't really the tourist attraction.

"We should've just gone south. We'd have been well on our way."

"We can just asks for directions from this senior citizen—"he walks up to her—"Good morning ma'am."

"Hello there handsome young gentleman! I doubt you're from around these parts."

"Very true. We're looking for a safe place to deposit our items and we were wondering if you could lend us a hand."

"Over here, if it's service related, it's all in the Townhall."

"And that would be?"

"Take the third left from here and go straight until you encounter a ring of office buildings. That's the Townhall."

"Thank you."

[Veteran: Mr. Alex]

The horse beneath him gallops forth. He wields his Raid Gear in his right hand. There's vegetation to his right and water off the left. He negotiates the curve quite fast then takes a stop.

"…{ They're definitely here. If I give them the time to think about why I'm alone the result could be undesirable}… I know you're out there! Come and face me! I'm not gonna forgive you for murderin' my grandchildren!"

One of them emerges from the woods, someone wearing a hood. Judging by the padding on the forearms and shins, the assailant is prepared to engage in some melee combat. The assailant draws closer.

"… I don't understand. How could we lose so much in one day? WHO THE HECK ARE YOU?!"

"Hunh? A woman?"

"This is most certainly your end."

"I'm not sure you wanna do this. I don't fight chicks."

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT CRAP!" She's pissed. She lunges in just as Mr. Alex dismounts the horse. She gattles out a series of swift, consecutive punches and throws him of balance. She gets in a heavy blow to his head. Luckily for him…

[<<]

"But your condition Grandpa," she whines.

"I know. It's impossible to avoid sustaining an injury to the head during a fight with a man. Luckily I brought my head gear along."

"Didn't it burn in the fire?"

"It got a bit charred up but I can tie it to my head."

[>]

And that's what he has wrapped to his head right now. It absorbed most of the shock but she follows up almost immediately with three heavy palms to his thorax. That sends him flying to the ground.

"Gah. Aren't YOU quite the poisonous flower?"

"Get up and stop wasting my time. I really want you to suffer."

"…Well I don't wanna hurt you so give it up."

"Arrogance like that is gonna get you killed earlier than I intended."

She lunges in again and tries to stomp him several times but he manages to sweep her off her legs. She draws her knife and draws his blood as well.

[/]

Alexandra slowly progresses through the green undetected. After all, she's moving under her artificial foliar cover.

"{Grandpa, they're not even Emerged so don't you dare die.}"

[Guillelmus]

He's about knocking on Ms. Laura's door when a pebble hits him hard on the head.

"OW! What the?"—he takes a look around—"where the hell did that come from?" He notices a reflection in the shadow of the adjacent alley so he goes to investigate. It's Blood-Eye. He signals Elmus to approach quietly or it's gonna be the death of someone.

[Anika]

"Hello. How may—"

"Any Raid will be fine."

"Alright… by the way. Have you seen Succubus of late?"

"Hmm… Last time I saw 'em was like three days ago. Is something wrong?"

"I feel like they've gone missing."

"That's impossible. They're Platinum Ranks; one out of the only three."

"It's not that I don't trust them. I feel like I assigned an incompatible Raid to them and they encountered some turbulence."

"Hmm. Has it been three days yet?"

"That'll be tomorrow, the 12th."

"And isn't the protocol MIA after 3 days? I know he's been looking out for you but don't worry about him TOO much."

"I think you're right. What could possibly have gone wrong?"

[The Twins]

They enter the main building. All the halls are blocked off by the reception so you would have to go through the reception. The reception counter is wooden, with a floral grooved design. As usual, the receptionist is a lady. They approach her.

"Hello ma'am—" Jedi starts.

"Hello. I doubt you're from around here."

"You guessed right."

"Then bye-bye. We don't deal with strangers."

"… That can't be right."

She bursts into laughter. "You shoulda seen your faces. I'm sorry but I do it to everyone. How may I help you?"

"You probably scared your husband away," Tamar says.

"Chill out. I said it was a joke."

"Well is there a vault around here hon?" She pulls the receptionist's face closer but Jedi puts her hand down.

"If you keep on like that, you're gonna give people the wrong idea. Ms, where do we need to go?"

"Come this way. Just keep on going along the left till you come across the office that says vault."

"Alright. Thank you."

"You're welcome *giggle*."

[Mr. Alex]

He's been forced to draw his Raid Gear. A meticulous person could deduce that she has experience fighting humans. Although she's only using a dagger which is more than ten times shorter than his tower, she still manages to push him back.

"Sweet moves. Where the hell are you from?"

"Do I look like I'm in the mood for chitchat? Take a look at yourself."

"If I get serious we're both gonna die here."

"I can't agree."

She draws throwing needles and uses them as cover to draw closer but he swipes at the ground with the tower to throw dust up into the air and leaps forward into a smash. She covered her eyes but he expected her to move so it doesn't actually hit her. It comes down just beside her.

She reacts to the impact and executes a roundhouse kick. He catches her foot. She hops and spin kicks with the other leg but he also catches that one as well. This was an anticipated outcome. She intends to counter and roll him over but he tosses her aside.

She draws her bow and shoots three arrows and he runs for his tower. She goes tactical and sticks to using projectiles to keep him away from the tower as she runs towards him. He hears a whistle and that's when he makes an unexpected move. He lunges straight at her with total disregard for the needles she shot and lands a solid uppercut.

[/]

"{Grandpa. We're finally clear.}" she pulls out a small whistle and blows on it as hard as she can.

[/]

"{That's the signal!}" He takes his tower and hops on the horse. "I know how it feels to suffer the last blow but I gotta go. See ya!" He takes off on horseback. She would've chased after him but that last hit rocked her brains; besides, just because she's an I.M.U doesn't mean she has abundant stamina or something.

[Guillelmus]

They're just glaring at each other, maintaining the silence. Elmus seems to be on guard since he doesn't know whether they plan to ambush him.

"… Aren't you gonna say something? C'mon, why'd you call me?"

"… What do you want with the Dark Alley?"

"… For starters, I'd appreciate it if you stopped pumping drugs into the streets."

"… It was you earlier on this year, wasn't it?"

"This year? I have no clue what you're talking about."

"I see. Evelyn, Eris, Erin, Laura, Valentina; could've killed them all yesterday."

"Dare me."

"Don't be an idiot. I'm just here to inform you that I'm not your enemy."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"I'm not expecting you to; you will."

"Elaborate."

"…This location is not safe for either of us so I'll make contact the next time you're out of town. For the meantime, why don't you pay little Eris a visit so she can explain how gentle I was with her." He departs.

"{Is that supposed to be a threat? Last time I saw Eris, she was worse off than the day before. If he hurt her… I'm gonna have to dispose of the Dark Alley as soon as possible.}

-------End of Chapter 14-----------

Chapter 15 Teaser

A lot can happen in a day.

To be continued…