1/16/02

Disclaimer: the characters in this fic such as Alice, Yugo, etc. belong to Hudson Soft; I don't own them, although if I did… ahh… the possibilities are endless…

Dedication: God, my parents, my 'brothers', Hudson for creating Bloody Roar I-IV and giving me a really good reason to write this story, and my readers, especially Nonamura-chan (it's Nonomura, dear! ^^0) LazzyQ, Alica Tylon, Deoku, Psycho Guyver, StarryPeach, AKA, Arashi, Felicia, The Raptor Chic, Alexandra Riot, Expert Predator, ghost, Flyby, Niteflite, and you wonderful readers!!

Special dedication to ~ karebear, and all the other Yulice fans for persistently bugging me to write another Yulice fic, heh. ^^0

Small Note: this story starts out in Bloody Roar I, but ends in BRII

Bloody Roar I: Angel Of Mercy

By Tiger5913

"Ahhhhhhhhh!!"

A shrill scream cut through the silence of the darkening afternoon, and a head of dark hair instantly shot up to attention.

"Help! Monster!"

Monster? The soles of white sneakers padded against the floor as a slender-built figure began darting toward the cry of distress. Could it be…?

"The ANIMAL FREAKS! They're here!!"

"Ruuuuuun!!"

Oh, not that again… A small sigh of exasperation trailed out of tightly pursed lips coupled with little pants of breath resulting from the hurried run, images of the surrounding scenery and people blurring by quickly. As the volume of all the shouting and ruckus climbed to a higher level, so did the sprinter's anxiety and apprehension while approaching a setting of civilians rushing about the place in peer terror. Small children clung to their mother's embraces as women strove to get out of the way of two bystanders in the middle of the area, blocking her view from seeing what was going on. One man tore around the corner of a supermarket and stumbled upon an overturned cardboard box, yelling in unpleasant surprise as he flew headfirst onto the concrete ground, then slumped down unconscious.

Ahh! That poor man!

The protagonist instinctively started yanking limber, thin arms out of a pink and white windbreaker jacket, and was at the unfortunate man's side in a split second, tending to his injured state. Two cyan-colored pigtails snuggled into the young female's tress waggled in the air as her eyebrows knit together into a frown, biting her lip in worry. A loud noise crashed in the spot nearby her, practically breaking the supportive wooden wall, and she jolted back in shock, momentarily distracted. A look of confusion replacing her former expression of concern, she sprung up into a standing position and proceeded to the body limply lying just a few feet away.

Her ruby red eyes widened at the tousled, short brown hair that messily hid the face of a presumed fighter, and she crouched down. "Hello? Are you-"

"Why you stupid son of a-" the figure leaped to his feet all of a sudden, and shot past her, running into the center of the section, which was now thinned out due to the residents fleeing in panic.

"Hey-!" The teenaged girl protested, quickly following him. But after taking a mere couple of steps, she came to an abrupt halt, freezing when she took notice to his opponent.

"RAAAAWWWWWWWR!!" The voice attached sent tremors down her spine with its intimidating cry of challenge.

Large thick claws intently slammed into the male's lower thigh, and he released a harassed bellow, throwing a few vulgar choice words at the monster that fortunately no children were around to hear. The hefty dark tan beast raised twin enormous arms over the pair of beige horns sprouting out from atop its huge brown head, and brought them down onto the young man's shoulders with a sickening crack. The creature opened what seemed to be its mouth, and sprayed a vaporous sheen of green filth on his form; hearing his screech of pain snapped the dark-haired female out of her trance-like state.

Oh, sis… she then mentally scolded herself. I-I have to help him!

