7th Moon

Shuurikou had picked up Hidariude and driven everybody out of Tokyo as fast as possible. They also picked up Renzokuken’s motorcycle and brought it along in the back of the truck where Hidariude, Keisei and Kichiku were also riding. Shuurikou insisted that Douji ride in the cab with him. The back window of the truck had been shot out by Renzokuken so they carried on a conversation through the window. Hidariude and Keisei were very interested in the motorcycle and had a few questions to ask Shuurikou about it.

“It runs on biodiesel, though when we get a chance I’ll convert it to a methanol-ethanol mix like my truck.” Shuurikou said while thumping the dashboard with his hand. “They used to run on gasoline, but there isn’t any anymore. The last of it was used in World War Three and when it ran out, the war ended and everybody had to convert to alternative energy. New World Enterprises makes a good business of selling their fuels but they only have enough to manage a few cities and the rest of us have to make do with what we can. Here in Japan, Tokyo is the only city that was deemed worthy of getting what they needed to keep from falling into ruin. The sad part is we can get by with solar, wind and hydroelectric energy, but every time we build a generator based on those sources the New Wave Elite steal it from us or destroy it. We don’t have much choice though, not everyone fits in the city so some people have to live in the outlands. Every now and then somebody gets desperate and forgets the consequences of trying to improve our lives and starts building a village and then just when it starts to prosper, that’s when they show up.” Shuurikou sounded very angry, like he’d been that one who tried to start a village more than once and was very frustrated with seeing his hard work destroyed. The espers could sense that he was so desperate he was putting his faith in them because he would do anything to stop the destruction, even if it meant relying on a group of rogues that he knew nothing about except that they could hold their own in battle against an otherwise invincible foe. Shuurikou took a moment to let his rage subside and decided to change the subject. “So how did you guys…you know, with the lightning and the fire and the earthquakes?”

Hidariude leaned up against the back window, or at least the hole where it used to be. “We are espers, we have extrasensory perception and various psychokinetic abilities. Before you get your hopes up, we do have limits. Our ESP is uniform, we can sense what others are thinking or feeling. We can’t actually read minds, except each other’s, and when we’re in battle, we can predict our opponent’s actions, which is what really gives us the edge to achieve victory. Truth be told, the physical abilities that Seventh Moon gave us aren’t enough for us to beat them, but the ability to know what they’ll do and react to it before they do it is what helps us win. As for the more overt fancy stuff, I have electrokinesis, the ability to manipulate electricity with my mind. I can only use it because of an electro plaque in my arm that allows me to produce electricity to operate my cyber arm. Since the charge originates from my body it has my Ki so I can continue to manipulate it as it’s leaving my body. I’m really only good at directing it through my metal blades and I have to be careful about how much I use it because there is a chance I can burn out the circuitry in my arm or injure my own muscles and then I lose the use of my arm. Kichiku has geokinesis, he can control the earth, but he has to maintain a physical connection to the ground so that he can use his powers. For the two of us, we have trained to be fighters so well, we only use it when we have to. Keisei is a little better with her pyrokinesis because she more specifically trained for it with kayakujutsu, the ancient art of pyrotechnics. She can’t create fire from nothing, she needs flammable materials, but once she has the right stuff, she can ignite it and manipulate the fire.”

Shuurikou was impressed, though he wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. “So you all have the power to manipulate a specific element of your surroundings, but you can’t create it, only manipulate what’s already there. So you do seem to be bound by the laws of physics, you can’t generate matter or energy, only change the form it’s in. And this has nothing to do with Seventh Moon?”

“No, not that we know of.” Hidariude answered. “They can’t make abilities like this, we learned them while training under Master Ryu at the Shrine of the Golden Dragon.”

“So he’s psychic too?”

“No, he wasn’t. Maybe being genetically engineered beyond normal human limits gave us a predisposition to break limits like this, but we’re pretty sure this isn’t what they made. We only saw one of theirs that had powers like this, and she was very unstable, clearly she didn’t have the same senses we have so she was unstable because she is raw undirected power.”

