บท 8: Courageous Woman

Why did I convince myself it was safe?

The blade's surface was smooth. Shirona's despairing face reflected there. The other party didn't particularly reveal any emotion.

"Lemme correct that." Oka pointed at her with the hand not holding the sword. "To be precise, I'm expecting things from the new entries besides you. They'll make splendid tools. But you're unnecessary. Just a plain foreign woman. If I carelessly utilize you, we might suffer further damage instead."

"What do you..."

"It's obvious…"

Lifting the corner of his mouth. His gaze seemed directed at the bag hanging from Shirona's waist. The monster balls inside.

"You've got some overpowered weapons. I'll be putting them to use myself. It was rather unexpected but the end result looks fine. More effectively usable than any clear bonus, I'd reckon."

In the end, she must have desperately clung to something. This man had certainly lost his mind and thrashed violently, yet he was the one who buried Lucario. Why did she believe him even for an instant? If she had thought a little, she should have realized he was plotting something.

Shirona shed tears again. Extreme irritation at herself beyond what she could stand welled up. That was far larger than the resentment toward Oka.

"My Pokemon absolutely won't obey you."

"Well, your imagination isn't enough to get it, I guess."

The sword's tip steadily settled against her throat. Oka further narrowed his cold eyes.

"There's plenty of methods. No need to teach you. Rather, they might voluntarily cooperate with me instead. Easy to tempt them by dangling some sweet bait. You should observe that example from heaven and learn, 'kay? Use it next time." Strength entered that hand.

"Ah!" While groaning, Shirona tightly shut her eyes.

Boom!

A crisp sound of something breaking suddenly occurred.

"Kyuiiiii!"

An unforgettable cry louder than ever echoed. Opening her eyes, Togekiss had crashed through the window glass as it flew inside.

Oka promptly distanced himself from Shirona. Retreating against the wall, he pointed his sword toward the Pokemon glaring his way.

"A surprisingly clever beast."

Togekiss raised his wings. In an instant lightning was formed at their edges. He fired the full power thundershock at Oka.

It shouldn't be slow. Also not super effective against him, and while he claimed it wasn't his forte, ordinary humans couldn't react well enough for it to be considered weak.

Yet the cunning man jumped to the side. In the span of a blink he had circled around to the sphere's rear. Both Shirona and Togekiss were unshaken by this.

Because it was a meaningless evasion. In other words, thundershock was also a sure-hit technique. Its power might be toned down a bit in exchange for indefinitely pursuing the target. Oka still seemed oddly composed against the radically shifting lightning bolt. Further repositioning around the room, he pulled some device out of Gantz. The X-Gun with its Y-shaped muzzle.

Twisting his body as he went, Oka fired several shots at the approaching thundershock. After moving around a little more, the lightning mass soon scattered.

It looked like it burst from inside. Seeing that, he seemed about to catch his breath for an instant but soon tried to move his feet again.

All the dispersed lightning bolts rushed Oka without stopping. His evasion only threw them into slight disarray. Far from disappearing, Togekiss had spent considerable time honing this. Shirona had joined him several times too. That effort wouldn't readily become pointless.

Oka hardened his whole body. Smashed against the wall by that momentum then dropped to his knees.

Still seeing him able to stand up surprised Shirona. After all, thundershock's might wasn't particularly high. It couldn't become a main means of attack. Yet Togekiss sufficiently supplemented that shortcoming.

His ability, serene grace. In exchange for the move's accuracy dropping, its power rose. For thundershock which definitely hit, there was nothing but merit. That's why Togekiss was an excellent attacker. He had been saved by him countless times.

"...Not bad."

Oka leisurely stood back up and tried to run out but met the same falling fate midway.

It couldn't be called effective evasion. The pale bluish light sphere fired from Togekiss's foot had already scored a direct hit on Oka's hand. Blown away, his gripped sword went flying.

"You can use that too, huh?"

Togekiss prepared another sure-hit move, drain punch. At the same time forming thundershock as well. Unleashing both simultaneously would undoubtedly leave the opponent without anywhere else to escape. Intending to fire the drain punch taught by Lucario precisely at Oka—

"What am I doing..." Shirona stood up.

In a mere instant Oka's figure disappeared. Not that he ran away somewhere. Right there he vanished in the span of a blink.

"Watch out!"

Becoming transparent. Doubtlessly he planned to ambush them from some unseen angle. Assuming that, she warned Togekiss.

