Saturday, January 30, 2010

Chapter 23:

"You can't be serious?!" Amelia yelled but Steven held her back.

Silmeria remained silent as she watched Ashen get pummeled by the bigger guy.

"Are you trying to get Ashen hurt you bitch?" Amelia screamed as she finally broke from Steven's grip lunging at Silmeria throwing a punch at her with all she had. To her dismay, Silmeria caught her punch without so much as turning in her direction.

"If only that wimp there had your spunk." Silmeria said as Ashen got kicked down a flight and out the front door.

"ASHEN!!!" Amelia screamed trying to rush past Silmeria but was throw backwards toward Steven. Steven caught her.

"Amelia. You've got to calm down. She IS a demon after all......" Steven said glaring at her.

"Oh my... It is true that I'm a demon but more importantly, isn't it YOUR job to do the fighting? You ARE a man aren't you?" Silmeria said

Steven got up to confront Silmeria. As he did, his knees began to shake uncontrollably.

Silmeria sighs.

(Ashen gets kicked in the ribs)

"I'm not trying to hurt Ashen Amelia. I'm not. But you have to understand that inside that coward of a boy sleeps my lord. Sessaru. And it kills me to see him act that way!" Silmeria explained

"Ashen is no fighter! He's a kind, sweet boy who wouldn't hurt a fly! He doesn't need to get mixed up with you demons! It was you demons who killed his mother!" Amelia screamed but Steven held her back again.

(Ashen gets soccer kicked in the chest sending him rolling down along the floor)

A large crowd had then gathered around to watch the beating teasing Ashen the whole way.

"You talk about US demons but haven't you noticed?" Silmeria asked?

A look of confusion came over Amelia and Steven's faces.

"As much abuse as that boy has been receiving, there isn't as much as a single bruise or cut on his body. Isn't that a little strange?" Silmeria asked.

"He's body's just been toughen by constant abuse is all." Amelia explained.

"Don't make me laugh. That boy there kicking his ass is a demon." Silmeria said

Shock filled their faces

"Hey wait! Are you saying that Ashen is......" Steven started

"Congratulations but yes. Its slow but slowly and surely your friend Ashen is becoming a demon." Silmeria said.

Ashen looked at the guy and slowly got to his feet holding his chest when his noticed something.

"Hey... There's no pain. What is this?" Ashen asked himself as he got to his feet.

"Hey! This pussy can still stand! Not bad!" the guy said getting reassurance from the massive audience he had gathered

The boy walked up to Ashen in a cocky manner.

"Back to the ground." the boy said throwing a punch. Ashen caught the boy's hand with ease and pushed him away. The students went wild at the sudden turn of event.

Amelia and Steven were shocked themselves that their once powerless friend was now fighting back without their help.

"What?" Ashen said to himself

"Don't get too cocky!" the boy said rushing Ashen with a flurry of punches. Ashen dodged them with ease as if it were natural. A smile formed on Ashen's face as he spun around getting behind the boy stomping on the boy's ankle hard enough to bring him to his knees. Ashen then grabbed his hair pulling back hard enough so they were looking eye to eye.

"Don't worry. It'll be over in a minute." Ashen said with a twisted, demonic look in his eye. Ashen raised his fist to deliver the finishing blow when suddenly, Ashen's face hit the ground. The audience was in awe.

Silmeria sighs heavily and walks toward home.

"Goodness. Kids now these days....." a voice said

Ashen used all his strength to pull his head out the ground to see who it was. Ashen's vision began to recover from the extreme rush of blood to the head.

"N....Nara...?" Ashen muttered

"I'd appreciate it if you two would not fight on school ground." Nara said releasing them from his grasp.

The other boy glared at Nara and Ashen and went on about his business muttering and pushing his way through the crowd of students.

"Ashen!" Amelia yelled running to his side giving him a big hug. Steven looked on and felt a sense of abandonment watching Amelia baby Ashen like that.

Ashen assured Amelia that he was okay and turned his attention to Nara.

"What's the deal? Why did you stop me?" Ashen asked

"I have a few things I need to finish here. Go on home..." Nara said dusting off his pants leg

"Why? What's wrong?" Ashen asked

Nara looked at him and shook his head

"You've got a long way to go. I'll explain things later. Amelia. Take Ashen home will ya?" Nara asked

Amelia agreed and led Ashen home. Nara glanced over at Steven who was glaring at Ashen from behind with his fists clinched tightly.

"Nothing will happen if you don't say anything." Nara said.

Steven gave Nara a look of disgust.

"What do you know..? You're just a demon meddling in human affairs." Steven snapped then swiftly walking away. Within a blink of an eye, Nara was in front of him blocking his path with a smile on his face.

