10 Agents of Chaos

Thankfully, Blair was able to grab the very bottom rail with her cat tail, but she was now hanging from the Dragon Train by the tail alone. Chad Lass dove over the railing and dropped down to Blair's level as Briggo held her in place by the ankles. Just as Blair was losing her grip on the railing, Chad Lass reached out and grabbed her tail.

It was a crazy sight: a cat girl hanging by only her tail over a vast chasm, and the only thing stopping her from falling over was the outstretched hand of a Kink. The Kink in turn was hanging upside down, her legs gripped tightly in her user's arms. It was a daring move by a Briggo and Chad Lass, a move executed with amazing reaction time, and it saved Blair's life. But it wasn't over yet.

As Briggo and Chad Lass struggled to keep Blair from falling to her death, Shift's Kink had already appeared. It was a woman with a flowing dress and two pairs of insect-like wings growing out of her back. The wings and the dress had matching brown-and-gold swirls, and a pair of long antennae were poking out from beneath her long dark hair. As the Kink took to the air, I noticed that her eyes were very strange: the whites of her eyes were actually black, and her irises were bright yellow.

"Ganojo!" Shift said. "Destroy the guy in armor and his Kink!"

The Kink flapped its massive wings. It circled once and then dove to attack. She aimed one of her high-heeled boots right at Briggo and flew at him with a devastating kick. Briggo used one arm to repel the attack, and he was able to block Ganojo's powerful blow, but at great cost. Chad Lass and Blair were now hanging by a thread, held up by just one of Briggo's arms. Worse yet, the armor on his other arm was already dented and cracked after just one kick from Ganojo, and it was clear that Briggo couldn't take another kick. One more attack like that would be fatal for all three of them.

Sophia suddenly stepped forward. She took something from the inside of her jacket and threw it at Shift. It was a small throwing knife, and it struck Shift just below the shoulder. Shift cried out in pain and his Kink rushed over to him. She placed her body between Shift and Sophia, determined to protect him from more attacks.

"I'll handle this," Terra said and aimed her glowing seashell at Sophia. As soon as I saw this, I leapt into action. As another powerful wind gust rushed out from the shell, I grabbed Sophia and pulled her behind Truck-chan.

"Whoa, it's like a storm!" Truck-chan said as the wind slammed into her. The truck shook and rattled slightly as we took cover behind her, but Truck-chan was much heavier than a human, and she was attached to the platform with a harness, so Terra's wind attack was useless.

This momentary distraction by Sophia was just what Briggo and Chad Lass needed to save Blair. They pulled her up and threw her back on the platform, and then they both turned to face Shift. As expected, Blair landed on her feet, and she immediately took cover behind one of the carriages.

"Damn you all," Shift barked, clutching the wound on his arm. "You'll pay for this! Ganojo, GET THEM!"

The Kink took to the air and began circling above Chad Lass and Briggo. Chad Lass assumed a fighting stance. Her golden aura surged around her as she followed Ganojo's movements and prepared for the next attack.

"Thank God, Blair is safe," Sophia said. The two of us were still hiding behind Truck-chan as we watched Ganojo's ominous flight maneuvers.

"Oh, yes, I'm so glad she's safe too. So glad…" Truck-chan muttered.

"I've seen that pattern somewhere," I said to Sophia. "The pattern on the Kink's wings and dress… it looks so familiar."

"She looks like an insect," Sophia replied.

"Yes!" I said. "She's a MOTH! A moth girl!"

Sophia nodded. "I think you're right."

"Eww…," Truck-chan squealed. "That guy's Kink is an INSECT?! What a sick pervert."

"Of course, Ganojo!" I said, and I actually chuckled. "I get it! She's a moth and a girl, and in Japanese…"

I stopped midsentence as Ganojo dove at Chad Lass and the two Kinks began to exchange blows. The entire platform seemed to shake as Chad Lass used her brass knuckles to block Ganojo's sharp, piercing kicks. The two auras clashed, creating visual explosions of gold and brown, and then the speed of each Kink's movements increased. We heard a sharp POP every time the Kinks made contact, and as these pops became louder, passengers on the platform began to panic.

