Episode 59 Rain on Me

Sunshine streams in lightly through the open window in Kunai’s room. He stands facing a mirror, straightening his clothes and fixing Myou on his arm tightly. As Kunai wraps his Dark Identity over his mass of tumbling black hair, a knock on the door causes him to turn slightly.

“Who is it?” Kunai asks, fiddling with the knot at the back of his head.

“It’s me,” Ivy’s voice calls from behind the door. “We’re ready to go now. How about you, Kunai?”

“Yeah, I’m just about ready too,” Kunai replies. He puts on his Black Gaia Cape, and wrenches open the door, nearly crashing into Ivy on the other side in the process.

For one moment, they gaze into one another’s eyes, staring open-mouthed at each other. Eventually, Kunai jerks his gaze away from Ivy’s, and strides down the hallway. Ivy follows after him, nervously clutching her Thorns as she chases after him.

In the lobby, Rill is waiting for them, dressed neatly in his Red China top and bottom. He anxiously fixes the Black Pilfer atop his head, careful not to shred it with the Sapphire Slain attached to his arm.

Ryuu, Ayame, Sasha, and Lily stand by the doorway, grim expressions on their faces. “Ready to go?” Rill asks, seeing Kunai and Ivy enter the room.

“Yeah,” Kunai replies, glancing over at Ryuu and the others, “how about you guys?”

“We’ve got a problem, Kunai,” Ryuu growls, his face sullen and serious.

“A problem?” Kunai repeats, gazing with furrowed eyebrows at Ryuu. “It’s never a good thing whenever you say something like that.”

“It’s not,” Ayame continues for Ryuu. She folds her arms, shaking her head grimly. “Silver and Tide went out last night. However, it seems they never returned after leaving.”

Kunai’s eyes widen immediately. “You don’t think that…that…?”

Ryuu shakes his head, his expression one of weariness. “No. We don’t think that they were attacked. Even if they were, they’d be capable of fending for themselves. They won’t go down as easily as the untrained Rift World men did. However, it’s still indisputable that they’ve gone missing.”

“Well, we can go look for them when Rill shows us the route to Haven,” Kunai replies matter-of-factly. “Since the route is secret, we should be able to search for them without getting caught, right?”

“You go do that,” Ryuu retorts, “and come back and tell us if you find anything.”

“Wait, aren’t you guys coming along too?” Kunai asks, his face falling slightly.

Ryuu shakes his head, sighing as he does so. “We don’t have the time to go sightseeing. The fact of the matter is, we need to go have a nice little chat with Mayor Wing.”

“And Redheaded Gorilla is making us all come along, too!” Otis squawks, poking his green head out from under Ryuu’s collar.

“With Mayor Wing?” Rill asks confusedly. “What for?”

“We’ll tell you later,” Ryuu retorts hastily, turning away and waving goodbye at the same time. “In the meantime, you guys go and have fun on your trip, but don’t stay out for too long. We’ll give you all the details when you come back.”

“Right,” Kunai replies, “and we’ll tell you if we find out anything about Tide and Silver.”

“Sure thing,” Ryuu waves, “later.”

Rays of sunshine penetrate the thick, green bowers of leaves and branches standing high above in the canopies of the trees. They come down in separate beams of golden yellow light, nourishing only a select group of lucky plants sitting in the undergrowth. The rest of the vegetation on the ground sits in darkness.

Off to the side of a narrow dirt path, the ground slides steeply downward, creating a deep and narrow ditch. The vegetation follows coming down as well, and trees stretch their spidery roots far down into the sheltered ravine. The sound of running water rings clear in the air as well, though no sign of it appears through the heavy masses of green in the forest.

Tide snores loudly, shaking his head in his sleep. He jerks awake, aroused by the sharp, piercing song of one of the forest’s native birds. Tide raises himself sleepily into a sitting position, as he arches his back against the rotting trunk of a tree.

Sleeping on her side nearby Tide is Silver. Her chest rises slowly up and down as she breathes. Tide stares curiously at her, drawing his head closer to her face. “Teehee…!” Tide mutters mischievously. “A sleeping beauty! Now there’s some fun to be had!”

“I’m awake, you know,” Silver snaps from the floor.

Tide jumps in surprise, accidentally going too far and hitting his head on the tree trunk behind him. “Ouch!” he gasps, rubbing the back of his head.

“Serves you right,” Silver snarls, raising herself into a sitting position. She stretches sleepily, grimacing slightly. “What a lowlife you must be, to even think of taking advantage of an innocent girl! It’s too bad your girlfriend Midori didn’t see that!”

