Chapter 93

The Red Room was a place in the middle of Roppongi, a nightclub set up by the Anjougumi once they'd consolidated after their flight from Shinjuku after the Ichi Slayings Incident forced them out of Shinjuku. The Place was tucked away next to a larger theatre that was showing a double feature, the Drama Double Bind and the Science Fiction Horror-Comedy Mant, which I thought was an odd pairing, but that's Japan for you. On the other side of the Club was a Noodle Restaurant that seemed to be advertising by way of a giant, neon, sign in the shape of a bowl of Ramen Noodles.

Inside, the Red Room was dark, lit by crimson neon lights. As I entered, the strains of some sort of bluesy rock song came over the sound system, which was just fine by me. I lit up a Red Apple Cigarette and took a deep drag, because what were the Yakuza gonna do, say I couldn't smoke in here? I grinned, just standing there smoking and listening to the music for a few moments, then once the song was over, I bellied up to the Bar.

"What can I get you?" Questioned the Bartender, a Japanese Woman in a Leather Vest and Leather Pants that left little to the imagination.

"Tequila Slammer." I ordered.

"Coming up." Nodded the Bartender.

She pulled out a bottle of Espolon Tequilla, and poured some into a rocks glass, before cracking open a can of Jooky and pouring that in. She placed a napkin over the top of the glass before sliding it over to me. I slid back a few bills and immediately grabbed the rocks glass before slamming it down on the bar counter as the Tequila and Jooky mixed in a fizzy eruption, spattering the bar counter with splashed liquid.

As the Bartender took a rag and wiped down the counter, I grabbed the glass in one hand and downed the mixed drink while it was still fizzing in a single go. Placing the glass down on the bar counter, I took another deep drag off my Cigarette, taking it down to the filter before breathing out a plume of smoke as the Bartender slid an Ashtray forward.

"Thanks." I nodded, stubbing out the butt of my Cigarette into the tray.

"So, we don't get a lot of Gaijin in here. You in town for the Tournament?" Queried the Bartender.

"Among other things." I nodded.

"Oh? What other things?" Asked the Bartender.

"You ever have one of those days where you're trying to keep up with the one important thing you're supposed to do, but then some assholes have to keep butting in to distract you? To the point where if you're not very careful, you might just miss the thing you were supposed to be doing with consequences for you and a whole lot of other folks besides?" I questioned.

"Can't say that I have." Responded the Bartender.

"Well, that's the sort of past couple days I've been having." I opined.

"That sucks. You know what I like to do when I have a bad day?" Queried the Bartender.

"Oh? What's that?" I asked.

"Take some Narc. Ever heard of it?" Questioned the Bartender.

"No, should I have?" I queried.

That wasn't a lie, I wasn't familiar with Narc. That was saying something, especially given how the Black Dragon managed to have a finger in several dozen pies when it came to Drug Cartels and the like. They'd downloaded a bunch of that info into my brain as well, which meant that if I didn't know about it, Narc had to be new.

"Probably not, it's super new. I don't think it's made the Jump overseas yet. The Owner of this Club is connected to some guys who can get it. See it's this super-new Drug that the Mishima Zaibatsu's come up with. It completely shuts off your pain receptors and makes you feel invincible. Feel like trying some out?" Explained the Bartender.

That sounded like a sort of Combat Drug that the Anjougumi had swiped from the Mishima Zaibatsu somehow and begun producing in a drug lab somewhere. That was bad business and everything I knew about the Mishima Zaibatsu told me that the Anjougumi was about to be in for a world of hurt the moment the Mishima Zaibatsu figured out who stole their formula. Forget the fact that the Mishima Zaibatsu had plenty of Chi Adepts among their ranks, they had an Honest to Gods Army masquerading as a Corporate Security Force. Sure it was small, but it was well-equipped and well-trained.

"No thanks. I'll stick with Booze and the Cigarettes. I don't need wonder drugs to be invincible." I refused.

"Yeah, well if you change your mind let me know. The owners give me a cut of any Narc sales I manage to grab." Informed the Bartender.

"I probably won't. I will take another Tequila Slammer, though." I insisted.

"Sure thing." Nodded the Bartender, pouring me another drink.

As I slammed it down on the bar counter, watching the fizz brew up, Nightwolf arrived with Kagura Chizuru in tow, looking around for me. I slid a few more bills to the Bartender and flagged them both down. Nightwolf nodded at me, as did Chizuru a few moments later, and together we grabbed a booth in the corner of the Club. A scantily-clad Waitress in a Miniskirt and Tube Top stopped by to take Chizuru and Nightwolf's drink orders, Chizuru got a Cherry Blossom Cocktail while Nightwolf just ordered a Yebichu Beer.

"Where is your teammate? I thought she would be part of this?" Asked Nightwolf.

"She'll be along shortly. Just have a drink for a sec while we wait." I informed.

"Aren't you a bit young for this?" Questioned Chizuru.

"You think the Yakuza that own this place care?" I queried.

"Still, the Legal Drinking Age in Japan is twenty. You don't look twenty to me." Frowned Chizuru.

"You have no idea what I am or how old I am. For all you know, I could be an Alien or a Half-Demon Hybrid or something." I pointed out.

"He has a point. When it comes to the side of Life people like us walk on, such things as legal drinking ages matter less than for a normal person." Offered Nightwolf.

"I suppose." Sighed Chizuru.

"Think of it this way, if I get to risk my neck for the good of the world, then I get to have a drink every once in a while." I insisted.

