Near Misses and Monkey Gods

This is joint-written. Hunger begins to affect Ambree's fighting skill, and yet another person joins the Raven's Nest.

 

“I’m hungry,” Ambree muttered, her eyes wide as if she had just noticed. “Damn. I’m starving. When did we last eat?”

“Our last night in the Snapdragon, if I remember correctly.” Lujuria responded.

“So how long does that make it since we’ve been without food? A week? More than a week?” Ambree asked, sounding frantic.

“About a week, I think.” Lujuria said. “We’ll probably find food soon.”

“If you’re interested, I have s–” Niqi began to offer, cutting off mid-sentence, her eyes glazing suddenly.

“There’s only one cause for something like that…” Glide hissed. “Circle up! Freak alert!”

“I see six.” Mambo said.

“There’s two more over here!” Ricky called, holding his fans ready. “I think they have us surrounded…”

Niqi jumped to the side as one charged her, drawing Scourge and Bane and shoving them both into the Kalma’s back. “Six more incoming attacks,” she hissed softly. “Good grief, I’m beginning to see far.”

“Absolute Zero!” Glide growled, his claws extending and turning to metal. A Kalma leapt toward him, Glide’s claws buried in the creature’s neck. “Get.” He snapped, jerking his claws out and kicking the Kalma away.

T.K. drew his gun, popping a pair of shotgun shells from his belt and loading it. “I wonder if this’ll work on these guys…” He muttered, raising the shotgun and firing, a pair of metal spheres flying from each barrel.

Niqi ducked as soon as the shots were fired, the shells flying over her head. “Damnit, T.K., the second one was from you?”

“Sorry!” T.K. yelped.

The spheres separated after a few seconds, a length of razor-sharp wire pulled between them. The wire sliced through a Kalma’s neck, severing its head.

Glide bent backwards, avoiding the second pair of spheres, which cut through another Kalma’s head. “S**t, kid, what’s wrong with you, firing that s**t with so many allies around!?”

Niqi hurried to get to her feet, jumping over the attack of a low-swinging Kalma. She crossed her blades, swinging them as she came down, and cut the Kalma into four pieces. “Three down, four to go. I think I can keep track of battle length this way,” she mused.

Sandy stepped forward, standing beside his brother, his fingers dancing across the keys of his keytar and creating a techno-style beat. “What do you think, Davis? Like it?”

“Love it.” Davis replied. “I hope you don't mind if I ruin it.” He grinned, raising his paw high, pausing for a moment before bringing it down and playing a chord that sent a blade of pure sound toward one of the Kalma, cleaving it in two.

Ambree stood by, rather distracted by Sandy’s attack. “Never seen that one before,” she commented. The sound of close by movement tipped her off to the fact that she was being attacked. She jumped backward, narrowly missing the path of the axe the Kalma was wielding. She lashed out her whip, grabbing the axe with it and wrenching it from the Kalma’s hands. She attacked it then, punctuating her punches and kicks with slashes from her whip, but she didn’t manage to land anything lethal. “Glide! How the hell do I kill with this thing?”

“Massive trauma to the brain or removal of the head!” Glide responded, demonstrating by delivering a knifehand chop to a Kalma’s neck, his claws taking its head off. “Like that.”

Ambree grinned, almost getting killed again because of her distraction. She managed to dodge the sword swing of the new Kalma, jumping back up after a moment. She didn’t bother with the weapon, lashing out her whip to wrap it around the Kalma’s neck. She jerked it violently, its head coming off. “I think I have a new favorite move,” she said to herself, smirking.

“Stay focused!” Glide snapped, unsheathing Magus and using it to parry a Kalma’s attack.

“Sorry!” Ambree called back, turning to her next victim.

Niqi jumped to the side once again, avoiding a vertical swing. She speared the Kalma by the stomach, lifting it over her head and flinging it to the side. “Three left!” she yelled to the rest of the Raven’s Nest.

Ricky smirked, opening his fans. “You…” He breathed, eyes locked on one of the Kalma. He darted forward, seeming to pulse with energy for a brief moment before disappearing completely. He reappeared behind the Kalma, launching it into the air with a hard kick and following it up, using his fans as makeshift wings. He juggled the Kalma for a few seconds before letting it fall and snapping his fans closed, dropping on it.

Niqi halved a Kalma horizontally while its back was turned, before it even thought of attempting to attack her. “Two!”

Ricky flipped forward as soon as he hit the Kalma, latching onto another, his knees pressed against its chest. “Bye.” He grinned, pulling it down and kicking forward, sending the Kalma up into the air. While the Kalma was falling, Ricky quickly gathered up a small mound of dirt with his hindpaw, slamming one fan down into the mound and using it as a springboard to launch himself up, the other fan hammering into the falling Kalma and sending it spiraling to the ground.

Niqi decapitated another unsuspecting Kalma. “One left, guys!”

“Hey, Davis, think you can pull a Dante?” Sandy asked, nudging his brother with an elbow.

Davis shrugged, strumming the guitar and summoning up a cloud of bats, made of pure darkness. “Like this?”

“There you go, bro.” Sandy grinned. “Now blast ’em!”

