Shining in Darkness [Brandon-Kusatta-Hikaru]

[Blaka]

Kusatta didn't notice any of that. All he noitced was the pain running through him from head to toe. His giant hippo-like feet trampled dozens of the spiky plants. The empty syringe dropped from his shoulder on the ground in front of him. As the 2000 kilogram lizard stepped on it, the plastic tube broke into a thousand little pieces that immediatly dug themselves into the bottom of his right forefoot. His eyes teared up and huge dinosaurus tears dropped down on the ground, freezing almost immediatly. His throat hurt from the constant roaring. His ears picked up on Tori talking, but his brain was too distracted to recognize any words. The, his foredhead hit something hard.

All of the sudden, after what seemed an eternity, the pain stopped. There was still a throbbing after effect, but not comparable to whatever had just happened. His vision and self-control returned. Wheezing, the giant animal stopped stomping and looked around. Dust. Dust everywhere. His front half was standing in what looked like a former living room.  Directly in front of him there was a wooden wall with a clock and a few pictures of a happy family. He recognized a woman on one of them as the one he had seen Tori talk to earlier, when Kusatta was chasing his avian crewmate up the mountain. Coughing, he turned his head to the left, where he saw a kitchen sink full with broken dishes and woodplanks. For some reason, a chair was lying upside down on the counter next to it. On the floor near his feet there was one half of a table. Looking to his right, he discovered the other half of the table, three more chairs lying around randomly, a knocked over longcase clock - and the farmer woman from the pictures. Frozen in shock, she was just standing there, staring at the colossal reptile that had just ripped a two times four meter hole in her living room wall. Her and Kusatta's eyes met.
The woman was about to scream, but a yell voice from Nezumi Tori interrupted her.
"Komurasu! Fukushu-sha!"

Darkness. Again.
Immediatly, the Shining Pirate was confronted by the awful smell from earlier. It revealed to him that the enemy was too close to transform or turn around, so he had to go with another measure. There was no way to know how many of these injections Tori had at his disposal, maybe he just wasted his only one, but all that mattered was preventing another one of those hits.
"Get away!" shouted the Stegosaurus. "Stego Stab!"
Swinging his tail at the target behind him, he tried to turn around on the spot. Despite the fact that he couldn't hear it, he still felt that he was taking another good chunk of the wall down doing so.
Unfortunately, his tail didn't hit anything. Instead, he suddenly felt cold sharp metal stab cut his left side, all the way from his hindleg up to his ribcage. On top of that, the moment the blade entered his body, he could actually see the bounty hunter running past him, slicing into the Stego's skin as he ran. Roaring in rage and pain once more, he stumbled to the right, away from the masked attacker. Instantly, as soon as has was past the pirate, Tori disappeared again. To give himself more room to get away, he shrunk again, turning back into his human form. Holding the wound with on hand, he tried to use the other to balance himself out, but stumbled over the broken table and fell flat on his face into the rubble.

At the same time, the darkness vanished whereever it came from. Now the three of them were inside the living room: First, Nezumi Tori, standing where a wall had been just half a minute ago, panting, blood dripping from his rapier. Second, Kusatta Kotei, trying to get up from the floor, groaning, blood flowing out of the huge cut wound. Third, the woman the farmhouse belonged to, fainting.

[Vio]

So, what was Brandon the Penguin to do? Being airborne was typically a bad thing in his books, or whatever it was that humans liked to stare at for hours on end, but at least in this instance he was not being tossed and tumbled around in the wind. Not at all. This time, the flattened fowl was floating fleasantly- err- pleasantly in the still, cold air and looking down upon the battlefield with beady black eyes. And yet he still felt like he needed to do something. The roaring of the giant orange lizard that was the smelly chef filled the air with pain and, as a member of the flock that called themselves the Shining Pirates, the little penguin just could not tolerate it. He remembered a long time ago, when a seal had taken a bite out of one of his elders, that the old fowl had happily sat on a rock with his bloodied back to the sun for days on end until the wound had healed. During that time, others had brought him fish to feed upon and maintain his strength. And even Brandon himself had helped to fend off ravenous sky birds in search of an easy meal.

