The Kagaijin Chronicles: Kentama

The shock of the blow jerked her back to her senses, and she immediately screamed in agony. As the quaking subsided, and the falling rock ebbed off into a minor trickle of gravel, she howled and screamed in pain, desperately pulling against the rock ledge in an effort to drag her mangled leg out from under the heavy boulder. As she was on her stomach, she wasn't able to twist around well enough to try and push the rock away, but even if she had been, it was highly unlikely that she would have been strong enough to do so. She was pinned securely, and she was most definitely trapped. Feeling the pained heat flush her face as her eyes filled with tears, Hatoko tried desperately to keep from panicking. The quake would no doubt attract media attention, and maybe - just maybe - a news helicopter would fly by to get an aerial shot of the volcano. If it did, she had to be ready. Struggling to wriggle out of the straps of her backpack, she dislodged it and pulled it up in front of her face, crying aloud as the activity pulled at her throbbing leg and sent waves of pain shooting through her spine. She unzipped the emergency compartment of the bag and dug around until she found her flares and signal flags. She grabbed one of the flamboyant, neon-colored banners and opened up the telescoping stem, looking around for a place to plant it. Finding a small crack in the rock beside her, she jammed it in and returned to searching through her emergency supplies.

She cursed herself for cutting off her cell phone several weeks ago to save money. What she wouldn't give to have a working line out to civilization right now... She looked helplessly at her two flares and tried to think of what she could do. She had to save them until she was sure someone would see them. But how long would that take? How long could she survive, knowing that the nights would be bitterly cold, and the wind at this elevation would be brutal? She felt the onset of hysterics setting in, and she tried to focus that energy into something productive. In the off-chance that someone might be nearby, she would put all her effort into crying for help. It was a ridiculously slim chance, but it gave her something to concentrate on, and she'd had enough survival training to know that she needed to keep calm as best as she could.

"Somebody help!" she screamed, shutting her eyes tightly and fighting off the urge to sob. "I'm trapped! I can't get off the mountain! Help me!"

She held her breath as she waited for an answer she knew would never come. When it didn't, she tried again. And again. And again. There was nothing else for her to do, so she continued for the next twenty minutes, becoming frantically surprised by how quickly her voice became hoarse and mute. After a while, she gave up on screaming for help and decided to cover herself up with the blanket in her pack and listen for any sounds of approaching life.

Thankfully, she didn't have to listen long. It was only a few minutes before she heard crunching noises that signaled to her that someone was ascending the mountain from below and coming in her direction. Her head shot up as every sense became alert and focused. Someone was definitely coming.

She tried to call out to get the unknown person's attention, but her voice had all but disappeared, and for some reason, her head was swimming. Maybe the hit she'd taken to her forehead had been serious... She hadn't considered it until just now, but when she put her hand up above her eyes to feel the lump that had formed there, she was alarmed to notice that there was a fair amount of dried blood there, and the lump was very large indeed. Simply touching it made her vision blur and her head ache. She tried to shake off the disorienting sensations as she fumbled with her flares, thinking that if ever there was a time to use one, now was it. It took a surprising amount of effort to pull the cap off of it, but she succeeded in starting the magnesium based, reddish flame at last, and she tossed it down off the ledge, in a direction somewhat of an angle away from where she thought she heard the sound.

As soon as the flare went sailing over the ledge, the crunching noise stopped, and she held her breath. Then they began again, this time much more quickly, and much more deliberate. There was someone out there, and they were coming to where she was!

Tears were streaming down her scuffed, pallid face when Kentama clambered up onto the ledge and found her lying there, pinned beneath the large boulder. Through a remarkable stroke of luck, he had been on the mountain at the same time as she, and he had chosen to climb relatively the same path as she had taken, as he had wanted to avoid most of the tourist crowds, and he didn't mind rough terrain as much as humans did. He had only just begun his ascent when the first quake hit, so he was about to high-tail it back when he thought he had heard what sounded like a scream. Thinking there might be someone else up there, he wasn't sure what he should do. When the second quake hit, and he heard the scream again, only this time much louder and more urgent, he began to use the powerful senses of smell and hearing he'd been blessed with as a kagaijin to track the screamer down. He caught her scent relatively easily, but when the landslide of rocks came barreling down around him, he lost it again. When she began to call for help, he used her voice to guide him to her location, and thanks to the flare she'd thrown when she couldn't cry out any longer, he'd been able to find her at last.

