Saiyuki Fan Fiction ❯ The Crow: Monkey King ❯ Dark Dawn Rising ( Chapter 1 )

Author Ranting: Heya, ladies, gents, and otakus everywhere, Phoenix-chan here! Usually I don't post any notes here… until now, of course.

 

ANYWAYS, since I'm a big fan of The Wolf Demon's and Black Panther's Knight's (Formally “Kokuryu”) famous “The Crow Series. I'm also a huge fan of Saiyuki (after my friend Miyo-chan got me into the series). Then one day it hit me: What if I made a Crow story with Saiyuki in it? It happened around the time I was watching Saiyuki Reload Gunlock (lost interest and never finished anime), but I still didn't know how to create it. Then I got volume six and seven of the Saiyuki Reload manga and then it hit me (get the manga, don't watch Saiyuki Reload or Reload Gunlock, they suck. Only Gensomaden rocks).

 

So now, I present to fellow Crows, Otakus, and monkeys everywhere:

 

T H E C R O W: M O N K E Y K I N G!!!

Chapter 1: The Dark Dawn Rising

---

I've been dreaming for so long,
To find a meaning,
To understand.
The secret of life,
Why am I here?
To try again?

Will I always,
Will you always
See the truth
When it stares you in the face?
Will I ever,
Will I never free myself
By breaking these chains?

I'd give my heart, I'd give my soul,
I'd turn it back, it's my fault...
Your destiny is forlorn,
Have to live till it's undone…
I'd give my heart, I'd give my soul,
I'd turn it back
And then at last
I'll be on my way…

I've been living for so long,
Many seasons have passed me by.
I've seen kingdoms through ages
Rise and fall,
I've seen it all.

I've seen the horror,
I've seen the wonders
Happening just in front of my eyes.
Will I ever
Will I never free myself by making it right?

I'd give my heart, I'd give my soul.
I'd turn it back, it's my fault.
Your destiny is forlorn,
Have to live till it's undone.
I'd give my heart, I'd give my soul.
I'd turn it back
And then at last
I'll be on my way.

Jillian
Our dream ended long ago.
All our stories
And all our glory
I held so dear.
We won't be together for ever and ever,
No more tears.
I'll always be here
Until the end...

(Jillian, no more tears...
Jillian, no more tears...)

I'd give my heart, I'd give my soul.
I'd turn it back, it's my fault.
Your destiny is forlorn,
Have to live till it's undone.
I'd give my heart, I'd give my soul.
I'd turn it back
And then at last
I'll be on my way.

—Jillian by Within Temptation

--

3 Years Later…

 

The world is now dark and filled with chaos and turmoil; blood has splattered along the old church walls and carnage is spewed all across the cold, dead earth. The smell of decomposing bodies and mold growing out from the corpses gives the lonely graveyard a very stomach-churning smell that would make even the maggots wanna puke their guts out.

Three years has passed since the death of Son Goku and Genjyo Sanzo… the demon god Gyumaoh was finally resurrected and the youkai have gone completely berserk and out of their minds. Now they attack humans without any sense of remorse and morality—just the sense of animalistic cravings too savage than even the beastliest of animals.

In other words; to keep things short, simple:

The land of Shangri-La had become—how one would put it—“Hell on Earth.”

Now why would someone like me come to a wretched, lonesome place like this, of all places? It's because I am the great Kanzeon Bosatsu, the beautiful goddess of love and mercy! And my mission is to see to the awakening of a certain somebody I know. After all, the time has finally come to set things strait once and for all, like it should have been in the beginning many years ago…

I carefully walked across the graveyard, carefully maneuvering around the disgusting piles of flesh lying lifelessly across the dirt. “Those monsters could have at least been polite and sanitary enough to bury their food!” I complained, “My robes are now all dirty from walking across this mess!”

I finally stopped at one of the graves, the one with the very worn out tombstone that looked nothing more but a simple piece of rock slammed into the ground just to indicate a body was 6 feet below this marker.

But the words still remained, barely:

Son Goku

A True Friend

A Loyal Companion

A Beloved Monkey

“Well,” I pronounced in a very tired voice, while chuckling at the final message engraved on the death stone, “It took awhile for me to find you, but here ya are. It's been only three years and look what happens to the world around ya! It's changed so quickly after only three years…”

However, I can only look down in shame and sorrow as I spoke… now very sadly, “But not in the way I wanted it to be…. Not for the best…… I guess even gods and goddesses can't predict the future……”

Suddenly, breaking the cold, heavy atmosphere surrounding the area with a loud piercing caw, a crow fluttered down on the top of the grave stone and gazed down upon the words etched on the rock.

