Chapter 2:Strange Visitors]
When me and Zetsu left the clearing, it was to be the last greenery we would see. As night turned to morning, the grass turned to sand. We had come upon a desert of some kind. There were large mesas jutting up out of the ground everywhere, and occasionally I would see a small tuft of brown grass or a tumbleweed.
As we walked along, I noticed a patch of ground slightly less brown than the ground we had been walking on. It was covered in hoofprints going in various directions; we had found a road.
“Zetsu, I think we should follow this road. It could lead to civilization.”
“I agree, but we should stay off the road in case someone unfriendly should show up.” Said Black Zetsu.
“Aww, why do you never trust people? If you don’t trust people you’ll never make any friends.” Said White Zetsu.
“Friends are, if anything, a tool to further my goals, nothing more.”
White Zetsu was going to say something, but didn’t. I followed Zetsu’s advice, and we stayed close to the road, but not on it, in order to avoid detection. The rest of our journey was one of silence; Zetsu never had much to say before we came to this strange world, and he didn’t start speaking his mind now ,either.
While we walked I thought about Hotaka, and wondered if he was doing alright, wherever he was. Hopefully, not here, then again, I did miss my senior. He was my friend, and while I wouldn’t want to wish him potential harm by being here, I was saddened all the same.
- - - - -
“Oh, little squirrel come back, please! Don’t wander, I won’t be able to find you!”
Fluttershy was in the middle of chasing one of her little friends. She was feeding them as usual, when this feisty squirrel decided he’d rather go exploring then eating.
She chased him all over her property, even all the way to Sweet Apple Acres. But as she began to catch up to him, she noticed he was running closer and closer to Everfree Forest, a place where nothing natural is said to occur. A place of real evil.
“NOOOOOOO!! Stop little squirrely, stop now, please!” Fluttershy knew there was only one thing to do, give him “the stare”. She flew in front of the squirrel and opened her eyes wide.
“Little squirrely, you may be fluffy, cute and super adorable, but I will not tolerate such reckless behavior. It is my job to protect you and I will, but if you go romping around and doing whatever you please, I get really mad. Please don’t make me mad, I don’t like to get mad, but I will if I must. Now you march your little rear back to my house, this instant, do you understand?”
The squirrel gulped, nodded, and turned to run back to Fluttershy’s house. Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief and began following him back when she heard a noise. She looked behind her towards the Everfree Forest, but saw nothing.
She turned again, only this time to see a black unicorn with grey hair that had red streaks in it. His cutie mark was a series of sparks all going up at once. His eyes glowed a mysterious silver color that she had never seen before.
“Excuse me miss, but could you be so kind as to tell me where the nearest town or settlement is?”
Fluttershy shivered with fear and couldn’t say anything. She just stood there, staring at this fearsome pony. She screamed, and flew away from him.
“Hmm, how quite rude of her. I wish I had time to teach her some manners, but I do need to find everyone else, first.”
Hotaka started walking but stopped suddenly. “Mental note: I also need to find out what this pointy thing on my head does, later.”
- - - - -
After a few hours, I saw a small, wooden town not too far up from the road. I was overjoyed, but Zetsu didn’t seem to care.
“Remember Rokuro, we’re here to look for a source of unimaginable power. What makes you think such a thing exists in this.....this...shit hole?” Said Black Zetsu.
“Well, you never know,” I said, “remember when the Akatsuki found me? You said I was a treasure and I was only from a small town like this one, too.”
“He’s right, that IS how we found him.” Said White Zetsu.
“Hmph, maybe you’re right, but I doubt it. Still, it could be worth checking out just in case.”
So we headed towards the town. As we came to the entrance, we saw what a jolly place it was. Ponies were square-dancing in the streets, fiddlers were playing loudly for all to hear. Ponies walking down the street would tip their hats to each other, or get into a friendly conversation about the day’s events. It seemed like a pretty nice place to me. Of course, Zetsu had his own opinions.
“What a dirty, rat infested hole, this is.” Said Black Zetsu.
“Aww come on, you hate everything. Why can’t ever see the nice side of things?” Said White Zetsu.
Just then, we were interrupted by a brown pony with a leather vest and a cowboy hat.
“Howdy, y'all and welcome to Appeloosa! The finest town that’s ever been built from the ground up by hard-working ponies!”
I didn’t want Zetsu to ruin everything, so I spoke first. “I’m sure it is a wonderful town, but we actually need directions to somewhere else. You see we....”
The pony cut me off before I could finish. “Why in Equestria would you want to be anywhere else, stranger? This here is the finest town tha.....”
Zetsu had enough and exploded on the pony. He grabbed him by his vest and shook him violently. “Listen here cowboy, I don’t have time for your games. Tell us where your tailed beasts are and we will leave without destroying this pitiful excuse for a town.”
