The Wolf Kronicals 4 (Chapter 15-16)

Chapter 15- Arachnophobia

The next morning:
"Maliko!"
*...Snoooore!!!*
"Malikoooo!!!"
*Ear Twitch* *Snoooore!!!!!*
"MALIKO!!!"
*Cough* *Gasp* "Huh?"
"Maliko! Wake up!"
"It's time!"
"...For what...?"
"For Ski's soul to go to the Pit."
"....You woke me up for that?"
"Shut up and get moving."
"No thanks. I'm sleepy."
"Do you remember who you're talking to?"
".........."
"What’s wrong?"
"Krypt...Why do you have to kill Ski?"
"...What?"
"Why do you always have to target my friends? Ever since I joined you when I was young and VERY vulnerable, might I add... You've been killing my friends one by one... I don’t understand... Why?"
"Ski...is your friend?"
"Uh huh. Please...don’t hurt him."
"Fine."
"What?"
"Fine. I won’t hurt him."
"What? Really?!"
"No. I'm lying. Now come on! My new body awaits me!"
"But, Master!"
"I said Lets go!"
"And what if I refuse?"
"Do you remember what I did to Nivea last time?"
"............."
"Exactly. Let’s go."
(I think your train of thought derailed and went straight to H*ll.)
"....You tell him, Luki..."
Maliko sadly got out of bed and changed her clothes. She called Orichal and he ran over to the hospital, where Kalila was standing.
"Hey. Where's Ski?"
"I don’t know."
"What?"
"He never came back last night."
"???!!!"
Maliko stepped outside and climbed back on Orichal, who flew up high and Maliko looked around until she saw him asleep on the mountain where they sat last night.
"Hehehe... He's still there?"
(That’s so weird)
"Yeah. Let’s go see what’s up."
Maliko and Orichal flew down and landed right next to Ski.
"Wakey Wakey, Jetplane!!!"
"*Yawn* Huh?"
"It's...um...time for...you know..."
"...Oh...Alright..."
Ski stood up and faced Maliko and smiled.
Maliko smiled back and held her arms out. Her eyes flashed then glowed and there was a dark shadow that surrounded her. When the shadow cleared, Krypt stood there with a smirk on his face.
"Are you ready?"
"Uh huh."
"Good."
Krypt held his hand to Ski's chest and his hand glowed. After a few seconds, Krypt jumped back with surprise.
"...Your soul...It's..."
"Gone? Yeah, I know."
"B-b-but...How did...What???"
"Hehehehe!!! What’s wrong, Kryptonite?"
"Don’t EVEN start that, Wolfen!!!"
"Why? What’s wrong with it?"
"Jetstream! Where is it?"
"Where is what?"
"Your original soul. Where is it?"
"Now why would I go and do a stupid thing like tell you that?"
"Because you value your life."
"Either way I'm gonna die."
"....(Good point)..."
"See! I am right! Now I'm really not gonna tell you."
Krypt stared at Ski's eyes very hard and gasped.
"You...don’t have a clue where it is...do you?"
"W-what do you mean?"
"I could see that look in your eyes. You're as lost as I am about the current location of your soul. So that means only one person DOES know where it is."
"W-who?"
"You know who."
Krypt put his hands out and a light flashed about 3 feet away from him. A dark figure appeared from it, wrapped up and bound with chains. Ski tried hard to make out who the figure was. He gasped when the color returned to its body.
"Maliko!!!"
Since she couldn’t really respond due to her mouth being covered up, Maliko looked at Krypt in anger.
"Since when can you do this?"
"I could always do this, but me and Maliko have to stay at least 5 feet within range for it to work."
*Muffled Profanity*
"Now, Maliko. Why don’t you tell me where his original soul is before I have to make THIS my vessel."
"This IS your vessel."
"I mean solitary vessel."
"OxO"
"I thought so."
"Um...I don’t think she can tell you with the chains AND the duct tape over her mouth."
"Oh, yeah."
Krypt untied the chains then painfully ripped the tape off.
"ARGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Tears ran down Maliko's eyes as she screamed and screamed.
"...Hehehe..."
"You think this is funny?! I swear, Let me catch you and you're dead."
"Shut it, Wolfen. Where is it?"
"Why don’t you go knock Superman out of the sky, Kryptonite!"
"Hey, Miko!"
"Huh?"
Maliko turned to face Ski.
"Brunch."
"Hehehe Hehehehe!!!"
(Does that make you laugh every time?)
"Yup."
"Yup what?"
"Yup Brunch!"
"Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!"
"Enough!!!"
(Party Pooper)
"I know, right?"