“Ah! There you are!” I exclaimed, “It took you long enough! It's rude to be late during a very important meeting… especially one that's gonna affect you greatly!”

The crow simply continued reading silently at the messages upon the grave—sad, solemn eyes were easily indicated, even upon a creature as dark and as scary as a raven.

“I know it's hard…” I gently whispered in a soft, soothing voice, “…But now is not the time to look back on certain matters… after all… someone I know once had to keep moving forward to the future…. And now we must do so if we have any hopes for a future here for Shangri-La—No—the whole world.”

The black bird looked at me and nodded in understanding.

CAW!!!

Soon it let out a loud, ear-screeching shriek that traveled all across the lonely graveyard.

The next moment, the earth just below the tombstone shifted and rumbled, as if something or someone was trying to dig their out of the earthly prison to freedom—or whatever is left of it. A hand burst out of the cold dirt, followed by another and the hands reached down and dug down deeply into the earth. Soon the head of a person popped out of the ground and slowly his body joined with it. The boy let out a piercing scream that shattered the silence completely by the time he jumped out of his dark tomb.

The figure raised his head and looked around the world surrounding him in a heavy daze—as if he was trying to see past the fog that obviously clouded the golden eyes of his mind. He shook the dirt off his head, like a dog shaking off dust off his floppy ears. He soon looked down at the gravestone that had once belonged to him not too long ago.

“So now he will know.” I said to myself.

“Go… ku...” The boy slowly read, while his eyes were still all hazy, “A… true… friend…A… lo… yal… com… pan… ion… A… be… loved…”

He paused at the last word before he read it, “Mon… key.”

The silence had return once again as he just stared at the gravestone. It lasted for a long time. `Maybe he's trying to compensate the fact that he is now dead and has come back to life as a zombie.'

The silence finally broke.

“WHO THE HELL ARE YA CALLIN' A MONKEY?!!! DAMN YOU, YA ERO KAPPA!!! WAIT TILL I GIT MA HANDS ON YA!!!”

The crow and I fell over by this outcry in absolute disbelief. “Damn it, you baka saru!” I screamed, bashing the idiotic Goku in the head with a paper fan, “That's not what you're supposed to notice! You're supposed to realize that you are dead!”

“Ow!” The little boy shouted as he covered his head with his arms in defense, “What the hell?! Who the hell are you—?!” He suddenly stopped, he stopped speaking, he stopped moving, and his eyes went wide like dinner plates.

“I'm… dead…?”

Soon enough, I noticed he grabbed the back of his head and let out another shrill scream of pain. The memories must have returned to him—the memories of his death. I saw him jolt and buck his head and body around in pain… like a wild bull in a rodeo show. The pain must be overwhelming for him… he has suffered these incidents many times even before his demise.

“Yes,” I explained in a serious, “You are dead. You have been dead for exactly three years. Soon after you died, the assassins of Gyumaoh were able to steal the scripture of Genjyo Sanzo, the Thirty First of China, and revive their lord and master. Now the world has turned into a really big craphole and the youkai attack humans on first sight without thinking—like savage beasts.”

“But how?! How could those assholes get their hands on Sanzo's scripture… he would never let them get their hands on them…. I mean… how—?!”

“That…” I concluded, “Will be explained soon enough. Come.”

I extended my hand, and he carefully took it. Suddenly he took it back and grabbed his head again. He bucked and jolted around again… another memory coming back to him, I suppose. I waited till he calmed down and took his hand again.

The crow, who had been waiting patiently this whole time, flew onto Goku's shoulder and perched on it.

“Where's Sanzo?” The boy asked me, “And where's Goyjo and Hakkai and Hakkryu? Who are you? What's going on?”

The bombardment of questions was giving me a huge migraine.

“Don't you ever shut up? Ugh… I'm taking you to Hakkai and Goyjo… and you'll know more on our way there, so no more questions, got it through that thick head of yours?”

Goku looked down sadly. “I'm sorry.” I sighed and I gently laid my hand on his other shoulder, “Don't worry about it. A lot of things have changed after only 3 years. It's natural to ask.” The crow gave the young boy more extra support by nuzzling against Goku's cheek. Goku began giggling.

