~*Yousatsukou*~

[Psi Yamaneko]

((Author's Commentary: I decided to make another Pokemorph fic in the tradition of Tears of Oni. Like ToO this is based on another story but I breathe my own life into it. I posted this once before under the translated title "Demon Deathchase" but I decided that that sounded too much like a bad action flick. There will be ballads, some that I made up, others that are modified versions of actual ballads from Victorian England. I hope you all enjoy the story. Let's see if you can figure out what it's a crossover of, shall we? I took a lot of creative liberties with this one...Consider the world an alternate reality of Neo Manhattan.))

ACT I

"Crickets are chirpin', the water is high
There's a soft cotton dress on the line hangin' dry
The window's wide open, African trees
Bent over backwards from a hurricane breeze
Not a word of goodbye, not even a note
She'd gone with the man in the long black coat

Somebody seen him hangin' around
At the old dance hall on the outskirts of town
He looked into her eyes when she stopped him to ask
If he wanted to dance, he had a face like a mask
Somebody said from the Bible he'd quote
There was dust on the man in the long black coat

Preacher was a-talkin', there's a sermon he gave
He said every man's conscience is vile and depraved
You cannot depend on it to be your guide
When it's you who must keep it satisfied
It ain't easy to swallow, it sticks in the throat
She gave her heart to the man in the long black coat

There are no mistakes in life, some people say
And it's true sometimes, you can see it that way
But people don't live or die, people just float
She went with the man in the long black coat

There's smoke on the water, it's been there since June
Treetrunks uprooted 'neath the high crescent moon
Feel the pulse and vibration and the rumblin' force
Somebody is out there beating on a dead horse
She never said nothin', there was nothin' she wrote
She'd gone with the man in the long black coat "
~Bob Dylan


Prologue~The Festival of the Hunt, Tsepesh Village, Year of the Deep Snow, 19082 A.D.

“History is the present. That’s why every generation writes it anew. But what most people think of as history is its end product, myth.”
~ E.L. (Edgar Lawrence) Doctorow




Neo Gaia was filled with bright colors and life. It was a Utopia. Every person in Neo Gaia lived in perfect harmony and bliss. But with bliss came ignorance. Not a person in Gaia, save for a few known as the Keepers, were truly aware of their ancient past.

It had started in the Years of M'an which ended in 1999 A.D. with the birth of the beast called Myutsuu and the start of the Nuclear War. For years, M'an had captured the elemental beasts called "Pocket Monsters" and trained and battled them for sport. They failed to note that "Pocket Monsters" had been around long before them....and would continue to be around long after. Myutsuu was an abomination. He was a clone of Myu who was the supposed creator of the world. He could not understand his purpose so he cloned Pocket Monsters and set them against M'an. He desired to create his own world. M'ankind could not withstand the incredible power of Myutsuu's psychic ability. In desperation, the forces of M'an counter attacked with nuclear weapons and devastated the planet. M'an had brought about its own extinction...

But the Pocket Monsters started to react to the radiation. They became more and more like M'an with each passing year and they started to spread. These freaks of Evolution eventually dominated the world using their knowledge of technology, which they inherited from M'an. They called themselves "The Folk".


The Folk became widespread and multiplied swiftly, but they relied upon machines to the point that they started to become lazy. Eventually, they became degenerate and more barbarous. When they reached the level equal to M'an's Middle Ages around 3000 A.D. a new race rose from the sleeping earth. They were powerful and graceful; they were fast and deadly. They were Vampires.

Any species of Folk could become a Vampire....But the very first Vampire was Myutsuu himself. He had been buried by the nuclear waste and sunk into the sea. When he broke surface, the sun burned his eyes and he fled into the caves near the fishing villages only to come out at night. This behavior led to the weakness of the other Vampires he created. No Vampire could survive in the sun, they loathed running water and they feared the sacred emblems of Myu. But, even despite these weaknesses, they conquered the world, declaring themselves the Nobility and the Folk submitted to them.

The Nobility held reign over Gaia for nearly 8000 years and spoke well of Myutsuu. Myutsuu had become a God in their eyes, a being called the Sacred Ancestor and Myutsuu had received a name. They called him the Impaler, the Merciless One. In the Vampiric language, he was called "Dracula". The Nobility erected a city in his honor known only as the Capital. There, they genetically engineered creatures to serve them and created the Weather Controllers, spires that regulated the global climate and blocked out the sun. Finally, the Folk gathered and overthrew the Nobility in a coup called the Great Rebellion. The surviving Nobles and their mutant creations fled into the Frontier where they continued to attack the Folk. These attacks prompted the folk to organize the Hunter class. This class was popular for years and was eventually broken down into specialty sub classes such as The Werewolf Hunters, The Spirit Hunters, The Lesser Dragon Hunters and the elite Vampire Hunters.

It was the Vampire Hunters who paved the way to victory for the Folk. After thousands of years of struggling, the last of the Nobility perished and Gaia belonged to the Folk once more.

