“What do you plan on doing now, boy?” the gama asked, his every word oozing smug satisfaction. “Are you gonna shoot me? If you do, your little friend will die. My blood is acidic, and if it gets on her… well, that would be good bye, wouldn’t it?”
Kevin’s teeth ached as he ground them together. He didn’t know much about gama physiology, so he couldn’t tell if this man was lying. Without knowing whether the toad’s words were a bluff or not, he couldn’t afford to shoot.
The gama laughed. “That’s right! You can’t shoot me! You’re weak; just as I’d expect from a human! Your whole race is pathetic! You humans think you’re so smart, with your guns and your missiles and your oh-so-impressive technology, but you’re nothing but a bunch of worms wiggling on the ground! You and all your kind need to dieEEEEEE! WAH! I’M ON FIRE!”
Kevin was silent as the gama spontaneously combusted. The toad was forced to let go of Christine, whose ears and tails were visible once more. Cat ears twitching, the girl scrambled out of the way and turned to him, her eyes seemingly far different than he was used to.
“Nyow’s your chance, lover boy! Shoot him!”
Kevin didn’t hesitate. His guns flashed as he pulled the triggers. Fire exploded from his silver gun while ice lanced from the black one. The fire bullets detonated against the toad’s face, melting his skin, while the ice bullets hit the areas that weren’t on fire, sinking deep into green flesh and covering him in a crystal sheen. The toad croaked as he stumbled out of the room. Kevin’s relentless barrage of gunfire rained down upon him. His body fell like a stringless puppet, twitching several times before going still.
“Are you all right, Christine?”
“Nya ha ha!” Christine laughed. Kevin blinked. What the hell? “That was a good job, nya! I really am impressed! I can see why my nyother half likes you so much!”
“Your… nyother… half?” Was it just Kevin, or had Christine’s speech impediment when in her nekomimi form gotten worse?
“Oh, that’s right, nya. I haven’t introduced nyself yet!” Christine struck a pose that was most unusual for her. She placed her fists on her hips and thrust out her chest, grinning at him. A single fang poked out from her mouth, and her cat ears twitched in what seemed like excitement. “I am Christine’s nyeko half. I don’t have a nyame, but if you want to call me something, then I would like it if you called me Kitty.”
“Kitty?”
“Kitty.”
“Okay.” Kevin decided to just roll with it. “So, um, Kitty?”
“Nyes?” Kitty smiled, cuddling up to him in a way that Christine would never do. It was all kinds of freaky.
“What happened to Christine, if you don’t mind my asking?”
“She panicked when that toad captured her, nya. When I realized that she was frozen in shock, I decided to help her by taking control of her body.”
Kevin struggled for a moment with that idea. He didn’t like the thought of someone taking control of his friend’s body, but he consoled himself with the knowledge that this was Christine’s bakeneko side. Surely, this “Kitty” wouldn’t do anything to hurt his friend, right?
“And where is Christine right now? Is she, like, trapped inside of her mind or something?”
“Nyo, nyo.” Kitty waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “She’s simply sleeping. I was a little forceful when I pushed my presence to the top, so her spirit went into her subconscious, which is where I usually reside, nya.”
“So she’s all right?”
“Are you worried about her?” Kitty asked with a leering grin.
Kevin frowned. “Of course, I am. Christine’s a good friend of mine. I’d never forgive myself if she got hurt.”
“Just a friend, huh?” Kitty muttered, looking displeased.
“Huh?”
“Nyothing. Let’s get nyout of here.”
“Sounds good to me.”
They walked out of the room and into the hallway. Kevin frowned when he noticed that the gama’s body was gone. There wasn’t even a blood stain. Strange…
“Let’s go, Chri—Kitty.”
Kevin took a single step forward… and then fell to his knees as a sense of dizziness overcame him. A thick green smog appeared in the hallway. Kevin felt his airways become clogged, as if the smog was invading his esophagus with every inhale, and it burned. If acid turned into mist and entered his throat, he imagined this was about what it would have felt like.
