Princess Mononoke Fan Fiction / Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Singing Mountain ❯ Chapter 16: Half the Battle ( Chapter 16 )

Last time in Singing Mountain…

Rhapsody froze, hearing the voice. Masq looked in the direction of the voice.

"Sir Marcus…" Masq whispered in fear. One of the many high priests of the ravens rode onto the scene on one of the giant birds, sitting comfortably on his back. Rhapsody lifted her mask off her face for a better look. Marcus looked at Rhapsody's face and smiled. They stared at each other, not saying a word. The raven cawed at Rhapsody.

"So, we have the only priestess of the wolf tribe here before us?" he crowed in amusement. "Perhaps the rest of the Sans are too weak to share her position. Don't you think so, Sir Marcus?" The raven priest didn't respond. "Sir?" Nothing. He wasn't even listening. He was staring into the eyes that were identical to his through heritage. He smiled at Rhapsody.

"Maria…" he said to her, as though he was saying hello. Her response was slightly colder, but a greeting nonetheless.

"Father…"

Singing Mountain: Chapter 16

" 'Father?' " Masq cried in shock, looking at Rhapsody. Rhapsody was absolutely silent, staring at Sir Marcus with a serious face. Masq looked at Marcus. She could see the resemblance, and was shocked she didn't see it before. She had no idea Rhapsody, her high priestess, would be affiliated with the raven clan! "Rhapsody, you have some explaining to do!"

"So, you didn't tell them?" Marcus blinked at the wolf priestess.

"Only Moro-sama and my wolf knew. Now there's no hiding it. Now, I must do what I have always vowed to do since I learned of what you did to me." She unsheathed her knife from an ankle sheathe. "Get off your bird."

"You'd fight me?"

"Not just that. Now get off your bird!"

Marcus slid off his bird's back and walked towards Rhapsody. The high priestess jumped off Amon's back.

"Amon, get San Masquerade out of here. Take her somewhere safe."

"…" The wolf hesitated. Rhapsody glared at him.

"Now!"

"But…what about you?"

"I said now! Go!"

"Amon-sama…" Miaka said behind the brown wolf, "I'll make sure Rhapsody will be alright. Go on now."

Amon whimpered a few times.

"I don't wanna leave either." Masq admitted quietly.

"That's enough!" Rhapsody cried desperately, as though she would start crying. "The both of you get out of here now!"

Amon barked at Rhapsody a couple times then ran off with Masq on his back.

"Good luck, San!" Masq cried over her shoulder, then disappeared with the wolf into the forest. Rhapsody squatted into a battle position as Sir Marcus unsheathed a katana. A circle of ravens and wolves formed around the two as they prepared to spill their own blood.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Marcus purred like a cat. Rhapsody took a good long look at the man before her, then clutched her knife tightly. Angry memories came to her, and she gritted her teeth. Finally, she lunged for him with the knife.

"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!"

/|\

Cell flew as fast as he could in the direction of the second raven camp. Masquerade was there, and there was no doubt in his mind she was in trouble. If he didn't hurry…well, he wasn't sure how he would forgive herself. He stared at the trees below him, zipping away as he flew past them. Convincing himself that he had absolutely no time, he flew faster.

San…hold on…

I'm coming!

Suddenly, he sensed something to his right, and he looked. Flying towards the direction he came from was a familiar face. She gasped upon seeing him, and stopped, hovering in mid air. Cell stopped too, equally surprised. They floated above the trees, staring at each other.

"18?" Cell asked. 18 then gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes. She felt afraid. Cell was right in front of her, and she wasn't sure what to do except defend herself. She held her hands out in front of her and formed a small sphere of ki between her palms.

"Stay back!" she warned Cell. He was rather unconcerned.

"What are you doing out here?" he wondered.

"I should ask you the same!"

"And why are you shouting at me?" Cell lowered one eyebrow unpleasantly. "I didn't do anything wrong…"

"…"

"Now what are you doing out here?"

"It's you…" 18 growled. "You started this whole attack thing, didn't you?" The ki grew bigger in her hands.

"What are you saying? I didn't…"

"All they wanted was you, right?!" 18 started to scream. She was growing more and more afraid. "Why can't you just give yourself up and get away from me?!"

