Dino No.5

"One, two, three four, five
Everybody in the valley so come on let's ride"

That's T-rex shrieking away while he wriggle his tai to the tune. The Stego came forth with the tails pounding.

"To the river bend around the corner,
The boys say they want some greens and fruits"

The mini dinosaur stepped out from the hiding.

"But I really don't wanna
Blah blah like I had last week"

The T-Rex did the trot over.

"I must dense 'cause talk is a cheap
When I like Dino meat for lunch."

The mini Dino never sang the next lyric.

"Munch!"

 

Adapted the lyrics from Mambo No. 5 

Samurai: Lost in the time Rift 2.4

2.4

Luckily for him one of the slaves was near Teishin when it happened but shock overcame the slave who could not shout out. It was Sori, who called out to him to joined them in the packing that shook him off the shock. He turned to run towards his so called leader and did his tasks without any saying on what he saw.

Meanwhile for a branded coward, Teishin Buke fought hard against his captors restraint. He felt for his katana, but it was too long to draw, and so he focused on the tanto ( small dagger ) that he kept on his left sleeve. He reached for it and slashed at the hand which held his left forearm. The creature cried out and let off the hold causing Buke to fall on his side. During that fall, his other captor also lost balance and both of them fell to the flooring. Once Buke hit the ground, his samurai training came into mind as he jumped up and kicked at the fallen figure. It was a wild kick but he got the mark on the captor face causing the other to screamed out in pain. Buke had then stood up with his legs braced for combat and his katana drawn then. He cannot see far in the semi darkness and then he had also trained to fight with a blindfold. He closed his eyes and focus his mind to the other four senses. He had to lower his breathing to slowed the heart palpitations, and await his opponent moves.

"Buke, your mind is your eyes!' His master, Odu-san shouted out to him many time in training when he had forgotten those words. But not this time.

Alone and tired, and above fear of being eaten alive; the samurai in him surfaced as he thrust the blade to the rear and felt it cut into some flesh. The creature at the rear screamed out in the eerie sound that Buke lost his concentration. It was paid with a heavy blow on the left shoulder by something hard. Buke went down but he did it rolled on his back so that he can avoid the next blow. It was a jujitsu move that he deployed and once back on his left knee, he swung back with the blade felling the cut onto flesh.

"Hai!" Buke shouted out as he rolled to the left before stepping up. He opened his eyes and saw the injured creature there with a bleeding wound on the lower torso and then the other cut on the right thigh. It was the same creatures that attacked the campsite. There was one other who had laid on the ground with gaping wound on the forehead; that could be the one that fell with him.

The Teishin held up up his katana in front of him and await the charge by the creature. It did with the raised mallet but it did not see the rear attack by the Gunso Mita with the yari thrusted into its lower back and then pushed upwards with twist to the left shoulder. Bloods spilled out as the blade cut in deep and the creature arched back in pain. It was then The Teishin plunged his blade into the belly of the creature.

"The belly of any beast is its weakest point." Odu-san reminded him many times. "Go for it like the act of seppuku, and you would killed the beast."

The blade held by the Teishin sliced across the belly and spilled out the innards.

"Are you fine,Teishin?" Buke looked up to see the Taisa asking on his condition. So the samurai still remembered me as his superior. Buke nodded and pulled out his blade.

"I would live to fight another day." Buke replied and then turned to the rear to throw out the undigested rice cakes. This was his first real personal combat and he had won. Taisa Mori saw the samurai clearing his fear there and he moved to joined the Gunso.

"Join me when the Teishin had recovered." Taisa told the Gunso who nodded. As the Taisa walked back to the campsite, he remembered his own personal bout. The first one was against a mad monk who was rampaging the temple. At that time, the Taisa was a Hohei and had accompanied the Lord's young son to the temple. The monk was slashing the temple devotees with the long handle sickle when madness overcame his mind. He had killed three ladies when the Hohei confronted him/

"I am Juno Mori, samurai. Lower your weapon or prepare to die with it." The monk was beyond care as he charged at the young samurai. Juno then braced his feet and drew out his katana. He held the blade with both his hands and said the prayers to steadied his hands. He remember his master's instruction; oncoming force can be deflected with the softness of the counter force.

He did with his katana deflecting the sickle at the upper handle and pushed it off the intended track while his body moved to the side with the right leg moving back in to act as anchor to tripped the charging monk. The monk fell and Juno swung his blade down on the back of the monk's neck. It earned him a verbal lashing from his master later for the wasteful killing.

"You need not take his life. You had won and yet you killed him. What makes you any different from his action?" His master told him. "A life is precious in this world. Learn that and be a better warrior."

His master did not see his fear then as later he drowned himself in sake to hold back the shake on his hands. He remembered every details of the move, and saw the blood that spurts out. But the master was not without a follow up on his disciple. He comfort the young samurai with more words of wisdom and encouragement. He taught him one lesson which he would always remembered.

