Episode 64 – The Battle Begins, Shirley vs. the Puppeteer, Marri!
Echoville was nearing into war. The twelve Halflings were beginning to prepare themselves for an easy and simple war. From the warnings that Miss Siren had told them, they knew of the humans who were coming…
~~~
Santi was holding onto Yessenia. He passed through a long stretch of tall grass and he sneezed. “Achoo! Ah… this is not great. I cannot trust any of them with Yessenia.” He searched around the area, “If anyone of them teleports away from this world, then they will be starting back from the beginning of where we came from earlier which was on the other side of the jungle. The cloud man will be watching.”
He heard a shuffle within the tall grass. He began to look everywhere around him, “So this guy wants to fight, eh? Let us see what this Captain Silver has in store for us.”
~~~
Shirley was walking through the grassy path. She was no longer able to find a road on her own since it had decreased in size and it eventually disappeared from her sight. She then heard a clicking noise. “What was that?” She asked herself. A giggle was heard. “W-Who’s there?”
A doll fell from the trees and it was standing. Shirley took a step back, wondering what it might do. “What brings you to my sector, woman?”
The voice was a bit girly and squeaky. Shirley crossed her arms, “Eh? So one of the twelve Halflings is a doll?”
“What do you take me for? You humans make me sick. You killed my parents! That is unforgivable and I am here to avenge them!”
“Avenge them? What do you mean?!”
A bigger figure fell from the tree. She jumped onto the ground like a jungle girl and then she stood up. She was about three quarters the size of Shirley, “You! I will not be defeated by the likes of you. You made me miserable for the past two years and I am not ready to die now.” She raised her arm and the doll began moving on its own.
Shirley gasped. “Eh?!” The doll was a wooden doll and Shirley could tell that it was being controlled by the girl. “Just what are you?!”
“Marri, I control these wooden dolls!”
“Like nutcrackers!” Shirley took sight of Marri’s fingers moving in the same motion as the doll’s arms and legs. “Ah I see, so you have strings on your dolls, correct?” She took a stance and said, “I am not ready to lose now. I just got here. Lucky for you, I don’t have anything to cut those stupid strings, but I can pack one heck of a strong fight, just you watch.” Shirley clenched her fists, “(Come on… If all of us end up losing, I’ll be sent to trial for being the sacrificial Ice princess and all my friends will be pressured into abandoning me. Like hell I will let that happen!)”
~~~
Mariel was walking down her own path. She became confused at the sudden change of climate around her. “Why is this place so… ugly?” The rocks all around were brown and old. The area was dry and a bit mountainous. “Whoever is protecting this sector must be a boring idiot.” A quick gunshot passed through Mariel’s shoulder. It left a small scar. Mariel took a step back and she felt like falling to the ground, “Ergh… ow!” She felt her shoulder, noticing that it was bleeding. Mariel opened her eyes wide from this since it was the first time she had seen such an amount of blood, “Eek! W-Where? Where did that come from?!”
“Scared already? Hm, hm, hm. Are you that much of a coward, woman-with-a-lot-of-make-up?”
“What did you call me?! It’s my part of fashion, damn it. Don’t you diss it.”
“Hm? ‘Diss’ what? Your language is a bit iffy to me. Why don’t we take care of that?” The girl appeared and she was a little taller than Mariel. Her clothes were a bit revealing and she had a bazooka-like gun on her shoulder.
Mariel was frightened, “Geeh- What in the world? What is wrong with you? Cover that up!”
“Do you not like the way I am dressed?”
Mariel screamed, “And you tell me I have too much make-up! Just look at the way you’re dressed!!”
The girl turned away and she sounded as if she was whining, “Awr, but little girl, the guys love me in this outfit. How dare you talk to me like that! I take that lightly!” She turned back to Mariel, “I am Levi, a gunman!”
“Teehee, you called yourself a man.”
Levi got her bazooka gun in front of her and she aimed it at Mariel, “Ooh! That is it! You’re going down, damn it.”
