I stared at my image in the mirror for probably the fifth time now. Depending on how I wore my hair and what clothes I had some people would mistake me for being as young as nine. It came in handy when I was sneaking around Atlanta, it was easier to get information pretending to be a stupid kid rather than the serpent I was trained to be. I had taken my hair out of it’s pony tails and instead decided to tie it in a long bun on the top of my hair, only allowing a few loose strands to spill down to cover my face. I had one of my many needles holding it in place. I had changed from my childish party outfit into the outfits that most Oren wore on these missions. Tighter black pants made to fight in, a black long sleeved shirt, this one with a thermal lining to keep me warm. Black shoes that had a more flat surface to them with a few ridges for better traction. I also had on a pair of black skin tight gloves, both to hold my weapons better but to also keep fingerprints off anything.
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As I stepped out of the bathroom, there was one last piece of my outfit waiting for me on my bed. With the rise of social media, and nosy people taking videos they shouldn’t have, for tasks like this, we wore masks. We designed the image ourselves and for most Oren their mask was as much a part of them as their animal spirit. My mask was painted black and pink, in a scale-like pattern. On first inspection the mask seemed to only have no eye holes but that was on purpose, it took a while and a lot of training but the eyeholes were covered in tainted black lenses. I didn’t want them to see my eyes unless I wanted them too, the look of shock on some faces when the person killing them was barely a teenager was always a sight to behold. I walked over to it taking the light metal mask in my hands, it felt so much heavier than it was. It always did on the night of a hunt.
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“Your bike is in the outside parking lot, I believe you know what it looks like.” Mr. Benny said, tossing me a pair of keys.
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I caught my keys staring down at the darkrai pokemon keychain I had on it. “Thank you, Mr. Benny.” I took a deep breath before slipping my backpack on and put my mask underneath my arm. “I will be back in an hour, two at most.”
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“I will be waiting,” Mr. Benny said, flipping through his newest book. “What is your plan for tonight?”
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“Aiko is gonna lend me her strength and I am gonna hunt her down. Hopefully I get there as she leaves to make it easier, once she is far enough away. I am gonna kill her, hopefully get her to drink my poison, and give her a simple death.”
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Mr. Benny only nodded his head. “I wish that this wasn’t necessary, she seems like a polite young lady. Just got her nose in the wrong business.”
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“I wish I could think that, but like I said before I don’t think that is the case.” I reached out and took the doorknob and for a brief moment, I thought about putting this off a few days. I knew where she was, I knew I could kill her easily, maybe explore the city a bit more. However, I knew that wasn’t possible, if I waited for something that could happen, I would risk things going wrong since I didn’t act in the first place. “See you later, Mr. Benny.”
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It didn’t take me long to find my bike in the parking lot. The black and chrome bike seemed to reflect the light of the city like a beacon. It was my 11th birthday present from Zinnie. It took a good amount of begging to convince my momma to let me learn to ride. She finally relented but promised if I got in trouble for riding without a proper license, she would make me watch her dismantle it piece by piece. It took a year off and on lessons with Zinnie before I was truly ready to ride. I flipped the seat up and put my bag inside of the small compartment. I swung my legs over the seat and shivered as the leather seat was a bit colder than I expected. I turned my bike on and listened for the very gentle hum that filled the air. To most it would seem like the engine wasn’t running but it was an enhancement that I wanted. Made it easier to stalk my target for miles without being heard.
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I quickly slipped my mask on, the world became slightly tainted but not enough that I couldn’t see properly. I pulled my hood up and once AIko was firmly wrapped around my like a scarf. I slipped out of the parking lot and down the street in silence. There weren’t as many cars as in the morning, but it was enough that I needed to take my time adjusted to it. It didn’t help that some of these people, especially the cabs, drove like little kids, one guy nearly slammed into my bike after cutting a red light. I skillfully bobbed and weaved through the cars, passing through Times Square, the part of the city shinned from the lights of large screens promoting movies and plays. Crowds of people walking around and laughing, it was a busy saturday night here and it seemed the entire city was out and about.