"What?" Cell blinked, backing away a couple feet from 18. "You think I came here for you? But I didn't even know…"

"YOU BASTARD!" 18 shrieked, finally throwing the ki blast at him. Cell easily dodged it, and the blast exploded in the further part of the forest below.

"Don't do this, 18." Cell firmly commanded. "I don't have time for this."

"Like hell you don't!" 18 shouted at him, lunging for him. "Die!"

"Stop this!" Cell yelled at her, easily moving away from her punches and jabs. "18! Please stop!"

This can't happen now! I must leave here!

Masquerade!

/|\

Amon rushed to the Shishi Gami realm, and stopped at the site of the calm pool of water. Masquerade slid off his back, and walked to the water's edge. Amon lay down by the shore, and lowered his head below his front paws sadly. Masq sat by him, gathering her knees up to her chest and hugging them close to her. She rocked back and forth a couple of times. She just couldn't believe what was going on. Everything that happened seemed to go by so fast.

"Rhapsody…" she said to no one in particular, "…was a raven?"

"No." Amon said to her, looking up at her. "She was never initiated."

"But…if Sir Marcus is her father…"

"He is."

"…then how come she's a wolf and not a raven?"

"This happened many years ago." Amon began. "Perhaps a couple years before you were born…when Rhapsody was born, the parents were not in love. She was unwanted, and neither parent wanted her. The mother died of an illness…the father didn't know how to take care of his child. He did what he could…abandon her on this mountain. He must have thought that since she was a raven child that we wolves would consider her an enemy and eat her. We knew better. She was raised by Battle Master Shannon to be a wolf priestess. She grew up hating the ravens, and her father. Shannon is dead now, so I am the only one who knew San Chaos Rhapsody's secret."

"Maria Madrid…" Masq sighed to herself. "That's her name, isn't it?"

"Yes. Any raven knows that name. So, she made that alias to hide her real name from outsiders. It is an old Mononoke trick, but it is very effective."

"I see." Masq nodded her head. Finally, Amon lifted his chin to look at Masq at eye level.

"Coral DragonLore? Why do you hide behind a nickname?"

"I'm not hiding. I just like that name."

"Do you not like your original name?"

"I like it." Masq nodded. "I guess…" She rested her chin on her knees. "I guess, I like being mysterious. I like being the locked box with no key, I like watching people trying to find out my secrets and then discover that I have no secrets at all. I dunno…" She turned to him. "Do you know what I'm saying?"

"No."

"That's okay." Masq chuckled, trailing a finger in the water of the lake. "I don't think anyone else understands."

They were silent for a moment. Masq watched the ripples from her waves fan out into the rest of the lake. She thought of Cell, and his handsome smile. Where was he? Was he looking for her? Was he going to come to her rescue? She couldn't shake the feeling that he was in trouble. She wanted him near her now. She wanted to be in his strong arms and never leave his side. She closed her eyes and sighed.

"Seru…"

/|\

Sir Hironobu lay in his bed, covered up to his chin in thick blankets. His wound was cleaned and bandaged, and he seemed to be on his way to a speedy recovery. Two raven priestesses watched over him while two more guarded the infirmary housing him. The raven high priest could hear the battle from outside his shelter. He could hear ravens and priests dying outside. He could hear the shouts of the killers as they began massacring them.

"Gohan! Watch your back!"

"Thanks, Piccolo-san! That was close."

"Hey, I could use some help over here!"

"Hold on, Kuririn! I'm coming!"

"I wonder where Yamcha is. He's on the mountain too, right?"

"I can feel him, Gohan. He's coming along with many others."

"They'll miss the show. This is easier than I thought!"

Hironobu jerked a couple of times in pain in his bed. The wound had suddenly reopened. He cried out in pain. The two priestesses at his side quickly took off the sheets, and began soaking his head and hair with cold sheets of linen to cool his fever.

"He'll be fine." One priestess assured the other. "It's just an arrow wound."

"Yeah, but the tip might have been poisoned." The other worried. "You know how cunning and sly those wolves are."

"They aren't smart enough to try poisoned arrows." The first one snorted. "Big dumb dogs…we won that fight since they haven't been keeping up with the times. The only reason they're still around and not endangered is because they stay as far away from civilization as possible. It's not good for them, however."