"I suppose that's fair." Admitted Chizuru.

"Speaking of which, my mystical senses registered the unleashing of powerful magic nearby about an hour ago. You wouldn't happen to know what that was about, would you?" Asked Nightwolf.

"Yeah. Seems like there's more than one potential Apocalypse going down in Tokyo this Summer. I just had a run-in with a guy calling himself Nephrite of the Shittennou, one of the Four Generals of some Hell Dimension called the Dark Kingdom. I banished him back to his Hell Dimension for a while using a Seventh Circle Banishment Spell." I explained.

"Another group? Do we need to intervene?" Questioned Chizuru.

"That depends on if you trust a bunch of bickering Teenage Girls in Sailor Fuku to handle the situation or not." I mused.

"Sailor Fuku? I am unfamiliar with such a uniform." Queried Nightwolf.

"I am familiar with them. The first of them appeared two months ago to deal with a Demon that was attacking Customers at a jewelry store. The next one appeared at a Cram School about three weeks ago to deal with another Demon. The most recent one appeared a week and a half ago to help the other two deal with a Demon using a Cursed Bus to kidnap people. They call themselves the Sailor Senshi, Moon, Mercury, and Mars. As far as I've been able to understand, they get their powers from the Cosmological Bodies of the Moon, Mercury, and Mars respectively, hence the names." Informed Chizuru.

"Yeah, well, it turns out these Demons are Youma from the Dark Kingdom, a bunch of Worshippers of the Old One Yamath who are being duped by these Shittenou and their Queen into thinking that once they take over Tokyo, Yamath will return." I added.

"Yamath is long dead. That is a pipe dream." Scoffed Nightwolf.

"That doesn't mean these Shittenou using their devotion isn't dangerous." Pointed out Chizuru.

"Yeah, it sounds like they and their Queen are trying to use the devotion of their Rank and File to Conquer Tokyo and turn it into some kind of Demon City. Unfortunately, these Sailor Senshi don't seem up to the task of stopping that." I frowned.

"You've met them?" Asked Nightwolf.

"I have. They don't take their responsibilities seriously. When I met them, they were more concerned with bickering among themselves about pointless shit than they were about the Youma." I scoffed.

"I'll keep an eye on the situation, provided we survive the Tournament and the Yamata-No-Orochi doesn't wake up. If it looks like they're going to fail, I'll step in." Offered Chizuru.

"Good." I nodded.

Just then, Athena arrived, spotting us at our booth. She slid in next to me just in time for the Waitress to return with Chizuru and Nightwolf's Drinks and for Athena to order a Bepsi and me to get another Tequila Slammer. Once everyone had their drinks, we could finally get down to the business of discussing what to do about the Yamata-No-Orochi. Not before Athena let us in on a bit of Tournament-based Drama, though.

"Sorry, I'm late. You won't believe what I had to do just now to get over here!" Grumbled Athena.

"Did something happen?" I questioned.

"Yeah, that Guy from Team Japan, Nikaido. He happened. He wouldn't leave me alone and kept trying to get me to go out to a bar with him or something." Huffed Athena.

"That guy's an idiot as well as apparently a creep. He almost caused a major massacre the other night." I grumbled.

"What do you mean?" Asked Chizuru.

"You'd think a guy who entered a tournament based around Martial Arts would know who Akuma of the Satsui no Hadou is, but no. Asshole was mouthing off to the one guy who could murder everyone in the Tournament without breaking a sweat." I griped.

"Akuma of the Satsui no Hadou is here?" Asked Nightwolf.

"He was. I don't know if he still is." I answered.

"Can we get him to help us out with the Yamata-No-Orochi? He sounds strong." Pondered Athena.

"He is strong. He also isn't someone we can cajole into working for us, even against a common foe like the Yamata-No-Orochi. That's a shame, now more than ever." Sighed Chizuru.

"What do you mean?" I questioned. That was when Chizuru dropped a bombshell that would dominate the entire rest of the conversation and strategy meeting.

"I had a vision. If nothing changes, the Yamata-No-Orochi will return during the finals." She intoned. As she launched into the explanation of her vision, I could only groan.

It was gonna be a long night. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here we get the first part of the meeting with Nightwolf. Ulysses has arranged for Chizuru to act as backup for the Sailor Senshi if it looks like they're gonna screw the pooch against the Dark Kingdom, but now they have to worry about the Yamata-No-Orochi almost definitely returning during the finals. I'll give you three guesses as to what that's about and the first two don't count. Now they need to figure out a way to keep that from happening, or at least manage the problem so it's not a major return.

Other nineties stuff in this chapter includes mentions of the Anjougumi and Ichi Killings from Ichi the Killer, Double Bind from Perfect Blue, Mant from Matinee, Red Apple Cigarettes from the Works of Quentin Tarantino, Jooky from the Nineties Sprite Commercials, Narc is a Combat Drug from Policenauts, the Mishima Zaibatsu are from Tekken, the Black Dragon and Nightwolf are from Mortal Kombat, the Sailor Senshi and Dark Kingdom are from Sailor Moon, Yamath is from Conan the Barbarian, Bepsi is from a number of Anime including Lupin the Third, Yebisu is from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Akuma and the Satsui no Hadou are from Street Fighter, and Banishment Spells and Circles of Magic are from Second Edition Dungeons and Dragons. Everything else is from King of Fighters.

At any rate, the next chapter will be the second part of the Talk with Nightwolf where they actually discuss the Yamata-No-Orochi.

Stay tuned. . .