“Kevin!”
Kitty rushed to his side, but fell to her knees and began hacking as well.
“Ke ke ke…” Laughter permeated the hall. It echoed along the walls, mocking and foul. “You didn’t really think it would be that easy to beat me, did you? Foolish children. I’m going to make you pay for your arrogance!”
Kevin struggled not to breathe as he reached for the hood on his back. It was hard when his lungs felt like they were blistering, yet he somehow managed it, pulling the hood over his head until it covered his face. Almost instantly, fresh oxygen flowed into his lungs as the breathing apparatus attached to his hood did its job. He coughed several times, blood splattering against the inside of his hood, but he ignored that and turned to Christine. She was lying face down on the floor.
“Hey!” the gama’s voice echoed all around him. “What are you doing? That’s cheating!”
He ignored the voice and scurried over to her, placing his hands on her shoulder and turning her onto her back. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, and her pupils were dilated. Drool leaked out of her mouth as she continued trying to futilely breathe in oxygen that wasn’t there.
Come on, Kevin! Think! Think! There has to be something that you can do to save her!
Only one possible way of saving Christine came to mind. Taking oxygen into his mouth but not his lungs, Kevin didn’t hesitate to rip off his hood. Leaning down, he plugged Christine’s nose and placed his mouth over hers, breathing oxygen into her.
“What are you doing?! Stop that!”
Christine’s body shuddered, but she didn’t respond. Kevin went back into his hood, took more oxygen into his mouth, then repeated the process again. Then again. And again. It wasn’t until his fourth time that Christine’s body jerked and breathed in the oxygen he was giving her. Her eyes were wide open, and she looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.
Kevin pulled back after she began breathing normally and shouted, “Close your eyes and hold your breath!”
Christine—or was it Kitty?—closed her eyes and mouth. After pulling his hood back on, Kevin scooped the girl into his arms and took off down the hall.
“Come back here, brat!”
Kevin ignored the angry shouts of the gama and tore through the hall. He turned a corner, which had more of the smog hovering in the air, then turned another corner and another. The smog was everywhere. Looking down at Christine, he saw that her face was turning blue from lack of oxygen.
Dang it! There has to be something that I can do to help her!
This gas seemed to be some kind of acidic vapor. If that was the case, then it might be flammable. If they could somehow burn the gas away… but no, that would kill them in the process… unless.
“Christine! Can you use your ice and fire powers at the same time?”
With her eyes still closed, Christine shook her head.
“Can you at least try? You’re our only hope right now!”
She hesitated for a single second, but then slowly nodded.
“In that case, when I tell you to, I want you to encase us in a shell of ice, then I want you to create a spark outside of the shell. You’ll need to hold the shell for at least ten seconds. Can you do that?”
Kevin understood that what he suggested was reckless and foolhardy. He was asking her to create a layer of ice over them, then ignite the gas outside by creating a spark, while protecting them from the ensuing blast with the ice shell. Disregarding the fact that being in the middle of an explosion could kill them without the heat burning them alive,
there were still so many things that could go wrong.
He also understood that this was the only option they had.
Christine nodded, showing that she, too, likely understood this.
“Then get ready.”
Kevin stopped running. It was no use anyway. He dropped to his knees and pulled Christine into his chest, holding her close. It wouldn’t be much, but as this was his plan, the least he could do was protect her from the shock wave that would be unleashed by the explosion.
“NOW CHRISTINE!”
Kevin squeezed his eyes shut, so he saw nothing but darkness, but he could feel just fine. And boy did he feel. He could feel the ice as it covered his body, encasing him, freezing him to the bone. His heart slowed down as it was also affected by the cold. Yet he held tenaciously to his consciousness. He couldn’t allow himself to pass out right now!