Oru! That was it. Mister Penguin had made up his mind. With some fast and furious folding, he managed to fashion himself into the form of a paper plane, much as he had done once before. They core difference between the way he had folded himself then and the way he did so now was the shape he took. Now the wings were larger, his body stockier, and the unusually feathery airfoil floated steadily through the air after Kusatta and the masked marauder. Through the skies he soared rather slowly, managing a decent pace, but not enough to keep up with the startling running speeds of the man with the mysterious mask. Or, indeed, the rampaging reptile that had brought down the house. Quite literally. Somewhere within his avian mind, he was certain that it was supposed to be a figure of speech, but who was he to question the curious methods of the human race?

Earp...? Already one thing was noticeable about Brandon's current capabilities, and that was the fact that he now had far better control over where he was flying to than ever before. The shape he had taken was no built for speed, but for stability, something which he knew he would have had to compensate for at some point. The winds were his worst enemy before, sending him tumbling through the air with little control, but now he was the boss. The papery penguin was well and truly flying through the air like any other sky bird! Well, not quite. This was more like falling with style, because there was no conceivable way for him to adjust his altitude without accidentally crash landing. But that was for another time. Right now, he was more concerned about reaching his comrade and lending a hand. Or a flipper, even. Honestly, these figures of speech were starting to become a nuisance.

"Komurasu!" Before the bumbling bird could completely close the distance upon the human nest, a strange blotch of pitch darkness enveloped it. It was the same shade in which he had been entrapped before, and now it was obvious who the culprit was. That accursed power was much like Brandon's own folding skills, and the focal point was Nezumi Tori. That said, stopping the peculiar person was a task easier said than done. A piece of paper striking his head was going to do nothing, as the hapless penguin had already proven, and his usefulness was highly limited by the all-consuming block of darkness that enveloped the area. With a gentle adjustment of his wings, Brandon looped around in a steady arc, watching carefully for signs of an opening. There was no way to tell what was going on in their, for sight and sound were rendered useless. Smell and touch were the only way to discern what was happening within, but what use were such senses as those when he was outside of the blackness? Surprisingly, some of the wooden structure still lay outside of the field of dark, and the collapsing wall emerging from the black box was a surprisingly good indicator of where the orange lizard-man was.

Kuaa! The darkness cleared instantaneously, revealed a half-demolished room within the human nest that told many a tale of what had just transpired. The broken wood, the unconscious female, the bloody wound upon his comrade's side. Now he could see. Brandon was needed now more than ever. In one fell swoop (though some would say swooping is bad), the feathery fellow turned about and aimed himself straight for Tori. One part at a time, he quickly converted himself from the bulky and slow plane to something far more sleek and streamlined. Thinner and longer than any shape taken before, this form of paper plane was most definitely built for high speeds, but lacked control. Not that it mattered. There was no need to try and turn, for his target was dead ahead. In his ears the wind whistled as he hurtled down from above, approaching the masked man with such speed that to even think of turning could send the penguin plummeting to his doom. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but still.

"Kuuuuuuuoh!" Closer and closer he drew, unseen by the humans below, until the sharpened point of Brandon's face was just a few feet away from the swordsman's own motionless maw. Without hesitation, the latter made to step aside, his words to Mister Kotei interrupted by the presence of a particularly persistent penguin. But evasive manoeuvres only offered him so much safety, for his billowing cloak was caught in Brandon's beak. Forcefully tossed about and unraveled, the awkward avian tumbled past Tori and tore away his robe, only to end up being wrapped up inside it...

