The Forgotten Journey

 

Chapter Three: Master Ham-Ham

By: Sci-Fi-Raptor

 

            The warmth of the shining sun on my face gently woke me up. Nearby, animals were scurrying about their daily business. The aroma of some kind of stew filled the air.

            “It’s about time you got up” she told me.

            “What time is it?” I said.

            “About ten”

            “I guess I overslept” I said, yawning.

            “Well, breakfast is ready Inuyasha, eat up”

            “Okay” I got up and looked at the pot. There was this mass of nasty looking stuff boiling in there. “There is no way I’m eating that!” I said. But then my damned nose decided to work and it made my mouth water.

            “Are you sure?”

            “Well…”

            “One thing I learned over the years is that with the right ingredients, you can make anything smell or taste like anything” she said, and gave me a bowl of the stuff.

            “Ain’t that bad” I commented, after taking a sip.

            “Well, eat up. We have a lot of catching up to do. My friend started before sunrise”

            “How do you know?”

            “We have this connection” was all she said. We finished our meal and started walking. Not too long after noon, we stopped for a while and finished off the strips of rabbit for lunch. We walked on without indecent till sunset, where we found a clearing. But something was wrong; this was where we were supposed to meet her friend.

~

            I woke up to the sounds of a steady hum. I opened my eyes to see that it was still dark outside. I got up, sure that I wouldn’t fall asleep anymore, to see Kikyo in a deep state of meditation. I guess she noticed me, since she then opened her eyes.

            “I see that you’re awake”

            “I couldn’t sleep anymore”

            “Well, would you like to meditate with me?”

            “Well, no. I think we should eat and then start our journey. We still have some distance to travel, but we could make it today if we start soon” I said.

            “Agreed” she said. We had a hearty meal of bear strips for our breakfast, and started walking to our destination. The whole time, Kikyo kept on needing breaks, since she couldn’t walk too much. Around midday, we stopped and had some more bear strips for lunch. We kept on walking till we were blocked by a thick of tree and foliage that we couldn’t possible go through.

            “Well, I guess we have to go around it” Kikyo said.

            “No, it’ll take too long. It would be easier if we climbed it and went above.”

            “I don’t know if I can climb it”

            “It’s easy, just do this” I said, as I started to climb.

            “Easy for you to say” We scaled the trees quickly, and reached the top. Then we jumped from tree to tree, and made our way through the woods.

            “Hey, I can see the site from here” I said, spotting the place where we’d meet. Then I noticed the monkey. I focused on it and found a face only a mother could love. It had enlarged incisors and burning red demon-eyes. The monkey made its demon-call, and lunged towards me. Before anything happened, Kikyo cast a spell on it that set it on fire; it flew in the wind as a mass of burning ashes.

            “Phew” I said. Then I noticed the sea of red below us. “Uh oh” we said in unison. We quickly tried to cover the distance between the site and us, but the sea of red got between our target and us. They started forming a circle around us, but Kikyo said: “We have to go back”, which we instantly did, jumping as fast as we could to get out of there. Behind us, we could hear the commotion caused by the hundreds of bloodthirsty monkeys. I looked back to see a mass of brown and red in close pursuit above the canopy.

“Wait” I said, as I had an idea.

“Are you crazy?” Kikyo replied.

“Just give me a second” I said. Then I pulled down my pants and farted. The stench of the emission kept the monkeys away for a few minutes, widening the gap between us. Kikyo got a head start, probably repulsed. by my act> seeing that I had to put my pants back on, but we covered a respectable distance. Sure that the monkeys had lost us, we found a fallen tree to lay low just in case they found our scent. In a few minutes, the hoard of primates swept over our tree, and headed of in another direction.

“That was close” I commented.

“I don’t think we’re out of the hole yet” Kikyo warned. She pointed at a lone monkey, which was sniffing around. For a few long moments, we were quiet as terrified mice, making ourselves as invisible as possible. But the harder we tried, the closer it came to us.

“I can’t take this anymore” Kikyo finally said. She quietly cast a spell on it that made is burn, just like the other monkey. Unfortunately, it wasn’t fast enough, since at that time, it found us and made a shriek.

“Damn” I said, as I heard the howling of the pack all over the jungle. “We have to move” I said, and we started running around the jungle with the monkeys on our heels. We ran for what felt like an hour, and we knew we couldn’t keep it up for long. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a pond. “I got another idea” I said, as I pulled her to the lake.

The monkeys followed the scent of the human and other thing. They followed the scent all the way to the water hole. After scouring the lake, they lost interest, not finding any trace of them. Within the hour, the monkey demons dispersed, the last one leaving with a snarl. In the lake, a pair of reeds could be seen fidgeting with the wind. On a stone in the lake a few feet away we can see our heroes coming out of an invisibility cloak.

“You had that this whole time?” Kikyo said stuttering.

“Yes”

“Then why didn’t you use it?” she said with an angry face and her sweat dropping.

“They would have still smelled our scent and it would have been useless. But over the lake, our scents become absorbed by the water evaporating.”

