“Wake up already!” Shu slaps the silver-haired boy once, twice, and the third time so loud Shu swears the crack can be heard even from downstairs. “You stupid, worthless bum! Wake up! They’re coming! They’re coming!”
But try as he may, Song remains still as a log, and the magnitude of his snoring hasn’t changed one bit.
“It’s actually impressive how he’s still asleep after all that…” Rei watches from the edge of the bed, his tail wagging like a metronome.
Meanwhile, their room’s door shudders once more from the town guards’ attempts at ramming it down. The barricade of tables and chairs won’t last for very long if this keeps up.
“Ahhh, screw this!” Shu grabs Song and hauls him over his shoulder. “Rei, grab our things! We’re going to pull a classic right now!”
“A classic?” The wolf boy is already on the move, slinging the bags over his shoulders and giving himself one final comb of his hair before the mirror.
“Ever read any of the novels written by Zhang Shi Min?” Shu shoves the windows open. “This stuff always happens in her books; we’re going to use the roofs!”
“Ohhh!” Rei’s eyes are practically sparkling now. “You should show me some the books you humans write. Sounds fun to read.”
A loud crash thunders behind the boys. The door is ripped from its hinges, and the barricade tumbles forward. Past the scattered furniture and the broken door, Shu catches sight of the men in blue robes and red bamboo hats: the town guards, with a massive log in their hands.
“Halt!” One of the guards bellow, dropping the log and unsheathing his sabre. “Halt, in the name of the law!”
“Even I have heard of that line before,” Rei remarks.
“Move it!” Shu leaps onto the window sill, then onto the roof of the building across the street.
Rei takes his turn on the window sill, but he stays in his place. With paws by the sides of his face, he impishly sticks his tongue out at the guards and makes a gargling noise.
“You filthy brat!” The guard brings his blade down on the wolf boy.
Rei backflips away from the window, the blade missing his feet by a hair’s breadth, and the wolf boy gracefully lands on the building at the other side of the street as well.
“Haha! Are all of these humans really that slow?” Rei sticks his tongue out again at the helpless guards, who can do nothing but wave their fists angrily at him.
“Stop playing around, you goof!” Shu groans, adjusting the baggage on his shoulders for a better grip… which apparently has drool running down the corner of his lips now.
“So what now?” Rei asks. “Where to?”
“North. We need to keep moving away from the Palace.”
The rapid pounding of footsteps against ceramic can be heard from the distance. Shu and Rei look back to see men clad in full black garbs, with only their eyes visible through their outfit. Ninjas.
“Oh, come on!” Shu exclaims in dismay. “It’s seven in the morning!”
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“Ohhh! These ones seem a little faster than the guards!” Rei gives a brief applause with his paws.
The lead ninja draws his sword and thrusts it at Rei, who nimbly dodges the attack. Another ninja moves in to flank the duo, this one aiming for Shu. Even with Song on his shoulders, Shu is able to evade the ninja’s attacks with relative ease. But his patience grows thin.
“I’ve had it with all of you!” Shu grabs Song by his legs and swings the boy like a bat at their assailant. Song’s head crashes onto the ninja’s, knocking him off the roof.
“Grrrgff…” Song’s snoring finally stops.
“Wow!” Rei says, dodging another blow from the ninja captain. “You sure Song will be okay?”
“There’s nothing in his head anyway,” Shu answers. “Let’s go already!”
Rei nods before smashing both of his legs against the captain’s guts, the force throwing him back like a rag doll and colliding against his squad. With that, Shu and Rei leap towards the next roof and resume their getaway. Shu looks down onto the streets and to his surprise, most of the civilians seem rather calm to the sight above.
Guess this must happen a lot on this side of the country, Shu thinks to himself.
“Urgh… myr… herd… hurts…” Song slurs, still half-asleep.
“Would you just wake up already! We’re being hunted down by ninjas!”
“And the entire town!” Rei adds.
“Hnng… give me… three… minutes…”
Shu sighs and closes his eyes for a quick prayer. “Qhelios, give me strength.”
Eventually, Shu and Rei run out of roofs to run on. In the distance, a gate can be seen, with the flanking watchtowers lined with archers. On the ground, dozens of town guards gather with blades drawn, their faces pulled back to form a uniformed snarl.
“Men!” barks the captain of the guards. “Take aim!” The archers point collectively point their arrows at the boys.
Rei lets out a puppyish whimper at the sight.
“Relax,” Shu says. “I’ve got this.” In his hand, wisps of pinkish energy take the shape of a card― Shu’s arcana, The Emperor. With a swipe of his arm, the card disappears, and in the blink of an eye, six suits of animated armour form before them, each with a soulless black void where their faces should be, along with bow in hand. Shu’s Faceless Soldiers.
