Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Blood Red Fox ❯ Lost Treasures ( Chapter 8 )

Jan/16/01

**************************************************************** *******

A Known Blood Red Fox

**************************************************************** *******

By Vile Deadboss

Chapter VIII: 'Lost Treasures'

X sighed in deeply the fresh afternoon air, lying on the grass near the headquarters, relaxing before doing anymore of the days work.

A vast forest was beside the headquarters, X wondered sometimes what was in there, small as it is places like that he rarely had time to explore in and whenever he tried he was always called in for 'emergencies' or when Cain needs to speak with him about anything, it wouldn't hurt to check it out once more now they have other hunters searching for the mavericks at the time being would it?

He looked to the bushes curiously, others walk through there all the time and there are trails to follow after all. He got up then and brushed the grass off himself.

"A few minutes won't hurt..."

Before he could take a step, a small beep was heard withen his jeans pocket. Knowing very clearly what it was, X sighed a slight annoyed and picked up the small cell phone and flipped it open. "X here.."

<"X! Dr.Cain wants ya up in the lab Stats! It Lives! Yagh!!">

X blinked. "Shadow?"

<<"Goddamn jerk! when I get out of here I'll Kill You!!!">>

<"Shut up will ya?? am on the phone at the moment...">

<<"I'll burn your insides out! Throw your soul to He-Gmph!">>

<"That's very nice to hear Hiei, just not right now kay?....*ahem* anyhow X?">

"Still here...who are you arguing with?" X started to make his way back to the HQ anyhow, slipping his free hand in his jeans pocket and paid attention to Shadow.

<"The little twerp's name is Hiei and...Ow! Hey! didn't anyone tell you it's not nice to bite??"?

<<"hn...no..">>

<"Geez...Anyways, think you can come up here fast? am tired of babysitting...Gyowch!!"

<<"Watch what you say Baka!">>

<"X!!"> Shadow whined. X chuckled.

"Alright, alright, I'm on my way Shadow."

<"Thank you!"> a click was heard after and X closed his phone, putting it back in his pocket he paused for a moment and looked back to the forest. "Maybe I'll ask Zero to join me there one of these days.."

He smiled at the thought and then resumed his way back to the HQ and lab to meet the guest or the enemy, either way if he's anything like Kurama they should be careful just as well.

**************************************************************** *******

Shadow hopped away from the lab table Hiei was on then after talking to X and rubbed his side. "You Burned me!!"

"Hn.."

"how the hell??" He analyzed his side which left a burnt spot on his armor and frowned. Dr.Cain

upon noticing it grabbed another tool and went over to Shadow to scan the burnt spot.

"Interesting....he had no weapon of doing this, and it's Natural! more naturel then a plasma burn, lighter burn, su-"

"Uh...that's nice and all Doc, but I just got wounded again thanks to the little Shrimp!" Shadow snapped the last word loudly for Hiei to hear and a low growl was heard.

"Scumbag.." Hiei snarled. Shadow sighed and shook his head.

"This isn't getting us anywhere!"

"On the contrary." Dr.Cain poked the burnt spot. "Am learning more and more about Hiei here then Kurama." Shadow was tempted to fall over.

"Further more, with the skills those two have it's very, very unhuman it's like as if they are..."

"You ningens would call us Demons." Hiei muttered.

"Precisely! eh?" Dr.Cain looked to Hiei who closed his eyes, the middle of his forehead glowing slightly underneath the white stripe he wore. Dr.Cain knew clearly it was a third eye.

"That was a giveway especially, I wasn't sure however and thought you were perhaps muntants? or something else?"

Shadow fell over then.

X walked in and heard a loud thud, he turned his gaze to Shadow on the floor who got up slowly and shook his head. "Muntants? Dr.Cain? out of all things in this world you come up with Muntants???"

"Well....you never know!"

"Somebody's gotta lay off the sake."

X chewed his lip to avoid grinning at the conversation, Shadow sighed and brushed whatever dust off his armor, he then noticed X and almost fell again. "Erk! er...X! your here!"

"You wanted me to hurry so here I am."

