Bit of an oops here: I've been calling the tsuba of the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi the tsuka since the concept of the sword came into the story. I've fixed that in this chapter, so to avoid confusion, tsuka = handle, tsuba = guard. Sorry everybody!
Also, BIG BIG BIG thanks to my buddy Kelsei Toth a.k.a. Katzykins, she helped me seriously re-tune a scene that could have and probably would have caused a lot of controversy. The scene in question seemed way off base, so I asked her opinion and help in finding an alternative, and she was able to give me a way to cut out the bad scene and still carry the story in the right direction. It's still pretty gross, so be warned. Anyway, here it all is! Next time you guys read this story, our heroes will be back in the present, and plotting how to re-kick Victor's ass!
A large shadow rose from the depths, followed by a piercing screech. It grew louder as the shape grew closer to the surface. The drawbridge ascended to its full height with a groan that could be heard over the screeching. From within the shadows arose a man in a sharp suit, his round face and neat silver hair interrupted by cold, black eyes and a sharp-toothed grin. “Why bother imitating the mayor, freak?”, Aaron yelled across the distance, “Somebody would have to be pretty dumb to vote for you.” He licked off a shot. Dylan did the same. “Friend,”, he corrected Aaron, “He ran unopposed.” The two emptied their clips into the demon without another word. Its face and chest were riddled with lead, but it simply floated down as if unharmed, and alighted on the walkway alongside the drawbridge. It betrayed its somewhat poor physical state by spitting a mouthful of green liquid into the Intercoastal, but otherwise stood firm, grinning insincerely from behind a facade of the mayor’s face.
Aaron was the first to charge. Rather than running at the creature head-on, he ran up the vertical drawbridge a ways, then leapt off to land next to the creature. The demon blocked, expecting a flying kick from off the drawbridge. Instead, when Aaron landed, he shot up into the air and fed the demon a telling uppercut, knocking it into the water. It jumped back out, red light spilling from a hole in its jaw. Dylan followed up with a creeping feint kick, keeping his frame low to the ground, then savagely smashed the demon’s head with two hands, sending it flying chin-first into the ground. The demon arose, this time with most of its face missing and red light pouring out from the empty space. It swiped its claws at Aaron in a wide, clumsy arc, but with enough power to shear the wind and cause a gust of pressure. Aaron ducked under the claw swipe, but the powerful wind it generated knocked him off of his feet. Dylan was by his side instantly, helping him up. Before the two could steady themselves, the beast was upon them. Its massive fangs sunk into Dylan’s shoulder, and yanked him up to throw him into the Intercoastal. Aaron took that chance to catch it off-guard, seizing one leg and whirling it round and round, bashing its head into the concrete every rotation. Finally, he threw the demon into the water, and it did not rise again. The water bubbled and boiled, and a loud scream echoed, then it was gone.
After fishing his friend out of the water, Aaron hauled him over to a bench and sat him down. The two sat together for a few minutes in silence, then finally made their way back to their car. The trek to Clearwater Beach was otherwise uneventful, the idyllic tropical scenery passing the pair by as they moved with the traffic. The drawbridge had seemingly been visibly bent by the demon taking the Mayor’s form, but resumed operating without issue once the demon was gone. “So, does this mean…”, Aaron started to ask. Dylan interrupted him, visibly shaken. “Yes, dear boy,” he sighed, “It means that the demons may have already infiltrated government offices, at least at the city level.” Aaron nodded. “What about the Church? Do you think they would be vulnerable?” Dylan shook his head. “After seeing everything I’ve seen in the past seventy-two hours, I’m unsure of what is and is not real. If the Church of Scientology holds any real spiritual power, it’s doubtful that they would fail to detect a demon among them.”
The two men went down Mandalay into North Beach, and pulled into a squat abode along Bruce. Aaron fished some keys out of his pockets, and pressed a button on the key fob. The garage door opened, and the two drove in. They both got out with their guns at the ready, then scanned the area. Content, they put their guns away, walked out of the garage, and watched the door descend. They turned to face the minimally adorned entryway. Aaron’s keys opened the door, and they found the lights on inside. After the front door, the house dipped into the ground. The two walked down after locking the door, and found themselves face to face with their new safehouse. It was quite small on the inside, with a single bedroom and a small living room flanking a walk-in kitchen and a single bathroom. Aaron whipped out his cell phone and shot a quick text message to Todd, then made a call. Dylan flitted about the small home nervously while Aaron spoke with somebody he obviously trusted. Before long, there was a knock at the door.
