Chapter 4 : Crossroad
10 0 0
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

"Damn it, damn it, damn iiiiittt!!"
{What do I do? What CAN I do in a situation like this?}
During my fall into the seemingly bottomless pit, I started freaking out.
Without being able to think clearly, my gaze was focused on the people next to me.
Tada, Tifa, and Soro.
I didn't have much time to think however giving up was not an option.
I needed to try something... Anything would do. Anything to get out of this situation.
{Think Ran think! What would Pandora do?...} It was futile.
No matter what came to my mind, the answer was clear.
{How can I think about this since I know that she'd never fall like thaaaat!!}
It was frustrating to think about it but it was way better than trying to avoid the situation we're in.
{I need to help the others for once. It's counting as paying them back for all the times they helped me after all.}
"Wait now it's not the time to think about me being a hero, where am I supposed to land!!?"
"Just shut up for a moment Rant will ya? You're too loud!!"
"Tada!?"
Hearing Tada's loud voice calmed me down and stopped my panic attack.
"You got an idea or something?"
"look down"
I followed his order and quickly realized what he was thinking.
The floor still wasn't visible but we could see a thin wall appearing between us.
Me and Tada were too far apart from each other.

"Don't panic dude, I have a plan. You grab Tifa and I'll grab Soro."
"Let's find a way to land safely and meet up again right? Okay I get it"
His plan was nothing sort of clever. It was the logical thing to do.
Tifa was close enough so maybe with some struggle, I would be able to get closer to her.
The same was with Tada and Soro.
I don't know how he intended to lift his wheelchair but I couldn't do anything for that as I was now.
And thus we set the plan in motion.
"Tifa!! I need your help"
"What is it? Wha-!!?"
I tried my best to swim through the air and get closer to her.
Reaching her I wrapped my arm around her neck, and upon getting separated from the rest, I braced myself for the worst.

To our luck, we fell into a lake that was below us.
Guess the waterfall ended up here.
With a big Splash!! we crushed into the water. It hurt way less than I expected.
But it still hurt.
"We're alive!! Thank god!"
I swam forward and jumped off the water with excitement before falling back in.
The water under my feet now was shallow in contrast with the spot In which I fell.
"Whawhawhawhawhaaat are you doooing?? What are you trying to pull y-you... Eroyama!?" Tifa, whose face was bright red, was questioning my sudden actions.
"What is it now? E-Eroyama? Just what are you imagining you pervert?"
I was trying to understand her thinking as she continued the argument and aggressively walked towards me.
"I-It's not that I want to imagine things don't misunderstand me, you were the one that hugged me first! Of course I would think of that. H-Hey! Y-You can lower your guard! I'm not after your body!... I seriously won't!! Stop looking at me like you're scared!! "
She tried to convince me to lower my guard as I crossed my arms and was looking at her with a suspicious look that stated: "That's what a criminal would say".

"Anyway come on. We should search for an exit if we want to meet up with the others again, even though thinking that Soro is tagging up with Tada makes me not worry that much about their end" I sighed walking towards the shore.
"W-Wait for me! eh?"
However arriving at the shore, we heard the sound of footsteps not far from us.
As if someone was watching us and was now hiding behind a nearby boulder.
"Tifa stay on guard" Holding my bamboo-like shinai upwards I raised my guard ready to engage in combat.
"I don't need you to tell me" Replied Tifa who also took her stance of en-garde.
Both prepared, we awaited our opponent's move.

"Ooh ooh aah! Very well"
With just one phrase our opponent jumped towards us.
Holding a pole-like stick with it's covered in fur paws, it went for me first.
Trying to block its attack, I was shocked to see the enemy disappearing, turning into smoke right before it reached my body.
"What are you trying to pull?" Asked Tifa, unsure of what to do in a situation like this.
Suddenly a monkey-like figure emerged from it's hiding place.
It had the figure of a female, with white spiky hair.
Her body was covered in white fur on the arms, the chest, between her legs as well as on her feet, and she was walking on two legs similar to a human.
She wasn't alone though.
A second after, another monkey appeared, and then another one, and then another one.
I gulped not knowing what to do. In just a moment a gang of monkeys had appeared out of thin air. It seemed that this time, the numbers weren't in our favor.
What piqued my interest was how each one of these monkey-like beings looked exactly the same.
As if they were photocopies of each other.
"Let's see now. Stanley!! How will you survive when the odds are against you?" The monkey girl spoke as she grimaced with an expression of mockery.
{Wait!} The monkeys proceeded to rush towards us, each one holding a pole at its arms they were getting faster by the moment.

