As the Chans fled from the black-clad, blue-skinned ninjas, Jade looked up at Jackie in confusion. "Aren't you gonna whomp 'em?" she demanded, somewhere between confusion and irritation.
"Ancient proverb," Jackie responded. "Do not fight when you can run!"
"We're outnumbered at least 50 to 1," Sweetie Belle pointed out after a quick count. "And it looks like they keep getting reinforcements out of every shadow."
"I do not know what they are, but they are made of Dark Magic!" Uncle warned. "Apple Bloom! Sweetie Belle! Scootaloo! Do not touch them if you can avoid it. Your magic has not yet fully stabilized in development, and until it does touching these beings will be as painful to you as it will be to them!"
"Also that," Scootaloo added as she pushed Cumulo for all he had.
"Then why haven't we taken to the air?" Jade demanded. "It's not like they can fly!"
"Too much weight on Cumulo!" Scootaloo explained. "Uncle and Jackie each weigh as much as the four of us combined, and Audrey's really dense!" Seeing Audrey's offended look, Scootaloo added, "Physically."
"Then we should split up!" Jackie insisted as they passed an intersection, leaping off the cloud. Uncle followed suit. "You four go that way, and stick together!" he insisted. "Uncle and I will go this way. You'll be safer away from me!"
"Aiyah..." Uncle groaned as he hopped off, letting Cumulo shoot off down the other road. "Uncle is getting too old for this..."
"We have to give them time to get away!" Jackie insisted as he raced ahead, Uncle behind him. However, before long he paused, noticing an absence of the sounds of pursuit. Turning back, he saw the ninjas were nowhere in sight. Rushing back, he saw they were in pursuit of Cumulo. "Uh oh."
"Aiyah!" Uncle cried out. "They must be tracking magic, and fillies have much! We must protect the girls!" He immediately raced after them, Jackie close behind.
Scootaloo glanced back over her shoulder and frowned, not happy with what she was seeing. "We've still got ninjas after us!" she called out.
"Keep your eyes on the road ahead!" Sweetie warned. "We don't have a clear sky!"
Looking forward, Scootaloo began maneuvering between vehicles as they raced ahead and down the upcoming steep hill, the downward slope allowing her to pick up speed. "Will one of you keep yours eyes on the ninjas, then?" she demanded angrily.
Jade kept her eyes back, watching. "Looks like they've grabbed onto...two vehicles, only one following us? Why would they do that?"
"Jackie and Uncle must have noticed they were following us!" Sweetie gasped out. "They must have split up to try and put them on the wrong path!"
"Then we need ta make sure they can see us!" Apple Bloom called out. "Scoot! Can Cumulo get us higher?"
Scootaloo urged Cumulo upward, but the cloud barely moved. "Still too much weight!" Scootaloo shouted out.
"Well we gotta do something!" Jade screamed out, gripping Cumulo with both hands. "Come on! Come on!"
Without warning, Cumulo shot upward into the air.
"Whaaa!" Apple Bloom screamed out as Cumulo started swerving amongst the upper reaches of the Golden Gate.
"The hay?" Scootaloo demanded, stunned.
Sweetie's eyes widened as her horn blazed. "The Talisman! I can feel its magic! It must be countering our weight somehow to let Cumulo get much higher!"
"Wait, we have it?" Jade asked in confusion. "But where?" She took her hands off Cumulo, and he began to drop again.
"You have it!" Sweetie pointed out. "Did you slip it into your pockets or something?"
"No!" Jade countered. "I haven't seen it! The bad guys must-AHHH!"
As the four were distracted with their arguing, a group of ninjas that had taken shape in the shadows of the Golden Gate's peak had hurled a smoke bomb into Cumulo, its specific composition on explosion causing the cloud to erupt, sending the group flying. Scootaloo spread her wings, managing to catch hold of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, landing them on one of the bridge's supporting pylons. Looking up, she breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Cumulo slowly stabilizing. "You girls okay?" she asked worriedly.
"I'm alright," Sweetie admitted as she shook slightly, trying to dispel her fear.
"Ah'm okay, but ah don't see Jade or Audrey!" Apple Bloom pointed out.
High above, Audrey III gripped the cables holding up the suspension bridge as he stared down at where the large enforcer had hold of Jade and was carrying her away, along with a small statuette with four dragon heads, one pointed in each direction. Audrey thought about the situation. He was supposed to serve Apple Bloom, the one who brought him to life, in return for feeding on her magic, that was the arrangement. At the same time, Apple Bloom obeyed the wizard, which told Audrey that she was an apprentice, and the familiar of an apprentice was supposed to obey the apprentice's master unless the apprentice ordered otherwise.
His senses showed that Apple Bloom and the other two with similar magic he could not eat were together. However, no one was with the girl. No one was presently with him. Logic dictated that he should, therefor, be with the girl, doing what was necessary to carry out the 'stay safe' directive. As such, as the large one carried the girl off, Audrey extended his vines and swung from cable to cable, following him towards the docks.
