Chapter CCCXLIX: Akemi Tries, But Fails

Tachibana looked down at Chrono. "Please, Chrono… forgive me. I am sorry that I harmed you. I was being controlled…."

Chrono shook his head and said, "No.. it’s alright. It wasn’t your fault. Don’t worry about it…"

Tachibana frowned.

"It’s okay, Tachibana,” Chrono said. “Don’t be so upset about it."

He held out his hand. Tachibana cocked and eyebrow and shook Chrono's hand.

"Friends?" Chrono asked with a grin.

Tachibana nodded slightly and replied, "Friends." A slight grin appeared on Tachibana's face.

They were both somewhat startled by Daedalus' approach. "Hail and Hello, good sirs,” he said to them. “Might one of you be able to spare me and my mistress, Princess Prismaya, a meal? She has just been rescued from an awful prison and has yet to eat. We will compensate with a fair price.”

Tachibana smiled. "Of course we can. And there is no need for a payback. I have money to spare and I know what it feels like to be locked up in a prison. I can pay for it."

Chrono looked at him from the side and cocked a non-existent eyebrow. This wasn’t like Tachibana… treating a complete stranger to a meal? This was a big surprise to him. Well, if this was the real Tachibana, he’d probably like it.

Tachibana sniffed the air to see there was a restaurant open and cooking, and if their food smelled good. With his very, very keen sense of smell, detected what seemed like a very fancy restaurant with mouth watering food. "Aah… found one,” he said. “This way.”

He started walking in the direction of that which he sensed. Daedalus followed him to the restaurant. As they walked, Tachibana continued to sniff the air to see if he was going in the right direction.

"Sorry if you think I am strange…. I am a wolf after all," he said, and smirked slightly as he looked back at Daedalus.

Chrono stayed behind for some reason. He seemed to be looking around for something. Suddenly, he heard a soft voice. "Chrono…come to the forest…I have something to show you…" a mysterious female voice said.

He looked around even more now, a little nervous. "Who are you?" he asked.

He got no reply. He sighed and started to walk off towards the forest and marshes. "I hate it when this happens…stupid voices," he mumbled as he got to the edge of the forest.

"Come in farther…I need to show you something…" the voice urged him.

"Hold your horses!" Chrono said, growling somewhat. He walked in.

Suddenly, a rush of pain shot up through him like a electricity. He fell to his knees and started to breathe roughly.

"What’s happening…?" he asked weakly.

Female laughter rang out. The forest suddenly seemed to fade into the distance. Was he moving? No… he was being transported.

"Fool!” a female voice rang out through the barrier he was in. “You are so gullible! You stupid little reptile. You need to learn when and when not to listen."

After he heard another laugh from the woman, he suddenly appeared on a floating asteroid in space.

"Where am I!?" he demanded, growling. His voice echoed out through space as if he were in a canyon.

"You are in space, you twit," the voice called out.

"Show yourself!" Chrono yelled.

Sakura petals suddenly appeared to swirl in front of him. Chrono backed away a little bit, not knowing what was happening. He was still carrying the strange egg he got. Chrono almost dropped it, but he caught it before it hit the ground. The Sakura petals disappeared as a woman appeared. The woman had two black fox-like ears on top of her head. She had long red hair and red eyes. It seemed like she had claws on her hands. It was Akemi…

* * *

Tachibana continued leading Daedalus to the restaurant. They both finally got to it. "Ah… here we are," he said.

Tachibana then suddenly turned around and didn’t see Chrono.

"Chrono…?" he asked to himself. "Hmm…he will be back.."

* * *

"Here I am," Akemi said, smirking, and then flipping her hair with her fingers.

"Wh-who are you!?" Chrono yelled.

"My name is Akemi. I am one of the leaders in the Black Demon Hearts, and I have come to destroy you." She gave out another laugh.

"Well, we’ll just see about that!" he yelled, then closed his eyes and began to concentrate…nothing happened.

His eyes flashed open. "Wh…what’s going on??!! Why can’t I summon my staff?!" he yelled in fear.

Chinaho was watching in her lair through a crystal ball. She was cracking up at Chrono’s face expressions. Little fool! How are you going to get out of this one? she thought.

“Remember that shock you felt when you entered the forest?” Akemi sneered. “Well, that weakened you. You can’t use your powers here, idiot.”

Chrono growled slightly. He was worried now… how would he defend himself if he couldn’t use magic. Akemi suddenly charged at him and knocked him into the barrier wall. Chrono let out a yell of pain as more electricity shot through him.

“Now, let’s end this quickly,” she said as she started to glow red. “I have no time to play.”

The red glowing moved from her body to her hands. Suddenly, the glowing formed a crescent shaped blade with a chain attached to it.

"Prepare to die, you worthless scaled piece of nothing!" she yelled, and slung her crescent blade at Chrono, sending it streaming through the air about to strike him.

Suddenly, without warning, the blade stopped right before it hit Chrono.

"WHAT IS GOING ON??!!" Akemi yelled in fury.

As the weapon stopped, it started to glow. Strangely enough, the egg that Chrono was carrying was glowing the same color. It started to float in front of Chrono. His eyes widened as he stared at the egg.

Chinaho’s eyes widened. "What?!" she yelled.

The blade suddenly shot back at Akemi. Lucky for Akemi, she dodged it. "What the hell??!!" she yelled.

"Akemi, come back," Chinaho said to her.

Chrono looked around as he heard the voice.

"But…my Queen…I haven’t killed Chrono yet…" she said.

"I am satisfied. You did well. Now get back here!!" Chinaho yelled.

Akemi nodded and disappeared with Sakura petals.

Chrono stared at the egg as it came back to him. "Wow… whatever is in this egg… must be very powerful," he mumbled.

The asteroid began to fade just as the forest did. But now, the forest appeared in front of him.

"I’m…. back in the forest…?" he mumbled.

He tried to force energy out of his hand and he did. He then gave a sigh of relief and ran back into town and found Tachibana.

"Where’d you go…?" Tachibana asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I…um…went to look for something…" Chrono mumbled.

Tachibana nodded. Turning back to Daedalus, he asked, "So, where is your mistress at…?"