He stared at her and grimaced as he noted the nasty lump on her forehead - probably caused by a falling rock, just as her leg injury had been. She raised her head weakly to look back at him, and he could tell from the way her eyes had glazed over that she was close to losing consciousness.

Speaking in a calm, soothing voice, he touched her shoulder and said, "don't worry; I'll get you out of here." Setting his hiking gear down, he walked over to the rock that was holding her to the ledge and inspected it. He could easily lift it with his strength, but it would look awfully suspicious if he did. Shaking the thought from his mind, he decided that it would be better to act quickly now and worry about the consequences once he had her in a safer location. Carefully, he grasped the three-foot wide boulder in his arms and lifted it away from Hatoko's leg. He then tossed it off the ledge and let it roll down the mountainside, kicking off small rockslides as it went. He examined her flattened leg and shook his head. It had been in this condition a long time. He only hoped that the cold had helped to preserve the flesh well enough to make up for the lost blood flow caused by the rock. He looked around for some trees or sticks with which to make a splint, but found none, as this part of the mountain was barren, having not yet regrown since the last eruption.

Hatoko couldn't see clearly at all anymore. Her head was swimming and her senses were reeling, but she could still tell that there was someone there to help her, and she wanted so badly to be able to see him. When the boulder came up off of her leg, she was too focused on her own pain to realize that it had been taken away thanks to the simple lifting job of her rescuer. She could only lie where she was, clutching at the ground and trying to stop the world from spinning around her.

"I'm going to have to carry you down," he sighed, shaking his head and kneeling down beside her. "I'd prefer to splint that leg before I do, but there aren't any sticks handy to make one, and there's no telling what's going on with this mountain. We won't want to be here if it goes off."

"Those quakes were... tectonic... I think," she mumbled raspily, her eyes fluttering as she struggled to push herself up off her chest. "It hurts... I don't think I can put any weight on it."

"Don't even think about moving like that," he ordered her. Taking hold of one of her arms, he flung it over his shoulder and gently lifted her upright, taking care not to cause any undue stress to her leg. "I said I'll carry you down, and I meant it. You can't put any weight on that leg, or you'll do more damage to it. We need to get you to a hospital, or at least back to my clinic. I'm not so sure conventional medicine will be able to save..." he cut his sentence short when he realized that her muscles had relaxed and she was no longer conscious. Glad at least that she wouldn't be able to feel the bumpy ride, he cupped one arm under her knees and held her as steadily as he could while he carefully picked his way back down the mountain.

There were several more quakes as he trotted down the rocky, gravelly slope, and he had to stop and watch for rock slides, which occurred every so often. Although the falling rocks wouldn't really hurt him if they struck him, they would hurt the girl if one bounced onto her.

It took him some fifteen minutes to get down the mountain, and as he finally reached the base and began racing toward the visitor's center, the biggest quake of all hit. He looked back as he ran, and he saw that the mountain's summit was spewing smoke and ash. Mount Usu had just erupted.

He ran past the screaming rush of tourists trying to get out of the park, and he found a storage shed that was a short distance away from the main road out. He had no choice. He was going to have to take drastic measures. If he got caught up in the congestion leading out of Shikotsu-Toya National Park, there's no way he'd get her back in time to save the leg. It was time to use his own abilities. He only hoped that everyone's attention would be on the mountain, and not on the sky.

After setting Hatoko gently on the ground, he transformed himself into a much larger-than-life golden eagle. He carefully wrapped the large, taloned feet around Hatoko's torso before beating his massive wings and slowly ascending into the air, accelerating as he went. Since he was using his transmutative powers, he was able to mimic everything about the creature he had transformed himself into - right down to the hollow bones and powerful muscles that allowed him to fly. However, he could not change the amount of energy he had, and even with his kagaijin strength, he knew he couldn't keep them airborne all the way back to Henkyuu. He was going to have to take a shortcut.