"A samurai had to do the killings as its his way of life. But pacify yourself, that every time you kill, say them a word of prayers for their spirits to go in peace. That would pacified both yours and theirs."

Soon he was get into more fights but he hardly killed or maimed his foes unless the situation warrants it. When he does, he spoke a word of prayers for them he killed. That act of benevolent caused him to banished here when he did that to an enemy of the Lord.

"A good samurai with the skills, but you practiced restraints in the kill, which made you redundant in my court. I cannot have the enemies surviving to avenged on me again. Nor can and would asked for pardon." With those words, Juno Mori was sent here.

"Did you find your Teishin?" Edo asked of him. Taisa Mori nodded and moved to see to his other samurai. He noticed the slaves are armed with pitch forks taken from the dead farmers. Sori saw him looking and walked over.

"Edo-san offered us these. We would fight now at your side as equal." That statement angered the samurai who slapped the other.

"When I released all of you, you were all our equal. Holding thay pitchfork does not make you any superior, than you were before." Taisa Mori told him off. Sori who then dropped to his knees and begged for forgiveness but the Taisa was beyond listening as he walked off.

Gunso and the Teishin had arrived back and the group was back to its complete strength.

"Bento-san have advised of a breeding site not far in front. If that is truly what it was, then we may had a way out of this place. Pack up and we would proceed to this location." Taisa Mori told the group.

"Hold on, Taisa. Did the two see the way out or was it your own assumption? I know you are living on the hope we can leave here but we do not blindly pursued death without a reason." It was Iza who questioned the Taisa.

"I suggest restraint, Taisa." Edo stepped forth to add his caution to the proposed action. "If there are any young ones, then there would be its adults. And possibly protective mothers."

"If its, then let it those which we can fathered." Iza spoke up in a mocking tone. The farmers behind laughed but not Fudo who stepped up.

"Fools! To think with your manhood shamed me. I have seen these creatures that hatched from the eggs." Fudo spoke up. "They are as deadly as they are young."

That toned down the mood of the group as they all listened keenly then. Iza asked again of his question; was there a way out.

"Yes. I saw it then." Fudo spoke up while pushing his way out to meet the Taisa. He looked towards Bento. "Tell them samurai. You saw it too. The way out."

It was Taisa Mori who gave the command.

"As said by me. We are marching to the breeding ground. Prepare the balance of the sake into smaller containers. We may be in need to burned them. But our main target is to get out of this dark cavern. If we find that, we would leave the cavern."

 

Saturday Special: Swamp Thing

I sat there by the side to watched the new arrivals; all dressed in white and caked up in paint to their faces. They numbered about ten that time, giggling and gaily with their manners. They all looked well fed compared to my emancipated frame; a full meal here are the leftovers and the miserable looking gruel they served us. One of them stepped up and gave me a look over.

"Ain't he too small to be here?" The one who spoke was lady dressed in the white frock and holding the dainty umbrella on her right hand. She used that poke at my crossed forearms placed over my raised knees.

"Be careful, Daisy. He could be rabid." I heard that one and they all laughed at me. I saw the signal from the handler, and did my imitation of the wolf snarling at he lady. She stepped back looking rather in shock.

"Oh my, he almost bitten me." The lady gasped in shock. It was then one of the males in the group came rushing and kicked at me. The leather buckled shoes hurt my legs as he thrashed at it like a frenzied creature. I could not fight back as that would be fatal to my life. I was spared of the beatings when the handler pulled the man away.

"Get into the line, young master." The handler pulled him away. The gaily dressed man pulled himself free from the handler.

"Get those filthy hands off me." The handler let go of his concern. "If you ever touched me again, it would be your hide for my saddle bag."

I saw the handler pulled away and stood there to be verbally lashed by the man half his age and frame. Meanwhile the one who kicked at me was lauded by his companions for a 'jolly good show'. The command soon came for us to rise and moved towards the carriage on the rails. We are the hauler of the carriage to dragged it on the rails for their evening tour de sight of the swamps on both sides. Its a novelty ride for these white clothed people to see the so called ghostly swamps.

The place was reputed to hold the souls of many lost wanderers and of late, the runners from the camps where I take my rest after the hard works at the nearby farms. I would get the extra chores on request for nights like these for the thrill of their lifetime. The swamps was a dark place even during the day, with its high canopies of leaves that shield the sunlight. As you creep down the branches to the bigger trunks, you might come across the slithering serpents or the worse, the jaguar which loved to moved in between the trunks on top. If that does not scared you, then there are the unique growth of the trees that shaped their barks with grotesque designs. My mum used to tell me that the evil spirits dwell in those trunks, and the bark was their expression. If you peeled off the bark, you would be able to see the trunk bleed out like we do when wounded. On the lower half of the trunk are the upraised roots and thicker foliage of bushes. You are warned not to place your hands there or something would grab you. It could be the serpent that slithered down the trunk or the deadly centipedes that lengthens from your fingers to the elbow. The bit of such creatures spells death by a slow painful manner followed up deadly boils on your body. Before you die, you would had wished you were with the excruciating pain that would coursed through your limbs as if you were grabbed by the devil himself.