"What? W....What the hell do you want?" Steven said with shaky determination

"Its nothing. Go on." Nara said letting Steven pass.

After Steven had passed, Nara casually walked to the back of the school. As he walked to the back, Nara glanced over to the gate and saw some rustling going on in the bushes. Nara sighed heavily and went about his business

When Nara got to the back of the school, he once again began to dust off his pants leg.

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

Lawrence hid quietly in the bushes behind the school watching Nara as he was told to by Jade since he had his hands full with that one kid. Ashen was it?

Lawrence followed Nara to the back of the school when suddenly, he lost sight of him.

"What?" he said to himself

"You haven't been scouting for very long. Have you?" a voice said from behind. Lawrence quickly turned around only to see Nara standing there with his hands in his pocket. Lawrence jumped back a few feet and took a defensive stance

"Oh?" Nara said taking his hands out his pockets

"W...W..What do you want teach?" Lawrence asked as calm as he could bring himself to be.

"Nothing. I was just wondering why someone like you would be spying on someone like me. Doesn't your lord have anything else better to do than to send petty scouts after me?" Nara asked

"You watch your tongue. That's LORD Shear to you!" Lawrence said lunging at Nara. Nara moved to the side avoiding it.

"Whoa now.. Things like that could get you hurt if you're not careful." Nara said

Lawrence attacked again but with a flurry of punches and kicks. Nara dodged most of them but was kicked in the face by his last roundhouse kick sending Nara spiraling across the ground. Nara quickly regained himself as he slid across the ground quick enough to avoid Lawrence's flying kick from above. Lawrence's attack had so much force behind it, it left a crater size hole from where he hit.

Nara leaped on top of the school building and slowly after, Lawrence joined him

"So this is all there is to Nara of the Banshee Tribe eh?" Lawrence said with a cocky smile.

Nara clinched is fist tightly.

("Damn this body.....") Nara said to himself.

("The more power I use, the tighter and more difficult to use this wretched body becomes. And with Sir Boast-a lot there using that amount of power, it'll be difficult to settle this with normal means...")

"Well excuse me. Sorry to disappoint. Shall I.....live more up to your expectations?" Nara said with a smile

Surprised by Nara's comeback, Lawrence looked at the watch on his wrist and remembered what Shear told them.
*****************************

("Do not release your powers on that side. The last thing we need is a catastrophe nor do we need THEM figuring out what we're doing. Use precaution. Don't try to be a hero. Your job is to scout. Not fight. Remember that.")
*****************************

"Forgive me my lord but I can't let this opportunity pass! I WON'T!!" Lawrence said shattering the watch releasing his full demon aura. Wind began to pick up and the school ceiling began to shake. Nara sighed then smiled.

"Come." Nara said and without hesitation, Lawrence attacked with full force fueled on thoughts of glory and fame. Lawrence delivered multiple kicks and punches only to be blocked or dodged. Frustrated, Lawrence put more force and strength behind causing Nara to back up behind those blows. Lawrence followed through with another full power roundhouse kick. Nara ducked under with a spinning slide kick causing Lawrence to spin in the air from his own momentum. Nara then followed through with a spin kick to Lawrence's chest sending Lawrence flying inches above the school ceiling. Nara gave chase with the intent of ending this quickly. At the edge of ceiling was a small incline. Lawrence recovered just quick enough to use that incline as a lift to grab hold and spin himself around and use that momentum to deliver a quick high kick. Nara parried this blow and delivered a powerful elbow to Lawrence's midsection sending Lawrence flying to the ground. Once hitting the ground, the impact caused Lawrence to bounce and slide across the ground. After the bouncing finished, Lawrence held fast to his belly coughing and spitting up blood. The sight of his own blood signaled that he was in big trouble.

("Even in that body....against my full power....he still...") Lawrence said to himself struggling to his feet.

Lawrence aimed his attention toward the school rooftop but saw no one. At the very last moment, Lawrence felt a presence behind him.

"Too slow." Nara said behind him blasting Lawrence with a small proportion of his demonic power sending Lawrence flying across the field and into a car that happened to be driving by sending the car flipping and spinning out of control scaring the hell out of the woman and two children in the car.

After the car came to a stop, Lawrence laid there barely clinging to consciousness. His vision began fade as he saw Nara approaching him slowly before he finally passed out.

The woman and two children crawled out of the wrecked vehicle
completely unharmed but shaken up were greeted by Nara.

"I'm sorry. My friend here can be extremely reckless when he's playing. Please forgive him." Nara said as he grabbed the unconscious Lawrence by the hair and carried him away.

