Chapter Text
Usagi jumped on the metal stairs on the side of the building opposite to the one he was on and climbed all the way up careful not to slip because of the still pouring rain.
Right now he had two priorities: number two, returning to the back alley where he fought the foot ninjas, which also had a side quest of its own- remembering where exactly it was since as impressive as it is, this city sort of looked the same all the way through.
And top number one priority was cutting loose Jei who was still hot on his trail.
The number one mission looked out to be the most difficult because no matter how many times he jumped from place to place he was still following him rabid, the sound of striding metal on the floor loud behind him.
He was fast, and don't get him wrong- the young rabbit was also fast, but he was also not a supernatural entity who probably never tired, and who also had an insanely high body count, that seemed worth mentioning.
A puddle of rainwater made his shoes slippery and almost made him lose his footing, his back standing straight right away to avoid giving precious time to the pursuing beast behind him 'Ok Usagi now is not the time for-- avoid the other puddle thank you-- that so try your best to focus on not getting caught!' the thought rolled out of his head hysterically, as if he had really focused on anything ever.
Well he had to try now, and to make the most of this new attempt through the mist he finally got a better look at his surroundings, noticing gladly that on his right on a rooftop there was what seemed to be a maze of steel duct pipes, tangled enough to make him consider the option of losing him there.
A strained smirk appeared on his face, it was worth the try.
With a careful hop, he reached that building and got running again, taking advantage of his smaller and swifter body to push through the maze without bonking his head on any of the pipes.
There was a downside to his plan though, the violent storm rang loudly on the metal around him drowning out any other noise, making it harder to understand if he was still being followed or not.
So out of curiosity, he glanced at one of the passing ducts in the hopes of seeing only his own reflection there.
But as he figured out already, fate hated his guts.
A wolf gawked at him, unblinking, the terrifying white of his eyes successfully reflecting on every shining surface around the poor rabbit, who couldn't help but shiver deeply and swallow down the nerves building up in his throat again 'Reminder to never do that again' another jump and he found himself on another building.
Okay that plan didn't work, but he could still come up with something... Right?
The huffed breath that just came out of his mouth suggested that no, he was running dry of any energy, and once the pure adrenaline powering him ran out he would be officially doomed.
His pace became more erratic as panic settled back in his stomach, nothing looked familiar to him in the slightest. What if he went in the wrong direction? He was never going to find that place if that was the case.
No. If he started pulling himself down he was never going up again, which was definitely not what he needed in a moment like that.
What he needed was a way out, even if currently he had no clue what it could be 'Brain work with me for once, is there anything I can do to lose this guy so I can get to looking in peace?' Uhh... Try jumping there-
Heeding the mental advice, he leaped on another rooftop with an intricate system of ducts- noticing that no, he was still chasing him.
'That was a terrible advice! I don't even know why I'm asking you this!' Because if you focused enough on the situation happening you would be screaming in terror and losing what little dignity you had left? 'That was uncalled for- I have a lot of dignity!' Oh yeah? Not for long.
The rabbit furrowed his dark brows at that claim and then noticed that his internal dialogue failed to let him see that the rooftop he was about to fall on most definitely didn't have enough space for him to land.
So, after screaming in his head slightly, he crashed down and to avoid falling completely he managed to bounce forward on the roughened metal discarded on the roof, successfully cutting his leg in the process.
‘Why does this day keep getting worse??' he gulped down the burning ache of the open wound and kept going- Think positive you're still standing like a true warrior! Although you are slower now.
How could he think positively?? He had two incredibly tiring days and to top it all off he was running for his life, something he would have never done in his existence, and he was completely, utterly, lo... No way.
Almost like a holy apparition, a billboard shined in the distance breaking away the storm just to reveal itself to Usagi, who gaped at it with stars in his eyes- It was unmistakable, it was the billboard he had seen before, which meant "Yes!" that he had almost arrived at the destination and that he wasn't as lost as he initially thought.
Unfortunately for him though, his glee was short-lived since the shrieking noise of metal had currently become louder than before, alarmingly louder.
Right, he just lost his speed advantage
Oh no he lost his speed advantage
He gazed back from the corner of his eye to confirm his suspicion, cursing himself because he didn't follow his own reminder from a few minutes ago, and there he was.
