Kirishima Kanna woke up in the dark, feeling terrible and quickly realising two things: that she was held in place, and stuck to a wall in a large cocoon somewhere. The first realisation was enough to make her worry; she knew her own strength (though some people might argue otherwise) and anything able to keep her immobile for any length of time was a thing worth worrying about. The second, though, got her scared. Recent experiences being what they were, giant cocoons like this were nothing less than a prelude to more bad news.

Her limbs felt heavy even when held in place, but she attempted to heave herself out of the cocoon, anyway. It was an unrewarded effort; all it did was make her even more tired than before.

Why the hell am I feeling so... so wasted? she wondered. How long was I out of it?

She tried to recall what had happened to put her in this spot, but after the part where she got thoroughly acquainted with a couple of tree branches, she drew a blank. She wondered where her friends were.

A soft moaning sound made her freeze and filled her with elation a moment later. "Sumire?" she called out.

The sounds stopped, then were replaced by a hesitant "Kanna-san?"

"Where are you?" both asked at the same time.

Despite her predicament, Kanna chuckled. "Guess we're in the same boat, huh?"

Sumire made a frustrated noise. "I fail to see the humour in this situation, Kanna-san," she snarled. "Where in the world are we?"

Kanna shrugged, or at least tried to. "Beats me. I just woke up, myself."

There were sounds of effort followed by a pause. "Kanna-san..."

"Yeah?"

"Are you inside a cocoon as well?"

"Yeah."

"And you don't happen to have an egg in front of you, do you?" Sumire asked weakly.

Kanna blinked. "Uh. No." She licked her lips and started at the bonds that held her once again.

"There's... There's one in front of me right now," Sumire said.

Damn it, Kanna mentally growled. Her forehead was already beading with sweat, but the cocoon refused to give. "Sumire, can you get out?" she gritted out.

"I don't think so," she started to say, then stopped as they both heard a soft squelching sound.

"What's going on?" Kanna demanded, staying absolutely still.

Sumire's voice trembled. "The egg's opened. Something's coming out."

Kanna didn't like the silence that followed. "Sumire!" she hissed. "What--?"

Sumire responded by letting out a piercing scream. The sound rebounded off the walls, collided with the rest of its echoes, and built up in the confined space before finally hitting Kanna's ears like a sonic acupuncture needle inserted just one millimetre off target. The redheaded woman winced in pain even as she worked anew at pulling herself free.

In the midst of all the echoing screams, she became aware that Sumire was actually yelling something. However, since the aristocrat herself didn't seem to be making that much effort at coherence, the only words Kanna could catch were "demon" and "spider".

"S-Sumire!" she grated out, then blinked in astonishment. Just a few steps away from her, she could make out a bright violet aura outlining the shape of her comrade very nicely. It shone even through the cocoon and threw out some interesting combinations of light and shadows all across the chamber they were in; the result was something akin to the overall lighting effect from a poorly constructed violet wall lamp.

More importantly, Sumire's aura lit up the entire area around her, and Kanna could see the egg and the thing crawling out of it quite clearly. Looking like a pale, bloated mix of a spider and a crab, it was slowly orienting itself to face Sumire, who was still freaking out impressively.

"Goddamnit!" Kanna strained and heaved, filled with an urgency that surprised even herself. The cocoon held on stubbornly for a moment, then gradually began to tear. Come... on...! she snarled inwardly, getting her second wind. She shifted slightly, managed to get better leverage for her feet, and pushed against the wall. With a final creak, the cocoon gave way and the martial artist was propelled forward, trailing bits of grey stuff all the way.

She caught the spider-demon in mid-lunge, bare inches from Sumire's face. The two tumbled to the ground. Kanna tried to throw the thing to one side, but it whipped about and wrapped its long tail around her throat. The feel of the sinuous, smooth appendage around her neck sent horrible visions of snakes through the redhead's mind, inspiring her even more to get the hatchling as far away from her as possible.

"Stop screaming...!" she yelled at Sumire, then gasped as the tail tightened its hold. "... and... help...," she choked.

Suddenly, there were two extra pairs of hands pulling at the demonic hatchling. With a lot of effort, they managed to pry the beast away.

"Ready?" she heard a voice say.

"Go for it, Maria-san!"

The hands threw the spider-demon off to one side of the chamber. It twisted in mid-air, reaiming itself to land facing its opponents. Just as soon as it touched the ground, it launched itself towards them again.

A thunderous roar, and the beast was thrown back violently, struck dead-on by the bullet from Maria's gun. It was still alive, though, and slowly crawled back. Maria fired another shot, and one more, before she was satisfied that it wouldn't move again.