SPOILER: Click to show

Nezumi Tori (d8c9e7)

[Blaka]

For a moment, the two of them stayed where they were. Both the young and the old man panting as they gathered their strength again. Blood continued to splatter down from Kusatta's wound. This would leave a nasty scar if it ever healed. Pressing his left hand against the wound, the young man sat there on the ground on all fours. His right hand was bleeding as well. While the pieces of the syringe inside it didn't do a lot to his animal form, his human hand was a tiny compared to the dino's giant foot. Accordingly, the cuts caused by the shattered plastic tube's pieces ran much deeper. One particularly nasty one sat right between his index and ring finger.
To think he was that powerless against a sneaky bastard like Nezumi Tori! Furious, he sat there on the ground, staring at the ground, gnarling every few seconds because he didn't know how to convey his emotion in any other way anymore. The assassin next to him didn't have any visible injuries. Still, his breath wasn't going any slower. Did the hits from earlier really that much damage? The coat had to be hiding any potential wounds, including that obviously broken arm.

After a few seconds, the fencer took a step in Kusatta's direction.
"No!" With all the strength his legs could bring up, the Shining Pirate pushed himself up from the ground - then stumbled a couple of steps away from the attacker before breaking down on the ground again. A direct confrontation in this confined space would be his end. Somehow, the fight had to be stalled!
"Your power! I didn't think there would be one stronger than my own! "
For the first time, Kusatta could hear his opponent laugh. A quiet chuckle sounded from inside the unmoving crocodile's head:
"Krohehe! You shouldn't take me for a fool kid." For a second, he had to take a break from talking in favor of taking a deep husky breath. "Do you think I know what you are doing? Trying to prolong your life by talking?"
The swordman raised his blade once more, pointing it at his target's head, but kept standing where he was.
"It will not safe you. Let me help put you in your place: The Rasu Rasu no Mi has helped me slay more than 50 of you pirate scum by now. None of them could cope with my abilities. You are the first target to ever put a scratch on me! Congratulations!"
A red puddle had formed on the floor under the smelly chef by now.
"I broke your arm!" he protested "You think that's just a scratch?!?"
"My arm? You really think I'd let you do that? The longer you sit their bleeding the wea-"

Before the arrogant killer could finish his sentence, Brandon the penguin came to his crewmate's rescue. It was all too fast for the skinny teenager to see properly. The end result however was the bird ripping the coat off of the masked man's body and crashing into the ground near the counter. The avian's sudden appearance was not the surprising thing though. Kusatta saw now why his adversary wouldn't let him break his arm: It wasn't there!

Under the coat, Tori was shirtless. A muscular body was revealed under it. Instead, gray and light brown tattoos, resembling an alligator's scales covered the entire body. Where his shoulder should have a left arm attached to it was...nothing. Not even a scar showed there, perhaps covered by the tatoos.
"GUAAAAAH!" A wrathful shout escaped the crocodile freak's snout as he turned towards the poor avian who revealed his secret.

Enough stalling. If the bounty hunter wasn't going to learn to leave the penguin alone, he would have to be stopped altogether. He couldn't stand, so the young pirate would have to Even though it hurt like hell, Kusatta grabbed the Purudake weapon on his belt, hit the button and hurled it at the enemy in one fluent movement.

As the skinny spearthrower fell flat on his face, screaming in agony, the Yari burried intself into its target's stomach.

[Vio]

Oru? Everything had gone dark again, Brandon's eyes unable to see through the all consuming darkness that had wrapped itself around his fallen form. However this was not the same darkness as before, to be sure, but an altogether more natural blackness broken by the slightest hints of colour. Being entombed in an incomprehensible cube of darkness and silence was one thing but, at present, the peculiar penguin instead found himself fighting to break free of a binding that he had roped himself into. Nezumi Tori's cloak having been so suddenly torn from his body, the fabric now found itself embracing a much smaller form whose beak and flippers and feet fought against it. The cloth reeked of sweat, much to the disgust of the individual around whom it was now wrapped, and soon he found himself questioning which was worse. The sweaty cloth that constricted him? Or the open blackness that stole away the sound? His mind was prefering the latter...

Regardless of which form of imprisonment he faced, there was no denying that Mister Penguin was in a sticky situation. Incapable of breaking free of his current confines, squawking and grunting frantically as he tried to force his way out, the awkward avian was completely unaware of the fact that Tori was bearing down upon him. Enraged by his secret having been revealed to at least one member of the present party, the masked man radiated an intensity that any animal worth his salt could sense. Time was of the essence, but space was making that a lot more difficult as Brandon finally managed to force his head out of a tear he had made in the garment. Through an unusual act of folding, his feet currently sat behind his head, his midriff flattened and curled in such a way that none could see behind the furls of fabric. But despite the difficulties of his current stance, beady black eyes could now see the terrifying figure that approached.

