Black Bone Tower Part 27

Previous: Black Bone Tower Part 26

The four of them walked up a spiralling flight of stairs that seemed to go on forever. Rinji led the way, with Dala close behind him. It was still very dark, but thankfully there were very dim light cones that lit every other spiral of their way. The two Nekojins used what little light they had to their advantage with their dark vision. They noticed many panels along their way in the wall and in the steps. Rinji chanced tripping one of them, but it did nothing.

Alice: Oh, Rinji, [Drew his attention.] shall we stop for a meal? It has been some time since we had a bite.

Rinji: Well, I suppose now's a good a time as any. What did you bring? [Rinji sat on one of the steps, and they all sat in a circle.

Usagi: I know I handed you that bag of roma tomatoes before we left the ship.

Alice: Of course! I brought something for everyone, even planning for the extra three of our guests.

Dala: Wow, that was very nice of you. [Dala smiled at Alice, who nodded back to her.]

Alice: Who does the cooking on your ship, Dala?

Usagi: Come to think of it, what jobs do the three of you have?

Dala: Oh, well other than Kimi being the captain, we kind of spread the jobs between the three of us. Whoever feels like cooking is basically the cook for the day.

Usagi: That probably causes some friction.

Dala: Errr... [Sweat drop.] More than... once.

Usagi: Kajikajikajikajikaji, I can only imagi-- [Then there came clicking noises.]

The noise came closer, inside the walls there was a grinding noise, humming and thrashing like machinery. The space around them began to vibrate as something mechanical came to life. Alice paused to acknowledge the noise, and reached down to place a bag of tomatoes on a step. Rinji's eyes widened as he saw a panel right there.

Rinji: Alice! STOP!

Click.

The spiraling stairways below them opened up as the very room around them began to change all at once. Dala grabbed onto Rinji instantly and tried to grab Alice, who was closer to her, but she had already fallen along with Usagi down the giant tower of darkness.

Rinji: NO! [He also reached as far as he could, but they were far out of his reach.] USAGI! ALICE!

Usagi fell along with Alice, but was quick to draw her sword and grab ahold of Alice around her waist. With a great thrust she stabbed her sword into the thick metal wall, and they began to skid down, slowing some, but then she looked down to see that there was a floor filled with very tall spikes just waiting to meet them.

Usagi: Damn! I'm not slowing down fast enough.

Alice: Allow me to assist you! [Pulled her vorpal blade from her pocket and stabbed it into the wall as well, and sparks began to fly even harder.]

They reached the ground at a slow, steady pace, and hopped down in between the spikes. They maneuvered on the safe ground, and looked up to see that Rinji and Dala were gone.

Usagi: Ah, hell.

Rinji breathed a sigh of relief when he saw they were okay. But then the staircase Dala attached her claws to began to turn toward the wall as it opened up.

Rinji: WHOA!

Dala: Hold on! [She jumped from the vertical stairs and tossed Rinji onto her back.]

With her sonic speed she began to descend the wall, the friction of her shoes keeping them attached. It seemed like a long way to her, she could not slow down at all or else she would lose her momentum and they would both be in trouble, but that was when she saw a summit at the top of the wall, and she began to sweat as she sped toward it. Her calves began to burn and she started to breathe very hard.

Rinji: Dala I--

Dala: Don't distract me, we're almost there! Errrr!

That's when she reached her limit, the vertical incline, weight, and extreme excertion were far too much for her to bear, and she had three steps out of place.

Dala: WAH! [She slipped on the fourth step, and both of them began to fall.]

Rinji was quick to grasp hold of her, and disappear in a puff of purple vapor. He placed her onto the ledge that surrounded the large cylinder they were in. She dropped to her knees and face-planted onto the ground, panting for air with her mouth wide open.

Dala: How-- did you--

Rinji: I ate the Neko Neko no Mi: Model Cheshire.

She looked up at him to see he was purple and white striped now, and her eyes widened at the sight. She thought she had seen him turn that color when he went to down to help Jiro after his battle, but she thought that was just a trick of her eyes.

Dala: Oh... wow.

Rinji: Rest for a bit, we still have a long way ahead of us yet. [He sat beside her, and they did just that.]