The wind snaked through the torn bottom edges of her blue gym suit, rustled the cobalt strands of her short bangs while she rushed to assist the other fighter. Just as she slowed to a stop adjacent to his position, a bright light engulfed him, emitting an invisible energy wave that forcefully spread outward, barely stunning the horrifying monster. Shading her eyes with her forearm, she blinked, gasping when she saw the gray-furred wolf in the same spot where the male had previously been. Broken shreds of clothing clung to its wrists and torn jeans hung off of its upper thighs; since it was also standing erect, she knew that the boy who had been dueling could only be…

"You're a zoanthrope too!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Arrrrooooooooo!" was the canine's reply as he ducked his head down and proceeded to charge the foe. Dead-white eyes locked onto his form as the creature seemingly smirked and effortlessly knocked his attempt away with a simple sweep of its deadly clawed fist. He flew through the air, heading for a brick wall that partially closed off an alleyway, but instead he twisted the throw into a back flip, swirling in a tight circle of light fur and landing roughly onto the sidewalk, stumbling albeit. Leaping up, he tried to descend hard with an aerial assault, and was struck from underneath when the villain held out its arms and spun around quickly. With a barely concealed whimper, the wolf's tender snout kissed the concrete ground rather harshly and the teenage girl winced, her hands shaking.

"Sis, stop!!" she pleaded, grasping the open folds of her windbreaker with a vise-like grip, dashing foreword subconsciously, sliding onto her bottom and tripping the creature. Hastily recovering from her move, the female turned while sticking her leg out to the side, making her opponent stumble when it was trying to stand back up. Facing it, she hurriedly focused on her own animal form within, feeling the familiar prickling of smooth fur spreading about her body, replacing her skin. Keenly picking up on the hoarse grunts from the foe with her long, thin white ears, she screeched and crouched, bouncing into a high jump when the monster sought to strike the spot where she had just left.

"AUUUUURRRRR!!!" It shrieked in frustration.

She nimbly landed next to the other zoanthrope, briefly looking down at him with her large red eyes, concern in her crimson-colored irises. But all he did was arise to his knees, then courageously resumed his fighting stance, quickly returning her glance with an additional "I'm fine" snort. Together, rabbit and wolf stood their ground and faced the antagonist; it growled and snarled in dismissal at its outnumbered concept, merely glaring at them both with fire flaring up in hardcore pupils.

Right at that moment before the duo was about to simultaneously charge, a high-pitched whistle sounded, and all three of the fighters' heads snapped to attention. Sniffing the air suspiciously, the villain suddenly hunched up its hefty shoulders and turned away from the pair, slamming its fists into the ground, temporarily shielded by a burst of lightning. When the licking bolts faded, a tall woman emerged, her cat-shaped forest green hair tangling with the breeze as she jumped up to the roof of a shop and disappeared over the edge.

Inwardly shrieking, the rabbit zoanthrope hurriedly reverted back to her human form, dashing in the same direction while screaming aloud, "NO! Uriko!! Sis!! Please come back!!"

Only silence met her plea. Her lower lip began to tremble after a couple of quiet minutes, and she collapsed to her knees, clutching the bottom of her slightly torn jacket with her turning-white fists. Tears fought to be spilled from the corners of her eyes, but she bit them back, gritting her teeth in effort, slapping the dirt-covered floor with her open palm, discrediting the ache that nipped at her nerves. Her chest constricted heavily as her upper body quivered, and her pulse pounded painfully within her head, making her grimace.

"S-Sis… my… little sis…" she barely ground out in a breathless whisper, staring into the distance where the female with emerald tress had vanished off to.

"Hey, are you alright over there?" A masculine voice inquired from behind her. "Ow, damn it…!"

"Oh!" Suddenly remembering the other male zoanthrope, she whirled around, blinking away the early signs of tears glimmering in her pupils. "Mister, are you hurt? You need to get to a hospital-!"

Her words trailed into a hush when she met his eyes, the hurt-filled look hidden in his light brown depths, shrouded by the stronger layer of his rock-steady determination. "I don't need any damn medical attention, I'll be just fine!"

"No way, you're more injured than you might think!" she insisted, walking over to him and taking a hold of his wrist to inspect a particular nasty cut running down along his arm that caught her eye. "Cuts like these could get easily infected…"

He slid out of her grasp, but she merely grasped his other hand to inspect it as well; he groaned, "Ah, what are you, some kinda nurse??"

She brightened up a little. "Well, yeah, I'm training to be one."