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Passing over the brooklyn bridge reminded me just how small I really was. Just one mistake could send me crashing into the railing and flying over the side, now with a good amount of protection jepei, I could maybe survive slamming into the water below, but I didn’t want to risk that. The bridge was nearly empty so I got to test the true power of my bike as I sped down the bridge, my hood slipped off my head and the stay locks of my hair tickled my face as the cold river breeze slammed into me. I could hear Aiko laughing with joy and I couldn’t help but laugh with her. As we reached the end of the bridge, Aiko suddenly whipped her tail against my side. “She just passed you!” She cried out.
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“What are you talking about?”
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“That girl just passed you, I smelled her.” I pulled the handbrake and nearly hit a car as I spun around on my front tire and got into the opposite lane. I turned my head to look at Aiko who had her tongue out using her supercharged sense of smell. “She is right there!”
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Sure enough sitting on top of a large van probably not even noticed by the driver was my target. I could barely make her out in the dim light of the bridge, but there she was. Her long black hair was whipping wildly as the car drove, I watched her leap from this one onto another car that was going much faster. “Aiko go inside your gemstone for a bit, she has already seen you today.” I reached back and pulled my hood back over my head and adjusted my mask a bit.
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She was like a bird leaping from branch to branch, whenever a car came that was even going slightly faster she would jump off risking injury to land on top of it. Once we made it off the bridge, she had settled on top of a fast moving cab that was heading down the streets of New york city. I followed behind her keeping three cars away at all times, eventually we passed the museum I had been too before and she leapt off. She landed on her feet and came to a rolling stop beside a nearby lamp post. I quickly pulled into a nearby parking spot and turned the bike off as fast as I could. Front my vantage point, I could see Ori walk up the steps of the building. She was wearing a long sleeve black shirt and what looked like black jeans a bit too big for her. Once she was sure no one was watching her, she began to jump from pillar to pillar like it was nothing, she then reached up and pulled herself up onto the edge of one of the carved stones at the top and disappeared onto the roof.
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At that moment the door to the museum opened up and I was surprised to see Whitney Dawnbreaker come out. She was in a lovely red and black dress that seemed to sparkle in the brief light we had, her hair was put up into a beautiful sea of curls. Over her dress was a white coat that only covered her upper chest. Beside her she had a girl around my age in a matching dress but had on a longer black coat that was opened. She had bright orange hair and on the other side was a boy who admittedly was pretty cute looking. He also had orange hair and was wearing a white suit that made his hair look even brighter. I quickly raced up to them and as soon as I did, those two kids stepped in front of their mother like bodyguards. The girl’s hands now covered in orange gauntlets with sharp looking fingers and the boy holding a carved hilt sword.
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“What do we have here?” Whitney Dawnbreaker asked not even looking startled from my sudden appearance.
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I quickly took my mask and her demeanor shifted from annoyances to joy. “Sorry for scaring you but let me into your museum. My target is in there, Ms. Dawnbreaker.”
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As soon as I said that she patted her kids on the shoulders and their weapons faded away into orange embers. “Really now?” Whitney Dawnbreaker questioned, “and how are you so sure?”
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“I was following her, she seems to have set up shop somewhere in Brooklyn, she is currently on the rooftop probably trying to sneak in.” I quickly explained.
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“Carter, don’t move a muscle, you either Chloe.” Both of her children had spun around to go back into the museum themselves, up close Chloe was a bit taller than me but this boy was a good head above me. “I hired her for this job, and she will get it done.”
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“But,” Chloe started to say.
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“Silence!” Her voice even made me take a small step back. She reached into her pocket and took out a key and held it out to me. “Go and get that little rat, I grow tired of her antics by the second.”
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I reached up and took the key from her grip. “This will be over tonight, you have my word.” I stepped past her looking to enter the library, I felt a hand reach out and grab my shoulder in a light grip.
