by B.A. Savage
Chapter Eleven
After traveling down the tunnel for nearly twenty minutes, carefully trying to avoid hidden security devices, Archan recognizes the sound of machinery at work. He slides with his back against the rocky wall, and peeks around the corner to see the huge underground laboratory. He carefully surveys the room and finds it unattended. He makes his way toward the little lake in the middle, “Man, this kinda feels like I found the bat cave.”
He walks around the massive room looking for exits, doors, and storage places. Every so often he glances up at some of the high tech machines and laboratory equipment. He finds himself standing in front of the big cylinder of liquid and floating inside, hooked up to tubes and wires is Brick who is apparently sleeping.
“What in the world is going on here?”
He slowly walks up and touches the glass. Archan thinks how peaceful Brick looks, but then remembers this is the man who without hesitation tossed him off the top of the Katsuya building.
Archan tries to attempt to locate the Shelto by talking telepathically, “Keep on thinking so I can find you. Everything will be okay very soon. Help is here.”
Seeing the big steel reinforced cage, he realizes that the Shelto must be inside. At the same time Archan passes the stairwell toward the cage, he notices someone walking down them. It’s Chee-Chee still wearing his shades, with slippers on and a glass of hot chocolate. It’s too late to hide for Archan as they both notice each other at the same time. Chee-Chee yells, “Ah! What are you doing here, idiot?”
Archan realizes he had better shut up this oddity before someone else discovers he’s here. He dives at Chee-Chee with amazing grace but unfortunately Chee-Chee was a little more graceful. Dropping his cup, Chee-Chee runs, hops and screams all around the lab with Archan in chase. Archan can’t trap this little annoying creature, “Come back here!”
“You won’t catch me, idiot! Master! Master!”
Archan is not even coming close to catching Chee-Chee, then Chee-Chee leaps off the top of a computer terminal, spreads his arms and glides across the inside lake.
“You’ve got to be kidding.” gasps Archan.
Once on the opposite side of the lake, Chee-Chee starts to celebrate, “Idiot! No one can catch the Imperial Chee-Chee. Idiot!”
This celebration was a little premature, as Archan starts trying to control Chee-Chee with his mind.
“What are you doing?! Get out of my head!” Chee-Chee, whose brain is a unique mesh of human and animal lobes, is trying to fight Archan’s command.
“No way, idiot! I’m...not...feeling...sleepy,” but Chee-Chee’s tone gets quieter as he starts to lay down,
“Not...fair...idiot.”
“That’s right. Go to sleep now!”
Suddenly, Archan is knocked across the room by a leaping kick from The Host. Slightly dazed, Archan stands up and looks at the man who just kicked him. Well over six feet and 250 pounds of pure muscle that even his monk style outfit can’t hide, this huge black man stands still looking at him. Then with a voice that sends chills up and down Archan’s spine, the bald, intimidating man asks, “Is this all they sent? One measly weak amateur? No insult meant.”
Archan responds, “No insult taken.” Then he charges The Host who easily catches his punch with his open palm, clenching his hand and delivering a solid punch to Archan causing blood to spew out of his mouth. Then still holding Archan’s hand and with his other hand is his midsection, The Host hoists Archan over his head and effortlessly tosses him 20 feet into the outer wall. Without a change of tone or sign of interest The Host says, “I watched you enter upstairs on the monitor and waited until I was sure you were alone to come greet you. Well, at least you got courage and stupidity. This bores me, so I think I’ll let Brick take care of you.”
He then walks over to the computer terminal next to the cylinder holding Brick and presses a few buttons and Brick’s eyes open. The liquid inside the container drains slowly.
“Yeah, idiot! You ain’t worth the master’s time, loser! Get him, Brick.”
Archan’s head had bounced off the wall and as he is still trying to gather his senses, he spits out more blood.
With no emotional change in his demeanor The Host changes his mind, “Actually, I have more pressing things for Brick and Chee-Chee, so I’ll just kill you myself.”
The Host turns back toward Archan, shakes his arms and two 2-foot long blades slide out from under the sleeve of each arm of the robe. As Archan tries to stand he is blindsided by a rock thrown by Chee-Chee causing him to drop to his knees.
“Ha! Ha! Idiot. ”
The Host stands above the dazed Archan and says, “Don’t worry. It’ll all be over soon.”
