Sink or Swim: Drawn To The Venom

Chapter 19

Recap: Panacea has gained a new mysterious form after the Guardian Angel's treatment. Matsumi and his cronies have been coerced into taking part in the Hermit's Death Match, however due to Matsumi's ability being useless on the ground, he reluctantly sits back while Koshiro takes the lead.

-------------------------------------------------------------

14 days have passed, and time for the final decision has come. Matsumi and his allies sit on the table early in the morning, somewhat convinced that they have no choice but to get out of the mess as well as solve more mysteries regarding Dan's past by participating.
Matsumi: "So! Now that we have decided to play along, how exactly can we convey the same to our 'beloved' Guardian Angel?"
Koshiro: "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."
Dan: "Yeah! Well......"
Naomi makes more hand signs.
Dan: "So Koshiro! Do you have a proper plan? If Matsumi is supposed to hold out, it's best that we look out for him instead of you."
Koshiro: "It's as basic as we discussed 2 weeks ago, we don't even know from where they'll strike and how."
Chisaki: "Yeah! First the pizza box and then that creepy a** video."
Naomi comically punches Chisaki on the head again, creating a bump and infuriating him.
Koshiro: "To summarise everything - I and our little psycho kid are the leads, you two self-healing Phoenixes can be our shields and this guy.....can simply play Catgirl Online and order pizza or ramen for as long as he wants to."
Matsumi: "Hmph! Still not over insulting my weakness, huh?"
Koshiro: "What can you do? I mean you might be able to conjure and fire water spheres at enemies but.....you gotta remember your shitty past? That's morbid and traumatic!"
Chisaki: "Yeah that's real f***ed up!"
Two simultaneous bumps form on Chisaki's head, courtesy of Dan and Naomi's concerns.
Matsumi: "I really really need to figure something out."
And just like before, the familiar voice behind Matsumi says "You will! Just stop beating yourself up, you fool."
Matsumi: "God damn I can't stop hearing these voices in my head."
They hear a noise outside, as if a nail was hammered into a wall loudly.
Koshiro: "I certainly did not order pizza or call for a carpenter.....so...."
Dan: "The only explanation is.....it's already begun."
Koshiro runs outside, to see a dart on the wall. The portion of the wall around the dart was cracked with intense force, giving the NEET a glimpse of what they were going to be dealing with. He pulls out the dart and sees a note attached to it, the note says
"It has begun! Bring the Hermit out of it's Shell to win."
The backside was empty, however Koshiro decides to bring in the paper and uses his lighter to check, turns out it's a pair of coordinates.
Koshiro: "So guys! We have some coordinates here, and we're told to 'Bring the Hermit out out of it's Shell'."
Dan: "Let's check the coordinates!"
They type the coordinates onto Maps only to see that it's a barren area behind a forest in Tokyo.
Koshiro: "Hold up! Is it behind the Kurogahara forest?"
Matsumi: "Kurogahara forest? What's so special about that?"
Koshiro: "You really need to go out more often, y'know! This forest....they say if you enter it, you get spirited away."
Matsumi: "Sounds like something out of a cheap comic store ghost story."
Before they could ponder, suddenly the paper and dart brought in by Koshiro turn into extremely ugly, disfigured mutated beings in the shape of goblins uttering ear-damaging raspy high pitched noises. Chisaki screams in horror while Naomi and Dan are silent in shock.
Matsumi: "Here we go! Their first assassination attempt on us, I guess?"
Koshiro grabs hold of the small monsters, and freezes them instantly. This particular battle was over before it even began.
Chisaki: "That was.....creepy!"
Matsumi: "Let me guess! The Guardian Angel herself sent these personally, didn't she?"
Naomi is slightly shivering and jittery.
Koshiro: "Hell is empty and all the devils are here."
Matsumi: "Enough bullshit pondering! Let's get out of here, we can't keep sitting on our asses while she keeps sending us creepy ass videos and gifts like.....these."
Koshiro: "Something's weird!"
Matsumi: "What do you mean?"
Koshiro: "Are you hearing what I'm hearing?"
Matsumi: "Again! Be less cryptic, we gotta do something."
Koshiro: "Why are so many glass panes breaking?"
They all feel surprised at the sixth sense that Koshiro supposedly possessed.