"Picked up the rope and laid it on the shoulders." The handler gave us his command. Twelve of us did as we are told. Twelve young males who had spent ten hours at the farm toiling the earth then would be hauling a wooden carriage on metal wheels. On the wooden carriage would be twelve persons who would soon be awed by the dark sights.

"Pull at it now." The handler shouted. "Heave."

It was the initial pull that breaks your back but we knew our strength as well as the pain of the lashes from the handler. We heaved and pulled. We moved an inch and then a feet, before we rolled back half of that.

"They are weaklings!" One of the passengers shouted. "I could do better."

The lashing came; all thick and coated with broken glass but we would pulled harder. We pulled hard that time to move it two feet and then on the tracks, it moved as it was pushed by the devil at the rear. We did not hear the crickets called nor did we see the fat rats ran across our feet for our mind was on the next pull. We pulled and then breathed in. We breathed out as we pulled and then we breathed it all back in again. It was all fine once you hit the twelve pull, as then it was matters not who lashed you as your mind was gone to the tasks of pulling.

"Wo wee..." The sound of the passenger as he exclaimed his delight on the carriage lighted by the six lanterns that was hung on the side. It was more eerie to see the carriage then silhouetted by the lanterns light, as its played shadows onto the dark swamp water.

"Did you see that?" The passenger shouted out. "I saw the red eyes peeking at me from yonder." One never could tell what was beneath the water surface, but the handler had it all covered. He carried the heavy rifle in his hands, leveled for anything sinister from an alligator to a misled runner that may had chose dead by the noose to the dark creatures that dwell there.

"Fear not, young mas..." The handler did not had a chance to finished his assuring words. He was shortened by the dark creature that dragged him by the feet into the dark murky waters. I saw a glimpse of it. It was the One. I shouted out to the others.

"The One is here." We knew what the Elders told us; you squat down and keep your eyes shut. Let no one speaks or breathe in his name, or death would come.

I did not see anything.

I choose not to hear anything.

I know nothing at all.

I only knew the sounds of tearing flesh, and howling pains of the wounded ones.

I only smell the blood which may had splattered on me.

I only knew if I don't move, I may leave here alive.

I was glad I am not one of them in those white clothes.

I was glad I had lived.

Just as it began, it ended. The sounds of the creatures was heard being dragged into the waters and then all was quiet. I slowly got up without opening my eyes. I took in shallow breaths while standing there. I felt the presence near me and then the faint touch of the whiskers. Then it spoke to me.

"Pull at it now." The voice told me. 

All twelve of us got up with our eyes closed. We reached for the ropes and laid it on our shoulder.

"Pull", the voice said. We did and found our load was lighter, but we cared not as we pulled the carriage. We need not see while our feet searched the rails to guide us.

We soon reached the end. We stopped and rest by the side. I opened my eyes and saw the twelve passengers seated there; all quiet and looking like normal. They got off and walked to their horses and left us there. Soon the handler came out of the swamps, and shouted to us to go back to our beddings. I was back at my bedding when the old man who had survived here for over sixty five years. He had seen and knew all of it.

"The twelve would not know, that they had sold their souls to the swamp. They would be fine for a few days and then they would wither like the reeds in the water. The swamp collected its dues and make the trip all, the more worthwhile."

"Such are the nature of dealing with the swamps devil. You never knew what you left behind until you are dead." The old man continued on. "Sleep well, my lovely servant. You are the lucky ones that would continued to serve the master of the swamp till he had no need of you. Then he would swallow also your soul, and ............body."

I looked at my bony fingers. They looked broken yet I felt no pain. I was truly a vessel of the swamp without a soul then. 

Rebel then, Princess now

Seven handy quotes made the tale:

1. "When you hug your love make sure you do it as if it was your last hug, 'cause you never know how many hugs are left for you two"

2. "Sometimes the right person for you was there all along. You didn't see him/her, 'cause the wrong one was blocking the sight"
3. "My parents accused me of being a liar. I looked them in the face and said, "Tooth Fairy, Santa, Easter Bunny," and walked away like a boss!"
4. "Don't wait for a perfect moment. Take a moment and make it perfect."
5. "Don't be mad when someone else starts appreciating the person you took for granted. What you won't do, someone else will."
6. "You sometimes think that you want to disappear, but all you really want is to be found"
7. "It's hard to wait for something you know won't happen, but it's even harder to stop waiting, when you know it's everything you want."

 

"Mum, can we get real here?" I looked at them; exasperated and out of patience with these two older 'adults'. It was Mum who replied first.

"Don't be mad when someone else starts appreciating the person you took for granted. What you won't do, someone else will." She was referring to the jerk I just dumped on my date.

"Sometimes the right person for you was there all along. You didn't see him/her, 'cause the wrong one was blocking the sight" That was my Dad with his occasional glance up from the morning papers.

