Chapter 2: The Deadly Circus

“I, Mayor Galapogus, present you two, Reiko Masaro and Kenji, with this honorary medal for saving our town, Siveus, from even more deaths. And one thousand dollars worth of gold as the promised reward. Thank you.” The crowd cheered as Reiko accepted the medal and gold eagerly. The cheering grew quieter and quieter as all the people faded slowly back into the depths of the crystal ball that rested in the Queen’s slender hand. The crystal ball was carefully set on a stand that looked like a clawed hand made of stone reaching up from the ground. The Queen walked over to the window, staring out into the pure darkness. All was heard was the sound of a door creaking open and then a dim light was lit, revealing the room and its surroundings. “Yes Yugi?” the Queen asked, without looking back from the window.

“Your majesty, the Arxton brothers have failed,” replied a man with light brown fur and sepia colored hair that was messy and down to his shoulders. He had whiskers, a dog like snout, fangs, and furry elf-type ears. His eyes were yellow and the pupils were slits. He had a wolf tail and claws. His cloak was gray with a dark red pendant at the hood part, which he kept down.

“I know that already. It is surprising that Liam and Owen could fail me. All because of that brat and her mutt.” The Queen turned around, revealing her young face. Her skin was gray and her ears like elf’s. Her eyes were like normal human eyes, except the color was a dark red. Her lips looked as if they had a black coat of lipstick on. Her hair was brought up in two buns at top sides of each head, and she had bangs all across her forehead, except at the middle. Her hair was black like the night sky, and the buns of her hair was tied up with a violet ribbon, dangling down to her shoulders. She wore dark violet earrings and her tight black, sleeveless top sported a matching dark violet jewel on the middle. She a black skirt that hung low a little on the left side, showing a dark violet strap from her under garment. She wore a leather criss-crossed object on her legs that went up to her thigh and came up from her black high heels. She also wore black cut-off gloves that showed off her long, claw like fingernails that were painted blood red.

“Is there anything you wish for me to do, your majesty?” Yuji asked.

“No, I have things under control.” The Queen stepped away from the window and picked up a long, silver colored septar, that looked like it was covered in dragon scales. She held it out and chanted a few simple words in another language, “Mosar Keneva Tulee.” A purplish-black cloud formed in front of the septar and out of the cloud came out a man that looked like a tall and extremely skinny penguin. His nose was shaped like a bird’s beak, his eyes beady and all black. He wore a black and white tuxedo with white gloves, which in one slender gloved hand was held a black leather whip. His hair was greased back neatly and he had a twirly mustache, both black like his suit. The man squinted at the Queen and then a huge grin swept across his face. “Kwan! Been a while,” the man chirped.

“Yes, it has,” the Queen, Kwan, replied. “But you’ll address me as your majesty or Queen Kwan if you must.”

“Why, of course, your majesty! Now what do you need?” The Queen leaned over and whispered something in the man’s ear, the man was bent down and nodding as she described her plan to him. He grinned even more. “Ah, but of course! I’ll get right to it!” He snapped his bony fingers and disappeared into thin air.

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“Hey Reiko! Look!” Kenji exclaimed, pointing his paw towards a flyer on the bakery’s window. Reiko set down a pink sweater she held back with the other sweaters. “What is it?”

“The Rikuni Traveling Circus! It’s coming to this town tomorrow!” Kenji exclaimed eagerly, “Can we go? Please? Oh, please?!”

“Well, we don’t have any jobs now, and we do have some extra cash...”

“Please?! Pretty please Reiko?!” Kenji begged, he looked up at Reiko with the traditional “sad puppy dog look”.

Reiko sighed. “Oh, all right. We both do deserve a break.”

“Yay! Oh, you’re the greatest Reiko!” Kenji exclaimed gleefully as he jumped up into Reiko’s arms and licked her nose. Reiko answered him with a simple smile.