Just a few hairs away from him.
The air got knocked out of his lungs with a wheeze, the only thing he could do was spin around and block the incoming slash from the other's spear, their weapons grinding against each other hard enough to make sparks.
They were finally eye to eye and he hated it more than anything, his fight or flight instincts kicking him in the face once he took a better look at the demon in front of him.
Terrifying wasn't the right word for him, uncanny was better- it was him being so uncanny that made him beyond frightening, his lanky puppet-like movements making everything worse.
He was what Usagi would call pure nightmare fuel, no- he was the nightmare.
And he was giggling like a maniac above him, pushing his whole weight on Willowbranch, which he lowered his gaze on and giggled even louder for some reason.
"A h . . . that sword . . ."
Nope nope, his voice was even worse, oh gods his voice was even worse.
With all the strength he had left, he folded his knees and pushed hard enough to shove Jei away, enough to ready his battle stance, hands tightly wrapped around his unsheathed sword to stop them from shaking.
"What do- What do you want from me?" He choked on his words slightly, alert for any possible attack from the other.
Jei snapped his head to the side amused "You have inherited your ancestor's sins child, the Gods are not as forgiving as I w o u l d b e " His head snapped back into place, his tied-up hair swaying in the wind completely untouched by the rain "Because of that your soul is f o r f e i t and has been since your birth, you wouldn't want to cross t h e w i l l o f t h e g o d s , would you?" And with that, he pounced once more.
Usagi tried his best to either parry or block the attacks, mainly because he was striking him so quickly it was hard for him to keep up, and the fact that he had a spear- or a yari if he recalled correctly, the reflected light on the dark blade bouncing off afraid of being swallowed in its darkness- another thing that made facing him that much harder.
One wrong move and he was toast.
Miyamoto Usagi was right- he couldn't defeat him like this.
He had to find the crystal no matter what, but in order to do that he had to survive this encounter, a task that looked harder the more he barely dodged a fatal slash.
After having blocked another attack with his sword, the wolf hit him again twice, swiping his weapon left and right, making two things happen respectively: the first, disarming him, making Willowbranch clatter on the floor all the way behind him, and the second, making him stumble and fall on his back with a panicked gasp.
In the same instant as the second thing passed, another happened- making the most of the last remaining crumb of sanity he had, Usagi rolled back just in time to avoid Jei's spear, which had just collided with the thankfully empty floor instead of his guts.
Back on his feet again only with his yoyo by his side, he blinked furiously ahead of him- he was officially done for.
Or was he?
Now with a full view of the building that previously was behind him, he noticed one important perhaps vital detail, there was a strange steel structure on it.
That sight gave him a maybe insane idea, but were any of his ideas not insane?
The tall wolf was still on his back, so he took the chance to grab his yoyo, which was buzzing a lot more than usual, and unwrap some wire off of it, leaving it dangling in the air waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
You must not spring the trap before the prey is in it.
Although in this case it was more of an evasive action rather than anything else, but still.
Jei twitched 'Here it comes...' And spun rapidly with his spear as a propeller.
In that second, Usagi shot forward and slid right underneath the spear, barely avoiding its edge, once on the opposite side he threw his yoyo on that structure and started running towards Willowbranch.
Behind him he could hear the now familiar noise of metal produced by the demon's spear, he was going to attack him from his back.
He wasn't going to allow it (hopefully).
Willowbranch fit back in his paw as he ran and then inside its sheath, the loud screech overwhelming his senses more and more.
With his heart officially threatening to spill out of his mouth, the samurai proceeded with the last step of his plan pulling at his yoyo's string- sling-shotting himself forward, the air behind him being swallowed by the wolf's weapon.
For a second he was flying, which would have been the coolest thing ever if it wasn’t for the situation he was in at the moment.
Still, from up there the view was awesome, he acknowledged it with a woozy smile.
And then- gravity ensued.
Now was truly the time to scream in terror and lose his dignity.
As he fell down the thirty-story building yelling in fear, probably waking up every single citizen in that city, his entire life rolled in front of his eyes: all the happy moments, all the sad moments including what had just gone down-
Wait wait- After everything he did to escape that whole encounter, he was going to die squashed down on the floor like those cartoons Auntie showed him when he was little, in a city far away from his home?