“Oh” she said, and the anger left her face. The two swam to the shore and continued their trek, wary of demon-monkeys or any other beasts. For the rest of their journey, they walked on undisturbed. By the time they had reached the site, it was dark, but they used the campfire as a homing beacon. When they reached the site, they saw a girl stirring a stew and Inuyasha waiting with his claws unsheathed. “Iron reaver, soul stealer!” he said, and attacked; the two barely dodged it.

“Inuyasha, how nice to see you again.” Kikyo said in an acid tone.

“I could smell you a mile off” he said, and prepared his next attack.

            “Stop! We didn’t go through all this trouble to bring you two together again, just so you could kill yourselves!” the older Muad’ib said.

            “What are you talking about?” Kikyo said as she dodged another assault.

            “We brought you together so you could get revenge on the one that wronged you” the younger one said.

            “And I’m about to get it, she is the one that sealed me for eternity!” said Inuyasha as he attacked again.

            “It was because you stole the Shikon Jewel and then attacked me cold bloodedly that I cursed you for all eternity” accused Kikyo.

            “I stole the Shikon Jewel because you attacked me from behind for no reason!” snarled Inuyasha.

            “I attacked you because you attacked me and told me of your intention of using the Jewel to become fully demon!”

            “No I didn’t! I went after the Jewel because you attacked me!” said Inuyasha, and went into an attack pose.

            “That’s a lie. I attacked cursed you because you attacked me! I never started it!”

            “Well I know I didn’t start it!”

            “Neither of you did” said a British sounding voice.

            “Huh?” said the two and looked at the source. What they saw was… nothing. They looked around but they still couldn’t find it.

            “Down here… (-_-‘)” said the voice. The two looked lower look and found a hamster wearing shrunk Japanese attire. Kikyo laughed a bit and Inuyasha licked his lips.

            “Were you just speaking to us?” said Kikyo, pointing at the animal and still giggling.

            “Hey, where’s the kids?” Inuyasha said.

            “Well, in the order you asked, yes, and they never existed.” Said the small furry animal.

            “What?” said inuyasha.

            “I said, ‘Well, in the order-‘” the hamster started to say.

            “I heard what you said, but what do you mean by ‘They never existed’?” questioned Inuyasha.

            “I’ll try to explain it in terms even you should be able to understand” said the British sounding hamster in a condescending tone.

            “Is that supposed to mean something?!” Inuyasha said, and was about to shred the morsel of flesh to nothing, but was held back by Kikyo.

            “All I did was project energy to that it looked like humans. After that, all I had to do was manipulate the energy so it spoke and acted human. All they really were, were devices to communicate to you with.” It said matter-of-factly.

            “You mean she wasn’t real?” said Inuyasha disappointedly. “she was a great cook…”

            “You mean I was a great cook.” Said the rat. “As I said, I manipulated the energies. It was my cooking that you ate”

            “Oh…” said Inuyasha. Then he realized that Kikyo was still behind him, after she was restraining him earlier. He quickly turned back and said: “I’m not done with you yet.” To Kikyo.

            “Inuyasha” Kikyo said in an acrid tone, as she was ready to attack

            “AS I was saying, neither of you started this feud.” Said the Hamster.

            “Then who did?” said Kikyo, easing up.

            “He is an abomination known a Naraku. He took shape to both of your bodies to make you two think that you had betrayed each other. Unfortunately, you two trusted each other as much as thieves and you fell into his trap.”

            “Why I ought to…” said Inuyasha, ready to stomp it to infinity., but was restrained by Kikyo once again.

            “He is right, Inuyasha. We turned on each other with no hesitation.” Said Kikyo, and turned Inuyasha so that they could see eye to eye.

            “Well…” said Inuyasha, and held her hands in his.

            “Hey, I didn’t bring you two back just to go all googoo gaagaa on me.” said the rat.

            “Does he ever shut up” Inuyasha quietly said to Kikyo, who made a soft giggle.

            “What was that?” said the vermin.

            “Oh nothing” said Inuyasha, who turned toward it, but didn’t look it in the eye.

            “Well, anyway. Since you two lovebirds lost it, it is now the duty of you two to retrieve the Shikon Jewel for me, so that I can safely hide it from all so that it can’t be misused again.” Said the hamster.

            “But the Shikon Jewel has a very high potential to do good” argued Kikyo.

            “That is true, but to me, it seems that its potential to do evil is far greater. You will see what Naraku has done with it as I guide you two to him.” Said the rat. They ate the soup for supper and went to sleep. Early the next morning, the rat woke them all up, and started walking along a third path that the two had never seen.

            “I have one question” Kikyo asked as they walked.

            “And what is that? Do you wish to know my name?”

            “I know your name, its Muad’ib.” said Kikyo nonchalantly. The hamster’s face showed disappointment, because he was hoping they wouldn’t see the connection. “But what I wanted to know was what did the symbols on the children’s shields represent?”

            “Simple, they were the Ying and Yang of the moon spirit” said the hamster, and continued walking.

            “Oh yes, I see. How could I have not realized that before?” said Kikyo thinking aloud. The two followed him farther into the darkening path.

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