A Fox's War

by Brandon Varnell

  “I thought that was obvious, Mr. President,” Commander Paine said, his tone almost languid as he watched on. “That boy is one of my experiments—a human weapon created for the purpose of killing yokai. Of course, he’s a failed experiment, but I thought I could help give him a purpose. I never imagined that he would bite the hand that was feeding him.”

  While Commander Paine spoke, Justin dodged. Sweat stung his eyes, but he ignored it. The feel of a blade cutting through air right in front of his face barely made him flinch. A failed experiment he might have been, but that didn’t mean he was a failure when it came to everything.

  This would’ve been so much easier if I hadn’t dropped my knife.

  The YK unit swung. Justin stepped into its guard, wincing as he raised his arm and blocked the attack. It felt like his bones were splintering. He ignored the burning sensation and pushed ahead, leaping into the air and kicking the unit in the face, causing it to stumble back.

  “So you admit to creating child soldiers,” the Admiral of the Navy accused.

  “When fighting against creatures that are beyond our abilities, it is only natural that we seek a way to even the scales,” Commander Paine replied mildly.

  “That sort of inane sophistry won’t work on me!” The admiral slammed his hands onto the table. “You think fighting against an enemy excuses what you’ve done? Our nation has prided itself on our morals for generations!”

  “You mean the same morals that discriminate against different races? The morals that make it nearly impossible for immigrants to get into high government positions? The same morals that have caused numerous United States citizens to get beaten by their own countrymen because of their family’s origins? Those morals?” Commander Paine rolled his eyes as he continued talking. “Spare me your lecture, Admiral. It’ll just ring hollow since I already know how America operates.”

  The Admiral growled. Meanwhile, Justin stumbled when, without warning, something stabbed him in the leg. Falling down, he could do very little when the YK unit cut him open with an overhand swing.

  The floor became stained with blood.

  “There they are!”

  “Get them!”

  “Open fire!”

  “Celestial Art: Barrier that Protects the Princess!”

  Kevin watched as a golden barrier shaped like a dome appeared around them. Bullets glanced off its surface. The barrier held. Lilian had become quite talented at creating barriers, though he really wished she would have chosen another name. He wasn’t a princess.

  When the soldiers ran out of ammo, the barrier dropped and Kevin rushed forward. Six shots of fire youki projectiles reduced their enemies’ weapons to slag. He then smoothly changed to spirit ammo once more. Four more shots dropped four of their opponents, then Kevin was in their midst. Rather than relying on his fists, Kevin slammed his silver gun into a soldier’s jaw, listening as their teeth clacked together. While his foe was stumbling, he spun around, reversed the grip on his gun, and smashed the back of it into his opponent’s head. The helmet they’d been wearing had been knocked off, and so the gun cracked against their temple. The soldier dropped to the ground and didn’t get back up.

  Turning to deal with the last soldier, Kevin saw that Lilian had it well in hand. She’d moved into hand-to-hand range. This forced the soldier, a bulking man with muscles on his muscles, to try and grapple her. Lilian was nimble, however. She wove in and out of his range, peppering him with reinforced punches and kicks.

  She must have been conserving youki. Her attacks didn’t seem to do much. Finally growing frustrated when her opponent began to laugh at her, Lilian decided to use her tails.

  “Gomu Gomu no Extension!”

  Whap! The sound of two tails smacking someone across the face echoed down the hall. Her titanic opponent fell onto his backside from the power that she’d put into her attack, and Lilian capitalized on the moment.

  “Lilian Heel Drop!”

  Kevin winced when Lilian slammed her heel on top of the guy’s head. She had to have pumped a lot of youki into that attack, as the helmet protecting the soldier’s head cracked open like an egg. The hulking man wobbled for a moment, then his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he fell down, unconscious.

  “Nice hit,” Kevin complimented his mate.

  She grinned at him. “Thank you.”

  “You still need to come up with another name for your extension technique.”