"Well, yeah, but still…"

"But still nothing. We're gonna wipe those mutts off the food chain. You just watch!"

Suddenly, Hironobu started shaking violently hard. Red welts started growing on his skin. He started to scream in pain. The priestesses stopped their bickering to look at him.

"What in the…" they both gasped. Suddenly, Hironobu sprang up to a sit with one last shriek of pain, and the welts burst open into long, red snake-like tendrils. Both the priestesses screamed and ran for escape as the tendrils sprouted all over Hironobu's body.

"Demon!" they screamed. "Demon!" Suddenly, the infirmary exploded and crashed to the ground in lumber. Standing in the middle of the wreckage was the infested body of Hironobu. Everyone was frozen in fear as the tendrils around Hironobu grew and covered him until he was infested with bloody snakes.

"Ew!" Gohan grossed out.

"What the hell is that?!" Kuririn cried out.

"That creature…" Piccolo gasped to himself. "I've seen it before…" He remembered back to last week. He remembered the demon that attacked the wolf priestesses and San Masquerade. Cell tried to save her from it, and even tried to destroy it. Piccolo tried to destroy it too, but the monster withstood the blast. But…that girl that was controlling it…

Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha…

Piccolo quickly turned to the sound of small laughter. Sitting on the body of a dead raven was that strange spirit girl Piccolo remembered. She smiled cutely at them.

Well, isn't this a fine mess we have here?

"Who the hell are you?!" Piccolo yelled at her. Kuririn and Gohan turned to look at her as well.

Oh, that's not important. Not really. But…well, I'm afraid I can't have you three here to mess up my plans.

"What plans?" Gohan demanded. "Who are you?"

The girl laughed again.

Apparently, one demon won't do the job. I'll need a few more…

She touched the dead raven she was sitting on, and purple tendrils popped from its feathers. It opened its dead eyes, and stood up with an un-Earthly roar. Piccolo couldn't believe his eyes.

"Are you…Laerrus? The god of death?"

You could say that. The girl chuckled. I'm known by lots of names. Go ask your friend Cell for one of them. Suddenly, she waved her hand over the whole camp. Every corpse stood up, covered in slimy snakey tendrils. Anyone left alive was in full disbelief. Laerrus laughed in amusement, slowly floating up in the air and away from the chaos. Kuririn watched in horror as a demon raven chased after a live priestess and swamped her in its tendrils. The girl seemed to melt away in its touch, and soon she became a demon too. Kuririn panicked.

"What do we do?"

"Stay calm." Piccolo ordered. "If you're afraid of them, you'll become one of them. The best thing we can do is kill everyone here."

Gohan glared at Laerrus.

"You were in my dream!" he yelled at her. "I was told something bad would happen here! You were that something bad, weren't you?!"

Of course. Laerrus nodded. But this is nothing compared to the real plans I have in store for Singing Mountain. Now, if you excuse me, I have another party to attend. My new minions will entertain you for now. Bye bye! Then she laughed once again before disappearing.

"SURREAL!" Piccolo yelled at her. He remembered what Cell had called her. He just couldn't believe that the very same spirit that was toying with him was the Mononoke god of death! He figured that she was headed for Cell. "We have to get out of here!" Piccolo shouted at Gohan and Kuririn. "Everyone else on this mountain is in danger of that spirit!"

"But how?" Gohan wondered. "We're surrounded!" He was right. All the Gods and their worshipped had been turned into demons, and were closing in on them on all sides.

"Fly away!" Kuririn panicked, starting to shoot up into the air. Piccolo quickly grabbed his foot.

"No!" Piccolo insisted. "If we try to escape, then they'll follow us and kill everything in their path. We have to destroy this whole area."

"I'm with ya!" Gohan nodded, rising directly up into the air. Piccolo and Kuririn followed. All three of them powered up their strongest attacks in their hands. Some of the ravens flew up after them.

"Don't touch them!" Piccolo shouted at the others. They fired minimal blasts to knock the demons back onto the ground. Then, their ultimate attacks were shot down onto the land.

"MAKKENKOSAPPO!"

"MASENKO! HA!"

"KAMEHAMEHA!"