Cana suddenly appears to the side of The Host, growling and displaying a vicious side Archan didn’t believe existed. Cana attacks The Host who barely saw him coming but The Host’s reflexes are so well tuned that he used Cana’s momentum to toss him into the wall beside Archan with a loud thud. What the naked eye missed was the deep gash that The Host put into Cana’s hind left leg with his blade. The wound is so deep that Cana can’t stand. With the first sign of emotion The Host’s voice lowers to almost a whisper. “Cana? So you’ve decided to interfere once again? Better yet, you dare have the courage to show yourself again.”
Archan realizes that Cana became visible to save him and it must be one of those “times” he was talking about, but how do they know each other? The Host’s attention is now focused on the injured griffin. The look on The Host’s face reveals that he’s going to kill Cana, something he’s been looking forward to.
“Disappear! Get out of here now, Cana!” yells Archan.
The Host stops for a moment and looks at Archan, “So, you have a new pupil and didn’t tell him the drawback of becoming visible to the world? You see, “Protector”, if Cana becomes visible, he can’t go back to the other dimension for a short period of time. Also, he loses the ability to fly. I believe he made this choice to save your life by risking his own. Something he’s not supposed to do. You see if he dies, you’ll become the next griffin.”
The look on Archan’s face let The Host know Cana didn’t tell him.
The Host continues, “I guess the fact that Cana sat back and watched me slay the last “Protector” didn’t hold well with him.” Remembering this brings an eerie smile to his face, and then he continues his death stroll over to the injured Cana.
“Goodbye my old foe, it’s been worth the wait,” says The Host as he lifts one of his blades.
“Oh no you don’t!” yells Katsuya Jr., who with his group of soldiers are standing in the entrance of the tunnel. Katsuya is strapped inside some kind of exo-skeleton robotic suit. His body is completely covered inside this suit, only his head is not, but he’s wearing a helmet with a face shield. At the same time Katsuya was yelling his objection, he fired a highly concentrated shot of sonic waves from his arm cannon nailing The Host, sending him into some of the machines on the wall. This proceeding impact drops several heavy machines on top of him. Some of these flying machine parts crack the glass casing holding Brick and when some of the liquid hits the electrical components the scene lights up like the fourth of July.
Chee-Chee runs and takes cover. Members of The Host’s Menial Sentries run down the stairs and fix themselves into trenches of rock and machines. They exchange fire with Katsuya’s men.
“Get the thief over there in black. He’s the key to capturing that Cana creature!” barks Katsuya to his men. With bullets flying overhead, Archan checks on Cana, “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine in a short time, but I must go now, my wounds will heal faster in flux. But don’t worry help is on the way; get the Shelto ready to leave.”
“Thank you Cana.” referring to Cana saving his life.
“Anytime.”
“I’ll be ready, but who’s the help coming?”
“Fuduka,” then Cana disappears.
“Fuduka?”
The gun fight
seems to be fairly even until Katsuya starts destroying the hiding places of the Menial Sentries with his sonic wave gun. Brick, still wet and in his briefs, runs over toward Archan. Katsuya pushes a few buttons on the arm connected to his sonic gun. Now with the gun at maximum power he aims carefully at the unexpecting Brick. Archan looks up to see Brick’s body hardening to rock form approaching, and then he suddenly explodes. Archan shields himself.
Suddenly from underneath the machinery rubble, The Host violently gets up sending equipment flying. “Enough!” yells The Host, “Katsuya! Get ready to die!”
As he makes his way out of the rumble unscarred, he walks around the edge of the lake in open view towards Katsuya standing by the tunnel.
Bullets rip through The Host’s robe but doesn’t affect him or slow him down. Whenever one of Katsuya’s men makes an attempt at slowing his inevitable advance, he is killed by losing his head or wounded fatally from The Host’s extended blades.
Katsuya says, “What’s this?”, not referring to the approaching man of death but to the recently emerged whale looking creature in the lake, with a beautiful woman standing on top. She’s wearing a skin tight ocean blue outfit revealing her beautiful physique. Archan, who’s just finished opening the crate housing the Shelto, notices her too, but also notices the massive muscular man, wearing blue jean like pants, standing with her.
“Each day keeps getting weirder and weirder,” says Archan and thinks Katsuya.
