"W-what the heck is going on!!?"
In front of them a strange cartoonish dog-like figure, pounced!
Both Megumi and Cider dodged the sudden attack. The dog danced and bopped around like an old day cartoon. And like magic, its paw became hands and stretched out a large bat from nothing!
Its face contorted cartoonishly, displaying its excitement.
WHAM!
WHAM!
WHAM!
Out nowhere the cartoon dog, Doko Chi-chi slammed craters into the walls and floors in an attempt to hit Cider.
"Over here." A static radio -like voice called.
POP
POP
POP
The Dog Curved and contorted its body dodging and allowing the cartoon bullets pass by to hit Cider.
Cider quickly dodged, but the bullets with face suddenly changed directions, striking him from above!
Megumi, in shock, Rushed over to Cider's aid. "Leave him alone!"
A cartoon wall with a face was set in her path by the boy. He sat on the wall watching Cider having to fight for his life.
"This is between me and him."
"If you want, I'll be your opponent lady." the static radio-like voice came from the wall as it grinned happily.
It spat our cartoon bricks at her, and she avoided the best she could with a couple hitting her legs and arm.
She held her arm, feeling the pain throb in it.
The bricks then came to life, and they chucked themselves at her once again!
They all got back up with tiny arms and legs, bouncing and bopping around like the oldie cartoons. They raced over to continue throwing themselves at Megumi leaving her hands full.
Cider, hearing the struggle on the other side, became concerned. "What are you doing to my friend!?"
"She's not important. Admit that Doko Chi-chi is better than that lame comic of yours."
Cider stuck his tongue out. "NNYAAA!! In your dreams!"
Veins bulge from the kids head seeing this. The kid stood up on the wall with his arms raise.
"Alright, how about this then?"
The cartoon dog and the human owner with a cartoon gun levitated from the ground, The circled around each other really fast like they would fuse together in to one being.
A bright light, blinded Cider, forcing to cover his eyes.
"BEHOLD!!"
The feet of his new creation landed gently on the ground.
"THE DOKO CHI-CHI FROM VOLUME 3 CHAPTER 16!!"
Cider Could only look in awe as the light dimmed.
"DOKO CHI-CHI COMBINED MODE VERSION 1!!"
"Eh?" Cider was dumbfounded.
He quickly pointed indignantly at the creation. "Hey wait a minute! This is just that weird dog sitting on that old man's head!!!"
It was just as Cider said, the new creation, was in fact, just the cartoon dog sitting on its owners head, with the only difference being that the dog was carrying the shoot gun now with the owner holding the bat.
Cider looked away unimpressed. "There's nothing cool about that at all." He pouted.
The kid wrenched his fingers, hearing Cider's words. "Oh, yeah?"
The boy conjured forth a crayon in his hands. Jerking over a smile at Cider he created several new cartoon characters!
A cartoon cat Pounce!
A cartoonish baby double Cider's Squirted its bottle and a plethora of inanimate objects threw themselves in Cider's direction!
Cider was force on the defense, dodging through any attack he could until the fused creation smacked him hard with its bat!
Shots fired his way!
He dodged and blocked the second.
Megumi, Hearing the explosion and the myriad of noises on the other side, became even more petrified by the thought of what would happen to cider.
"Get out of my way!" She shouted.
The big cartoon wall simply laughed at her. "What can a puny girl like you do? That kid is getting what he deserved."
"Getting what he deserved?" Megumi clenched her teeth, now frustrated by the wall's words.
"Oh, Did the little woman get mad? Oh whoa is me? Hahahahah!!"
Seeing another of those bricks tossing itself at her, she finally released some pent up frustration, hitting and shattering the brick to pieces.
The wall seeing this, shut up, shocked by what he saw."
The boy, hearing this, flinched, glancing back at Megumi.
Megumi, on the other hand, looked at her fist in surprise. "That… Didn't hurt?"
Another brick flew her way and she dodged. Seeing a second brick below her, she kicked it with the same result, surprised by the lack of pain she expected.
"That's right. This isn't real life." She looked back at the cartoon wall who looked a little more nervous. "This is purgatory."
Without missing a beat she raced over to the wall in her way.
"H-hey! Don't get any funny idea's now!"
Without a moment's hesitation, she punched the wall!
She didn't break through the first time, so she punched him a second then a third!
"Hey! OW! OW!"
Two more of the cartoon bricks come behind her. She dodged both of them, letting it hit the still talking cartoon wall.
"YOW!!!"
She punched the wall one last time, Punching completely through.
Cider seeing this became a little surprise.
"Megumi!?"
Taking advantage of his distraction, the The combined Doko Chi-chi grabbed Cider by the waist.
"Hey! Let go!" he yelled.
He was brought face to face with the dog that sat atop the cartoon man. It laughed wickedly, ready to enact deadly desire.