“What about the kid?” Shuurikou asked. “They seemed to be really interested in him.”

Kichiku came to the window and answered this time. “He is special. He has potential to do what each of us can do and a whole lot more.”

Shuurikou whistled. “That does sound worth the trouble of hunting you down.”

“Yes, but he can’t use his power yet. He’s too young, he’s not ready to handle that much power, so he has to be trained to control it better, and he needs to get older before he’s ready to take on the necessary degree of training. The real reason they want him is because the girl they made is just like him, but the environment they raised her in has made her unstable and they want to know why he’s not going haywire like she is.”

“Do you have any idea why?”

“Sure. On Seventh Moon we are trained from the moment we can walk. Douji was raised here on Earth like a normal child so he isn’t under the same pressure. Think of all the pressure you feel sometimes, and then throw in the power to warp your surroundings with your thoughts. She’s just having some nervous breakdown, if they just let her relax and play like a normal kid, she’d probably work it out of her system.”

“Why don’t they do that?”

“That’s not their style. All of the bad things you keep saying about the company, well, you don’t know the half of it. We lived there under their tyranny, believe us, we have our reasons to fight.”

Shuurikou took in what they were saying and realized it was worse than he thought. He was used to understanding that Seventh Moon was cruel and tyrannical to the people of Earth, but the idea that even their own people could feel so mistreated made him hate the company even more. For a moment he was going to ask them why they had begun to trust him after Hidariude had drawn a weapon on him when they first met, but then he realized with ESP, they could tell how honest he was and that first confrontation was just from them all being on edge. Then Shuurikou decided to ask them about something else that was somewhat irrelevant, but made him curious anyway. “What was this shrine like?”

“The Shrine of the Golden Dragon was on a mountain in Kanagawa.” Kichiku replied. “It was dedicated to the golden dragon Shinryuu and his three champions, Okazaki Kyutsume, Bakeneko, and Nyudo. We trained in martial arts and disciplined ourselves with the teachings of the founders. We ate daikon, rice and tea which we grew right there.”

“Lots of rice, daikon and tea.” Hidariude interrupted. “Nothing else for three years. There are only so many combinations you can make of that before it gets old. You have no idea how good that ramen tasted, if for nothing else than just a change. I don’t even care what was in it, just as long as it wasn’t daikon and rice.”

Kichiku glared at Hidariude. “As I was saying it was a very peaceful, serene and isolated location. A samurai, a monk and a ninja built that shrine in dedication to the golden dragon. We learned kenjutsu, tessenjutsu, kayakujutsu and kung fu to emulate them and keep their memory alive as has been done for centuries.”

“And we would have stayed there, except Seventh Moon couldn’t let us be and they came to hunt us down and…” Hidariude choked on the words he was about to speak. “Then they killed Master Ryu.”

Now Shuurikou understood, this really was personal for them. They had lost someone dear to them and they wanted revenge. The only thing about this that made them different from anyone else he knew was that they actually had the power to do something about it. This was a very sensitive subject now, calling for a moment of silence. In this silence they looked around at the landscape. Some of it was beautiful, when they were simply looking at untouched land filled with nature, trees, grasses, some lakes, rivers and ponds, and mountains in the distance. Then they’d pass through where there had been a town or village or some smaller settlement that didn’t even count as a village, and it was terrifying. The buildings were broken, the windows were smashed, weeds grew up the walls and occasionally they could even see the bones of someone who had been killed and nobody had even bothered to come by and move it let alone give a proper burial. “We’re still too close to Tokyo, the patrols come around too often for anyone to dare live here. It’s going to be a while before we get far enough that anyone will feel safe enough to actually live.”

After hours of driving, they finally found an actual settlement. It wasn’t very obvious, they only knew because Shuurikou knew it was there. All they could see was an old gas station and it appeared to be abandoned. Shuurikou got out of the truck and went into the station. It still appeared that nobody was there, but Shuurikou kept looking around, moving certain things around, and thumping a shelf or counter. It took a moment but they recognized a pattern, he was signaling someone. Finally a man came out from the back room, he looked old, but it may have just been that his living conditions made him look worse than he really was. The man helped Shuurikou with the hoses at the fuel tank and filled up both the truck and the motorcycle. The attendant seemed shocked at the sight of the espers in the back of the truck, they looked very unusual, but Shuurikou assured him they were okay.