"QUIET!" Terra exclaimed. "You will pay for getting in our way! ALL OF YOU!" She charged up her baton again and began firing indiscriminately. Passengers screamed and dove for cover behind train cars and parked carriages.

I looked out from behind Truck-chan. As Chad Lass and Ganojo continued to fight, it was clear that Chad Lass was at a disadvantage. Not only did the sudden attack prevent her from getting pumped up, but the battlefield itself was clearly working against her. Ganojo was able to take to the air at will, and she could literally fly circles around Chad Lass. Meanwhile, Briggo's Kink was stuck on a narrow platform loaded with train cars, parked carriages, and nervous passengers. This meant that Chad Lass had little room to maneuver, and on top of that, she had to worry about collateral damage. For her part, Ganojo had no concerns about harming the passengers or the train itself, and she was going all out in her aerial attacks.

But Briggo was on the move. As the two Kinks fought, he sneaked his way around one of the carriages, and I knew right away that he was trying to reach Shift. However, Briggo didn't have his sword ─ it was still strapped to the roof of Truck-chan ─ and his movements were slower than usual because he didn't have time to remove his armor.

In that very moment, Blair leapt out from her hiding place and made her way over to us.

"Blair, are you all right?" Sophia asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. But we have to do something about her." Blair gestured towards Terra, who was still shooting off her blue lighting in all directions. A couple of times the lightning had struck Truck-chan, but since the truck had a strong metal frame, the impact only annoyed her.

"Right," Sophia said. "I've got my throwing knives on me, but my bow and arrows are still on the roof."

Blair nodded. "You can use the knives, but I need my spear. And we need to hurry; that bitch is on the move."

Blair was right. Terra was now moving towards the back of the Dragon Train. The other criminal ─ Davie ─ was walking right behind her, and he was forcing the hostage to follow.

"They're trying to get to the lifeboats," I said.

Blair used her catlike agility to quickly climb on top of Truck-chan. I couldn't see what she was doing, but I could hear her opening one of the travel cases that were fastened to the roof.

Meanwhile, Sophia retrieved more throwing knives from her jacket. As Terra and Davie approached our position, Sophia peaked out from behind Truck-chan and threw several knives in rapid succession. Most of the throws were near misses, but one of the knives did manage to rip through Terra's hair bun. As loose strands of her hair fell to the ground, Terra's face contorted with rage and she fixed her eyes squarely on Sophia.

"DIE!" Terra screamed and fired her lightning baton right at Sophia, but Sophia dove out of the way.

"Bring it on, bitch!" Sophia exclaimed, and she launched yet more throwing knives at her opponent.

Terra began to twirl her baton with incredible speed: it moved so quickly that it no longer looked like a baton at all; rather, it looked like a powered-up airplane propeller that had been infused with lightning. Sophia's knives bounced off this surging sphere of lightning and fell harmlessly to the ground.

"Briggo, catch!" Blair called out from the top of Truck-chan. She picked up the sword and threw it down to Briggo. He held out both hands and caught it successfully, although the weight of the sword nearly made him lose his balance. The mere fact that Blair was able to pick up the giant weapon and throw it to Briggo was an incredible feat. She really was a warrior; no regular person could have done that!

Sophia and Terra continued to exchange projectiles. Terra clearly had the superior weapon, but Sophia's agility was incredible, and she was able to dodge the lightning strikes while launching her throwing knives right back at Terra.

Blair then jumped down from the roof. She held what looked like 3 sticks in her hand, but I quickly realized that these sticks were actually a single weapon. It had been folded into 3 parts to make it more portable, but once Blair unfolded them, the sticks turned into a single double-edged spear.

"Let's take her down!" Blair said and Sophia nodded.

"Hey, wait!" Truck-chan said. "Don't just leave me tied up here. I want to help too."

"What can you do in that form?" I asked. "Just stay put."

"I can run down the bad guys, Birito-kun!"