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The next day came and the town was full of excitement and laughter as everyone hurried to the Circus. Kenji pranced on ahead of Reiko, acting like a little kid in a huge candy store. Reiko looked around at the huge rainbow colored circus tents and spinning rides. “So, this is the Rikuni Traveling Circus,” she stated, “It’s pretty big.”

“I’ll say! This is great!” Kenji looked around, a huge childish grin on his animal face. “My first time at a Circus! What to do first? There are so many choices!”

“SHINOBU!!! KOUME!!!! WHERE ARE YOU TWO???!!!!!” yelled a very frantic and worried woman. Reiko turned around to see a short, plump brunette woman with a pink flower dress on, wandering around anxiously. “What’s wrong?” Reiko asked the woman.

“I can’t find my children anywhere! They were right behind me a minute ago, but now they’re gone!” Tears started to form in the lady’s hazel eyes. She wiped them away with her sleeve. “I don’t know where they could have wandered off to!”

Reiko patted the woman on her shoulder. “Don’t worry miss, I’ll find your kids for you.”

The woman’s eyes lit up. “Really?” Reiko nodded. “Oh thank you! Here is a photo of them,” the woman said as she dug out a photo of a boy and a girl from her purse. The girl had long auburn hair that had bangs and barrettes on the side. The girl had freckles and hazel eyes. The boy also had auburn hair and bangs, but his hair was down to his ears only. He too had freckles and his eyes were also hazel. The two kids looked about ten years old and it was easy to tell that they were twins. “Thank you so much,” the woman said again, “I’ll be near the entrance asking for more help, you can find me there, if you need me.” With that the woman walked off leaving Reiko and Kenji with the photo of the missing kids.

“Why did you actually have to care about something for once!” Kenji exclaimed.

“Oh, come on. It can’t be that hard to find two kids! We find them, return them and then we can enjoy the circus for ourselves!”

“I guess,” Kenji mumbled

“And we might possibly get a reward from that woman!” Reiko exclaimed with a greedy delight.

“Now that’s the Reiko I know. You’d do anything for money, I’m sure!”

“Well, not anything....Anyway, we should hurry. Let’s check the main tent first.”

Reiko and Kenji walked up to the enormous tent. Reiko pushed the curtain like door out of the way and she entered the main part of the circus. Everything seemed to change in there. Everything went from fun and cheerful to gloomy and almost eerie. It was darker inside the tent and dead silent, but there were people sitting up in the bleachers. The people looked ghostly white and stared off, emotionless and still. Kenji hopped up to the bleachers and sniffed one of the people there. He looked into there eyes and noticed that they were different. Everybody’s eyes had the same cold, blank stare, and they all seemed as if they had no life in them anymore. “What happened here?” Kenji asked in a hushed voice.

“Do any of them have fang marks on their necks?” Reiko asked. Kenji looked around and then shook his head in distress. Reiko looked at the center of the room. Circus stuff was there, like the clown car and a unicycle. But there was no one using them. No one was there entertaining the audience. “Something is definitely going on here. First the two kids are missing and now the main tent is like this! I think this circus is a scam.” Kenji tried to hop over to the other bleachers, but fell in a gap. “Reiko!” he screamed, “Reiko! I found something! Over here!”

Reiko rushed over and looked at the floor at the gap. There was a hole in the floor there, just big enough to fit her body. “Let’s go down then,” Reiko said as she lowered herself down the hole. Kenji followed her, down into what seemed to be an aged underground passageway. Lit torches were set on the walls near the hole. Reiko grabbed one and headed down the long, dim corridor. Kenji followed her close behind, glancing back nervously every minute. As they came to the end of the corridor they both saw an ebony door with weird symbols carved into it and a silver-plated dragon head knocker. Reiko cautiously reached for the knocker. She grasped the dragon head in her hand and pulled out towards her, the door gradually creaking open. Kenji entered the room first and sniffed around. His eyes widened. “R-Reiko...” he stuttered, “This isn’t good..”

