13 “Launch:City:Maker!” The Yamanote Line continued to hunt down Jabi and Actagawa, but between the crab’s hefty claws and the master’s skillful bow, the pair were making short work of the trains. “…Damn it all. It’s just a crab. How can it maneuver so swiftly?!” Rage gnawed on his fingernails as he watched the smooth interplay between the duo. Then a broad smile appeared on his face. He raised his arms again, and blue particles swarmed his entire body. “…In that case, I shall have to deprive the horse of its rider,” he muttered before launching himself off the rooftop and toward Actagawa, just as he was dodging one of the trains. Rage spun in the air, delivering a mighty roundhouse kick toward the old man in the saddle. “…! Nrgh!” Jabi quickly blocked the attack with his bow, but the kick had the weight of a steel mallet and launched him backward onto the roof of the moving train. Rage landed a short distance away, boasting a triumphant sneer. “Now, that crab will no doubt soon be flattened, but I am loath to leave anything to chance. Once I take care of him, I’m coming for you, old man.” “Hyo-ho-ho-ho… Still looking down on me, boy?” said Jabi with blood pooling at his lips. “You should think about your excuse while you can…your excuse for losing to an old man.” “Insolence!” Rage plunged his arm into the roof of the train beneath his feet, and he tore up steel, forging in his hands what appeared to be a war hammer modeled after the carriage itself. Jabi leaped to a safe distance and fired a volley of arrows, all of which sank into Rage’s body, but the old man’s prized balloonshrooms showed no signs of sprouting. “It’s no use, old man!” he bellowed. “Apollo’s mushroom antidote program is already working against your spores!” Then he rushed forward with impressive speed, swinging the hammer overhead. The force of the swing drove Jabi down through the steel roof and into the carriage below, where he collided with the floor, shattering his bones and sending blood spilling from his mouth. Rage looked down through the hole in the ceiling and laughed. “Oh? Still alive, are we? It must be so very painful.” Jabi returned a bloodstained smile. “Painful? Hyo-ho… I think you knocked my spine back into shape!” “…Always with the jokes. Fine. Then this time, I’ll break you in half, old man!” My arrows ain’t workin’… Well, this is a bit of a pickle… What am I gonna do? In the dim light of the carriage, Jabi sharpened his senses, consulting his vast combat experience in search of the single golden thread that would lead him to victory. Bang! Bang! Bang! Deprived of his rider, Actagawa fought on with the combat strategies he knew by heart. As train after train came down the Yamanote Line toward him, he fended each of them off with his massive claws. All around him was the flaming wreckage of the carriages he had tossed aside or smashed apart. With the trains slowing their assault somewhat, Actagawa seized the opportunity and scuttled off in the direction of his master, when… …Ka-bam! A huge fist landed in his path, blocking the way and casting a shadow over even the considerably sized steelcrab himself. Actagawa turned to see the remaining trains coming together, forming into a humanoid shape. This bipedal weapon then began drawing the destroyed wrecks onto it, growing even larger. A robotic voice rang out, and blue particles began floating around the giant bipedal train-formed weapons platform. “Launch:Apollo:Train. Commencing extermination.” The robot, identifying itself as Apollo Train, smashed an arm into Actagawa. The crab blocked it with his claws, but a swing from its other arm sent him flying across the ground. There was a sickening Crack! as a split appeared in Actagawa’s prized shell. Thud! Thud! Thud! Apollo Train swung its fists relentlessly, knocking Actagawa from side to side and into a nearby building. As the concrete came crashing down around him, Actagawa struggled to his feet, only to be kicked mercilessly upward by the giant, and then immediately met by a fist and beaten down into the ground once more. Bathed in the light of the Apollo Particles, the Yamanote Line was more powerful now than ever before. Even Actagawa’s peerless shell was tragically riddled with cracks, and now a few small buildings and telegraph poles had taken root. With each attack, the urbanization would be broken off, only to grow back, each time spreading farther across his body. Yet even the prospect of his death did not dampen the force of Actagawa’s claws. He continued to parry Apollo Train’s enormous fists, waiting for his chance, before slipping around the back and launching himself at the titan’s knees. With one snip of his claw, he cleaved right through the steel leg supporting his foe. The entire upper portion pitched forward, but Actagawa did not stop there. Aiming at the head this time, he leaped up, swinging his claw for a final