In the grips of the blessed quiet that followed, Kanna drew in huge gulps of air as she lay on the ground. She blinked, making out the blurry image of Orihime's face peering down at her concernedly. "About time...," wheezed the martial artist.

Orihime smirked, a relieved expression on her face. "We came as soon as we could, but we weren't exactly sure where to find you." She looked over her shoulder to where Kohran, Leni and Iris were busily tearing Sumire out from her cocoon. "Luckily for you we heard Sumire-san's voice."

Kanna grunted. "You'd have to be deaf not to have heard her," she muttered, massaging her throat. Her ears were still ringing with the echoes of Sumire's cries, even after all the shooting.

"There, there, Sumire-han," Kohran was saying, pulling out her first aid kit. "It's dead now."

Sumire collapsed on the ground as if her legs were too weak to support her. She was visibly trying to quell her shaking. "I... I'm all right," she bit out. "Just need to... catch my breath."

Maria came up to them. "Where's Sakura?"

Kanna tried to sit up, failed, then settled for replying from her spot on the floor. "She's not with you guys?"

Maria's grim expression was accentuated by the light from Kohran's torch. She looked at both of them carefully. "Kohran?"

"They're both fine," the Chinese girl said, "but they're pretty weak at the moment."

"Yeah," Kanna groaned. "I woke up feeling like a used tackling dummy. Can't even move now."

Seeing that the rescued pair would have to be tended to, Maria nodded. "Iris, you stay here and help Kohran with these two. Orihime, Leni and I will have to go on and look for Sakura," she said.

"Wait, Maria-han," Kohran said. "Take these." She passed the flashlight and the stub of glow-in-the-dark paint to her. "My travel-kit's got a couple of flares that we can use here."

The Russian smiled her thanks. Checking her gun and making sure that the other two were ready, she then led the party of three out of there.

Kanna sighed as she waited for Kohran to finish with Sumire. "So," she said almost conversationally, "just how much stuff do you carry in that bag of yours, anyway?"

It had been a while since she had woken up in the huge chamber, but she was still surprised at how lethargic she felt. Sakura threw a nervous glance at her 'companion'. It sensed her gaze upon it and turned to her, hissing. The swordswoman twitched, but knew that the demon wouldn't be making any move toward her yet.

After a while, the demon turned back to her task, that of tending to a small clutch of eggs. It had been fussing over the huge things even when Sakura first opened her eyes. She could only expect that one of those eggs would be placed next to her soon.

For the hundredth time, Sakura's eyes flickered over to Arataka. Whether the demons had no idea what it was, or if they did but didn't think that she'd be able to do anything with the weapon, Arataka had been wrapped into the cocoon along with its mistress. She had been trying to get at the weapon for ages, but her hands had been bound quite securely to the wall of the chamber. No amount of effort could get the blasted cocoon to give. Arataka could just as well have been back at the village for all the good it did her.

She considered shouting for the others again, but knew with a faint heart that it wouldn't accomplish anything. Wherever the demons had taken them, Kanna and Sumire were probably in the same predicament she was in. Sakura swallowed thickly. She hoped they were all right.

A faint rumble echoed throughout the passages, startling both of the chamber's occupants. Sakura's hands clenched. This was a sound she recognised instantly: gunfire. Hope flared and she felt a massive wave of relief wash through her. The demon next to her growled.

"Maria-san!" Sakura shouted. "Everyone! I'm over here!" She made yet one more attempt at pulling out of her cocoon.

Her voice sounded too reedy for her own comfort, but she persisted with as much volume as she could manage. The demon took a step towards her, then paused, seeming to glance at the eggs. Finally, as if it had made up its mind about something, it hissed out a call.

Sakura's voice came to a sudden halt when another demon bounded into the chamber. It ignored the cocooned swordswoman and headed straight for its demonic partner. The two seemed to hold some sort of silent conference, then the second demon turned and left through one of the tunnels that led from the chamber.

The woman took a deep breath, and resumed her shouts.

Sumire inhaled slowly, looking down at her hands. Kohran's flares threw a red glow that lined everything there with a weird tint. The aristocrat had finally calmed down a short while after the others had pulled her from the cocoon. Thankfully, no one mentioned anything about her losing control like that.

"I can't hear anything," Iris said. "I hope they're all right."

"Don't worry," Kanna assured her. "They'll be fine." She sat up stiffly. "Hey, I think I'm getting better now. That drug of yours must be working," she said to Kohran.

"No rush, Kanna-han," Kohran told her. "We don't need to go anywhere just yet."