“Hey! Your feathers tickle!”

 

3 Days Later (Normal POV)

 

The undead Goku continued following the Merciful Goddess through the next town. Goku had realized that this town, too, had suffered so much destruction that it looked too much like a graveyard rather than an actual village; for the buildings were nothing more but piles of rubble and rocks while corpses and bones littered the streets without much care.

Goku gawk the streets in utmost horror, still, for so much had changed since only three years.

“So… horrible…”

“It is,” The Goddess spoke coldly, “Those ill-minded youkai have no manners, littering and leaving their food out to rot! UGH! It's disgusting!”

Goku laughed a little bit over Kanzeon's rather fussy attitude, but his tomfoolery was cut short when explosions suddenly appeared all around them.

Luckily, though, that Goku was able to jump and dodge the explosions with his own dexterity while the crow was able to soar around each explosion with ease. Kanzeon merely walked through the fray till she was in a more blast-free area, since she was a goddess and couldn't be harmed by merely explosions.

Once thee explosions subsided, Goku landed on of the piles of stone.

“Who's dere?!” The boy bellowed out, “Show yerselves, ya scared, lil' asswipes!”

“Who's scared around here, youkai?!”

The smoke slowly began to disperse, revealing three figures standing on top of the highest pile of debris.

The first figure on the far left was rather tall, light brown skinned man and dark brown hair. His eyes were covered because of the goggles strapped onto his head. His face however bore a scar across his left cheek that reached all the way down his chin. He wore a brown sweater although the neck of it was wide enough to show his collar bone and a bit of his shoulders with black leather pants. Then he wore a pair of leather boots. In his hands were a bunch of kunai knives.

The other boy who stood on the far right was even harder to see; for he wore a black trench coat with a collar that covered his mouth while a pair of goggles had covered his eyes. He had many silver accessories on: buttons all coming down his coat, chains dangling on his baggy black pants, studs on his cuffs, and even a metal cap on his black boots. In his leather gloved hands were bombs.

Finally, the person on the middle, who was the shortest and the only female, for she wore a blue, sleeveless robe with slits on each sides at the end and a dark blue sleeveless vest that was tight enough to show she did have girlish curves—even if they weren't that curved. She wore fingerless, fishnet gloves that ran up to her elbows and dark high heeled boots. In her hand was some sort of sword made out of some sort of black steel.

The voice had belonged to the girl.

“The only one who should be scared around here, youkai, is you!”

“And you better be scared enough to run out of our little town, fucking pisslick, or else we'll give you a reason to run!” The brown-skinned boy threatened.

The newly resurrected boy raised his hands high and suddenly, out of thin air, a bo-staff materialized and landed in Goku's clutches. He swung it in a small circle then gave a very reassured, threatening slap on the ground with it.

“Oh yeah?! Well, it doesn't looks like I'ma scared! So come at me, buttheads!”

“Fine then,” The girl sighed. She swung her hand, ordering for his demise, “DIE!!!”

The black-clad man nodded his head and tossed Goku yet another bombardment of explosives. Meanwhile, the brow-clad male released a shower of kunais and daggers in the same direction: the undead male.

Goku tried to jump out of the way of the first few bombs, but smoke they made blindly lead strait into another full barrage of explosions, forcing him hard into the wall with an impressive force. And soon the knives made their mark on him as they began to slash through his flesh and stab deeply into his very form.

The boy shut his eyes deeply, anticipating the hellish throbbing of steel blades striking each nerve…

It never came.

When the smoke had cleared, he opened his eyes in confusion and sat up. He looked bewildered at the kunais sticking out from his body and the burns scorched upon his flesh, not feeling any bit of torturous ache. He slowly pulled them out, watching each drop of blood trickle down from the point and onto the cold stones. The wounds and injuries soon enough sealed right up.

The 3 teenagers saw all of this in absolute terror. The brown clad man even dropped his knives from his shaky hands.

“Shit! Wh—wha—what is he?!” He asked in panic, looking at his comrades for any sort of answer.

The more gothic boy merely stood there silently while the girl shook her head in fear.

“I—I dunno,” She stammered, “I-I've never seen anything like this.”

There was silence between the trio as they scouted Goku watching in his own bafflement and they all began to tremble in fear.

With a hard swallow, the girl finally spoke:

“G-g-g-g-Go. Go and call reinforcements. I'll stay…”

The boys soon turned there heads in alarm as they heard the orders from their more distressed friend.