"That's great, but you mind practicing on someone else?" he took a few steps back, but howled when he stumbled over a piece of metal and fell to the ground on his rear. "Shit!!"

She couldn't help giggling albeit. "Are you klutzy?"

"No!" he answered, appearing sheepish as he struggled to upright himself, brushing the dust off the front of his torn jean shorts. "Ugh, that freaking Big Foot beast…"

"…" The girl glanced to the side, biting her lip, not interrupting the young man as he continued cursing the large hideous creature that they'd been previously fighting. …Sis… I'm so sorry…

"So," he started to say when he ended the rant, "you're a zoanthrope."

"You are too," she replied, a partial-smile grazing her expression.

He smirked. "What're you doing around… a place like this?"

"No reason," the cyan-haired female claimed with a weak shrug, conveniently turning her shoulders away from him.

"Tsk, tsk," came his bemused snort. "You're lying. Come on, spill it; it's not everyday I see people nearby somewhere like that bloody Tylon Corporation-"

Her ears perked up in interest and she spun to face him. "You know about Tylon??"

His eyes hardened. "Those… bastards have… taken away someone close to me. I'm trying to find out if he's maybe still in their building…"

She cast her gaze to the ground. "They… have my sister. I promised her that I'd get her out of there; that place is horrible! The beast that we were fighting? That, um, that was her…"

His mouth dropped open slightly. "You gotta be kidding me…"

The young female shook her head.

"Err…" he stammered, "You know that stuff I said earlier? Uh, forget about it, okay? I didn't mean to… Well…"

She nodded. "It's okay, you didn't know. But I have to tell you this: she's just a sweet little kid trapped in that… beast's body. She'd never hurt anyone on purpose, really! I mean, she's too young to understand all that violence, you know? So, please… don't blame her for what she did."

He shrugged aimlessly. "I don't blame anyone about anything 'cept those damn Tylon bastards; they're the only ones that should be held responsible for all this crap!"

"Yeah…" she agreed, then took notice to the darkening sky. "Oh! It's almost nighttime!" Talking mostly to herself as she started heading in the direction of her residence, she continued, "I better get home before Aunt Mitsuko starts worrying…"

"Hey! Wait a sec!" the teenage boy called out.

Stopping, she turned to look at him. "Hmm? Ack, sorry! I didn't mean to be so rude; um, I wish you good luck on your search…"

He shook his head in dismissal. "Not that, I just kinda didn't catch your name earlier…"

"My name? Oh," she smiled shyly and reached over to shake his hand. "Hi, I'm Alice."

"Yugo," he replied, half-grinning at her. "But, what's with the formality? C'mon, you can't be that much older than me!"

"Ahh, um…" she blushed in embarrassment, then insisted, "Hey, I'm seventeen - almost an adult!"

"OK, well, we're both still teenagers," he pointed out, "But I hope you know how to take care of yourself."

"Of course I do!" Alice Tsukagami insisted, almost frowning. "You should be less reckless yourself; charging headfirst into a battle isn't something I'd recommend doing."

"Fine, fine," he rolled his eyes. "I won't do that again, alright?"

She nodded. "Good."

"So, anyway…" Yugo Ohgami glanced off to the side. "Just wanted to say, uh, thanks for, you know," he coughed, "saving my butt."

"Oh, heehee, no problem," she giggled softly at his choice of words. "Um, have a good night, okay?"

He nodded, and turned around, calling over his shoulder, "You too, Alice."

Even though he couldn't see, she smiled at him anyway and started walking in the opposite direction, shivering a little from the cold air of the night, wishing that she had brought a huge overcoat to wear.

"Hey, Alice!" she heard the boy call out again.

She stopped once more, grinning in spite of herself; "Yeah?"

The wolf zoanthrope placed two of his fingers over his lips and kissed the tips, raising them to his eye level and winking at her as he said, "See you again sometime!" With that, he disappeared around the corner, swallowed up by the beckoning shadows.

Alice chuckled to herself as a smile quirked at the corners of her mouth. Maybe they would see each other again…

*****

"It's a damn bruise! It doesn't even hurt! …That much!"

