WOTNOPOLIS: 6

WOTNOPOLIS 6
Clair was surprised by the sudden turn in killing. Weapons that had only seconds ago aimed at her were now pulling apart their own people. The group in dark cloaks was effectively slipping through the fighting and ending their opponent’s resistance. “Oh, I get it,” Clair smiled. “It was a trap, and we were bait.”
Jake watched her fingers leave her bow while a frozen arrow plunged through the forehead of an enemy. His eyes, burning with passion, turned dim and he fell away. Like so many of the other gang members that had challenged them today. “What a waste,” she spoke to herself, “Who would send men to die so savagely to further themselves just a little?”
Jake just looked away. “Aren't we just pawns anyway?”
Clair stared at Jake hard. “Oh, quit acting like you belong to this group and think for yourself, would you?”
Jake looked back. “Well,” he stared at the fallen figures. The streets filled with warm blood and soulless bodies. “Maybe I should do something...”
Yoyo smiled as the two figures panted. “See? This new attack I've perfected makes it useless no matter how many times you try.”
“Mhm,” Death muttered.
“It doesn't matter anymore, though. The tide of this battle has changed,” Dei stared out into the field of people. “I'm sorry, but we have to help our gang members, so we're no longer interested in you.”
“Whatever works for you,” Yoyo smiled as the two disappeared into the fog of people. “I know it is successful in battle, now. That's what matters.”
A movement to Yoyo's left reminded her not to zone out in battle. Her left shoulder glided behind her. Her back twisted and his yell told Yoyo that her extended arm met its target. Blood was slung off the sword while the man dropped to the ground.
Yoyo turned her back on the corpse. In front of her a figure in a cloak smiled. “I see you're quite ingenious with those swords of yours.”
“Yes, to a man like yourself it must seem to be a feat,” Yoyo groaned. Why were there so many wannabe tough guys around?
The cloak flew through the air and Yoyo's eyes saw a whir of color dart towards her. Her arms crossed in front of her barely blocking a kick to the face. “Oho, you're a little faster than the others I've been fighting.”
“Thanks,” Yoyo gasped. The force of his kick had been much more than she expected, and he hadn't even released all the way. The man dropped to the ground in a leaning crouch. He reached his arms back and extended his fingers. “You're really strong yourself. And your fighting style, it’s...”
Yoyo swung her sword to her right. As her back twisted she felt the punch land into her rib cage. She felt herself losing grip on the ground as the air rushed past her. The initial impact against the street was the worst. She tried to bring her body under control but it dragged jaggedly against the concrete street.
Yoyo could feel blood dripping down her forehead. Her vision was blurred. She stood up and could feel her body rioting against the action. “What kind of attack was that?” Yoyo slurred, coughing violently.
The man looked down at his fist, opening and closing it repeatedly. He smiled and looked back at her. “I can tell you already know. That you guessed it so quickly, and even almost counterattacked was brilliant.” His eyes leveled with Yoyo's as she pushed off the ground, “I am trained by those who live under you.”
Yoyo's lips cracked into a smile. “So you do exist, I wasn't sure if the man I had met before was a ghost, dream, or anything. But then, why did they let you go?”
“I quit living that life for him, for Renden. Although they tried to stop me,” the figure responded and his words trailed off. “You can call me, Choushi.”
“The man from before, is he the leader of your underground-” Yoyo's words stopped as his foot kicked high into the air. The man's kick was stopped by her own and her blade followed through. He yelped and brought his hands to his right ear.
“That, oh, you'll pay for cutting my ear,” grumbled Choushi. He jumped up and Yoyo prepared her arms for a kick that never came. She felt her body contort from the weight of his punch. She slammed into the ground and knew she wasn't going to get back up.
“I underestimated you, man,” Yoyo grumbled. Blood trickled onto the pavement below her mouth. Her body refused to roll over for her. She couldn't get back up. A jumping punch? I don't even know if that's ever been done before. What a stupid tactic.
“Too bad, you would have been fun to fight.” Choushi's mouth continued to move, but the words were unheard. He took a step forward but all his weight crashed down on that side. His body crumbled and stopped moving.
Yoyo curled up on the floor slightly in pain, and coughed and sputtered. Jake looked up from his sulking spot and poked Clair’s leg. She looked down, and followed his pointed finger. Her eyebrows raised, and she set her bow down next to Jake. She hurried over to Yoyo.
“Yoyo, you've been beaten pretty badly, let me help you,” Clair soothed, holding her hand out.
