The Chronicles of Riddick: Blood Rage

Arriving at Aquila Major went smoothly enough. No matter that Kiley was annoying me perhaps a lot more than to Riddick throughout th remaining trip. But things never goes according to plan, especially when you are a most-hunted person, traveling with an even much-more wanted man.

And on that planet, I had to witness perhaps the most strangest day of my life as of this date. I know that Riddick is no regular Furyan... though I wouldn’t know how ‘normal’ a Furyan could be.

The day I’m not hunted for anymore is the day I’ve drawn my last breathe. Yet somehow, I don’t think there’d be peace even afterwards.

Disclaimer

I’m still a lone writer that never hopes to gain profit from fan stories. XD Anyway, enjoy Chapter Four, realize that I still want those reviews, and that I don’t own one thing of ‘The Chronicles of Riddick.’ By the way, I’ll add a note at the end of this chapter about Kiley. Anyway, have fun!

The time to the Aquila Major was almost bearable, as it was only about a day away since Rosalia and Riddick had picked up the Elemental, Kiley Mizu. And the girl was fairly quiet, which was surprising to Rose. She was known to be quite chatty when in a ship, and there’s nothing to do in the girl’s opinion.

Though, admittedly, she was in the same ship with, if not two killers, the Riddick, the murderer of all those that got in his way and hunted him across the universe. And/or annoyed him.

Riddick monitored the main computers of the ship, since there were now two other companions in the same space, one of whom was talking the head off of the other. He listened mostly for any indications of assaulting him from behind, though he doubted that it would happen. After all, Elementals were ‘noble,’ as was Rosalia in debt to him and seemed to have honor.

But one could never be too careful.

“And behold, there’d be Aquila Major,” Kiley suddenly said as she jumped from her seat and pointed dramatically. It merely had Rosalia roll her eyes at her long-time friend.

“Yes yes, now sit down and strap up,” Rose sighed as she moved to the second seat in front and followed her own advice. Riddick didn’t give any indication of noticing her, though he knew she was there. He started flipping switches, hot-plate shields folding out and covering the front-port from the outside for entering the atmosphere. The control screen activated, appearing on the glass and asking for coordinates. As the man keyed the needed numbers, Rosalia glanced at Kiley for a minute. She was happily strapped down in her seat right behind Rose, and waved when she looked up at the winged-girl. Rose merely nodded as she turned back.

“This won’t take long,” Riddick said outloud as he allowed automatic control to take over. The hot-plate shielding grew red for many minutes when they finally started to enter the atmosphere of the planet. But when they’ve got past it and was now cruising in the actual gravity field, the shielding cooled as it folded back to allow the occupants to view. It wasn’t a very pretty sight.

“Damn...” Rosalia muttered after a small hiss as she rubbed the base of her horn, watching the landscape.

While the planet had made major improvements, and was coming along nicely, there were still many large-patches of scorched earth. There was little greenery, and when there was a large amounts of it, it was where human settlements were made. The oceans were pitiful compared to its original state, as were the rivers mere streams. They’ve doubted there was much other life than what the people had managed to save of wildlife.

“And you see why I was sent here,” Kiley said in the most indifferent tone one could hear from an Elemental. But Rose knew that the state of the planet was affecting her friend just as it was affecting herself. More or less.

“It’s in bad shape, but it’s an improvement of what it was left from before,” Riddick said mildly as he switched the computers to manual control, taking control of the ship. “My ‘business’ will take as long as it will take. So don’t wait up for me.”

“Why Riddick, the way you say that, it’s like we’d end up depending on ya for every step!” Kiley said, though in a teasing sort a way an Elemental could do.

“Do not worry about me. I’m just going to hide and stay out of fights if it is possible...” Rosalia muttered lightly, still looking out to the landscape.

“Good choice,” Kiley said in a more cheerful voice. Riddick merely gave a small nod in acknowledgment.

Landing in the largest settlement they could find, they docked in the small make-shift ports. There seemed not much to do for Rosalia other than slip on her backpack and step out onto the planet’s surface, accustoming to the gravity of the planet. Her face grimaced from a pounding headache, a painful one, closing her eyes tightly for a minute. The ship seemed to have been blocking out more than Kiley or Riddick may think.

