The landscape they stepped out into after running full tilt down the blue, swirling mass of solid mist was alien, nearly a wasteland of burned out buildings, piles of refuse, and homeless urchins digging through trash heaps for their next meal. A block away, though, stood a four-story building that stuck out like a sore thumb. There were trees on the roof ? sakura trees, like those along the Philosopher's Path in Kyoto, in fact. A bamboo grove surrounded Foo Dogs at the building's entrance. Balconies decorated with hanging plants indicated that it was most likely an apartment house. But who would choose to live surrounded by such destruction and despair?
They had lost Lao's trail after that...oni...had picked him up and carried him down the tunnel. Finding him again would no doubt prove to be impossible, but none of the four kyodai wanted to be the one to tell the oyabun that Lao had escaped...again. So they decided to make the burned-out building at their back their base of operations and organised themselves. One of them, Daichi, volunteered to remain near the spot where they'd arrived, while the other three, Takahiro, Ren, and Naoki, spread out and tried to track down Lao. They had cell phones; they'd keep in constant contact with one another and when (if) the portal opened again, Daichi would phone immediately.
Takahiro met his Fate first, in the form of a hungry dragon. It happened while he was on the phone with Daichi, who heard a roar like a freight train, followed by Takahiro's screams ? such horrible sounds! ? and the staccato bursts of a machine pistol firing. The screams were cut off abruptly, only to be followed by an awful crunching sound, like someone eating senbei. Then...silence. It was the evening of their first day in Rhy'Din.
Naoki was second to die. The eldest of the little group, the one with the least amount of common sense, Naoki was prideful and c*cksure. He challenged a man to a fight over a small insult and soon discovered why it wasn't a good idea to offend werewolves. Naoki's opponent took one look at the gun in the kyodai's hand, laughed, and separated Naoki's head from his shoulders in one swipe of a clawed paw. He'd made it to the morning of their second day in Rhy'Din.
Ren made it the longest. A quiet, thoughtful man who might have gone far in the ninkyō dantai if not for the fact that he chose the wrong spot to rest. On the afternoon of their third day in Rhy'Din, he went south through the city, into a wooded area and had come across a peaceful lake. Ren sat down beside the still waters, slipped his shoes off and rested against a tree, closing his eyes and listening to the relaxing sounds of nature. Soon he heard the beautiful singing of a woman and stood up, looking around for the source of the song. He spotted a half-naked woman sitting atop a rock in the lake. When she beckoned to him, he dove into the water...and was swallowed whole by the lake monster inhabiting the waters. He left behind only a pair of shoes.
When the portal finally opened during the evening of the third day, only Daichi remained. But the stories he had for the oyabun! Stories of magic, of technology light years ahead of anything the industrious Japanese could even imagine. Stories of businesses, like breweries, movie studios, textile plants, and weapons manufacturers, ripe for the taking. The Aizukotetsu-kai would be the only Yakuza organisation in Japan to have access to the wealth in this bizarre little world, the only Yakuza group growing fat off the marrow sucked out of the bones of this new world. And Daichi would be heralded as a hero because he'd survived to tell the oyabun about it.
They had lost Lao's trail after that...oni...had picked him up and carried him down the tunnel. Finding him again would no doubt prove to be impossible, but none of the four kyodai wanted to be the one to tell the oyabun that Lao had escaped...again. So they decided to make the burned-out building at their back their base of operations and organised themselves. One of them, Daichi, volunteered to remain near the spot where they'd arrived, while the other three, Takahiro, Ren, and Naoki, spread out and tried to track down Lao. They had cell phones; they'd keep in constant contact with one another and when (if) the portal opened again, Daichi would phone immediately.
Takahiro met his Fate first, in the form of a hungry dragon. It happened while he was on the phone with Daichi, who heard a roar like a freight train, followed by Takahiro's screams ? such horrible sounds! ? and the staccato bursts of a machine pistol firing. The screams were cut off abruptly, only to be followed by an awful crunching sound, like someone eating senbei. Then...silence. It was the evening of their first day in Rhy'Din.
Naoki was second to die. The eldest of the little group, the one with the least amount of common sense, Naoki was prideful and c*cksure. He challenged a man to a fight over a small insult and soon discovered why it wasn't a good idea to offend werewolves. Naoki's opponent took one look at the gun in the kyodai's hand, laughed, and separated Naoki's head from his shoulders in one swipe of a clawed paw. He'd made it to the morning of their second day in Rhy'Din.
Ren made it the longest. A quiet, thoughtful man who might have gone far in the ninkyō dantai if not for the fact that he chose the wrong spot to rest. On the afternoon of their third day in Rhy'Din, he went south through the city, into a wooded area and had come across a peaceful lake. Ren sat down beside the still waters, slipped his shoes off and rested against a tree, closing his eyes and listening to the relaxing sounds of nature. Soon he heard the beautiful singing of a woman and stood up, looking around for the source of the song. He spotted a half-naked woman sitting atop a rock in the lake. When she beckoned to him, he dove into the water...and was swallowed whole by the lake monster inhabiting the waters. He left behind only a pair of shoes.
When the portal finally opened during the evening of the third day, only Daichi remained. But the stories he had for the oyabun! Stories of magic, of technology light years ahead of anything the industrious Japanese could even imagine. Stories of businesses, like breweries, movie studios, textile plants, and weapons manufacturers, ripe for the taking. The Aizukotetsu-kai would be the only Yakuza organisation in Japan to have access to the wealth in this bizarre little world, the only Yakuza group growing fat off the marrow sucked out of the bones of this new world. And Daichi would be heralded as a hero because he'd survived to tell the oyabun about it.