Airship Mauled

by Darkonshadows

Chapter forty-eight, Necessary Notification: Roku.

-Outside a den of ogres-

“I have won a great moral victory today!” Shouted the stumbling crumpled tin can that was known as Dispel Grace. His armor had seen better days, but he was still alive. “I did not run in the face of mortal terror and I fought valiantly… and even managed to seriously inconvenience one of them. That papercut will last weeks! Now I need to find out where that spider monster is, she was not at her base full of demons far tougher than even my holy powers can deal with!”

Despite his highly battered gaudily made armor needing to absolutely be fixed, his large two hoofed sword was still in a pristine and completely undamaged state as he stumbled away.

-Riverside Flamberge-

“Okay so… what are you going to do and do you know where I can find a blacksmith that can create a shield?” I looked at Sweetcakes who was looking at her three tails and then she turned back to me.

“Weapons and armor, I know how to get easy, not so much for shields.” Well Sweetcakes just told me a lot in as few words as possible. “As for you my friend, you’re stuck with me to an end, either yours or mine.”

“I’m horrified and yet pleasantly surprised that you can be so foreboding with so few words, how long have you exactly kept this up for?” How long did kitsune live for and how far was she going to take this?

“Since I was a kit, all over this place I’ve been, I never stopped once.” Yep that was going to get old fast given that Sweetcakes seemed to love the way she talked, I had absolutely nothing against the poetry of it though. “We will start as friends, hello my name is Sweetcakes, nice to meet you Flame.”

If it was the only way she spoke, then it was going to be like listening to Zecora for the rest of my life and it would be impossible to interrupt her by asking her to rhyme with impossible words. Maybe I can convince her that we can just stay friends?

Looking at the way she was smiling at me, she was going to take everything as far as she could get away with.

“I guess it’s nice to meet you too Sweetcakes.” I’m being somewhat sincere and I hope she doesn’t go overboard with trying to win me over, because that wasn’t going to work.

“I have an idea, of where to get a good shield, black market import.” Why did I not like the sound of that coming from Sweetcakes mouth? Why did she even know where and how to find the black market in the first place?

-Canter Dojo Orphanage, Skelly-

The children didn’t seem to mind me last night and were more curious to see me with fur covering my bones this morning, also eyes actually occupying my sockets.

They were so used to having Silk Tapestry as their protector to the point that if I was welcome, then I was nothing to be feared by them. They trusted in Silk that much.

The children were outside playing and we were sitting with Ryu and Silk, Silk looked slightly upset at whatever she talked to Ryu about this morning.

“I’ll do it.” I just stared at Ryu with disbelief, Blade comes along and asks him to become a star and he’s just going to go along with it? “There are things I have to do first before I can leave though.”

“You have no idea how much Ryu does around here, Canter Dojo wouldn’t be the same unless he put someone else in charge that could cover for even a fraction of his importance.” The way Silk’s ears wilted and how she looked at Ryu told me that she would be the one who would miss him the most. “I’ll be watching the moon every night once he leaves.”

“To that end I will need to talk to Dodgy Gruff the Mad Mutt.” Curiously enough as soon as Ryu had finished that statement Silk grimaced visibly and didn’t even try to hide her feelings on the matter.

“Is there a problem with that?” Yes Fortitude, there obviously was.

“How good is Blade in a fight? Dodgy Gruff won’t let me leave unless I give him a good and thorough beating, then three hours after that he’ll want to fight Blade-san as well.” It seemed like Ryu believed Dodgy Gruff would still be able to fight after going through a battle with him, kind of wish we had his kind of brutal battle prowess around for the Draugr. He wouldn’t have to be so gentle with them and hold back like he did on those ponies. “Do you specialize in hoof to paw combat?”

I could tell that Ryu always left every being alive after a rough fight, but he still broke them pretty badly when he fought them.

Blade’s answer was to flick her right wing and a knife flew out of it spiraling into the air to be caught deftly with her left hoof, she promptly stabbed the knife into a bread roll and began eating off it. After she finished the roll she pointed the knife to Fortitude.