Absolutely not thank you, he looked around from his panicked frenzy and suddenly... There it was on the side of the building nearest to him- fire escape stairs, aka his new favorite things.
He threw his yoyo at them without much thought, something he would suffer from soon because now instead of falling to his demise, he was headed full speed toward the wall, so, still pretty much towards his demise.
Another horrified yelp escaped him as he closed his eyes waiting for the impact.
Something that strangely enough didn't happen.
Light slowly came back to him as he finally opened his eyes, still believing that maybe he was actually dead and he had turned into a ghost or something like that, but there he was, very much not a ghost and very much gripping his yoyo like a lifeline.
Once he registered all this information in his head, he finally let go of his yoyo and slid down the wall until he was sat on the concrete floor, chest rising and falling violently.
He was alive.
A hysterical laugh bubbled in his throat "I'm alive! I'm so alive right now" He threw his arms in the air victorious as he collected all the oxygen he had lost in this chase, with a reminder never to do that again.
Now with his newly collected clarity, he looked up at the sky, realizing that it had finally stopped raining, clouds clearing away letting the morning sun shine through- and then he looked down at himself.
Saying that he was thoroughly drenched was an understatement- Gen would have probably already been yelling at him for an hour about all the things that could happen to your immune system if you go outside while it pours down like that.
The thought made him smile a bit- he missed his friends so much.
A yawn broke him away from his thoughts, now that his adrenaline was running out the weariness accumulated in the past hours came crashing down like a tidal wave, but he couldn't sleep- he had a mission to put to fruition, and plus deep down he didn't really want to sleep, mainly because every time he closed his eyes he saw that haunted white glare, burned in the back of his eyelids. A shiver rolled down his spine.
Even that metaphor sounded eery.
He ran his pale paw on his face hard enough to scratch and then sandwiched it with his hands "Yuichi Usagi you will find this crystal and defeat Jei once and for all- so even if you're tired, very tired..." His words came out muffled as he fought back another yawn, he wasn't just tired, he was exhausted "...You must get back on your feet and continue your valorous quest no matter what, the lives of innocent people are at stake and you will protect them." He straightened his back with a resolute expression and sat up with his yoyo still clutched in his hand.
Said yoyo hadn't stopped buzzing, waiting to be acknowledged by Usagi, who looked at it with a smile "Thank you for literally saving my butt yoyo, I promise I will never insult you again." He put a fist to his chest and spoke those words like an official vow, the buzzing in the yoyo finally ceased seemingly satisfied with that answer.
And with that he was off to continue his quest, having thankfully shortened the distance to his goal thanks to his "evasive measure", feeling a bit prouder about the plan than he was before.
The young samurai stuck close to the shadows since he had genuine doubts about how "well regarded" he was by this city's police 'Even if it was all a misunderstanding' He sighed defeated, why did he always find himself in situations like this with people was beyond him- most say he's quite loveable actually! On second thought maybe only Auntie said that, but he does know how to win over people! Eventually.
He rattled his head to put an end to that whole mental argument before it got weird, he had other priorities, like the voices that suddenly echoed in the alley he was headed for.
Wait, voices? Usagi's ears stood up straight once he got closer to the source of those... Two voices. He flattened his back on the wall and peeked slightly to avoid being noticed.
' Wow, peeking from the shadows? This is a ninja level of sneaking, I don't know if I should be disappointed or impressed by my quietness skills' He giggled slightly and then caught himself before he got too loud 'Ok I'm still workshopping it'
He looked forward and what he saw were more of those strange fleshy people that seemed to roam this city, except these ones didn't look at all like those guys with the flames on their heads- well because first, they didn't have flames on their heads (bummer really), and second, they weren't wearing any ninja attire, actually they were all wearing identical outfits, alongside a shining green brooch.
Time for the plan of action, he could wait until those guys are gone so he could sneak in and look for the crystal... Wait, could this be seen as a robbery? He hadn't really thought about how this whole operation could be seen as morally wrong- but was it really bad if it was to save people?
No, it wasn't! He settled for that as an answer, and anyway, he could still give it back sooo it's more borrowing than anything.