In a misguided attempt to prevent the Dark Ages from ever returning, the Folk burned every last historical reference and refused to address the past ever again. While the ruins and architecture of the Ancients and the Nobility were left standing, very few people could recall their purposes.

...~...

Tsepesh had been founded in the Dark Ages. It lay at the bottom of a hill upon which stood the ruins of an ancient castle. Such close contact with the old made Tsepesh one of the few Neo Gaian cities that had familiarity with the past, and even honored the past.

Every year for as long as any Tsepeshian could remember the village held the Festival of the Hunt. Big game hunters from all over Neo Gaia would gather and hunt large beasts released into the streets by the town officials.

But the Festival did not draw the attention of the hunters alone. It also drew in the Keepers who held their hidden temple in Capital City. This secret organization of Eevees and Eeveelutions had existed for millennia and based itself around truth. The Keepers had full knowledge of the Dark Ages for they had saved their books. They could list every Vampire in the Nobility and every Hunter Class and every Hunter. They knew that the Festival had started here in Tsepesh to commemorate the victims of Vampires who could move in daylight. They knew who the Nameless God prayed to before the Hunt was and they knew who it was that was portrayed as a statue in Town Square. In fact, the statue was a depiction of the Nameless God.

Today was the first day that Fay'Lynne, an Espeon acolyte of the Keepers, had ever attended the Festival. It was a big day in her training. Accompanying her was the Vaporeon, Loremaster Kendaric. The pair stood in the middle of the crowd that gathered on the bridge over Town Square, watching the opening ceremonies. Both were dressed in black robes and not a single person saw them. Keepers who did not wish to be seen, never were.

Fay’Lynne was fascinated with everything. The bright colors, the bustle of the crowds...But the marble statue in the Square drew her attention more than anything else. It portrayed an elegantly built Myutsuu with a wide brimmed traveler’s hat and long hair. His mouth was open, displaying a pair of sharp fangs and clutched tightly in one hand was a long sword that must have been over Fay’Lynne’s body length. The most curious thing about the statue was that his left hand was raised and, in the palm of that hand, was a perfectly sculpted face. The statue was decorated in gold and jewels that had been strewn over it as part of the ceremony. Once upon a time, this man had been hero. He had been a giant among men, a noble fighter. But, as with so many figures, history had swallowed him whole. He was simply...the Nameless God. A deity worshipped as a God of plenty in Tsepesh Village but otherwise forgotten. A victim of the passing of ages.

“Look now,” said Kendaric and he nodded towards a lone shape making its way to the podium before the statue. She was a Flareon with golden hair and wide blue eyes.

“Who is she?” Fay’Lynne squeaked.

“Eleanore Lang, she is a hunter from the Werewolf Frontier Sector. Her ancestors worked the plantations of the Noble that used to live there. Do you remember who that Noble was?”

The Espeon frowned and thought hard. “Count Magnus Lee?”

When this failed to elicit a response she tried again, “Baron Byron Balarge?’

Kendaric gave her a sideways glance. “Right the first time. I am glad to see you have been studying. Now, watch...”

Eleanore Lang leaned into the microphone. “Welcome, hunters of Neo Gaia!”

This was answered by a loud cheer and the assembled Folk brandished their weapons of choice which ranged from guns to spears, from crossbows to warhammers.

“We are gathered here today to celebrate what might be the seven thousandth anniversary of the Festival of the Hunt. Let us begin with our prayers.”

Almost instantly, the people around Fay’Lynne fell to one knee. The two Keepers remained standing and were still unnoticed. Kendaric, however, had a somber look on his face and was holding a withered blue hand over his heart. The Espeon mimicked the gesture and blinked with confusion.

Once again, Lang spoke.

“Nameless Protector, Spirit Bright
The Blue Eyed Farthest Walker.
Your Hunters pray, in need they step
In need, but never in fear.

The Nameless God purged Tsepesh of the Evil-That-Moves-In-Daylight and saved the virtue of Leena, the founder of this Festival.

So sang the Dunpeal
Cursed the Nobility
Out-of-Sun they are forever
Servants of Shadow,
We made them Masters
But the True Folk are never vanquished.”

This was followed by the ritualistic response from the masses. Together, they cried out,

“Long may we reign
in majesty glorious,
ever victorious,
Myu save the Queen.”

Lang’s ears flopped back against her head in a most comical fashion and she clapped her hands. A pair of Machoke emerged from a nearby alley, dragging a huge cage. Sweat beaded their brows and they looked genuinely miserable, their muscles bulged from the strain of dragging the heavy piece of metal. Noises came from within the cage, howls and cries of various wild beasts.

Lang hopped from the podium and opened the cage door. A flood creatures poured into the street, plowing over some hunters and being pursued by others. The Festival had begun. The audience ran along the bridge, wanting to see all of the action. Fay’Lynne and Kendaric descended the stairs into Town Square and stood in front of the statue of the Nameless God. By this time, the Square was already empty, the crowd having had followed the hunters.

“It’s a beautiful piece of art,” said Fay’Lynne.

