A wide open sea of blue stretched across the sky. The sky was the sort of blue one often sees in paintings that were considered the best of their kind.

Yet the sky was not fully saphire, the further away one looked, the more clouds gathered. until it reached a point where the only visible parts of the sky were a few rays of sun escaping the embrace of the dark grey clouds surrounding the sun.

The Grey still clouds would occasionaly light up the dark lands beneath them with flashes of lightning, which one could not hear from this distance.

The landscape was filled with greenery and various forests seemingly melded into one, which stretched as far as the eye could see.

One particular spot however, was free of any forest of greenery. A single large pyramid stood in the middle of that spot, two smaller ones on each side, seemingly guarding it.

The grey clouds were surrounding the Giant pyramid, which seemed large although being an undeniably long way away.

Something Glowing was stood upon the top tip of the pyramid, glowing an ominous red, as small strands of grey entered it from the clouds.

Niko looked around, still slightly dazed.

Various sounds were filled her head as she was coming to.

The grunts, squeeks and roars of various animals could be heard in the distance.

And the load cawking of birds flying above them.

Some of the birds looked to be covered in something other than feathers. As if clad in fur or hard looking leathers.

A few Fur clad birds were circling above, observing silently.

"Uh...those birds sure look weird..."

Rubbing her head as she got up, Niko observed the strange birds circling above her in the distance.

"Wait..birds? Aren't we supposed to be underground?"

"And what is up with all this forest in the middle of the desert?!"

"Gary, Zatoichi, where are you guys!?"

Niko looked around for her companions, finally catching sight of something lying a bit away, a few curious birds surrounding and nipping on something in the middle of them.

"Hey, shoo, shoo!"

She quickly shooed the birds off, to reveal the still sleeping figures of Gary and Zatoichi, who had somehow managed to get into quite the awkward sleeping position where both of them were using each others feet as pillows.

"...I should take a picture first"

She quickly snapped a few quick pictures with her phone before waking them.

"Hey, wake up, where the hell are we!?"

"Mm....tell the client i have it all under control...and tell him his sack of money smells funny..."

Gary was muttering in his sleep as he was hugging Zatoichis feet like a pillow.

"Hm..foul akuma...you use poison gas...it not work, i kill you before i die...."

Zatoichi muttered as well, wrinkling his nose and slashing the air with his empty hands.

"God damnit, just WAKE UP!"

She kicked both of them in their crotch.

Both of them suddenly stood up, before falling back down again, clutching their crotches in great pain.

"Oh god the pain!"

"Akuma found my only weakness...."

"Guys...look around"

They both shakily stood up, slowly looking around.

They were all standing on the side of a cliff, overlooking the large forest and the large pyramid.

–

'Oh god, oh god, where the hell are we, are we dead, is this heaven or hell, is this another magic thing, illusion maybe, am I dreaming, or maybe I ate something bad and I'm getting weird visions, yes that must be it...it was that sushi I ate before...my mother always told me to only eat properly cooked food...'

Garys thoughts were all over the place as he took in the sight around him.

“So...what do we do now....?”

Gary turned towards Niko, doing his best to pretend that the strange sight infront of him did not exist, whilst being covered in cold sweat.

“We must find, and slay, all Akuma in this realm of Akuma!”

Zatoichi declared, glaring at the pyramid and the strange birds flying around them.

“No, we came here to find Shoki.”

Niko looked deteminedly at the both of them.

“And then after we find him, we can maybe stop by that most likely unexplored pyramid and see what is inside it...”

She added, her eyes glittering slightly, revealing her obvious greed so much, that her eyes almost turned into dollar signs.

“That's right...where is Shoki anyway?”

Gary looked around, there was no visible trace of there being anyone other than them.

“Damnit, Shoki, we came all the way here for you and you're not even here!”

She stomped angrily, a small fog of dust rising around her feet.

“He can't have gotten that far, it hasn't been that long, so maybe he went looking around for an exit?”

Gary suggested.

“I really don't know how Shoki thinks sometimes, but let's look around for him I guess...”

Sighing lightly, Niko and the rest began to explore the strange cliff they were standing on, eventually locating a small path, leading down into the forest.

“He must have taken this path, let's hurry so we can catch up to him!”

She urged the other two, whilst running down the forest path.

The path cut through the jungle of strange plants and vines, obviously recent slash marks apparent on the leaves and various vines.

“Boy must have cut jungle to make path, to cut through thick jungle so fast, boy nevers stop impressing.”

Zatoichi observed one of the large cut leaves, nodding in appreciation.

“Samurai idiot, less talking more walking, and Gary, try to keep up already!”

Niko looked back from her half jogg, snapping at them with an irritated tone and slightly stressed tone.

“Alright, alright, woman become annoyed without man, is best to not let couple be seperated for long.”