“Okay guys we’re staying the night here.” Shuurikou told them. “Everybody out.” They got out of the truck and followed Shuurikou. He took them into the gas station and then to the back room. They were very surprised to find that beyond the backroom was an entire underground village. It was a network of sewers, subway tunnels, and collapsed buildings with a roof of trash suspended over any gaps. Light came in through sewer grates and glass windows that were fitted in amongst the trash that made the roof. “Since the settlements keep getting attacked, the only way to keep them safe is to stay where nobody can find us. We build underground, the food still comes from above ground, but we just have to farm creatively, which means a lot of gathering from amongst the weeds. We also eat mushrooms that grow down here and we also try to fish and hunt, and by hunt I mean catch rats, roaches, and whatever other vermin we find down here.”

“I’m starting to miss rice with daikon.”

“Relax, it’s a joke, there’s not so much in the way of rats and roaches now. What we do catch is ground into feed for the chickens and goats.” As if on cue, a chicken and a goat crossed their path. “Chickens for eggs and goats for milk. We used to use cows but they were too big, they kept drawing attention from NWE. All of the other free range livestock have been captured or eaten or both.”

At the mention of the word eaten, Hidariude and Kichiku exchanged a look. “What do you mean eaten?”

“The patrols I told you about.” Shuurikou answered. “For a while it was a group of soldiers, but once they devoured so much food that they drove out most of the people, most of the soldiers got reassigned elsewhere and it came down to just one soldier and the android garbage disposals called ‘eaters’ he drags around.”

“Could you tell us more about this soldier?”

“He’s got sharp teeth and a long tongue and spits acid. He’s fat, but he used to be thinner, he just eats a lot.”

“Do you know his name?”

“No, his name is never spoken. He doesn’t bother to speak much because the more he talks, the less he can stuff his mouth. All he seems to say is ‘Hungry! Feed me!’ and threatens he’ll eat us if we don’t give him all of our food.”

“That’s enough of a description, we know who he is. And we may also know how to stop him for good. Do you guys have anything spicy? Spices, herbs, peppers, wasabi, anything?”

“Yes, but we’ve tried feeding them to him before. It just makes him mad and then he tries to cut the heartburn by eating us.”

Keisei chimed in. “But you never had me doing the cooking before!”

Shuurikou was very concerned by what she said. “What does she mean by that?”

“She means we have to help her gather everything spicy, she’s got a recipe for his final feast. And we have to be ready, he’ll be here soon I’m sure. We’ve already been attacked by two soldiers we used to know, if this is his territory he’ll be put on our trail and he’ll track us here. We don’t know exactly when, but we’ll want to be prepared when he does.”

Keisei went above ground with the locals to forage for herbs. The rest started gathering the spices from the storerooms and put everything in the house where they were staying. Keisei looked over everything and started picking out certain herbs and smelling them, then setting them together by a cooking pot. She carefully added the ingredients into the pot to prepare her spicy concoction, stirring them together and grinding them a little to make sure they mixed and the aromas came out properly. The smell got stronger and stronger, and when it peaked, she added a vial of some fluid, her secret ingredient. Shuurikou and the others were mystified at what she was doing, but her fellow espers knew all too well what she was doing. This had been an experiment they worked on once when they were a little bored and wanted to test some new flavors and stumbled upon a secret that made for a most unpleasant memory but could also prove very effective against this particular foe.

Once they had the brew going, Keisei put the lid on to allow it to age, the longer it sat the more potent it would be. They ate a meal together following a prayer and then shared a few laughs over the smattering of vegetables, eggs and fish that had been provided as a meal. Then they retired to the beds that had been set aside for them. The espers only needed two beds between them, Hidariude and Keisei shared a bed as a couple and young Douji felt more safe at night in a strange new place with Kichiku. Shuurikou looked at them before he went to bed and was in awe of how they just seemed to be a family completely at peace with themselves. It seemed almost a shame that he would have to tear them away from the peace of this moment eventually, but they all knew that there were many families who needed them to take the risk for the greater good.

