Chrono X Angel, Book 7: Trial By Fire

Chapter 13

The flight back to Hyoka's mountain was the fastest the Yuki Onna had ever pushed herself, fueled by a sort of ectoplasmic adrenaline that boosted her speed immensely. Immediately upon arriving, the Yuki Onna wasted no time in bursting through the front door and shouting for her husband, but to no avail as he was nowhere to be seen. There were clear signs of a struggle however, and Hyoka hoped against hope that the snapped beams and craters in the wall were from Junji spontaneously developing super strength. Her eyes scanned the living room area, searching for any other signs of what had occurred when a glint from down the hall caught her eye. The small door that led to the ice cave she had carved into the mountain when the house had been rebuilt was wide open, and there were shattered ice crystals littering the floor around it. Junji must have escaped whoever was after him, and taken refuge in the cave! Good so he might be okay! Still, he was not nearly as equipped for the cold as Hyoka, and clearly his pursuers had gone down that way as well, and so she followed!

Meanwhile outside, another fight was currently in full swing. In her rush to find Junji, Hyoka had completely missed Marzipan and Gohan locked in mortal combat several meters away. Though the Promethian was strong in her own right, the Yeti had both home field advantage and a burning desire to protect said home from all invaders. He had fought this large one in hopes to buy Small Human With Electric Games time until One Who Brings Food came back. Fortunately she had gotten the idea without Gohan needing to distract himself from the fight to tell her where he had gone. The Yeti was preparing to land a punishing blow on the green-patchwork girl when it suddenly seemed like her muscles mass tripled in size and she hit him with a similarly devastating left hook. The blow sent the Yeti through a row of trees, which came down with a mighty crash. Unfortunately for Marzipan, but very fortunately for Gohan, the noise and subsequent dust cloud were enough to attract the attention of the incoming Rei and Midori, who honed in like a pair of hawks and touched down near the fight.

"You go help Hyoka," stated Midori, her hands glowing with an unnatural purple light, "I have a score to settle with her."

Rei nodded in affirmative and made for the house. It was odd, the Oni noted when she turned back briefly towards Midori. Even though the Lich had supposedly been thoroughly beaten by that Promethian last time, it looked like a wave of mortal terror had crossed over that stitched-together green face as Midori approached.

Hyoka had followed the trail of crushed ice, praying that Junji would be at the other end alive and well. Reaching the end, Hyoka found herself back in that weird tunnel that her cave let out into. Junji had said it was probably part of a bunker back during the war, but... the seamlessness of the metal seemed almost unearthly. Still, she did not have time to worry. Not sure if Junji and his pursuer had gone left or right, Hyoka set down an ice web onto the floor and extended her consciousness into it for a moment, trying to determine from the tiny vibrations in the ground where they had gone. Unfortunately they seemed to be out of her range by now, and so Hyoka retracted her senses back into her body. About that time, Rei came rushing through the cave and exited next to the Yuki Onna. One look on the snow girl's face told Rei that she was stumped. With no visible footprints to follow, they might well be stuck up a creek without a paddle unless she used her sniffer. Rei shifted into Oni form and began loudly sniffing the air, much to Hyoka's immediate confusion.

"That way," directed Rei, changing back and pointing to the left, "It's faint but I can like, make out the distinct smell of human fear!"

"We have one of those??" Blurted Hyoka as the two shot off in the direction Junji had gone.

Junji Kagari was having a bad night. Oh sure, it had started just lovely, having a nice romantic dinner with his wife at their favorite Italian restaurant, followed by a restful gaze up at the stars while their Yeti friend "serenaded" them with the song of his people. It had been only a minute after Hyoka had left to investigate the, admittedly concerningly large column of fire which had suddenly erupted near downtown, that all hell broke loose. Two women in rather revealing black and red/blue uniforms emerged from the shadows, and by the looks on their faces they were not here for the snowcones. Gohan had immediately lunged at the larger one, with the green skin in a patchwork design, but the smaller by comparison blonde girl had a sinister smile on her face as she rushed at Junji. He barely dodged blows from the lengths of cobalt chain she whipped around, all while giggling with dark glee. The blows were strong enough to snap load bearing concrete pillars like toothpicks, and leave massive craters in the reinforced walls. Thinking fast, Junji had rushed through the ice cave and towards the bunker. At least, he hoped it was a bunker, but after ten minutes of running in an otherwise straight line along this metal wall, he was wondering if he had made a fatal mistake. As if to punctuate this, the metal wall suddenly ran out, as did his path, and Junji found himself at the edge of an impossibly deep chasm. There was not much much light, but if his eyes were not playing tricks on him, it almost looked like the metal wall continued downwards into the abyss.