Rose would have rather waited on the ship for that fact.

“See you another time, Rosie-dear,” Kiley said as she stepped out of the ship before Riddick. She smiled lightly at Rosalia’s look on her face. “It’ll fade,” she promised to her friend, unknowing to anyone of what Rose should hope would fade. “I got my work cut out on this planet. So take care.” With a smile and a nod, Kiley took off at a stride. Her hair flowed behind her like a gentle stream, as her walking had a certain bounce that made it seem like she was made of water instead of flesh and blood. Water Elementals...

Riddick came out last as the ramp and door slid back in and sealed itself tightly. He seemed to be the one to have a remote or knew some code to enter the ship again on his own time. As he walked past Rosalia, he didn’t even say anything. She could tell that he was going into some sort of setting in his mind. It’s probably the way he does jobs or fights, she summarized.

“Good luck,” she said in spite of herself. He stopped in mid-step and glanced back at her through his goggles. Probably didn’t expect any sort of prayers or however it could be interpreted as.

“Thanks. But you should save your wishes for yourself,” he said in reply. The reply surprised the girl as he continued on without another word.

‘Arrogant and confident. Just like a male that have faced countless situations,’ Rosalia thought to herself, shaking her head. But it suited him, in a strange way.

As Kiley promised, the headache faded slowly as Rosalia walked at her own pace through the settlement. It’ll become a city one day, she knew. Perhaps one of the major ones. These people had their work cut out for them, though...

Many looked up at the strange girl. They’ve never seen a girl with wings, obviously. But she was used to that kind of staring. Much better than leers or looks that just says, ‘Ka-ching.’

The day progressed slowly, but Rosalia seemed to have made the most of it. On many occasions, she had stopped to assist people that were in need of a stronger back. As much as the people were strong, they do tend to injure themselves. They were mostly pulling damaged and torched items away to be replaced by supplies that were shipped in.

‘They should have figured out the technology to terraform a planet,’ she thought to herself. Many books that had been written on Earth were quite science-fiction, made science-fact in many things later on in the years of advanced technology. Terraforming was not one of them yet.

“Thanks,” the man she was helping grunted as he finished off welding pieces together of a small building. Taking it as a sign of being dismissed, Rosalia nodded before walking off. She decided that she’d better find a place to camp down for the night. Though with no better options, the best place would be near the spaceship. The world’s day was much longer than an Earth day... it had lasted for about nearly twenty hours of daylight, and she was on the planet for about fifteen hours since landing.

Kiley was yet to be seen, though news traveled fast about an water being collecting the lost water in the air and bringing the collected, precious drops to the land. There was already a small river traveling through the wasted lands that had yet to grow anything green. Elementals... always the successful ones that yet decided to be fairly arrogant to the rest of the ordinary humans. Or at least most of them are. Kiley’s only annoying with her cheery attitude and confidence.

‘How battles raged everywhere,’ Rose thought to herself as she sat against the nearest building, where it was hidden from most crowds. Her headache still pounded against her skull; she was starting to think it was drum beating to an unknown song. ‘I wonder how Riddick is fairing. Surely he is able to accomplish whatever he had come to do without harm.’ She almost shook her head. ‘Why should I worry about him? After all, he is an experienced fighter and survived even longer. Heh, he’s right; I should be keeping my good lucks to myself.’

- - -

“A-alright! Don’t kill me,” the man squawked out between stutters. And it had taken about thirteen of his men to be convinced.

“Finally seeing things my way, I see,” Riddick said in a low tone, watching the man scurry to the back of the building, him following so that man wouldn’t have any funny ideas. This was a place of which scum gathered and did dealings. One of those dealing had something to do with the thing he wanted. A supposed Furyan weapon. They were supposed to have been destroyed along with the rest of the surface of his world.

And he intended to keep the thing away from such scums of the universe.