Kubonai was barely a few kilometers or so away from their current position. Such a short distance was quite manageable for him, and thankfully, he had familiarized himself with the locations of safe houses of nearby cities just in case. He landed atop a gas station once inside the city limits, where he changed himself back into his human form. After glancing around to make sure no one had seen him, he jumped down behind the building and landed as softly as he could, so as not to jostle his patient. She hadn't stirred at all in the time since she had passed out, and that worried him. He hoped she didn't have a concussion, or anything more serious.

He quickly ran to a diner a couple blocks away, which was the closest safe house available. After running inside with Hatoko in tow, he was relieved to see that they had no customers at the moment. He nodded at the man behind the counter, who nodded back. The pudgy, apron-clad man motioned for Kentama to follow him into the kitchen, which Kentama did immediately.

Once they were away from the dining area, Kentama explained the situation and its urgency to Pakkun, the owner of the diner. He asked if he could borrow a phone, some towels, and a bucket of ice, and asked if Pakkun had any emergency first aid supplies on hand. Pakkun had already been staring at Hatoko and her nastily injured leg, so he didn't bother to ask what Kentama wanted the requested items for. He showed him where the office was, and said that the girl could lie on the couch inside while Kentama used the phone. Thanking him profusely, Kentama wasted no time. He laid Hatoko on the couch, and he had to prop her back up against one side, as she was a little too tall to fit comfortably across the couch otherwise. He picked up the phone receiver and began to dial as Pakkun rushed to get the items his visitor had requested.

"This is Doctor Kentama," he said when Darla, the receptionist at the other end, picked up and asked who was calling. "It's an emergency, and I need to speak to King Tsuyoken right away."

"Ah, doctor! Your assistant is trying to reach you! He says you've been caught up in a volcanic eruption! He already called the palace fifteen or twenty minutes ago, and his highness is in his private helicopter right now, flying out to Mt. Usu to see if he can find you!"

"Perfect," Kentama cried. "Patch a line through to him right away and tell him that I'm not at Usu; I'm at the nearby town of Kubonai, at Pakkun's safe house. I've got an emergency case on my hands, and I was hoping he might send someone out here to fly us back to my clinic."

"I'll do so immediately, Doctor," the receptionist replied. "Shall I also call your assistant and let him know you're not burned alive, as he was claiming you'd be?"

"No, I'll call the idiot myself," he replied, chuckling. "Thank you, Darla. Say hi to Kikenji for me."

Darla said she would, and then he heard the dial tone as she hung up to call Tsuyoken. By that time, Pakkun had arrived with the ice, towels, and a small first aid kit, and Kentama received it all with a thankful nod. "Do me a favor," he asked, opening the box, removing the surgical scissors, and kneeling down beside the couch at Hatoko's feet. "Dial a number for me and hold the receiver to my ear while I take care of this. I promise the call won't take long."

"No problem," Pakkun replied, grabbing the phone receiver and hovering over the dial. He was glad to be involved in the action, as he was fascinated to find out what this man would do to help the poor girl's leg. "I'm ready."

He gave him the number for the clinic, and when Pakkun held the receiver up to his ear, Kentama didn't have to wait long to hear Sanjima's agitated voice barking at him through the phone. "Yes? Henkyuu Emergency Clinic. What is it?"

"That's no way to answer the phone, you twit," Kentama chuckled at him. "What if I had been a customer calling?"

"Boss!" the phone practically shouted at him. "You're not dead! Thank the gods! The news of the eruption is all over the place! The mountain is spewing ash and flames everywhere in Shikotsu-Toya park, and the human news stations aren't making any estimates yet on the number of dead or injured. I was scared half to death, so I called up King Tsuyoken and begged him to find you."

"Although a part of me wants to punch you for bothering our king about something so ridiculous, I'm glad you did, Sanjima. Before the mountain blew, I discovered a woman who had been injured in a rockslide. We escaped before the eruption, and I'm in Kubonai. She has a very serious leg injury and some nasty-looking head trauma. I need to get her back to the clinic and perform emergency surgery on the leg, or she'll lose part or all of it. I can't leave it to the human doctors; they aren't going to be skilled enough."

