Pride's Origin

Chapter 15 - You're Back

    Cra-Crack! Crack!

    In a neglected, less than well-maintained alleyway, large jagged fractures ran across the very space itself, akin to the inevitability of a glass’s corpse.

    Pling! Crash!

    As if obeying the laws of what it was likened to, the space broke apart with a jarring screech, spitting out a few figures with varying degrees of injuries.

    One of the figures stood up on shaky legs, looking around before a dizzy spell wove its magic, sending the figure tumbling to the ground once more.

    “Ngh… ugh.”

    Not long after, a moan escaped the lips of one of the other figures who appeared to be in better shape than the first.

    “K-Kura? Makoto? Are you guys alright?”

    Of course, it couldn’t be anybody else but Rikona’s group who just arrived out of the space displacement cast by Kura.

    The latter was the one who came out on shaky legs before she lost whatever consciousness she was blessed with. However, before this happened, she had made sure to use whatever vestige of strength remained to make sure they were in an isolated location.

    It was only when she saw that this was the case that she surrendered the bulwark to the exhaustion that hammered away at her.

    “D-Damn… I don’t wanna go through that again. I feel like I wanna hurl,” Makoto held his head as he looked around in a daze.

    Rikona did the same before she noticed that only she and Makoto were awake at the moment, “Where are we anyway?”

    Seeing the somewhat deserted alleyway, whose only entrance and exit was at the far end, didn’t do much for a landmark, not that such a thing would offer much help. Makoto on the other hand, however, had a different reaction.

    “That can’t be right,” Makoto muttered to himself as he looked to the end of the alleyway where he saw people, a few of which spared them a confused glance, passing by on what appeared to be a main-street.

    The few visible signs on the main street were what caused his befuddlement.

    “What is it?” Rikona asked, seeing his bewilderment.

    “Well, if I’m not wrong, I-I think we’re somewhere in Tokyo,” Makoto stated, amazed at how they could travel so far in so short a time.

    “Tokyo?” Rikona asked, knowing the name but not the place, despite living in Japan.

    “Right, you and Kura never left the compound, so it’d make sense you’d be confused. Well, Tokyo is hours away at least, so I’m a little taken aback I guess,” he explained.

    Normally such a thing would call for a much bigger reaction, but between all the flying, exploding heads, endless knives, chains, and so on, it didn’t really rank that high on the weirdo-meter.

    “Oh,” Rikona nodded, understanding his reaction. “Well, I think we need to go underground for the moment.”

    “Meaning?” Makoto questioned, looking to the cemented ground below them.

    “I mean, go off-grid, you i***t! Something tells me, walking in broad daylight isn’t the best plan at the moment,” Rikona pointed out as her finger fondled her non-existent beard.

    “I’m not gonna lie, at this moment, nothing in the world can make me move from this spot. I’m hella exhauste…”

    Reee… rooo!!

    Before Makoto could finish what he was saying, the blaring sounds of sirens not far away could be heard.

    “You were saying?” Rikona asked, staring at him through the corner of her eye.

    “W-Well, it doesn’t mean they’re coming for u-”

    “Freeze!”

    Once again, before he could finish, several police cruisers skidded to the side as they blocked the only entrance and exit of the small alley.

    Numerous police officers exited the vehicles with guns aimed squarely at the two as their commanding officer shouted the ‘freeze,’ order to make clear his intention to the two.

    Makoto stared at the policemen and women blocking the entrance before saying, “On second thought, due to new evidence that has been made-”

    “Shut up Makoto,” Rikona didn’t even intend to entertain his smartassery.

    “I said, freeze!”

    She fixed her attention back on the law officials doing their job either by corruption or otherwise before relaying to them, “Oh, gun pointing at me, huh? Yeah, I’m going to show you fine looking law officials what I look like when I got some s**t to work through.”

    Duuum!

    A powerful pressure spread out from Rikona immobilising everyone, save for those beside her. Though she was weakened after her earlier endeavours, even a less potent version of her powers was not something a normal human could stand up to.

    “And now…” Rikona turned her attention to the walls around her and the likelihood of her charging through whatever back up is most likely on its way.

    ‘Sighs…’

    “Looks like I have no choice.”

    Cra-Crack

    Chips and shards fell off the walls that comprised the alleyway. The law enforcers forced themselves to at least shift their vision upwards, where they saw monstrous cracks defacing the entirety of the walls.