Koshiro: *thinks* "There are glass panes breaking on the other side of the town? It's.....right in the direction of where the Kurogahara forest is. Definitely not normal!"
He then signals them to follow him, they run towards the other side of the town.
Dan: "Hey! Do you think we're going to find any clues or things about my past?"
Matsumi: "Well....I think the Guardian Angel did mention something like that."
Koshiro: "Haste makes waste! Let's target one task at a time and maybe then we'll be on our way."
Chisaki: "Say! Don't you have a car or bike or something? Your basement is pretty damn big and cozy."
Koshiro: "I had my dad's motorbike, sadly broke it 2 years ago while fighting the Woodpecker therian."
Matsumi: "Oh yeah! And insurance?"
Koshiro: "I hadn't gotten out of my house for about a year until that day with the bat guy. What does that tell you?"
Matsumi: *thinks* "A real piece of work for sure!"
They keep going until half an hour later, they finally see a horrifying nightmare-ish sight of what was going on.
Dan: "No-no way!"
Koshiro: "What the......what is this?"
The sight was gruesome to the point that Koshiro pukes in disgust.
Matsumi: "How did any of this happen? It's so weird!"
Dan: "Has to be some of the Guardian Angel's cronies' doing."
Laying in front of them are what looked like unrecognizable, brutalized corpses of several people such as office workers, public servants, small part time workers etc. The limbs and necks in all cases looked twisted and deformed in an extremely inhumane manner.
Dan: "Why this.....why did this have to happen?"
Chisaki pukes as well, simply looking at the horrifying mess before his eyes.
Chisaki: "This is so gross! It's even worse than how I kill those mean old street gangsters."
Koshiro: "So she's ruthless to the point she's killing innocents too huh?"
Matsumi: "We don't have time to waste here mourning these people, the world won't stop turning even if these people die unjustly. We don't know whether these dead people were good or bad, and I certainly don't think we're going to have it easy now."
Koshiro: "Wow! Your statement was way colder than my freezing attacks......"
As soon as they move forward, a message is displayed on the road in what looks like solidified Wax tainted with some blood. The message says "Both the snitch lovers and you, you're going down."
Matsumi: "Sounds like someone with a personal vendetta is onto us. Who would these people be?"
Dan: "Well....we've had countless foes in the past when we were working underground...."
Matsumi: "Hmph! How annoying, now we're dealing with some ex-associates of yours too?"
They suddenly find some scooters and cars to their side. Matsumi's eyes light up.
Matsumi: "It's nice that we have some vehicles around. Care if we'd use....."
Koshiro: "No! It's best that we don't do this."
Matsumi: "Huh? Why?"
Koshiro: "Dispute not with her, she is lunatic."
Matsumi: "We know that already!"
Koshiro: "If we're sitting in a vehicle, she'll have the upper hand as her cronies could simply snipe and blow us up from afar. Our accidents could happen in a number of ways. I don't know how Dan and Naomi would fare despite their regeneration, but.....do you wanna risk being toasted alive in a vehicle?"
Dan: "I....sort of see the point. Fine then, we'll go barefoot."
Matsumi: "Bicycles don't explode though. Just saying!"
And with that, Matsumi won the argument as they steal 3 bicycles possibly belonging to the corpses and ride further. Matsumi rides alone on the first bicycle, Dan & Naomi share the second one while Koshiro & Chisaki share the third.
Koshiro: "This feels weird yet.....somehow exhilarating!"
Matsumi: "Shut up! Do you even know what kind of situation we're in?"
Dan: "There's no way she's going to simply let us go far with the bicycles either."
Matsumi: "I know, but we can't just keep spending hours running around the town."
Dan: "This is the first time I'm escaping someone on a bicycle. And.....we're not even being chased yet everything feels scary."
Koshiro: "Though this be madness, yet there is method in it."
Matsumi: "So that's the Guardian Angel's game, huh? Striking fear in us just for entertainment!"
The five of them arrive at a fork road.
Matsumi: "Ohh great! There's 2 paths here. What now?"
Koshiro: "Both paths lead to the Kurogahara forest as it shows on GPS, but we gotta see which one to take.
Matsumi: "And how are we gonna decide that?"
Koshiro: "Change of plan! Chisaki, stick to Dan and Naomi. Matsumi's coming with me."
Matsumi: "Hey! That's so sudden....."
Koshiro: "If we sent you with Dan and Naomi, all three of you would be decimated. Atleast these two got Chisaki here for some decent protection."