"I don’t have time for your games. Tell me or it'll be a repeat of the Neutral War all over again."
"What are you gonna do? Make me transform?" Maliko said in a mocking voice.
"Yes."
"O_O What?! You cant do that!"
"Yes I can."
"You can?"
"That’s right, Jetstream!"
"........No...But if she does that...She'll hurt everything in DarkSoul, wont she?
"Yup."
".....Miko...Just give it to him..."
"No."
"What? You have to!"
"No, I don’t!"
"You'll be hurt!"
"I don’t care!"
"Everyone else will be hurt, too."
"......I wont give it to him!"
"Miko! Just do it!"
"No!"
"Then you have chosen the hard path, huh?"
"You cant do this! ...You cant control me forever, Krypt."
"You're right. I don’t have to control you. I can just send you back to Earth just like how I found you. Sad, Lonely and Pathetic."
"What do you want from her?! She was homeless, hated, and an orphan. Top it all off, she was only 10 years old!" Ski cried.
Krypt ignored her and kept talking.
"Do you remember, Maliko? You had no friends and your body was stained with the blood of all you cared about. Face it. It was all your fault anyway. If you hadn’t been so stupid, Marin AND Luki would have still been alive and if you hadn't been born, your parents would still be around, too. Think about it, Maliko. You're better off dead anyway. At least your parents would still be around."
"Hey! Don’t say that! Leave her alone!!!"
"You know it's true, Maliko. This is all your fault. Just surrender your soul and give it to me! That way, I will get someone's body to myself, even if it's not Ski's. And think about it this way... If you give me your body, I wont have to hurt Ski and at least you can say that you didnt kill all of your friends."
"I said Stop it!!!" Ski ran up to Krypt and pushed him.
"Miko! Don’t listen to him... Its not your fault!"
(Yeah! He's a loser!)
Maliko didn’t say anything, but just looked down in silence, tears running in rivers down her face. Ski held her head up and looked into her eyes, but they were hazy and dark. No matter what Ski or Luki said, her dead expression didn’t change. Ski began to get worried and desperate.
"Miko. Please...Don’t listen to him." He bent down to his knees and held her tightly. Tears started to form in his watery eyes and he pleaded for Maliko to listen to him. But Maliko's hazy expression never changed.
"Well? You were saying? Who can’t I control?"
"Krypt...You're a monster! You know how she felt about her past! You know that was her weak spot. If anything...Did you have to say that?"
"Um...Yes? I think I did."
He looked over at Maliko.
"Now return to me to begin your transformation, Maliko."
"........" Maliko looked up in silence, her eyes surrounded by the dark rings of too much crying. For a second, nothing happened and Ski wondered what Krypt was talking about. Then he looked back at Maliko and saw that she was dematerializing slowly.
"Miko! No! Don’t do it!" He ran to grab her before she disappeared, but missed by a split second, and Maliko disappeared completely.
Ski had one last chance to help Maliko. He grabbed Krypt and started banging his hand on his back.
"Maliko! Please, Maliko! Come on!
Don’t do this! It's not worth it!!!"
He pressed his ear to Krypt back, remembering the time that Disen told Ski that during the Neutral War, he pressed his ear to her back and heard Maliko and Krypt talking inside her soul. Sure enough, he heard soft voices.
"Are you ready, Maliko?"
"R-ready? For what?"
"To become the being that you are meant to be! To become a deity...under my control! Are you ready for ultimate power!?"
"...No?"
"What's that? Yes? Okay!"
"No! Wait! Please!!!"
"What is it now?!"
"...I'm...um..."
"What??? Hurry up!"
"I'm...scared..."
"Of what?"
"I remember last time...It hurts...alot...A whole lot... it feels like your body is tearing itself apart. It feels like being awake for open heart surgery..."
"...So?"
"Please...don’t do it... I don’t think I can handle another transformation..."
"Don’t worry... You wont be awake to feel it..."
"Oh. Okay. Wait!!! Huh?!"