Hiei groaned. Whatever he was hit with his evil eye was feeling very very drained. "What the hell was I shot with?"

"A simple paralyzing drug." X answered for him and went over to the table where Hiei was and looked over him curiously.

"That wasn't a damn paralyzing drug....it's still draining me..." Hiei growled.

"That's not possible, the shot was enough to knock you out for a few hours but not a whole day." He looked over Dr.Cain's scans and frowned slightly, Hiei was right, the readings on the monitor showed that his levels were dropping, hasn't he seen this before?

X kept his gaze on the readings and thinked carefully on where did he see this before?

"Nngh.." Hiei shook his head slowly, trying to raise his ki level so he could use enough energy to burn the straps, but seeming to feel more weaker. Why?!

"The little shrimp looks sick." Shadow tilted his head curiously at Hiei, Dr.Cain nodded slowly as if to agree while he fixed up the burnt spot on Shadow's side.

"Who?" Zero asked as he walked in, both X and Shadow looked to Zero's presence. "Well it's about the time you got here!" Shadow frowned.

"I was at the training facility when you called Shadow, had to shower before coming here."

"Yeah, yeah, some excuse pretty boy." Shadow snorted and brushed his dark hair away from his face. Zero rolled his eyes. "You are one to talk."

He walked over to where X and Hiei were and looked to the wincing demon. "what's going on?"

"Hiei's level of energy here is dropping, the paralyzing shot we gave him yesterday seems to be draining him." X informed and tapped at the screen lightly out of thought. "I'm trying to figure out why."

"Hiei?" Zero looked to the demon still trying to raise his ki. "If your anything like Kurama...

then it'd be best to quit what your doing."

X blinked at what Zero said and looked to him, Shadow looked to him as well.

"K-Kurama..?" Hiei said weakly now. Zero nodded slowly. "When Kurama used his plants he grew weaker each time he did, so whatever your doing it's gonna kill you."

Hiei stopped immediatly then and panted slightly, having to much use of his strength which left him feeling very weak. "wh...why?"

"That's something yet to figure out, I think the mavericks are trying to figure why it does that to Kurama as well, he would of been an exellant enemy if he wasn't losing so much energy." Zero kept his gaze down on the monitor, Hiei's level had stopped dropping then.

"H-how did you know?" X said surprised.

"You should know this more then anyone here X, you saw how weak he grew everytime he attacked." Zero looked to the confused hunter who nodded slowly. "I see now...but how did you figure..?"

"I watched..."

"You have better eyes then me, much more better then Hiei's even!" Shadow grinned proudly and looked to the weak demon who snarled weakly.

"..baka..."

After finishing up Shadow's side, Dr.Cain put his tools away then and looked to the two hunters beside Hiei's table. "Talk to him, I'm gonna go have lunch finally!" Dr.Cain grinned and made his way out calmly. Shadow fell again.

"I'm starting to really worry about ol' doc there.."

Zero smirked lightly and looked down to Hiei who had his eyes closed and winced slightly. X took a seat near the table and beside the window, resting his elbow on another table beside him and rested his head lightly on his palm. "Hiei, can you talk?"

"He's a mean little grinch, he'll listen but won't talk much unless he feels like insultin' someone." Shadow informed and got up, going over to another seat nearby and sat comfortably.

"Hn, didn't I tell you not to speak for me, Baka?"

"Yes you did Hiei, and did you really expect me to listen to you?"

"Where's Kurama...?" Hiei opened his eyes and looked to Zero, he held his breath then. Zero said nothing and kept his blue gaze on the demon.

"He's with the enemy..." X answered.

Hiei frowned when he heard that and sighed, keeping his gaze on Zero however. "Another reploid I want to kill..."

"flattered, unfortunate for you, it ain't happening." Zero pulled away from the monitor and went over to the window near X. "what's more important right now is finding the enemies new HQ..."

"Is that where he is..?" Hiei's gaze followed Zero. The crimson hunter nodded slowly in response. "I need him alive...I need to return Kurama back to the Ningenkai."

"Are you here to save him too?" X asked curiously, Hiei turned his crimson gaze to X.

"It's not much of a choice, Kurama doesn't belong here."