The pony was quiet for a moment, then spoke. “Listen here stranger, as much as we’re kind towards visitors, anyone that calls our town pitiful and then threatens to destroy it, will get no kindness from us.”
He wriggled out of Zetsu’s grasp and took a menacing stance against us.
“My name’s Braeburn, remember my name now, because I want you to know who kicked your limely butt!”
Several of the residents heard the commotion and had started to come over to where we were at. I didn’t want to start a fight and risk showing off my jutsus before we had to fight the military, should that situation ever arise. But it was starting to seem like we had no choice.
“Look Mr. Braeburn, I’m sorry for my comrades’ behavior and harsh words. But please we really do need directions.”
“I don’t care for y'all's apologies now. You done insulted my town and these fine people.”
I sighed and thought of what I was about to do. Zetsu had never seen me fight before, he just wanted to test my abilities on these innocents. It saddened me greatly, but it had to be done if our mission was to continue.
“Very well Mr. Braeburn,” I said as I removed two scrolls, both yellow, one with red accents and one with blue accents, from my robes, “then you will feel my art, passed down to me from my teacher!”
I summoned the two I was going to use. My second set of human puppets I had obtained when I first began to learn from Sasori. The smoke appeared, and they were around my shoulders.
“Secret Yellow Technique: Mist Ninja Revival!”
“Out of all of my puppets, these two work well together, my Zabuza and Haku puppets. You have no chance against me.”
Suddenly, I realized I had no hands to extend chakra threads from. How was I supposed to control my puppets. Then I thought back to when I first arrived in this land. The horn on my head! I thought nothing of it at the time, but maybe that was the key to working my puppets.
“Braeburn, what are those things?” Asked one of the townsfolk.
“I don’t rightly know, but I doubt they’ll stop us! Come on, y’all! Let’s kick some outsider rear! YEEHAW!”
The townsfolk cheered and rushed with Braeburn towards my puppets. I focused my chakra towards the horn and tried to send out chakra threads from it. It worked! I was right!
The townsfolk were very close, I knew it was time. I pulled Zabuza in close to protect me, and sent out Haku to meet the villagers.
“Ice Style: A Thousand Needles of Death!”
Several ice shards rose up from the ground, piercing the many townsfolk that approached. Initially, there were about 50 ponies running at me. Once the jutsu subsided, only Braeburn and about 25 ponies were left.
“What did I tell you? You can’t defeat me, you never will!”
Braeburn was filled with anger at what I had done, but it didn’t stop him and the survivors from trying to run at me again.
“What a nuisance, let’s try something different.”
I flicked my hoof out, and Haku’s chest opened up to show a large collection of kunai, shuriken, and sickles. This would finish off what was left.
“This fight was entertaining, but the show’s over. Time to drop the curtain on this act!”
I flicked my hoof out, then back in. The weapons exploded from Haku and shot towards the villagers. As the weapons struck them, many fell dead instantly, but some died slowly. Braeburn was hit by 13 shuriken and kunai and fell dead instantly. The fight was over almost as soon as it began.
I resealed my puppets back in the scrolls and walked away, but Zetsu stopped me.
“What are you doing? We may have killed all the villagers, but let’s make an even bigger example of them to other residents of this land. Burn the town to the ground.”
I couldn’t refuse his orders, he was a higher ranking member than I was. I turned towards the town thinking of all the memories the ponies built here. I pulled a match from from my robe, and lit it. I walked to the largest building in town and stared at it for a moment. Zetsu began yelling something at me, but I didn’t hear him. I threw the match on the building and walked back towards him.
“Good, you’re becoming as cold-hearted as me.”
“Hey, I’m you too, don’t include me in that reference.” Said White Zetsu.
Zetsu ignored his other half then sank into the ground. He rose up in front of the building I had set on fire.
“I thought I heard screaming, well we can’t let them get away.”
Zetsu moved a chair in front of the door, then propped it up under the handle; sealing the other ponies inside the burning building. He proceeded to do the same thing to the other buildings around town, which had also caught fire at this point.
Zetsu rose up beside me, and we left the town behind. As we walked, I could still hear the screams of ponies being burned alive. I still go to sleep at night, and wake up hearing those screams in my head. I can kill armed, warriors who desire to kill me. But civilians? What point is there in killing innocents?
I pushed the thoughts out of my head. Me and Zetsu changed directions, and we walked back the way we came to see if we could find a new town. Before we fully left town, I stopped Zetsu.
“When we get to a new town, or IF we get to a new town, we are NOT attacking civilians like that again.”
I realized I had been a little rough with my superior at that moment, but Zetsu didn’t react like I thought he would.
“Hmph, so be it.”
We continued to walk for a long time, all the way in utter silence.