“I-it’s over there,” the man said when Riddick snapped his hand up to hold his blade against the man’s throat to stop him. He doesn’t need to get closer to it.

Riddick walked forward without having to worry about the guy; he was close to pissing himself. Hmph, it was hardly a challenge. The girl had put up a better fight in her weakened condition. Sliding the blade into the seam of the box, it snapped open without much effort. And there was a item unlike much he had seen. But it was debatable if it was of his world...

“You better not have been fucking around with me,” he said in a tone that suggested a hint of danger. “‘Cause this doesn’t look like it should be.” The man behind Riddick yelped. He didn’t like how this was heading.

“W-we’re sure! W-w-where else had i-it been made??” he said in a panicky voice.

‘Where indeed,’ Riddick thought as he turned to glance at the man.

“I-I suppose that it could be of something else... But when it turned up, w-we couldn’t find anything to match, so what could we assume it to come from? There’s no other world to think of with that kind of technology!”

“...” Nonetheless, Riddick pulled the weapon from the box, holding it like he would studying a knife. The designs on the thing weren’t familiar to him, nor the material. It looked like it was cut from a big gem instead of made of alloyed metals. It shined with the mixture of blue and green, like opal. It was meant to be held by one hand, it being so light and compact. “What had it done when fired?” he asked as he pointed the weapon at the man, just to see a reaction. He just about soiled his pants.

“It shot out a narrow white beam,” he answered quickly, holding both hands up in the air. “When it touched a target, it destroyed it, and there’d then be shattered gems.”

Now that was interesting. It doesn’t sound like any Furyan weapon he’d heard of, nor of any known human weapon engineering. But it brought to one possible species in mind.

“Then I’ll be taking this off your hands.” He placed the gun-like weapon into a holster that was in the same box, buckling it around his right thigh. “Have fun dealing with the buyer.” He smirked as he watched what color was left in the man’s face drain away. And then he fainted. Wussy bastard, he hadn’t even had blood drawn from his skin. Riddick stepped on the man’s back as he headed for the exit. Well, the trip was almost worthless. But the weapon was still better off where it was now. Not to mention he had rescued an Elemental that was helping this planet.

‘Now there seems to be a possibility of that homeworld of hers is still intact. Let’s just see how this goes.’ He smirked again. To tell the girl that he may have found something of her homeworld might just cause a reaction from her. But he’ll see soon enough.

Of course, it was if she hadn’t got herself caught by some Merc. She seemed to have a knack for doing that. He just might start warming up to her; she was a mystery even to herself, and they were the few beings of their own worlds. They had more in common than they would admit.

- - -

‘Finally, I can get away from him,’ Ramza thought to himself as he was walking down a street of perhaps the only largest settlement there was. Victor was on his own for now, hunting for a convict that Ramza tracked down in this poor world. Ramza had been complaining about the cramped space of the ship, so he got to get out of it instead of remaining in it like Victor wanted him to.

The day was well past twenty hours, so the moon was hanging over in the night sky and slowly rising. Other than the usual sickness of getting out of space and on a gravity-field planet, though, he had a funny feeling about this planet.

“It has to be the time I get away that I get weird feelings,” he said with a laugh. But he was curious of what it could be. He rarely had such feelings, but they’ve all had led him to something interesting. ‘Aww, what the hell. It’s my time off,’ Ramza thought to himself as he looked around. Time to follow... well, not his nose, but the phrase was close enough for him.

Meanwhile in the same settlement, Rosalia rose her head up slowly, her eyes moving to explore the land before her. She was busy ignoring a nagging feeling to get any sort of small rest. But it wasn’t going away, and it was just growing stronger. Well, time to act again. No point in waiting for whatever was causing the weird feeling to catch her with her guard down.

Sliding her double-bladed weapon out from mere caution, she stood up with grace of a feline. What a time for whatever it was to come, in the night of all things. With a sigh, she leapt onto the nearest roof from the ground, folding her wings tight against her back. She could hear footsteps nearby. Could be nothing, but she wasn’t going to make a mistake of ignoring the sounds. They were faint, yet were close by.

