00062. A lesson learned…
00062. A lesson learned…
Ezekiel and the others trailed behind Fantasia by about one hundred and fifty feet. It had been over half an hour since they started and it didn't seem like it would end anytime soon.
Ezekiel sighed before he said, "In hindsight this might have been a bad idea."
Wong nodded in agreement as he said, "Anyway to speed this up? I’m getting tired of walking."
Ezekiel shook his head before he said, "If we don't keep her in the mirror dimension, she’ll kill anyone she comes across."
"I thought she was under genjutsu?"
"She is, but it’s only holding because we are in this controlled environment. If not, it would have broken long ago. I think her alien DNA is just too strong for my current genjutsu skills." Ezekiel shrugged his shoulders slightly as he finished.
Tao nodded in understanding as she said, "If I fold the mirror dimension it will speed us up. I just don't know where we are going."
"Could you make the area under our feet move like a treadmill?"
Tao paused for a moment before she asked, "I should be able to, but how will that help us?"
"If you can then make that treadmill platform fly, it should speed us up considerably. We will just need to fly in the direction she is walking."
Tao nodded her head in understanding as she said, "That shouldn't be an issue, but I will need some help to stabilize the spell."
Tao glanced at the other masters she had brought as she said, "Wong, I want you and Kaecilius to assist me. Once I have us in the air, I want both of you to take over keeping us stable. Afterwards I will control our momentum and direction."
Both men nodded before Tao started to fold the neighboring space underneath their feet. The ground started to crumple and fold before compacting together. After a few moments an area the size of a football field had turned into a platform twenty feet wide and about fifty feet long. The platform then started to rotate underneath their feet as they walked.
Once the treadmill portion worked correctly, Tao started to cast a spell. The giant treadmill slowly lifted into the air, before it started to slowly move forward. As it did Wong and Kaecilius worked together to keep the whole thing stable. Once finished, Tao started to increase the momentum of the flying treadmill. It took another hour or so but when Fantasia started to circle around a certain area on the treadmill, Tao finally landed the construct and dispelled it.
As Tao pulled everyone out of the mirror dimension, they were greeted by the biting wind before Wong cast a spell to shield them from the elements. The mountain range they were on was covered completely in snow and it was hundreds of miles from the closest thing you could call a settlement.
They followed Fantasia for another twenty minutes to a small cave in the middle of the mountain range. As they walked inside of the cave, it expanded slightly and sloped downwards before branching off in a few different places. Fantasia continued to choose different paths almost at random for the next half an hour, before she came in front of a dead end.
Fantasia raised her right arm and put it next to a hole in the wall. Her arm transformed as she pushed it into the hole. The wall in front of her groaned loudly after a few moments and then slid down into the ground. Beyond the opening lights flickered on one by one going down a weird metallic hallway for about thirty feet. Fantasia removed her arm from the hole and began to walk down the hallway, as she walked more lights would flicker on in front of her and the lights behind would turn off after about thirty feet.
As Ezekiel and the others quickly followed along behind Fantasia by about thirty feet, Ezekiel asked, “Is it just me, or does this feel like a bad horror movie or something?”
When Ezekiel received no reply he shrugged his shoulders and started to work on his tablet as they walked. Ezekiel looked around every few moments studying his weird surroundings and looking for anywhere he might be able to jack into. They walked past many doors and hallways leading to different areas. Fantasia only stopped after a few minutes passed as she finally reached a door, which opened up into a massive open area. Ezekiel and the others stopped near the entrance of the room frozen by what was in front of them.
Ezekiel looked around the room as he said, “Alright, this is definitely an alien pod room.”
Wong nodded his head slowly in agreement at the same time Fantasia finally stopped as she looked around the contents of the room. The giant room contained an uncountable amount of purple and red egg shaped objects. Fantasia laughed madly as her body started to deform and morph into her original body shape. She lost some of her height and her overall body expanded in shape.
She now looked like some type of weird purple creature which had only three claw-like fingers on each end of her arm. Her mouth opened up wide and a two foot long tongue emerged from it, while Fantasia's eyes now glowed a creepy neon green color. As she turned completely around she said, "Finally after so long, the Dire Wraith's will be reborn."
Ezekiel frowned as he said, "I think my genjutsu broke."
"You think it broke?"