“She is being good at making sushi and is an expert in wielding bladed weaponry.” Fortitude new enough of her skills to expound upon them, but Blade was not going to wield my axe for that fight. I was not letting my axe go out of sight or too far from my very being.

“At least it’ll be on or somewhat near even ground then, flying doesn’t exactly give Blade an advantage. Dodgy Gruff is good with both weapons and his paws, there’s a reason his title is Mad Mutt to my Blazing Hoof.” Ryu stated somberly. “I am one of the few he’s lost some serious fights to.”

“Yeah and Dodgy really wants to maul you within an inch of your life or maybe even a little beyond that if he’s feeling really vindictive.” Silk tapped her hooves together looking unsure of how that will all go.

If Blade is as good as Fortitude thinks she is, then she’ll survive the fight like a warrior. Is she a warrior though? I moved to tap Fortitude roughly to get his attention.

“What is it Skelly?” How to go about asking Fortitude about this?

Ah, I got it! I unslung my axe and held it and myself proudly standing tall, then I pointed to Blade.

“Is Blade a warrior?” Pointing to Fortitude, I nodded vigorously. “No, but she is being failed assassin.”

“Failed assassin?” Ryu asked curiously while raising a brow to Blade, she covered her face with a hoof at Fortitudes candor.

“She was more of a thug, I heard from Kuril that she has never really killed anyone.” The knife flashed by Fortitude’s cheek and stuck halfway into the wooden frame of the door outside. “Not that she doesn’t have the ability to cause serious injuries.”

Blade nodded and went to retrieve the knife we got from the pony that threw it into my ribcage.

“I know the type just from the description, I would like to say that Blade cannot rely on her special talents too heavily.” Tilting her head at Ryu, Blade shifted her ears in a sign that she was paying attention to him quite well at this moment as she took a seat again. “Dodgy can beat special talents through sheer determination. He’s good with knives, spears, clubs, swords, just about any weapon you can name and his paws alone are dangerous. He will match you blow for blow and will surpass you with willpower and grit. He’ll take injuries if he can deal much worse ones to you, he doesn’t go down and he fights as well as I do. I’m not upset that I wasn’t told about Blade’s past, Dodgy is a failed assassin too. He refuses to harm women and children.”

“Blade is being an actual sushi chef thanks to the great witch Kuril La Perm who runs a restaurant in Airship Mauled, never met a witch nicer that can cook food as good as her.” Hm, Fortitude knows a friendly witch? I’d trust the witch if he said she was alright, maybe she could get some blood back in me or at least make my life seem more realistic beyond my fur and bones routine. “Unfortunately the great witch has fallen on hard times and is quite sad because of what happened to her daughter…. I think she also misses Blade greatly.”

I watched as Blade looked at the table and saw the hint of tears at the corners of her eyes, Ryu stared at her for a moment and then nodded about something. I think I just missed something there, but what it was I couldn’t say.

“This witch sounds like someone special.” Ryu muttered, he always seemed or sounded so serious despite him being decent with handling children.

“Maybe she’s the witch’s special some pony.” The filly called Ducky squeaked out as she came up to the table. “I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a good witch in the world!”

“Kuril is one of the few good ones, she is currently a very sad one though. My brother and I hope to change that, maybe with Skelly’s help!” It was so nice to be included in things Fortitude, I responded with a nod.

“Odd-chan, did you need something?” Silk was immediately acting as a guardian and mother for the duck colored filly as soon as she showed her face.

“Yes Okaasan Silk-chan, but I liked to be called Ducky!” The filly flapped her wings happily. “Odd Duck may be my name, but you know I prefer Ducky! If you have to, call me Ducky-chan.”

“Oh how silly of me to forget Ducky-chan.” The spider pony moved over to crouch down next to Ducky. “Now what did you need of me?”

“We’re thirsty… it’s going to be a really warm day today Okaasan!” Ducky nuzzled against the fur of the large spider ponies belly. Silk just patted the fillies head and then started to go about getting some chilled juice boxes out.

“She’s always been good with children once they get over her appearance.” Ryu said tonelessly, he looked at Blade and then at Silk. Was he drawing a comparison of his own life from her?