"So how are you going to get her back here, Boss? Kubonai's a fair distance from here. You need something better than a train to get her here quickly, and the air traffic in that area will have been shut down by now because of the ash that Usu's spewing into the atmosphere."

"I know. That's why I'm glad you called King Tsuyoken. I've already had Darla send word to him to come here and pick us up. His helicopter is fast enough, and he shouldn't have much difficulty with the ash, as it's blowing away from us. We lucked out on that one; the winds are in our favor today."

"I'll have the operating table ready and everything else set up for you," Sanjima exclaimed, his tone all business now. "Anything special we need?"

"Just make sure the X-ray machine is ready. Oh, and check our stores on human blood," he responded, gritting his teeth as he finally managed to cut Hatoko's shoe and sock off of her foot and mangled, swollen ankle. "Make sure we at least have a couple of pints of Type O negative. She's lost enough blood to warrant caution, at least. I should think that the rest will be standard procedure. I'll take the reins on this one, though. Her injury is very messy, and you won't be able to fix everything quickly enough."

"Understood, Boss. I'm glad you didn't get caught in that eruption. It's causing all kinds of trouble for the humans who were near the mountain when it went off. The lava flows are slow, but the immediate problem is all the flaming chunks of rock it's throwing all over the place. Poor bastards."

He hung up then, and Kentama nodded at Pakkun to hang up the phone on their end. "I couldn't have saved them all," he sighed with a dejected scowl. "It's ironic that the one who would have been least likely to escape on her own is the one who had the best chance in the end."

"I wouldn't say it was a wasted effort though, myself," Pakkun commented brightly, staring with fascination as Kentama did his best to disinfect the lesions on Hatoko's leg with a multitude of cotton balls soaked in antiseptic. "If I had to choose one human out of a crowd to rescue, I might have chosen her anyway. She's a pretty one, isn't she?"

Kentama stopped what he was doing long enough to look at Hatoko's face, and for the first time, he realized that Pakkun was right. She WAS pretty. In fact, even despite her ugly bruises, bumps, and lesions, she was downright beautiful. He wondered why he hadn't noticed before. It was strange how emergencies blinded him to everything but the most dire matters.

"I hadn't even realized, but you're right. She is pretty, isn't she? I wonder who she is?"

"Maybe she carries an ID on her," Pakkun offered, motioning to the pockets on her shorts. "Let's find out." He walked around to the other side of Kentama and began rifling through her pockets. It was an innocent enough maneuver, but for some inexplicable reason, the sight of the chubby man digging around in there filled him with irritation. He kept silent, but his aggravation mounted when Pakkun, after finding nothing in Hatoko's side pockets, slid his hand under her backside to lift her and check her back pockets.

"It's not important," he snapped at last. "Don't move her like that; I don't want her to be moved until it's absolutely necessary. There'll be plenty of time to find out who she is when she wakes up."

"Sorry," Pakkun laughed. "I didn't think about that. Do you need anything else? Even though I'm more than willing to give you all the help you need, I do have a diner to run. I doubt I'll have many customers today, what with Usuzan blowing and all, but I ought to at least be out there in case someone comes in."

"No, I've all I need now," Kentama replied, trying to push aside his sudden, unwarranted dislike of Pakkun. "If you could, yell back at me when King Tsuyoken arrives."

"So I did hear you say he'd be coming here! I've never met his highness before; I need to clean this place up a bit." He bustled off to find a broom, completely forgetting about his post at the counter.

Scowling slightly, Kentama finished cleaning Hatoko's leg and then bandaged it loosely with the gauze from the first aid kit. He would have to remove her wrappings anyway once they got to the clinic, of course, but anything to stave off infection would be useful. Once he had finished, he wrapped several towels around her leg and foot, and then, after folding one of them over and tying it off into a loose bag, he filled it with ice and gently slid it under her wrapped leg. It would have helped to have ice on top of the leg too, but he didn't want to put any undue pressure on top of it, for fear of causing further trauma to the bones. The swelling was unavoidable, but he had to try to keep it in check as best as he could without doing any more damage to her.