Tide smirks slightly, relishing the memory garnered by the mention of Midori’s name. “Heh, heh! I see you’re still miffed about that, Silver! But you know, you can’t hog this handsome specimen all the time! You gotta share me with some of the other ladies!”

Silver clenches her right hand into a fist, and hits Tide upside the head with a rough uppercut. “Like I can’t do better than the likes of you!”

“You do know that when you hit people, it hurts them, right, Silver?” Tide asks, grimacing as he rubs the spot on his jaw where Silver had hit him.

“Anyway,” Tide says, a more tender expression entering his eyes, “it looks like you’re feeling a lot better now, huh? How’s your ankle?”

Silver inspects her left ankle carefully, running her gloved fingers over it. “It looks fine,” she mutters, “but it still hurts when I try to move it.”

“Tch,” Tide sneers. “Still, though, Silver…way to go by tripping on a branch, breaking your ankle, knocking me over in the process, dragging me down with you as you tumble off the side of the road, and landing us in this ditch here. If it hadn’t been so dark, we might’ve been able to climb outta here ourselves, but of course, we had to sleep outside in the middle of the woods instead!”

“D-Don’t look at me as if it was my fault!” Silver snaps, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “That Slime jumped out of nowhere! It surprised me!”

“Right,” Tide grins patronizingly, “it was all the Slime’s fault, of course.”

“Besides,” Silver protests, yelling as if to reassure herself as well, “if you hadn’t dragged me out here last night, none of this would’ve ever happened!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Tide mumbles. “Anyway, can you move? Maybe we can actually start getting out of this ditch, y’know? Unless you wanna spend the rest of our lives living like cavemen and cavewomen.”

“Who’s the woman, you?” Silver sneers teasingly.

Tide closes his eyes, shaking his head exasperatedly. “I’m not quite sure whether I should even reply to that…”

While the sun glides down in merry streaks through the gloomy boughs of leaves hanging high over the Ellinia Town Hall, Ryuu, Ayame, Sasha, and Lily make their way slowly up to its marble steps.

Upon entering the building, Ryuu leads the pack as they make their way straight towards Wing’s office. As Ryuu arrives in front of the locked door of the fairy’s office, he grasps the doorknob fiercely, jerking it. However, it remains locked tight.

Ryuu begins to pound heavily on the door, shouting, “Open up, Wing!”

After several minutes of continuous pounding with no result, Ryuu heaves a frustrated sigh. “Guess I’ll just have to knock this door down myself.”

He grabs the hilt of his sword, throwing his shoulder against the door. With a jerk, the door suddenly slides open, and Ryuu, with his weight leaning against the door, nearly tumbles over in surprise.

Wing glares irritably at his four visitors, folding his arms. “What, what, what?!” he cries. “You humans truly are bothersome. What is it that you want so badly that you have to knock down my door?”

“We need to have a talk,” Ryuu mutter, regaining his composure in the silence, “about your town’s treaty with the Myougun.”

Rill leads the way, as Kunai and Ivy follow him down an avenue of trees. A rough bed of thick intertwining tree branches and boughs form the floor of the assistants’ secret passage, staged near the roof of the trees high above the actual forest ground floor.

Shadows and streams of sunlight dart in and out through the cracks in the walls of trees, flickering on and off. The sunlight that does manage to pry its way in through the green walls lies dappled on the floor. Nevertheless, the entire corridor is brightly lit with sunshine from above. Unlit lamps line the avenue, nailed to the trunks of trees, presumably for nighttime travel.

“Wow, this place is so beautiful!” Ivy sighs happily, taking in their surroundings.

“Yeah, I never knew such a place existed in Ellinia,” Kunai comments next to her.

“This was built shortly after the reconstruction of Ellinia,” Rill explains from in front, “but it was built without the permission of the Myougun. So that’s why we have to keep it absolutely secret. If Lord Gilford or anybody else in the Myougun found out about this, they’ll probably destroy Ellinia for good.”

“Why run the risk of building it then?” Kunai asks.

“Because,” Rill retorts, “this secret hall is used to maintain diplomatic contact with Perion. Mayor Wing and Perion’s leaders secretly authorized the plan to build it, just in case we could ever muster an uprising. But one thing or another has always stopped us from really rebelling against the Myougun.”

Ivy inspects the sides of the outdoor corridor, where a short wooden fence lines it on either side. On a whim, she hops onto it, throwing out her arms on either side to balance herself.