"What is he..." Zero asked softly. Hiei looked back to Zero then and frowned, catching what he asked. "Now that is none of your damn business!"

"Lovely as all this sounds, Hiei..." Shadow got up from his seat and folded his metallic arms. "How's about we make a deal for now?"

Hiei looked to Shadow. "A deal?"

"We'll let you go an' all, but...you can't find Kurama alone on this, and since your own power Drains you, your in a little disadvantage here, right?" Shadow smirked lightly and Hiei grumbled yet nodded slightly. "We can't save Kurama when he wants to kill us, so we might need your help to get him out of there and.."

"Wait a second here...why would that stupid fox want to kill you guys??" Hiei blinked, seeming confused by all this now. Zero watched Hiei carefully.

"I think I know where Shadow's getting at, Hiei if you agree to this and if it's that important to you as it is to us, would you work with us on this temporarily?" X asked.

Hiei laid quiet and thought for awhile on this.

"It's not much of a choice if you think about it, the mavericks are impossible to you at the condition your in now." Shadow said. "and if you disagree well...."

"I don't think I can find the stupid fox alone, if the old ningen says you three are the only.. Hunters...that know where Kurama is, then fine." Hiei winced suddenly. "What the fuck is it that's still hurting me??"

"Vile would probably have a better idea on that then we..." Zero answered calmly, sighing after. "you better hope he didn't add anything to Kurama in order to find out."

**************************************************************** *******

Back in Vile's grey room which of course was a bit more larger then the one he was in before, Kurama let out a deep sigh and rubbed his bandaged arm gently. He developed enough ki for the wound to heal more quickly now, but figured it wouldn't be fully healed til next week perhaps less if lucky.

He laid back on the bed then and stared up at the grey metallic ceiling and went over with what Vile wanted...and what he did...

He reached to brush his wounded arm gently once more, not able to rid of the cold feeling that has swept his body. Vile hugged him and that did not seem right at all, especially from someone who's using him enough as it is to fight the hunters.

Vile is a machine that is not capable for that at all!..or are they? he frowned to himself then, Kurama was angry with the thought but at the same time scared, much as he shouldn't be yet he couldn't help the feeling.

What scared him further though is that he can't stay in his youko form for another day, he needed to be Shuuichi. If he could he would regain all his you-ki, strength, and healing abilities back but if he turned into Shuuichi there and now, he can't revert back to youko until a day later, not with his you-ki so low...

And Shuuichi being human is another problem, he definiatly has to get out of there.

"It's hard to believe your The leader of the thieves though, your nothing more but a fox who is so soft hearted right now, you'd probably make Kuronue cringe if he saw what happened to his Beloved Youko Kurama..."

Kurama sat up from the bed then and lowered his gaze towards the floor. "How dare he..." He hissed lowly. "If that's how it's gonna be Vile, then I guess it leaves me with one choice."

Getting up slowly from the bed, Kurama walked over to Vile's dresser and started to rummage through it for something...anything that maybe useful.

Finding sorts of clothes that Ragnarok had arranged for the silver fox he could not find his silk white attire, it seems they left his original clothing at the other HQ.

Finding some other dark clothing, Kurama decided to change into those for the time being and thought carefully on how he was going to do this.

A master thief he is and so much more follows that, being a proffesional one meant to steal items without much of a trace, it would also mean escaping without much of a trace...

He can't leave without a certain help and he knows who exactly he can trust on getting him out of here..

After dressing into some black pants and a sleek black sweater, he then grabbed some gloves and set them atop the dresser, ripping a long piece of material from another shirt then and used it to tie his silver hair back in a ponytail.

Gotta be crazy to do this... he thought to himself, grabbing the gloves from the dresser top and slipped them on. Both Ragnarok and Vile won't like this, but why should I care about that? I will not let Vile get away with those damned insults and even worse...

"...I can't let him bring Kuronue's name up like that no more." Kurama frowned once more as he eyed the glove he wore, wearing black is what's best to sneak around in for the time being, dressed in his other silver clothing wouldn't help much, not at the moment anyhow.

He then checked whatever seeds he had kept hidden from all the reploids view, rose seeds were more then enough for now.