All you could hear was screams of terrible pain, like someone with immortality had caught on fire and was tied down in a abandoned room in an ancient underground warehouse about 50 miles into the middle of the desert...underground...under the water that’s under the sand in cardboard clothes in a scuba diving suit and your body is covered in oil and gunpowder and for some reason, your body is covered by the suit but you don’t have a helmet and you're drowning forever... (You wont die. You're immortal, remember? You'll just suffer for all eternity.) Yeah, All that WAS necessary...Cause that’s how bad and painful the scream sounded.
All of a sudden, Ski could hear a weird sound...It sounded like...Thunder! But...The entire time he was in DarkSoul... He didnt remember it raining...Except during that Neutral War...
"What da heck is dat?"
He grabbed Maliko tighter in fear. Maliko stood up slowly from the ground and Ski jumped back. She raised her arms in the air and shot them out to her sides and rain started to pour. Thunder could be heard booming in the distance and lightning raced through the dark clouds that now covered the entire dimension on DarkSoul. Maliko looked over at Ski and stared deep into his eyes. Ski stared back just as intensely hoping that she would snap out of it, but of course...No luck. She stared and stared until she smiled wickedly and Ski heard a voice from deep inside...a dark and evil voice...It said:
"So, Ski... Not a big fan of spiders, are you?"
Ski jumped back, his heart pounding by just the mention of the arachnids he feared so much.
"I didnt think so."
The thunder boomed again and Maliko turned and pointed at Fear's Nightmare.
"Oh god...No..."
All of a sudden, A black thunderbolt shot out of the sky and shot into the portal. All of a sudden, Millions and Millions of all types of spiders crawled out of the portal. From the size of ants to 10 feet taller that the 8-Legged Freaks, every type of spider...normal or mutant...crawled out of that portal and just ran wild.
After about 10 minutes of this, Kalila woke up and opened her curtains, looked out, slowly closed her curtains, picked up her phone and called Nivea.
"Ring ring....Ring ring...Hello?"
"Hey, Nivea. It's Kalila. Are you awake?"
"I am now."
"Did you look out of your window today?"
"No. Why?"
"Guess what’s out there?"
"What?"
"About 12 or 13 hundred immense spiders of pants-wetting proportions."
"...What did you just say?" (She and Ski both have arachnophobia)
...Look for yourself."
"Alright."
Kalila heard Nivea put her phone down slowly, open her shades and after 3 seconds of being stunned...
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This woke up the rest of the people and Kensuke got up and looked out of his window.
“Something tells me Spiderman’s taking his hero status a little too far…”
Maliko fell to the floor as if she had suddenly blacked out and Ski (Still in fear) called to her...unable to move due to shaky legs.
She sat up slowly and scratched her head, then looked over to the side and giggled.
"Maliko!!!" Ski called Maliko happily, hoping she could fix everything.
"......" She didnt respond right away...It looked like she was playing with something...but she did look at Ski, and Ski stared back at her.
"Hello, Ski."
He wondered why she didnt get scared. She was afraid of spiders, too.
Then she turned to him fully and Ski jumped at what she was holding. A huge furry spider the size of....a puppy. A small puppy. About the size of Luki...
She was holding it tight and laughing. The spider made a weird sound and Maliko laughed and petted it. It seemed pretty docile around Maliko. Very cautious, Ski reached over to touch it. He got closer.....closer....closer..........and the spider snapped and bit his hand, which got swollen and puffy right away.
"Maliko! Get rid of that spider right now! Its dangerous!!!"
"...No...This spider...is...my friend..."
"No, Its not! It can hurt you! Get rid of it now!!!"
"......No...You don’t understand...me...only he does...my friend..."
Maliko looked at Ski and he nearly screamed. Maliko had dark black eyes just like the spiders. Not all the extra ones...Just her 2 original ones. But the ones she had looked glazed and hazy...as if she was being controlled...by something...or someone... Maliko stood up and ran into the forest with the spider in hand. Ski knew he couldn’t stop her and looked around. He noticed that Luki was nowhere to be found....