“Are you mad, woman?!” the man in the black trench coat barked, “What can you do against a guy like that?!”

She swallowed hard again and turned her head to him, glaring at him. “That's an order,” she snarled, “GO!!!”

The brown-clad man bit his lip stubbornly, but fled, dragging his more darker-clad friend with him. The girl watched nervously as her friends soon became smaller and smaller in the distance and then she turned to Goku.

She finally placed a tight grasp on her sword and prompted herself in a fighting position; her knees tucked under her form like a panther ready to pounce on its prey.

“Bring it on, lady!” Goku growled conceitedly, grasping his staff till his knuckles turned snow white.

She shifted her stance till her sword was hiding her face as she held it before her, as if she was about to stab the earth just beneath her. A dark aura began to slowly rise from her skin and flow across her flesh. Her hair slowly began to dance amongst the shadowy presence to make her look more like a big, black bonfire.

“You're gonna regret those words, mister.” Her tone was suddenly dark, cold, and menacing, like the frost of winter nights. She suddenly leaped up high into the air, higher then any normal human being could possibly reach.

Goku tried to keep his eyes on her, but she was high enough to be blotted out by the sun, breaking out from the clouds. The light punctured into his eyes with a burning sensation, and it was all the more impossible to scout the girl from up in the air.

Meanwhile, the girl was building up some sort of dark, firing energy from her body, and all of it slowly combining to her sword… its blue runes hellishly radiant in dark flames of aura.

When Goku was able to spot the girl's dark flames now being conspicuous from the bright sun, it was too late.

She dived down and was ready to slam her ready sword on Goku with the force of gravity on her side. Goku met at her blade with his nyoi-bo, flickerings of embers igniting from the weapons' union. Goku did not feel any force of tremor when the 2 forces met though, but he still had to use his muscles to keep her sharp edge from coming down on his head.

“Heh heh heh… Just like I planned…” She grunted through her clenching jaw.

Goku raised his head to meet her eyes, absolutely confused. “Wha?”

Suddenly the flames became little tendrils that wrapped around his hands all the way to his shoulders, all of it turning black with runes just like the blackening of something burning as fire passes over it. The the runes glowed an evil crimson color.

“Bind him!”

Suddenly the runes let out small explosions of light and his arms were completely immobilized.

“What the—?!”

He suddenly felt a roundhouse kick aimed straight for his gut, and slammed the newly-resurrected on his back a few feet away. It still didn't hurt, but it did knock the air out of him.

“…Uh… Wha—what was that…?”

The girl soon walked over to the young man's body and stepped on his collarbone, pinning him down with the pressure she placed on her foot.

“How do you like my Scorching Nerves Curse?” She mused cockily, “Let me fill you in on some basic anatomy 101, youkai: the body needs the nervous system, messages sent to and from the brain, to tell it what parts to move and when. My jinx places special burn scars on a certain part of the body that block the brain waves so that can't signal messages to the nerves of that cursed organ. You can't even use your reflexes...”

Goku lifted his head weakly and grinded his teeth together. His eyes glared at her with intense hatred. He snarled as he watched the woman lift her sword high above her head.

“Die, deranged youkai!” She brought done her sword, ready to stab his heart. She threw all of her strength into that one fell lunge.

Goku panicked and shut his eyes, awaiting pain and bereavement. Just as the blade was about to plunge into his torso, the crow that had once accompanied him had roosted itself on the remains of an old, iron cross and stared at Goku with his vibrant, violet eyes.

The crow let loose an ear-piercing screech into the extensive sky, allowing its message to echo far and wide.

“CAW!!!”

The shriek echo throughout Goku's ears, and the boy shot open his eyes. His eyes became slits and glowed vibrantly, like molten gold. Suddenly he felt strength seethe back into his clenching fists and the runes seem to diffuse into tiny bits of smoke that disbanded from his arm.

He caught the blade right in the nick of time.

“WHAT?!” The girl scowled.

Goku smirked beneath the witch's razor, his white teeth glimmering broadly and deceivingly. “Lady, I ain't gonna die a secon' time.”

He threw her sword aside with one hand as he gripped his staff in the other. He swatted her away, which distracted her for a few minutes, and jumped back to his feet. He charged at the stunned girl with his bludgeon at hand.