It was time to find a way out of here...

Kurama grabbed the keycard then that Vile gave to him which allowed him access to the floor he was on, and the few rooms that were supposed to keep him occupied. Including the Piano room that Vile had taken him too and the lab where he can get his bandages changed.

All the reploids here pretty well ignore him when he roamed around the area, which is soon going to be their mistake.

He had to head to the lab first and hoped that Vile won't still be there talking to Storm Eagle.

Kurama made his way out of the room casually then and held his wounded arm for an appearence for the time being and went over to the lab.

The reploids looked to the fox for a second as he walked by and then they went ahead to whatever else their doing. Too easy...I better hope luck is with me on this...

When he finally got to the lab, he looked around for Vile, eyeing the almost empty room for the dark maverick.

Seeing him nowhere he let out a soft relieved sigh and stepped in to find only three reploids at least in the room, two of them sitting in Storm's office like area and were talking about whatever business they had, the third one was busy working on a strange looking head piece that sat on the metallic table.

This lab was just a small area where they work on stuff for him, in order to be ready and well protected to fight the hunters.

That head piece the reploid is working on must be for the armor that Vile was talking about, a piece of junk that will just be in the way, curious though as to what it's use was?

As silent as he could, Kurama went over to the table near a corner and atop it rested the bandages that were used to cover his wounds, he sat silently to the corner and started to look through what was used to take care of his wounds.

Appearently the mavericks hatred towards humans kept them from learning on how to take care of a wounded one.

They only covered his wounds, not bothering to use anything else to heal it, Storm Eagle however seemed like the only that did know about a thing or two of taking care of them.

He held his breath for a moment then when he heard the two reploids leaving the office and both weren't Storm Eagle nor Vile thankfully, both of the strange reploids continued to chat about their business and this time while they don't see him sitting there, he listened to them.

"..how are you going to explain that to Magma?"

"I'm not sure, but whatever fuse we give to it keeps burning out."

"I have to see this for myself, do you have your key to the first level?"

"Yep, so does Darius there." The reploid lifted a thumb to the other who was working on the head piece. "Darius am taking Mike down to the first level, the lab is all yours."

"alright.." The reploid Darius answered mildly as he continued to concentrate on working on the head piece.

The reploids then left the lab and made their way to the first level, unnoticing the silver fox at the corner where the table was, of course there was a large shelf in the way and he sat still to wait for their leave. They must of had their sensors off for them to miss me... Kurama thought about that for a moment.

If he could reach the first level then he would have to stealth himself to the extreme to avoid their sensors and whatever else they had.

This is not gonna be that easy...Kurama chewed his bottem lip and thought on how he was going to get out of here, maybe if he took the cardkey that goes to the first level and try to find his way out from there....

That's where his thinking stops and his risks takes over, Kurama pulled out a small seed hidden behind his fox ear and beneath his silver hair, crushing the seed to a powder and silently walked up to the reploid who seemed too concentrated on the head piece.

The silver fox looked around first to check if he would be noticed doing this? Aside from a certain camera nearby, he took a step back away from it's view since the camera was focused on the reploid only. Lifting his palm and the dust near his lips, he softly blew the dust towards the reploid as it floated gently through the air now and around the reploid.

This test better work... Kurama held his breath and watched the reploids reaction to it, and if he noticed it?

Darius placed a tool down on the table and stretched for a bit, yawning as well. "Damn...I can't tell what size to place this piece too, if the fox was here to-"

"To try it on?" Kurama answered.

Surprised at the response, the reploid turned around quickly and blinked at Kurama's presence there. "Fox! what are you do-" Cut short, the reploid held his metallic throat as if it were choking, then fell to the floor with a sudden thud. Kurama grinned slightly a bit surprised at how well his seeds can actually work on this reploids.

"Nettle paralyze poison works very well.."

He looked around cautiously to see if anyone else caught that? not seeing anyone, he grabbed the reploid's arm and dragged him a bit ways away from the camera's view and dug around the coat pockets to find the first level key card.

Instead of the one card he found three, taking them anyways he checked for whatever else the reploid had that he could use. Kurama looked to the tools then.

