Amazon Apocalypse 6: Chapter 5

Looting diapers from the ruins of a department store was one of the last things I thought of when planning an adventure, but I knew our future selves would thank us for this.

The department store Frank’s guild had found was deep in the wilderness. It had been part of a small town that was now abandoned. The humans of this shard had either died or fled elsewhere at the start of the integration. Considering all the food and hand tools were gone from the shelves, I was guessing at least a few people survived to flee to the wilderness.

Thankfully, nobody had a use for diapers besides the obvious, so there were plenty on the shelves for us to steal. We picked up a variety of sizes, from infant to two-year-old diapers. I wasn’t entirely sure how many we’d need, but counting up the days, I figured two thousand would suffice.

After I swiped the best off the shelves, Bridget went to look for baby food. The actual jars of mashed goop were gone along with the rest of the food, but there were plenty of baby-sized spoons, carriages, baby cups, bibs, high chairs, strollers, and other things one might need for a newborn.

Sakura, much to my surprise, was still grabbing diapers.

“You plan on taking all of them? What, know some other expectant couple back in Crownhill?” I asked with a chuckle.

“Oh... it’s just... well...” Sakura’s cheeks flushed. “I’m told you can never have enough diapers. That’s all.”

I shrugged and left her to it. Normally, I liked to leave a little behind for other people. Scavenging for supplies was a lower-end job in Crownhill since it didn’t require enough levels to fight, just a willingness to brave danger and explore border territory looking for abandoned valuables that might fetch a few contribution points back at the Obelisk.

My big family and I were far from needy with all our businesses across several worlds and tax revenues from Crownhill itself, so I liked to leave these little opportunities to those who needed them. But if Sakura thought we needed extra diapers, I wouldn’t say no to additional supplies. I could easily see us running into something of a crisis if we ran low and couldn’t find more.

I was ready to leave and declare this uneventful adventure concluded, but it turned out we weren't the only group of survivors to spot this place.

They were impossible to miss as they entered through the wall like a battering ram. Cinderblocks and concrete went everywhere, followed by the groan of cheap metal carts as they groaned, bent, and broke under a load far beyond what they were designed for.

One looter toppled over from where she’d been riding in the cart, carrying a tree trunk under one arm like a battering ram. It was clear her friends had hurled her and the cart forward at high speed until they smashed through the wall.

“Ha! Did you see that? The wall exploded!” A young male voice said. He sounded like a teen out on the town looking for trouble with his friends.

“Let’s do it again!” the girl holding the makeshift battering ram giggled manically. She shifted and straightened, and I realized she had a single one horn, much like Sakura used to have.

Seeing their entrance, I realized these were less unfortune scavengers and more kids out for a joyride. I didn’t approve of the wanton destruction. This was a decent building and could be converted into a shelter for someone in need. But it was outside the bounds of Crownhill, and considering the amount of destruction I’d sewn, I didn’t exactly have the moral high ground. So I called out to them pleasantly.

“If you’re after food, diapers, or baby supplies, I’m afraid you’re all out of luck. Anything else is up for grabs, though.”

They turned to me, three in total, one young woman and two young men. Looking closer, the two young men were both oni as well, each with one horn, as opposed to the two Sakura had sported ever since her racial evolution to a Homo Onus Perfectus, also called a noble-blooded one. I could hardly tell at a glance, but one horn probably meant these two had more common oni bloodlines.

The three turned to me as soon as I spoke, and I made an effort to make myself harder to examine. I didn’t have Ted’s knack for lowering my level to practically nothing, but I could give a false impression down a grade and a half or so. That would put me a bit lower leveled than Bridget and Sakura, who were about as high as it was possible to go in C-Grade before advancing to B-Grade.

“Hey, old dude! We were here first!” shouted one of the young men.

I felt my brows twitch in annoyance. I felt them examining me and returned the favor.

Oni Berserker (Level 153)

Oni Marauder (Level 145)

Oni Thrillseeker (Level 164)

“Actually, we were here first. We walked around the building, and you definitely weren’t here until just now. But there’s plenty of loot for both of us.” I jerked my thumb at the open shelves while I took them in. The two boys were the berserker and the marauder, while the girl was the thrillseeker and the highest level of the trio.

The three of them were in the upper chunk of C-Grade, which would have put them somewhere near the top of Crownhill’s forces. Heck, it probably would have put them near the top of forces on Themyscira or even Glacia. I was surprised that they were so young. And doubly surprised that they were running around so cavalierly. This trio should have been running the show in whatever group they came from.