Yoyo grabbed her friends offered hand and looked her in the eyes. “Thank you, Clair,” she whispered.
“Naw, don't mention it. That little fellow, Jake, was the one who pointed you out,” Clair smiled. Yoyo nodded.

“Ew!” Q yelled. “Yucky ew, bleh! Cherry Coke, please don't lick my lips! Ewws! Doggy breath! Ugh, I can still taste it.”
Q wasn't completely sure if the direction he had taken was right. There was a lot of smoke, fire, yelling, and general noise and excitement in this direction. But that could have meant anything. Maybe someone was having a fiesta?
“Come on, Cherry Coke, we have to help the others,” Q said quietly, petting the fidgeting dog softly. The wounds Destinykil had inflicted on him were still burning painfully. It was slowing his progress and made him feel very vulnerable to possible attack. He hugged Cherry Coke close to his body and continued to trudge through the city.

Bano moved his arm up in a slashing motion. The clanging of metal ricocheted across the battlefield. His kama blocked the fast moving hook attack. He took a step; shoving the hook out of his way. The pressure from just having it thrown at him was incredible. But there was now an opening.
Bano zig-zagged across the street to Renden's position. The hook flew back into view aimed at Bano's feet. Bano hopped carefully over the hook and continued running. A few feet forward and Bano felt the persistent presence of the hook coming again. Bano dropped to his knees and kicked a cloaked man in the hooks direction.
The scream of the man only motivated him to move faster. To stop this monster before he or one of his friends were harmed. He circled carefully around two more people and stuck his kama up to protect himself. The J-hook crashed into the block that was just above his ear. He shoved it in a different direction and chased forward.
Bano was a few steps away from Renden's cloaked figure. He pulled his kama back ready to strike. His arms pushed forward and his blades cut the air. But nothing happened. Bano couldn't move his arms. He was stuck?
Pain rushed through his body. He was falling, but he wasn't. He looked behind him and saw the giant J had landed through his leg and sliced into his shin. Just the sight of it made his stomach churn. He faced Renden. He wasn't really paying attention anymore. His surroundings seemed to be leaving his focus. The pain was unbearable.
“You were adept at blocking my attack, I can give you that,” Renden spoke up. “Not many people can guess where it'll land next. For that matter, not many people can block it even when they do. But you, you quickly picked up on its movements and attacks. It’s the sign of someone with a lot of battle experience.”
Bano glared at him. The pain in his leg was beyond agonizing. It was torturous. He had Bano completely frozen. And though he didn't want to admit it to himself, a quick death might have been nicer than this. No, that's not true. I can't die to this guy.
Renden's arms whipped back and then forward. Bano winced as he felt something move. A blur shot through the air and he realized Renden was now holding a very bloody hook in his hand. “In one throw I can finish you, you realize,” Renden smiled. “As for why you cannot move, you did well to dodge this attack. However, each time it moved it pulled tiny strings around your body. As each string moved into place and you continued forward, you only became more twisted up in it.”
It made sense now. This was the reason why he couldn't push his limbs forward, because he felt bound up. Tiny ropes. Bano concentrated on feeling them. He closed his eyes. By his shoulder, his foot, and across both elbows. Bano's eyes opened and he saw a giant metal bar.
Bano felt his neck nearly snap from the pressure of the strike. Renden now stood directly next to him and smiled down at his hapless victim. “Dirty trick,” Bano wheezed as blood oozed down his cheek and he felt himself stumble backward a bit. “Hitting a tied up guy with the full strength of a metal bar is a low, low move.”
“True, but I'm enjoying myself. I finally get to take the East. And it’s all thanks to you and that other guy,” Renden took his hook and shoved a flat metal end into his stomach. The bluntness of the blow knocked Bano's breath out of him and he could sense his body going into shock. If he didn't do something soon… “So, I thought instead of just killing you right away, I'd see how many blows of this you could take till you begged me to kill you.”
Another blow hit Bano in his rib cage. He could feel several bones snap from the power behind the attack. His body lurched backward. He felt himself hit the ground. “Haha!” Renden cackled in delight. “Awesome, awesome!”
Bano glared at Renden as he jumped on Bano's foot, twisting it. “Ah, such power you can get from pushing someone around. It tastes so, sweet. So sensational. Aha!” Bano felt a kick land in his side.
Renden's face didn't acknowledge what had happened. Bano pulled his arms in and spun his kama in his hands. “How?” Renden wobbled, but stayed upright.
