A sequel to my first story 'Neferpitou and the human Royal Guard.' Like with the previous fanfic, the description and title was recently deleted somehow and I can't remember what exactly I put here. Also, I'm not too fond of this one for multiple r...
The two ninja brothers stand at the door, both with their arms crossed, evidently not approving of my decision to give Gon access to nen again. "What do you think you're doing?" Yiga asks.
"Giving us a better fighting chance?" I respond.
"Setting aside how dangerous it is to forcefully open up someone's aura nodes..." Sheikah starts, stepping forward. "A battlefield is no place for a child."
"Are you trying to get Gon killed?" Yiga asks bluntly.
I glance over at Gon, who looks like he wants to say something, before I then turn back to the ninja brothers and say "The kid's tough, he can handle himself. He almost killed me and another Royal Guard back in East Gorteau. And while I don't think he will be able to draw out the same power he used back then whenever he wants, I'd say that the two of us can do some damage together." I look to Gon again and ask "Right?"
Gon looks up to me and nods. "Yeah!"
Smiling at his answer, I turn back to the two ninjas and explain "Besides, if I didn't do this, I'd be taking Hina out on the battlefield instead anyways, and her hatsu is better suited for remaining down here, not for going into combat like Gon. But by all means, keep Gon here."
The duo both go silent for a moment, briefly looking back into the room they left, seeing Hina merrily chatting with Teuchi, as well as a couple humans that show up for a meal. Sheikah then looks back at me and says "Very well, you made your point. But if something happens to him, we're holding you responsible."
"Noted." I respond.
Yiga just grunts.
Gon has a big grin on his face.
Sheikah glances over to Yiga, telling him "Calm yourself brother, I do not care for this action either, but perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. The more backup we have on the field, the better."
"Hmph, seems more like we're sending a kid to his death." Yiga retorts spitefully. "I don't approve of simply wasting a life when we are more than enough to handle a job on our own."
Gon's grin leaves his face after hearing this, now being replaced by a small frown.
"I refuse to work alongside someone so negligent." Yiga continues.
"Then we won't work with you! We can stop the ants on our own!" Gon snaps, shocking both the ninja brothers, and even me a little bit.
"What? Little brat! Don't you value your own life?" Yiga asks.
Gon nods and declares "I do, and that's why I won't sit here and wait for death helplessly."
Before Yiga can respond, his brother holds up a hand to him, saying "He has a point, I'd wager you saying the same were you in his shoes."
Yiga grunts again, relenting to his brother's reasoning.
Gon sticks his tongue out childishly at him afterwards.
Sheikah and I both chuckle at this, annoying Yiga even further. "Enough of this, let's cut the pleasantries and get to work." He says.
Sighing, Sheikah agrees, then explaining "Right, we need to address the matter of the occupation." He turns to me, continuing "Before my brother and I found you fighting against those two Royal Guards, I had set up multiple Gossip stones in the area to spy on the enemy."
"Gossip Stones?" I inquire.
Sheikah nods, elaborating "Yes, a reconnaissance technique taught to certain ninja's in our village. Using our nen, we are able to conjure a statue that observes all within the near vicinity, able to remotely relay the information gathered to the other statues and the conjurer via riddles. They also have the capability to act as a clock of sorts, allowing us to keep track of time without having to up to the surface." To demonstrate, he first weaves a hand sign, conjuring the statue in question.
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"Huh, neat. Wait... hold on, a second ago you mentioned me fighting Royal Guards, but I killed three Royal Guards last night when the mafia invaded. How many Royal Guards does the mafia have?" I ask, a little confused.
Sheikah seems taken aback by my question. "There should be only three, none of them left the city as far as I know, nor are any of them dead. At least... not according to the intel from my Gossip Stones. The only chimera ants that left Yorknew were a few squadron leaders." he explains.
Hearing that makes my heart sink into my stomach. So the three ants that Pitou-chan and I killed weren't Royal Guards at all? Was Father lying, or is Sheikah's info just wrong? Then again... Jaws and Rock both seemed to be a step above those three... That trio only posed a threat when they fought in teams, yet both Jaws and Rock were able to go toe-to-toe with me individually.
Sheikah then cuts off my inner monologue "I can check the stones again, just in case..."
"N-no, it's fine. I'm just a bit surprised. I met with the mafia's former leader the other day, and he introduced three ants as the Royal Guards along with his son, Vasilias, the enemy king. Now those three ants are dead, I killed two of them, and Pitou-chan killed the third." I explain.
"I see... In any case, now that you mention the king, we did see him in battle with three other ants last night. Two owls and a butterfly, I presume they were part of your group?" Sheikah asks.
I nod, confirming his assumption. "Yeah, Jovesworth, Pouf, and Hollow. Technically Jovesworth isn't a chimera ant, but he's with us."
Sheikah nods in return. "I apologize for the loss of one of the owls. But, at least the other two escaped, mostly. I suppose this isn't exactly news to you, but the butterfly was able to use a copy of himself as a decoy to allow him and the other owl to escape. But, there is bad news, when the remnants of the ants who left returned to the city, they did so with a couple new allies. One was a hulking red male, the other purple female with a tail."
"Youpi and Zazan..." I state plainly.
"Former friends of your?" he asks.
"In a sense. Youpi is a fellow Royal Guard, and Zazan... it may have been a mistake to allow bring her into the fold..."
"I see... Not to sound insensitive, but I might have to agree. When she showed up, the king greeted her, holding the struggling butterfly's decoy. After a moment, she stabbed the decoy with her tail, and it stopped struggling. I thought it died, but then it started moving again, and kneeled before this Zazan..."
Sighing, I interrupt "I figured that was going to happen... please tell me you have some good news."
Sheikah looks down for a moment, contemplating. After a brief moment, he looks back up to me and says "Well, there is one thing. One of the Royal Guards seems to be a turncoat. My Gossip Stones hint at the possibility that a this Royal Guard is hunting other chimera ants in the city. For what reason he does this, I don't know. But, with any luck, we might be able to bring him to our side. That is, assuming he has good intentions..."
"And assuming he doesn't stab us in the back to." Yiga interjects.
Sheikah nods to him in agreement, then turns his gaze back to me. "Yiga is right, we need to be cautious, we can't assume he would be any friendlier to us than he is with his kin. We should try to find out his motive before we even suggest recruiting him."
"At least that's something we can work with. So then, what's our next move?" I ask.
(Alright, I'm gonna cut this chapter off here, I don't know how to properly end it, and I just want it to be done. Next few chapters are gonna be filler chapters that have nothing to do with the current plot. We haven't seen Pitou in a while and I'm kinda tired of them not being in the story.)
