Hoshi no Guu (Star Piece Quest) (M)

[Guu]

Guu lead her three new companions down the streets of the ninja village. As they continued following her senses, they quickly found themselves travelling further and further into rougher neighborhoods. The casual commoners were being replaced by tattooed men and women carrying samurai swords. The buildings were more weathered and worn, torn apart from whatever storm damaged them a long time ago. Some houses tried to fix the damage but sloppily nailed boards over them, but many houses just lived with holes in their roofs and walls. It was definitely a more poor part of town.

People continued to stare at the strange group as they passed. While some of the yakuza types gave them angered glances, it didn’t matter to the troupe. What was worrying is why Guu’s friend had ventured down this area.

“You sure he’s in this direction?” Bani asked precariously as they passed a large group of low lifes.

“Well, my senses were leading me this wa-”

She froze.

“What’s wrong, Guu?” Asked Bani in concern.

“He disappeared from my senses.”

Silence befell the group as the words left the princess’ lips. Not wanting to assume the worst, she stepped back, retracing her steps. Suddenly, he appeared again, her senses pointing her to his general direction. She stepped forward again and once again, he disappeared.

“He appears to be blocking me.”

“Blocking you? You mean suppression?” Asked Bani.

“Could he do that Before?” Asked Chuck. “He didn’t seem the stealthy type.”

“No he couldn’t.” Confirmed the pink one. It was odd for him to suddenly develop abilities he didn’t before. She started to have a sinking feeling. They needed to find him as fast as possible. “Hold on for a sec, I’ll do a more thorough scan of the area.”

She spread her senses out to its brink, looking through every house, every nook and cranny. Ignoring the occasional family and mafioso, one thing that stood out was her senses couldn’t reach towards a large part of the underground. It was like a large part of the Earth was missing in her mind’s eye.

Taking this as the only clue she had, she searched every house standing above the vacancy. Amongst the three houses, one was almost entirely empty all except for an oddly placed rug and a random assortment of furniture. No personal item, no memorabilia. It could be the home of a social recluse, but it was worth the gamble.

She took off down the street, the other three followed close behind. In one swoop of the leg, she smashed through the front door of the house and charged in. She ran up to the conspicuous rug, just sitting in the middle of the room, no furniture on top of it. She gave it a yank and it revealed a large metal trap door.

“Woah!” Yelled out Chuck.

The four surrounded it to get a closer look. It was built like the door of a safe; reinforced hinges and bolts holding it together with a combination lock protecting its secrets.

“You think you can crack it Chuck?” Bani asked.

“I’ll give it a shot.” He said as he lowered down to the ground and pressed his ear against the metal as he started to turn the combination lock. The other three watched as the Demon did his work.

“What’s down there Guu?” Bani asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“The entire place is blocking my senses, I couldn’t even pick up the door.”

“Aha!” Called out Chuck as the door made a large click sound. He jumped aside as the door flung open to make a large clang against the metal frame. “Good you had me here!”

Below was a ladder extending down into the Abyss.

“Whoever is down there probably heard the door open.” Bani observed.

“Not sure, but in case they didn’t, we should be careful to avoid detection.” Guu responded.

“Hey!” Cried out a voice from across the room.

The four looked up to see a man, greying, balding, elderly, standing at his broken front door holding a paper bag full to the brim with vegetables and foodstuffs. The group spent a few seconds looking at each other, stunned at the apparent owner’s timing. He looked at the now opened secret hatch and back at the four.

In an instant, he dropped his groceries on the ground and pulled out a blaster. Guu leapt down the hole, barely dodging the laser fire. Bani and Chuck leapt down the hole after her, swiftly climbing down the ladder while Guu just flew down. Melani however, stayed behind as the old man tried to shoot for the other three. She pulled out a pair of bolas and started to spin them around above her head. The old man noticed what was going on and turned to aim at her, but she managed to launch them before he could get a shot off.

The ropes wrapped around his legs, causing him to toppled to the ground. The shot that was meant for the watermelon girl tilted high and blasted through the roof. The old man struggled on the floor as he desperately tried to untie his legs. The melon girl, taking her chance, went down the hole after her friends.