"Kuoh!" Squawking in panic, his monochromatic plumage ruffled in fright in a rather hapless attempt at making himself look a lot bigger than he was, Brandon could only watch in absolute terror as the piercing blue eyes of the now scaled man gazed upon him. The intent was as clear as day, completely consuming all of the folding fowl's attentions as old one-arm took one final step towards him. Cowering and quivering as he lay there, helpless upon the ground, it was no surprise that he screwed his eyes shut and expected the absolute worst. But the worst did not come. A shriek of pain echoing in his ears was produced by the distinctively pitched cries of Kusatta Kotei, but what followed that was another yell of pain that was far less frightening.

Kuaa? The sound of heavy footsteps moving away from him prominent as he opened his eyes, Brandon was rather shocked to see a segmented spear of vegetation protruding from the abdomen of none other than Nezumi. The toned musculature and scaly look spoke of toughened hide like that of a reptile, but the reality was far from that. No human flesh could withstand the piercing power of a steel tooth embedding itself within exposed flesh, drawing a distinct trail of bloody crimson from the tensed stomach that trickled down. With his only hand having released any weapons, the masked marauder moved quickly to wrap clawed fingers about the shaft of the strange weapon, wrenching it free with all of his strength and casting it to the floor. Meanwhile, the papery penguin himself struggled once more to break free of his confines, succeeding finally through sheer force of will. That and a rather large tear he had made through it with his beak.

However, what was important now was the fact that he was free, and his opponent wounded. Kusatta, also heavily injured, was in no state to fight on. But it seemed that, to Brandon's eyes at least, the same could be said for Tori. Bloodied and standing hunched over, the one-armed warrior was practically growling at the two pirates who had managed to thwart his attempts. And, all of a sudden, it was the helpless little bird that felt all the more confident. Forwards he waddled, determination upon his feathered face, raising his right flipper and pointing it out to his side. Quickly and quietly, the flipper flattened further and elongated, folding itself into a form reminiscent of a thin sword. It was remarkable how courageous the normally cowardly comrade was now that his foe had been weakened, and just as surprising how uncertain that very adversary had become at the sight of such a thing.

"Oruu!" Bounding forward with as much strength as he could muster, Brandon swung his papery weapon towards his foe, to which the target responded by hopping back a short distance. Once confident in his capabilities, Tori now seemed just like any wild animal when wounded. Cautious of everything, trying to act as if he had strength within him, but such an act was merely a facade that the penguin's eyes could see straight through. Humans were far less skilled at making themselves seem stronger than they were, and the scaled swordsman was no exception to that rule. Once more, Mister Penguin hopped forwards, taking yet another horizontal swing of his paper rapier and sending his foe yet further back until he was standing beyond the boundaries of the ravaged human nest. The priority here was keeping him away from the smelly chef, whose distinct odour was now mixed with the stench of blood that had been shed.

"Arura rua Kuaa," Brandon bellowed bravely, pointing his folded flipper at his foe. Of course, it was unlikely anybody present actually understood what he meant. Well, at least not through the incomprehensible quacking that came from his beak. Sometimes understanding was not hindered by language barriers, the once frightening fighter seeming to grunt in recognition of what the penguin had said. But his grunt was not one of acceptance, but one of denial. In a movement so swift that it was practically invisible, the steel sliver held in Tori's now bloodied hand whipped forwards in an attempt to slice through feather-coated flesh, nicking just a few bits of down from the brave bird's breast. But it failed to draw blood, the blade coming too short and pain wracking the warrior's body. He muttered something in the strange tongue of humans, but such words were soon lost to another sound.

