Chapter 10: Rescue

The ceiling became rubble as it was raining down. Kagome's ears popped at a loud noise, awakening her from her pain filled slumber. Kagome struggled to stand, blood dripping in globs to the floor. She panted at the small exertion. She vaguely heard Komatsu cry out in joy seeing her awake, but she had to move fast as she able to keep him safe. So with her only arm left she grabbed Komatsu around his waist and ran about, dodging the falling rocks.

She did expect her energy to fail on her, just not so soon when a large platform falling on top of them. It was too big to run away from, so she crouched over Komatsu and her skin and insides started to turn to a gray-ish stone. She made her stance wide so that she made an effective cover for the chief. She felt the impacted before the rock split. Whatever split the rock also gave her a gash on her back, but she is stone at the moment. As stone, she cannot hear or feel anything. But, she did see the joy on Komatsu's face before he ran out from under her.

The sound of stone grinding on stone was heard as she moved to see if Toriko and Zebra were here. They were. Zebra walked up to Kagome as she just stared blankly at him. He wasn't looking at her face or her torn clothes but at the place where her arm used to be. She looked too, but didn't feel anything when Toriko came and touched the empty socket. If Kagome where to change back, the blood would flow again and she could possibly die.

They watched her as she turned to Komatsu with a blank face of stone. She reached out to take his hand and pulled him away from the creature. It wasn't going to wait on them and neither was Zebra going to wait to fight. Komatsu ran in front of Kagome so that he could mime that he needs the book since she can't hear him or feel him tugging on her hand. She nodded and she started to carry him with her one arm. She sprinted to the book while having Komatsu use one arm around her neck, the other grabbed the book.

She ran behind some upright rocks. She secured him so that he wouldn't be blown away from the force of the attacks. She shifted and unexpectedly Komatsu wiggled out of her protection to Toriko and Zebra. She skidded to a halt behind the little chief. She paused seeing their mouths moving. They were talking. She relaxed slightly.

She stood behind Komatsu since she could tower over him. She would use the length of her arm to block and deflect any debris coming at them. She then slowly returned to normal so she could hear what is going on. She had to concentrate to keep the stone on her arm, arm socket, and her back so they wouldn't bleed anymore. She can now hear Komatsu shouting instructions to get the Mellow Cola. She watched the men as she defended Komatsu. She was getting a bad feeling.

She then had to crush a large boulder that flew at them. Movement caught her eye and in that split second she appeared behind Komatsu, but she stopped concentrating on keeping the stone on her arm, arm socket, and back when the Nitoro's arm pierced through her stomach to hit Komatsu. Komatsu fell, unconscious and seemingly dead, but alive. Her one hand squeezed the arm in her torso as more blood fell to the ground, from her arm socket and back, now from the gaping hole in her gut. She panted, struggling to stay awake, to protect Komatsu as much as she can.

She heard Toriko yell behind her, but she couldn't do anything other than try to keep the Nitoro in place. Her eyes widened when it screeched and clamped onto what was left of her shoulder. Her scream was muffled by the blood that flowed out of her mouth and down her throat. Her eyes dulled. She went limp.

Toriko and Zebra watched as the thing let go of her shoulder. Blood spilled out of the teeth marks, empty arm socket, the gash on my back, and the hole, they can see through from there, in her gut. It threw her away on top of a rock, so limp. Too distracted by the dreadful scene, Toriko was hit by the lighting fast creature. He skidded and tubbled on the ground. Zebra tried to attack, but he didn't have enough energy, thus knocked away easily as well.

They winced, as they watched the thing suck up the Mellow Cola they worked so hard to get. They also saw Kagome slid off the rock. They stared into her blank blue eyes. Zebra got angry enough to get full power. Toriko activated his autophagy to gain his energy. They fought the thing mercilessly.

Kagome wandered the darkness. She looked all around her, nothing. Suddenly, masses of people surrounded her; children, women, and men. She froze at looking at herself. She started to look at the differences between them. The other woman had brown eyes and straight dark brown hair. Those were the only differences. Everyone spoke at the same time,

"When you awake, leave and explore more of our home. You must become stronger."

A flash of light and she was suddenly aware of being alive and in pain. In her back-up~back-up reserves of stored energy food, they began to drain to give her back her arm and close her wounds. When her vision cleared, she looked at the ending of the fight. Her eyes landed on Komatsu's prone form. She crawled over to him, too weak to stand or walk. She had to lay her head down on his chest to see if his heart still beats. It was there, but weak. To strengthen the beat, he needed to drink at least a drop of her blood. She bit her thumb and stuck it in his mouth.

He clamped down on the digit, sucking on it. She took her thumb back, so he wouldn't suck it dry. She had already lost too much. She whispered in his ear,

"I sorry, Komatsu. But, me needs to return home. Me will return when me is stronger."

With that, she crawled away, changing her form agonizingly slow to roll away. The battle was too heated for the fighters to noticed she rolled by. It was going to end soon and she had to leave now so they wouldn't follow her. She traveled through the red sands, the various deserts, and finally to the sea, eating and picking up things along the way.

She dived into the water, changing her form to swim more efficiently. Her clothes tearing, falling forgotten on land after being swept up by the wind, it traveled farther inland. She had her tail this time to get some speed. She attacked and ate the various fish in her way until she came to the waterfall leading to her home.

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Toriko and Zebra stared down at the dehydrated corpse of the thing they defeated. They discussed theories as to what it was. Toriko brought up his experience with one on his trip with Komatsu to get the Ozone Herb. Zebra then told Toriko why it was so insane; it hadn't eaten in roughly tens of thousands of years.

Suddenly, without distraction anymore, Zebra could hear Komatsu's heart beating strongly again. Toriko became overjoyed at the news, but sobered when he thought of Kagome. Komatsu woke up.

Zebra explained the stronger Sound Armor he placed on Komatsu before the fights. Since the armor was gone after the punch, the only explanation was that Kagome saved his life in trade for her own. The punched slowed down just enough not to kill him.

Komatsu was glad that he was alive, but he was also saddened by Kagome's death. Until, he remembered. Her voice flouted through his mind at one point. The message! Komatsu, with the limited mobility from the pain, searched for Kagome.

"Hey, boy, just because you're alive doesn't mean you can get cocky about it!"

"No! No, no, that's not it! Kagome! Where is she!"

Toriko blinked and walked over to where Kagome's cold body should have been, but it was vacant. Her blood trailed. He tensed and followed it to where Komatsu was lying. His eyes followed the weakening blood trail, turn rolling marks out of the room.

"She's gone, but she's alive! She's alive!"

He laughed in relief, but came to a stop when he realized what he said.

"She's gone, but where is she?!"

Komatsu looked down before speaking up.

"I heard her. When I was unconscious, she told me that … she needed to be stronger so she went home. And, that she was sorry."

They all looked down, put out that she left. Zebra didn't show that emotion, but ranted in anger at her cockiness. He stopped when Komatsu inquired about the Mellow Cola intensively. Toriko broke the news to the little guy, until Komatsu informed them that the Cola that was stolen wasn't the true Mellow Cola.

Watching the Salamander Sphinx in anticipation, the creature started to gush out tears of Mellow Cola. Everyone celebrated the success of the hunt. Even the Salamander Sphinx seemed happy.

While at first the celebration was a joyous one, it was ruined when Zebra announced his and Komatsu's bet when he put the Mellow Cola on his Full Course Menu of Life.

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Sorry everyone it took so long!

Writer's block can be such a pain n