"What about...?" Iris asked hesitantly.

"They know what they're doing," Kohran said. Iris still looked unconvinced.

"Iris," Sumire said, "we just need to hold down the fort here. They'll call for us if anything happens that they can't handle. Likewise, we can all regroup here if they see a need to retreat."

"Huh?"

"What she means," Kanna picked up, "is that we're covering their backs."

"But..."

"Shh!" Kohran hissed. Everyone fell silent. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Something's com--"

And indeed, something chose that very moment to appear.

It was big, black and carried an aura of corrosive evil that everyone managed to pick up instantly. With a high-pitched cry, it came towards them, jaws snapping and claws slashing like a crazed, possessed cat on the warpath. The Hanagumi instantly cleared out of its way, though in the relative confines of the chamber, they just ended up getting bunched together on the other side.

"Where the hell--?" Kanna started to say when the demon came at them again. She lurched away, but got her own shaky feet tangled up in Sumire's and the two of them fell to the ground in a tumbling heap. Luckily, the demon flew right over them.

"Get off me, you clumsy ape!"

"It's your own fault for moving so slow!"

"Sumire-han, Kanna-han, get moving!" Kohran shouted, seeing that the beast was making its way to them. However, knowing that the two of them couldn't possibly get away in time, the inventor quickly reached into her pack. Pulling out one of the mini-bombs that she'd originally been planning to use on the opening before Hibiki-kun's swan song, she tossed it at the demon.

The beast regarded the rolling, clanking device with a moment of curiousity, then leapt away like a kangaroo. The mini-bomb detonated with a deafening boom, rocking the entire chamber and bringing down a shower of dirt and stone.

Kohran coughed as she peered into the smoke-filled room. A flicker of movement just in front made her take a quick step away, but she was still batted into the wall by the back of the demon's hand. With a groan, the Chinese girl lost consciousness. Seeing that she was no longer a threat, the demon turned its attention back to the two women still on the ground.

"Kohran!"

Iris' voice filled the whole chamber with indignant anger. A bright globe of golden, arcing electricity surrounded the little girl as she teleported to place herself between the monster and her comrades.

"Iris!" both Sumire and Kanna shouted. "Get away!"

Iris stayed put, glaring daggers at the approaching demon. "You--," she growled, glowing even brighter. "How dare you hurt my friends!" With that yell, she unleashed all of that crackling energy to catch the beast in its tracks and channeled enough power into it to put a major thunderstorm to shame. The demon shrieked and spasmed but, caught in the grips of Iris' fury, it couldn't do anything more.

Sumire's eyes were wide open as she watched from the floor. Wisps of smoke began to trail from the demon's body and its cries faded away. Still, Iris showed no signs of letting up. It was only when the demon had been reduced to a charred and shrunken crisp that the girl finally allowed it to drop to the ground. It shattered into a heap of ashes upon impact.

Kanna's jaw worked, but it took an effort to get her voice out. "W... Uh, is everyone all right?" she asked.

Sumire nodded slowly and then whapped the martial artist with a fist.

The results were predictable. "What'd you do that for, you witch?" Kanna snapped.

"Get off before you smother me to death!"

Grumbling and promising vengeance, Kanna moved away and staggered to her feet. Iris was already beside Kohran.

"How is she?" Kanna asked.

"I think she's fainted," Iris replied. "What do we do?" she asked plaintively.

Kanna grimaced, taking stock. Beside her, Sumire was trying to stand with difficulty. Almost absently, Kanna reached down to help her, but she herself lost balance and hit the ground once more. She groaned.

"Kanna-san?" Sumire asked, concerned.

Kanna didn't answer her, too intent on cradling her aching head. "Guess we just wait here," she said eventually. "There's nothing else we can do."

They had moved cautiously and so far, they hadn't been spotted. Neither did they see anything beyond a couple of talon marks on the walls of the tunnels.

However, they did notice that the tunnels seemed to gain a consistency in terms of size and shape as they travelled on. As they walked from one chamber to another, down one passage to another, they began to make out signs of a long ago human presence: old footprints and even beams of timber used to prop up the passages. At one point, they arrived at a door at the end of one tunnel. Opening it, they found piles of broken down tools.

Maria felt slightly better to know that they were in a mine. If they could locate the old entrance, it would make it easier for them to carry the wounded and disabled members out of there. She didn't relish the thought of having to manhandle a weakened Kanna through the opening that she and the others had used to get in.

"Maria-san," Leni said softly, placing a hand on the older woman's arm. "I can hear her."