Hours later, when Ski could get enough power to stand, He stood up and headed to the forest to save Maliko from her delusions. He twitched everytime he touched or even saw any huge webs with the trillions of covered bugs stuck to them.
"I hope they don’t eat cats."
Ski used every attack and technique in his arsenal to kill the spiders that blocked his path. On the way, one dying human that must have found its way to the spider's web cried "Beware the spider queen. She's protecting the egg sack in the center."
"...Egg Sack....*Groan*..."
Eventually, he found just what he wished he didnt see. An egg sack. But not just any egg sack. A HUGE egg sack. Like, 1/2 a Skyscraper Huge...
Ski gasped and fell back when he looked over and saw Nivea, Kalila and Kensuke stuck to a wall of trees with thick webbing. He tried to pull them off and call to them, but they didnt respond at all.
"Its no use. They're out like a light..."
"...It seems I have visitors..."
Someone came down from the ceiling on a single strand of web. But it was no spider, as far as Ski could tell…
“M-m-Maliko!?! You’re the Spider Queen?!
“You’re darn right I am!"
“You’ve got our friends captive. How about letting them go, getting rid of all this web stuff, and we forget this all ever happened?”
“You simply think I’d listen to that? I plan to make everyone like this one here…”
“Uh… this one where?”
“Right here! In front of you, you fools!”
“...Huh? What do you mean?"
Ski looked over and saw a big machine implanted so deep in her skin, you'd think it was drilled in. The blood ran down from her back and stained her pearly webs.
"What the heck IS that?!"
Then Ski had a thought: Remember the big spider Maliko said was her friend? … What if that thing IS controlling her...using that machine? Like mind control...Ugh...Like Marik Ishtar..."
"You heartless little..."
“So, you know already? Fine… I’ll be doing the same to those three on the wall there, too. But after I kill you and steal the fluids from your body!”
“Eep… I don’t like the sound of that!”
“But I should give you a chance… give up now, and I’ll let you lead over an army of maggots or something…”
“You can take that offer and shove it!”
“Then I’ll make it slow and painful!”
"Heh heh... You cant catch me."
"I didnt mean for you."
"Huh?"
Maliko fell back screaming and grabbed her head to ease the pain, but to extend the pain for her, some of the main spider's spider minions tied her hands back with more of their webs. All you could see is pus-filled bubbling skin around her eyes and the bubbles inflated slowly.
"Ewww..." Ski stepped back.
The bubbles got bigger and bigger and then popped suddenly.
Maliko looked up slowly and everywhere where the bubbles popped were small black...spider eyes, covered in pus.
"Omigawd...No...Maliko..."
Maliko looked up slowly and Ski noticed a small light in her eyes.
"S...Ski..."
But as suddenly as it came, the light disappeared and Maliko's eyes glazed over again. She grabbed him and pinned him to the wall.
"....Maliko...I'll save you...
As ski’s mind raced, he thought to himself.
' After all this time, after all these years of fighting... You cant die here... You cant die now...Think, Ski...Think...What did you learn that will help you...?'
He closed his eyes and thought back, but all he could think of was the last time he was happy...When him and Maliko were on the mountain. Then he remembered... The orb! He could use it to burn down the webs!
He took his free hand and held down the button, burning all the webs to the ground. As the machine on Maliko's back glowed, Maliko fell to the ground and the machine pushed itself deeper into her back. At this point, she was too deep into the spell to scream on her own, but Ski knew she still felt it. He jumped down and witnessed her slow and painful (and rather bloody) transformation, he could hear her screams in his head, as if their souls were connected...Then he realized that she still had his soul...so for him to hear the screams so clearly... She had to still have it with her. But, where did she hide it so easily??? He looked at her as her body jerked back in pain and saw a sparkle. 'So that’s where she hid it!!!' he thought. It was in her collar where her shard used to be, before Shadow got it. That was risky, but really clever of her. Krypt would never have guessed, because he would have thought it was still her shard and not his soul.
'Nice one, Miko.' He ran up to her and grabbed her, holding her down and jumping on her back. He pinned her to the floor and ripped the machine out of her back. Maliko felt the pain, but only for a second. Then she collapsed on the ground near Ski's feet. Ski picked her up and finished torching the place. As soon as everything was dead, he stood up and grabbed his friends, opening his wings and flying back to Maliko's house. He put everyone down, tended to their wounds and sat down, seeing if anyone would wake up. He looked out the window. He felt sad...somehow. He had new friends and didnt mind the enemies much... But he needed to get stronger... That’s why he set off to begin with. That’s why he left. His family, his home... He couldn’t waste time here for much longer... He had to be stronger if he wanted to achieve his goal. He wasn’t going to let his past repeat itself... He had to protect what he had... Ski looked over at Maliko. She slept softly, not feeling the pain of her wounds thanks to Ski's spell. Even with the bloody bandages
wrapped around her waist and head, She still looked beautiful to him. She always did... No matter how much he hated her... He remembered the first time they met... She hated him for being an angel and for living... But he thought... Where would they be now if he had died... He remembered how pretty she looked to him then and that starry eyed look she gave him... (Before she turned on him and tried to kill him) But he knew, It was Disen that had truly loved her... If only he hadn’t... Suddenly, Ski got an great idea. He stood up and turned to Maliko.
"You're gonna love me for this!"
He ran off to go train.