Then came the explosion. He heard it as much as felt it, a powerful detonation that made his ears bleed and his hearing go with a pop. His body was battered as the area surrounding him was caught in a fierce shockwave. It felt like he was being compressed, squished. He could feel his bones being crushed by the immeasurable pressure of a powerful detonation. Boiling heat and bone-chilling cold mixed together, further devastating his body.
And then it was over. The explosions stopped. Everything became still, eerily so.
Kevin remained where he was, kneeling on the floor, holding Christine. His body twitched as he fought his subconscious desire to go into shock. Huddled within his grasp, Christine shuddered, reminding him of why he couldn’t let himself surrender to darkness.
“C-Christine? Kitty? Are you okay?”
Christine didn’t say anything, and Kevin began to worry. What if she was hurt? What if she was unconscious? What if that shaking was her body going into a series of convulsions?
“I… I’m fine,” she said at last, her voice shaking like her body.
Kevin could have cried in relief. “I’m so glad…”
“Kevin?”
“I’m so glad that you’re okay,” Kevin whispered.
A pair of thin arms wrapped around his waist. “I’m glad that you’re okay, too. I-I mean, because you’re my friend and all—n-not because I love you or anything.”
Kevin normally would have felt uncomfortable by her statement, but right then, all he could do was laugh. Christine’s arms tightened as she buried her face into his chest, and he could already picture her blushing.
They stayed like that for some time before finally breaking apart. Kevin stood up first, then offered his hand to Christine, who accepted it and allowed him to pull her to her feet. He felt a little wobbly at first. His ears had been damaged by the explosion, so his balance was off, but he kept from showing this weakness to Christine.
“What should we do now?” Christine asked.
“We need to find that toad yōkai,” Kevin said.
Christine’s expression shifted to confusion. “But shouldn’t that explosion have taken care of him?”
“No.” Kevin shook his head. “I’m positive that he escaped the blast, but even if he didn’t, I’d like to see proof that he’s dead.”
“And if he isn’t? What then? Do you plan to kill him?”
Kevin paused, but only for a moment before his resolve hardened. “He’s not leaving us any choice. If I don’t kill him, he’ll kill us, and if it’s a choice between him and us, well, I like us a lot better than I like him.”
“I-I guess that is true…”
When he saw the uncertainty marring Christine’s face, Kevin gently rubbed her head. “Don’t worry. I won’t let your hands get stained with blood. I’ll be shouldering this particular burden myself.” He gave her a mirthless smile. “Considering how much blood is already on my hands, a little more won’t hurt.”
Christine frowned and blushed at the same time. It was adorable.
As they walked off, retracing their footsteps, a still-blushing Christine glanced at Kevin.
“Um, K-Kevin?”
“Yes?”
Christine twiddled her fingers. “Um, a-about that… that… k-kiss…”
“Hm? What was that?”
“I… I wanted to talk about well… you know, how, um, y-you… k-kissed me…”
“Kiss?” Kevin felt a brief moment of confusion. What was she… oh! Right! “That wasn’t a kiss, really. Well, it was at its most basic level, but I did it because it was the only thing I could think of to help you breathe.”
The frown on Christine’s face sent alarm bells through Kevin’s head. “So… you didn’t want to kiss me, is what you’re saying?”
That question had so many answers that Kevin didn’t know which one to choose.
“Uh…”
Christine stared.
“Well…”
And stared.
“Look, it’s not…”
And when, after several seconds, Kevin refused to answer her question, she kicked him in the shin. Hard.
“Jerk!”
Kevin screamed.
Before too long, he and Christine returned to where their battle originally began. There was no sign of the gama, which meant that he must have moved on.
The wreckage from the explosion was obvious, even here. The walls were dripping with molten cement, which drizzled along the surface. It made Kevin wonder how hot that explosion was, and how he and Christine had survived.
That should have killed us.
It should have, but it didn’t. Kevin didn’t understand how they were still alive, but he knew better than to question it. They had survived, somehow, and that was what mattered.