The three blasts landed on the ground, and exploded. A gigantic burst of light engulfed all the demons in the area. From far away, the blast could be seen, and in a short while it could be felt in the shaking earth.

/|\

"What the…" Masq gasped, quickly standing up and looking to the west.

"Such power…" Amon marveled at the sight. Then, the ground began to rumble, causing the Shishi Gami pool to ripple small waves onto the bank. Masq clasped her hands over her mouth in fear.

Was Cell in that?

/|\

"Dear God…" Cell gasped, seeing the blast. 18 stopped trying to attack him and looked.

"Kuririn-san…" she gasped. "He's over there…" As she stared in horror, Cell quickly took the opportunity to fly away to the second raven camp. 18 didn't even notice him leave.

/|\

Rhapsody and Sir Marcus paused their duel to look at the blast. They couldn't believe how powerful it was. They could feel the ground quake under their feet, and a couple of frightened wolves bucked their riders off their backs. Several ravens flew into the air in fear. Rhapsody was just frozen.

Kami…

Kami is here…

/|\

Moro-sama raised her head from her sleep. She noticed that the puppies were whimpering and trying to hide under their mother's huge belly. She moaned and held a giant paw under all of them to keep them warm and safe. Yume was also there, her bandaged body was closer to Moro's massive head.

"Moro-mama, what's going on?" she asked timidly. Moro-sama laid her head back down once again.

"War." She answered, breathing a sigh out of her nose. "At long last…a dreaded war…"

/|\

Osa and Sir Biso couldn't believe the massive power of the blast.

"That's the raven camp…" Biso gasped. "Suzaku-san is there!"

"Surio won't be pleased about this…" the dragon god sighed. "We all have failed him."

"So, what now?"

"I must go." Osa decided, standing up to his full height and stretching his wings. "The only way to stop this is to find Cell myself. I came so close to killing him…I will not fail this time. If it suits my situation, I may even go kill Moro-sama as well. I know where her den is."

"You would dare…" Biso gasped in horror. "Osa-sama, no! Don't!"

"Don't try to stop me, Biso." Osa growled through his huge teeth. "Or else you will go join your dead wife."

Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha…

Osa and Biso turned to the dragon priest's tent. Sitting on the ground by the entrance was a female spirit. Biso blinked in confusion of her, but Osa recognized her immediately.

"Laerrus…" he honored, lowering his head in a deep bow to her. "You have been freed! How may we serve you?!"

"Laerrus?!" Biso feared. The death god chuckled slightly.

Ah, Osa…faithful servant. Sorry, I hardly need your services now. I just came to break up the fight.

"But, my lady…" Osa tried to stop, "What of Suzaku? Is he dead?" Laerrus shrugged.

I dunno…maybe he is…maybe he isn't…I think he's dead. I killed the rest of his tribe.

"WHAT?" Biso shrieked in shock.

I couldn't use them alive. I needed their demons. I guess they weren't much help. She turned her head to the direction of the blast. The light was starting to fade, and the ground had stopped shaking. No matter. The others must be dead too…

"Others?" Osa asked as Biso started to run away in fear.

There are others here just as strong as Cell, Osa. I wanted them all dead, and they better be dead. So… She turned back to the dragon. I did need you to do something for me…

"I wish to destroy Cell, Laerrus!" Osa declared. "Let me send him to your kingdom of the dead!"

Thanks, but no thanks. I'll do that myself. Your task is more important that killing Cell.

"Anything!"

Laerrus grinned a very evil grin.

DIE!

She flung a ball of light at Osa, and the dragon roared in pain. He staggered back several steps, then fell to the ground.

"Laerrus…" he muttered through his jaws, "Why…" Then, his eyes closed forever and his breathing stopped.

You said you never wanted to be a demon, Osa. Well, even if you wanted to be one, you're still afraid to die and that's all I need to work with. Your demon is perhaps the most dangerous I've ever encountered. You'll do nicely.

She turned her head to the rest of the camp, hidden from view behind the hill.

You'll do very nicely.

Why not let your followers see what you really are!

/|\

"Suzaku-sama…" Marcus gasped in horror. "Is he…"

"He was in that, wasn't he?" Miaka wondered. "The oldest son of Surio…Suzaku…"

"He's dead!" a raven cawed in panic. "Our leader is dead! I smell blood!"