Kendaric nodded, “Very much worn away now, though. I wonder what it looked like when it was built?”

Fay’Lynne kicked a pebble into a nearby gutter. “Kendaric...who was the Nameless God?”

The old Vaporeon arched his brow at this question. “Are you familiar with the Cyclical Myths?”

The acolyte shrugged her slender shoulders. “The stories of how the Nobility fell and we arose again just as M’an did before us. I haven’t read any of them...I’m still reading about the rise of the Nobility and the division of Capital City.”

“The Cyclical Myths,” said Kendaric, “are vital to our understanding of our heritage. The Nameless God was the hero of the Cyclical Myths.....Only, of course, in the Myths he was no God. He was simply a Myutsuu...The child of the Impaler, a direct descendant of the Sacred Ancestor of the Nobility. He was hated by the Folk for his Vampiric blood and he was hated by the Nobles for he had a mortal half. Not a Myutsuu, not a Vampire, all he knew was what he was not.”

Kendaric wrapped his fingers around his oaken staff and smiled at Fay’Lynne from under his hood. “And he had a name. He was called Dyxsil'rav'dmenkhsxyl. Translated out of the Vampiric Language, his name meant ‘The Bonny Swan’”

Fay’Lynne was momentarily distracted, focusing her attention on a bug that had landed on her tail. Kendaric continued, “Of course ‘Dyxsil'rav'dmenkhsxyl’ is such a fuss to pronounce that he and those around him called him ‘D’”

Fay’Lynne swatted at her tail and giggled as the bug flew off in search of a less squirmy perch.

“There are thirteen Cyclical Myths,” said Kendaric. “I think that today you should learn one of them.”

“Story time!” Fay’Lynne squealed. “I love stories! I want to hear one with lots of action and romance and people with cyborg horses!”

“You just described every Cyclical Myth,” the old Vaporeon sat on the base structure of the statue. “I will share with you the story called ‘Yousatsukou’, the Demon Deathchase.”

Fay’Lynne crawled over to Kendaric and kneeled in front of him, smiling.

“As with all great stories, ours begins with a simple ballad:

The Vampire Lord came over the hill
Down through the valley so shady,
He whistled and he sang till the greenwoods rang
And he won the heart of a lady.
A ley lu, a ley lu, a ley
A ley lu a lee ley ee
He whistled and he sang till the greenwoods rang
And he won the heart of a lady.

She left her father's castle gate,
She left her own fond lover
She left her servants and her estate to follow the Vampire rover

A ley lu, a ley lu, a ley
A ley lu a lee ley ee
He whistled and he sang till the greenwoods rang
And he won the heart of a lady.

The Hunter saddled his cyborg steed
And roamed the valleys all over,
He sought the woman at great speed
And the whistling Vampire rover.

A ley lu, a ley lu, a ley
A ley lu a lee ley ee
He whistled and he sang till the greenwoods rang
And he won the heart of a lady.

He came at last to a mansion fine
Down by the river Glady,
And there was music and there was wine
For the Vampire and his lady.

A ley lu, a ley lu, a ley
A ley lu a lee ley ee
He whistled and he sang till the greenwoods rang
And he won the heart of a lady.

He is no Vampire, my Hunter, she cried
But lord of these lands all over
And I will stay till my dying day
With my whistling Vampire rover!

A ley lu, a ley lu, a ley
A ley lu a lee ley ee
He whistled and he sang till the greenwoods rang
And he won the heart of a lady....”

[Psi Yamaneko]

((Author's Note: Uh....Hope people end up reading this. ^^;))

Chapter 1: The Hunter Prince

"Fairy: Those that 'Hobgoblin' call you, and 'Sweet Puck,'
You do their work, and they shall have good luck.
Are not you he?
Puck: Thou speakest aright;
I am that merry wanderer of the night."
~William Shakespeare