The notorious devourer of the greater Tokyo area was able to find his quarry pretty easily. This was mostly because the truck was sitting in the gas station that appeared to be abandoned, and yet there were fairly fresh tracks in the dirt that had eroded part of the pavement. It also didn’t help that Renzokuken’s motorcycle was clearly visible on the bed of the truck. He went to the door of the gas station and barked out his usual call “I’m hungry! Feed me!” At first it seemed there was no answer. “I know you’re there, don’t bother hiding or I’ll just sic my eaters on you until I find you and then I’ll eat everything anyway. And while you’re at it, send out those fugitives you have with you. You know, they’re traitors, they used to be with us, you can’t trust them, they’re unpredictable, they turned on us, and they can turn on you too! Of course, I can fix that situation…for a price.”

Keisei came out with the first platter of food, with her friends bringing out the rest. Even little Douji carried a platter of food, it was small but still something and besides, Kichiku made up the difference with the helping he brought out. Shuurikou also brought out some food, but the server that drew the soldier’s attention was Hidariude. “You seem to be the leader of this ragtag band of traitors, would you mind sitting with me while I eat?”

“Do you mind if these others join us?” Hidariude replied.

The soldier looked at the others. “Not at all. In fact, I would definitely appreciate these three joining us.” He gestured at Keisei, Kichiku, and Douji. “Mind you, I’m only asking you to sit with me, I still get to eat all of this.”

“You always had a big appetite Paku.” Hidariude commented.

“I have a high metabolism.” Paku said as he sat at the table in the gas station’s old minimart café. His eaters were rather imposing and he was rather confident that his gang would keep the espers from attacking him.

“It seems to be failing, you’ve gained some weight.”

Paku began to eat the offering of food presented to him. Between bites he spoke through a full mouth, surprisingly clearly. “You’re lucky I’m famished from my journey here and need to eat or I’d kick your ass for that. As it is, you have until I’m finished to win me over, or I have you three for dessert before I take the kid back.”

“Why do you eat all of this anyway? I know Seventh Moon can provide enough food to fill even your gullet, but you’re taking everything these people have and leaving them to starve.”

“Are you kidding? I eat a village every day or so and I’m still starving! If this is the best they can provide, I’m doing them a favor. I mean think about it, if they can’t feed me, what are the chances they can feed themselves? The only way to survive is to bow down to Seventh Moon and anyone who doesn’t, doesn’t deserve to live. That’s what we’re for; we need to clear out the extras, the surplus, the overpopulated masses. What’s the point of these people fighting, in the long run they won’t make it anyway. You’re too soft, thinking they stand a chance, it’s better just to take them out quickly and end their suffering as soon as possible.”

“You think making them starve is humane?”

“I’m saying it’s more humane that I speed up the process so that the few who get away can either give in and seek refuge in Tokyo or give up now before they waste any more time or resources trying to make a future that’s never going to happen.” Paku began to sweat and burped. “These folks make it extra spicy in these parts don’t they? I’ve developed a taste for most spices, but I don’t think I know this spice. Something new, not wasabi… what is it?”

“It’s just something special we whipped up for you. You’re right there isn’t much we can do. We really didn’t realize how bad the situation was until we came out here, but now that we see it, it is a lost cause. So we’re just going to give you a good meal to celebrate that we’re going to join you and finish off these people before we all go back.”

Paku laughed. “Well now that sounds like a good deal. You know the others all wanted to kill you, but I always knew you’d come around. It doesn’t take long in the outlands to realize that this is just no place to live.” By now, Paku had cleaned the first platter and started on the large one Kichiku had brought out. Normally he savored the food he ate as well as the looks of frustration on the faces of the starving locals as he ate their food, but Hidariude’s words inspired him to hurry and finish his meal, so he opened his mouth wide, even unhinging his jaw and sliding all the remaining food into his mouth, downing a platter’s worth of food in one gulp each until it was all gone. “So are we ready to party?”