“I’m Fuduka. We will take you and the Shelto from here, but let’s hurry, I don’t want my friend being hurt more than necessary” referring to the creature she’s standing on.
Looking into the dark crate, Archan tells the Shelto, “Let’s go.”
Archan had no clue what the Shelto looked like and no description would have prepared him for what he was about to see. Exiting the crate is a humpback man-beast that easily would be over seven feet standing straight upward. The creature had no hair of any kind on its body. The humped back had a hard shell texture. This creature is extremely muscular with hoofed feet and three fingers on each hand and claws that are physically capable of ripping a person to shreds, but has a face of a childish innocence. The Shelto is scared and it shows.
“It’s gonna be okay. I promise,” thinks Archan with assurance in his tone.
Katsuya turns the sonar gun to stun and aims it at Archan, who is busy trying to safely lead the Shelto to Fuduka. Most of Katsuya’s men are now focusing on the approaching Host. Katsuya himself wasn’t. A huge gash is cut into the EX0-5 suit sending Jin-Jun reeling.
“How in the world?! This is made out of titanium,” asks Katsuya. The Host readies for another swing when one of Katsuya’s men dive at The Host, who easily separates the man’s head from his falling body. This little delay allowed Katsuya time to turn the sonic gun back to maximum. He nails The Host dead center of his chest sending him several feet through the air. The Host immediately rises and starts toward Katsuya again.
“That’s...that’s impossible! You should be dead!” Katsuya declares, and then realizes that after a maximum shot it takes two minutes to re-charge, and with it seemingly useless against this man, Katsuya yells to his men over his headset, “Retreat! Retreat!”
Katsuya activates his thrusters in his boots, lifts in hover-like form and takes flight exiting through the tunnel followed by some of his men and with an angry Host chasing after them.
Fuduka tells Archan that the only way out was inside the whale-like creature.
She says, “Trust me. It’s safe. I sleep inside her often.”
“Her?” asks Archan.
“Yes, her name is Lynn.”
Archan looks over and after seeing The Host stand up immediately after the sonic blast and the shocked look on Katsuya’s face, he decides that this just might be the safest way, “Okay, let’s go.”
He calmly coaxes the Shelto inside the beast.
The muscular guardian standing next to her dives into the water and so does Fuduka, then Archan notices a fish tail on the guardian.
“A mermaid?” asks Archan.
“Merman,” corrects the guardian.
“We need to go,” says Fuduka with tension in her voice.
Archan walks into Lynn’s mouth, which closes, they all submerge.
Katsuya radios ahead to have the armada “Liquidate” the tunnel when he comes out.
“What about the men?” asks the head pilot.
“What about them? You have your orders.”
Once Katsuya exits the tunnel, the armada fires several missiles down the tunnel causing massive destruction and closes the tunnel. Katsuya then lands inside the helicopter fitted to hold the EXO-5 suit. Baino who had been waiting with the tech team, looks over the damaged suit and with Jin-Jun being the sole survivor asks, “Well?”
“The Shelto project is done.”
“Hmm...”
Katsuya and the tech team unlatch him from the suit as they fly back to headquarters.
For what felt like hours, Archan tries to sleep in the complete black odd smelling place he was confined to, but the fearful thoughts of the Shelto keep him from doing that. Realizing that the Shelto was nothing more than a massive child, he comforts it. When the mouth of Lynn opens revealing that it is night time and they are a few feet out from the coast of McLaughlin City, Archan starts to walk out with the Shelto, until Cana says, “No, the Shelto must stay with them. They will take it to a safe place. A place far from men.” Cana stands on the shore. Archan assures the Shelto that everything will be okay, then exits the mouth. The mouth shuts and Archan swims to shore. Fuduka standing in the shallow part of the ocean says, “Thank you Archan.”
“No problem. So, you must be the other?”
“Yes.”
“And that’s your guardian, huh?”
“Yes, that is Leander.”
“Cool.”
“Well, we must be leaving now. We have a long swim ahead. Good luck Archan. Cana, until we meet again.”
“Yes, until we meet again.”
Then they all submerge. Archan walks over and stands next to Cana.
“We will see them again,” says Archan.
“Yes, Archan. Yes, we will.”
“This was one of my good days”
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www.savageworlde.com
