Collision

*~Chapter 18: Catching Up~*

As soon as the man told, they dashed away as soon as possible.They gasp for air. They gasp for water, But it seemed futile to stop them. The group was determined to find Aoru. It seemed quite endless as they ran closer to his destination. Tsugumi stopped as something seemed quite wrong to her. Sai quickly grabbed her arm. "We can't stop now! We have to keep moving!" He exclaimed.

 "But it's Shissou! Where is he??" Everyone stopped tto see Shissou lying on the floor, face first. He held to his stomach in agonizing pain as he struggled to get up again, but his body wasn't letting him. Tsugumi broke from Sai's grip and ran to Shissou's aid.

"Shissou! Are you alright?? Let us keep going!" Tsugumi tried to help him, but he refused.

"I'm okay Tsugumi, But brother's far from okay. I know it's him. I somehow feel his pain. And right now he's currently getting himself beaten up! We have to help him quick!" Shissou stumbled as he tried to get up again. "I am such a horrible guardian, letting him get hurt like this..."

Tsugumi slapped him across the face. "Don't talk that way. You need help. If you refuse, we might never get there in time."

"But-!" Shissou was cut off with another slap in the face. Tsugumi then stared at him with an unamused face. He already knew that she wasn't going to stop until she had her way. He finally then gave in. "Geez there's no arguing with you is there?" He asked while rubbing his sore cheek.

"Here, Shissou can ride with us," Meiko said rather quickly. They noticed Meiko and Ponopon riding here unharmed.

"Meiko? Ponopon? Where the hell were you all this time??"

"I can explain! We were working on a cure for a horrible side effect for the elixir and I have it in my bottle. Drink a little and it will give you a ring of oxygen around where you need to breathe! It will release the demon ailment in the body! Right now, you need to come with me, I'll help you out!"  She hands them the bottle which they quickly drank.

"Guys,please save some for my brother....I'm almost losing his presence...his aura's getting darker." Shissou staggered to Ponopon. Koru and Sai helped him to get on Ponopon's back. He held on tightly, but the pain was getting worse. But then it stopped. Shissou took deep breaths as he slowly recovers. "You'll be okay, I'm sure," Koru reassured him. Shissou gave a weak smile and held on tightly to Ponopon's fur.

"Okay, let's keep going, I think I see a castle nearby." Sunoco announced. Nobody argued and continued to move forward with the castle in sight.

In the Main Conference Room

Suzuki was getting restless. Baki didn't come back from the cell. It's quite strange for her considering that it only takes ten minutes for the job to get done.

"What the hell is taking so long? It shouldn't take Baki thirty minutes to put them in the prisoners in their cells. Its probably that human body of hers. Speaking of humans, I better check on the wild one."

Aoru woke up to find himself chained against the wall. There were other corpses that lifelessly hung there, their faces filled with agony and pain. He also came to a realization that Sara has been torn apart from him yet again, and his roar echoed throughout the dungeon.

"So I see that you are awake then? That's good." Suzuki  came from the end of the hall.

"Where am I?? You'd better tell me, because once I get out of here, you're dead!"

Suzuki only laughed hysterically."Oh, you silly naive little boy, you. You're so amusing when you give death threats. Especially when it comes to Sara. She has quite a keeper don't you think?"