The hulking Feraligator knew the woods as well as he knew the back of his scaly hand. He had been born in Beregyn Forest as the son of a Lesser Dragon Hunter. After his father passed away, he took over his role as the lead of the Beregyn Dragon Slayers.
The Feraligator was Rang.
A Serpent Night Dragon had been devouring Folk living along the outskirts of the wood. Rang and his team dispatched the beast without much of a hassle. All in a day's work for a Hunter.
Yes, he knew these woods well but his companions did not. He had been searching for them for well over an hour, checking all of the more likely places a group of Hunters would head for. After he had run through them all about six times he started to check the backwoods.
Rang kept his ears open and sharp, listening for any sound that might be his friends.
The sun was setting now to the West, bathing Beregyn in a rosy glow that lit up the leaves and stirred the nocturnal creatures from their slumber. Soon it would be night. Nobody traveled at night anymore. The Holy Knights of Capital City would not permit it. Night hours were their hours. That time belonged to the Vampires.
"Elynia," Rang cried, "Sevegol! Wubaean! WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!?"
He punched at a nearby tree in rage and it splintered beneath the blow. Birds fled the overhead canopies, cries of anguish and shock rattling forth from their throats.
Rang sighed and closed his dark green eyes. He had to calm down...He had to think...
For a while he stood in calm silence, then he heard something. Music. Elegant, enchanting music, like the sound faeries were said to make. It was coming from the clearing.
Curiosity piqued, Rang followed the notes, which dripped like honey upon his ears.
Just as he had suspected, the music led him to the clearing at the heart of Beregyn Forest. The clearing was circular, with a small hill in the center. Sitting upon the hill was a weeping willow, its gnarled branches and leaves hanging about it like a funeral shroud.
Rang walked up the hill and saw a pair of figures beneath the tree. One was a cyborg horse without a doubt. Horses went extinct after the End-of-Worlds but they were easily mimicked in a robotic form. The beast lifted its plated head and gazed at Rang through a pair of glowing crimson eyes. Lounging back against the tree trunk was a young Myutsuu. Rang was instantly taken aback by the stranger's exotic beauty.
The Myutsuu was dressed in a tightly fitting black armor and a flowing cape. The underside of the cape was golden like the sun at dawn. The armor itself was bejeweled. The Myutsuu's hair was long, falling well past his shoulders and was a pale blonde in color. If it were not for the streaks of sunny gold that ran throughout it, his hair would have been barely distinguishable from the pallor of his skin. The stranger was obviously proud of his hair, for he had woven cherry blossoms and beads crafted from semi-precious gems and foreign metals into it. A wide-brimmed traveler's hat sat in the grass at the Myutsuu's side. The brim was embroidered with gold design and the hat was decorated with an ornate opal and brass laurel arrangement that had a single peacock plume extending from it. The face of the Myutsuu was breathtaking. He had flushed lips and high cheekbones. His skin was white as virgin snow and his eyes were hooded and long-lashed in such a way that he looked like he was half asleep.
The Myutsuu was playing a reed flute; the source of the music Rang had heard.
"Excuse me," stammered the Feraligator once he regained his voice. "I'm looking for my friends. There's a lovely Sneasel, a Kecleon and a short, fat and stupid looking Girafarig named Wubaean. Have you seen them?"
The Myutsuu lowered the flute from his lips and studied Rang from under lowered lashes.
"Perhaps." His voice was young and soft but had an edge of steel.
Rang scowled. "Listen, I've been looking for them all night, could you have the decency to tell me if you've seen them or not?"
The Myutsuu lifted a graceful hand and gestured northward. "The Aadakanana River flows through the wood yonder. There are no bridges so chances are your friends headed north and were stuck there. Intercept them on their return at Pikachu Pass."
Rang smacked his forehead. Pikachu Pass was a deer trail but still frequented by travelers. How had he forgotten about that? "Of course!....Thankyou, stranger."
He turned to leave but the Myutsuu called after him. "My dear sir, would you direct me towards the Elbourne Estate?"
Rang froze. His friends practically worked the Estate. The Elbournes had made him promise never to give away the Estate's location. It was one of the few remaining safety havens from Vampires, eventhough it had already been infiltrated by one.
"I don't know."
"You are lying to me," the soft voice replied. The Myutsuu lifted his reed flute again and played a warbling tune that instantly elicited a response from nearby songbirds. Rang turned towards the mysterious stranger.
"Listen, I can't go around giving away that place's location. It's a sanctuary to people who have no place else to go! Master Elbourne has enough to worry about as it is, what with his daughter being whisked away in the dead of the night...I'm sorry."
He readjusted his haversack and started to walk away. The Myutsuu lifted the flute to his lips again but this time, rather than notes of music, a dart flew from it. The stranger had had the dart tucked into his cheek the whole time.
Rang yelled as it lodged itself into his arm. "What the HELL!?"
The Myutsuu rose and looked at the Feraligator from beneath his long lashes.
"You've just been injected with Green Swamp Dragon venom," the Myutsuu said. "I have the antidote of course. I will give it to you if you give me the location of the Elbourne Estate. A fair trade, yes?"
Rang twitched. Green...Swamp....Dragon!? Their venom could kill within a day. He whipped about and stared into the Myutsuu's sky blue eyes.
"THIS IS SICK!"
"Tell me where the Estate lies or I'm afraid you'll never leave these woods."
The Feraligator growled miserably. "The ruins of the old town of Tebrin. Head to the River and turn West, you can't miss it."
The Myutsuu bowed. "Thankyou, friend."
He retrieved his hat and mounted the horse. "As for the dart...It was nothing more than a Pin Missile. You'll be sore for a while but you'll live. I find it amazing what mortals will do to save their skin."
He spurred the horse and galloped back into the woods. Rang just stared at the empty space before him...He'd been tricked!

...~...