"Those...I might need.."

**************************************************************** *******

"So who's the real weapon and the diversion?"

Vile asked curiously as he sat back on his seat comfortably, keeping his hidden red gaze on the maverick master who sat across from him. Ragnarok tapped the chair's arm end lightly and thoughtfully with his large metal fingers.

"If the Chimera isn't ready in time then it would seem Kurama would be the weapon but I don't want to push him to that limit yet."

"I don't think he would want to do that unless it appeals to him first."

"So what do you think would appeal to him Vile?" Agile asked curiously as he raised a curious brow to the dark maverick who turned his helm slightly to Agile's direction.

"I'm not sure about that yet, as always he's still wanting to head for death's door, but I seemed to mistakenly frightened him earlier."

"I heard from Storm Eagle..." Ragnarok said mildly yet a slight annoyed. "Throwing stuff of his past at him was not necessary Vile."

"Oh? and what was necessary, Ragnarok?" Vile smirked slightly within his mask, knowing Ragnarok would sense it. "I did what I could do to get his attention even if it meant being 'nice', I was left with not much of a choice."

"Perhaps, but it was still unnecessary..."

"Unnecessary in what way? don't tell me that you're actually Worried about him.." Vile sat up a bit on his seat, interested in Ragnarok's concern about the subject. "I tried to make every possible deal with him as you asked, threatened him without mentioning one word of his death and he still shrugged all that off as if he expected it, like I said...I was left with not much of a choice."

Ragnarok sat silent for a moment, showing no reaction to all what Vile said and kept his gaze on the dark maverick. "Yet...you tried seduction a minute to late?"

Vile froze at that.

"You didn't think I'd leave that room unguarded and unnoticed now did you?"

"Seduction, m'lord?" Agile said a bit confused and looked to Ragnarok with a half confused and half disgusted look. Ragnarok smirked lightly, keeping his gaze on Vile.

"Agile...this is a subject I need to speak with Vile alone, please return to your duty on the Chimera."

Agile nodded slowly but still confused by the simple word that was let out, he then quietly stepped out of the room to leave the two alone.

Vile took in a very soft yet calm breath after Agile's leave, resting back on his seat once more and turned his gaze down to the floor. Ashamed almost but a bit more angry that Ragnarok 'saw' what he did to Kurama.

"You knew exactly who and what he was, huh?" Ragnarok chuckled softly amused. "It's a shame that you had beaten me to his warmth."

"It's not what you think.."

"Then explain on why you didn't report 'That' to me..." Ragnarok grinned, placing his fingertips togather and tapped them at eachother lightly and a slight playfully. "If you tried that in the first place, it would of been the relief he would need to rid of the anger he holds."

Vile blinked and turned his red gaze back to Ragnarok. "You're not suggesting that I play with his heart?"

"It's an idea yet it won't be that easy but then again you seemed to have the nack for that considering to all the females you trashed." Ragnarok placed his hands down calmly on the chair's arms once more then, grinning still at Vile.

"Those were Females, I would not know anything of taking a Male's heart especially Kurama's." Vile paused at that for a moment. "but then again, I did not take any hearts at all, those females you speak of were nothing more then playthings."

"Exactly.."

Vile raised a confused brow within his helm. "You mean..?"

"If I had the time, I'd do just the same as to what you did to Kurama back in the Piano hall only minus the 'past throwing'." Ragnarok shifted in his seat slightly and leaned on one arm of the chair, turning his gaze down to the floor. "If we find out what was draining Kurama's you-ki, you'd be very surprised at how powerful he really is."

"perhaps.."

"But then again your just as blind as I right now." Ragnarok smirked and looked to Vile who blinked at that.

"Blind?"

"To not care how powerful he is..."

Vile got up from his seat then and withen his mask he narrowed his red gaze at Ragnarok, angrily almost. "I told you...It's not what you think and keep that sick fantasy to yourself. My interest in Kurama is to make sure he does kill X and Zero, I want him no more then that."

"So you wouldn't care if I took him under my care after he kills X and Zero?" Ragnarok asked calmly yet curiously, his tone seemed amused as well. Vile grimaced.