"Don't wait for a perfect moment. Take a moment and make it perfect." I looked at them. "You told me so yourself. I did. I dumped him. He was a jerk."

That came out well.

"But darling," I knew my Mum's tone very well. Its call justification time. "You sometimes think that you want to disappear, but all you really want is to be found"

I shook my head and dunked it into the cereal bowl. At least there were no weevils inside it.

"Shore up, girl. We know you liked him." That's my Dad cheering speech. It worked at five but not at fifteen.

"My parents accused me of being a liar." I looked them in the face and said, "Tooth Fairy, Santa, Easter Bunny, huh"

I grabbed my cereal bow and chose to walked away like a boss. The my Mum added in her softer tone.

"It's hard to wait for something you know won't happen, but it's even harder to stop waiting, when you know it's everything you want."

Oh, please. I had enough. I turned to walk but Mum stopped me.

"When you hug your love make sure you do it as if it was your last hug, 'cause you never know how many hugs are left for you two."

She was doing it. I went over and hugged her. Then I kissed my Dad on his ears.

"But I ain't going to see him anymore. That's final. Even though he is your favorite boy."

Teenager rebellion was on then. Ten years later, the jerk bought me a Ferrari for our engagement. Well, I did tell ya that I was a rebel then. Now I am mon petite, demure and elegant.... All in one.

Nosy the Coach

 

"I am not going to say it again. You keep to your boundary and I would not cross into yours." I looked at the cubs. Well, if I was young, I would had flee this town. But not when I am the coach..

"So get your butts out there. I coached and you play. The Lions may roared louder but we are the Tigers. So get out there and showed them who's the Lord over the King."

How much I loved to trampled these cubs into tigers; they all said it was an 'elephant' chore when I signed the line. 

Oz: Remake of the tale 2.6

6.        Droid finds himself.

We were told that the nearest piece of Droid was in a nearby estate owned by Lord Keenan. The Lord was just a namesake; its actually owned by a rich Nomes who betrayed his own people. He showed the White Witch the hideouts of the Nomes. Hundreds did and more were wounded but the ones that survived and became slaves were into the thousand.

Lord Keenan unlike the description before was a squarty square framed people dressed in what may be termed as three piece suit and holding a walking cane instead of mallet or pick on his hands. The metal round bowl with a lighted wick  on the head had been replaced with a bowler hat. He met us outside his manor within his estate grounds with over twenty mercenaries; combination of Nomes and Rampsies. The mercenaries are well armed with swords and spears. Lord Keenan walked up to us and started off his ramblings.

"I do not like to sound like a bad host, but I dislike anyone calling me out without my breakfast. I also....." I had my rifle and blew his bowler hat a new venting hole.

"I want the arm of my droid. Give it to me or you would be needing a new one soon."

"Manners, my luv." Lord Keenan shook his head. "I knew you'll come, Dorothy. I asked the White Witch for the arm to bait you. Do you know why?"

"You spoiled my plan then. I was negotiating a new deal with Nolan Rich. He was to give it to Gourn who would break the ground for me.takes  Then Gourn gets kicked off and I am come in but you had to stepped in." The Nomes who called himself Lord Keenan. "You spoiled all I had planned."

Lord Keenan then laughed out loud.

"Lucky for me, I had every contingency planned in. " The Nomes smiled. "I had them rounded up in their so called victory celebrations. Dorothy, you have given them fake hopes. They were celebrating on your so called battle, but the White Witch won the war. The one you started and forgot to end."

"Enough of this talks. Give me the arm." I shouted back and walked towards the Nomes.

"Emotions, my dear; gets you nowhere." Lord Keenan replied and then raised his hat before he do the curtsy on me. "The arm is with me, but you need to get it yourself."

Lord Keenan points to the droid arm hanging on a long rope over his manor's doorway. Below the rope was a smelting pot with a fire built underneath it.

"Move for it, and the arm drops." Lord Keenan warned me.

The shot came from behind me. I turned to look and saw it was Hicks. He is a good shooter, and this time he proved it again. Much to my dismay, I rushed forth and ended up bumping into the Nomes. I scrambled over him but then I stopped. The arm is still up there. Its hovering on mid air.

"It's okay, Dorothy. I have kept it up there." I looked back to see Hinkley assuring me. "I am back in OZ, and here my magic does work."

The snapping of the levers on the rifles deter the mercenaries from intervening. They seen what it can do and they decided that retreat is a better option. As for Lord Keenan, he picked himself up and placed his bowler hat on the head. He turned to walked back to his manor, but I placed my right hand on his shoulder.

"Lord Keenan, we got some unfinished discussion." I was to end his reign then, but the boys decided that he needed a more fair punishment. They had him hauled up the manor roof and hung upside down over the smelting pot.

That's one arm we got back. The rest should be easy now that words have gone out on our comeback. But our thoughts were wrong.