Kunai and Rill turn to watch, as Ivy haphazardly attempts to walk on the railing. As Ivy masters her balance on top of the fence, she bows to Kunai and Rill, a large grin on her face.

Kunai smiles as he stares at Ivy. “Good job,” he says out loud.

Rill smiles too as he watches, though his is one of slight longing. ‘You know, in a certain light, Ivy really is quite beautiful,’ Rill thinks to himself. ‘She has this certain cheerfulness and brightness that’s not too common these days.’

“What about you, Rill?” Ivy asks suddenly, jerking Rill out of his thoughts.

Rill starts, surprised by the sudden address of his name. “I-I’m sorry?” he stutters.

“I was just wondering about how you haven’t told us much about yourself yet,” Ivy says, “I mean, we know you work for Wing, but what about your past, your family?”

A loud, howling clamor suddenly rings in Rill’s ears as he contemplates Ivy’s question. His eyes narrow and go blank, as the thoughts overwhelm him. He shakes himself, freeing him from those thoughts. “I-It’s not something that’s very interesting,” Rill blurts out.

“Not true!” Ivy protests. “Everyone’s past is always something that’s at least partially interesting.”

“No, it’s all right,” Rill mutters, “I rather not say too much about it right now.”

Ivy’s face falls slightly, and Rill watches as her pretty face grows slightly gloomier. “I understand,” she replies, “I don’t remember my past, so you’re not the only one here who doesn’t want to discuss it.”

“Yeah, that’s what I heard,” Rill says, his eyes widening slightly.

“So I guess we do have a couple things in common after all, don’t we, Rill?” Ivy says, the cheeriness in her voice returning right away.

“R-Right!” Rill smiles weakly.

Ivy hops down from the fence, but in her haste, she trips. Kunai cries out loud in surprise, dashing forth to catch her in his arms. Rill stops short, having tried to do the same.

He steps back as Kunai wraps his arms around Ivy, a worried look on his face. “You all right, Ivy?” Kunai asks breathlessly. “Try not to injure yourself, all right?”

“All right, Kunai!” Ivy replies, laughing nervously.

Rill places his hands on his hips, surveying the scene between the two for a moment. He then sighs, turning away and glares down the road pensively.

The sun slowly glides higher into the sky, as the early morning day wears on. An almost cloudless blue sky hangs humbly overhead, an ocean of pale blue surrounding the bright yellow island of the sun.

“Just up ahead the corridor slopes back down onto the ground again,” Rill says, leading Kunai and Ivy out of the corridor that had been walled by trees.

Ahead of them, the ground slopes quickly downward, panning out into a vast clearing, where an enormous, yet shallow lake lies. On all sides of the lake’s perimeter stands thick groves of trees, but overhead the grove just across from Kunai, Rill, and Ivy, stands the smoking tower of an industrialized building.

It stands gray and grim in the distance, shooting black fumes up into the sky. Behind the spire stand the shapes and shadows of several other similar buildings, most of them spewing noxious gases up into the air as well.

“Out here, it turns into a lake,” Rill states, “and just across from here is Haven.”

“So Haven really has been built again,” Kunai mutters. “This is just terrible.”

“If we’re this close to Haven, won’t we get seen by their guards?” Ivy asks, glancing around apprehensively. “It doesn’t seem safe to be out in the open like this.”

“You’re right,” Rill replies, “maybe we should—”

Kunai’s eyes dart over to his left, as his sharp hearing picks up on a stealthy footfall. He turns, observing the slumbering woods behind him. All of a sudden, he draws three Steelys, forming an Avenger in his hand.

Even as soon as the Avenger appears, it cracks in half, as a heavy man in silver armor appears, ramming his enormous axe into Kunai’s shuriken. The Avenger shatters into thousands of pieces, as Kunai is pushed back, grimacing from the harsh blow.

Rill and Ivy gasp in shock, as the man appears before them, coming to a stop with a loud clink of heavy armor. He raises his evil face, the better to look at the three of them. He growls.

“Now…which one of you here is the Third Phoneme?”

Next Time: Episode 60 Paradox!

Otis: Yo, yo, yo! This peace thing ain’t gonna last for long! Lots of new enemies are appearing everywhere! All you gorillas better get out your weapons—it’s gonna be a tough one!

Ryuu: I don’t see you fighting!

Otis: I’m here to lend immoral support.

Ayame: What’s that supposed to mean?!

Episode 60 Paradox! coming soon!