Mariel was sweating. She gave a grinning smile and said, “Let’s see you try! (Damn it, I’m fighting against a girl who can use a fricken bazooka and here I am, with just the ability to splash water on her. How can I defeat her like this?)”
~~~
Matt was quickly running down the road as fast as he could. The sky only around his sector was getting darker and Matt was watching the sky change dramatically. “What in the world?”
A thunderbolt fell from the sky in front of him. Matt made a quick stop and a loud laughter was heard in the sky. A man flew down, riding on a gray cloud. “Welcome, fellow being. I am the father of the sky, shrouded in thunderous delight!”
“What are you talking about? Get out of my way. I’m trying to find the village that I saw last time I came here!”
“Village? You mean the village of Echoville? Nyaha! I was ordered to kill you by the divine leader, Miss Siren. If you want to get to the village, you have to get through me first.”
Matt was slightly frightened by a man who can control thunder. Matt took a step back and he opened his palms, “Alright, fine. I was told to kill you too and I was going to get to the village first and beat up whoever possessed my friend!”
“Oh? You have a friend who is possessed? My, my, things do get interesting as the day goes on. Only Miss Siren has the power to do so.”
“W-W-What? The culprit is a-a girl?!”
“Nyahaha! Look at how stupid you sound! You don’t know a thing about Echoville, do you? She was given the powers to protect the land due to the death or Revel, our holy leader in the past who had sacrificed himself in order to eradicate all humans. And then there you are, appearing again. You are making his death a useless death just by appearing. You will die!” He spun his thunder stick and he aimed it at Matt. A spark of thunder appeared and it flew towards Matt. Matt jumped off to the side, causing him to fall and roll over. He sat up, feeling his head.
“Argh… that hurt.”
“THAT hurt you? How pathetic you humans tend to be! Have you gotten weaker over the years?”
Matt stood up and he clenched his fists. “I wasn’t ready, damn it. (It looks like this guy is using thunder, how am I going to fight that with fire?)”
~~~
Shirley constantly ran backwards every time Marri’s puppet was trying to punch and kick her. At one point, the puppet kicked Shirley on the arm and she almost got knocked over. Shirley felt her arm, “Ouch, man that hurt!” She embraced it and said out loud, “I’m not going to fall as your stupid ice princess!”
Marri gasped. “W-What?”
Shirley summoned a pack of ice on her right hand, “That’s it. If you want to fight like that then you will get it!” She threw the pack of ice at Marri but the puppet jumped in front and it broke the ice. “N-No way!”
The puppet scattered after it broke and Marri used the strings to reattach them in no time. “I’m not that stupid. This puppet isn’t just any puppet. I’ve practiced using it for so many years!”
“You’re only a few years old, aren’t you?” Shirley corrected her.
“I AM STRONG!!” The girl was stomping on the ground.
Shirley summoned another pack of ice, “Fine, we’ll just have to keep on going then!” She decided to throw it at the puppet and it shattered. Marri panicked and Shirley threw another pack at Marri. It flew onto her stomach and she fell over.
“Oomph! You meanie!” She gave a grin and Shirley took sight of her smile. Marri made her puppet attack Shirley but Shirley was only dodging.
“Why are you using the same fighting style as before? You were getting nowhere!”
Marri’s left hand was occupied with the puppet, “I know, but this time…” She took a pack of strings on her right hand and she threw it on Shirley.
Shirley could not see the strings since they were very thin. “W-Why am I becoming stuck all the sudden? What the hell!”
Marri began using strange hand movements to attach them tightly on Shirley’s arms and legs. “I call it the Puppet Manipulation! Now you will do whatever I want. Teehee!”
“You damn little…!” Shirley’s left arm began punching herself. “Ow!” Her right arm did the same and then her legs forced her to bend on the floor. “L-Let go of me!” She made a pack of ice appear on her hand.
Marri made Shirley’s fingers slip off the ice, “Nuh, uh, uh~ I will not allow you to use those again. Now let’s see here… what should I make you do? Teehee!”