“What is it?” Reiko asked as she too entered the room.

“Something either is here or was here just a little while ago, because I smell fresh blood..human blood...”

Reiko silently swayed the torch around to see the room for herself. “My god..” she said as the objects in the room became clear to her. All sorts of torture equipment was scattered throughout the room, blood stained and even some with a skeleton attached to them still. Across from them was another door, but not ebony, one made entirely out of silver. Kenji looked up at Reiko. “This certainly belongs to one of the creatures of the dark..but not the vampires for sure. They hate silver..whatever it is seems fond of silver..and torture too..”

Reiko started forward. “Come on, we have to check out the next room. For all we know the kids could be there,” she said solemnly. Kenji nodded and followed her to the silver door. The knocker on the silver door was the same as the ebony door except this one had rubies for eyes. Reiko clutched the knocker but instantly pulled her hand away once she touched it. She looked at her gloved hand to see the glove burned away and part of her palm burned. “Someone blocked this door with magic, fire element it seems. We’ll have to find another way.”

Kenji looked around again and then turned back to her. “Maybe there’s a hidden door somewhere in here?”

“Good idea, let’s look around for one,” Reiko decided as she stepped away from the silver door. Kenji went to search the west side while Reiko the east. They felt the walls and looked around for triggers or anything helpful that could have been hidden. Kenji sniffed behind a skeleton and tripped over a lever. Reiko hurried over to him and helped him up. “Hey Kenji! You found it!” she exclaimed.

“I did?!” Kenji looked behind him. The lever had pushed away one of the stones in the walls revealing a hidden tunnel. Reiko went over to the tunnel and crawled inside, Kenji following close behind. After crawling awhile through cobwebs and dust a vent came into view in front of them. “Shhh,” Reiko said to Kenji as she put her finger to her mouth. They both looked through the vent, seeing a tall man dressed in a black suit, looking remarkably like a skinny penguin. Along with the man were two kids strapped to an upright wheel. “Those are the kids!” Kenji whispered.

“Let’s just listen a little and find out what’s going on,” Reiko whispered back.

The man paced back and forth in front of the kids in the dark room. The boy, Shinobu, glared at him with much hate, while the girl, Koume, looked as if she was going to cry. “Please let us go!” Koume yelled to the man.

The man stopped pacing and smirked at Koume. “I guess I should just get right down to business now, shouldn’t I? Let’s see which one of you to try the test first?”

“Test?!” Koume squeaked, her hazel eyes widened.

The man chuckled. “Yes the test to see which one of you is ‘the chosen one’, don’t worry it’s not that hard of a test. If you’re ‘the chosen one’ it will be a cinch, if not, then well you will die quick enough so not to feel any pain or fear.”

Koume gulped, her eyes widening even more. Shinobu glared at the man, showing his teeth. “What do you mean by ‘the chosen one’?! We are just kids!” he snapped.

“Well aren’t we a brave one? I guess you can be the first to find out.” The man reached for a lever on his right and pulled it. The straps undone on Shinobu’s wheel and a hole opened up on the floor below him, causing him to fall down it. “SHINOBU!!!” Koume screamed. The man walked over to Koume and spun her wheel. “You will be next,” he sneered.

“I’m going down there,” Reiko announced as she pushed away the vent and jumped out. “Wait for me!” Kenji cried out as he jumped down after her. Reiko pulled out her gun and aimed it at the man. “Leave her alone!” she yelled.

The man stopped spinning Koume and glanced over at Reiko. “Who are you?” he asked, annoyance in his voice.

“I am Reiko.”

“And I’m Kenji!” Kenji exclaimed as he jumped out from the shadows, landing beside Reiko.

“We are the slayers of darkness, and if I were you I’d leave that girl alone!”

The man laughed. “You two are the great Reiko and Kenji?! You must be kidding! You just look like another stupid girl and her dumb mutt to me.”