"Blood is heavy in the air…" Tori, Miaka's wolf, noted as she raised her snout in the air. "But…the scent is too close to here."

"Huh?" Miaka looked down at her wolf. Tori's head suddenly whipped to the other side of the camp, and she started barking fiercely. Miaka grabbed a thick tuff of Tori's black fur to stay mounted on the wolf's back. She looked in the direction of Tori's barking, and a sickeningly familiar scent found its way to her nose.

"A demon…" she whispered in hatred. She turned to the other priestesses. "Sans! Grab any arrows you can! Tie prayers to them! Hurry!"

"Demon!" a priestess deducted, quickly reaching behind her to her quiver of arrows. Miaka turned her head to Rhapsody.

"San…Sir Marcus…we have no time for your family feud. A demon is both our enemy."

"I must settle this!" Rhapsody hissed between her teeth. She glared harshly at Marcus, holding her dagger up to him. He raised the tip of his katana to her face, prepared to defend himself. Miaka jumped from Tori's back, and grabbed Rhapsody's wrist.

"That's enough!" she decided. "You can settle this another time! Can't you smell it? Can't you sense what's coming?!"

"But he…" Rhapsody started to whine, pulling on Miaka's wrists to let go. "He left me to die! I was a baby! He left me to die!"

"Put that out of your mind, woman!" Miaka pressed, hissing between her teeth.

"Help!" a voice rang out past the hill. Miaka and Rhapsody turned to see Sir Biso running towards them frantically. Fear was painted all over his face. "Laerrus! It's Laerrus! Laerrus is back from the grave!"

"Oh no…" Miaka gasped. She had known about it…she should have taken action…"Was…Laerrus…behind these demons?"

As if to answer her question, a slimy demon walked over the hill behind Biso. It was Osa, the dragon god, covered in large red blood snakes that grew from his body. He was slowly marching through the camp of the ravens. The snakes from his body reached for any living thing near it, burning their flesh off with the slightest graze. Biso quickly reached the safety of the wolves, and hid behind a large brown one as if it would save him. Miaka quickly threw around her bravery.

"Ravens and wolves come together! Fight this common enemy as equals! If any of you have a reason to live, band together and fight together! Load your arrows with prayers and hit him with everything you have! Let's get some of the wounded to higher ground!"

/|\

"WHAT THE…" Kuririn screamed in shock. Neither Piccolo or Gohan could believe their eyes as well. Although they had blasted the whole raven camp into a wide crater, the already dead demons still rose to their feet with their attached snakes still squirming around for some live flesh to grab a hold of. They didn't seem effected at all by the huge blast. Gohan shook his head in disbelief. What now? What should they do?

Piccolo quickly recovered from his shock, and gritted his teeth together in determination.

"Again!" he cried. "We're going to blast them again!"

"Okay!" Gohan nodded, powering up once again. The young boy transformed into a Super Saiyajin, then held out his hands before him. Piccolo powered up his ki directly into his hands. Kuririn was frozen, he had no idea what to do. Then, Piccolo and Gohan fired their blasts into the ground again, and the explosion created a ground-shattering earthquake. The crater expanded, and the demons were consumed by the blast. When the light and smoke cleared, Gohan and Piccolo were left panting for breath. They put everything into that blast. To their horror, the demons still stood back up and stared at them with dead, sightless eyes.

"No…" Piccolo feared.

"Oh great…" Kuririn moaned.

Gohan was paralyzed, and couldn't say anything.

Then, as though heaven sent…

"HYUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Amaroq's howl rumbled through the air, and the giant brown wolf galloped onto the scene. Behind him were hundreds of priestesses, wolves, and volunteering villagers who were coming to the fight. Amaroq skidded to a stop on all four of his paws as the army of demons turned their gazes to him. The giant wolf growled at them while the priestesses stood by his side with prayer-tied arrows aimed. One of the people from the crowd flew up to Piccolo, Gohan, and Kuririn. Gohan recognized the orange gi the man was wearing.

"Yamcha!" the boy cried in relief. "Where were you?"

"Coming with these people." The man answered, hovering at their level. He looked down at the demons of dead ravens and men below. "What the heck happened here?"