blow, when… …Clamp! One of the robot’s enormous hands closed around him, squeezing with tremendous strength. Actagawa’s shell began cracking apart, and he wriggled in pain. Apollo Train righted itself onto one knee and brought Actagawa’s struggling form up to its face, as if enjoying watching him squirm. With what little strength he had remaining, Actagawa managed to break free of the hand and swung his claw, striking at the train carriage that served as the robot’s wrist. The force shattered his shell, tearing off his own pincer, but also succeeded in breaking off the hand that held him, and the whole thing crashed to the ground. There, however, he stopped. His legs were broken. He could not even rise to his feet, let alone escape. Yet even now, stripped of his weapons and his means of locomotion, and with the urbanization eating away at his shell—even now, when the mere fact he still lived was a miracle in itself—even now, he spurred his body forward, in utter defiance of his foe. Apollo Train, regarding the minuscule object before it, saw that it possessed a mysterious and fearsome strength, and so opted to finish it off from long range. Huge plates in its chest parted, revealing a wave-motion cannon that began charging up blue particles. “Launch:City:Blaster. Charge levels at twenty percent.” The robotic voice rang out again, and the mechanism in the giant’s chest began revolving at high speed. It fixed its aim on Actagawa, and with his legs completely broken, the crab had no means to avoid the blast. Even so, he pulled himself closer, single-mindedly focused on his goal. “Charge levels at sixty percent.” The azure vortex shone even brighter, bathing Actagawa in blue. “Charge complete.” Just as Apollo Train was about to fire, Actagawa focused all his remaining strength into his broken legs and launched himself up like a rocket. Spinning his body like a drill, he stuck out his other smaller claw, and it plunged deep into the unarmored machinery of the cannon, coming clean out the other side. Now gripped in his humble pincer was the red cube that served as the metal golem’s core. He crushed it, and sparks flew all over the Yamanote Line. The colossus of steel shook. “Ci ty : B l as ter act iv ati on fa i le d .” Consecutive blasts rocked the titan’s frame, and jets of black smoke erupted from the cracks before one final explosion engulfed Apollo Train entirely. Then Actagawa, blown far above by the bomb blast, landed amid the flaming wreckage. Kerrang! Kerrang! Kerrang! Kerrang! Jabi leaped and rolled to dodge the sharp pantograph spears that Rage drove through the roof of the train carriage. Metal grinding against metal tossed out a spray of sparks that singed the old man’s cloak. Kerrang! “Ugh! Guh…” “Oh, did I get you there? Ha-ha-ha! Now, watch, as the city consumes you!” Blood dripping from his collar, Jabi scrambled to his feet and dashed past the rest of Rage’s attacks, making his way toward the front of the train. “Run away, old man! Not that there’s anywhere left for you to flee!” That man…so full of himself… Oops, looks like a dead end. Running into the frontmost car, Jabi stopped and slipped on a puddle of his own blood, tumbling head over heels and colliding with the wall of the driver’s cabin. “End of the line, old man!” Fwsh! Rage thrust his pantograph spear through the roof once more, but Jabi’s bow was quicker. The legendary hero’s balloonshroom arrow hit the sharpened tip head-on and expanded into white mushrooms, tearing the weapon apart. “Heh. What’s the matter, whippersnapper? Not gonna finish me off?” Jabi raised his bow toward the pinhole in the ceiling, but there was no response. …? Where did he…? Nrh?! Klak-klak-klak-klak-klak! A railroad track materialized down the middle of the carriage, leading all the way up to Jabi’s feet. Then, from the other end of the train, he heard Rage’s mad laughter. “Ha-ha-ha! You foolish ape! I’ve been leading you there this entire time! Our little game of tag is over!” Geh! It can’t be! Klang! Klang! The sound of tearing metal worked its way down the train, until in burst Rage himself, his legs transformed into miniature Yamanote Line trains, riding on the rails, a sadistic glimmer in his crimson eyes. “Now, die, you old fool!” “This was your plan…all along…” The Rage Express raced down the track, swinging his hammer made of trains… …but just before his blow connected… “You really think I didn’t catch on?” “…Wh-what?!” The devious twinkle in the old man’s eye sent a chill down Rage’s spine. He slammed on the brakes, but he had built up such momentum that it was no use. His bloodlust spent, he saw at last the silver threads strung up in the carriage between the handrails. “What is this…? Wires?!” Across the web of steelspider silk shone the teeth of Jabi’s grin. “Maybe if you’d paid more attention to this feeble old man, you woulda noticed it earlier.” He smirked. “Y-you