But then my eyes locked on the horns on their heads again. I remembered how temperamental Sakura had been while adjusting to her own bloodline. Perhaps these three had been the same. Given their youth, they might have had even less control of themselves than Sakura had, in which case the only way for their settlement to survive would be by kicking them out.

“Alright, old dude. How about this, hand over all your loot, and we’ll let you and your old ladies leave in one piece?” one of the young men taunted. The other nodded along.

I recognized the angry shine in their eyes. That was the look of someone who was out to pick a fight.

I let out a low chuckle. They could insult me all they liked, but insulting Bridget and Sakura was crossing a line. I cracked my knuckles. With all the spells, power armor, and magic swords I’d been throwing around, I hadn’t had much chance to practice cruder aspects of combat. It might be nice to get a few good punches in.

Besides, the more I thought about it, the more I realized these kids needed some sense knocked into them sooner rather than later. In fact, one might even say it would be amoral of me to let the three of them go without beating them to a pulp first.

“If you want these diapers, you’re going to have to go through me first. Come on, I don’t have all day!” I waved them forward, and they charged like bulls toward a matador.

The girl in the shopping cart tried to follow, but she tipped herself over with her leap, toppling with it and caging her. She kicked the metal aside and tried to scramble out from the pile of rubble she’d made with her entrance, but that only resulted in her getting buried under more debris.

I swept my leg out under one of the young men, knocking him off his feet. He slammed facefirst into the ground, and the other I lowered my shoulder. He went flying head over heels and crashed into a rack of canned goods. All the while, I had my hands folded neatly behind my back.

The two young men spat, spluttered, and picked themselves up. A few bottles of ketchup had burst open, giving both of them a bloody and battered look while I was still clean.

“You boys made a big mistake,” I chuckled.

“Fuck you!” one teen said, picking himself up and charging again.

I ducked under his wild swings and delivered a right hook to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying to the other side of the grocery store.

The other young man glared at me, reassessing my threat level in his mind as he reached for the bag of holding at his waist and drew a long wooden club studded with metal dots. It was a Japanese Tetsubo, if I didn’t miss my guess. To me, it looked much like Sakura’s makeshift club, except that it had been hastily made from a baseball bat, whereas this was designed to be a weapon from the very start.

He held it overhead in a wild and clumsy stance, and crimson energy flowed along it and down the length of his body. The attack he sent my way next was something suited for a battlefield, rather than the barroom brawl we’d been acting out until then.

Since he was using abilities, I figured I’d sneak a little one in myself. I pointed my finger in the shape of a gun and pointed in his face.

“Bang,” I said.

“RAAAGH!” he roared until the bottle of hot sauce next to him exploded, spraying spicy juices into his eyes.

His battle cry rapidly shifted into something considerably more agonized. The other teen had picked himself up by then and was charging at me from across the store with an identical weapon. This one I let run in my direction, only to shift into the shadow realm right when he was about to deliver his strike. Instead, he hit nothing but floor tiles, and I grabbed him by the back of the head.

He didn’t have time to turn around as I slammed him face-first into the concrete he’d just smashed apart, driving his oni horn into the dirt beneath the concrete. A little bit of magic in the right place fixed up some of the broken concrete, leaving his horn stuck in the ground while he kicked in futility as he struggled to free himself.

I looked for the girl then, only to realize she’d been cornered by Sakura and Bridget already. That meant the fight was over. All told it had only lasted a few seconds. That was scarcely a warmup as far as I was concerned. I dusted my hands, satisfied as both my opponents kicked and thrashed after being thoroughly humiliated.

Sakura and Bridget were already questioning the girl, so I wandered over to join them.

“You, young lady, are in a lot of trouble. Where are your parents?” Sakura demanded.

The young woman scowled. “Let go of me!” she tried to pull herself free from Sakura’s grip, but Sakura was much higher leveled. Escape was impossible.

I asked the question I was most interested in. “Where are the three of you from?”

“None of your business!” the girl replied.

I raised an eyebrow and pointed a thumb back at her two friends on the ground behind me. “I think they’d say it is.”

The girl took in her defeated comrades, and much of the battlelust and fury left her eyes as she returned to her senses and realized she and her friends had picked a fight they couldn’t win.

It took a bit more prodding and probing, but eventually, the girl answered honestly.

“I was going to school in Kyoto when the integration began. That’s where I’m from. The guys over there are from Oniboshi.”