After securing the girl, Tohru went into the other room to communicate the conundrum he'd encountered to his boss. "Master," he said into his communicator, "the tracker points to the girl, but she does not have the Talisman."
"Well it must be hidden on her somewhere, Tohru!" Valmont insisted. "I'm sure she didn't eat it!" He then paused, his expression changing as he gave the idea some serious consideration.
"Man is much the wiser when he looks within," the voice of the statue 'client' echoed over the line.
Tohru flinched internally. He knew an order when he received it, even if it was couched in metaphor. "I...understand." Closing the line, he sighed. Schooling his expression, he walked into the other room. There, he saw where he'd strapped the girl to a table. She was writhing against the bonds and screaming defiantly, but he blocked out her words, not wanting to face what he was surely going to have to do. Holding the tracker over her, he watched as it blazed from all four points as he held it over her stomach, identifying the location of the Talisman. "A ha," he stated firmly, not letting his emotions show in his voice.
Once more ignoring the girl, he pulled out the cutlass he had with him to retrieve the Talisman. He knew the methods of The Dark Hand, and he would be ordered to leave the girl's body for Jackie Chan to find, as a warning to him to stay out of their business. He would now have to cross the line he'd hoped never to face...and cut the girl open and leave her to die.
Glancing at the edge of the cutlass, he took it over to a nearby grinding wheel and held the blade against it as it spun, bringing the edge to razor sharpness so he could try to minimize the pain she would be in before shock blocked it out entirely. As he worked at sharpening the blade, he thought to himself, trying to determine how he would bring himself to live with what he was about to do.
He remembered the Tanto amongst his possessions, a blade passed down through generations of his family, along with the traditions of their heritage. When he realized why his mind went to the Tanto, he found a measure of peace. Idly, he wondered who he could ask to be his kaishakunin, and wield the katana...
Putting those thoughts from his mind, he lifted the blade as he saw it had achieved a razor's edge. He then turned towards the girl, who stared up at him in fear. "Hold still," he instructed, lifting the sword high...
...only to feel a thick, thorny vine wrap around his wrist as it punched through the roof of the building. "What the-?"
He got out no more as he was promptly ripped out of the building through the roof, and lifted up until he was face to tooth with a giant plant monstrosity straight out of a B horror movie. As he stared as the massive jaw opened wide, he thought to himself, I wonder if anyone else was ever this happy to be kaiju food?
The creature hesitated, then lifted him up towards the base of the top half of the bulb. He felt wind being pulled past him as a loud snorting noise could be heard. The bulbous mouth closed...and the plant kaiju hurled him away, sending him flying straight for Valmont's building.
That was different- Tohru's thoughts were cut off as he slammed through the wall, crashing into Valmont's desk and losing consciousness.
When Tohru was about to be eaten... Did he... by any chance... 'break wind?'
7373684 I would not be surprised.
7373684
No, he was being sniffed.
Ok, I just looked up what Tohru was thinking of doing... That got extremely dark very quickly... Not that killing Jade wasn't dark already.
Also... no, no one has ever been that happy to be Kaiju food.
Can Audrey smell intentions/emotions? Wait... he can sense chi and magic. He might have picked up on the good chi in Tohru. That and/or realized he wouldn't be able to eat Tohru's magic so just tossed him.
kaishakunin :an appointed second whose duty is to behead one who has committed seppuku, Japanese ritual suicide, at the moment of agony.
Deep stuff there my friend, you seem be going in the right direction in my opinion. You seem to be portraying toru in the way he should be, it's better then those who just write him off as cruel (I've read a few fanfic's where he even enjoys almost killing jade).
Keep up the good work on one of my favorite cartons growing up.
7373725 I'm betting Audry smelled his intend and/or good magic
7373763
I think he thought that because Tohru, on some level, was actually happy he was going to be eaten, which meant that Jade would NOT get killed by his hand. At least that's what I figure.
7373773
My vote is on the "smelled the good chi" myself. Seriously, Audrey III is MADE of Good Magic. Who KNOWS what special abilities he has other than what has been shown so far. Who knows. Audrey might end up being a "Magic Bloodhound" of sorts for everyone. One who is loyal to the good guys at least.
Well at least there was some destruction courtesy of Audrey III but I am still waiting for tree sap. *Hold up a score card* Also I give Audrey's toss a 9 out 10, he would have gotten a 10 if he had been able to hit Valmont when he tossed Tohru.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
...Idiots. Even if they somehow could fly just above ground level but not higher when overloaded despite that making absolutely no sense, they could have very easily evaded their pursuers by flying over water. Then, to make it even worse they stayed near the bridge where the ninjas could get at them once they got the ability to fly instead of floating off into the open air where no one would be able to do anything to them.
"suicide assistant who"?
7373881 while i dont completely remember i dont think those ninja would have been stopped by them flying over the water im pretty sure they sould have just run on top of it since they are just made of shadow.
7373881
You realize none of them are older than ten at this point, right?
7373920 "Fly off and laugh at them" isn't exactly a complicated strategy. This is the kind of blatantly obvious problem is exactly why rule 12 on the Evil Overlord List calls for a five-year-old child to check plans for stupid flaws.