"Why should I care? he's not my lover.."

"After X and Zero's death he won't be your problem no more...I assure you of that." Ragnarok got up from his seat then.

"No assurence needed..." Vile muttered and made his way out of the room, having enough of the conversation that made him feel sick to his artifical stomache.

Ragnarok watched him leave, folding his arms and thought to himself for a moment about how Vile felt throughout the whole thing. Does he really not care about Kurama? if he did not know any better, Vile is not known to hug someone out of nowhere even if the hug was violent itself.

Sighing to himself, Ragnarok made his way out of the room as well and headed back to his chambers, pondering about the meeting they recently had.

"The Chimera is not yet ready to face the hunters and Kurama is still healing, perhaps we may need a new plan while placing the two in order.." Ragnarok kept his gaze ahead, making his way to the stairs as the reploids stepped out of his way. The way they addressed him made him feel strange somehow, how would Sigma react to each and every one?

the plans he used were much smaller then what Sigma does and his plans focus on killing X and Zero alone, nothing of taking over other reploid armies or stealing the latest of human technologies that maybe used to their purpose but to kill the hunters alone.

Let the other Maverick uprises take care of the dirty work and let him alone take care of the most annoying tasks.

Pausing at the top of the steps Ragnarok blinked slightly at the sight ahead, at the end of the hall where someone seemed to roamed freely but unnoticed. A stealth well done, but it's unfortunate he was spotted so soon...

**************************************************************** *******

Kurama waited for the reploids to pass before he could make his way through this hall, made it to the first level easily but no such luck on finding his way out.

If his ki drops any lower then he would have no choice but to hide least for a day in the HQ, but that wouldn't do any good with all the sensors and the camera's around. They have this entire sector well secured...but not enough..

As the reploids passed finally, Kurama looked around once more to make sure no one else noticed him hiding in the shadowed corner.

Not to far away Ragnarok hid from Kurama's view and watched curiously on what the fox was up to..

Kurama moved then and steadily yet quickly without making the slightest sound, ran to another shadowed corner and slipped in it's darkness and watched as more reploids went by.

He held more of the nettle seeds close incase he was spotted, resting his hand against his thigh and prepared to crush them if needed.

He made his move away from that corner, noticing an open room he tried to sense if anyone was in it, he walked towards it silently and looked inside for any sign of the reploids.

Upon seeing nobody he stepped in it for the time being and looked around curiously, looking for anything useful enough to help him escape.

Ragnarok raised a curious brow as he watched the fox sneaking around silently, like a ghost no one had noticed him at all which impressed him greatly, but why all this running around? was he trying to escape?

As his curiousity grew more, Ragnarok headed towards the room as silent as he could, wondering what Kurama was up to. The fox dressed differently as well, much differently and dark so he hid in the shadows better. "Such a clever creature..."

"Master Ragnarok!"

He growled.

Inside the room Kurama jumped slightly upon hearing Ragnarok's name being called, he looked to the door worried. That call was close to close, he then quickly looked around for any place to hide. Looking over the boxes he knew he was in some kind of storage area his frantic search paused as he noticed another doorway leading to who knows where..

He ran up to the door and checked for any security locks to it, finding non he opened it cautiously and carefully checked what was at the other side.

Beyond it was another lab looking area and a few reploids walked about here and there, the lab was much bigger then the one he's use too, he took his chance and stepped in, he had to make his way through there unnoticed as best as he could...

Meanwhile Ragnarok was very close to decking the reploid who dared to disturb him and probably scared Kurama off. "What is it?" he snarled.

Magma walked over to Ragnarok and blinked at his master's angry tone. "Uh...Sir, it's about the report on the Chimera you asked for."

Ragnarok sighed and looked to the room Kurama ran in, as far as he knows, beyond that room was a lab he doubt the fox would go through. The fox is probably trapped for now. "Take the report to my chambers, I'll have a look at it there."

"Yes sir, but.."

"Is it That important right now?" Ragnarok looked to Magma sternly, showing him how annoyed he is at the reploid's presence.

The reploid gulped slightly and shook his head. "Not really sir. I mean it is but..."