Shu points at the gate. The Faceless Soldiers raise their bows and pull the strings. As they do that, luminous purple arrows gleam in their hands.
“Fire,” shouts the captain of the town guards.
But Shu’s Faceless Soldiers have already unleashed their arrows, obeying the telepathic order that is their master’s will. The arrows of pure Chi energy detonate against the towers and gate, causing the entire structure to collapse. Disoriented, the foot soldiers scatter.
Shu and Rei seize the opportunity and leap back onto ground level, dashing through the chaos. Ahead, a massive stone bridge stretches across a chasm, wider than three streets combined and longer than the Palace’s moat. As they continue their sprint across the bridge, Shu and Rei can hear the sound of hoofs galloping behind them. Horsemen.
“Song!” Shu screams. “I know you’re not a morning person, but if you don’t wake up and do something this instant, I swear I’ll throw all our money down the bridge, and you won’t have food for the rest of the journey!”
Rei raises a brow at his friends.
Song growls. Loudly.
The trio arrive on the other side of the bridge. The horsemen are closing in. Song pushes himself free from Shu’s arms and tumbles onto the dirt path.
“What’re you doing?” Shu shrieks.
“I’m… getting really pissed right now…”
Sparks of electricity crackle in his hands. With a howl, Song brings his fists down on the bridge. An explosion roars from the impact, and the world trembles from that single blow. Immediately, the massive bridge begins to crumble. The horses neigh fearfully, accompanied by the soldiers’ terrified screams as they desperately whirl the animals around for a hasty retreat.
Shu and Rei drop their jaws at the catastrophic sight. Song falls face-first onto the dirt, ready to go back to sleep once more. But Shu isn’t going to have any of this.
“You imbecile!” Shu grabs Song by the collar and raises him up. “Are you trying to kill those people?”
Rei points at the other side of the chasm. “To be fair, the soldiers all made it out in one―”
“REI!”
“Sorry!”
With eyes still closed, Song does a piggish snort, as if he’s trying to snore. “Does… this mean I still get to eat?”
Rei blinks.
Shu’s eyes scream of murder for a brief moment, but soon he relaxes and sighs in defeat. This is his life now. This is his beloved partner. This is his magnificent team. Like it or not, there will be many more days of this sort of nonsense to come. With all that said, the only logical course of action is to grit his teeth, be a stronger person and hope that in time to come he will have enough willpower to deal with these goons.
“Come on,” Shu mutters, slinging Song over his back once more, with Rei following close behind. “We’ve got a long road ahead."
----------------------------------------
Song's design:
[https://i.imgur.com/LkBcf0I.jpg]
Shu's design:
Rsz Charsheet By Chlorophyll Dczlg89 by MiruMIUU [https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/f2044823-5d1e-4328-a9b2-82bc3bc00dcf/ddbgmts-bcb032d6-4c36-4691-afc2-d74b0d8440fa.png/v1/fill/w_1032,h_774,q_70,strp/rsz_charsheet_by_chlorophyll_dczlg89_by_mirumiuu_ddbgmts-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjphcHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3siaGVpZ2h0IjoiPD05NjAiLCJwYXRoIjoiXC9mXC9mMjA0NDgyMy01ZDFlLTQzMjgtYTliMi04MmJjM2JjMDBkY2ZcL2RkYmdtdHMtYmNiMDMyZDYtNGMzNi00NjkxLWFmYzItZDc0YjBkODQ0MGZhLnBuZyIsIndpZHRoIjoiPD0xMjgwIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmltYWdlLm9wZXJhdGlvbnMiXX0.1WwiicXCt1dVtWjd0yR4Q9PuJBwAqsL08piHt6qHnCg]
Rei's design:
Rsz Rei Charsheet - Eff by MiruMIUU [https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/f2044823-5d1e-4328-a9b2-82bc3bc00dcf/de062pd-fe8d7eac-218a-4702-9eb5-36395aa0ecf4.png/v1/fill/w_1192,h_670,q_70,strp/rsz_rei_charsheet___eff_by_mirumiuu_de062pd-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjphcHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3siaGVpZ2h0IjoiPD03MjAiLCJwYXRoIjoiXC9mXC9mMjA0NDgyMy01ZDFlLTQzMjgtYTliMi04MmJjM2JjMDBkY2ZcL2RlMDYycGQtZmU4ZDdlYWMtMjE4YS00NzAyLTllYjUtMzYzOTVhYTBlY2Y0LnBuZyIsIndpZHRoIjoiPD0xMjgwIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmltYWdlLm9wZXJhdGlvbnMiXX0.QXDnNWKaIy7pCNJK9zfyA3M5GpFfHpJD-KjMIAQVFOI]