“This is so boring.....,”
The Fearow fumbled with his sniper rifle. “What are we looking for again?”
He, a Pidgeot and a Pidgeotto were sitting on the rampart walls of the Elbourne Estate in Middle-of-Nowhere, Tebrin. Everything was silent except for the constant scratching sound their talons made over the stones when they moved.
“Suspicious characters,” said the Pidgeotto, still on watch.
“Like him?”
The Fearow swung a wing towards an approaching figure in the distance. It appeared to be a Myutsuu in a wide-brimmed had riding a cyber-horse.
“Works for me!” The Pidgeot lifted his rifle and aimed at the stranger’s face.
“Don’t shoot yet!” the Fearow scolded. “Only shoot if he acts funny!”
“Funny?” asked the Pidgeotto, “Funny ‘Haha’ or funny ‘weird’?”
“Funny as in ‘totally looney’”
By the time this exchange was over the stranger had already passed below them and through the gate.
“We make really crappy sentries...”

...~...

The light of the setting sun reflected off the bare edifaces of the Tebrin ruins and pooled before the old Temple of Myu. The Temple was now abandoned by the Priesthood but a few individuals still lurked there, hoping that the once blessed walls would ward off Vampires. The Temple was now the Elbourne Estate.
“D!”
The Myutsuu hopped off his horse as a Meowth came running out of the stone building. “You must be D!”
The Myutsuu made no response.
“I’m Alan Elbourne,” said the brown-haired Meowth between gasps for air. “MysisterCharlottewascarriedoffinthedeadofnightbyt hevampireMeierLink!”
Thoughts started running through D’s quick mind.
Meier Link was a Myutsuu and one of the Nobles. He had an alliance with Carmilla of the Clayborn States but he was mostly neutral, if not benevolent. There had never once been an instance of him ever attacking the Folk. This made no sense. The fact that this Meowth could rattle of entire sentences in less than a second made no sense either.
“I will find your sister, Alan,” said D softly as he followed the Meowth into the ruins.
The Great Hall was dark and the walls were barren except for a few paintings of the Elbourne family and an old fresco on the ceiling. A lone fireplace made from river-tossed stones sat in the back of the room with a fire burning in the hearth. Many of the paintings were family portraits and featured a beautiful Persian with long, chestnut brown hair, most likely Charlotte. An elderly Persian sat in a wheelchair in the middle of the hall.
“We sent fifty men out to look for her,” said Alan as his eyes teared, “not one of them came back...”
“Alan my boy,” said the elderly Persian. “Who is this?”
D took a few steps forward. “I am D, Master Elbourne. I have received your summons and came immediately here from Tsepesh.” He could tell that Elbourne was ill and not long for this world. He would be dead soon.
“So you are D....,” said the old man. “Alan, give him his payment.”
The Meowth picked up a pouch of gold from the mantle over the fireplace and handed it to the Vampire Hunter. “Half now, half later.”
D examined the pouch, as if assessing how much was in it. “What if Charlotte has already been Changed?”
Alan balked; his hair and fur standing on end. “HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT!?” he cried, “SHE’S THE JEWEL OF OUR FAMILY!”
“I hate to say this...but she may already be dead.”
The Meowth looked about ready to unleash a Fury Swipe but Elbourne stayed his hand and looked up at D. “If worse comes to worse, do what you have to do. Just be sure to make her execution painless.”
D bowed. “Yes, sir.”
“FATHER!”
“You will be awarded ten million for her return.”
The Myutsuu fixed Elbourne with a pale blue gaze. “That’s fine but...I’m afraid ten million is not enough.”
“DIE THEN YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD!” Alan howled. Elbourne lifted a gnarled hand. “Quiet, son. He’s right. Having our Charlotte back is worth far more than a mere ten million. D, I will make it twenty million.”
“Sir.”
Alan’s eye twitched.
“But you will have to move fast, young man. We already have another Hunter party on the job. If they get my daughter before you, they get the money.”
“You hired competition?”
“Basically,” said Alan. “But mostly we just trust you about as far as we can throw an overstuffed Greater Dragon after feasting upon the Folk in the Midsummer Festival. No offense.”
“.....”

[Psi Yamaneko]

No readers, eh? ^^; Oh, well. I'm used it. Anyway, here's an illustration. Meet the Myutsuu

http://i.mediaminer.org:81/far/125606.jpg

[tygerofdanyte]

very interesting Psi.

I always wanted 2 read Tears Of Oni. But I never got to it seeing I always thought that i haven't played Devil May Cry, so it would be hard. But i should have still read it. But i'm reading this now ^_^.

I love how you introduced Vampires into this.

I know your a D&D-er? Are you also a Vampire: The Masquerade/Werewolf/or anyother White wolf rpg product player?

For you seem to have mixed in their main mythos.

ALthough the main mythos also comes from normal Christian Mythos as well.

I seem to like D, he seems an interesting character.

Fay'lynne on the other hand, is umm a bit too.. umm let me put it nicely precocious for me ^_~. Of course me opinion never counts

And also the little ballad in the end of chap 1. Was it going the way of a normal folk ballad or was that an intentional usage of the style used by Tolkien in his Bombadill Poems?

