Kururu Ururaka, Defender Of Justice (Part II)

✧₊⁺

I was left in a daze. Half-expecting to be crushed flat by the colossus, I closed my eyes, but I was very much still alive despite my misgivings. My savior, the tank who had shared but four individual words with our party, and whose name I still had yet to learn.

“You—“

Barrel guy dropped his sword to the ground and used both arms to push up against the force of the monster who was still determined to flatten us. I stared at him blankly for a split second, but then shook myself out of it, and joined him in the effort to prevent our deaths.

“You delay…the end…Hunters.”

The downward force grew in intensity, and my stress meter began to climb as the toll on my digital body increased. Thresh warned that sustained damage carried the risk of our microchips overheating due to a processing malfunction. The situation was becoming dire.

“I’m…sorry.” Our tank broke his gimmick for the first time, earning a surprised glance from me, and a pained smirk.

“Heh. You have nothing… to apologize for, partner.” I replied through clenched teeth. “This is the hand we’ve… been dealt.”

We were practically on one knee at this point. I had so many regrets in my life that I didn’t bother cycling through them all in what could be my final moments, but one came to mind in particular. I put on the face of a man who didn’t care, but the fact remained.

“I don't want… to die.”

Or worse, becoming some sort of invalid. Not before I find out what really happened to Aki.

I think—deep down—I wanted to make the most of this second chance, as much of a pain as it is, and that's why I followed Kururu into this battle. I wanted…

“I want to change.”

I felt my strength surge as a glowing blue light surrounded the two of us. Blue morpho butterflies flooded the grotto from the various cave entrances and circled the monster, one landing directly on my shoulder.

Before we knew it, we were back on our feet and the colossus was left stumbling backward from our sudden upward push. By some miraculous cause, we had escaped the jaws of death.

A cappella choir filled the grotto with a beautiful song, and I was filled with an energy and vigor I had never experienced before. And a presence that felt all too familiar, the butterflies were a dead giveaway.

“The mark… of our lady… impossible!”

An object zoomed by us like a shooting star, hitting the monster directly in the chest and toppling it over onto its back. I grinned as I looked over my shoulder at the source.

“It’s about damn time, magical girl-san.”

With a fierce look in her eyes and a sparkling blue aura like the one surrounding us, the magical girl had finally rejoined the fray.

“Here to extinguish evildoers, wherever they may be present, and to protect those who can’t protect themselves. To preserve the hopes and dreams of every little girl who has ever dreamed of becoming a hero. To beat the holy hell out of sirenheaded… things, until they cry for their momma.” The girl smiled, nodding slightly. “And Ruri’s best friend… Kururu Ururaka-chan, defender of justice!”

Barrel guy beamed, and I chuckled a bit at the absurdity of the entrance.

“A little birdie told me that we have what it takes to kick this thing’s butt now.” Kururu skated beside us. “But we’ll have to do it in a hurry before the buff she gave us wears off. That okay with you dudes?”

Our tank tilted his head in confusion, presumably at the mention of ‘she’ in Kururu’s explanation, but I nodded knowingly.

“Wouldn’t be the first time we were up against a time crunch, would it?” I drew my revolvers. “So let’s finish this nice and early this time!”

“I like it!”

The three of us charged into action, filled with newfound strength and spirit. The colossus, chest still sizzling from Kururu’s surprise attack, let out a guttural roar and stomped its foot once again to knock us off balance.

However—instead of being tossed aside—I jumped cleanly over the shockwave as if defying gravity. That wasn’t all. My shots hit with lethal precision and velocity, puncturing the beast where they would simply bounce off before. This ‘buff’ that Kururu described was no bluff, and it showed.

Barrel guy tossed his shield like a frisbee and it clanked against the siren-shaped head of the colossus and returned to his hand. Kururu, meanwhile, shot forward with her staff like a corkscrew, using it as a lance to pierce the right shoulder of the creature. It swiped at her and missed badly.

How quickly the tide could turn from certain death to cautious optimism and possible victory. But when I saw us all working in tandem like this, I could hardly even entertain the possibility of failure.

Despite not having eyes, the colossus was not so senseless as to not feel the shift in momentum as well. It faltered in its attacks, taking on a defensive stance as we pressed the issue.

“I guess even monsters can feel fear.”

Slowly but surely we were wearing it down with our timely barrage, but the limit of our power boost arrived much sooner than I had anticipated. The blue aura surrounding us began to flicker.

“Give me one clean hit, dudes, like we planned before!” Kururu skated to the far end of the grotto, a sign that she was ready to put our last-ditch plan back into effect before our buff ran out, and our chances of putting this thing away for good.

Barrel guy ran to the opposite side and held up his shield like he was bracing for impact, leaving me alone in the center of the grotto with the colossus looming over me.

“Pin that thing down, Cowboy!” Kururu shouted, throwing her fist up.

How lucky of me to be the designated bait, but it can’t be helped.

Instead of waiting for it to attack, I rushed in and fired two shots at the ceiling while diving between the creature’s legs.

It stomped and punched at the ground wildly in an attempt to catch me, but I kept evading whilst shooting more rounds up into the limestone above.

“Too slow, partner!”

“That’s…enough!”

Growing frustrated, the colossus finally let out the same ear-piercing screech from before.

Due to my close proximity to the beast, the sound was enough to incapacitate me again, even with the benefit of the boost. However, that was exactly what we wanted to happen. While its focus was drawn to me to finish me off, the colossus didn’t notice the huge falling chunks of limestone.