Then they stopped. That couldn’t be a good sign. Though she found out soon enough of whom the footsteps had belonged to - she swung around and collided with a familiar blade.

“So jumpy.” Riddick’s eyes glimmered as he smirked, Rosalia relaxing slightly from knowing who it was. “Far-better reaction to a sneak attack, though. You’ve stopped me.”

“You must be disappointed for some reason with your search,” she said as she tilted her head to one side, curious. She was becoming used to his strange ways of his relieving his boredom. Probably didn’t have any sort of challenge. “Were you able to be successful?” she asked while slipping her weapon back into its sheath.

Riddick merely lowered his blade and tapped something at his leg. Must mean he had, after all, without much of a fight. So that’d be why he decided to test her again; it was no challenge for him at all to get the thing. “But now I have a question for you.”

A question for her? Now that was a strange turn. “What about?” Rosalia asked as she narrowed her eyes in slight confusion. He pulled the object from where it was strapped, and she realized that it was a gun of some sort. Before she even opened her mouth, he tossed it at her.

“Is this familiar?” Some question. But it led to more questions than answers for her. Holding it in her hands, she had a strange feeling. Like she was indeed familiar with it. She had never seen or held such a gun, though, so how could she be familiar with it?

Sliding a finger along the barrel of the gun, she looked thoughtful. The designs were strangely stirring something in her memories. Not to mention it was emitting a strange pulse in her hands, like it was wanting to tell something important. That was just weird. “Not really,” she said at last as she tossed it back. As much as the pulse of the gun felt familiar, it was too alien for her to hold it much more for now. “I’ve never seen a gun like that. It looks much like a gun-shaped gem than a gun itself... Why would I be familiar with it?”

“Just asking.” He didn’t seem to want to express his thoughts any further as he slipped the gun back into the holster. At least for now. “How’s your friend doing with her job?”

“Far as I heard, she’ll be worshiped soon enough for gathering what water remains in the air at her pace,” she remarked, giving a slight smirk of her own.

“Hm.” A comment that didn’t need much words. It was interesting to hear, though he was ready to return to the ship. And with that, he turned away with a single wave of a hand, walking to his vehicle.

Remaining outside, Rosalia turned her head to look down the alleyways. Well, she could had thought that the gun was the source of that feeling. But she wasn’t so sure about that. Though while the gun remained nearby, she may not know until either it’s gone further away or she had. Shaking her head at her own thoughts, she turned back in time to see the ship closing again. She respected the man, at the very least. So why bring something that he was convinced she would know?

‘Whatever, he will tell me another time,’ she thought to herself as she slid down the roof and landing on the ground below. ‘Now that he woke my adrenalin system, I better go do something...’

Well, she didn’t need to search long. The feeling had grown to the point that she thought her hair would stand on end. She had only walked a few blocks before she crouched down, the pupils of her eyes shrunk and became more diamond-shaped. She growled in a low voice, carrying a warning. She didn’t know what to think of the intense feeling, good or bad.

A growl answered back, answering to her challenge. He wasn’t about to back down, whoever he was. Not a smart move in the girl’s opinion. Her knuckles cracked from snapping her fingers out for maximum slashing damage, leaping into the shadows of the direction the growl came from. She was not taking any chances. And she certainly wasn’t about to back down, either.

Well, things continued to whirl around in the settlement, back with Riddick. He knew that without even having to think on it. He was opening the hatch of the ship to step back outside when he noticed two things; Rosalia had disappeared, and there was a sound of a fight going on. The hatch closed behind him with a sealing-hiss.

‘Getting into fights, even though she said she was going to avoid them,’ Riddick mused before taking off at a steady, fast pace. It wasn’t hard to follow the sound. But they were highly unusual. The sounds were more like two big cats battling than two humans. Yowls and snarls were indefinitely not human noises, last anyone checked.

Jumping onto a roof that looked over the alleyway where the fight was held, Riddick pulled his goggles back off his eyes to watch more closely. It was Rose all right, fighting with hand-to-hand (or was it claw-to-claw?) techniques against a guy. He was using no weapons, either, using only his hands and claws to counter against hers. There were gashes on both of their shoulders and arms. The fighting difference stood out more; Rose was out to defend herself. The man was fighting out of surprise and curiosity.

