For Friends

"People that haven't lost their families can never understand what sadness and loneliness feels like."

"Cut the crap!"

*******************

I won't say that I expected any empathy from Chopper. I had never found myself agreeing with the sense of justice that the dwellers of Valhalla possessed. Chopper's actions in particular had always been questionable to me. Yet, I found the current matter no business of mine. If Chopper intended to cut Azag down, I wouldn't interfere. If it came to me, on the contrary, I wouldn't lift a finger against Azag, unless he was to become a threat to me.

"Look, pal", Chopper smudged the cigarette on the ground, "Whatever grievances you got, it ain't none of my business, now are they? On the other hand, ya got something that don't belong to no one but me. So how about this? I'll let you go, if you give him back. And there ain't nothing more to this deal than that. And I swear, you wouldn't find me giving two craps about whatever the hell it is you intend to do to anyone else."

Azag cackled after a pause, glaring at Chopper, "Is that the extent of your love?"

"Mm hmm, something like that. You know..."

That was the beginning of their clash. I stood back, watching them from a distance as the two combatted with every speck of life they had in themselves. The illusion was gone for the most part, we were in some barren forest now. I couldn't tell if this was real or not but I didn't care. It seemed real enough to me. Azag wasn't an illusion anymore, he was the real deal. I stood careless of their fight, as if I had nothing to do with it.

One, two, three...Chopper's attacks were useless one after the other. But so were Azag's. Until, Azag began to deform into that tentacle monstrosity. I looked at my side, at the cigarette Chopper had put out with his foot.

I knew this fight meant nothing, the outcome was decided. There was no winner. I found myself thinking that this conflict was nothing but a sad loss. It ached me in some corner of my heart. Still, I had no intention of making any efforts to resolve anything. For all I cared, both of them could get eaten up in this chaos.

After I wonder how long a while, the two clashed and were repelled back, dirt rising around them. I was a little impressed to notice the ground was heating up. Their glittering battle was about as mesmerizing as it was disgusting. On one side, Azag's severed tentacle flailed about before turning into mist, Ivory's charm. Chopper's head had incurred some major injury too. His grey hair were smeared red on one side, blood trickled down his face, kneading the dirt below.

Then, as if remembering the last encounter, Azag launched an attack at me. That might have been his biggest mistake in this battle. And ridiculous, even for him although he was desperate. He must have expected Chopper to spring into action to protect me, like before, and in the process be left open to his attacks. Instead, Chopper stayed frozen to his position, not even batting an eye.

I, on the other hand, sprang up, avoiding the tentacle as I shot towards his body, with the speed of light, teleporting right in front of his face before he could catch up. I grabbed his face, with all the strength in my fist, and threw him back, putting my whole body into it. He went quite a ways, not slowing down even by the trees in his way. By the time, I was done, there was a rather big cleared patch of land, the trees being brought down by the force of his flying body against them. The grove looked a lot more spacious now than before.

Although, I was a little surprised by the huge surge of power in me, I had already known that I was capable of something tremendous like this. I exhaled, as Azag went out of sight, placing my hand on my chest. The scar was burning. And so I knew that Nasty II was alive in there. That was, if anything, a little disappointing.

In any case, I quickly backed off, having no intention of fighting Azag.

"Tch...Don't be getting too cocky now, kid", Chopper walked up to me, "But anyway, thanks to that I figured somethin' out. Go sit back in your corner."

And so I was on my way when Azag recovered and made his way back to us.

"And here I thought, you hadn't figured it out yet", he observed with a grin. In fact, it had been Chopper who told me about it, I really hadn't figured it out.

"A'right bud, lookie here at what I figured out", Chopper smirked as a red glow surrounded his right shoulder, where he was missing an arm.

Something bubbled up in there and shot out, forming a huge, scaly, deep crimson arm. It wasn't a human arm, but a dragon's. Why or how Chopper might have come in possession of it, I cannot answer. In fact, what he said right after made me question his origin entirely.

"Say hello...", he grinned ear to ear, rather hideously, "...to my ole frien' Ebony!"

That was the true form of his power. Azag launched at him, but with a single wave of Ebony, all of Azag's tentacles were chopped off. He writhed in pain, falling back. Any attempt he made of recovery was culled off by Ebony. Chopper grabbed him in his new found hand and squeezed him, crushing his bones. With no hope of recovery, Azag turned back to his human form of Wolfe. He was out of all his strength.

"I heard ya, bud. Everything you said...sounded like a shitload of crap. 'He betrayed me and I lost everything!'", Chopper mimicked him, and laughed, "Don't be kiddin' yerself! What a pathetic lil joke you are! Come clean, why did you kill your lackeys for that damned human mutt? What's so awesome about one soul? Hmm...let me think. Oh, yeah! Nothing."

Wolfe was wriggling in his hand. He was completely out of options. Its the end, I thought to myself.

"Stop lyin' to yer pathetic self. You didn't hate yer human pal. All this revenge crap is just your unfounded anger, it ain't even your place to be doing this. You were helpless when yer dear friend suffered at the hands of humans. Humans who understood nothing, who didn't see his sacrifices and instead kept building their filthy hopes on him. And you...you were helpless against all of that."

I intently listened to what Chopper was saying.

"How can I save him? How can I give him hope? What can I do to prevent his endless wailing? He only cares about those pests that are no good complainers. He's trying to give them their paradise here and now, but...he's in hell. How do I help my friend Ninurta?", Chopper paused, looking at Azag who had stopped struggling, helplessly caving in, "Well, it turns out, you couldn't do a damn thing. So the damned humans that were the cause of your friend's suffering, I wonder what could be done with them. But oh, what better way than to make 'em suffer in the pits of hell. Take their souls and hand 'em a sweet little ticket to eternal damnation. But hey, I'm not saying that's bad, sounds pretty sweet if you ask. You are pretty smart, ain't ya buddy?"

"Can you cease your blabbering already?", Azag was in quite a similar mental state as a classic Chopper.

"And here I was having a lil moment", Chopper sighed.

I stood up from my place, I hadn't noticed until then, all the moisture in the ground. It had rained earlier. The ground under the trees hadn't dried up. I shook the dirt off my hands, it was cold.