"I can assure you that we have no possession of any parts that belong to the ....droid." This was the third claimant who had denied taking the droid' part. He is a Hammerhead and a darned stubborn one too. We had him strung up upside down on the tree branch and been pounding his head onto the ground. We have searched his home and found nothing.

"Puss, could he be telling the truth?" I asked of Puss. The cat meowed back in reply.

"If he was, I am the dirty rat in the alley." Puss was not going to give up that easily; it took a bucket of water over to the Hammer Head and dunk the head into it. It soon had the Hammer Head screaming for mercy as it feared rust would had stepped in when the water seeped into its head. He solemnly told me, the missing part is in the secret vault at his rooftop of the house. We found the needed part and lots more silvers which made the Puss an adorable pussycat.

We had now the droid head, his two upper limbs and torso. Now the next one was more difficult, as this one involves the Crows. They would collect anything they like like shiny objects. More to it, they placed them high on the tree branches and they would chant 'You can't touch it' if you get too near.

"Hello, Ms.Dorothy. Since our last meeting, we have decided to improve on our arsenal of weapon. Meet the new Crow warrior."

If you recalled the crows here are bigger and they have fingers with long talons instead of claws. Well, the new breed have more; they got a coat of armor on their wings and the beaks. They also carried long handle iron mallets on their hands.

"We named them the Steel Crows." There was about twelve of them perched on the high branches. Without any warning, the boys behind me took their fancy on some crow shootout. They shot down four of these Steel Crows before they flew off for safety.

"Well, Steel Crows. Meet the Shooters." I be darned Hicks looked handsome holding the rifle in his hands. I looked at the King of the Crows. "Are we finished here? Or do I have to burned down your whole tree before you hand over to me the missing parts."

The King Crow ain't giving up that easily. It swept it wings back and flew off to the top of the tree. There it shrieked out for more reinforcements.

I had enough of it, so I screamed out my frustration at the crows on the tree. My sonic vocal boom was back and my last outburst shaved off every leaf on the tree, including the Crows feathers on their scrawny looking flesh. The King hop down by the branches and dragged behind it was Droid' lower limbs.

"You dinna have to scream. We were just polishing it up for delivery." I grabbed the last parts and ran to droid. We placed the parts in accordance to his physical frame and then the Wizard chanted a spell which forged the parts to be whole again.

Droid stood up and walked over to my Aunt. It asked to borrow her double barrel mini cannons. The droid took it and inserted in the mini shots into it.

"Stand back, everyone. I am going on a warpath." The droid emptied ten rounds of the mini shots onto the nearby trees. The shots blew the trees off its branches and tore the trunk into firewoods. Then the King of the Crows approached Droid.

"Don't you care for the environment or even save the trees campaign? Do you know its takes to grow a tree?" Droid points the mini cannon at the crow.

"Don't make me make you extinct." The King of the Crows got the meaning right and flew off for different directions. Droid took us to his old hideout before he was captured. The droid found a scarf belonging to Scarecrow among the things in the hideout. .

"Thanks for keeping it safe." Droid thanked the cat, and then tied the scarf on its forehead. "Its was from Scarecrow and now I am back to rescue her."

My aunt loaned the cannon to the droid with extra ammo belts while she settle for a long curvy sword named Katana found in the heap things once belong to Scarecrow. The eerie part of it was when she swings the sword, she would shrieked out the sound of the attacking eagle. Uncle Henry warned me before on my aunt's martial art preference.

"Time to move on. We got a Scarecrow to rescue."

 

How I got my apple trees

"Charlie Hanson, you come down this minute or I would have you toppled with the apple tree." I gave him my ultimatum. I am no GW but I could swing an axe as good as any boys. It all started two weeks ago when Ian Storm asked me for the date at the Prom. I was taken aback by his request, as he was the football star while I was the timber girl; I helped dad on my weekends removing the branches off the trunks with the power saw. Or axe. I bought myself a spaghetti strap pink dress and bracelet with the words; 'flame on'. Even my dad said he would take on the boys for a long night of drinking, but he told me, hold onto your vanity; what ever that means. At the prom we danced and then Ian drove me back in his dad' pickup. We strolled up the steps of the porch and stood by the door. I looked into his eyes and closed mine. He leaned over and was to kissed me when we heard.

"Red apples for the Princess?" I looked towards the voice. It was then I picked up my paces and axe by the porch before Charlie ran up my apple tree. That night two things went down; one was the apple tree with Charlie on it, and the other was we fell in love. That was soon after I realized Ian could not stand the sight of me chopping woods. But Charlie was appreciative of one so strong.

"Julie Adams, you got the swing that my ma had before she married Pa." Charlie' mum was also a timber girl before. We are akin to belong to each other. Charlie promised to plant me an orchard of apples trees.

Samurai; Lost in the time rift 2.3

2.3

Sun; the Hohei treasured his yumi with the equal care as all his weapon. He was not pandering them like his friend, Bento but he felt that in battle all of these weapons would determined if he was to come back alive. His master once told him, that a samurai by himself is a weapon and those tools he used are an extension of himself. He looked to his yari; a weapon of longer reach than the katana, proven in the barbarian invasion sometime back, the invading barbarians used the long spear against the shorter katana in length. It was from there, the samurai added in the yari and also the naginata.