Suddenly Megumi tackled the leg of the cartoon man, shocking not only the combined Doko Chi-chi, but the other cartoon characters and the boy with the train conductor's hat.
"Let him-" She tackled once again "GO!"
The combined Doko Chi-chi bent the knee, losing its grasp of Cider. Using this opportunity, Cider slashed the cartoon dog's head off with his outstretched arm.
With the Doko Chi-chi, seemingly defeated, Cider bloated out an embarrassed laughter.
"Thanks Megumi, That dog thing kept stretching away from me."
Megumi could only give out a sigh of relief hearing Cider's words. Suddenly the boy on the cartoon stone wall poke up.
"Unacceptable. This doesn't involve you girl."
Now irritated by the pompous attitude of the boy, Megumi retorted back.
"Unacceptable? You attacked us first!"
The boy pouted. "Then he should've just agreed with me then!"
"What's wrong with this kid!?" Megumi thought.
"You can't make me old man! NYAAN!!" Once again Cider stuck his tongue out with defiance.
"Y-you're not making things any better Cider…" Megumi noted.
Suddenly Cider was Smacked hard with the cartoon bat of the cartoon man!
"O hohohoho! Just watch you little demon!"
Megumi turned around too late, seeing the bat coming for her too!
With a great force she was smacked hard with the bat and sent crashing into the cartoon wall!
She felt a great intense pain, unlike what she's ever felt in her life surge.
The Cartoon dogs head stretched back to its body, fixed like new. Cider getting up, felt a fury surge seeing Megumi barely conscious within the cartoon wall.
"Meg-" He clenched his sharp teeth, and he became more serious.
The combined Doko Chi-chi went on the attack, smashing its bat into the floor.
Cider dodge from the smoke. Now facing the amalgamation again.
"You hurt Megumi!" Cider then darted his eyes at the boy who carried a smug expression.
With the gesture of the boy's hand, Doko Chi-chi attacked.
Cider ignored the amalgamation, using its head as a platform, he leapt towards the boy.
His eyes widened in surprise as cider swung his outstretched blade arm at the boy!
The attack was blocked!
"O hohoho… So, you figured me out then." The boy said with a smile.
To Cider's shock, the boy pulled Cider towards himself and punched him back towards his creation.
Cider reoriented himself quickly, Swinging at Random. He struck Doko Chi-chi and at the other cartoons made by the boy. He landed back on his feet dashing through the attacks being expertly orchestrated by the boy.
Cider Dodged and countered the attack being sent his way. Approaching the wall again Cider was struck in the side, sending him into the tall shelf of comics.
Shots from the cartoon shotgun rang out, aimed at Cider.
Shots riddled the wall and kept trying to reach Cider as he avoided this attack.
"Admit it already." The boy said.
The combined Doko Chi-chi appeared before Cider, surprising him.
"Doko Chi-chi is the best!"
The bat smashed into the bookshelf, missing Cider.
"No! It's lame! Just like you!"
The boy curled up another frustrated. "Lame? You brat."
His eyes glowed with a fierce intensity. "Fine If that's how you want it, I'll-"
"That's enough," Megumi said.
A cold sweat ran down the boy's face, He looked back with deep confusion, finding Megumi standing behind him, her tone much more serious. Her red eyes gleamed much brighter and her hair began to emanating a a red aura.
"Wait. H-how are you-"
She snatched the crayon from his hands, throwing it to the side. She then mercilessly pulled him up from his leg with her other hand holding him upside down. She grabbed his other leg and held him over the edge of his cartoon wall, and he squirmed.
"H-hey w-w-wait! Let's talk about this!"
She pulled him closer to the edge of the wall, looking irritated began to calm down. "Sure, do you want to apologize?"
The Boy gave a grin and chuckled. "Got you."
Megumi looked up and found the huge Doko Chi-chi about to strike her. But for some reason, she didn't feel afraid of this.
In that same moment Cider from below, launched himself up and sliced the arms of the Doko Chi-chi, in one fell swoop. He reoriented his body and brought his blade arms together, and spun himself down fast like a saw blade, cutting Doko Chi-chi in half!
This completely shocked the boy.
Cider teased the boy for being caught, shortly after.
The boy then looked behind Megumi, suddenly seeing that the Librarian showed back up. the boy frowned.
Megumi glance back, getting spooked by the Librarian. "Huh!? W-where'd you come from!?"
The demon Librarian ignored her. She bent over to look at the boy, disappointed in him.
"A man your age shouldn't be fighting over trivial matters, Mr. Armsworth."
The boy looked on in defeat, knowing the jig was up. "Drat."
********
"I must apologize for Mr. Armsworth. He can be a bit too… Competitive."