Reaching the door Phoebe and Heather were behind, Kevin saw that it was bowed and warped, the door bent inwards. The shock wave and heat created from the explosion must have severely damaged it. That was impressive. These doors were thick.
Walking up, Kevin touched the door with his foot. It groaned before falling to the ground, and he stepped through it, Christine following close behind him. As he surveyed the area, he noticed that Phoebe and Heather were both still there, and Phoebe, at least, appeared to be fully cognizant.
“Kevin Swift…”
“Hold on, Phoebe. I’ll get you out of here.” He stopped behind her, pulled out a knife from within his boots, and sliced through the binds along her arms and legs.
“Why are they naked?!” asked a shocked Christine.
“They were likely stripped as a form of mental torture,” Kevin said. “Dang it. I wish I at least had a blanket to cover them up with.”
Not that it would do much good since their modesty had already been shattered.
“I am surprised,” she muttered softly as he helped her sit up. “I did not expect you to come rescue me. I had not expected anyone to come rescue me.”
“Lucky for you, Polydora found us and told us what was happening, and I’d never leave a friend to rot in a place like this. Can you stand?”
“Yes, I believe I can.”
Phoebe edged off the table and slid onto her feet. Her legs buckled the moment she touched solid ground, and she fell forward.
“Woah!” Kevin caught her before she could fall. “Easy there. If you can’t walk, just say so. We’re not going to think any less of you.”
“We?” Phoebe asked before her eyes landed on Christine, who stood behind Kevin.
“That’s right. You two haven’t been introduced yet.” Kevin gestured to Christine. “Phoebe, this is Christine. She’s a very good friend of mine, and probably one of the nicest tsunderes you’ll ever meet.”
“Pardon?”
“That tsundere comment was uncalled for,” Christine muttered. “Anyway, it’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.” Phoebe nodded to her, then turned back to Kevin. “Is Polydora here?”
“She’s here somewhere, though I don’t know if she’s in the base proper.”
Setting Phoebe against the table she’d been bound to, Kevin moved over to Heather and cut her bindings. When
she didn’t respond at all, he tilted her head toward him and opened one of her eyelids. Her pupils were dilated and sightless, like she wasn’t all there. He grimaced and lifted her into a fireman's carry, then walked back over to Phoebe.
“Our plan was to have her and your other companions distract the main guard, then sneak in and rescue you while their base was empty,” Kevin continued as he wrapped an arm around Phoebe’s waist and let her lean on him.
“My other companions?” she asked.
“Several of your yama uba comrades came with us on this rescue mission,” Kevin grunted when Phoebe put most of her weight on him. “They launched a frontal assault.”
“So I see. I will trust that they are alive, then. My friends are a strong group. They’ll not be bested by the yōkai in this base.”
“Except maybe that Hebi guy,” Kevin muttered as he began to move. He felt weighed down by the two. Heather was basically dead weight and Phoebe wasn’t much better. “According to Cien, he’s the leader of the entire Yamata Alliance, though I have no clue what he’s doing in a place like this. Kotohime is supposed to be engaging him, though, so hopefully they won’t have to worry about fighting him. Christine, I’m sorry to ask this of you, but can you be my spotter? I won’t be much good in a fight if I’m carrying these two, so I’ll need you to warn me of anybody approaching in advance.”
That gama was still out there. He’d been hoping to take care of that guy first, but he couldn’t very well leave these two alone.
“Don’t worry,” Christine said, sounding determined. “I’ll keep a lookout for anyone suspicious.”
“Thank you.”
They exited the room and began a slowly walk down the hall. Christine took point, and Kevin was impressed when, instead of peeking around a corner, she used her ice to create a mirror that she looked through. It was an ingenious method of making sure no one was lying in wait.
“Kevin,” Christine whispered as they stood near another corner. A small mirror floated in front of Christine, and she was looking through it with narrowed eyes. “I’ve found the toad guy.”
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