The Yari carried by the Sun was characterized by a straight blade up to 2 feet in length. The blade; made of the same steel (tamahagane) that traditional katana forged with, and were very durable.The Yari blades (points) often had an extremely long end that were longer than the sharpened portion of the blade. The nakago protruded into a re-enforced hollow portion of the handle, making it into a stiff shaft nearly impossible for the blade to fall or break off. The shaft was made of hardwood and covered in lacquered bamboo strips, that came in polygonal cross section. These in turn were often wrapped in metal rings or wire and affixed with a metal pommel on the butt end. Unlike the more fanciful Yari of the noble samurai, Sun's own shaft was without the inlays of metal or semiprecious materials such as brass pins, lacquer, or flakes of pearl. His first master was his father but later when he was trained as a Hohei, he was trained by the Gunso Mita in the finer points of fighting with the Yari. The later master gave him a lot of personal training and made him a finer warrior.

He was assigned to stand guard over the campsite while the group rested. His yumi hung over his shoulders while in his right hand held the yari. He was tired but the years of training gave him endurance which exceeded that of a normal warrior. He caught the scent of the unusual smell, which he never caught before that scent.

"Who's there? Show yourself." Sun shouted. The ones who stood over him at the surrounding rocks where truly barbarians. These creatures are not man, although they have man's formed limbs, but their body are covered in hair with a larger head than that of man. They stand on at the height of one and a half of a normal man with their two lower limbs; bent at the knees, and their upper limbs are also as long as their lower limbs. Each creature have the facial expression of man but lacks the finer contour of it. Theirs were protruding out from the eyes level to the lower jaws. Their body frames were covered in some sort of leather wear that covered their upper body to the knees and in their hands are the curved blades or battle axe, or the twin pick with the wooden handle.

"Hohei Sun, stand to with your yari. They are bigger than us, the yumi may not hurt them." Taisa Mori gave the command.

"Slave....... Sori, fetch my kusarigama ( sickle chain ) to me." Taisa Mori called on the former slave which he had freed. He was without any yari and the katana may not be within reach but not his kusarigama. Sori took the weapon to the samurai. Taisa Mori released the lengthy chain with the head spike ball,and swung it in his right hand.

"Attack these creatures. I had not seen one which are friendly yet?" Taisa gave the command but Edo stopped him.

"No, before we fight, shall we not talked to them first?" Edo asked as he approached one of the big creatures but the later had swung the long handle mallet towards the farmer.

"You are right, Taisa. They are ruly creatures." Edo had jumped aside with his right hand holding the naginata to protect his back from the mallet. The mallet was deflected by the naginata but the force of the blow was enough to force the farmer to lose his balance. He fell onto the ground rolled over it to avoid the blows rained by the creature.

Gunso Mita had his tasks outlined for him; his yari was deflected by the other creature wielding the long curved blade. The creature was bigger and had wounded two farmers with his blade; their pitchfork was no matched against the blade. Gunso pulled back on his attack and worked on the strategy to find the weakness in his foe. Then he saw the moves by the creature was not so much of skill but of strength. He then saw the Hohei cut into the creature at its left knee causing it pain.

"Go for the left knee and then we can bring it down." Gunso Mita shouted as he continued his fight on the left knee. Across the clearing, the Taisa had his spike metal ball coiled around his foe, and trying to matched strength by pulling at it. The creature was armed with a blade like the one fighting the Gunso and it was harassed by three of the Hohei with their yari. One of the Hohei got his yari thrusted into the left side of the chest where its leather tunic did not covered well. The creature howled out in pain and arched its body to toward the skies. It was there when the arrow was seen piercing the exposed lower neck. Taisa Mori looked over and saw the archer was none other than Bento who returned to join in the fight.

Edo who was rolling on the ground came to a halt against a boulder and had to pushed him up to avoid the oncoming blow, in which Taisa Mori came to his rescue. The Taisa charged at the rear of the creature and jumped up with an overhead downward slash that cut into the creature's right shoulder; severing the arm from there. Upon his landing, the Taisa braced himself with the feet balanced apart to twist his body for a right swing at the lower back of the creature. The blade of the samurai was sharpen by experts cut in deep and for the first time, he noticed the blood that spurts out were green in shades like those of the serpents.

"These are the same as the serpents! Foul creatures altogether!" Taisa Mori shouted out as he laid down the final cut on the side of the neck on the creature. That last cut was the coup de grace to the foe.

Gunso Mita had his focus on the creature who was hobbling on the wounded knee, and while he distracted it, he noticed Edo was going for the kill at the rear. The naginata swing down and cut at the wounded knee and caused the creature to dropped down on its front. The farmer then jumped on the fallen body and thrust the naginata onto the back of its head.

