For author's ramblings, see the end of the chapter
Disclaimer: Shinzo/Mushrambo belongs to TOEI, not to me.
Warning: Characters getting carded. Blood.
All-play-all - a tournament in which each contestant meets every other contestant in turn
Mushrambo vs Kutal
A mighty roar ripped the open apart and rumbled on, putting the thunders above to shame. Faced with its unbound power, the ominous murky dome of a sky seemed about to disperse.
Nonetheless, it held.
The golden-maned feline chose to cease his primal inauguration, though the earth's recesses continued to shudder along every of the subsiding echoes.
No sooner had Mushrambo's hearing returned to him than the sword-armed lion launched out against him. The Enterran General broke his stance into a rapid sprint, adding up speed to block the oncoming wrath of a blow. Steel released a scraping groan and sparked in the pre-storm air.
Both warriors plunged into a strike-counter-repeat duel, scarcely breaking free for the briefest of moments to reposition and reengage.
The royal cat possessed agility worth praising next to his brutal stamina. Mushrambo personally experienced nothing short of these skills. He himself was an adroit swordsman gifted unruly swiftness and performed accordingly.
The obscured heavens sifted out a mild drizzle for starters, dew-dropping onto fur and clothing alike. Forked lightning tore the sky asunder, resounding alarmingly close.
Sword's tip skidded across a breastplate, clipping off paint. The other's managed to craft decent cut, then another, drawing an aggravated snarl in response. The fur-clad Enterran flung a lethal strike at Mushrambo only to miss by a hair's breadth. The latter's turn proved more productive when he opened a fleshy gash on the lucid cat's bulky biceps. The wounded cat withdrew, lion-leaping backwards with a ferral growl to match.
Mushrambo had scorned a nonery of dripping cuts that varied from skin-deep to quite severe. In the process his own garmnent had been nipped here and there, his chest armor sporting a severe scuff mark and a few strands of hair had crusted onto the carmine streak across his cheek.
Mushrambo stood tall, anticipating.
The carnivorous Hyper Enterran disdainfully discarded his blade disdainfully. With a shout the carnivore brought down a claw-decorated hand. On impact the earth split and lurched in ripples, groaning as if it had been entire Enterra that quaked. The Fire General bolted away opposite the growing epicenter in an attempt to regain solid footing. The feline fighter, however, hammered the poor ground a second time, increasing the magnitude and spreading out the perimeter of his attack.
Trained reflexes removed the General from the crumbling scenery. While airborne, a robust shoulder collided with his side rather viciously, vacuuming the air out of his lungs. Awkward crashing, tumbling and rolling later, Mushrambo rose to his feet, bare-handed, his blade forsaken someplace inside the upturned zone. His swordhand ached from the ill-aimed landing. Time allowed for no eye-search as the Beast Enterran pounced on him.
The sky had begun to rave itself out over their heads not long ago, squeezing the clouds into an omnipresent downpour to weigh them down, to wear them out with nature's ease.
A glint of peacockery shimmered in Mushrambo's eye through the shadows of his plastered forelocks. He stretched his good arm to release a flaming onslaught onto the hyper warrior in front of him.
The feline Enterran drew back instinctively, narrowly getting away with just a licked shoulder.
The raining ire deprived his element of its primary inferno, yet an attack of General's scale still posed peril.
Mushrambo kindled to life another blast and cast it. The other warrior dodged it with a grunt.
The weather spared no effort to hold the fighters back. Mushrambo's soaked clothes tugged at his every move as a multiplex of arms. His off-shaped ponytail stuck to the nape of his neck discomfortingly, his mistreated ribs burned, his right wrist responded stiffly. He hadn't noticed his own short breaths.
The Hyper Enterran's mane no longer bristling, clung instead in disproportional clumps down his scruff. His madefied furcoat, scalded at the shoulder, revealed smaller frame and half a dozen sanguineous, still oozing gashes.
The storm overhead chirned and spat itself out completely, leaving the scene and its residents thoroughly drenched.
Mushrambo didn't dare a squint at the tresses curtaining his glare. When he took one step forward, hand trained on the theriomorphic Enterran once again, the satiated, adhesive soil sucked his foot in.
The opportunity riped to be seized. The prowling cat closed the distance in no time to fling a clawy strike at Mushrambo. He sidestepped that one, but the following delved into his spatular. The man forced his shout shut and waltzed disgracefully out of the trajectory of a bone-crushing punch. The General then planted a kick right into a profusely dripping cut. The proximity for that stunt, however, cost him a hit that sent him landing on his bruised side. This time he let out a yell which couldn't quite drown out the infuriated snarl from the injured Hyper Enterran.
The General's senses were preoccupied with the terrible pounding of his head that had ensued, too busy to catch up on time as the nearest mound of mire steeped without warning and began descending upon the duo. One glance at the geologist revealed that he'd already initiated his escape with a series of short jumps.
Mushrambo's mind activated a moment later. His legs carried him into a staggering run over cracks and broken treetrunks. On his way he spotted a metalic luster – his long-forgotten swordpiece, laying among plucked-up tuffs of grass and clods of soil. He snatched it with renounced vigor and sped up.
The landslide avalanched the abandoned battlefield, devastating the damages that had been inflicted during the brawl. A calamity terraforming the panorama with its rushing quantities of earth and stone. Gravity finally settled down the rocks-dirt-vegetation miscellany, which stabilized into a somewhat walkable surface.
The Enterran General – mud-splodged all over and tattered– waded into the disaster-stricken area, sword at the ready, eyes peeled. Sooner than later, a din of grunts and huffs and splashing reached his ears. Mushrambo followed, his unapt strides sloshed through the unctuous, juicy earth. Turning around a pile of huddled up treetops, he came to a stop.
The felinous Enterran, head-to-toe coated in drying mire, floundered about amidst a freshly heaped mould, trying and failing to unstuck his form.
Mushrambo advanced, adjusting his grip on the hilt. His approach didn't go unnoticed, as the carnivore stilled and glared his way.
Mushrambo stopped mere couple of inches away from the trapped Enterran. He raised his sword in preparation for as accurate a strike as his rigid muscles would allow and watched with unperturbed mind how the beast's entire body went taut beyond healthy.
He made to bring down his blade.
The motion went unfinished a sthe lion sprang into action.
With an unsighty roar the feline tore himself free, jaws agape to meet Mushrambo's exposed throat, where they clasped shut.
Not even a gasp was heard before the Fire General's en-card fluttered and touched down.
...
A/N:
Hi, folks!
I'd like to present you this mini-series of entirely plotless, battle-centered fics!
For clarity, ahem:
This is a series of completely non-related oneshots, which, if you like, can be read disorderly.
There's no plot behind them, so don't expect continuations.
They are written for entertainment purposes and carry no meaning or opinion whatsoever.
Each fic differs in style, which I specifically aimed for.
Kutal and Mushrambo would love to know your thoughts on this chapter. So go ahead and read, review and repeat!