"Yugo, sit down."

"So I complained a little - no need to fuss over me like this!"

"Now you hush up and listen to me," the young nurse shot her patient a firm look. "You're the one who came into the hospital, voluntarily, today, asking about your arm being infected. You expect me to just give you a lollipop, Snoopy Band-Aid, and let you walk away like that?"

"Doesn't sound like too bad of an idea…" Yugo gave her a wolfish grin, casually slinging his leg onto the bench the two were sitting on, then started complaining when she applied alcohol to a long cut along his palm, "Ouch! Stop!" He retracted his arm, wincing in pain. "Besides, I don't need any bandages."

"Urgh, please stop being so childish," she groaned and impatience began aligning her crimson red irises. A pleading expression was on his face, and sighing at him, she couldn't help glaring as she continued, "You're hurt so keep quiet and do what I say! Now let me see that cut over there."

"Awwwww!" He squeezed his eyes shut when grabbed his wrist again, and tied a bandage around the incision on his left hand, leading up to his forearm, flinching the entire time. "C'mon, give me a break!"

"You should've at least put Neosporin on this…" Alice chided him, inspecting her work. "OK, I'm done. You can open your eyes now."

He slid one eyelid up partway. "No more?"

"No more," she confirmed, then couldn't help giggling, "By the look on your face, it's as if I just performed surgery on you without anesthetics!"

"Huh?"

"Never mind," she sighed, gathering together her medicine kit. "Well, I have to get back; my shift isn't over yet. I just went after you because I couldn't let you walk away again, without medical treatment. Don't be so reckless next time!"

A slow smile spread over his expression. "That sounds familiar, doesn't it, Alice?"

A cute flush daunted her cheeks as her twin pigtails bounced against her head when she stood up; brushing off the skirt part of her uniform, she finally replied, "I wouldn't be saying it again if you'd just actually listened to me last time, you know!"

"OK, OK," he held up his hands in surrender, laughing in spite of the situation. "I'll obey, just don't morph and bash my face into the ground or anything…"

"Oh please," she glanced at him bemusedly. After five years, he still had that teenage boyishly irresistible charm of his. "You know I wouldn't do that. Especially not since…" Grinning teasingly, the rabbit zoanthrope leaned down and quickly pecked him on the cheek, "Your face is too cute to be ruined like that, teehee. See you later."

Waving to him, she turned and strode along the pathway heading toward the hospital, her kit snuggly tucked underneath her arm. After taking a few steps, she suddenly stopped, and faced him again; he was shaking his head and arising from the bench, glancing pitifully at his hand, "Hey, Yugo!"

He adverted his attention to her. "Huh? Yeah?"

She brought two fingers to her lips, kissed the tips, and raised them near her eyes, winking at him in-sync. "Looks like I saved your butt again."

"Yeah right," he smirked, "I would've been perfectly fine; no diseases or germs can penetrate the ultimate boxer Yugo Ohgami!"

"'Ultimate boxer?' Bigger than Mike Tyson? Mmmhmm, sure thing," she giggled. "I'll believe it when I see it - invite me to one of your matches sometime."

"Come to the one tonight at seven-thirty," he stepped foreword and handed her a small business card with the agency's address. "The guy I'm fighting against, I'll cream him, just you watch. Oh, and one more thing, Alice."

She looked at him curiously. "Yes?"

He grinned, drawling smoothly, "If I beat my opponent, you owe me dinner afterwards."

She gave him a partial-smirk. "Deal."

The End

Author's Note: OK! Here's your Yulice fic, oh dedicated fans out there who've been bugging me relentlessly to write one! Hope this meets your satisfaction. Yulice Fans: NO! o_O *hides* Um, anyway, I figured since I haven't written a Yulice fic in a while, I might as well do so (I also don't wanna be jumped ^^0). The beginning of the story took place in Bloody Roar I, and the end is from Alice's BRII Story Mode; it was so funny how Yugo was being such a crybaby about Alice bandaging him up, hehehehehe. *evil snicker* Please leave a review, readers!

With love for my fans,
Tiger5913