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“Bring her to me alive if possible.” Her voice was as cold as the wind and for a moment pain filled my shoulder as her grip increased. “Am I understood? I would like to personally make her suffer for her crimes against me. An eye for an eye.”
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“I-I understand,” she realized my shoulder and I found myself standing like a statue. The sounds of her heels alongside her children’s footsteps filled my ears, I heard a car door slam shut followed by the brief hum of an engine. I didn’t want to move until I was sure they were gone, she had somehow put a fear in me that only my mother could.
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Aiko was the one that broke the silence. “Can we get this done, that woman is weird.”
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I reached up to lightly pet her head. “Of course, and trust me I will make sure to take her missions very carefully in the future.” I stuck the key into the doorway and it gave a loud clicking noise. I put my mask on and stepped into the warmth of this museum.
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It was exactly the same as last time I had come here, the same giant skeleton of a T-Rex was waiting for me. In the large open spaced entrance, before she had taken me through this area into the elevator but now it was just me and my target. “Aiko, sniff her out.”
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“Don’t bother!” I looked up towards the high ceiling, just in time to see Ori falling out the sky. She landed almost like spiderman before bringing herself to a standing position. She wasn’t wearing her joyful smile right, that cute little face was twisted into an angry glare. “I am right here, Samantha-Chan or is that not your real name?”
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I hid back my surprise that she somehow knew it was me, she probably had been eavesdropping on top of the roof. “It isn’t my real name.” I answered, fully removing my mask and judging by the small look on her face now. I was guessing she was hoping it was not me. “Such a shame, isn’t it? We sat at the same table, we played that stupid ball game that I let you win. Now I have to kill you.”
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“Why?”
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“I mean no ill will, Ori-Chan.” I took a step towards her. “You have made a big enemy and I was hired to bring you to her alive or dead. Though she is mostly asking for you be brought back alive.”
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“Oikawa-San,” she corrected. “You have lost the right to call me by my first name or use that honorific. Was that man even your daddy? Or did you just hire someone to play the part?”
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“He is my butler.”
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“Who are you?”
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“Why waste time telling who I am to a soon to be dead girl?” I asked, reaching into my pocket and revealing a vile of my most toxic poison. “So, Ori-Chan.”
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“Oikawa-San to you.” She rudely interrupted.
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“Don’t tell me what names I can and can’t use.” I tossed over my poison which she caught with the upmost ease. “That right there is a very powerful poison, because I am feeling merciful. You can either drink that poison right now and take a very long nap that you will never wake up from. Or you can turn yourself and risk the mercy of Ms. Dawnbreaker.” I held my hands out and summoned both of my sickles to me. “Or we fight and get this nice lobby drenched in blood, sweat and maybe tears only for you to lose and be at my mercy.”
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I hadn’t even noticed that Ori had thrown my small file back at me until it hit me smack dab in the center of my forehead. A few curses spilled from my mouth as a dull pain began to flow through my forehead. “I don’t need or want your mercy. So please don’t offer it, instead I will give you an offer of my own.” She held her hands out and a pair of sharp looking swords appeared in her hands. The hilts of which looked to be the heads of dragons. “Either you can go back out that door, or we fight and you lose.”
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“Do you really think you can beat me?” I asked allowing my pink jepei to explode around me like the flames of a fire, a very basic technique known as projection. “I have been trained since I was a baby, I was holding weapons before you could even walk.”
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Ori's silvery energy shot out of her as well and much to my surprise it was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. “There have been stories in my favorite book. Tales of the most skilled fighters losing at the hands of those that have no right to even set foot on the battlefield with them. Do you know how they won those battles?”
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“No I don’t nor do I care.”
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A small smile appeared on her face. “They had faith and a power that their enemies could never imagine. They had The God of Israel, The king of World on their side and I have him on mine.”
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“Than by all means.” I mockingly traced the cross of her god over my chest. “I will gladly send you back to him.”