The man who Aaron let in in filled the room with his presence. Dylan felt more than a little intimidated. “Welcome to my hideout, Sean.”, Aaron chuckled. The large man wrapped his arms around Aaron in a crushing bear hug, and Dylan felt just a little defensive. Sean plopped onto the couch, and extended a hand to Dylan. “You must be Dylan. I’ve heard a ton about you. Thanks for keeping ol’ Aaron “The Dragon” here safe.” Dylan cordially shook the hand offered, and nodded quickly. “Glad to help.”, he quipped. Sean nodded back at Dylan, then turned to Aaron. “So, you need the blade of Clearwater’s resident Totsuka-no-Tsurugi?” Aaron smiled and scoffed. “You don’t waste any time, do you, old buddy?” Aaron fished out the tsuba in its box and handed it to Sean. “I need the handle, too, but as far as I know, you only know where the blade is.” Sean took the tsuba from its box and turned it in his hands, hefting its considerable weight. “Right you are, buddy. But with both the blade and the tsuka, we can find the handle. But see, there’s a wrinkle.” Dylan’s nose scrunched. “What, pray tell, is this ‘wrinkle’?,” he winced. “You’ll have to take down a demon with the blade.” Aaron and Dylan nodded in unison. “Okay,” Aaron hummed, “The city is crawling with them, and that sword should be able to kill one with no issues. What’s the problem?” Sean coughed and sat down. “The handle is made to put a glove on the blade’s power, ya see. If it drinks some demon blood without that handle, the person holding it is in for a wild ride. It may even kill ‘em. Hell, even using it with the handle may be hard for an adult without a pure heart. Think about it; the last user was a deity, after all.” Aaron shook his head. “No choice. I have to use it. Is there any other way to suppress the blade’s power a bit?” Dylan perked up. “I think I know where to find that sort of information.” Aaron clapped him on the shoulder. “Nice save, buddy. I’m glad I can always count on you.” Sean got up with a wheeze, then turned and headed for the door. “I’ll call you boys when I got the blade, alright?” The door slammed, and he was gone. The door slammed again, and Aaron and Dylan were headed to the main Clearwater library on Osceola.
When they arrived at the library, the sky turned black over the parking lot. “Not again…”, Aaron muttered. The two got out of the car and found themselves face to face with Victor. “Found you fuckers.”, the demon said through the officer’s mouth. A flying kick sent their car over the Harborview just as Dylan rolled out onto the ground. A ring of flames erupted around the three. “You won’t escape this time!” Victor flew toward Aaron faster than he could react, knocking him off of his feet. A glowing hand shot down toward his heart, and Dylan’s knee made impact with the officer’s chest just in time to stop the deathblow. Aaron got to his feet and roared to the heavens. “This is it, God! Are you watching?!”, he cried, “It’s time to atone for my cowardice!” The demon laughed. His victim squealed in protest briefly, and the body they shared convulsed. Aaron seized the demon in a powerful bear hug while it fought with the noble policeman. “Dylan, now!”, he yelled. Dylan wasted no time in taking his cue, and a single powerful punch knocked the officer unconscious. With its vessel rendered temporarily useless, the demon had no choice but to flee. Aaron dragged Victor’s body into some nearby bushes. “As soon as he’s awake, that demon will come back for him.”, Aaron pointed out. Dylan nodded. “True, but we’ll be gone before that happens.”