Matsumi: "Why do you keep underestimating me and forgetting that I myself am a Therianthrope?"
Chisaki: "Why do I have to protect them? They abandoned me, these people they....."
Koshiro: "Obvious reasons! I won't keep repeating myself. All 3 of you, just go on will ya?"
So the five of them split up into two groups - Dan, Naomi and Chisaki in one group while Koshiro and Matsumi on the other. The one riding a bicycle solo is now Dan, as Naomi rides the bicycle with Chisaki on her back.
Matsumi: "So we don't know where we're going. You realize that, right? Who knows what's planned for us."
Koshiro: "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."
Dan cycles on with Naomi and Chisaki on the other bicycle.
Chisaki: "Why am I having to do this? It's so annoying!"
Dan: "Chisaki! Can you be quiet? We're trying to hang in there for each other."
Chisaki: "Why you....."
As soon as the three of them stop, they come across what looks like traces of blood.
Dan: "What? More blood?"
Chisaki: "It's leading somewhere.....strange right?"
They try to follow the so-called markings in blood and reach their destination - a graveyard.
Dan: "As if it couldn't get worse, now we're in a graveyard aren't we?"
They follow the tracks inside, and see a short old man bleeding from the hip while he walks.
Dan: "What the.....hey!"
Chisaki: "HEY OLD MAN! WHO ATTACKED YA?"
Dan: "Shhhh! Chisaki don't! It could be a trap or something."
The old man looks behind and gives a full toothed grin.
Chisaki: "WHAT DO YOU WANT, OLD MAN?"
Dan: "No way! He's smiling at us.....while bleeding? This old man....."
The old man proceeds to a certain gravestone, they follow him.
Old Man: "My my my my....."
The old man puts some flowers on the gravestone, something that looks completely normal.
Old Man: "She was so pretty, such a young lively gal yet she had to.....she had to....."
His smiling face turns into one filled with grief, and to everyone's horror he pulls out a knife preparing to stab himself repeatedly in the chest.
Old Man: "I'm coming for you darling! I'm coming....."
Naomi advances towards the old man, sensing something extremely fishy.
Dan: "NAOMI DON'T!!"
The old man stabbed himself - blood gushing out of his torso.
Dan: "What the actual.....what are people even coming to now?"
Before the three of them could decipher, Naomi's legs are twisted horribly causing her to scream. Even though she was mute, her scream was audible. She falls to the ground, writhing in pain.
Dan: "NAOMI!!!"
Chisaki: "What the....."
The old man suddenly gazes at Dan, his face turning demonic and ugly to the point that one would blind themselves. Dan instinctively throws Chisaki to the other side, as if protecting the kid through diversion.
Dan: "WHAT IS ALL THIS? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?"
The monstrous old man melts in front of their eyes, a sight that traumatized Dan and Naomi. Before they could react further, dizziness takes over and both of them faint. Upon opening their eyes, they find themselves tied up to a tree and see two familiar yet lesser known faces of theirs - Juro and Nagito.
Dan: "What? No way! The NEX members who tortured us....."
Naomi is still not awake, taking advantage of which Nagito throws hot molten wax on her arms. Naomi wakes up with a scream.
Nagito: "Be thankful I didn't splash it on your face, you silent bitch!"
Dan: *thinks* "W-Where's Chisaki? We need to meet up with him."
Juro: "So.....where's the third guy huh? After how he humiliated us for no reason, we can't let him go scott free can we?"
On the other path of the fork road, Koshiro and Matsumi find themselves in the presence of an extremely familiar member of the Saints. She was wearing a steamy violet leotard with several gaps exposing more skin and matching stockings that easily went with her revealing outfit. Looking at Matsumi with a wet, slithering tongue was none other than Panacea.
Matsumi: "Whoa! It's you again, the perverted bitch who pisses herself when she gets a phone call from the Guardian Angel huh?"
Koshiro: "Matsumi! This looks bad....."
Matsumi: "Why are you of all people afraid now?"
Koshiro: "I can sniff it! She may look like the innocent flower, but she's the serpent under it."
Panacea: "So sweet of you to say that! Say Matsumi, you made a new friend here?"
Matsumi: "Koshiro! What are you thinking?"
Koshiro: *thinks* "That Bat Therian guy was nothing compared to what she is. Maybe we'll need some more resolve to do this."

TO BE CONTINUED.......