“You did it, idiot,” Bano laughed, wincing still at the amount of pain that was triggering his nerves. “Every time you hit me, you loosened the strings that bound me. That last time you pretty much pushed them off completely.”
Renden fell to the ground. He hadn't understood any of the words Bano had spoken after. “You did it, idiot.” Bano looked around him. The battling had stopped for the most part. Most of the gangsters lay dead, or in as good of condition as Bano was in. White coated figures, cloaked figures, and people whose faces would never matter to Bano lay everywhere.
He stumbled away from Renden's body and sat against a building. His head rested against the cool side of the building, his pounding head soothed slightly. Time slowed down. Each second the chanting of pain echoed across his body. A unified orchestra of his end. His eyelids were heavy. Maybe a little nap wouldn't be so bad.
A hand picked him up and he was on someone's back. Bano was already asleep. Jake carried him inside the bar and laid him out on a table for Clair to take care of. “Thanks Jake,” Clair said quietly, frowning at Bano’s multiple wounds. “I was worried about him out there. He was fighting longer than the rest of us. And he's not in good condition.”
Two figures opened the doors of the bar. The twins walked over to Yoyo, who was resting on the counter of the bar. “Hey, we wanted to say sorry for the trouble we caused you guys,” Dei spoke up.
“Well, more or less, no hard feelings, I guess,” Death muttered.
“And you guys can feel free to come to us anytime, we owe you one,” Dei said while making a face that looked owlish.
“Yeah, or something,” Death sighed.
“Sure, yeah, you guys were tough, but you didn't know,” Yoyo spoke. “And how can I stay mad at you girls?”
“We'll take care of the dead here. So, just heal up. You guys are pretty strong, you stood up to three gangs at once and did well,” Death said. The twins then left pretty much as quickly as they had come.
“That was strange,” Clair commented. Yoyo laughed.
“Its WOTNopolis,” Jake shrugged.
Q walked up to a crowd of people outside the bar. They didn't look too well off. “Hello?” Q questioned uneasily.
“Yo?” one guy answered, dejected.
“What are you doing?”
“We're just, well, we don't really know,” the man stammered quietly.
“We have no leader, we have no future, really,” another added, who squirmed in his spot.
“Renden had been our leader for a long time. As long as any of us knew. We did a lot of things. Unlike those who were in Sado's gang, they could just join up with Dei and Death. They were overall good gangsters. But us? Under Renden we've done nothing but horrible things,” the original man said. “Suddenly, he's gone. And the veil is missing. Our deeds are laid before us, and we were monsters.”
“How do we redeem ourselves after all this here? Who do we turn to?”
Q looked around the crowd. “It’s simple. Lead yourself. If you want to get better, just start now?”
“And can that undo the carnage we've done? The lives we lived?” the first man stared at Q. “Can things just change like that?”
Q picked up Cherry Coke, who was trying to climb up on each new person he saw, and walked towards the doors of the bar. “It won't be easy. And it won't undo what you've done. But,” Q looked around anxiously. He wasn't really sure what to say to the group. “You have to do something. If you're not happy with how things are, then do better? Maybe someday you'll be happy.”
The group just stared at him warily. “You don't really get it, look we can—”
Q was at the door of the bar now and suddenly turned around. “Oh, I get it! You're the guys who attacked my friends. Destinykil warned me about you, before I killed him. I was on my way back to do something, oh yeah! Kill the threats.”
“Wait, who are you?” asked the first man. Others already had started backing away from Q at the sound of his name.
“I'm Q,” he smiled. Cherry Coke barked, as if confirming the name.
“Shoot! If you're still alive—” gasped the original man. The group scattered in every direction in fear.
Q laughed. As he opened the door Cherry Coke bounded out of his hands and into the bar to say hello to everyone. Q’s eyes instantly turned to Bano, who was spread onto the table. He looked at Yoyo, then at Clair. “What happened?”
Yoyo looked up and groaned. “So there you are. We needed you and, oh,” she stopped. “You okay?”
Clair stepped over and pushed Q onto a table. “Idiot, now I see why Yoyo hates men so much,” Clair mumbled as her hands pulsed energy into his wounds. “Always bloody and cut open. I mean, bloody, when am I supposed to do with this. You're an absolute mess.”
“What happened to you?” Bano asked, looking up from his spot.