"BAAAAA!!" The sound of dozens of woolly wanderers filling the air, the faintest rumbling quickly transformed into something akin to an earthquake as a mass of legged clouds charged from the fields. Pain having taken complete control of his body, Nezumi Tori could do nothing but stumble backwards in apparent disbelief as the barmy army swept him up in a tide of tangled hair and cloven hooves. Brandon could only watch as their adversary fought against the wave, only to be met by the spiral horns of the fowl's former foe. A single jarring strike to the wounded stomach was enough to topple the terror and have him dragged along as the ram got the flock out of there...

SPOILER: Click to show

I'd imagine Tori has some last words as he gets carried away by Curly's flock, but I thought I'd leave those to you. Also, the matter of Kusatta's wound? I assume the woman who passed out will wake up and treat his injury? Seems the most necessary course of action...

[Blaka]

Kusatta barely took noticed anything that was going on around him. Barely consciouss, he was lying on his stomach, pressing both his hands against his wound. The puddle of blood around his stomach was getting larger and larger, his sweater was soaked in red by now.

Yes, his eyes saw how the penguin was driving the masked assassin back, but other than Brandon being fine he barely cared about what he was looking at.

"Arura rua Kuaa!" declared the papery fowl. Both Tori and Kusatta grunted in response. Unlike Tori's, Kusatta's grunt was what was left of a 'Thank You.'-attempt.

For a brief moment, everything went black. Not because of the enemy's ability, but because his body was failing the young pirate.
Was this it? Surely it couldn't be. Wasn't he a monster in human form now? Supposed to destroy the world with his mighty strength? And now he was dying while a little bird had to defend his corpse? No!

"NOOO- what?"
With a yell, Kusatta had pushed himself up from the ground. Into a straight sitting position. Considering his previous position that should have not been possible whatsoever. He had been lying on his stomach before, not his back! A quick, confused look around told him that this was still the same room they had been in before. The same rubble was littering the floor and half the wall was still missing.
However, as he looked down he noticed that somebody had taken the clothes off his upper body. Sweater, Potatosack, Purudake-Spear and armored arm were now piled up to his left. The puddle on the floor was gone too, only a red splodge was still there.
In addition, Nezumi Tori was gone. Only Brandon and the woman the house belonged to were around. And said woman was awake, sitting next to him on her knees, with a worried look on her face.
"Are you alright?" she asked him with a timid, shaking voice "You lost a lot of blood."

Finally Mr. Kotei's slow startled mind realised what had happened.
"Did I just pass out?" His voice was irritable, which in turn irritated the woman, who's face twitched nervously. Although the chef was more angry at himself, she took offense.
"A m-monster crushed into my house earlier." she stuttered "I blacked out and when I woke up I saw a man I've never seen before get carried out of my house by a herd of sheep."
The Shining Pirate turned his head towards her, raising a brow in disbelief.
"Sheep?" he repeated doubtingly.
The woman didn't let herself interrupt though.
"Yes, sir, sheep. He was wounded so he couldn't help himself. I found you bleeding on the floor" she pointed at Brandon "and this bird next to you. I think its your friend."

Quite perplexed, Kusatta kept staring at her without saying anything, prompting the woman to continue explaining herself.
"I... Someone showed me a bounty poster of you this morning. But I had to treat you before you could die, nobody dies in my house if I can help it!"
With a grunt, Kusatta grabbed his potatosack-undershirt and pulled it over, while the farmer lady continued talking.
"I know how this must sounds, I'm just as confused as you are!"
Still not responding, he continued to put his sweater on.
"P-please, I was just trying to help!"

Lastly, the pirate put his armor back on, stood up and took his spear. Tori's blood tainted one of its blades.
"Thanks I guess." He stated. Her story made sense. Most of it anyway. Clearly, she was still in shock and had invented some weird story instead of just admitting that his last attack had damaged the crocodile man so much that he had decided to flee. The reason for the story's ridiculousness was unclear to the egotistical Shining Pirate, but shock could do that to people. Even though he had spent weeks with his new friends, his ego still got the better of him in situations like this. Believing in his own victory was preferable to dumb luck.
Turning his back to his saviour, he simply started limping towards the hole in the wall.
"Come on Brandon, we need to get back to the ship. This took long enough." He grabbed his avian companion and "Let's hope Hiroto gets back quickly, so she can patch us up."