As Ezekiel nodded his head, Fantasia laughed as she said, "Of course a minor spell like that broke. But I have to thank you. You made getting here much easier and now you can fulfill a new purpose. Become food for the young-lings!"
Tao acted first and brought up protection spells around the group. Kaecilius followed suit and also brought up protection spells, while Wong and the others readied their weapons. Ezekiel moved in front of the others and started to speed through hand signs.
Fantasia smirked, showing her razor sharp teeth before she said, "Your efforts are futile, you should already be feeling the effects of being inside this ship. Soon you will be nothing more than food. But fear not, your deaths will serve a higher purpose. You will be the catalyst for the downfall of your world.”
Ezekiel heard someone fall down behind him as he said, "Unfortunately, this isn't going to end well for you."
Ezekiel finished his hand signs as he sucked in a large amount of air. He heard another person collapse on the ground as he said, "Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku!" Then he blew through his index fingers that were formed into a triangle.
A jet of fire expanded quickly from Ezekiel’s mouth which rapidly expanded and consumed the entire room outside of the shield Tao first created. Fantasia's voice raised in a panic as she yelled, "YOU INSIGNIFICANT WORM, I'LL KILL YOU!"
Ezekiel continued to feed the ninjutsu as Fantasia slammed into the shield in front of him. He couldn't see her but he could see the magic shield shimmer through the fire every time she hit it. He only stopped when he was almost out of chakra. Once finished he looked over the room for a moment, the back of the room could barely be seen through the smoke, ash and heat haze. Almost everything in the room was now covered in a layer of char, soot, ash and red hot ciders. Some of the metal panels not covered in a layer of soot were almost molten red in color.
All of the eggs had burst open and cooked from the Katon along with Fantasia who was a few feet in front of Ezekiel. Her exoskeleton had become black and charred, while parts of it had cracked open. It exposed the softer inner tissue underneath which had also been charred black, while parts of it were filled with orange glowing ciders. Her right arm was stretched forward in an attacking motion aimed at Ezekiel's head.
Ezekiel studied the room for a few moments, the silence only broken by the random pops and cracks from the eggs in the room still being cooked. He turned to look behind him and only Tao was still in the room. Ezekiel relaxed as he said, "I am not sure what happened to the others, but you should take them to the medical facility to get checked out by Tsunade."
Tao nodded her head as she lowered her hands and her shield disappeared. She looked over the room for a moment before she said, "This seems a little… Much."
Ezekiel grinned as he said, "When dealing with heretics and xenos, always use the heavy flamer."
“The heavy flamer?”
Ezekiel nodded as he said, “I will tell you about it some other time.”
A loud crack happened in front of Ezekiel and the next second he turned into a puff of smoke with a purplish black spear where his head just was. His tablet clattered to the floor as Tao waved her arms and a new shield appeared around her. She then casted another spell and looked at Fantasia for a few moments. Tao lowered her guard as she realized that Fantasia was now dead and that attack was her last attempt to take the life of the person who killed her.
Tao shook her head as she said to herself, “It’s a good thing this was just a clone.”
Tao let out a sigh, walked over and picked up Ezekiel’s tablet before she transitioned to the mirror dimension to look at the people she placed there. Everyone was knocked out and she was upset that they didn’t notice it sooner. She shook her head and opened up a portal, it looks like it’s not just Ezekiel who was a little lax this time.
She started to weave a spell and lifted everyone up as she brought them through the portal. After she walked through the portal it closed behind her. She walked out of the portal room and clicked on an intercom as she said, “I have five people that need treatment, can I get some help in the portal room?”
“We are on the way, hold on.”
vvvvv
Theo enjoyed the view as he looked out over his backyard, he wasn’t sure why he loved to be in tree’s so much. But he climbed up any tree he could whenever he had the chance. It might be because his old body was confined to a wheelchair and now he just enjoyed being able to move around freely however he liked. But another thought in his head was maybe he was being influenced by all the ninja’s in his head who liked to run through trees. Ezekiel shook his head and turned his attention back to the book he was enjoying.
Theo was seated on his favorite tree branch in the backyard of his house reading a book when he received his clone's memories. He frowned slightly for a few minutes as he sorted through the information he received. It was only his clone, but he was killed today because he was being cocky. It looked like he was going to have to start focusing on his training soon, a mistake like this couldn’t happen even with his clones. He didn’t want to form any bad habits from when he used his clones.