“Psh, who are you to talk, you don't look any better,” Q smiled. “Well, this guy, Shinobi. He and some others told me to get into their car because Cherry Coke had rabies. The car blew up, this guy called Destinykil showed up and nearly cut me to a million pieces. You?” Clair shook her head in disbelief.
“Three gangs showed up and tried to destroy the bar and all of us. I had to fight some big shot gang leader with a rubber fork, and then some other crazy gang leader with a giant fishing hook,” Bano finished, sighing.
“How random,” Q looked over to Yoyo.
“I had to fight the Polar Bear gang leaders. They were beautifully strong women. You chauvinists would never understand their struggle in this male's world of gangs After realizing the whole attack on us was a set up I got in a fight with Renden's men and was nearly killed by some guy named Choushi. Clair saved me,” Yoyo concluded.
“I protected the bar, and helped out where I could,” Clair smiled. “I also was in charge of healing all you goofs when you got hurt. And don't do that anymore, I don't like it.”
“I helped identify those who were in need of assistance and carried bodies back and forth for Clair to heal?” Jake shrugged.
“I punched a guy and nearly got killed,” Temari boasted.
The whole bar got quiet. Six of the seven people looked around the room uneasily. “Oh, um, how helpful,” Q stuttered. Temari’s face became red, and she looked down embarrassedly. “Well, seems we weathered yet another battlefield successfully. It was cause we had the good luck Eagle painting on our side.”
“Idiot,” Yoyo rolled her eyes.
“So what was the point of that, anyway?” Q asked.
“Someone's evil scheme going awry, I think,” Bano shrugged. He was due for another nap, and he yawned. “I think this makes us one of the last gangs in the East, doesn't it?”
“It does,” Jake spoke up. “You guys are, um, the last undefeated powerful gang in the East. This battle today pretty much sums that up. Renden's plan was to kill you guys off, with the others. So if you guys are still here, it means you are the last ones.”
Yoyo laughed and walked over to Jake from her corner of the bar and tapped him on the shoulder. “Stop saying you guys. You're as much as one of us as anyone at this point.”
“But, well—” Jake stammered.
“You're in kid. Now I'm off to bed,” Bano grumbled, sliding off of the table. Clair looked at him worriedly, but turned back to heling Q, blushing very subtly.
Jake looked up and smiled, “Wow, thanks. But I'm still going to use my evil assassination techniques against you.”
“Not another starfish!” Q shouted and was thoroughly smacked for yelling in Clair's ear.
“By the way, what is your fighting style?” Yoyo asked.
“Um, well, so far!” Jake said triumphantly and flexed his muscle. “Nothing has jumped out at me that I am especially talented at.”
“No skills, huh?” Yoyo said.
“Pretty much,” Jake deflated, putting his arm down as his shoulders sulked.
“Yeah, I'll teach you one,” Yoyo said.
“This is awesome!” Jake jumped with glee. “Thanks Yoyo, everyone. Ah, finally in a real gang that doesn't suck! And, oh my gosh! Is it really 8:30?”
“Er, guess so?” Clair answered.
“Shoot, I'm late for dinner! Mom's gonna kill me,” Jake headed out the door.
“Oh, dinner, what's mom making?” Q asked as he was pushed back onto the table.
“None for you,” Clair ordered.
“Yeah, what's mom making?” another voice spoke up.
“Bano, why are you not in bed sleeping?” Clair asked concerned. Bano just looked around the room over and over and counted the bodies.
“Hey, there's one too many of us here,” Bano said confused. “I see myself, Yoyo, Q, Clair, Jake who's fumbling with his shoes, Temari, and Q.”
“You counted Q twice, idiot,” Yoyo said. Then she saw it too. “Hey?”
“Hi!” the person spoke up. He held Cherry Coke in his arms who was wagging his tail.
“Er, who are you?” Yoyo asked.
Q sat up only to be shoved back onto the table by Clair. “Oh, it’s you,” he greeted the stranger, smiling slightly.
“You know, it’s not easy to heal you with you squirming so much,” Clair mumbled.
Bano sighed “Oh, man. He's here.”
“Who?” Yoyo asked.
“Yes, who? Q's evil twin from the dimension beyond?” Jake asked.
“No, his evil twin from the dimension off the third atmosphere of Jupiter,” the person answered.
“Geez, with an answer like that he can only be one person,” Bano shook his head “Like I didn't already have a headache with the first one.”
“Who is it?” Yoyo asked again.
“It’s my little brother,” Q smiled. “Hey, Dark Raptor.”