[Psi Yamaneko]

This is a cross over between Pokemon and a series of books/anime known as Vampire Hunter D. Many of the main characters are from the book that was made into the movie BLOODLUST (which I recommend to all anime fans. The artwork is stunning). I take alot of the mythos from there and, as usual, make up some. Most of the place names are mine. Rang, Elynia, Sevegol and Wubaean are mine. D, Carmilla, the Elbournes, the Barbarois and the Markus Brothers are Hideyuki Kikuchi's. I just put my own spin on them much as I did with Tears of Oni's Dante. I know, I know, I suck at plots. My specialty is taking pre-existing stories that leave something to be desired and putting a new spin on them. In this case I took BLOODLUST and added some of the book mythos to it, some Pokemon mythos to it, and filled in the rest with my own screwed up head. I will never be -BBP- in the plot department or Myu Ryuu in the discription department so I chose my own specialty: The complete bastardization and perversion of pre-existing concepts.

As for that ballad, that was folk. Tolkein's ballads are designed after folk ballads.

[SAMAS]

And your head is definitely screwed up. :D

Very good, though.

[Psi Yamaneko]

((Author's Commentary: It's...Chapter 2!))

Chapter 2: The Markus Brothers and the Markus Sister

"A Sunday school teacher was discussing the ten commandments with her five and six year olds.
After explaining the commandment to "honor thy father and thy mother," she asked 'is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?'
Without missing a beat Little Johnny answered, 'thou shall not kill.'" ~Anonymous

The downtown sector of Tebrin had once been a bustling center of commerce. Now it was desolate and the only sounds were the hungry cries of crows and the undead.
Zombies.
They were the lowest of the undead. They had no minds of their own and were driven only by the urge to feed. A vampire had done this to them. A vampire had changed them in order to guard itself. It set them on its pursuers.
Off in a corner, beneath the portico of town hall, a Charizard zombie with empty eyes and a thin frame was rummaging through a trash can, looking for scraps. It snorted once, smoke coming from its nostrils. There were no scraps here.
It dragged itself out into the street and swept its dead gaze across the zombies there. A gathering then. One of them had caught a scent of fresh meat.
The Charizard lifted its long neck and stared down the street, waiting to see what kind of tasty morsel was approaching.
Unfortunately for the zombies, no meal was in the forth coming.
An enormous shape was rattling towards them and the very pavement seemed to groan at its weight. It was an armored vehicle, so broad that it occupied two lanes.
The zombies hissed and looked upon it as if it were a slab of meat. As they drew close to it, the vehicle beamed its headlights, and a spotlight on its roof turned to shine upon them. The light was cross-shaped and this Myu-Emblem made the zombies block their eyes and draw away.
Those that were not repulsed by the light fled the area to escape the sound that was echoing through the vehicle's thick, metallic walls. At first, it sounded like the death cry of a stricken Aerodactyl. But more sensitive ears revealed it to be singing. Within the vehicle, four voices were raised and shrieking along to an unruly tune. Every few seconds, they were interrupted by a fifth voice, a female one, that sounded anything but pleased with their chorus.

"Oh I know a little Eevee and her name is Mary Mack
Make no mistake she's the one I'm going to take
There's a lot of other fellows who'd get up upon her track
But I'm thinking that they'd have to get up early"

"SHUT UP!"

"Oh Mary Mack's mother's making Mary Mack marry me,
My mother's making me marry Mary Mack,
I'm going to marry Mary to get Mary to take care of me,
We'll all be making merry when I marry Mary Mack
Yump, dump diddle li dil liddle lid dil dum"

"RIGHT NOW! QUIET!"

"Oh Mary and her mother go an awful lot together
In fact you never see the one without the other
A lot of Raichues wonder is it Mary or her mother
Or both of them together that I'm courting?

Oh Mary Mack's mother's making Mary Mack marry me,
My mother's making me marry Mary Mack,
I'm going to marry Mary to get Mary to take care of me,
We'll all be making merry when I marry Mary Mack
Yump, dump diddle li dil liddle lid dil dum

Oh the wedding is on Wednesday and everything's arranged
Her name will soon be changed to mine unless her mind has changed
I'm making the arrangements and I'm just about deranged
For marriage is an awful undertaking.

Oh Mary Mack's mother's making Mary Mack marry me,
My mother's making me marry Mary Mack,
I'm going to marry Mary to get Mary to take care of me,
We'll all be making merry when I marry Mary Mack
Yump, dump diddle li dil liddle lid dil dum!"

Within the tank was a troop of Eeveelutions. They were the Markus Brothers, and the Markus Sister, Leila, a vagrant group of Vampire Hunters.
They lived in their armored car, traveling from place to place slaying vampires in exchange for large amounts of cash. There was nothing quite like being stuck in a tank for weeks on end with no company aside from one's siblings. It really made a person insane. When they were not killing vampires, they were attempting to kill each other.
Borgoff was the leader and the oldest one in the group. He was a large Umbreon with a kind heart and a love for cigars smuggled into the Beregyn area from Raleigh. He was an expert marksman and carried an enchanted silver crossbow at his hip.
The second oldest was Nolt, a towering Vaporeon with a white cross painted on his face. He fought with a giant stake that resembled less a stake than a massive war hammer. He was friendly but not very quick.
After him was Kyle, a Flareon with a long, red braid who fought with knives. Kyle was in love with a Tsepeshian Eevee named Leena. When he was not pining over her he was teasing his sister.
Leila was the Markus Sister. She was a Jolteon with short, blonde hair. Her weapon of choice was a shock gun. This unique firearm launched Zap Cannon missiles. As a Jolteon, she naturally knew the attack Zap Cannon but, when used naturally, the attack often drained her and misfired. The shock gun only used half of the normally required power and was far more accurate. Leila felt misplaced with her siblings sometimes. She had been adopted.
Groveck was the youngest, a silver-haired Espeon. He had fallen ill and was bed-ridden so he could not fight like his siblings. But that did not mean he had no other methods of attack.