Chapter 16- Search for the Crystal Rats

2 days later, When everything was straightened out and everyone woke up, Ski walked into the hospital. It was early and Maliko was still asleep. He shook her softly.
"Miko...Mikkkkooooo..."
He shook her a little harder, and her ear twitched. He got real close to her ear and whispered "Naked Seto Kaiba is on the mountain looking for you and he sent me to get you..." he felt a cold breeze whoosh past him and he blinked. When he looked, Maliko was gone.
"Huh?!"
He turned around and Maliko was fully dressed standing by the door. "Well?! What are you waiting for?! Come on!!! Seto awaits!!! Setooooo~!!!"
"Um... I was just joking, you know."
"........"
Maliko collapsed on the floor. Ski rushed over and held her head up.
"Maliko! Maliko!!! Are you okay?!"
"Snoooore..."
".....GET UP!!!!!"
Maliko jumped up and held her head, half asleep and growling.
"Whaaaat?!"
"Come on."
"What is it?"
"I have a surprise for you. Someone is waiting for you."
"Huh? Who?"
"It's a surprise, remember?"
"....What time is it?"
"6:12 A.M."
"......"
"Let's just go."
As Maliko and Ski walked over to the mountain, Maliko glanced over at Ski. Ski noticed and looked back at her, but as soon as he did, she turned her head as fast as she could and looked down. At the base of the mountain, Maliko smelled a very familiar scent.
"*Sniff* ...It can't be..."
"Heh heh... What’s up, Maliko?"
"...Nothing..."
Maliko walked to the top and sitting there looking at the multicolored sunrise was the person she least expected to see.
"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Heh heh..."
"D-D-D....."
"Hey, Miko! Miss me?"
"Disen!!!!!"
Maliko jumped at Disen, nearly knocking him over. She grabbed him tightly and started to cry, tears covering her entire face.
"Miko, please. Don’t cry."
"Ski! I don’t....But... How...did you..."
"It’s a new skill I learned a while back. I figured that you missed him and I'm SURE he has alot to tell you. Only problem is that I can only gather enough energy for this one day. That’s why I woke you up so early. I figured you'd want as much time as possible."
"Ski...I..."
Not knowing how else to express her joy, she grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug and whispered in his ear.
"Ski...Thank you..."
Ski stared wide eyed and blushed a little bit.
"You're welcome."
Ski smiled and watched as Disen turned bright red as Maliko squeezed him and cried... As much as he wanted to stay, he knew it would be wrong and left them to talk alone.
Eventually, Maliko calmed down and they got into talking.
"When I talked to you, when I came to your grave... did you hear me?"
"Uh huh. I used to sit by my grave and wait for you to come every night and sing to me. Man...I love..."
"Love what?"
"...I love... the way you sing! Yeah... That’s it...Sure..."
"Oh. Okay!"
Maliko smiled and sat close to Disen as he held her arm around her.
"So what have you been up to?"
Maliko told him about everything that happened since his death and Disen sat angrily.
"......."
"What's wrong...?"
"Shadow...He hasn't come back yet..."
(Is that such a bad thing?)
"Yeah, isn’t that good?"
"....No..."
"Why not?"
"Well, during the time I spent with him...I learned a little about him. I learned his parents were killed by demon hunters, too. But only because of a human..."
"A human?"
"Uh huh."
(So...What does that have to do with it?)
"Well... You see, Luki..."
"Wait....You can hear Luki, Disen?!"
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
"How?!"
"Think about it. He died, and I died. I can hear him because he is a spirit just like I am."
"Ooooo. Okay."
"Well, He used to talk about it every night, in his sleep, I mean. He had nightmares and stuff. Something about a blue volcano. He always wakes up so angry, but after about 2 or 3 murder missions, he calms down."
"So?"
"So that means that he is desperate for revenge. If he wasn't, he wouldn’t have the nightmares and the whole vengeance complex... Oh, it’s hard to explain. I'm just saying he has the black shard, he has the portal. Why hasn't he come back yet?"
(He must be planning something, right?)
"Right."
Just as he said that, something ran past them, down the mountain and into the forest. Disen looked to see a huge black creature. "Looks like something's been eating their Super Mushrooms!" Disen laughed and looked at Maliko for a response, but she looked pretty preoccupied. Maliko sniffed the air and smelled the delicious scent of blood. She started to drool and stood up. She grabbed Luki and ran into the forest before the scent disappeared.
"Wait here until I get back!!!" She screamed after him.
"Mikkkkooooo! Wait! Come back! ...Man...I have a bad feeling about this."
He looked at the grass and noticed a black spot where the creature had run.
"Huh? What's...this?"
He touched it and realized it was some black liquid. Disen sniffed it and gasped.
"Oh god... No!"
He jumped up and ran to find Ski as fast as he could.