  “But I like that name.”

  It’s also already being used by a certain Straw Hat.

  “I don’t want to hear another word out of you!” Lilian pointed at the ceiling.

  “Lilian, what are you doing?”

  “Nothing, Beloved. Just telling a jerk that his comments aren’t appreciated.”

  Kevin sighed. “Let’s just keep going.”

  “Okay!”

  He and Lilian began running down the hall. They didn’t speak for a while. However…

  “By the way, if we get sued for copyright, I’m blaming you.”

  “Hawa.”

  Their destination was the West Wing, which, according to Mack, was where the meeting between the president, his top military personnel, and Commander Paine was taking place.

  As they turned a corner, two soldiers opened fire on them, forcing him and Lilian to hide behind the wall again.

  “What do you think?” Lilian asked.

  “I think we need to create a distraction,” he said.

  “Agreed.”

  Kevin and Lilian stared at each other. Slowly, matching grins spread across their faces.

  “Let’s do it.”

  Lilian closed her eyes. Her tails became a riot of activity. Kevin couldn’t sense the flow of youki, but he could tell that she was channeling it, preparing for a technique.

  “Celestial Art: False Face.”

  Golden energy gathered in front of them, swirling like the eddies of a stream. The youki coalesced, the streamers merging together to form two shapes, bipedal and familiar. The humanoid figures then changed color, shifting from gold to the color of skin. When the technique was complete, the two shapes looked like carbon copies of him and Lilian.

  “Not bad. Not bad at all. However…”

  “What’s wrong, Beloved?”

  “Why are they naked?”

  Kevin stared at Lilian, who stared back at him. Her cheeks flushed under his gaze. Looking down, Lilian mumbled, “I-I’m not quite good enough to make it look like they’re wearing clothes.”

  “I’m not really excited about having anyone but me see you naked…” Kevin paused, then amended his statement. “I mean having me and Iris see you naked, but I guess we don’t have a choice.”

  “Trust me. I’m not really excited by it either,” Lilian said.

  Regardless of their desires, they needed to create a distraction, so Lilian sent the two out from behind the wall. There was a pause from the other side. Then…

  “What the fuck?!”

  “P-p-put some clothes on!”

  “How indecent!”

  Kevin knew their distraction had worked when shouting reached their ears. He darted out from behind the wall and took aim with both guns. Two shots rang out and two ghostly bullets flew straight through his opponents’ Kevlar vests, striking their souls and knocking them right out. Lilian emerged from behind the wall and the two of them ran up to the door that the soldiers had been guarding.

  The illusions of naked Lilian and Kevin had thankfully disappeared.

  The room that they stepped into was that of a conference room, one that was designed with smaller meetings in mind. Several people were already inside. Kevin recognized the president from the times he’d seen the man on TV. He didn’t recognize the others, but he could tell that they were important from their uniforms. Then there was the man standing at the head of the table.

  If Kevin had been several decades older, he would’ve probably looked like this man. His short blond hair was the same shade as Kevin’s,
and his blue eyes had the same tone, though the man’s appeared much colder than his own. Bulging muscles were hidden under a layer of military clothes. A scar ran across the man’s face, traveling from the crown of his forehead and down to his chin.

  “Mr. President, sorry for barging in here unannounced,” Kevin said.

  “You… you’re that boy who was fighting against the Yokai Killers.” The president seemed flabbergasted. “You’re human.”

  Kevin wanted to say, “Duh,” but then he saw a large cloaked figure standing over a bloody body that he immediately recognized.

  “Justin!”

  He would’ve rushed toward his friend, but in that moment, the cloaked figure shifted. A red visor flashed beneath its hood. Kevin barely had a moment to react before the YK unit attacked him.

  “Beloved!”

  Kevin dropped to the floor, avoiding the giant YK unit’s swinging scimitar. He placed his hands on either side of his head, pushed off the ground, and kicked the flat end of the scimitar. The YK unit’s arm was jerked up above its head.