Pulling out his blade, Riddick waited for an opening. The fight was a close-combat between the two below him. Neither were about to give up. And both were getting beaten up pretty good.

To the man, it was Ramza of Victor’s group. Not only did he find something interesting, he found it challenging. He was starting to reach a limit in this fast but brutal fight.

When something had growled at him from around the corner, he was instantly on alert. And he was confident to send a growl back to whoever’s challenge, readying for a fight. She flew around the corner and swiped at him, scoring a hit on his shoulder before he reacted.

It turned out to be the very same target Victor had his eye on until he had to space his prize. She was ferocious as she was fast. Faster than he was. But she was also lacking a little in strength, though to an average man, it would knock him silly. Ramza was no mere human, nor was he an actual human. He pushed her away and charged, swiping at her wings. She had leapt from his range as she growled loudly.

As the two of them had slowed in their battle, trying to figure out one another’s next move, Ramza blinked at he took in the appearance of his opponent. A familiar sight to his eyes, something that he hadn’t expect to see of another. What a time to find someone of his ruined homeworld.

But before he could decide what to do next, another being leapt into action. Ramza barely dodged the man’s blade, flipping backwards and landing some feet away. Another surprise, though it was to the man’s dismay. But he pushed that to the back of his mind as he went to attack the man. He was ready to react, his blade coming up and knocking away Ramza’s hands without any effort. But Ramza wasn’t making an effort, either.

Ramza grabbed a hold of a wrist of the new attacker, the one with the weapon. Needless to say, though, Ramza realized he made an mistake of doing that. A pulsing power shocked him, powerful enough to hold him fast like electricity if it had lasted more than five seconds. With a yelp, he let go and landed far away. That burst of power was like a blue sheen of faded light, disappearing quickly, but the feeling lingered there.

“Now hold on, I’m not going to attack anymore,” Ramza said as he held both hands up in the air, surrendering easily. The man before him was ready to attack again. “Not when I’ve found I had made an error of attacking a sister.”

“A what now?” the girl said as her eyes were narrowed, relaxing very little as she watched the man from the side of the other man.

“A sister. We’re both of the Yamako race, you see.” The man couldn’t believe he had indeed found someone of the same race as he. He had thought he was the very last.

“We’re not the same, whatever species I am,” the girl hissed. Well, that was a strange twist.

“You seem quite certain of it,” the other man said while he had slowly lowered his blade, watching Ramza. No surprise was on his face, but it just might be from either distrust, or from a careful control over his reactions. Ramza could bet on the second one.

“Well, erm, I am.” Ramza dropped his hands to his sides, his fingers relaxing.

“If you’re of the same world, then why don’t you look like her?”

Ramza rubbed the back of his head, watching the two figures before him. They seemed to be comrade-in-arms. Well, if one was a comrade of someone as her, he couldn’t be that bad. Or at least Ramza hoped so. “You don’t know where you’ve come from?” he asked, not answering the man’s question, looking at the girl. “You don’t understand the connection? We’re of the people of Yamako, my sister; tied by our connection to nature.” The last two sentences were of a language that apparently was not understood by Riddick. It was not English he had heard.

“I’m not invisible,” Riddick said while Rose seemed to not have an answer to whatever he said. “But either answer or get the hell out of here.”

Ramza was used to threats by many, whether convicts or employers. Though the man in front of him gave that bad feeling that he could very well follow through with his silent threat. But Ramza wasn’t going to simply back down and scamper like a dog with his tail between his legs.

“Head on back,” Riddick gruffly said suddenly as he glanced at the girl. “Let me handle this.” There was probably a hidden meaning, but it was unknown to Ramza. Though Rosalia understood it perfectly well; if things were to get rough, she probably shouldn’t be there. She wasn’t at full strength still, and the stranger was messing with her thoughts, as well. She hesitated at first, but then nodded curtly, strangely obeying. She disappeared around the corner, and there was silence. The stranger gave a start when she walked off, but he held his tongue.