"Speak to me about it later, not right now."

With that said Ragnarok quickly headed for the room and left the confused Magma, looking around the room carefully then for the fox. Whatever game Kurama was playing interested Ragnarok to chase him alone, looking in each dark corner and under anything where the fox could easily hide in but hasn't seen him anywhere.

"Don't tell me you actually went through the lab, you crazy creature.."

He calmly went up to the door and opened it, stepping in silently and looked around at the few reploids busy working, some of them pausing to wonder why Ragnarok was there?

Ragnarok paid no attention to them however and looked around carefully of where could Kurama run or hide through.

"Master Ragnarok?" one of the reploids spoke a bit confused. "Is there anything wrong?"

He brought his finger up to his lips to warn the reploids about to remain silent as he looked around the room carefully, all the reploids stood quietly confused as they watched Ragnarok walking around slowly, looking under desks and any dark corners. "Hm...he ran off again.."

"Who?" another reploid asked.

"A game...a certain little game." Ragnarok looked to the doorway leading to the hallway and to his surprise it was open. "Is that door supposed to be open?"

"No sir, it was closed when I last checked."

"Gotcha.." He whispered to himself and grinned slightly, quickly heading for the door and passed through it. Looking out to both ways of the hall and wondered which way he had taken.

"Very, very clever and fast too...but don't worry I ain't letting anyone else get you.."

Kurama quickly ran behind some boxes and took in a deep yet soft breath, he had to move fast and far away from Ragnarok, Why was that damn reploid so close anyways?? Kurama closed his eyes for a moment, wondering how he was going to get out of here. Where were they anyhow? another abandoned city??

He opened his eyes and looked around to where he ran, he wasn't thinking when he ran in here or to where he was going, he just avoided anyone in sight and ran to any place possible to be unnoticed.

Wherever he was looked like the large bunker he was in before, where he fought X, he could hear the noises of the reploids about and paid attention to the noises anywhere, trying to count how many reploids are there.

Counting more then 16, he held the seeds carefully once more and decided to look around.

"This is odd...it keeps draining all of the energy from the fuses quickly til they bust."

Kurama paused, recognizing the reploid's voice, he then knelt down low and paid attention to them, staying in a dark corner of a box so as not to be noticed. He moved forward slightly though to see what they were doing.

"At the rate were going were never gonna finish this." The reploid known as Mike frowned and tapped at the huge machine in front of him lightly, looking over it. "It feeds on to much energy from the fuses."

"I Told you!"

Mike looked to the reploid. "So what do You think is causing the problem?"

The other reploid shrugged and looked over the fuses they had left and set the broken ones to a side.

"Beats me, how it works is beyond my problem."

"Well taking this thing to combat is no good, Storm and Magma have to take care of this part theirselves." Mike looked back to the machine.

Kurama eyed the Machine itself and blinked at how huge it was and it's shape was that of a three headed creature like Cerebus, only with three heads of a Lion, Eagle, and a Serpent.

It's body was shaped of a lion, had wings like the Eagle and a tail of a serpent, were they going to use this thing against the hunters?

"Damn Chimera! Why are you stealing so much energy?" The reploid grumbled and glared at the machine as if it were able to hear him.

"Chimera?" Kurama said softly, looking back to it. He heard Vile mention it a couple of times and Storm Eagle as well, so this was their secret weapon?

If he recalled, the hunters had fought with huge machines like that one before, what makes that one so different from the rest?

"Master Ragnarok!?" a reploid not to far said surprised. Kurama cursed under his breath.

What was He doing here??

"er..eh..M'lord what brings you here?" The surprised reploid asked, Kurama noticed the rest of the reploids looking where the Maverick Master is.

"looking for a game." Ragnarok said calmly.

Kurama held his breath. A game? could he mean...

"a game Sir?"

Ragnarok waved his arm to command the reploids to stay silent as he looked around the bunker storage area. Kurama cursed once more, Ragnarok can't possibly be looking for Him!

Out of all reploids to be spotted from, it Had to be the master of them. Kurama decided to make his way out of there now, before he did so, he looked back to the Chimera and wondered for a moment.