  That’s when Lilian came in. She appeared directly over him. Her tails coiled together and began emitting light.

  “Celestial Art: Divine Thrust!”

  Lilian thrust her tails into the YK unit’s chest. Light burst from her tails, which drilled straight through its chest and jutted from its back. The machine remained still for a moment. Liquid silver leaked off its body before, like someone jumping into a puddle, the mercuric substance splashed against the ground as the YK unit turned back into liquid.

  “Huh,” Lilian uttered, scratching the side of her head. “I must have hit its core. Are you okay, Beloved?”

  Kevin climbed to his feet and retrained both of his guns on Ethan Paine. “I’m fine. Go check on Justin.”

  Lilian didn’t respond with words. She nodded and went over to Justin, kneeling down and looking at his wounds. He heard her muttering to herself as her tails started to glow, but he focused his attention elsewhere, on the other people in the room, and on the man standing with such a composed expression that he looked like someone who’d already won.

  “Kevin Swift,” Ethan said, enunciating his name slowly. “I have always been curious to see how you’d turn out. I’m disappointed to know that my own son has allowed himself to become ensnared by the seductive nature of a yokai.”

  His words caused muttered whispers to spread around the room. Kevin couldn’t hear what was being said though. His attention was on the man before him.

  “And I’m disappointed that the sperm donor who thinks he can call me his son abandoned my mom, but I’m not here to talk to you about that. Honestly, now that I’m actually here, I couldn’t care less about you. I’m here to speak with the president.”

  Though he didn’t take his eyes off Ethan, the next person that he addressed was the man adorned in a smart-looking business suit.

  “Mr. President, I regret to inform you that this man right here has been lying to you this whole time.”

  The president, to his credit, did not react rashly. While all of the military members were pointing their guns at Kevin, the president remained calm.

  “And what do you mean when you say that he’s lying to me?” he asked.

  “I mean that his plan to eradicate all yokai is going to destroy over seventy-five percent of the United State’s population. That poison he plans on releasing doesn’t target just yokai. It will kill anyone who has yokai ancestry within them. I don’t think I need to tell you this, Mr. President, but yokai and humans have been intermingling for thousands of years. At least eighty to ninety percent of the Earth’s population has at least some yokai blood mixed into their ancestry. What do you think will happen when all those people die? Do you think the survivors are going to rejoice? Or will they blame you for killing so many of your own people?”

  “Is this true, Commander?” asked the president.

  Ethan remained silent for a while, his glare set squarely on Kevin. “Sacrifices are sometimes necessary. To cure cancer, you have to get rid of more than just the roots. You need to destroy every cancerous cell in the body. Otherwise, it will just come back.”

  “So you were going to have us kill most of our population to satisfy your desires!” the admiral growled.

  Ethan remained calm in the face of the admiral’s glare. “Calm down, Admiral, lest you find yourself in a situation that you cannot control.”

  “Is that a threat?” asked the admiral through narrowed eyes.

  “If you wish to take it that way.”

  His anger getting the best of him, the admiral quickly switched from aiming at Kevin to Ethan. Yet before he could pull the trigger, the commander moved quicker than anyone could’ve expected him too, pulling out his own gun and firing.

  “Barrier!”

  Lilian put up a hasty barrier around the admiral. Since the barrier wasn’t well made, the bullet broke through it. However, its trajectory must have been skewed because it only grazed the admiral’s arm. As the military officer went down, the others all opened fire on Ethan, who once again surprised them by taking all of the bullets without flinching. As the metal projectiles glanced off his skin, Kevin came to a startling realization.

  “You’re a machine!” he shouted.

  “I believe the term cyborg is more appropriate,” Ethan said. “I realized several years ago that humans could never compete with yokai simply by genetic enhancements. If we want to fight as their equals, then we need to rely on the one thing we have that they don’t.”