Shirley’s legs began to open, but too much to her extent. “What are you trying to do?!”
“Does that hurt? Shall I go even further?”
Shirley tried to control herself which only made her legs split slower, “Argh! (It hurts so much! That damn girl is going to get a piece of my mind! …But what should I do?)” She noticed that Marri was using her ring finger to control Shirley’s left leg. An idea finally sparked in her mind! “(That’s it! If only I can think test all of them out… She only has five fingers controlling her.)”
The puppet suddenly kicked her off the ground, causing her to fly backwards with a painful drop. “Don’t just sit there! Why won’t you fight back?!”
“YOUR STUPID MANIPULATION ISN’T LETTING ME!” Shirley exploded. She became serious again, “(That hurt! I only have some time left before she decides to attack me again with her stupid puppet.)” She moved her right leg and Marri used her middle finger to stop it from moving. Shirley then moved both her hands and Marri was moving her own thumb and index finger. “(Finally! I think I have an idea that might just work!)”
The puppet attacked her again. “Teehee! You’re slowly dying, aren’t you? You’ll probably end up being the first one to die among your friends. See how useless you are?”
Shirley quickly moved her head down to her right arm and she began biting the air mindlessly, hoping rip off the strong. Right away, she was successful. Marri was surprised that her thumb was getting very light. Shirley quickly grabbed onto the air nearby her left hand but Marri screamed, “Don’t move! If you do, I’ll split your legs apart in an instant!” The puppet was about to attack again and Shirley quickly summoned a pack of ice to throw at it. It fell to the ground and Marri cried, “Augh, my puppet!”
Shirley then ripped off the rest of the strings from her left arm and both of her legs. She stood up and yelled, “You’re more pathetic than I thought!”
Marri took sight of her being free, “What, b-but how?!”
Shirley explained her plan, “I’m not stupid. Sure you can control both hands at once, but once I see you worrying about your stupid puppet, your focus on me becomes off-balanced and that’s when you are too busy crying to your puppet.” She took out a larger piece of ice and she dropped it in front of her, “Try throwing your cheap-o strings at me now!”
Marri stomped on the floor, “Hmph! I won’t let you get away with this!”
Marri threw her puppet at Shirley but Shirley increased the amount of ice she had in front of her to clash it with the puppet. The puppet fell to the ground and Shirley made a big stack of ice again. She picked it up and she clashed the ice on her hand to the large piece in front of her. Both ice pieces broke and the shards had fallen onto the puppet. The strings were of no use. Marri’s strength was not strong enough to pull the puppet out of the ice shards. Shirley summoned another piece of ice and she threw it at Marri. It hit her head and Marri began crying.
Shirley took a few steps away, “Let’s see you try to get your puppet out of the ice now. If you make a move with your other hand and try to control me again, I’ll only block it with an ice shield.” For minutes, Marri continued to try pulling the puppet. The ice was melting, causing the puppet to easily pull out. Marri became happy and she ran towards it to see if the puppet was okay.
“Come here, puppet! You’ll be fine.” As she was running, she was slipping on the melted ice that was squirming further and further away from the puppet. She still slipped as she eventually reached the rest of the ice and her face fell roughly on the remaining ice. She blanked out from the severe pain.
Shirley clapped her hands together to clean off any dust, “Eh, I guess you hurt yourself a bit too much. I didn’t even need to do anything. I’m outta here. See ya!”
~~~
---- Next chapter preview:Matt: Next on episode 65, the final episode of Volume 5, Winny enters Echoville! But wait, who followed along with her?
Mariel: I will also have to fight Levi, a girl who uses bazookas. Why is she so angry about us being humans? What did we do?
Matt: There is also a dangerous man named Vialaro who has a sniper!
Santi: Look out Matt, Raiden is after you! I should watch for myself. Captain Silver is after me as well.
Stan: I will do whatever you want.
Matt: W-What is it? Next time on episode 65, Water and Bombs, A Historic Vengeance!
0 comments:
Post a Comment