Megumi and Cider were now in a guest room. In the center was a table with tea and snacks. The boy was already sipping on tea with narrowed eyes, gazing at Cider with contempt.
Megumi took a quick sip of tea, now feeling a little more awkward. As the demon librarian sat before them, Meanwhile Cider was simply playing with the snack, paying no mind to what was being said.
"Go ahead Mr. Armsworth. Apologize." The librarian urged.
The boy became indignant. "Blast it all! As if I'd apologize to that simpleton!"
"Fine. Then you can consider your membership terminated."
The boy, shocked, quickly changed his mind, waving his hand frantically. "No, no, no. no! I'll do it! I'll do it!"
The boy turned to Cider; he was still barely paying any mind to him. He begrudgingly started. "H-hey demon kid. I'm sorry for fighting with you."
Cider stopped for a second,
He stuck his tongue back out at the boy. "NYAA! You're still lame."
The boy slightly raised his fist with frustration, keeping himself calm with clenched teeth.
"Y-you little brat…" He muttered just beneath his breath.
The boy then turned to Megumi who took a cookie. "By the way, How the heck did you get to the top of my wall?"
"Oh… I just climbed it." Megumi stared at the boy like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "When I was little I had to climb a lot of walls…"
"You can climb walls!?" Cider exclaimed. "That's so cool! Can you teach me?"
Megumi chuckled, nervously. "M-maybe another time…"
"Here you are Arnold."
Megumi looked behind and instinctually frowned. "That guy?"
Behind her was the waiter that had annoyed her much earlier.
"Liang." The boy called. "What are you doing here?"
"I should be asking that myself."
The Waiter was dressed down in a more casual attire, wearing yellow undergarments and a black coat that looked Chinese in nature.
"Looking for you, C'mon, the big boss wanted to talk to you." He gestured for the Boy, Arnold, to follow.
Arnold gave an exhausted sigh. "Fine." just as they were about to leave, Arnold pointed back to Cider indignantly. "This isn't over just yet! Just you wait!"
"C'mon already, it's already getting late." Liang said.
Cider stuck his tongue out again and called Arnold lame.
Megumi could only sigh, seeing this.
As soon as the two departed, the librarian passed along a card to Megumi.
"What's this?"
"A membership card. If Mr. Armsworth causes any more trouble for you when you're here, just use this."
"O…Okay…"
"Can I get one too!?" Cider added.
"Maybe next time…" The librarian got up, handing over the books they originally wanted. "Here, you both can have these, They're on the house."
Megumi looked at her books, blushing slightly. "Th-thank you. We should probably get going now. Thank you again, miss."
Megumi got up, ready to leave.
"No need to thank me." The demon Librarian bowed, respectfully, to Megumi's surprise. "Thank you for your patronage."
Megumi could only smile a little awkwardly, not used to seeing someone bow to her.
Shortly after Megumi and Cider finally took their leave, leaving the market to rejoin the K. From afar Dove and Chime continued to watch the two with interest.
"Looks like they're finally going back," Dove noted. He then sighed. "At least that's one debt repaid."
"Mmm. Mmm." Chime said.
"What are you two doing here?"
Both Chime and Dove look back, finding Liang. Dove instantly went on guard, ready to attack. But then Chime came between them, holding her arms out to stop Dove.
"Chime?"
"Forgive my student, He's not familiar with you," Chime echoed to Liang
Liang laughed, a little amused by this. "That's alright, there's nothing to forgive."
"So the boss needs them too?" Arnold came from behind Liang "Yup."
Suddenly, Liang's eyes became more serious. "There's a huge movement of demons. And the boss thinks that that Gondola may get raided by one of the Sin's army"
Both Chime and Dove were surprised by this news.
Liang turned, ready to lead the way. "We don't have time to waste, so let's go."
Dove glanced back at Cider and Megumi who were still traveling, unsure if they should leave.
"They'll be fine, Dove." Chime Echoed. "Right now let's get the briefing… And depending how bad it is, we might have to get K involved. Hopefully that won't have to be the case."
"Right." Dove, with his new mission, followed behind along with Chime, leaving Megumi and Cider journeying back without the watchful eyes of the reaper's.
********
Just outside of the City of Gondola, a tall, fit, blonde-haired man in a hooded robe, approached the gates.
Making it out of the sandy dunes he soon came in contact with the first guard, wishing to identify him.
In that instant the blonde-haired man grabbed to guard by his mouth, revealing his icy blue eyes.
"Get out of my way." he said.
The second guard was about to intervene, but suddenly, shards of crystal shot from the guards body, The guards dissolved away into ash shocking his companion.
The second guard went on the attack. "Intrude-"
A crystal spike shot through his head!
He too dissolved into ashes like his companion.
The man looked back up the large gate, his face determined.
Following far behind him, a horde of misshapen, horrific looking demons charged forth ready to attack.