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“And I will pray that he shows mercy on you.” Ori flipped her swords one in a back handed grip and the other on a front handed grip, as more of silvery aura shined shattering through the dim light. I could now notice that one of her swords was a few inches shorter than the other one. Refusing to be outdone by her in any way, I began to project my own aura out. As it crashed into hers they sparked against each other almost like flint against steel, sending shards of pink and silver embers flying through the air. I heard the hiss of Aiko as she slithered off my shoulders to curl in front of me, her fangs fully outstretched.
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“Come out, Mihiro.” I heard the growl before I saw the creature that was molded out of her netrix gemstone. It looked even stronger up close, silvery scales almost like chain mail, her head like that of a lizard but the teeth were much sharper. Her short legs and arms flexed with muscles and her claws seemed sharper than before. “Last chance, go home alive or crawl back injured.”
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I answered her by sprinting forwards, Aiko hissed keeping pace with me with ease. My projection following behind me like a tsunami. Ori sprinted towards me, her dragon left the ground and began to fly towards us at blinding speeds. Her aura following behind her like an avalanche of snow. As soon as our blades connected, a massive shockwave of silver and pink began to swirl around us. I heard the glass cracking, the bones of these dinosaurs rattling like maracas. We struggled each trying to push the other backwards a shove of strength and it was never good to lose. We both let out roars that echoed across the entire building, it was at that moment that she somehow managed to over power me. I went flying across the ground, skipping over it like a stone through the water. I slammed my sickles into the wooden floors leaving deep marks carved into it. I looked up in fury and she in front of me in a moment both of her swords threatening to slash my throat! I had only a moment to bring the pole end of my weapons up, I felt the shock wave of her attack race up my hands, through my arms and pounded against my skull. I briefly turned around to see Aiko curling around that dragon threatening to bite into her neck at any moment.
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I pushed this girl off me and quickly went on the attack, forcing her on the backfoot as my curved blades carved through the air, barely missing her as she sidestepped and flipped out of harm's way. Occasionally she would block with her sword and I was quick to try moved my curved blades onto her sword to either pull her closer or knock the blade out her hand. She was smarter than she locked and never fell for that trick. I crashed into her trying to push her to a stop where she couldn’t move properly. She spun around like a ballerina and in that moment she caught me with a hard kick to my side knocking me off balance. I barely had time to drop to my knees ducking under her blades hearing the whose of her blades flying over my head. I quickly leapt up to my feet and now it was my turn to play defense as she started to slash and thrust her blades at me, constantly switching her blades from hand to hand. Orange sparks filled the air, each strike made my hands tremble she was amplifying her attacks with her jepei energy, and she was much stronger than she looked.
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Minutes flew past as we took turns leading our deadly dance, she was good, I couldn’t deny that. Whoever trained her knew what they were doing, yet there was also something wild about her fighting style. She would constantly attack from the air with either leeps or running up walls to gain an advantage. She light on her feet like a dancer and her ability to switch from amplifying her attacks with jepei to using it in the form of protection to shield from any attacks I managed to slip in was good. I took a few deep breaths both to refuel my burning lungs as well as cool my burning rage. This should have been over minutes ago, she shouldn’t be this good, she was nearly as good as me. “I’m sorry…” I heard Aiko’s voice fill my head and at that moment I felt pain surge up my stomach almost like I had swallowed a pile of nails. I turned towards Aiko who had been fighting this dragon alone and I watched as she slowly faded away into pink smoke and flew towards my netrix gemstone. As she faded I noticed a bit of pink escaping the dragon’s mouth. “I failed.”
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That dragon flew towards Ori and I could see that it wash just as injured as Aiko was. “You disgusting reptile!” I shouted, throwing one of my sickles towards her in anger.
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The dragon curled its body left, completely dodging my attack. I heard the wall crack as the blade embedded itself into the wall. “Your serpent fought well.” Like many animal spirits, their voice always sounded somewhat like their user. “Though I fought better,” that dragon smirked at me before turning into a silver mist and disappearing through Ori’s shirt.