Meanwhile, in the middle of the forest:
"Come back here!!!"
The black creature dashed left, then just as Maliko was about to grab it, suddenly turned right into a thick path of trees that Maliko ran into without looking, and was knocked out. When she awoke, the creature was staring her in the face. She tried to grab it, but couldn't move her arms or legs. She looked over and cried out in shock when she noticed that she was tied down very tightly.
"Heh heh... Looks like I caught something in my trap."
A tall figure stepped out from behind the trees. It was...
"Shadow!!! What are YOU doing here? Ooooo, when I get outta here, I'm gonna..."
"Not a nice thing to say to the person that has your life in their hands. Whatever happened to Good Evening, Master? Geez... Show some class."
"Master?! Are you crazy? Not gonna happen! I'd rather die!"
"If you say so."
Shadow walked over to Maliko and punched her hard in the face, making Maliko's lip bleed. Maliko growled and licked the blood off of her lips.
".......I'll kill you...."
Shadow picked the small black creature up off of the ground, and twisted his tiny head until it popped off, blood shooting out and rushing to the floor. Black blood... Thick and delicious black blood... Maliko stared in hunger at the blood on the ground and tried her hardest to get out. She had to get to it... It smelled so good... Shadow smiled evilly and tossed her the body of the creature, which she caught in her mouth and gobbled up greedily. She squealed in happiness... She had never in her life tasted blood (or anything else) this delicious... She had to have more... She had to...
"Like it?"
"W-what is it? Why does it taste so good?"
"It's a Coal Rat. I breed them in my home... underground. I have millions of them..."
Maliko's eyes widened and she began to drool.
"Please... Can I have some more? I'll do anything!"
She started to sweat and Shadow smiled evilly.
"I don’t know..."
"Please?!"
"Hmmm... The Wolf Demon Lord... Reduced to begging..."
"I don’t care! I'll do anything... I HAVE to have more..."
Just as Shadow was about to make his offer, they heard loud voices from above.
"There they are! Begin your descent!"
"What?!"
"Go down!"
"Where??? There nothing but trees!"
"So what? Go down!"
"She's NOT here!!!"
"Is so!!!"
"Is not!!!"
"Go down!!!"
"Fiiiiine!"
"Whoa! Pull your wings back out!"
"I can’t!"
"Why not?!"
"You're crushing them!!!"
"We're falling!!!"
"WHOAAAAAA!!!!!"
*Crash*
"See! Told you she was here!"
"...Fine..."
"Oh, my... It is good to see you again, Dice-boy. Can I offer you some animal crackers? I would offer a Phoenix Down, but it seems you already managed to get your hands on one..."
"Can it, Shadow!"
"Miko... Are you okay?"
"Must...have...more...."
Disen noticed the black blood running down her mouth, and his heart began to hurt.
"Oh god... No....It's too late... She already tasted the blood of the Coal Rat?"
"....Must....have...."
"Coal Rat?"
"It’s an extremely rare species of rodent that produces blood with a chemical that demons are seriously addicted to. Once they taste it, they will do anything to get it... Even kill you or me..."
"But, she wouldn’t..."
"Yes she would. Under the influence of the Coal Rat... she would..."
Disen looked at Maliko, sweating hard and twitching slightly, obviously trying to resist its power, but failing.
(Miko...Please hold on...)
"So... We can’t save her?"
"The only thing that can save her in the antidote made from a Crystal Rat, but I don’t know where to find them. As far as I know... They're extinct..."
"...That can’t be true... If we don’t get it, what will happen?"
"Well, Maliko's need for it will get worse and worse and her body will....well, I guess you can say... Self-Destruct... Blood will start to drip from her pores, and..."
"That’s enough, Shadow!"
"Whaaaat? I'm only giving you the 411... Because knowledge is power, right?"
"Disen..."
"Yeah...Lets go."
"Man, I'd LOVE to come along and see what happens when Disen can't find it in about an hour or two. He's always had a patience problem... Seems he would rather kill his enemies quickly when he doesn’t get what he wants... I prefer slow deaths, but whatever..."
"That’s NOT true!"
"It's not?! Who was the one that killed the random woman and her 2 children because she didn’t know where to find the Photon Blade?! She was a HUMAN!!! Humans can’t even SEE the Photon Blade!"
".......I don’t know what you're talking about!"
"Suuuuuure...."
"Leave me alone!!!"
Disen ran out of the forest clearing and Ski looked at him in worry. Disen loved Maliko more than he loved himself. Before the day was over, Ski knew that Disen was gonna bring war down and send blood running in the gutters. If it was to save Maliko, he had no regret in killing anybody, not himself, Nivea, Kalila, Kensuke or even him... Even more so, he had been trained under the dark influence of Shadow for so long...The only person truly safe was Maliko, and she was in terrible danger already. He just knew that by the end of the day... Someone was going to die...
They decided to go to the river to ask Sai what he thought. The river was connected to many different parts of DarkSoul and he was always swimming...Maybe he spotted the Crystal Rat once or twice. On the way to the river, they met up with Nivea, who was more than shocked by Disen's sudden return. When Ski explained everything to her, she offered to help.
"No. You'll just get in the way."
"Come on! I want to gooo!!!"
"I said No! If you want to be of any use to me, go find a Crystal Rat."
"Cant I just come with you guys?"
"No!"
"Why not?"
"Because I said No, you little..."
"Little WHAT?! I dare you to finish that!"
Ski could see that Disen was getting annoyed, so he jumped in.
"Nivea! You just can’t! Now go away! You're wasting time!"
"No! I'm not leaving until you let me go with you!"
Disen's eyes glowed and he pushed Ski to the side, then grabbed Nivea's arm violently.
"Hey! What the heck is wrong with you!? Let go!!!
"...em erofeb erutaerc eht fo luos eht em evig, sduolc nosmirc no ssenkrad tiliwt..."
"Huh?"
Nivea felt a weird tingle throughout her body, and then she couldn’t move all of a sudden. Her body was solid and her thinking became labored. All of a sudden, her brain shut down completely and her eyes turned a light grey.
"......"
A clear blue crystal appeared in the dirt by her feet. Disen picked it up and rubbed off the dirty spots and spoke in a chilling voice... A voice Ski didn’t know Disen was capable of.
"Get out of my sight before I drag you down to He*l with me..."
Disen gave her an ice cold look and Nivea slowly turned and walked away.
"Disen..."
Ski got off of the ground and backed up a couple of inches very slowly, becoming scared of finding out just what else he had learned from Shadow...
"Lets go."
Ski nodded, and walked slowly behind Disen, wondering what would become of Sai if he didn’t know where to find the Crystal Rats.