    Boom!

    The walls came crashing down, blocking the view of Rikona and company from the law enforcers.

    Boom!

    With another wave of the hand, Rikona blew a hole in the ground where the sewers and a way of escape were in clear view.

    “Ah-ha! You did want us to go undergrou-”

    “Take Kura and jump down there, you blubbering oaf!” Rikona shouted as she levitated both TM-A26 and TM-B157.

    As soon as they were all in the sewers, Rikona collapsed the entrance she made while bringing down the path they took as they moved along.

    “Seeing that the police were able to mobilise literally minutes after they came out of the space crack Kura created showed that this Association or whatever it was wielded a lot more power than she thought it did.”

    As they travelled, Rikona’s thoughts ran like a machine as the earlier incident gave her a pretty good idea of what they were up against.

    “Fortunately for us, the little time they had disallowed them the chance to mobilise all kinds of ill s**t like helicopters and pfft… I dunno, tanks? Still, we’re going to need to look over our shoulders from now on. At the moment, lying low, increasing our numbers is the most important. I swear to God once we recover from this, I’m going to skull f*ck the Association!”

    Some months later…

    “Masters Rikona and Kura, I wanted to know what we should do about the new Taliums we’ve retrieved? Also, the association has doubled their efforts, while we’re still sorely lacking in resources. So I wanted to know if you had any plans for that?”

    The one who spoke was Yang Min, the Talium codenamed TM-A26 who Kura rescued a little less than a year ago in their fight to escape Machyal and friends.

    She was of Chinese descent, hence the peculiarity of her name. She had also become an indispensable ally to the girls in their conflict against the Association as well.

    “Little Min we told you time and time again, to just drop the ‘Master’ thing, it’s not doing it for me,” Kura lightly scolded Yang Min when she heard how the Talium addressed both she and her sister.

    “What do you mean, master? You saved the lives of so many Taliums and freed Zutto Shu and me from the association, we can never repay you for all you’ve done!”

    Yang Min’s attitude and demeanour did a complete 180 when she was freed from the control of the association.

    Apart from being obsequious to the two sisters to a fault and at loggerheads with another individual. She was a girl full of expression and personality.

    She was also a beauty to boot. Her black hair was shoulder-length and cut in a way so that it covered part of her face. She was also of a height that was shorter than the already short Kura, a fact that the latter appreciated.

    Though her chest was… modest, her overall figure spoke ‘volumes,’ in more ways than one. In general, this, coupled with her cheerful demeanour, granted her a magnetic disposition to nearly everyone she met.

    “Would you cut the masters thing out already? It makes you even more annoying than you already are.”

    Speaking of ‘nearly everyone she met,’ the one who spoke just now was Makoto Raizen, the long-time friends of the sisters. He just walked in on Yang Min’s ‘Master,’ talk and nearly cringed hard enough to invoke stage 3 constipation.

    “Oh look, if it isn’t ‘the young and the loveless.’ These last few days without you here were so good. Unfortunately, good things don’t last long,” she shook her head with apparent sadness.

    Yang Min and Makoto were always at odds with each other, bickering whenever they ended up in the same room. One yearned for the attention of the sisters, whilst one already had it.

    “Surprisingly you’re right, good things don’t last, perfect examples are world peace, puppies, my favourite series on Netflix. But the worst things do, for example, war, the series that replaced mine on Netflix, and the best example yet, YOU! See what I’m getting at here? Plus, you… What is this?”

    “Makotooo!!”

    Makoto glanced to the side, only to see two round objects closing in on him. Who else could it be but Kura who lunged boob first into Makoto when she saw him?

    “Eh!? Ku- Mmfff…!” Kura was ecstatic to see Makoto again, so much so that she didn’t even realise that she was smothering the poor man. Her face was full of smiles as the dark-skinned beauty locked the now breathless Makoto with arms and legs in a tight embrace.

    “Makoto, what are you doing to Lady Kura!? Get off her this instant!!” Yang Min’s face blushed red after seeing this provocative display. Unfortunately, all her ire pointed to Makoto, though it was the guy who was… suffering?

    The scene became quite comedic, especially to Rikona, who was recently more or less always tired. And though it went for her as well, it was rare for her to see her little sister laughing and baring her true self so freely.