The two walked in, and after a few words with the front desk attendant, Dylan was handed a desk phone with the head librarian on the other end. Dylan asked the attendant for some paper and a pen, and scrawled some instructions and a code in his all-too-neat hand. After hanging up the phone, he made his way to the back elevators with Aaron in tow. He punched in a sequence of numbers, and the elevator made a plunge. “This place has a basement?”, Aaron gasped. Dylan responded with a simple “mm-hm”, and the doors opened. A keypad was on the wall before the two, and nothing else. Dylan whipped the paper from his pocket and keyed in the passcode. The wall opened up, and Aaron could hardly believe his eyes. Three people stood before them, all armed to the teeth. One was a Clearwater PD officer with full body armor and a machine gun, another was a man in Japanese kabuto armor with a katana and machine pistol hanging on opposite hips, and one was a woman in a metallic Sea Org uniform with kevlar body armor underneath, holding a tactical shotgun with an attached grenade launcher in her slim hands. A blade and four different guns were pointed at Aaron and Dylan before either one could speak. “State your business quickly, or leave and forget what you’ve seen here.”, the woman said calmly, her shotgun unwavering. Dylan was the first to speak up. “This is Aaron Emmerich. He had an unwitting hand in the creation of the demon cop prowling the streets of this fine city, and would like to enlist your aid in cleaning up his mess.” The three looked him over. “How so?”, asked the Japanese man. They all lowered their weapons. “We need information.”, Aaron sighed, the tension flowing out of his body in a great heave. “We need to know where to find the handle of Clearwater’s very own Totsuka-no-Tsurugi, and we need to know if a certain alien weapon exists, and how to get it.” The three guards nodded, and reached behind them in unison to press three buttons. The wall behind them opened up to reveal a stark and minimal-looking stone chamber with a large number of people bustling about. “The records you will need are in shelves B-5 and C-9.”, the woman said. “The folders are labeled. You should have no trouble finding what you need.”, the man in kabuto armor added. The police officer chimed in. “Speak to nobody, and do not remove any records from this area. Write down the information you need, reshelve the materials, and leave.” After the three guards said their peace, they parted to allow Aaron and Dylan passage.
Aaron leafed through the folder on extraterrestrial weaponry in shelf C-9. He eventually found that the weapon he sought existed, and that it was commonly used in space battles. One such weapon, he found and wrote down, could be found buried directly beneath Pier 60’s main outbuilding, ten feet below the sand. One would need scuba gear and a shovel in order to reach the box it was stored in. Dylan, meanwhile, headed for shelf B-5 and quickly found the file on the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi. It had already been updated with the fact that Aaron had the tsuba, but the fact that he had given it to Sean had escaped notice. According to the document, the tsuba had fallen into the hands of a local crime lord in 1991, and had not been seen since. Dylan wrote down the crime lord’s information, then flipped to the next page. Therein, he found that the sword’s power could be suppressed for use without the tsuba, if needed, but doing so required the wielder to drink innocent blood just before using the sword. The document noted that the blood did not need to be from a mortal wound, and he knew exactly who he needed to call. He wrote down all the information and reshelved the document, then went to Aaron. “Ready to leave?”, he whispered. Aaron nodded silently, and the pair made their way out. A quick phone call to a nurse friend and a detour to a medical center saw the pair obtain a vial of a child’s blood. “I’m gonna have to drink that before I use the sword, aren’t I?”, Aaron said flatly, gagging a bit. Dylan sighed. “Indeed you are, chum.”
Before heading back to their hideout, Dylan stopped by a pawn shop and walked out with a laptop. The pair found, conveniently, that the hideout had Wi-Fi. Dylan spent a few hundred dollars online, and within days, was out on Clearwater Beach getting scuba lessons with gear that he owned. Aaron, meanwhile, received an incomplete Totsuka-no-Tsurugi from Sean, and began making phone calls all around the phone book to find a house in need of cleansing. After a few hours of cold calling, he finally found his demon to slay at a house on South Prospect. Pulling up to the house, he knocked on the door and wasted no time in asking the occupant where the demon could be found. The man living in the house corralled his wife and dog into the shed, then handed Aaron a full-length mirror with a cloth over it. “Enter and go right. There’s a small bedroom there.”, he warned breathlessly, making a swift exit from the house and peering at the dull and strange sword in Aaron’s hand. “Unveil the mirror in there, and the demon will come.” The man walked into the shed, turned on the light, and closed the door. Aaron took out the vial, and looked at it in disgust. “If I want to kill Victor…”, he sighed to himself, “I have to do this.” He opened the vial, and slowly raised it to his lips. He gagged, and had to move the vial quickly to avoid vomiting in it. After a few seconds of mentally gathering himself, he managed to take a swig, then close up the vial and put it back in his pocket. The cold blood slid down his throat slowly, seemingly coating his insides with slime. It was all he could do not to let shudders jump through his whole body. Finally, he sighed and hefted his sword. The bare tang bit into his hand slightly. He put the mirror against the wall with his free hand, then did as the man had instructed. A pallid creature with a faint red tinge to its flesh stepped out of the mirror and began walking toward Aaron on three bowed legs with cloven hooves. It had six arms, each ending in a long and bloodsoaked claw. It had no face to speak of, so Aaron focused on its midsection and waited for an attack.