"Oh sweet MYU!" Leila cried and tugged at her ears in annoyance. "I swear if you guys sing one more time I'll kick you all in the face so hard that your snouts will fly into your tails!"
Groveck smiled and lifted his gaunt hands from beneath the white sheets of his bed.

"I saw a flea heave a tree
Fie, man fie
I saw a flea heave a tree
Who's the fool now?
I saw a flea heave a tree
Twenty miles out to sea.
Thou hast well drunken man
Who's the fool now?"

Leila glared at him. "What is this? 'Annoy the Leila Day'?"
Groveck grinned brightly. "Yup!"
The Jolteon rolled back the sleeve of her red jump suit. "You are so damn lucky that I don't punch handicapped people...." She looked around for somebody else to clobber and she saw Kyle who was sitting lotus style on a trunk of arms, sharpening his knives.
"It's true, Leila," Kyle said. "We decided on it last night while you were asleep."
Without warning, Leila leapt upon the hapless Flareon and started to beat on him. She probably would have beat him senseless if Nolt had not walked up and pulled her off of him.
"Easy, Leila."
“I sure hope Borgoff knows what he’s doing, accepting this mission,” she said with a note of venom. “I think a Noble is a bit over our heads, don’t you?”
“We should be fine,” said Nolt. “Don’t worry about it. We have every Vampire Hunting weapon under the sun.” He opened the trunk to illustrate his point. Within it were shining, sharp objects and things that looked they came out of a Mad Scientist’s Convention. Maybe they did. “Would you believe that I have no idea what half of these are? Like this for example.” He withdrew a strange contraption that consisted of metal pipes, a rubber glove and a bicycle horn.
“Now what do you suppose this doohicky does?”
Kyle groaned from his position on the floor. “My spleen hurts...”
Leila growled. "Well I'm hungry. And thirsty. And I have to pee, can we pull over?"
Borgoff, who was driving the tank, looked over his shoulder at her. "Use the facilities we have."
Leila turned her gaze dismally towards the "facilities"; a hole drilled into the floor in the corner.
"We need to get a toilet."
"A toilet," Kyle guffawed. "Who needs a toilet when there's a perfectly good hole in the floor?"
"A hole is fine for you guys," she cried. "You just stand there and go. For me there is always a draft. Not to mention....THERE IS NO PRIVACY IN HERE! Can we at LEAST get a curtain or something?"
"We're siblings," said Nolt, "nothing to hide."
He walked over to the hole and unzipped his trousers. Leila turned away.
Kyle climbed to his feet and marched up to stand directly behind his brother. "So....gotta pee, huh?"
“Case and point, Nolt.”
Nolt zipped up his trousers again and turned around stiffly to look at the grinning fire type. "On second thought...maybe we should pull over..."
"Damn straight we should," said Leila.
Borgoff sighed. "Okay, we'll stop for the night."

...~...