“We can see that.” Fortitude stated as he watched the spider poked several straws into various juice boxes and Ducky was happily sipping away at one already.

Silk stopped and placed a juice box before Blade with an amused smile as the mare licked at her fangs and took to the juice box with fervor. I noted Blade had eaten a lot of food last night, she didn’t seem to be eating too well before that.

Silk carried the rest of the juice boxes outside and the second they saw her with a tray of juice boxes, the little fillies and colts all started to gather around her and waited patiently for their drinks as she hoofed them out.

After she was done, Silk came back and sat down next to the table.

“I do good work here, but it can be so tiring with so many energetic and rambunctious little imps.” Having said that Silk received a surprise when Ducky popped up on her back.

“We’re not imps, we’re ponies and your pretty no matter what anyone says Okaasan!” Picking up Ducky, Silk held the filly close as she sucked at the straw of her juice box. Silk tickled Ducky’s tummy and she giggled before asking a question. “What were all of you grown-ups talking about?”

“Mr. Gruff might be visiting more often.” Silk stated calmly.

“Mr. Ryu is going away for a while again isn’t he?” Ducky looked up at Silk who shifted a bit and tried to look the child in the eyes. “He got really hurt the last time he did this… but you helped him Okaasan!”

“Yes, but I have good reason to and if I can come back… then I will.” That was a bit blunt for a child, but at least Ryu wasn’t sugar coating it.

“You better come back and make Okaasan happy Otousan!” Ducky waved a curled hoof at Ryu and he chuckled dryly while shaking his head.

“I don’t think I would do anything else but that when I come back.” He set his gaze on Blade and she stared into his eyes with the same kind of steel he had going for him. “It might take a while, but I will come back one way or another.”

“Yeah, Ryu-kun will be fine… run along now.” Silk placed Ducky on the floor and shooed her out the door to play with the other foals. “Ducky reminded me of patching you up after that particularly bad fight. Thirty armed beings, all carrying crossbows, you beat every single one of them to a delicious looking bloody pulp and I had to nurse you back to health since you have problems with going to the hospital. At least my webs work really well as bandages…”

“This might not be lethal, only time consuming.” Ryu stared into Silk’s eyes. “It will be the time that we could have spent together in each other’s comfort Silk-chan, maybe years.”

“You’d actually take comfort in me for years?” In answer to Silk’s question, Ryu stood up and made his way over to her to wrap his scaled hooves tightly around her.

“Yes. The other things I need to do are simple enough. I need to contact the yakuza and set things up to protect Silk-chan and the orphanage. I have to make sure Canter Dojo will remain uncontested once I leave the area and I have much to prepare in that general vein.” Pulling away from the spider pony, Ryu turned to us with a grim look on his face. “Do you have any idea of how to get me out of Neighpon safely? That knife is of ninja make, he or she will want it back soon enough. If the tengu mafia along with the other spirits and crime families are going to be involved, then we need a fast and easy way to get out without being assaulted. They will try to keep me locked within my territory and won’t let me leave.”

Blade wilted, she didn’t have a clue about how to do that. I poked Fortitude and made a bowl shaped gesture with my hooves and made several rowing movements.

“I am knowing that we arrived here with magical Viking gondola Skelly, why are you… oh. We already have an idea on how you are getting out of Neighpon, we can use the Mists of Travel On.” At Fortitude mentioning our magical mode of transportation, Blade perked up immeasurably. “It is taking you instantly to where you are needing to be the most depending on its passengers! If we are needed elsewhere more than Neighpon, it will get Ryu out without a problem.”

“Then it is settled. I will start contacting the organization, get in touch with Dodgy Gruff, maybe contact the local government to warn them of… issues… and I’ll have my lawyers ready to block any insurgent efforts.” Standing up Ryu made his way for the door. “Silk-chan… do you wish to assist me with my endeavors to get ready?”

“Of course Ryu-kun!” Silk followed after Ryu.

Author's Note:

This won't end in disaster.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Ryu has problems with ninjas, yet he has lawyers?

Then again, if his lead lawyer was head of the largest Ninja clan, wouldnt he be stood right behind Ryu?