The demon charged, and all six of its claws came at Aaron with great speed. He deflected the swipes with his sword, each parry drawing a bit of blood from his hand. The blade glowed brightly when the blood hit it, and sailed through the demon’s powerful claws like butter. Aaron grinned, then ducked under a kick and countered with his own. The forceful kick sent the demon crashing into the mirror, shattering it. Aaron pierced the blade through the demon, pinning it to the mirror’s battered frame. The demon’s mouthless scream echoed, and a pillar of blinding light shot down from the sky to fill the room. Aaron and the sword both glowed, and the steel of the bare tang began to flex and smoke. Aaron quickly unhanded the sword, and found that it had been trying to mold to his hand, or perhaps even enter the wounds that it had left in his hands. When the glow finally died down, Aaron was able to put his hands on the sword and retrieve it. The demon’s carcass did not dissipate, so Aaron simply pulled at its limbs until it came apart, then enlisted the homeowner’s help in burying those pieces.
Aaron and Dylan met back up at the hideout with an activated sword and a small and queer pistol to show for their efforts. Aaron tried the pistol out on a lone candle sitting on the nightstand, and found that the candle was whisked away as if disintegrated. “This must be what we need.”, he mumbled. Dylan laughed. “My God, it’s actually real!” He howled with laughter and sat on the bed. “This is all so real!” Aaron nodded. “Yep, it’s real. Now, we have a tsuka to find.” The pair got up, weapons in hand, and went to their car yet again. Aaron held the steering wheel in one hand and the sword in the other, and it led him to a manhole in the Countryside area. He could practically hear the tsuka calling to the rest of the sword. It took them only a few minutes to find the handle, lying dormant in the foul-smelling water. Whoever had last owned it had apparently decided it was not worth the trouble and gotten rid of it in the least graceful way possible. The handle came out of the water clean and dry, surrounded by a faint light. When it was attached to the rest of the sword and affixed with bamboo pegs, the entire sword became a strip of bright light. “All that’s left now is to find the bastard.”, Aaron sighed. The pair made their way back to the surface and back to their hideout to begin watching for signs of Victor’s activities.
A few days into having their ears to the ground, the pair received a call from Todd. “Yo”, Aaron answered, “Where is the fucker?” Todd breathed a long sigh before answering. “You’re going to have to bait him, and your method to do that is going to be at the door in a few minutes.” “What are you talking about, Todd?”, Aaron demanded, “Answer me!” Todd scoffed. “Dude, listen. I figured out his M.O.” Aaron activated his phone’s speaker, and both he and Dylan confirmed that they were listening. “He wants to destabilize Clearwater and raise an army of demons to claim power, then spread his influence worldwide. His endgame is to take over the world and raise portals to Hell so that demons can roam free, and the first step is to kill some prominent Japanese nationals and piss off Nagano. They won’t accept teenage fantasy as an explanation for the Mayor’s adopted daughter dying. You get to protect her.” “You can’t be fucking serious.”, Aaron sighed, “We get to babysit a Japanese national?” A simple “Yep” was all Todd could get out before there was a knock at the door. The two explained things to Haruka, the girl at the door, and she took the information in stride. The three of them piled into the car and went to a desolate strip of I-275 to wait for their prey. Haruka seemed unfazed about being live bait, instead asking questions about the area, and things to see and do in Clearwater. The two young men were all too happy to oblige, telling her all about Clearwater Beach, the main library, and concerts in Coachman Park to take their minds off of what was about to conspire.