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“Don’t worry, Aiko. I will cut a piece of her for you.” I whispered into my gemstone. I held my hand out resummoning my sickle back to my hand. I took off my slashed long sleeve shirt exposing the pink tank top I was wearing underneath. I reached into my pockets and felt around for some of my poison vials. “All I need is one scratch.” I whispered as I uncocked the bottles and spilled the liquid onto my blades.
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“I can see you doing that!” I quickly rolled out of the way and locked blades with her. She was pushing me down to my knees, her blades glowing with silver energy. I had to move some of my jepei from my arms down to my knees to keep them from being injured. “Why are you doing this?! I have done nothing to you! Just leave me alone!” She emphasized each of these words with a strong strike from her sword until she knocked one of my sickles, sending it clattering to the ground. She spun around catching me across the jaw with the back of her hand, my cheek burned and for the first time. Someone that wasn’t my sister or mother knocked me to my hands and knees.
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“You bitch!” I tried to stand back up but my body froze as she had both of her blades held against my throat.
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“Naughty language.” She said a brief smiling curling at the edge of her lips. “I have no quarrel with you, Samantha-Chan, but I don’t want you anywhere near me. I am here for a reason and you will not get in my way, so please go home already.”
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As soon as I even showed the smallest of movement those blades dug a bit deeper on my throat. They threatened to slash through the protection aura I put up. I let out a dark hiss and a moment later the air once again filled with another clattering of metal as I dropped my sickle. “What are you gonna do now? Kill me?”
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“No I am not.” The shorter of her two blades faded away into smoke. “Do not follow me again, do not go near Bishop Brown’s family or I will make you suffer. Go home to wherever you are from and I don’t want to see you again.”
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I looked down at the ground and took a deep breath, the hunters sense activated everything seemed to move in slow motion. I opened my hand and watched as the sickle resting behind her came flying towards me. She spun around with one hand catching my sickle in one hand and with the other she went to slash my throat. I felt the blade briefly kiss my neck cutting into it just a tiny bit before I could spin around and kick her legs out from under her. She fell onto her back and I yelled in pain as her blade somehow managed to slash into my leg. I felt warm sticky blood run down my leg as I flipped onto her. I picked up my other sickle and brought them both downwards aiming for her chest. She lifted her longer sword up and managed to block my attack but I was enraged right now. The hunter’s sense faded away allowing me to resummon all of jepei aura to full strength. I saw the fear in her eyes, as she desperately tried to roll us over so she was on top. I could see drops of poison dripping off my blades like tears as I drove them further down. Each second felt like hours as I was growing closer and closer for my blades to reach their target, right into her upper chest, near her heart and lungs, a swift death.
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“Get away from her!” A voice roared out as her animal spirit came flying out of her netrix gemstone. It took on its physical form in a moment, its long tail slammed into me like a baseball bat and I felt the end of her tail rip through my tan top and into my side. I went flying backwards into the other skeleton of a large long necked dinosaur. I slammed through the legs and crashed into the tail and collapsed underneath it. I looked up and screamed as the entire skeleton came collapsing on top of me. I buried under a pile of bones, my ankle was killing me, I could smell a copper as blood spilled from my leg and my side.
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The entire building had grown eerie quiet as I painfully dragged myself out of the wreckage using the last of my jepei energy that had protected me from the crash. I felt cold air flooding into the room and I could see that the door was cracked open. I painfully reached into my pants pocket and took out my now heavily cracked phone. I dialed Mr. Benny’s number as best as I could and after a single ring he answered. “Good evening, Lady Ivy. I am gonna-”
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“I need help!” I cried out rolling over onto my back, one hand disappearing gripping my side. “Get to the Natural History Museum, I need help!” My phone slipped out of my hand as I put my other hand over my face trying to stop myself from crying. “Please, help me!”
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