Maria paused and listened intently. Through the dank passages of the mine, Sakura's voice came as a wisp of sound. She would have easily missed it if it hadn't been for Leni. "Good ears," she murmured to the young German. Gesturing to the others, they set off to follow the sound to its source.

They had been walking for only a few minutes when Sakura's voice was drowned out by a dull booming sound that sent tiny tremors throughout the entire mine. A small shower of loose stone and gravel rained down on their heads, but Maria ignored it. She cast her eyes back the way they came.

Orihime stepped up to her. "Kohran and the others...?" she asked.

"It could be," Maria replied slowly, still unmoving. A few moments later, she made up her mind. "Come on," she said. "Let's keep going."

"What about--?" Orihime began, when Maria cut her off. "We can't risk Sakura's safety any longer," the Russian said tersely. "Kohran and the others will be able to take care of anything that comes their way."

She could sense Orihime's reluctance, but the Italian acquiesced and followed closely. Leni brought up the rear, keeping silent throughout the entire exchange.

Their movements brought them past more rooms before they finally arrived several metres before a large chamber. Sakura's hoarse shouting echoed loudly through the tunnel, leaving no doubts as to her location. Pausing long enough to turn off the flashlight and to accustom their eyes to the poor light, they moved as quietly as they could and stopped just at the mouth of the hall.

Leni peered around the corner and quickly pulled her head back in. "I see her," she whispered. "In a cocoon up against the far wall. There's one demon in there with her and it already knows we're here."

"Is she all right?" Maria asked softly.

"She looks fine," Leni replied.

Maria nodded. There was no more point in staying there now. She took a quick look herself and stepped into the chamber.

"Maria-san!" Sakura cried out in evident relief. The demon growled, placing itself between the newcomers and the captive woman but otherwise made no move.

Maria felt her heart sink at the sight of it. The creature was as big as Sakura and looked like it was more than equipped to deal with its unwelcome guests. Is this one from Hiroshi, or Tamiko? she wondered. Or neither...?

"Maria-san," Orihime whispered harshly. She pointed the beam of light onto and beyond the hissing beast. "Look behind it."

Maria frowned, seeing the clutch of eggs that were carefully arranged there. Somehow, she doubted that the eggs had come from this demon, no matter how mature it seemed to be. She swore quietly. "Sakura," she called out, "can you move?"

"No," the captive woman said hoarsely, nervously keeping her eyes on the demon that waited right in front of her.

"Why don't you fire?" Orihime asked Maria.

"It's too close to her for me risk it," Maria said softly. "I'll have to draw it away before I can even try to shoot at it. You and Leni move for Sakura and get her out of there as fast as you can."

The other girl muttered something about wishing for the virtues of Kohran's detonating devices, but nodded. "We're ready."

Maria took a couple of slow steps away from them, never taking her gunsights off from the demon. The thing hunched menacingly, transferring its gaze from one set of opponents to the other. The tail quivered disconcertingly close to Sakura's face.

Drawing from the reserves of power she held deep within, the Russian soon surrounded herself with an aura that blurred the outline of her body against the darkness of the chamber. She concentrated, building up a charge into the bullet that waited within the cylinder of her gun. Once she was sure that she had enough put into it, she shifted her aim and fired -- straight at one of the eggs.

The bullet ripped into the squat oval structure, exploding it into a short shower of amniotic fluid and tendrils. The demon howled a high-pitched wail at the destruction of one of its charges. Maria fired again and the beast leapt for her with a ferocity that was startling. The Russian only barely managed to evade it.

Leni and Orihime raced to Sakura's cocoon and immediately began to pry her out of there. In spite of there being three people working at it now, the cocoon was still stubbornly holding her in. They tore, scrabbled and pulled, muscles straining with the effort and bit by bit, the thing let go. After what seemed like an eternity, they managed to get one of Sakura's arms free. Suddenly, as if that were some signal for it to give up the ghost, the cocoon came apart and dumped its prisoner into the waiting arms of her friends. Arataka fell to the ground.

"Sakura-san!" Orihime exclaimed, almost toppled by the weight of her comrade. "Are you all right?" Sakura nodded.

The demon screamed as it pressed its attack on Maria. She danced away madly, aimed quickly and squeezed off another charged shot. It missed, but through fortuitious chance, impacted with another egg, destroying it completely.

Now the demon was beyond fury. Talons came for the woman, quick like the wind. Maria scrambled back as one of the claws caught and tore at her. Desperate to gain some space between them, she brought her gun up and fired once more. The bullet sank deep into the beast's side, but the thing just seemed to shrug it off to snap at the blonde.