Zatoichi muttered to himself smugly, whilst walking after Niko.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Huh? What was that?”

Gary breathed heavily from behind him, the short walk through the forest already taking his toll on him, his blue suit covered in dark wet patches of sweat.

“Nothing friend, now hurry before ojou-san get angry”

“Y-yeah..”

Gary nodded, wiped the sweat from his brow with his sleeve and continued.

They kept walking like this for almost an hour, with Niko urging them to go faster, whilst Gary ended up being supported by Zatoichi.

“What is this..?”

Zatoichi suddenly stopped, dropping Gary whom he was supporting, causing him to plopp down like an unwanted towel.

“Hey, what the hell!”

Gary complained as he painfully got up, brushing the dirt off his already dirty suit, which essentially made no difference.

“A scream...and loud growl...in the distance...someone attacked by Akuma!”

Zatoichi looked to the side, jumping into the shrubbery and disappearing into the forest.

“Wha, wait, Idiot samurai, where are you going!?”

She shouted after him, recieving no response other than the rustling of leaves in the distance.

“Damnit, let's go Gary!

“Oh can't we just have a break while we wait for him to come back....”

He complained, leaning against a tree.

“No! Now move it!”

She began dragging him off into the direction where Zatoichi had ran off to.

–

“Zatoichi, Zatoichi, WAIT!”

Niko ran up to Zatoichi, almost falling over the many vines and roots covering the ground.

Gary running after her as best he could, which was not very good.

“The screaming, come from here...i heard!”

Zatoichi was frantically looking around for the source of the noise he supposedly heard.

“What noise, there was no noise, right Gary?”

Niko attempted to convince him.

“I didn't hear anything atleast...but I was too busy trying not to faint..”

He breathed out heavily.

A high pitched scream filled the already loud forest with even more sound. Causing several nearby birds to fly up into the sky in response.

Zatoichi immediately began to dash towards the source of the scream. Niko and Gary reluctantly following after him.

They came out to a small clearing in the forest, where a small field of grass was slowly spreading its way through the forest.

The leaves of a nearby bush rustled ominously.

“Stay behind me.”

Zatoichi said as he drew his blade. The other two slowly backing up behind him.

The rustling of the bushes got more wild and intense, and before they realised, something was out of the bushes, running straight towards them.

The first thing that they saw was a face one usually sees in museums. The dead, dried face of someone belonging in a tomb. The face of a Mummy.

The only difference being, that this one was running straight at them, and the face was moving, making terrifying expressions.

“Kyaaaaaa!!?!”

Both Niko and Gary screamed, hugging each other in fear.

Zatoichi instantly raised his blade, but before he could execute his blow.

“AAAH, PLEASE HELP ME!”

The terrifying mummy cried desperately, falling flat on its dried face in a comical manner.

“.....huh?”

The trio wore blank expressions, unsure of how to react to this unexpected spectacle.

“PLEASE, IT IS AFTER MINESELF, THOU HATH TO SAVE ME!”

The Mummy continued crying, begging on its knees.

The sound of rustling leaves filled the gaps between the Mummies crying, as the bushes began rustling again.

This time, instead of a strange Mummy, what instead came running out, was a large boar.

Except unlike a normal boar, this one had a mouth full of shark like teeth, and angry large reptile eyes.

It growled and opened its jaw wide, as it ran towards them.

“Pork Dinner.”

Zatoichi slashed its head off with one swing, The cut so clean, it seemed to be made by a proffesional butcher.

“Now..to slay Akuma...”

He raised his sword again, looking at the Mummy.

“Oh I must thank you dearly for saving mineself, that beast hath been chasing mineself through the forest for quite a while now, I thought I was done for!”

The Mummy stood up, and spoke in a very formal but cheery tone.

“I do not know how I could ever repay thou for such a service, hm..art thou perhaps lost? Mineself can begin repaying thou by showing thou the road back to the city?”

The Mummy suggested, whilst dusting off its clothes.

The Mummy looking creature, was wearing a slightly dirtied suit with a puffy collar, which gave off the impression of an 18th century fashion sense.

In its hand, it was holding a simple black umbrella, that he seemed to be using as a cane. Its head was adorned with a fashionable black tophat, which it was now holding in its other hand.

The Mummy bowed elegantly, making sure to hold its hat off to the side, and moving its arms behind its back, in a formal bow.

“Mineself am pleased to meet thou, Mine name is Henry the foruth, may I ask the names of mine saviours?”

Zatoichi looked slightly confused at the strange respectful behaviour of the one he was about to slash down. And slowly sheathed his sword, looking at the other two for advice.

“....Did you say you knew the way back to the city?”

Niko asked, walking up the strange creature, her previous fear completely gone, now replaced with a slightly smug and confident smile.