arrogant old fool!” “Heh. Guess some kids never learn.” And with that, Jabi sprang into the air, tugging the wire wrapped around his finger. Rage flew into the steelspider web and struggled to break free, but the more he jerked, the tighter those nigh unbreakable threads confined him. “Grrr! Woooagh! I’ll get you for this!” “Hyo-ho-ho!” laughed Jabi, hoisting the cocoon up to the ceiling. “Well, ain’t that put you in a bind?” Rage bounced and wriggled, eventually managing to get one arm free. He pointed it at Jabi, and a blue cube materialized in his palm. “You think you’ve won, fool? My body is made of Apollo Particles! Even if you tear off my limbs, I’ll grow them right back! I’m unkillable! Don’t you understand?” “Hmm. I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” As Rage fired his urbanization cannon, Jabi leaped out of the way, drew his blade, and plunged it deep into Rage’s chest. However, Rage’s arm grabbed Jabi by the throat, his viselike grip squeezing the life from the old man, as blue particles swarmed and built up power in the City Maker. “…Ha-ha! You truly are a fool, old man, to approach an immobilized foe! No matter how tricky you are, an ape will always be an ape. Now crumble to dust!” Rage’s wicked smile returned as the city sprouted from Jabi’s skin. Then—Gaboom!—he felt a shooting pain in his back, and his eyes went wide. “Gah! Wh-what…the…?!” Gaboom! Gaboom! From his shoulders to his sides, golden mushrooms shot from Rage’s body, tearing at his flesh. Rage couldn’t comprehend what was happening. Jabi simply pulled back on the dagger, revealing its shimmering golden edge. “It’s the Rust-Eater blade. Made with Bisco’s blood. There ain’t nothin’ else like it.” Even as Rage’s finger wrapped around his neck, Jabi gave a fearless grin. “Looks like even your antidote can’t stop the god of mushrooms.” “I-impossible… Apollo’s program is flawless! This is impossible!” “Rest in peace, laddie.” Jabi’s dagger sliced through Rage’s fist, freeing the old man from his grasp and leaving a golden trail. Then, displaying his otherworldly speed, he delivered an incredible flurry of slashes and carved the burning golden mark of Bonmeiten into Rage’s chest. “Here’s your ticket to the afterlife. You deserve it.” “…No. No… Apollo… APOLLO!!!” Ga-boooom! The mycelium carved into Rage’s body took root immediately and sprouted, tearing him to shreds and ripping through the carriage roof, projecting a glorious Rust-Eater high into the night sky of Tokyo. Jabi, however, was already too weak to escape the mushroom’s tremendous blossoming power and was flung far away by the blast. Slide… Slide… Jabi awoke to the sensation of something dragging his own blood-soaked body across the floor. Huh. Thought I was a goner for sure. He yawned and reached into his pocket, pulling out his favorite pipe. From its bent shape, it was clear it had not survived the fall. Jabi gave a gleeful chuckle and put it away. Stretching his limbs, he at last turned around to the familiar sensation at his back. “Howdy, Actagawa. Looks like another victory for us, eh?” In response, Actagawa raised his claw in triumph… Or at least, he tried to, but it was completely missing, so instead, he released a small bubble from his mouth. Actagawa’s shell was covered in so many fissures, it looked like a cracked wasteland, and steam still rose off it from the explosion. In addition to his claw, several of his legs had snapped off, too, and miniature buildings and telegraph poles sprouted from the cracks, draining the crab’s vitality. “My, look at how yours have grown! Must be because you’re still a budding young crab. Mine ain’t got that much life to suck on, y’see.” Jabi raised his stiffened arms to Actagawa and laughed. True enough, the buildings forming on his skin were smaller, and in fact even sported a more old-fashioned look. “…I can’t believe I let my pipe get smashed in like that. How am I supposed to enjoy one last puff now?” As Jabi spoke, he felt his partner’s heartbeat growing weak, and he knew that soon, both of them would surrender to the sweet embrace of death. “… “… “Hyo-ho. Actagawa, look at that. A blazing red star…” There in the night sky above them shone Antares, a brilliant and distant crimson. “…My life… “…was such a waste. All I did was shoot stuff with my bow. “Until one day, that red star descended upon me, and made me whole again. “He was such a scamp! Caused me no end o’ trouble… “But… “He saved me. Took the devil’s pitchfork right outta my hands.” “Actagawa. “Thanks for bein’ there for the young lad. “Let’s pray for Bisco now. “Pray that he’s never alone. “Never ever, for the rest of his life…” Actagawa gently wrapped his small claw around the old man, and so they stayed, each embracing the other with what little of their arms remained. In their slowing hearts, they thought of Bisco, and of the long journey he faced.
Chapter 73
13 min read