"It's a long story." Piccolo insisted. "Yamcha, you were born and raised here. How do we defeat demons?"

"Eh?" Yamcha raised his head to the Namek, blinking.

"No matter what we throw at them, they come back." Gohan explained. "What do we do, Yamcha?"

"Well," Yamcha began, looking back down at the demons, "we'll need ghost powder."

"Ghost powder?" Kuririn took his turn to blink. "What's that?"

"It's a deep blue powder the priestesses make. If you put it on your hands, they say you can touch a ghost. It's the only way to even make a demon feel pain and not hurt yourself at the same time. But…it's a rather recent discovery that anything a dark blue works too, like crystal daggers and the like."

"Dark blue?" Piccolo wondered, looking down at his hands. He came up with an idea, but it was a serious gamble. However, it was a risk he decided to take. He bore his fangs and bit into his hand hard enough to taste blood. Gohan panicked at the sight.

"Piccolo-san! What are you doing?!"

Piccolo ignored the boy for a moment as he drew away from his bleeding bite. He quickly rubbed his hands together, spreading the blood on his palms and knuckles.

"Piccolo's gone whack…" Kuririn sighed in hopelessness. Piccolo looked at the little man out of the corner of his eyes.

"My blood is the dark blue color Yamcha says can hurt demons. If anyone wants to help me fight those monsters down there, then come here and let me arm you."

"Oh, I get it!" Gohan brightened up, holding out his arms to the Namek. "Great idea, Piccolo-san! Let's do it!" Piccolo began rubbing his blood over Gohan's pale skin. Kuririn gulped, then hovered to Piccolo for his turn.

"This is gross…" he moaned as Piccolo smeared the wet blood on his hands.

"I'll stay up here and watch your backs." Yamcha decided, pulling a crystal dagger from under his shirt.

"Okay." Piccolo nodded. "Let's go!" He, Kuririn, and Gohan dove for the ground below. Amaroq charged for the demons, and grabbed the throat of one. The priestesses at his sides fired their arrows at the demons. Monsters left and right were howling in pain as they began to slump to the ground. Several other wolf gods ran onto the scene to help Amaroq kill the demons. The battle began, and the demons began to loose very quickly.

Piccolo's idea worked like a dream! He was able to chop one raven's head clean off with his own head. Gohan and Kuririn discovered that the blood on their hands turned their ki attacks a deep blue as well, and it worked all the more to kill the murderous monsters around them. In almost no time at all, all the demon ravens and demon humans were killed, and lay in gooey messes on the ground. A cheer rose from the wolf tribe, howls and war whoops filled the air.

18 had watched the whole battle from the air by Yamcha's side. She had arrived when the attack got started, and decided to stay out of it for her unborn child's sake. When the battle was over, she and Yamcha landed on the ground and headed to the celebration. She reached Kuririn as the small man was cleaning Namek blood off his hands with his clothes.

"Kuririn!" she called happily, getting down on her knees and hugging his neck. He hugged her back, and they laughed in relief. Yamcha grinned at the two, tilting his head.

"Aw, that's just sweet." He said to himself, turning around as they started to kiss. "I really want a girlfriend now."

Amaroq walked up to Piccolo slowly. The Namek could spot several bad demon burns on the wolf's flank. Amaroq put his muzzle close to Piccolo to speak.

"I thank you for your help." Amaroq said. "Tell me, was Cell in this mess? I didn't see him or catch his scent."

"He left long before this." Piccolo answered. "He went to go save San Masquerade."

"Please…if you have any strength…go after him." Amaroq requested. "There is a message for him that must be given immediately."

"What is it? I can tell him." Piccolo volunteered. Amaroq whispered the message in Piccolo's sensitive ears, and the Namek nodded when Amaroq finished. He turned to Gohan and Yamcha.

"Let's go!" he ordered them.

"Where to?" Yamcha wondered.

"Cell took off to the north. We have to find him now."

"I can feel him." Gohan nodded. "I know where he is."

"Well, okay." Yamcha shrugged, hovering in the air with Piccolo and Gohan. "I've got nothing else better to do…I just hope Cell doesn't punch a hole in my stomach…"

The three of them flew to the north, and 18 watched them leave.

Why does Cell care about this place?

Why does he care about these people?

…

Why does he care about that girl?!