“NYOI-BO!” Swiftly, Goku's mighty weapon extended in length, and he swung it across the unguarded maiden's side like a bat during a baseball game. With a painful gasp, she felt the mighty cudgel smash into her side and belt her some ten or twenty feet. She soon hurtled into what was left of a brick wall on her back and collapsed in anguish.

When the boy realized the damage, he panicked and bolted towards her to check the damage.

“Hey, are you ok?” He uttered gently, much to the contrast of his berserk violence that had occurred just a few seconds ago, “I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hit you that hard!”

The girl looked up into the boys eyes in alarm. Now that he got a good look at her, he noticed she had vibrant emerald eyes and auburn tresses with faint golden strands randomly placed in her locks.

“What in the…?”

“Michiko!” The voices of many guys echoed throughout the old ruins as her companions returned…. With reinforcements.

The new ally of the girl was obviously another male but was much older then any of the teenagers… probably in his mid twenties! He had long, scarlet hair with bangs that looked analogous to an insect's antennae. His blood-colored mane hid the sides of his face, which had scars on his left cheek that looked comparable to cat's whiskers. His eyes were both crimson and cat like, looking nothing more but like little slits.

He wore a black leather jacket and tight black leather jeans and boots. His jacket opened to reveal his chest, wrapped tightly with a white tank top. In his rough looking hands was a weird looking staff that has a shovel-shaped blade at the bottom end and a blade shaped like the crescent moon on the top end. In his lips was a lit cigarette.

“Oi, I heard there was a little demonic ass-face about to give ya trouble,” The man muttered as he scrammed his way to the young female.

The girl turned her head to meet the man's eyes. “Goyjo-sama… He's—AH!” She gripped her torso in pain.

The man gently held the girl in his arms, like a frail child. “Easy, toots.”

The brown-colored man, however, aimed his knife dangerously at Goku, intent on killing him with one quick toss of the hand.

“This is him, Goyjo-sama,” He snarled, “This is the guy who hurt Michiko-san.”

The older male turned his eyes towards the boy… and froze.

His eyes went wider then dinner plates at the sight of the revived child.

“You—You—You gotta be shittin' meh…” He shakily uttered, his cigarette dropping from his lips.

“Go—Go—Goku?!”

--

T O B E C O T I N U E D…

--

The birds and butterflies,
Rivers and mountains she creates…
But you'll never know
The next move she'll make…
You can try
But it is useless to ask why…
Cannot control her,
She goes her own way…

She rules

Until the end of time,
She gives and she takes…
She rules

Until the end of time,
She goes her own way…

With every breath,
And all the choices that we make,
We are only passing through on her way…
I find my strength
Believing that your soul lives on…
Until the end of time,
I'll carry it with me…

 

She rules

Until the end of time,
She gives and she takes…
She rules

Until the end of time,
She goes her own way…

(Once you will know my dear)

(Once you will know my dear)
(You don't have to fear)

(You don't have to fear…)
(A new beginning)

(Always starts at the end)

(Once you will know my dear)
(You don't have to fear)

 

(Until the end of time,)

Until the end of time,

(Until the end of time,)
Until the end of time,

(Until the end of time,)
She goes her way…

 

She rules

Until the end of time,
She gives and she takes…
She rules

Until the end of time,

Until the end of time,

Until the end of time,
She goes her own way…

--Mother Earth by Within Temptation

--

So this is the first chapter. What do you guys think? Yes, I kinda used our fellow crow authors as inspiration for our characters too (by order of appearance): Black Panther Knight (Formally Kokoryu), The Wolf Demon, and finally Phoenixangelgal (AKA: me).

 

Sorry ppl that I did procrastinate on this chapter… Why? It was the fight scenes, I really loathe writing fight scenes. I remember I got stuck on writing one in the 2nd chapter of “Memories of the Kuro Battousai” with a writers Block that lasted for YEARS so instead I gave the document to Black Panther Knight and had him write it for me (of course I gave him credit!). Not this time though, I wrote it myself, and according to him, it's good. Yes, he is my editor. We started sharing some of our fan fics to take “sneak peaks” at before they're posted as well as edit any minor errors that can be found on there.

 

Oh, for the song Mother Earth, the ( )'s meant it was the guy's choir, the (italics) meant it was the echo in the guys choir, and the italics meant it was the women's choir, and the regular bold was the singer (or the singer with the other choirs) singing.

 

Now, prepare for our next chapter: Goku meets up with his old comrades… and also realizes that he must join forces with the most unlikely of characters! Stay tuned!