    After the battle last year, they realised they were going to have to move fast. They were up against not a person, but a power that had influence and power above and below the surface of society. They had just escaped danger and had moved to some random location across the country.

    They had to always look over their shoulders, wondering when and where the next attack from the Association would come. It was exhausting and stressful, both physically and mentally.

    Thankfully, Japan was pretty big, so hiding out and licking their wounds was a pretty good plan for a while. But they knew they had to find a chance to bite back, and hard.

    The Association would be breathing down their necks in no time, while also tracking down and oppressing the Taliums they sought to bring under their umbrella.

    When Makoto foresaw the difficult times they had ahead. He knew he had to make full use of his connections to help the girls while he still could, but this required a lot of time and him moving about.

    Something that wasn’t easy considering the Association was looking for them, an entity that seemed to have eyes everywhere.

    “I’m sorry we had to put you in danger so many times, but I’m glad you’re back… and safe,” a soft and comforting voice travelled across the room they were in, calming down the rambunctious group and their horseplay.

    Hearing this voice, Yang Min began to calm herself down and took a step back. Even Kura allayed her excitement after a while before dragging the bumbling Yang Min out the room, closing the door on the way out, knowing they’d probably want some moments alone.

    He then turned his attention to the one who spoke and took slowed and measured steps in that direction. As he stood in front of the beauty he had known for a great many years.

    Though there were no physical changes, like bags under the eyes, or a tired bearing, he could feel the fatigue wafting from Rikona in waves.

    His hand slowly reached out to caress her cheek as she leaned into it to feel its warmth. Her ebony hair fell to the side, hiding his hand from view. But the feeling was still there, and it brought with it a nostalgia of many nights that started with just this small gesture.

    “I’m sorry that I made you worry, it must have been hard for both you and Kura to take on such a huge responsibility,” his voice was soft yet affirming, and the concern was evident in all that he did.

“I know that you left for us, to make sure that what we’re doing gets easier and not the opposite, but seeing you go and not knowing if you’re coming back isn’t easy for me, you know.”

    Rikona had led everyone to an abandoned and decrepit building located in an out of the way countryside.

    It was due to Makoto’s connections why the girls were able to get this far. Even this old broken down building in an ‘out of the way country-side’ was due to him pulling those strings.

    Every time that they met upon an apparent dead end, it was Makoto’s phrase of ‘I know a guy,’ that helped them get out of it. But even Makoto had to admit that while he had ways to go because of his links, it was Rikona and Kura, mostly Rikona, being the older one that led them through it all even when their group of five started to grow.

    “You’ve done well so far, you’ve brought everyone to safety and the day is coming when we’ll make those guys pay. Count on it. I’ll do everything in my power to make that a thing.” He could never forgive anyone or anything that threatened the lives of the ones he cared about.

    “Thank you, really, I appreciate it.” She took a single step towards and landed a kiss on his lips, much to his surprise. He, however, didn’t stay shocked for long, as his arms locked themselves around her waist, and drew her in closer.

    Their mouth soon parted, allowing for each other’s tongues to intertwine and mingle in fervent passion.

    “Mhmm,” A low moan escaped from Rikona as a red flush crept up her cheeks. The atmosphere in the small room quickly heated up, tempting the two to give in to their desires.

    Soon, Rikona pulled herself away from Makoto, looking into his striking green eyes. “Hehe, it was only supposed to be a quick peck on the lips, and look what you’re doing to me.” Rikona’s flushed cheeks and the way she spoke, broke down all the defences Makoto.

    He eyed the desk behind her, and instantly his hands slid down to her generous backside, fiercely gripping both cheeks while walking further into the small office.

    With a mischievous smile, Rikona only made a light jump and wrapped her legs around his waist.

    He gently looked to her as he said, “You should blame yourself for what you do to me, and now that I’m back. I’m gonna make sure you know that I am.”

    When he reached the desk, he gently placed her on the hard surface. His hands made a single sweeping motion. Sending everything on the desk tumbling to the ground with a clangour.

    Her hands rested on his chest while she nestled her face in his neck and released a bevvy of kisses. An act that caused a gasp of breath to be freed from his lungs.

    When she felt his body tremble from this alone, she deftly paused, while she looked at him with that same devastating smile. “Well… I won’t try to wrench too much control from you so show me, show me how you’ll let me know that… you’re back.”