Victor arrived in a stretch limo, accompanied by a cadre of armed men and women in black suits. “You won’t win,” he said to the three hopeful heroes, “Give up.” Haruka whipped out an uzi before any mortal could react, and mowed down the entire enemy line, save for Victor. “That should make things easier for you! Ganbare, Aaron-san! Dylan-San!” With that, Haruka backed away and hid behind the car. The two men had no time to be impressed or shocked by Haruka’s carrying and being able to use a gun. Victor was upon them in a flash, and Aaron found himself fighting alone almost instantly. Dylan flew into the car after eating a powerful punch, and was knocked out on impact with the car door.
Aaron whipped out the vial of child’s blood and bit off the top, downing the rest of the liquid. The slimy feeling made him want to throw up, but he knew there was no choice. He passed the edge of the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi over his wrist, and the steel bit his flesh. Upon contact with his blood, the sword was engulfed in flames. “What a fancy trick.”, Victor snarked. A few sickening pops, and a blade of bone shot forth from his right arm. “I got a sword, too.” The bone blade ignited with a dark fire, and Aaron could hear the screams of the damned coming from it. He felt the divine strength of the sword become his own, and charged. His speed and strength matched Victor’s on equal ground. A holy sword of cleansing flame and a sharpened bone engulfed in hellfire met, and neither gave an inch. After a few seconds locked, Aaron pushed to the left and swerved over to the right, then fed Victor a telling spin kick to the chest. The demon-possessed cop coughed up some glowing blood and staggered a few steps, dropping his guard. Aaron threw another kick, this one at his head, and grounded him. Finally, he raised the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi to the heavens, and plunged it into Victor’s chest. The officer spat blood. “I’ll be back,” he gasped. “I’ll come back to Clearwater to finish what I started one day, and I’ll make damn sure to kill everybody who has even the slightest connection to you.” Another spurt of blood served as an exclamation point. “If you’re stupid enough to come back, I’ll kill you and level this city. I’m tied to you, and if you come back, I’ll know” Finally, the unholy light faded from Victor’s eyes, and both he and the demon fell silent. Aaron withdrew the sword and handed it to Haruka. “As a Japanese national, this belongs to you.”, he explained with a smile. He gently woke Dylan, then took the intergalactic weapon from him and cast Victor’s remains into the void.
The three spent a happy few days living together in their Clearwater Beach hideout before Todd called with bad news. Aaron picked up the phone. “Todd, buddy,” he bellowed, “Speak the good word, sir!” Todd clicked his tongue. “Sorry dude,” he chided, “Bad news this time. Clearwater PD, the church, and Nagano officials all want to find out who you are. Somebody on the road recorded your battle with the cop.” Aaron’s heart fell into his stomach. “I…” he stammered, “I have to leave, don’t I?” Dylan and Haruka both hugged him goodbye while he talked over relocation arrangements with Todd, and then helped him pack his few belongings. Dylan’s new girlfriend, Terra, happened to be over at the time, and made Aaron a lunch for the road. A cab arrived shortly to take Aaron to Tampa International Airport, and he was whisked away from his hometown to lay low in nearby Tennessee. Dylan and Todd were the only people who knew his new address and phone number in Sevierville.
In the hospital room, Aaron finished his explanation. “I didn’t believe him. I thought we had actually managed to kill him. For God’s sake, I used a holy sword on him, then put his body into a black hole for good measure!” Aaron broke down in tears, thinking for the first time about his role in Victor’s return. Almost everybody in the room descended upon him in a silent group hug as he sobbed bitterly. “It’s okay, Uncle Aaron,” Haruka cooed, “I still have the sword, and Uncle Dylan knows where the space weapon is. We can beat him again, and find a way to make it stick this time.” Aaron’s sobs stopped, and he hugged everybody around him tight. “You’re right, Haruka.”, he said boldly, “Together, we can defeat Victor once and for all, and bring peace to Clearwater.”
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