"You won't prevail villain! We'll put an end to your plan"
I grimaced as well with an expression of justice.
"eh?" Tifa questioned my actions as she tilted her head to the right still visibly confused.
With a swift move, I turned my sword towards a rock that was laying on the ground in front of me.
And with a quick swing, I hit it towards one of the monkeys, as if I was playing golf.
As the rock made contact with one of the monkeys it once again disappeared.
"Comrade if you please" I looked towards my fellow teammate with sparkling eyes.
I didn't even need to tell her what to do, one look was enough for her to understand her mission... And thus she quickly crouched and threw rocks in front of me until a pile was formed.
"W-wait..." The enemy started sweating looking at the bizarre scenery, anyone would be able to guess what comes next.
"WWWWWOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAHHHH" with our eyes sparkling, Me and Tifa started screaming a kind of battle cry as she kept throwing rocks which I sequentially hit them towards our enemies.

"KYAAAA!!" Shouted the monkey girl as she got hit by a storm of rocks.
"Okay Okay! I get it! Please stop!! SPARE MEEEE!!" She cried while trying to avoid the rocks that kept coming.
In the end, all the monkeys except the original were gone, as the leader fell to the ground.
"Brother... It seems I wasn't able to avenge you..." Spouted the dying person as I approached her.
"Geronimo...I wish it could turn out differently" Replying to her I knelt and put her head on my legs.
"No, it was my fault... Stanley, tell me, that new world that you saw... will there be room for me?"
"There was always a room for an Idiot like you there, you were just too closed up to notice it"
"Thank you... Knowing that I won't have any regrets" With those final words she let out her final breath.
"Geronimooooo!!!" I screamed so that the heavens will hear me, so they'll know that he will arrive, the man I considered my brother.

"Okay, children are you done with the play?" Said Tifa clapping her hands in a displeased way.
"Yeah, we're all good" standing up both me and the monkey girl wrapped one arm around each other's neck as moving our legs up and down, showing that we were both in a good mood.
What we did just now was a role-play of the 590th episode of the Mighty Rangers series which I used to love when I was younger.
Our fight right now was the exact order of events that happened in the fight scene from that legendary episode.
"That was amazing my dude!! You were awesome!"
"I'm glad I found a fellow Rangers fan, I can see you're a woman of culture," I said nodding.
We then crossed elbows in the form of a handshake.
"My name is Sugiyama Ran! Nice to meet you"
"Same here! The name's Ooya! We Saru-Jin don't see many humans these days, what brought you, fellows, here?"
Her tomboyish tone matched her physique.
She seemed to be curious about our whereabouts since, as she claimed, not many humans arrived here.
From her appearance and that line, it would be enough to guess.
In short, she was a spirit.

"A monkey spirit caused us to fall in here, and we got separated from our teammates thanks to that. By the way please call me Tifa" Crossing her arms she frowned, thinking about what Tada and Soro might be doing right now.
"Yeah that was a weird one, It was wearing an old jacket. Sadly the hood was covering its head so I couldn't get a good look at it."
Ooya then placed one hand on her chin.
"That doesn't ring a bell, If there was such an eccentric Saru-Jin I wonder why I haven't heard of it..."
"It puzzles me though... how are you able to materialize Ooya? Is your contractor close by any chance?"
Upon hearing my words the monkey girl smiled.
"I get why you're confused but it's not like that. We Saru-Jin are a special case among spirits, we're the spirits closest to being humans, and thus we can materialize and exist outside the spirit realm. Anyway, we won't achieve anything by staying here. Follow me then I'll show you the way"
"Where are we going?" Asked Tifa who was confused with Ooya's actions.
The way to reach Tada and Soro was behind them and yet, Ooya was going in the opposite direction.

"To my home of course! They say a ferocious beast exists within this cave which even Saru-Jin like me are afraid of, I'm afraid that if we want to find your friends we'll need to ask for professional help. So follow me, I'm sure you'll like my hometown"
"That... Does make sense"
That certainly made sense. That way we could get prepared for our journey.
After all, we were in an environment unknown to us.
We could just hope that the others were also okay.
{Tada, Soro. Please hang in there} I thought as we both followed Ooya deeper into the cave. 

0