Down at the river, Ski flew above the water and looked out. "I don’t see him!"
"....How does Maliko call him?"
"I don’t know! Let's see..."
He whistled loudly and a huge tidal wave began to rise.
"WHOA!!!"
He tried to run but the wave hit him and sent him flying onto the shore. He landed and groaned loudly. All of a sudden, he sniffed the air.
"Do I smell....fish sticks?"
He looked up and saw Sai standing inches in front of him.
"I hope you know I take offense to that..."
"Heh heh... Sorry!"
"...What do you need?"
"Well, Sai... Um, you get around, right?"
"Uh...I guess you could say that..."
"Have you ever seen something called a Crystal Rat?"
"Huh? What's that?"
"It's a creature that resembles a rat, but with spikes lining its back and a curly pig-like tail. Every part of its body is white, except for its eyes which are made of crystals...hence the name..."
"I think I've seen one before!"
"Really?! Where?!?
"Um... I don’t remember... Sorry..."
"Tell us now!"
"I said I don’t remember!"
Disen walked up to Sai and grabbed him...well, attempted to, but his skin was as slippery as butter. Instead, Disen looked Sai in the eyes, which were just pitch black and if you looked too long , you would feel like your soul was being pierced. But Disen wasn’t fazed. He stared as hard as he could and growled angrily, fangs exposed.
"Prepare to die..."
After a couple of seconds, Sai's eyes widened and he became cold. Not normal cold... Not even winter cold... Sub-zero cold... His breathing was extremely labored and he reached to grab his chest which, contrary to the cold, felt as if it was on fire. But he couldn't move... He was barely able to look down, but when he did, he gasped. His body was trapped in ice up to his neck, one layer of normal ice, lined with a thicker layer of dry ice. Disen walked over and tied a thick rope around the ice, which he had gotten out of his bag. He pulled the frozen Sai over to the edge of the bridge and laughed.
"One more chance... Are you sure you don’t know where to find them?"
Sai couldn’t answer even if he wanted. He could barely breathe enough to stay alive. He struggled to stay awake... He looked weakly at Disen, his eyes begging for mercy. But Disen didn’t care at all. He looked at Sai and smiled evilly.
"Okay... Time's up."
He untied the rope and kicked Sai off the bridge. As soon as he hit the water, the dry ice made a huge thick fog that covered the entire area. Even though Ski couldn’t really see Disen in front of him, he could feel the evil radiating off of him. The same evil that Shadow had given every time he walked in the room...And he knew. Disen had changed for the absolute worse. He couldn’t tell Maliko though. Even if they saved her... Even when they saved her... He couldn’t crush Maliko's rose colored images of him. He was her perfect friend... He was fun to play with, and to talk to. He always listened and never judged... and he was kind... He was gentle... and wouldn’t hurt a fly, unless that fly tried to hurt his Miko... And in her own little way, Maliko loved Disen as much as he loved her, if not more. He couldn’t break her heart... after all... he was only here for today, right?
Ski was still scared, though. He figured...if he could turn on his friends so easily, he could just as easily turn on Ski. Ski decided to run while he could. He extended his wings and started to fly off, when he felt himself being pulled down.
"...Where are you going, Ski?"
"Um...I just..."
"Did you think I wouldn’t see you?"
"...No, its not that... I..."
"Ski... Am I going to have to deal with you, too?"
"Disen! Why are you being like this? You're not the same as before! You're evil now!"
"Heh heh... I wouldn’t say evil... But I do have much more power now... And I can protect those close to me now... I can protect Miko...And no one is going to get in my way!"
"But, Disen... We're friends! Don’t you remember?"
"No."
"Oh, you wanna play hard ball? Fine! Flashback time!!!"
"If you do, I'll kill you!"
"You cant kill me!"
"Why not?!"
"Because if you did, 4kids would just censor it!"
"This ISNT 4kids! Don’t even joke like that! Don’t you remember who writes this story?! The most violent anime freak on the planet!"
"...Holy crap, you're right!!! Maybe I'll change my mind about that flashback..."
"Too bad... It's already started!"
"NoooOOOOoooo!!!!!"