"Wh- What about my home!? I can't live here anymore!"
With a frown, the smelly chef turned around one last time.
"Be glad you still have one! This wasn't my fault."

Leaving the speechless woman behind, Kusatta Kotei hobbled down the Shivre Mountain. Today had been eye-opening. Not eye-opening enough, evidently. One thing at a time.

[Vio]

The passing minutes were long and worrisome for the likes of Brandon the Penguin, his comrade wounded and having passed out from the pain of his injuries. Luck would have it that the human female had awoken from her forced slumber, at first seeming utterly frightened by the sights and sounds, but quickly deciding to take action. Really, the papery penguin could not blame her, for he was just as surprised by the sudden storm of sheep that had surged through and carried away the man with his motionless maw. However, the most pressing matters to him were the fact that the smelly chef was loosing blood, and the fact that he had lost a few feathers. It would take several weeks - months in fact - before the plumage of his breast would look even again! Still, while the woman could do nothing for his feathers, she certainly made sure to treat the wounds of Kusatta. Removing the dead layers of additional skin that humans so loved to wear, she had quickly got to work in cleaning away the blood and wrapping the boy's body in that strange white stuff that Hiroto had used on Leonard le Clerc. What was it? Bananas? Bandanas? Something like that...

"Kuaa!" Offering a salute to his company as Mister Kotei stirred from his slumber, Brandon was most definitely thankful for the treatment he had received. How was a penguin supposed to explain the ending of a human's life to another human? It just could not be done! ...Or could it? Perplexed by the possibilities of folding himself into various shapes to try and explain what had happened, the little penguin quickly abandoned such strange thoughts of the not-now in favour of focusing on fixing the feathery predicament he was in. For the last howeverlong it had been in human time measurement, he had been alternating between three particular actions. To start with he had been waddling rapidly around the body of his companion, squawking in panic before coming to a halt and investigating exactly what the woman had been doing to him. From there, he moved to preen his feathers, but no matter how hard he tried he just could not seem to make the white plumes of his chest even. Of course, humans were unlikely to notice such a subtle different, but the point was that other animals could! One had to be presentable.

"Sheep?" Kusatta said questioningly, his tone of voice informing the likes of the folding fowl that he did not believe such a thing had taken place. No matter, Brandon thought after much deliberation over why those woolly wanderers were called 'sheep', for all that was important was the fact that the cook had survived in the end. As wonderful a sight as it was to see a foe-turned-friend call upon his extended family in order to lend aid, such a vision was not to be witnessed just yet by the beady eyes of the grey-haired human.

Uoh... Surrendering to the fact that his feathers just weren't to be straight for a while, the awkward avian stared lazily at his injured ally as he donned the peculiar skins upon his torso and applied the removable shell to his arm again. What kind of animal had a shell that could be removed so easily? To the best of Brandon's knowledge, no such creature existed, though he distinctly remembered once seeing a small crab use an empty shell for protection. Humans were not much different, he assumed, donning the skins of other animals to protect their soft and vulnerable bodies. After all, animals without protection were usually more vulnerable. Penguins had a nice layer of fat beneath their feathers, while those minute many-legged monstrosities were clad in their own skeleton! Humans lacked such protection. Well, some of them, at least. Once or twice his beady black eyes had spied males with excessive amounts of blubber, one of which had reminded him of those portly seals with tusks.

Oru! Questioning of humanity aside, Mister Penguin soon found himself being hoisted into the arms of the odorous individual before proceeding to exit the wreckage of a human nesting ground. The race themselves were somewhat like birds from the warmer climes, decorating their nests with all manner of fanciful objects that they found lying around, but admiring the distasteful colour choices of that woman's home was not something he planned on doing. Exhausted from the events that had already transpired, he was more than willing to tolerate the stench of his company for the sake of a free ride back to that floating nest called a 'ship'. At least there was no chance of him being blown away by a gust of wind. Mistakes had been made and lessons had been learned by all parties involved...