Yet the Pokemon receiving that seemed desperately fixed on her instead. Puzzled over this, she soon grasped her own shoddy recognition. This wasn't a one-on-one battle governed by set rules.

"Can't tell you to calm down either, huh..."

A powerful arm locked around her neck. Still unable to grasp the situation, she scolded herself. She should have swiftly left this room. Calmly spectating Togekiss's battle like this close by was foolish.

Oka who caught Shirona headed toward the sphere in shuffling steps.

"Don't move. You get it? I can easily snap your neck in an instant."

Togekiss directed a mind lost gaze Shirona's way. But she didn't comprehend this either. No ideas whatsoever to escape this predicament occurred to her. She had been completely led around all this time. Her own fault to a degree as well perhaps, yet she hadn't properly understood the circumstances even once.

Oka approached Gantz. Still gripping Shirona's neck he heaved a sigh.

"Listen up. Either way. It's not like I wanna kill this woman from the heart. Get it? Other options still remain open."

The hand seizing Shirona loosened.

"I won't... believe anymore..."

"Listen. My plans have started deviating quite a bit, to put it mildly. This bird showing up was the clincher. Depending on circumstances, I might let you live and we cooperate together instead. As proof, I'll give some beneficial information."

Oka bent forward slightly.

Togekiss warily took a stance but the next remark made his eyes snap wide.

"There's already a possibility to revive your dead family. If you thoroughly obey me, I'll teach the detailed method."

"Wha..."

Shirona's thoughts were thrown in disarray all at once. Lucario and Garchomp returning. Only those words spiraled round and round inside her head.

Due to the unanticipated speech, Togekiss also seemed further confused. Briefly crying out with an angled upward glance, seemingly pondering.

"Well, I do feel somewhat guilty."

A sound of something firing. Oka gripped a tool she hadn't seen before. Its shape didn't differ much from the previous ones but the muzzle portion was Y-shaped. Rope-like lights launched out from there, coiling around Togekiss's whole body.

"You guys are too easy to control."

"Kyukyu!" Togekiss's voice grew muted midway. Because he had started vanishing from the head.

Shirona screamed. It was a ghastly scene. More and more of his white body chipped away. She collapsed at the knees. No blood came out. But something awful was definitely occurring either way.

"No, Togekiss..."

"One or two lost is fine."

Togekiss seemed like he was about to take flight, but right after rising up a little, the remaining parts of his legs also disappeared. Without leaving a trace behind. Only two people were left in this room.

Shirona was forcibly stood up. Pressed against the wall by her neck, a blade was thrust in front of her face. She struggled a little but it was meaningless against Oka's arm strength. Honestly, she couldn't believe he was a human.

No. As her mind gradually twisted, she thought. Are they really humans? Not only their physical abilities, but their ruthlessness and thin awareness of life were isolated from Shirona.

Tools.

Pokemon.

Weapons.

Tools.

"There is no pain."

Even now, rather than hatred towards the man in front of her eyes, an anger towards something was much greater. It soon surpassed fear and overflowed power into Shirona's whole body.

This is bullshit. Something more than the participating humans, something that made this framework.

"Gantz!"

Seeming slightly surprised by her sudden shout, Oka lowered the blade a little.

Shirona was no longer conscious of him. She just stared fixedly at the black sphere beside with a burning gaze. She didn't exactly have any clear thoughts. But she couldn't help spewing out the intense something welling up one after another.

"I'll never forgive you! Carelessly getting us caught up and disposed of on a whim. Don't mess with me! I won't forget. I absolutely won't forget. Even if I'm killed by Oka or the bomb in my head explodes, I won't give up. Even if I die, my Pokemon will definitely take revenge. I know, you're watching. You can't easily make a move, right?"

She didn't have much evidence. But still, Shirona was almost certain.

That time, when she tried to escape by flying with Togekiss, an electronic sound rang. A warning that they had touched the range limit. However, she had only heard one sound. From inside her head. Togekiss' side was quiet. In other words, nothing was implanted. No threats to prevent rebellion.

"No matter how long it takes! The children will find you guys. Something like...this stupid thing you came up with, they'll crush you all. Wait for it. They're all excellent. You can't get away. Completely, completely mangle it and make you realize how foolish you were. To avenge Lucario, Garchomp and Togekiss. Return the pain they received multiplied!"

"What's wrong? Hurry up and kill me! Kill me! It's simple, right? You just have to operate the bomb in my head. Or sic this man on me even more! Go ahead. Quickly, come on! Do it!"