“Hey Borgoff, in the morning, can I drive the tank?”
“No.”
“Aw, come on! You never let me drive!”
“Yeah, Borgoff. Let Kyle drive, then we can see if there really IS a life after death.”
“Hey!”
They stopped in the misted moor near the edge of the Clayborn States and decided to have a snack beneath a withered old oak tree.
Leila, Borgoff, Kyle and Nolt sat in a circle around a small fire. Groveck was a little behind them, in a wheel chair, hooked up to his IV.
Kyle was cooking canned beans in a pan over the fire.
"So what was the name of that Vampire guy? Magnus Lee?"
"Meier Link," said Leila. "Count Lee is dead. Has been for quite some time."
"Really!? When the Hell did this happen?"
"How in the name of Myu should I know? I'm the Weapons Expert! Ask Nolt!"
Nolt, who had been busying himself with hurling rocks a squirrel, looked up. "Eh?"
"Nevermind."
Groveck raised his hand. "Er....Kyle, I really think that you should remove the beans from the can before you cook them..."
"Shut up. I know what I'm doing."
At this Nolt, Borgoff, Leila and Groveck backed away from the fire.
"This is the stupidest thing we've ever done," said Leila. "Going after a Noble. Particularly since we handle smaller vampiric game. And we have competition no less!"
"It will all be okay," said Groveck with a huge grin. "We're the Best of the Best, the Creme de la Creme... Besides, the thought of failure makes my chakras itch."
“Damn your stupid chakras.”
"Actually," said Borgoff, "We aren't the best. The Cyclical Mythos speaks of a Hunter who is thousands of years old. He's fast, deadly and achingly beautiful. He is the best."
"I've heard those Myths before," said Leila. "But such a creature actually exists?"
"Absolutely," said the Umbreon around a fresh cigar that he had pulled from his pocket. "Our neighbors had a friend who met him. But we need not worry about it. I mean, of all the thousands of Hunters in the world what are the chances that he was the other one hired, eh?"
"Yeah...," Leila looked up at the night sky. "Borgoff...are you familiar with Murphy's Law?"
"Aye. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong and if there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the first one to go wrong. The corollary is that if there is a worse time for something to go wrong, it will happen then."
"Does that mean anything to you?"
"Not really."
"This is not the worst thing that could happen," said Nolt. "We've been through worse than this. Remember the Midsummer Festival last year?"
Leila shook her head. "No."
"Exactly."
"?"
"You were dead drunk," said Groveck. "You tried to slay an invisible fiend that you thought was on the roof. You got stuck in the weathervane and you were pointing North for three hours while everybody else danced."
There was a sudden loud bursting noise as the can exploded over the fire and rained beans down upon Kyle. The Flareon calmly looked around at his siblings.
"The food is ready."
Leila was about to hurl herself at her brother when she heard something.
Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot
"Hey guys....Did you hear that?"
"Yeah," said Groveck. "The can totally exploded like BOOM!"
"Not the can you idiot! I hear a horse!"
For a few long moments, the siblings sat in silence, straining their ears. Kyle coughed. Groveck hummed softly to himself.
Tlot-tlot
"She's right!"
Borgoff leapt to his feet and ran into the armored car. There were some crashing sounds and cursing before he emerged with his silver crossbow. The bow was enchanted; every bolt it fired homed in on its target without error.
He lifted the crossbow and aimed it toward a spot just left of the tree.
"There!"
He fired and ran after the shot to see what the creature was that he had fired at. Leila, Kyle and Nolt followed while Groveck remained in his wheelchair by the fire.
“Suuure, leave the Espeon behind. If I weren’t so centered right now I’d complain.”
The siblings crept low to the ground like hunting cats and crawled into some bushes just in time to see a person on a cyborg horse ride out of the foggy moor and meet the arrow.
In one graceful movement, the horse reared and the figure upon it lifted his hand, caught the arrow and snapped it between his fingers.
The creature was a Myutsuu with long golden hair that could have made the sun itself turn green with envy. His skin was white as alabaster and his thin hands were not unlike crystals. He turned his pale eyes towards the bushes where the Markus siblings were hiding and made no sound.
Leila stared, open mouthed. "Wha-who-he-is that...hey!"
Kyle stared as well. "It's not Leena," he said matter-of-factly.
"Do you think it might be divine?"
"Somebody should talk to him," said Nolt. At this, he, Kyle and Leila looked expectantly at Borgoff.
"I'm not very charismatic though!" the Umbreon argued. "I'm just, oh, forget it." He got up and pressed through the leaves towards the lovely stranger.
When he remembered that he had just shot an arrow at this creature, Borgoff smiled and clapped his hands in an attempt to appear friendly.
"Bravo, bravo, well done."
He approached the horse, which looked at him through red eyes. If it were not for the obvious fact that the beast was robotic, the marksman would have vowed it glared at him.
"That was great....Allow me to introduce myself, I am Borgoff Marcus. Sorry about the arrow, we were being chased by zombies from Tebrin."
"It is not a problem," said the stranger in a soft, melodius voice that had an edge of steel. "I have had worse welcomes."
"What do they call you?"
"They call me 'D'."
Borgoff's eyes grew as wide as a Snorlax's stomach. "YOU....You're the legendary Hunter! The Bonny Swan! I grew up on the Cyclical Myths. What brings someone of your caliber to the Clayborn States?"
"I am looking for a girl in a carriage," said D. "She was stolen from her family in the middle of the night by a vampire. Have you seen her?"
The Umbreon's mind went blank and his face went pale. "This vampire isn't called 'Meier Link' by any chance...is he?"
"Yes. You must be the 'Competition' John Elbourne mentioned."
"Yeah-er...No....Uhm....I go, like, bye-bye now."
Borgoff darted back into the bushes, trying to ignore the blue eyes he knew were watching him.
"Sooooo," said Leila. "Who is he? Why is he here?"
".....Do you think it ever pissed that Murphy guy off? Being right all the time?"
"....."

[Psi Yamaneko]

Just an illustration. It's Fay'Lynne from the PROLOGUE.

http://i.mediaminer.org:81/far/123756.jpg

[Psi Yamaneko]

Ugh....Just posting to let everybody know that I haven't forgotten about this fic...Granted, I'll probably never finish it....But....I haven't forgotten about it.

[Psi Yamaneko]

Yup, me again. Bumping the fic up because it's about to fall away into oblivion. Don't mind me.