  Beneath Ethan’s skin, which had peeled off in several places, was glistening silver steel. As he stared at the parts, Kevin was reminded of the Terminator. He was expecting Ethan to start saying things like, “I’ll be back,” and “Hasta la vista, baby.”

  He curled his lips in disgust. “So, you turned yourself into a robot? How does that make you any different than the yokai you claim to hate? You’re not even human anymore!”

  “Hmph. I don’t expect a brat who knows nothing of this world to understand anything of the sacrifices I’ve made for humanity.”

  Kevin gestured to Ethan, though he addressed the other people in the room. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the person that you entrusted the future of your nation to. Please take note of his egotistical self-views and complete lack of empathy for your citizens. He’s not looking to save the world from yokai. His only desire is the eradication of everything that has to do with yokai—even if it means killing off more than half of the world’s population.”

  Ethan grunted at his sarcastic remark. “Little boys who’ve spent more time sucking on their mother’s tit than living should learn not to speak out of turn.”

  “Shut up, old man!” Kevin nearly snarled. “My mom went through hell because of you! A man who abandons his family has no right to talk about living! You don’t even know what that word means!”

  “Commander Ethan Paine,” the president said, interrupting. “I do not know everything that this boy is talking about, but I understand that you’ve been deceiving us all this time. Until this situation can be resolved, we’re detaining you.”

  “Who’s going to detain me?” Ethan asked, spreading his arms wide. “All of your men are fighting the yokai, and none of your weapons can—”

  Ethan was cut off when two reinforced tails slammed into him. His feet left the ground, and he flew backwards, crashing into a wall, which crumbled around him.

  “That felt surprisingly good,” Lilian said as she walked up to Kevin’s side. “I had no idea that hitting people who talked too much could feel that good.”

  “You’re becoming awfully violent,” Kevin said.

  “I’m just getting in the mood, Beloved.”

  Kevin chuckled before becoming serious. “How’s Justin?”

  “He’ll live. He’s lost a lot of blood, but I healed his wounds.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Anytime.”

  Rubble flew from the hole in the wall as Ethan charged ba
ck in. With his skin even more damaged, the extent of what he’d done to his body was finally revealed. A bright red receptor was situated in place of his right eye. Around the eye was metal, gleaming steel polished to a shine.

  “Oh, I’ve been waiting for the robot bad guy to make his appearance.” Lilian smacked her left fist into her right hand. “It took a while, though.”

  “It must have been all of that unnecessary world building,” Kevin added as he loosened his stance.

  “Indeed.”

  There was no more time to talk. Ethan was suddenly in their midst. Kevin and Lilian leapt back. While Lilian wrapped her tails around the commander’s wrists, Kevin fired off several spirit bullets, though he clicked his tongue when those projectiles did nothing.

  It must be because he’s part machine now. Does he even still have a spirit?

  He and Lilian traded places. As his mate moved to the front, Kevin moved back to change ammo cartridges. He switched out the bullets in his left gun for water and the ones in his right for thunder.

  Lilian wove between the commander’s punches, moving left and right, redirecting his fists with her reinforced speed. She stumbled when he kicked her leg. Wincing, she regained her balance, only to yelp when Ethan thrust his palm into her solar plexus. Lilian went flying.

  Gritting his teeth as his mate rolled across the floor, Kevin fired Ebony, which spat several water projectiles that splattered against Ethan’s mostly metallic body. While he fired water rounds with Ebony, he charged up Ivory. The barrel of his gun glowed yellow. Arcs of energy crackled inside of it. Brighter and brighter the glow became, and the lightning surges caused the gun to shake in his grip. Then he released it.

  The results were catastrophic. A massive beam tore from the barrel, overtaking Ethan and bathing everything in yellow light. Kevin was blinded. All he could hear was the sound of explosions. His feet slid along the carpet as the power of his own weapon being unleashed pushed him back. He probably would have been blasted off his feet, but two furry tails had wrapped around his torso.