At this point, Douji tugged at Shuurikou’s pant leg and signaled him to retreat back underground. Hidariude drew his sword on Paku. “You’d better believe it!”

“Huh?” Paku looked surprised, but as he saw the other two get into their fighting stances, he realized they weren’t on his side after all. “Once a traitor always a traitor. Get them!” The last words he spoke were a command to his eaters to go after the espers.

The first move they made was to rush out of the gas station to draw Paku and his eaters away from the settlement. Hidariude engaged Paku to keep his attention. Of course Paku remembered fighting Hidariude and his cyber blades and knew how to keep out of his way. Hidariude managed to get in a few cuts across Paku’s belly, but he managed to avoid taking anything more than superficial wounds and just kept dodging while trying to get Hidariude in position to be taken by the eaters. Hidariude simply cut through the eaters without any difficulty.

Outside more eaters came after Kichiku and Keisei. Once Kichiku got enough distance, he turned around and pounded the ground with both fists creating two fissures that opened directly beneath the eaters dropping them into the crevices. Kichiku then clapped his hands together and the crevices closed on the eaters holding them fast in the spot where they stood. Keisei ran down the line smashing the eaters. When she hit the end of the line, Paku caught up to her and she had to spin around and retreat again.

Hidariude caught up to Paku and started striking at him, forcing him to dodge, while Kichiku tried to hit him from behind. Paku was used to this tactic too as they had done this several times when they were growing up and he knew how to dodge their attacks while looking for Kichiku’s weak spot. The problem he didn’t anticipate was Keisei pulling out her war fans and covering her comrade’s weak spots. This made Paku desperate so he jumped as high as he could and started spitting stomach acid. The espers saw this coming and dodged the acid. Paku was disappointed that it didn’t work, but it did cause them to spread out enough that he could safely land where he thought he would have an advantage. His next move was to stick out his tongue and grab Keisei’s fans to eat them. After disarming her, Paku tried to do the same thing to Hidariude by grabbing his sword. However, the sacred nature of the sword made it more valuable than the easily replaceable fans Keisei wielded, and even she recognized the value so before Paku could retract his tongue, she grabbed a hold of it in her hands and stopped him in his tracks.

“What’s the matter?” Keisei taunted Paku. “Cat got your tongue?”

“Vewy funny, bow wet go!” Paku screamed with a mix of anger and vulnerability.

“You first.” Keisei demanded, forcing him to let go of the sword and threw it back to Hidariude. “Okay boys, now it’s my turn, you’d better get out of the way.” Following her orders, they both retreated to a safe distance. Keisei held up her index and middle finger on her free hand and focused her eyes on the fire kanji Hidariude had etched in Paku’s belly. As she let go of his tongue she incanted “Kayakujutsu ignite!” and then jumped out of the way.

Paku had no time to react, he just felt a rumble in his stomach as the vitriol Keisei added ignited the spices in the food he had eaten. He tried to hold his mouth closed and hold it back for a fraction of a second before the flames burst forth. With a final burp of smoke, Paku collapsed. Keisei had mixed a much more potent batch than she had in previous experiments, this was a fatal amount, and his insides had been completely burned by the explosion. The fight was over, Paku was dying, and his last thoughts were the realization that the fight itself had been nothing more than a diversion to make sure he was a safe distance away before he exploded.

The espers returned to the settlement to tell everyone the good news that the eaters would not be coming back. Shuurikou went out and gathered the spare parts from the robots so that they could start using them for something before anyone came to get the parts and rebuild the eaters. After he got the final payload on his truck, he joined the celebration feast being held for the espers since now the people could farm and forage freely and would have more food to go around.

Shuurikou took the espers aside. “I’m really proud of your work, but our journey is not over. Now that you have proven yourself to this community here, I’m going to take you to our leader. There is a resistance and she’s going to make you official members.”

“When do we set out?” Hidariude said with much enthusiasm.

“I’ll let you guys enjoy the victory for today, then we head out first thing tomorrow.”