"Fred I told you a thousand times, the gold things go in the red boxes!" He heard the shorter one say, his ears twitching a bit as he focused on getting the rest.
"And I told you that it makes no sense! The blue things go in the blue boxes and the gold things should go in the gold boxes." He did have a point, Usagi nodded to himself.
Both of them were handling medium-sized boxes full of shiny, and probably incredibly pricy things, to the other, and for a second Usagi wondered if these people were here to steal whatever was left in the building after those ninjas came in there. The second prolonged as he glanced at the gigantic truck right behind them, with even more boxes inside.
This was really bad- what if they took the artifact? The rabbit got a hold of his sword and was ready to pounce until the first person continued on with their rant.
"But we don't have any!" An enraged scream came out of them "You're making everything worse! Didn't you get the memo that we have to move all of the treasures at the Grand Nexus Hotel before the event starts?"
Hold on, the what now?
The taller one visibly shrunk in front of their coworker's rage, getting back to work and setting the last boxes inside the truck, closing it with a loud thunk "See? It didn't take long"
"Exactly why I told you to hurry ugh... Did you take the flyers from the deposit?" A beat of tense silence stretched between the two "See what I mean? I gotta do everything around here!" They finished saying while walking inside the building again.
Usagi let go of his sword and scratched his head in confusion, who were these guys? They didn't look like robbers, and they seemingly knew whatever was inside the deposit well.
Also, what was this... Grand Nexus Hotel? If they were moving everything there then it must mean that the crystal will also be held there!
But but, there was one problem, correction, two problems: he had no clue on how he was going to get in there without being noticed and where even was this place located exactly.
A frustrated sigh came out of him, resigned to the fact that nothing was going to come easy to him in this place no matter what he did.
After a few minutes, the one that went inside to look for the flyers got out with a big pile of them all wrapped up in cellophane, held close to their chest "Are you going to help me or not? It seems someone here damaged the plastic." They pointed at a flapping piece of cellophane with an unimpressed expression.
The tall one, who probably had enough of all the jabs, started screaming "No! You're always so mean to me it hurts my feelings!"
The flyer pile swayed threateningly "Fred if you don't take these flyers in the next minute I will rip your brooch off and drop you off at Times Square where all the humans will scream and shout at the sight of you."
While the two kept shouting, one of the flyers stacked on top of the pile escaped its cellophane embrace from the cut and followed the wind in Usagi's direction, who noticed it and caught it right in the nick of time, hiding his presence behind the wall once more.
The paper crinkled slightly in his grasp, the words 'Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Battle Nexus at the Grand Nexus Hotel!' Were written in capital and swirly letters on a purple background immediately catching the young rabbit's attention, who hummed and kept reading the smaller text right underneath the banner 'Bring your best clothes and costumes to the biggest party ever hosted in the city! Food and beverages are kindly offered to you by the Hidden City Catering Corp. to ensure a night of pure entertainment!'
"Woah that sounds fancy." He whispered in his palm, eyes skimming on the colorful illustrations of people dancing that framed the flyer and then back on the text.
Okay, so this Grand Nexus Hotel... 'Is the same place those guys were talking about!' One of his ears straightened up again as the shouting in the alley got a little less loud than before, interrupting his thoughts out of curiosity and making him peek from behind the wall, noticing with a bit of relief that the two had stopped arguing, the only noise that could be heard was the beeping of a watch.
"Ugh, come on or we'll be late for delivery hour, Mama will kill us personally if we aren't there." The shorted one backed away from the argument and dropped the big pile of paper inside the truck, keys in hand ready to start it.
"I wouldn't want that..." The other one followed their coworker towards the truck with a defeated look on his face, his back curved in an upside-down U shape.
A beat of silence fell between them, as the engine started up, and then another groan "Wow, if that was all it took to make you shut up I could have said that sooner."
Usagi stepped out of his hiding spot slowly once he was sure they weren't looking his way, and in that exact moment a realization hit him.
If they're going to this Hotel where there's apparently a party open for everyone... He could easily follow them and get inside!
He gasped and smiled at the air in front of him 'Guess this place doesn't hate me that much in the end.'
The pale rabbit lowered his hood once more and followed the truck towards the depths of the city, with a bit more confidence in his step now that his day had finally turned around. Hopefully.