There was a third creature that went down with the Hohei and farmers working together to bring it down. The rest of the creatures fled from the campsite while the group of warriors all cheered.

"Fools! We have our deads to count too." Edo stopped them as he looked to the numbers who were on the flooring. There were five but four would not be waking up. One of the death was a Hohei. The fifth was a farmer who had suffered a broken leg smashed by the heavy mallet. Now the group was nine samurai including the cowardly Teishin, ten able farmers with one wounded and eight ex-slaves.

Edo then looked to the slaves who had stood away from the battle.

"Where were all of you?" Edo shouted at them. Sori stood out and bowed his head.

"We were guarding the supplies. We are not warriors and hence we stayed out." That statement by Sori angered the farmer who rushed at the slave but Taisa Mori stood in between the two.

"Restraint yourself, Edo-san. We have enough death here. Let the slaves licked at their own shame while we take care of these." Taisa Mori held back the raging farmer. "I lost too one of my men, and he would be remembered for this battle."

"Yai! They are cowards. They deserved no more than death." Teishin rushed forth as he drew on his katana, but Gunso Mita stopped him with the blunt side of the Yari.

"Teishin, your involvement was minimal with the feet of yours hardly in the battlefield, but fleeting on the rims of it." Gunso glared at the Teishin.

"Gunso Mori, your words are an insult to my honor. I demand that you retract those words or I shall be forced to defend my honor." Teishin shouted back in anger as he focused on the Gunso. He then noticed the other Hohei had all stood to the back of the Gunso and had their weapons raised.

"Insolent dogs! How dare you fight me?" Teishin Buke looked for the Taisa who was had released the farmer. The Taisa stood there and then walked away.

"Taisa, are you not going to command your men to stepped down?" Teishin asked of the leader.

"No, they are all warriors here with their own mind. I can only asked of them to stepped down but they would decide on their own." Taisa replied as he checked the dead samurai. "That includes also the slaves."

That last line prompted the slaves to draw their weapons and sided with Gunso. Teishin cursed out before turning to walked away. He had been shamed and should do the self immolation but he was scared of it. He walked to the rear and sat down there by himself.

"Gunso, if you may. Check the bodies and retrieved their weapons. And personal effects to be given to their families on our return." Taisa ordered his aide. Taisa looked to his own numbers, seven Hohei with him and Gunso, Edo still have eleven but one would not walk. He knows that he still have Teishin but that one shamed him in bravery and efforts. He cornered Sori.

"Next battle, tell your men to fight or die by my sword." Taisa cautioned him. Across the campsite, Teishin still sits alone but he was not really alone. He did not see the hands that grabbed his mouth and hauled him over the rocks until it was too late.

Hillbilly Tales #2: Anomalies? You got to be kidding

Continuing on the Hillbilly Saga.

"Harley Henry, I'll be darned that we make it till this morning." I turned over and looked at my feuding neighbor of over fifty five years spanning three generations of maiming; by golly we never 'kilt' anyone or we would had ended up in jail. I meant my grandpa lost his right knee, his pop lost the use of the right arm, and among the other more serious ones; his ma lost her left twinkie toe.

"Yeah, I be darned by the generations." Harley turned over to looked while still holding to that keg of moonshine we brewed last week in the yard. "If my Pa sees me talking to you, it would had been my hide tanning there with the beavers and rabbits."

"Yeah, we had this battle on for too long. I wondered who started it." I knew then it was the drop of alcohol that triggered that statement. I took a swipe of my own keg and then looked over.

"Forget I asked. We might be going back now since its past noon, and the newly weds needed to rest for their next round." I pulled myself up from the porch, but Harley was onto the topic.

"Yeah, why did we start? I knew that Grandma told me it was your Grandpa peeking at her when she was bathing. Then she screamed..." Then Harley was always a liar. I stutter in my words.

"My grandpa peeking? Heck it was yours who was chased off the farm with his pants undone to the knees." I drooled it out while hitching up my pants. Darned loose from the missing belt.

"Be darned! No Harley even ran with their pants down." Harley was also pulling himself up. "I knew my side of the story well. Your grandma could even rivaled that ol' Sally in the pen." Sally was his prized cow who had more litters than any cows.

"Teats yours! I was told your Grandpa had pock marks on his arse not from birth but from the gun pellets." I drew my own ammo on the nefarious misbelieving bigot for a neighbor. It was then the anomaly walked out. It looked like the Harley's; weird dressing, bra cuppage for the ears and dark shades for the eyes, with a metal plate held in the hands. And those boots are with holes for the toes. Then the biggest anomaly arrived; hovered over us and landed on its skid marks. I reached for the shotgun but the anomaly stopped me.

"Its my ride back home." It explained to me while it walked to the landed craft. "Its a copter. Its flies that way."

"Who are you?" Harley asked the anomaly.

"I am your cousin Jed. You did recalled I shot the rabbit at the hole and found the black gold. Well, it paid off. I am now a millionaire."