The two reploids near the Chimera went over to the rest to see what was going on, Kurama made his move as quickly and silently as he could towards the huge machine and went to the other side of it to avoid being noticed, he looked around once more and leaned back against the machine slightly.

Kurama froze then.

The machine was warm...as if it were..alive?

He pulled away from it and looked up to it. Was it really??

Touching the armor hull once more, the part he touched was warm as if something living was behind that hull, to make it seem more living was that he could sense you-ki in it...

Why was this Thing carrying you-ki? Kurama frowned and looked up to it, looking to it's eyes which all were closed.

"what are you..?" Kurama whispered.

"Come now Fox, I know your hiding here somewhere..." Ragnarok said with amusement. Kurama held his breath as he noticed that Ragnarok was at the other side of the machine. No..Not now!!

Kurama looked around for any other means of escape. Please no! I can't let him find me! not now!!

He pressed back into the machine, wondering where to run? where to hide?

"The Fox is down here??" one of the reploids said surprised.

"Quiet!" Ragnarok snarled. "I told you...it's a game and I want no interference...I want no help."

Kurama growled lowly but not loud enough for anyone to hear. That bastard was only messing around? First Vile and now Him?!

Kurama noticed then at the end of the bunker, there was a room he recognized very well. The reploids transport system....

Kurama took a deep breath. His escape is right there but to get there he would have to run fast the reploids would see him easily though.

Go...Go!! Don't wait anymore!!! Kurama snapped in his mind and with that he ran towards it.

"There he is!!" One of the reploids shouted. Catching Ragnaroks attention who turned with a pleased grin but it vanished as he noticed where Kurama was running.

"Stop him!!! Don't let him near there!!!"

Upon hearing that Kurama crushed the seeds in hand and quickly threw the dust behind him, continuing to run as fast as he could towards the room, hopping over boxes even. The reploids close behind who were caught in the dust fell in a sudden paralyzation. Kurama reached for more seeds hidden behind his silver hair, finally getting to the door, he dropped the seeds and ran through the door, shutting and locking it.

"Kurama??"

He quickly turned when he heard the tone, ready to crush a seed in hand but paused when he recognized the reploid.

Flair stood quietly and shocked, unable to speak as she stood at the controls with tools in hand.

Kurama heard the reploids screech from the other side, koorime ice trap seeds work just as well it seems.

"Flair..." Kurama bit his lip.

"what's going on? why are they-"

Kurama waved his hand. "I've no time to explain, Get me out of here! Or I'll be forced to kill you!"

"Get you out of here?" Flair said confused. Kurama growled and prepared to crush a seed in hand if needed.

"Flair please....you either help get me out of here or die from my hands!!"

Flair took in a deep breath then nodded. "Get on the platform."

Kurama touched the door and raised his ki then, using the seed in hand to grow nettle vines around the door to hold it down, the pounding on it started. "Coordinates all set." Flair said as she looked to Kurama and gasped.

Kurama winced and pulled away from the door and went over to the platform, leaning against the wall to avoid falling. Flair bit her lip.

She punched in a few more codes and went over to the platform with Kurama, offering to help him stand up. "Flair?"

"If they see me in here, their gonna kill me for helping you, let's run and ask questions later." She said, looking to the control panel. "Activate!"

At the other side, Ragnarok was fed up with the reploids trying to get through to the door and avoided stepping on the seeds Kurama dropped, he pushed them to a side and smashed the door down heavily. The door crashed into the control panel, wrecking the machine, he looked around with a snarl finding the fox gone.

"No!!!" Ragnarok growled and left the room, looking at the reploids around him angrily. "Get me Vile and Agile Now!!"

Half the reploids left right away to do as he ordered, the other half tried to remove the ice from their boots that were frozen over from the seeds, Ragnarok knelt down slowly and picked up one of the seeds unafraid and crushed it.

The Ice Koorime seed then froze over Ragnarok's arm but he regenerated his arm with plasma, causing the ice to melt quickly, he growled through gnashing teeth as he stared at the crushed seed in hand.

"Now the real Game has begun Kurama...."

To Be Continued....