Loosened by a combination of my well-placed rounds and the creature causing the ground to shake once more. It was pinned under the rubble, still alive and angry as hell, but struggling to free itself.

“This is it!” Kururu sprang into action skating at her top speed in the direction of our tank. She did a flip and landed on the surface of his shield feet-first.

“ORRRRRRRAAAAA!” Barrel guy spun around, using the magical girl’s momentum and his own strength to become a launchpad, sending her flying towards the colossus.

Kururu pirouetted at high speed, moving like a hot pink missile in pursuit of her target. With the sharp end of her staff pointed forward, she name-dropped our plan in broken English. Operation—

“—STAR DRIVER!!”

There was a blinding flash of light, and Kururu burst through the chest of the monster with a loud squelch. A few seconds passed by in silence, and the iron colossus finally fell to its knees with a crash. Kururu landed beside me with a perfect dismount.

“Nice job, kid,” I smirked. “But you could’ve stepped in sooner, you know? I thought you might have kicked the bucket for real.”

“Is that genuine concern I sense, Cowboy?” Kururu teased. “You’re gonna make me blush. I knew we were pals.”

“Alright, alright.”

Black mist emanated from the monster’s body as it reached out a hand toward us.

“Our lady…gave us purpose…created us…to save this world…to end their suffering…but Hunters…fight in vain…”

“So someone sent you to do this. Was it the person that snuck into the mine?” Kururu questioned the monster. “Who is it?”

“The light…fades, always fleeting…in time you will see…our cause…the truth of what you do not know…we are not…the villains…”

“Tell that to the people you attacked.” I spat.

“A simulation…a bad dream…we can’t wake up…this was…a necessary sacrifice…the end is warm, but this place…you will understand…but not this time…”

With one last cry, it burst into countless black butterflies which intermingled with the blue ones before flying away. My eyes widened as, in the place the monster lay, several Eternals stood facing us with bright smiles. However, they were only shades of people, opaque in appearance and they were all dressed in mining gear.

“The miners… so that means they really were…” Kururu began but shook her head. “You don’t have to worry anymore. You’re… free to go now.”

The miners all nodded in appreciation and waved goodbye before fading away into ones and zeros, having been released from their shared existence within that monster. The amalgamation of voices was probably their various personalities attempting to break through to the surface. What a horrifying experience that must have been.

“Rest in peace,” I added.

“We’re alive, but I don’t feel like we won…” Kururu sighed deeply. “I’m gonna need a magical nap after all this excitement.”

“That’s for sure. Oh, and by the way thanks for saving my skin back there, big fella.” I turned my attention to barrel guy who gave me a thumbs-up.

“Wooooooo!” Archie, who had been a floating husk for the duration of the battle, sprang back to life. “Supporter systems back online, and excellent work you three. I hope I did not miss all the fun, Jiro.”

“I don’t know if I’d call it ‘fun’, but what’s important is that we survived. With only mild posttrauma, I reckon.” I said. “I have to say—and I can’t believe I’m saying this—but I missed the sound of your voice, Archie. And this lousy music too.”

I noticed the overworld theme had also returned.

“Can I take that to mean that you have had a change of heart, and see the immense value in a Supporter such as myself?”

“You’re pushing your luck, pal. You volunteered me for the advance party in the first place, don’t think I forgot that little detail. And then went offline to boot.”

“Yes, yes, I suppose what you say is true,” Archie admitted without sounding the least bit guilty about it. “But also consider that—……”

Archie paused his retort and turned in the direction of one of the cave openings. Right before I was about to ask what was up Kururu looked up from her wristwatch with a worried expression.

“We’ve got a problem, Cowboy. The threat level is climbing.” Kururu pointed her staff in the direction Archie was turned. “We’re about to get a whole lot of company.”

Company?

The ground began to rumble and I heard a clicking noise approaching.

“Oh no…”

A tsunami of polymorphic crickets burst through every possible opening in the grotto, even dropping down from the waterfall until they surrounded us like we were on a stranded island in an ocean of the things.

“Uhhhh, who’s up for Star Driver part two?” Kururu chuckled nervously as we all stood back-to-back.

“I don’t think that’s gonna work this time…”

The supporter system was back online, which meant that respawning was now an option. But the pain of getting ripped to shreds by thousands of bugs was hardly a fitting reward for our struggles thus far, and there was no way we could fight them all at once.

Suddenly, just before pouncing on our party of three and Archie, the bugs all exploded into black dust one after another until they were all gone, leaving no living creature in the grotto besides us.

“Uhhh…. What just happened, Archie?”

“The rest of the raid party must have just completed their assignment and destroyed the heart of the corruption. All threats in the vicinity have been terminated, and no casualties are reported at this time.”

“We did it!” Kururu declared. “We really did it…”

We all collapsed in relief, too tired to move for some time.

“HUNTER PROTOCOL HAS BEEN INITIATED. ALL HUNTERS WILL BE RETURNED TO THE LAUNCH BAY FOR PROVISIONING IN T-MINUS FIVE MINUTES…”

Good, I couldn’t wait to get to the mess hall and eat some gruel for once.

“You know, I’ve been wondering something since we got here, guys…” Kururu said, staring at a single blue butterfly as it floated above us in a circle.

“Yeah, and what have you been wondering?” I asked, smiling to myself after a hard day’s work.

“What the heck is a ByteCoin?”