Maria bit off a curse as she ran backwards some more. Her back collided with the wall of the chamber and the contact surprised her for a moment. Then she ducked as two sets of talons scraped along the rocky wall, missing her head by mere inches. Half on her hands and knees, she managed a clumsy scrabbling run away from the demon, praying fervently that she wouldn't slip.

The demon's tail whipped between her feet, the barbs catching painfully onto her calves. With a simple tug, she was thrown off balance. She crashed to the ground with a cry and the gun tumbled from her grasp. A moment later, clawed hands swept her clean off the floor and she flew through the air to slam into the wall on the other side of the chamber. Maria slid limply to the ground, sprawled ungainly amidst a small tumble of stone.

She came to a moment later, blinking moisture and dirt from her eyes. Her entire body hurt and even gasping for breath brought its own share of complaints. Vision whirling, the only thought she had was of wanting to close her eyes and sleep everything away.

A sudden feral noise brought everything into sharp focus. She saw the snarling demon silhouetted against the wavering torchlight, coming straight for her.

Gritting her teeth against the pain, Maria struggled to get to her feet, but her injured leg gave way almost instantly. She fell back onto the hard ground just as the demon broke into a run. Unarmed and severely weakened, all she could do was bring both her hands up before her in a feeble attempt to ward off her impending death.

Sakura stepped in front of her, her own aura blazing, and Arataka glowing like a blue bolt of lightning in her hands. The demon barely paused in its approach, extending its claw tipped hands to cut down this new obstacle. Sakura gave a rousing battle cry, bringing her weapon to meet the charging black beast. With a blinding flash, the blade arced through the air, cut right through the demon's outstretched limbs and into its bulging head.

It was a scream of agony that escaped the demon's lips this time. There was no surviving this strike, and the demon's head split open like a watermelon, releasing a splashing rain of acidic blood. As if she were expecting this to happen, Sakura's spiritual barriers immediately extended outwards to envelop both herself and the Russian like a physical shield. The acid flying towards them disintegrated into nothingness as it touched the walls of Sakura's power. The falling demon body ignited into a still-struggling pyre, thrown back by the swordswoman's sheer force of will.

For a long time, there was nothing else around them but that awesome roaring globe of pure energy. When at last it faded, it was with a suddenness that left Maria's head reeling.

Sakura held her stance for a couple of moments before shuddering. The sword slipped from her nerveless fingers and fell to the hard floor with a clang. Sakura was soon to follow. Maria managed to catch her just before she hit the ground. "Sakura!"

There was no reply at first and Maria quickly checked to make sure that her friend hadn't been injured as well. Seeing no mark on her, she gently brought the girl closer. "Sakura," she called again.

The swordswoman's eyes fluttered open with a groan. "M-Maria... -san...?" Sakura managed to say.

Maria sagged, breathing a sigh of relief. "Good work," she said, smiling.

"Is she all right?" Orihime asked.

The Russian started, not even realising until that moment that Orihime had come up to them. "Yes, I think so." She looked closer at the other, noting that she bore several scratches on her face and hands. "What happened?"

Orihime gave Sakura a pointed look. "She did," she replied bluntly. At Maria's puzzled expression, she elaborated, "That outburst of hers threw a few hundred hot stones and demon scraps at Leni and I. It was all we could do to keep ourselves from getting cut to shreds." She snorted in an oddly ladylike manner. "Really, Sakura-san, you should learn to control yourself sometimes."

Sakura, exhausted, gave no reply.

"We need to get out of here fast," Maria said. "Where's Leni?"

"Right here," Leni said, kneeling beside them. She held something out in her hands. It was Maria's gun.

"Thanks," said Maria, taking it from her with a grimace.

Orihime looked everyone over. "Sakura-san's in no shape to move. Can you walk, Maria-san?" she asked.

Gently placing Sakura aside, Maria tried to get up, then shook her head. "I... can't feel my legs," she said.

Orihime nodded. "I'm going to fetch Kohran," she said, racing to her feet.

"Be careful, Orihime," Maria cautioned.

"I'll be back soon." She was gone and the three of them were left in the darkness.

Maria leaned back against the wall, idly noting that the numbness in her legs was gradually spreading over the rest of her body. Yet again, she had to hold off the temptation to slip into unconsciousness. There was still some unfinished business to take care of here. "Leni," Maria said.

"I know," the German cut her off. "I'll get to it." She got up and went over to the remainder of the eggs.

And then it was just the three of them, the darkness, and the demise of an unborn generation of monsters.

Starting point | Chapter 6 | Chapter 8