"I'll be darned! He does looked like one who stay on the 'air'. I seen my share of them, complete with double antennas. Heck, I even shared my moonshine with them and discussed gibberish notions of armageddon in 2014. Darned those anomalies even took my keg to produce on their own yard. Talked about globalization; I could just read those words, Jacobs Keg was here first.

The craft took off, while I looked to Harley.

"It must had been your side of the family. Anomalies ran deep there." I was getting worried on my son being married to his daughter. "But care not, my son genes would wrestle over any anomalies."

"And have my grandchildren being plastered with pock marks on their behinds..." Harley was one anomaly who could twist the truth to be a lie. I looked back at him, and smiled.

"They better be when I spanked them hard." God, I luv that neighbor of mine when he was all riled up. If not, he was an anomaly to lived next to.

 

To the Firefighters of Yarnell, Arizona

"Dad, can we stop?" He was only five and I doubt he was going to wait for me to reached the gas station. I pulled over. He looked out the window at the horizon. I shared his view; it was the landscape of burnt grounds. I recalled then there was a fire in Yarnell on 28th June 2013. My son looked towards me.

"Dad, can I step out to say some words?" I nodded and he opened the door. He stood there and then left his Captain America figure there. He came back in and closed the door.

"Thanks, Dad."

 

Author notes:

The Yarnell Hill Fire was a wildfire near Yarnell, Arizona, ignited by lightning on June 28, 2013. On June 30, it overran and killed 19 firefighters with the Prescott Fire Department's interagency Granite Mountain Hotshots. The wildfire was fully contained by July 10, 2013. This event resulted in the highest wildland firefighter death toll in the United States ( Wikipedia )

With this tale, I would to like expressed my condolences to the families and friends of the heroes of Yarnell. And also to those who were affected by the incident.

Thank you.

Oz, a remake of the tale 2.5

5. Droid Unplugged.

We were told that Droid had sections of his removed and discarded to different parts of the land. It was Puss who found the droid head or rather won it over a gamble bet. It was one of those spots which you do not want to want in but crawl in unnoticed. It was a dirty and stinking alley where the lower echelons of society ply their trade. Puss was there to find some works as a mercenary or a thief. It saw the card game and any game was difficult to refused by it.

Puss sat down and played the game; a con over the cons that were going over there. Soon the markers went up and Puss was holding the biggest purse. The table was down to two active ones; Puss and one other who was the Playmaker.

"I got no more silver. I raised you a better bet." The Playmaker gestured to his assistants. They brought in a box; inside it was Droid' head. "This for the next call."

"A scrap? Please do not insult me. We play with silvers or not at all." Puss meowed out in an irate manner but the Playmaker explained its worth. Its the head of the droid which battle the White Witch.

Puss dealt the cards and won. It walked out with a big purse and the head of the Droid.

"Wizard, now can I trade the head for some thing more useful. I had enough of that rambling tin can." Puss complete the statement with a purring meow. The Wizard just nodded and offered the cat a box of sardines bought from the other dimension. Puss took it as a good trade off.

"Droid, who took your other sections?" I held the head up to my eye level. Droid slit for the eyes lighted up, and then its began to relate the last events that happened.

After I left, the army retreated back to their previous life but they were not to know that the White Witch had set plans to removed them as well as their influence. Scarecrow went back to the Munchkins and little she was to know it was a trap They imprisoned her into a prison built for her; one without windows and without mates. 

The White Witch took Toto as a pet but the fur ball is now a griffin with a nasty tempers.

As for Droid, he was dis-membered if there was a term for the droid. The droid was taken off the street one day by a set of unknown and then delivered to a place where the screws and bolt were applied. Droid recalled seeing the White Witch standing there as the parts were removed.

"Dorothy, I felt every nuts and cuts. They pulled at my cables, cut at what they could not find, and then removed the main processor. I would had been shutdown if I had not a mini backup at the back of the head. It does not do all the functions but it retained my core programs." Droid lights went dimmed and then it flicker. "Dorothy, we needed you then, but you left in such hurry. You did not even checked if we are okay. You just up and left us. You left us."

"Why can't you just stayed? For a while would had been better. Do you know I searched for Scarecrow? Me, a head trying to find my ...love." Droid light flicker up.

"I finally realized I actually have feelings. I could love. And I love her." Droid looked to me. "DID YOU KNOW THAT? She could be dead by now."

"Droid, its not the end. We will get you back and then Scarecrow." I tried to console it. I turned to the forest edge and screamed out my frustration. I blew a new forest track of fallen trees and uprooted bushes. My power worked just now; its fragging pain as its so unpredictable.

"Dorothy, I also lost my battle axe. I know who took it and want to get it back."Droid sure had a bad timing on personal request.

"Droid, we are going to get all of you back but I need to know what really happened here?" I may had learned from Puss but there was more I needed to know. Droid' head can tell me more as he's been around. The more Droid tells me about the New World made me cry.

Its an abomination what she been doing.

"Droid, I am so sorry. I never knew. I wished I had known."

Darned it.