Black Bone Tower Part 27

Previous: Black Bone Tower Part 26

''The four of them walked up a spiralling flight of stairs that seemed to go on forever. Rinji led the way, with Dala close behind him. It was still very dark, but thankfully there were very dim light cones that lit every other spiral of their way. The two Nekojins used what little light they had to their advantage with their dark vision. They noticed many panels along their way in the wall and in the steps. Rinji chanced tripping one of them, but it did nothing.''

Alice: Oh, Rinji, [Drew his attention.] shall we stop for a meal? It has been some time since we had a bite.

Rinji: Well, I suppose now's a good a time as any. What did you bring? [Rinji sat on one of the steps, and they all sat in a circle.

Usagi: I know I handed you that bag of roma tomatoes before we left the ship.

Alice: Of course! I brought something for everyone, even planning for the extra three of our guests.

Dala: Wow, that was very nice of you. [Dala smiled at Alice, who nodded back to her.]

Alice: Who does the cooking on your ship, Dala?

Usagi: Come to think of it, what jobs do the three of you have?

Dala: Oh, well other than Kimi being the captain, we kind of spread the jobs between the three of us. Whoever feels like cooking is basically the cook for the day.

Usagi: That probably causes some friction.

Dala: Errr... [Sweat drop.] More than... once.

Usagi: Kajikajikajikajikaji, I can only imagi-- [Then there came clicking noises.]

''The noise came closer, inside the walls there was a grinding noise, humming and thrashing like machinery. The space around them began to vibrate as something mechanical came to life. Alice paused to acknowledge the noise, and reached down to place a bag of tomatoes on a step. Rinji's eyes widened as he saw a panel right there.''

Rinji: Alice! STOP!

Click.

''The spiraling stairways below them opened up as the very room around them began to change all at once. Dala grabbed onto Rinji instantly and tried to grab Alice, who was closer to her, but she had already fallen along with Usagi down the giant tower of darkness.''

Rinji: NO! [He also reached as far as he could, but they were far out of his reach.] USAGI! ALICE!

''Usagi fell along with Alice, but was quick to draw her sword and grab ahold of Alice around her waist. With a great thrust she stabbed her sword into the thick metal wall, and they began to skid down, slowing some, but then she looked down to see that there was a floor filled with very tall spikes just waiting to meet them.''

Usagi: Damn! I'm not slowing down fast enough.

Alice: Allow me to assist you! [Pulled her vorpal blade from her pocket and stabbed it into the wall as well, and sparks began to fly even harder.]

''They reached the ground at a slow, steady pace, and hopped down in between the spikes. They maneuvered on the safe ground, and looked up to see that Rinji and Dala were gone.''

Usagi: Ah, hell.

''Rinji breathed a sigh of relief when he saw they were okay. But then the staircase Dala attached her claws to began to turn toward the wall as it opened up.''

Rinji: WHOA!

Dala: Hold on! [She jumped from the vertical stairs and tossed Rinji onto her back.]

''With her sonic speed she began to ascend the wall, the friction of her shoes keeping them attached. It seemed like a long way to her, she could not slow down at all or else she would lose her momentum and they would both be in trouble, but that was when she saw a summit at the top of the wall, and she began to sweat as she sped toward it. Her calves began to burn and she started to breathe very hard.''

Rinji: Dala I--

Dala: Don't distract me, we're almost there! Errrr!

That's when she reached her limit, the vertical incline, weight, and extreme excertion were far too much for her to bear, and she had three steps out of place.

Dala: WAH! [She slipped on the fourth step, and both of them began to fall.]

''Rinji was quick to grasp hold of her, and disappear in a puff of purple vapor. He placed her onto the ledge that surrounded the large cylinder they were in. She dropped to her knees and face-planted onto the ground, panting for air with her mouth wide open.''

Dala: How-- did you--

Rinji: I ate the Neko Neko no Mi: Model Cheshire.

''She looked up at him to see he was purple and white striped now, and her eyes widened at the sight. She thought she had seen him turn that color when he went to down to help Jiro after his battle, but she thought that was just a trick of her eyes.''

Dala: Oh... wow.

Rinji: Rest for a bit, we still have a long way ahead of us yet. [He sat beside her, and they did just that.]

''There was a horrible rumbling across the entire tower as the flames roared across the entire black-metal room, and three of the Blue Angel androids were blown away, mostly melted into searing-hot piles of liquid metal. Ronald Dipps found little amusement in this. He powered down from his hybrid hellhound form, straightening his ball cap on his head and kept walking in whatever random direction he felt like. His entire crew was separated from each other. They had split up into smaller groups, and slowly each of them got lost in that horrible maze of doorways and staircases. This tower was no joke, and far more difficult than he anticipated. For one thing, not even his black fire could bust through these walls. They were far harder than steel, and completely solid through and through. Whoever made this tower must have been working for ages to complete it.''

''He needed to find the others before he ran into any of those Tiger-stripes and their damned Catman Captain. One on one he had a good chance of taking them down, but he wasn't so sure he'd survive an all out battle with multiples of opponents. Ronald seemed to travel those damn hallways and short staircases for hours, but that was only his short perception of time, it had only been a half an hour.''

''That's when he stepped on a stair that clicked down like a button. A pendulum scythe came down straight in between his eyes, and he quickly clapped his hands onto either side of its flat surface. He scowled at it, and then instantly bent his hands to the side, snapping it in half. He dropped its blade and kept walking, this time the button stair was two steps down, and a huge block of stone charged into him from the side, squashing him against the other wall. He locked his elbows between those two surfaces and growled as he struggled to keep them locked. His growling turned feral as his eyes glowed red and his canine features began to burn into his flesh. His muscles grew gigantic and began to melt the stone away. He finally burst with fire, blazing the stone into molten lava that began to dribble down the stairs. The rest of the stone block extended to its fullest but most of it was completely gone.''

Ronald: Damn this tower! This gold better be real. [Punching his palm] And that kitten better not get to it first, or I'll turn him into liquid.

He growled to himself, and decided to stay in his hellhound hybrid form, in case he ran into yet another trap that required its abilities.

In that instant, all he saw was pink hair fly by his site, and a horrific pain came across his entire chest, molten blood spurting out.

Usagi: Itoryuu! Narabi!

''Ronald roared in horrific pain as the samurai woman turned toward his back and took another stance. He held onto his wound and scowled toward her, his teeth beared.''

Usagi: You will not lay a finger on Captain Rinji. You will face my blade with your blood! [Energy began to emit from her entire body as her concentration became as sharp as the edge of her blade.]

Ronald: Oooohhh, you look good enough to eat. Hellfire... [Held up his fist and it began to shine with a heat that Usagi could feel from eight stairs away from him.] FENRIS! [A gigantic wolf amassed from the flames and jumped straight toward Usagi up the stairs.]

Usagi: Itoryuu! Coisuji! [Sliced her sword straight down, and a powerful energy emitted from the very densely compressed air, blasting straight into the fire wolf and made its head burst, followed very quickly by the rest of its body.]

Ronald: WHAT?!

Usagi: ItoryuuIai! Rakkan! [Once again appeared on the other side of him, her face soaked with horrible amounts of sweat from such heat! Still, her name was now imprinted on his abdomin, which also burst with a particularly large amount of blood.]

That's when she looked to see her sword was on fire, and used his kimono to wipe it off, no sign of emotion on her face.

Usagi: Such arrogant behavior, and careless use of your powers has become your downfall. [She turned to look at him as he looked back at her, his hand on his gut.] You now face me, Daro Daro Usagi!

Black Bone Tower Part 28