Sakura, Bridget, and I all shared a look. Kyoto was in Japan, and it was a fairly sizable city. If it had been integrated with Crownhill, I definitely would have known. That could only mean that this was another shard.

“Were you guys overrun by monsters at any point? Does your settlement still stand?” I asked.

“Of course not. The yakuza guys who showed up protected us from all the evil races and helped arrange things with the oni clan. With their training, resources, and warriors, no one could stand against us, no matter how powerful.” The girl shook her head.

“No one? Were there any chaos god worshipers?” I asked.

“I think so. They were a bit more fun to bash. Were you not there for that?”

I chuckled. The thought of a bunch of cultists showing up to take over a shard only to find themselves with an army of bloodthirsty oni eager for battle amused me. Perhaps Crownhill hadn’t been the only shard where they’d been dealt an overwhelming defeat.

“No, I wasn’t there for that. None of us were. I suspect we’re not from whatever shard you’re from. You mentioned Kyoto? Who else are you in contact with? And what’s this Oniboshi that your companions are from?” I asked.

But the young woman went pale at my declaration, and she clammed up like she realized she had said something she wasn’t supposed to. A few more jumbled words exited her mouth, but they were easily seen as lies. It was clear she’d tell us no more willingly.

There were a handful of options on the table, most of them distasteful. I wasn’t above letting my people beat answers out of the enemy, but I reserved that kind of treatment for coldhearted bastards who would be perfectly willing to do the same to me and mine. This girl and her pair of idiot friends were not that. They were just kids out making trouble.

I turned and conferred with Sakura and Bridget in private.

“We’re letting them go?” Bridget said, likely thinking the same as I was.

I nodded.

“Darn. I’m curious.” Sakura stroked one of her own two horns. She hadn’t missed the fact that all three of this group were oni.

“Did the word Onibushi mean anything to you?” I asked her.

Sakura nodded. “I’ve heard some of the Samhain Clan Oni mentioned it. It holds many of the most ancient and powerful oni clans, and is considered the seat of oni power in the Arcadia Multiverse, though the clans are too fractious to be a major power. But it’s the best place in the multiverse to hire mercenaries.”

I had a few theories about what was going on. I’d brought a lot of Amazonian warriors over from Themyscira to help me fight. It wouldn’t be terribly surprising to learn someone had done the same with this Oniboshi world. And if they’d done so, I would be unsurprised to learn that they’d crushed all competition, just as we had.

But all that was secondary to the faint look of hope on Sakura’s face.

“You think maybe some of them know where my father is?” Sakura asked.

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

As I understood things, Sakura’s father should have been on the West Coast of the United States when the integration began. That was where Sakura’s family company was headquartered, at least as far as the North American branch was concerned. I only had a faint impression of how her family enterprise worked beyond that, but I knew the main branch was in Japan. It was possible he’d been there visiting relatives.

Or maybe Sakura had distant relatives in Kyota when it got integrated. The chance was faint, but from the hope in Sakura’s eyes, it was worth pursuing.

I turned back to the defeated trio.

“Alright, you three! We’ll let you off with a warning. But don’t let us catch you in our territory again, you hear?” I glared at them threateningly.

The girl nodded, and the other two eventually followed her lead, though their glares told me it was a reluctant gesture. I let the one stuck in the ground pull his head free, and I tossed the one with hot sauce in his eyes a roll of paper towels and a water bottle. They made their escape as soon as they were able, running off like frightened puppies.

“Sakura, Bridget, do you mind going back to Crownhill on your own? I want to keep an eye on these three and see where they go.”

“Not a chance. I want to watch them too,” Sakura replied.

“I may be pregnant, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have a little adventure,” Bridget said.

So I grabbed my two companions, and together, the three of us took to the air. We followed the three troublemakers into the far distance. They weren’t entirely stupid, and after they thought they had lost our trail, they changed direction. They traveled fast, though not nearly fast enough to lose me.

We followed them from the air for about two hours, watching from afar in the hopes of finding their main settlement. Unfortunately, the trio’s ultimate destination proved to be a teleportation array, not a city. The three stepped into it, and a short while later, they vanished.

I made a note of the array’s location and discretely stored a teleportation array of my own nearby. It looked to me like we’d finally made first contact with one of the other factions, but only time would tell if they were friend or foe.

<Note>

Yes, I borrowed the name Onibushi from Urusei Yatsura, but it is a different planet, not the one from the anime series. In my head, it looks like tatooine, but with less sand and more magma flows.