Davis nodded, playing one more chord and sending the bats flying forward. They exploded as they came into contact with a Kalma, blowing it to bits.

Ambree stared wide-eyed at the attack, wondering how it was possible for sound to do that.

Without warning, Sandy lunged at Ambree, sailing over her head and delivering a spinning kick to a Kalma preparing to slay her. With the creature stunned, Sandy tapped at the keys of his keytar, each keystroke sending a small blade of pure sound hurtling toward the Kalma.

Ambree blinked a few times. “I’m not usually like this…I really need food,” she muttered as the Kalma fell dead. “Thanks, Sandy,” she said in a louder voice, smiling.

Niqi glanced around. “There are none left…Why the hell do I still sense one attack coming?” she asked nobody in particular.

“Because Glide’s about to punch you in the spine.” Lujuria said.

Niqi yelped, jumping out of the way once again. “The hell, Glide?!”

“Just keeping you on your toes.” Glide grinned.

Niqi sighed, and then turned to Ambree. “Well, as I was saying before, I have some meat from the shark I killed earlier. Tastes pretty bad, but–”

“I’ll take it,” Ambree interrupted.

Niqi took a small bag she had been carrying off of her back, reaching in and handing Ambree some cloth-wrapped meat.

Ambree snatched it, hurrying to eat some. She made a face, but didn’t complain.

Shetani glanced around, her ears twitching. “Glide, did you hear that?”

Glide nodded. “Yeah, I heard it…”

“What is it?” Mambo asked, straining to hear what the goddess and the Varixian had heard. “I don’t hear anything.”

“Sounds like leaves rustling.” Shetani said. “But there’s no wind, and for some reason, I can’t tell which way it’s coming from…”

“That’s because it’s coming from all around us.” Kavar growled. “I smell Monkey Magic.”

Shetani gripped her halberd tightly, looking up into the canopy. “You don’t suppose it’s Shí-hóu Guowang, do you?”

“It would certainly explain the sudden appearance of leaves on these dead trees.” Kavar replied. “But why he would alert us to his presence is beyond me.”

“Who’s Shí-hóu Guowang?” Ambree asked.

“The monkey god of chaos and disorder.” Shetani said. “He’s been missing for centuries, but…what would he be doing here?”

Glide yelped, leaping backwards as a bamboo staff came flying toward him, sticking in the ground where he had been standing not three seconds before. “Well, that’s just great! As if the Kalma weren’t enough!”

A male monkey leapt from the trees, landing on his feet and grabbing the staff.

Niqi took a quick moment to look the monkey boy over. He looked human, for the most part, though gold fur lined his jaw, flowing down to cover his neck and shoulders. The skin not covered by his fur was remarkably pale, as if the boy had lived in a cave for much of his life. His deep blue eyes sparkled with mischief, his fiery red hair held in a long ponytail. “Monkey god?” Niqi whispered, nudging Shetani.

Shetani shook her head. “No, that’s not Shí-hóu Guowang. He looks like him, but Guowang was…older.”

The monkey lunged at Niqi, his ponytail whipping around his shoulders as he flipped through the air. “Thousand Golden Monkey Burial!” He roared, landing on one hand in front of Niqi.

Niqi sensed the monkey’s attacks coming, though she couldn’t dodge them; there were too many coming at her at once. The monkey’s tail struck her in the face, stunning her enough for him to begin the brutal barrage of staff strikes she had sensed.

“Hóu-sama!” T.K. yelled, the monkey’s first attack stopping just short of hitting Niqi.

The monkey pulled his staff back, glancing at T.K. “I remember that face…” He smirked. “Vaguely.”

“That’s not funny, Hóu-sama.” T.K. scowled.

“Hey!” Glide barked. “Would one of you tell me who the hell this monkey kid is!?”

“Mei Senlin Hóu.” The monkey said, bowing. “And what are you? Besides pink.”

“Pissed off is what I am!” Glide snapped, grabbing Hóu by the jaw. “You threw a staff at me! Threw it at me!”

“A simple case of mistaken identity.” Hóu replied. “I thought you were a Kalma. Now, would you mind letting go?”

“Monkey punk…” Glide muttered, letting Hóu go.

“…You’re pink?” T.K. asked after a moment.

Glide glared at the Arcadian. “Is that supposed to be some kind of joke? Like it’s not f*****g obvious?”

“I’m color blind, dude.” T.K. stated.

Glide stared at him for a moment, then shrugged, turning his attention back to Hóu. “And what are you? I mean, crazy staff tricks, Monkey Magic? Don’t tell me you really are a monkey god.”

Hóu shook his head. “No, I’m not a god. I’m a demigod. Shi-hóu Guowang is… my father.”

Reviews

[KEi]

"Circle up! Freak alert!"
xD

" playing a chord that sent a blade of pure sound toward one of the Kalma, cleaving it in two."
Suh-weet.

"Massive trauma to the brain or removal of the head!"
Like killing a zombie.
^_^

"You threw a staff at me! /Threw/ it at me!"
LOL

"Shi-h�u Guowang is� my father."
DUN, DUN, DUUUUHHHHHHH!
Cliffhanger, much?
xD