I wasn't so sure that untying Truck-chan was a good idea, but Blair made the decision for me. Her nails suddenly grew into long feline claws, and she used them to cut Truck-chan's harness.

"Be careful," Blair said. "Both of you." She readied her spear, and then she left the cover of Truck-chan's metal frame and ran out to face Terra.

By this point, Terra had managed to corner Sophia. Sophia was stuck between one of the lifeboats and the railing, and Terra's constant lightning projectiles made it impossible for her to move. Blair was determined to change the situation, and she rushed at Terra with her double-edged spear.

Terra turned and fired at Blair, but Blair managed to deflect the lightning by spinning her spear at amazing speed. The lightning bounced off the spear, hit the ground, and dispersed harmlessly.

Sophia used this moment of distraction to reposition herself, and now Terra was the one who was cornered. The two cat-women were clearly accustomed to working together, and it looked like they had gained the advantage.

But Terra wasn't concerned. In fact, she chuckled. "Cute!" she said. "But I don't have time for this." In the very next moment, Terra began to spin her baton again. It spun until it became a swirling sphere of energy, and then Terra did something unexpected.

She threw the spinning baton right at Sophia.

Sophia quickly dodged it. "You missed, bitch."

"Oh, did I?" Terra replied. She aimed her glowing seashell at Sophia and fired. Sophia tried to dodge this as well, but she failed, and the sudden gust of wind blew her backwards. As she flew back, Sophia was propelled into the path of Terra's baton, which was now circling back like a boomerang.

Sophia collided with the baton and electricity surged through her body. The baton continued to spin until it made its way back into Terra's hands, but Sophia dropped to the ground, her body twitching.

"NO!" Blair screamed and rushed over to her friend.

"You should worry about yourself," Terra said and pointed the baton at Blair, who was still kneeling next to Sophia's motionless body.

"Oh no," I said. "We have to do something!"

Suddenly, Truck-chan screamed and blared her horn at the same time. The abrupt noise was loud and grating, and it got Terra's attention. Instead of shooting Blair, she turned around, looking for the source of the sound.

"What was that?!" Terra asked. "Shift, what happened?"

Shift answered that he had no idea, and Blair took advantage of the confusion. She threw Sophia over her shoulder and dove for cover. By the time Terra turned back around, the cat-women were gone. But it was far from over. We were all still stuck on this narrow flying platform, and there was nowhere to run. Terra would find us eventually, unless Briggo turned the tide of the battle.

I crawled over to the other side of Truck-chan. I was hoping that Briggo and Chad Lass were winning the fight against the moth Kink, but that was not the case. After grabbing his sword, Briggo attempted to reach shift while Ganojo was busy fighting Chad Lass, but before he could make his move, Shift saw him and called out to his Kink.

Ganojo released some strange, gaseous substance from her wings, and the substance landed right on top of Briggo. Instead of making his way to Shift, Briggo suddenly stopped and turned to look at Ganojo.

"Wow, she's so attractive," Briggo said, lowering his sword. "So damn SEXY!"

"WHAT?!" I cried. "Briggo, we need your help! The cat girls are in trouble."

But Briggo didn't hear me. He just stood there admiring Ganojo as she flew in circles above Chad Lass. She was still pressing her advantage and using the ability to fly to keep Chad Lass pinned down.

"Hey, insect lady!" Briggo called out. "MAKE LOVE TO ME!"

"What the hell is he doing?!"

"I don't know," Truck-chan screamed, "but watch out, Birito-kun! The evil bitch is here!"

"What?!" I turned around, and in that very moment, she appeared.

"Found you," Terra said. While I was focused on Briggo, Terra had made her way around Truck-chan, and she was now standing right in front of me. "I said no talking, remember? You've been DISTRACTING ME!"

"NO, WAIT," I cried as she pointed the electric baton right at me. "I'm just a delivery man!" I tried to back away, but I didn't get very far. The edge of the platform was only steps away, and if I got any closer to the railing, she might blast me right off the Dragon Train.

"How ironic," Terra said with a smirk, "because I've got a special delivery just for you."

I closed my eyes and braced for the shock.