Zen Garden: Empire Of Shadows

Episode Eleven: Runnin' My Mouth (Part 1)

Zenshi Gardener landed on the ground, breathing slowly as she looked up at the figure ahead of her. Sephiroth Alabaster Cole walked up to her, a sadistic grin on his face. He held the samurai's blade in his hand, "This is starting to get stale, madame. Why don't we speed things up a bit? I'll go ahead and put you out of your misery."

Zen-san watched emotionless as the king brought the blade into an offensive position and swiped downward towards her. The blade connected with a firm surface, surprising the sovereign. Shadow looked to his left and right, Zenshi no longer in front of him. He called out to her, "Zenshi! Where are you!? This isn't a joke! Get back here and take your termination like a woman1"

The mercenary sent a foot into the king's back, causing him to cry out in pain. Tranquility flew into the air and fell towards the foggy earth, only to be caught in the hand of the rightful owner. Gardener watched Shadow as he flipped and looked up at the woman, her blade at the ready.

"Not this time," she said, slowly turning the blade towards her, "I'm done playing this game..."

Shadow's yellow eyes lit up, the man's running towards her, No!!!"

Red splattered the ground, the sword impaling Zenshi as it went straight through with no complications. Gardener spit up red essence and held her stomach, the blade still lodged there. Her body hit the pavement like a sack of brinks, and her green eyes rolled to the side as her spirit left her.

Shadow woke with a start, his entire body shaking. He looked over to the guest bedroom door to see Luna there, a worried look on her face, "Big brother? Are you alright?"

The king sat up in the bed, wiping his forehead with his shirt sleeve, "I'm fine Luna, thanks for asking." He stretched, "Where's Crimson?"

The android wiggled her eyebrows, teasing him, "Don't you mean, 'where's my bae,' mate?"

Cole's face reddened, "I will hang you by your ponytail, you slug."

"Well aren't we grumpy? She's training with her grandfather."

Shadow slowly stood, "I see. Well, I guess everything is accounted for..." The nightmare he just suffered from flashed across his mind.

The guard robot slid a finger against the side of her face, "Actually, big brother, I did some digging near the area we fought Juggernaut in and found a couple of things. The first was a microchip that was discarded in the middle of the street. It had the Neo Sentinel logo on it, mate. Crimson wasn't sure of its purpose, sadly."

Shadow folded his arms and tried to visualize said object in his mind. What would a random microchip be doing there? All the treasures and equipment the NS stole had been returned to Jeanne where it was safe. Did the clean-up crew miss it? Perhaps it wasn't as important as his mind was making it out to be.

The king shook his head, "What else have you found?"

Luna held up a finger, her other hand on her stomach. Shadow raised an eyebrow, watching as something stirred in Luna's stomach. Her left hand covered her mouth as something long and sharp began emerging from her gullet. It was a katana, covered in Luna's saliva. She offered the blade to her older brother, who understandably refused.

"Wait, what the fuck? I'm not touching that?" Shadow moved backwards onto the bed.

Luna insisted, "But it's important, cobber! You need to take it!"