“Why did you send her off?” Ramza asked in confusion when it seemed like half an hour had passed, though the reality was that it was only three minutes. The man before him was merely holding his cool gaze. “I hadn’t seen another like myself since I was sent off-world.”

“You’re one to talk. But she doesn’t need confusion, not from a stranger. A normal-looking stranger.”

“...Why I don’t have wings and horn is because of a device I was given before I was sent away.” There seemed no way of avoiding the man’s questions other than running. When he remained silent, Ramza sighed as he reached up to his neck where his collar was at, unsnapping it and pulling it from his neck. His face grimaced in pain as a pair of wings pushed from his skin, at first featherless, but then sprouting and rapidly growing pale-gold feathers. A horn prodded from his forehead as well, silver with a golden wrap-spiral. Then last came the tail, naked until it grew pale-golden fur with silver spots. And they all came out from specifically-placed holes of his clothes.

Needless to say, that was a surprise. Maybe invisibility or cloaking, but this? Not expected.

“This represses certain genes of my body. Fucking painful both ways... but useful,” Ramza said with a hopeless shrug. “Can’t do anything about my feet, though other than that, I can pass as a normal human.” Makes sense now for the convict, obviously. Good thing he wouldn’t have to go through those extremes.

“Interesting,” Riddick said in a normal tone while Ramza had placed the collar back onto his neck. Another moment of pain as all of what just happened hit reverse, retracting back into his skin; and then he was ‘normal’ again. “So what did you mean by ‘connection?’”

“Well... that’s a bit more complicated to explain...” He sighed again. “It used to have been confidential, by the laws of our Council, and not to be explained to an outsider they don’t trust...” he mumbled. He seemed to want to talk, but not at the same time about it.

“Though that connection would be how you ended up finding her.” It was point-blank, and obvious to Riddick. Though most things just said would have been misunderstood by those without a brain, he was able to grasp it quickly. “Try not following her unless she wants to be found. Or wanting to be connected, whatever the case.”

“It’s not that simple,” Ramza countered. “It’s something that normally can’t be suppressed but by the most bluntest or dull-minded.”

“Then pretend to be dull-minded for the time being.”

Ramza had many emotions flash, as well as running half-thoughts that he would have liked to say. Riddick could tell that the man was almost angry as his eyes flashed from green to gold, then back again, much like Rosalia’s had when reaching a point. But he sighed instead, giving in. He knew he was tip-toeing on a silver lining somewhere.

“I guess until then... here.” Ramza unsnapped another collar that he had wrapped around his wrist twice in order for it to fit and not slide off. He tossed it to Riddick. “Victor’s on the planet. So she may want to have more cover than some cloak.”

“Victor, you say.” Riddick caught the thrown black collar, smirking. “You’re of his company.”

“Only until I get enough money worth my while. I plan to bail; Victor isn’t the greatest guy to stand with. I’m not dying for him.” Ramza held his hands up for a brief minute.

“Then bail before Rosalia knows of your present company. I’m not going to make it my responsibility to saving your ass.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, I wouldn’t even want your help,” Ramza said, almost hissing from the insult it caused on his pride.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” The smirk deepened as Ramza huffed much liked a cat would, turning away and dashing off. He was faster than Riddick expected, though he had yet to see Rosalia in running action. Who knew what they were capable of. But for now, Riddick was just satisfied of the scoreboard. Riddick; 1. The stranger; 0.

Ha ha, not to bad of a chapter. XD Interesting twists and turns that my mind could think of in reasonable ways! Anyways, on to Kiley. Why make her annoying? Well, as Aereon the Wind Elemental was annoying by being, in my opinion, arrogant and self-righteous, why not make an Water Elemental annoying in a different way: cheerful, energetic, and constantly see what you’re going to say before YOU knew what you were going to say? XD That’s my explanation, lol. Send me reviews, and stay tuned for more chapters! Just because it takes me forever to find a way to get online doesn’t mean I hadn’t been working ;D