“Dumb mutt!?!” Kenji yelled in rage.

Reiko stared at the man coldly. “Who are you? And what do you want with those kids?”

The man smirked and brought a little fireball to his face reflected all of his ugly features all to well. “I am Zafar. Welcome to my deadly circus. If you want both kids back then I’ll let the girl go and give the three of you a shortcut to her brother.” Zafar pulled a different lever, opening holes under Reiko, Kenji and Koume, and undoing the straps on Koume. All three fell down into the darkness, while Zafar’s evil laugh echoed around them.

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Reiko awoke to darkness, her body cold and damp. She sat up and looked around. “Kenji?” she called into the dark. “Right here,” he answered, hopping into her lap. Reiko looked up to see the girl Koume standing in front of her. “Are you all right?” Reiko asked her.

“I’m okay. A little wet that’s all. Thanks for getting me away from that evil man.”

“No problem. Now let’s find your brother. He has to be around here somewhere.”

“I probably can lead us to him,” she said as she clasped her “K” pendant tight in her hand. “Whenever I hold this pendant I know if Shinobu’s near.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Reiko said admiringly, “And very useful. So show us the way Koume. And I’m Reiko if you didn’t hear, and this hear is Kenji.”

Koume nodded and closed her eyes. The pendant began to glow in her hand. “Straight ahead,” she announced. They all walked straight ahead for awhile until they came to a room with three paths. Koume closed her eyes again and the pendant started glowing. “Left,” Koume told them. As they headed to the left path something jumped down in front of them. Koume screamed, Kenji yelped and Reiko pulled out her gun and shot at it. “W-what was it?” Koume asked, her body and voice trembling. Reiko picked up the creatures head, which she had blown off from the body. She squinted at it. She could see curly, bright red hair, a round red nose, and face paint along with blood all on it. Reiko’s eyes widened. “My god! It looks like a clown!”

“A c-clown?!” Koume exclaimed, “But clowns are s-supposed to be g-good!”

“Well, Zafar did call this his ‘deadly circus’, didn’t he?” Kenji reminded.

Reiko threw down the head in disgust. “Gross. I wonder how many more there are around here?”

Koume finally stopped trembling. “Let’s just keep going. I’m worried about Shinobu, he has no weapon to fight such horrible things!”

They continued through the maze, Reiko shooting at every clown that jumped out at them. They eventually reached a room with a door covered in symbols. “It ends here,” Koume said calmly. She looked down at the floor near the door. There a rolled up parchment lay. Koume picked it up and unrolled it. “I found something! Reiko! Kenji! Come see!”

“What did you find?” Reiko asked.

“A map for a place called Yoko Ruins. They must have brought my brother there, for I have the feeling he isn’t here anymore.”

Reiko took the map from Koume and examined it. “Okay then, Kenji and I will go to the Yoko Ruins and get your brother back.”

“Reiko,” Koume said quietly, “May I join you and Kenji? I promise I won’t be much trouble and only I will know for sure where Shinobu is...”

“I don’t know,” Reiko said, an unsure tone to her voice, “It’ll be dangerous..”

“I think she should be allowed to come if she wishes to,” Kenji stated, “She may actually be of help to us Reiko, and the more the merrier!”

Reiko sighed. “Okay, but what about your mother?”

“She’ll be okay. Let’s just hurry to the Yoko Ruins! We’re bound to find Shinobu there!”

“If not then maybe we’ll find something out about ‘the chosen one’ and what the creatures of the dark are up to,” Kenji suggested.

Reiko nodded and opened the door, revealing a room full of light. She, Koume and Kenji all stepped on the light and faded away and appeared outside in an open field. The sky was dark and cloudy. The only light was the red and violet lightning that flashed every minute, illuminating the dark sky. “We must be in the dark creatures homeland,” Kenji confirmed.

Reiko nodded and handed Koume the map. “You take the map and guide us. Next stop Yoko Ruins!”

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