7373941
Still requires enough presence of mind to realize
A) they're over water, and
B) they can control the sudden increase in flight
which could be difficult when being actively hunted by evil, shadow warping ninjas in the middle of the night when it's three plus hours past their bed time and the only one not on local schedule is on a careful balance between adrenaline and jet lag.
Given all that, it's perfectly reasonable that none of them are thinking clearly.
I love Audrey III, he's brilliant.
7373847 He may have to settle for the silver medal.
At least Audrey III gave Tohru... food for thought.
This definitely ended on a lighter note, just throwing it out there.
Least we know that Jade haste makings of a... strapping young lady.
At least Tohru doesn't... cut to the chase.
Well, that was fun!
7374183 Audrey probably sensed the good chi in tohru and also smelled no dark magic or malicious intent on him. So instead of turning him into a after dinner snack Audrey just chucked him away. Just a thought
It's always interesting to see a little deepening of character in fanfics. Tohru is somewhat two-dimensional in the show, at least during season one.
Also, twenty-six chapters, and we're still in the second episode, show-wise. This might take a while.
7374262
I need say no more.
7373725
7373703
Sorry about that, I misread that part...
Wow, poor Tohru's really going through it this time 'round.
7373725
Today I learned that Audrey III can't stand Japanese food.
7374804 Alternatively, Audrey somehow managed to sense that he didn't really want to be a bad guy and decided to cut him some slack. Bit of a long shot, I know, but I've heard some creatures can smell fear, so I don't see why a magical creature wouldn't be able to smell his regret and relief as an extension of that ability... even if the creature in question is technically a plant.
Yikes, You really got feel for poor Torhu here, being ordered to kill a little girl, and actually be pleased when there was a chance he might get eaten by a kaiju plant because of that order... Poor guy. I sure hope he gets out from Valmont and Shendu's thumbs soon...
Chapter Twenty Six:
"Aiyah!"
\
\\
Chapter Count: 2
Total Count: 22
"One More Thing!"
Chapter Count: 0
Total Count: 42
I'm wondering which direction Audrey III's Rick Roll is going to branch out to for this one. I mean, Uncle isn't here, and he's close to the Black hand's Roots, though weather the thugs Soil themselves from fear of the carnivorous plant or the ridiculousness of the situation is yet to be determined.
I'll show myself out...
7374849 He's also made from Apple Bloom's good chi, meaning that by his very nature he's unwilling to harm unless absolutely necessary. Much like how Jackie says "Do not fight when you can run", good chi would dictate "do not kill when you can avoid it". Or something.
7375189 That is also a possibility, good job thinking of that one.
Ya know, I really like this story. It's fun. I remember watching JCA when I was younger, back when they actually had saturday morning cartoons on the air. The good adventure ones, I mean, not the crappy toddler ones.
...Huh, that's odd. I can't seem to think of anything critical to put here.
7375189 You can complain about a half-empty glass or keep the half-full glass ready to use.
7375607 either way, you still only have half a glass.
just had another thought about the monkey king he could be like the el ray doll from mucha lucha
7375782 And that usually means lazy restaurant staff, a broken soda fountain, no free refills, etc. That's a problem.
It is how you deal with it. Good chi leads towards a positive outlook but bad chi would want a discount or will not leave a tip.
7375853 and what do you call indifference? Because when I have half a glass, it's usually because I drank the first half, and therefore have no one to blame but myself.
gently and politely ask for them to top you off, because that's what you paid for and why they have a job in the first place.
Inform the establishment that it's broken and move on.
You drank the first half, so I guess you'd be SOL unless you want to pay for a second glass, because they usually tell you when refills aren't free. Anything more would be greedy.
I don't tip in the first place, but that's more because I'm a broke Mother Fer who can barely afford groceries after paying all my bills than anything else...
7375898 ...my genes came with broken philosophy rather than the usual countryisms. Then again the closest thing to a farm I lived on was 50 acres with a forest, empty field, my dad's workshop, a house, a garage, goat pin, and derpy hen house for three years.
...I type more than a monkey writing an S.O.S.
7375918 I have no idea what's going on anymore...
7375928 I think it started with "Good chi v. Dark chi" then evolved into my old farm life and monkies crying for freedom like in Planet of the Apes. This is more broken than my cousin playing Jenga!
Just a Mean green mother for outer space.....
I wonder why the plant did not eat him?
7379798 Probably felt he wasn't a bad guy or something like that.
Audrey is far more intelligent than he lets on isn't he?
I imagine some people would enjoy it for other reasons...
I have to wonder how many times Tohru can leave a cage unlocked or not tie ropes as tight as possible so Jade or the Crusaders can slip free if captured. I can also totally see him 'accidently' throwing a boulder into Hak Foo's face if Hak Foo tries to hurt Jade of the Crusaders.
Audrey has proven that he's more than just a plant. He's a protector who will protect those he cares about even if it would cost him his life.
Unless I miss my guess... Ritual Suicide to restore honor?
Btw Pacific Rim is ment to be a letter to the author of godzilla