Nara took Lawrence's body back to the school grounds.

("Now.....what to do with this.....") he said to himself. Nara looked at the school flagpole and a smile formed on his face.

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

"You. Report." Shingi said taking a seat

"No changes yet sir. All test subjects last anywhere between 3 to 5 minutes before they are torn to shreds by the power alone." a demon said.

"You. Your report." Tinge said disappointed by the current news.

"Roswell's recovery is progressing smoothly. He should be released within a few days or so." another reported

Shingi sighs then yells from frustration.

"Relax Shingi. Your knack for wanting to know every detail is SO annoying..." Shear said lying out on the ground.

"Hmph. You're not progressing either! Do you know the situation we're in?! The four strongest demons ever to live who were assumed dead are alive and here we are running experiments and test after test after FUCKING test on their bodies which we STOLE by the way and are getting ABSOLUTELY nowhere because they're so powerful, no one we find can harvest their cells any longer than 5 minutes without either being torn to shreds or spontaneously combusting. Not to mention that our scouts never make it back!" Shingi snapped

"But right now those 4 are powerless to do anything. Let's just relax and deal with them later. I'm tired of worrying about them." Shear said

Silence

"Here's an idea. After our dim witted troll gets out of recovery, let's go to the beach over in the human realm. I hear that it quite the experience." Shear suggested

"We can even get a some human ass while we're at it." Kogamaru said walking into the room

"Any news?" Shear said

"No. But Roswell's recovery is coming along much faster than expected." Kogamaru said taking a seat with Shear.

"Well that and his shear strength IS what got him to be a lord in the first place." Shingi said

"But he's about as dumber than your average box of rocks." Shear said with a laugh

"We've got the brains. He's got power to spare. I mean he tricked Nara into a counterfeit body, snuck up on Nara AND put Nara through the ground WITH ease! That's enough to impress me." Shingi said

"But he got his ass torn to shreds by
The severed arm OF THAT counterfeit body. Talk about embarrassing...." Shear said

"Imagine what it could have done to us.." Kogamaru said.

Everyone shudders

"Come to think of it. We don't know much about Nara or the others beside the fact that Nara killed his father while he was two and single-handedly picked Ta, Shin, and Sessaru to be lords." Tinge said.

"Well Shin was quite a renowned swordsman before Nara found him. I've crossed swords with him quite a few times if I do say so myself." Shingi said boastfully.

"And the simple fact that Shin is still alive means that you lost quite a few times if I do say so myself." Kogamaru said with a smile angering Shingi.

"I didn't lose! It was a tie! Honest!" Shingi said

"Mhm. Sure." Shear said

"Well anyway, Ta was a street fighter back then. But afterwards settled down and that's when him and I met and got into science. Tab made lots of medicines for his people. Even made biological weapons." Kogamaru said

"Whoa! You personally knew him?" Shear asked

"Yeah...."Kogamaru said

"What happened...." Tinge asked

"If you must know, Ta took something from me...so I made him pay. I was the one who invented the device that separated their souls from their bodies." he said with a smile.

Silence

"Well...that just leaves....." Shingi started before Shear's hand hit the ground hard enough to make the windows shudder.

"That murderous bastard.." Shear said angrily

"Here we go...." Kogamaru said

"That fucking bastard is going to pay when I get my hands on him! I swear!" Shear snapped.

"That was over 750 years ago!" Tinge said

"He killed my father! Destroyed my home! My friends! EVERYONE!!!" Shear snapped.

"The Northern Lands Massacre. In less than 4 hours, Sessaru killed everyone in the Northern Lands single handedly. Now that's a feat." Shingi said.

"Don't praise he did something good! Surely he hurt someone close too!" Shear said

"Not me. I was in the Southern Lands at one of Nara's parties at the time." Shingi said

"Oh yeah? You too? Badass party!" Kogamaru said

Shear gets up

"Besides that. Do you know anything else about Sessaru?" Shingi asked

"Well..I do remember hearing that he was the youngest demon chosen to be a lord. Nara made him a lord at 8." Shear explained

Silence

"Sessaru is also the youngest amongst the three and from what Jade has told me, he's nowhere near as powerful and experienced as the others so maybe we should get rid of him first." Kogamaru said.

"Easier said than done. Jade had him but then said something about having the wrong guy." Shear said dropping his hands to his sides

"Enough about them. As soon as Roswell recovers, we're going to the human realm for some R&R. Agreed?" Shear said

Everyone agreed

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

A few hours later, Nara finally returned. Afterwards, everyone ate dinner, watched TV and went about their own thing.

Ashen was watching TV in his room when suddenly Nara patted him on the shoulder.

"We need to talk." Nara said