Back in Volume 2:
“……Thank you, but…”
“Why am I helping you, right?”
“Yeah… Aren’t you a wolf demon, too?”
"Believe me… Not all of us are as mean as Maliko. Actually, she’s not as mean as she seems…”
“Yeah, right…”
“She just acts that way to newcomers… Don’t worry, we can be friends if you want. I know how it feels to be lonely.”
“Um… Sure… I never really had many friends before.”
“Come on. I’ll take you back.”
“Um… Alright.”


"See! I told you!"
"...... I don’t remember that..."
"Yes, you do!"
"Prove it!"
"Your eyes are watering... You're crying because you DO remember and you feel ashamed...right?"
"...No."
"I thought you hated Shadow! What did he do to you? What happened to you!? Please! Tell me! I can help you! You don’t have to be this way! ...Maliko wouldn’t want to see you this way..."
"I told you before...Master Shadow granted me what I needed... The power to protect Maliko... no matter what..."
"M-master?! What do you mean!? You hate Shadow! Why would you give him that kind of power over you?!"
"It's none of your business!"
"Please... You were my only friend before Maliko... I want to help you protect her..."
"I don’t need help protecting the Bereavement Project!"
*Gasp* "Bereavement? What do you mean?! Where did you hear that?!"
Disen covered his mouth and backed away slowly. Then he turned and ran before Ski could follow him.
"...What’s happened to you..."

Ski lay down in the grass, letting the dew on the blades wash over him. He turned to the side and started to think.
"Bereavement...What does that mean?"
He got up and went home, found his old dictionary and started to read.



be·reave

be·reave [bi r?v]
(past be·reaved or be·reft [bi réft], past participle be·reaved or be·reft [bi réft], present participle be·reav·ing, 3rd person present singular be·reaves)
vt
deprive through death: to deprive somebody of a beloved person or a treasured thing, especially through death (often passive)


"Huh? What the heck does that mean? Maliko didnt die... so why did he call it that??? This is so confusing!!!"

He went back up Union Path and looked around. Sitting down, he looked over the water where the Centifish and Cowhales swam.

He looked over at the water and noticed how calm it was. He secretly wished Maliko was there to watch it with him.