Episode 2: Difference In Power

In a frontier town, a lot can happen, people can get away with a lot of things. Corruption can run rampant in a frontier town with no real order, even if order is established, one with more power can come in, sending it back into chaos. It wasn't anything new for a frontier town to bare witness to a power struggle between to strong powers. With the demand for ECs high, plus the power given to a person with them in possession, the call to leadership can almost seem tangible. For one frontier town, namely, one special girl, she was in a front row seat to one of these frontier struggles, between a man searching for his world order and a man searching for riches.

"It says here that you are wanted for 3,500 WDs. It isn't much but it does put food on the table, shall we get started," shouted Ban.

"Ha, if you think you can take me out with that pitiful excuse of a sword you are sadly mistaken...Look at that thing you call a sword, it looks more like to steel frames welded together, and poorly at that," shouted the gang leader back at Ban. Ban stood still, as if hit by a bullet, he then lifted his sword and looked at it.

"It is two steel frames welded together, I thought it be cool to have a unique weapon of my own," muttered Ban. Everyone stood dumbstruck, he was serious, he had actually made the sword exactly as the gang leader had observed.

"Moron, prepare to learn the error of your foolish ways," shouted the gang leader as he brought his mallet down on top of Ban. Ban quickly countered by swinging the flat side of the sword underneath the mallet, and blocked the attack. He immediately pushed back with equal force, causing the gang leader to stumble back. As he was stumbling back, Ban charged and landed a clear kick in the stomach, knocking the gang leader on to the ground and forcing him to slide back a few feet.

"Is that it, I assumed you be a little tougher than that?" smirked Ban. The gang leader quickly got back up on his feet, charging again with the same attack pattern. This time Ban, stepped back, dodging the attack, then quickly bringing his sword down on top of the hilt, pinned the mallet where it was. The gang leader began to struggle to try getting his mallet up from being pinned down by the sword. He looked up to Ban, who stood there cracking his fist and with one clean punch to the face, knocked the gang leader back down on the ground.

"Who, who do you think you are messing with,"

"A big dumb oaf. How you even managed to be qualified on the bounty is beyond me," sighed Ban.

"Heheheh, I guess, I should show you why the local law enforcement doesn't bother me," grinned the gang leader as he reached into his pocket. Ban began to hear smirks and laughter from the spectating gang members. The girl and the rest of the nearby villagers could hear their laughter, beginning to worry about the situation. The girl wasn't quite sure what was going on until the mallet man pulled out two ECs, causing her to almost shake uncontrollably.

"He's going to use two ECs, don't fight him. He'll be too strong in a 2nd state," shouted the girl to Ban. Ban turned around to look at the shouting girl. He then noticed her eyes held the same glow as the EC's, he then grinned and gave a confident thumbs up.

"Don't worry, I can handle this," he replied, returning his attention to the gang leader.

"Oh you think you can handle a 2nd state fight without any EC's, you are a bigger fool than I thought," laughed the gang leader. With that, he crushed the two EC's in his hand and immediately began to glow with the same glow as the EC's. His muscles began to bulge more, his eyes changed as well to same look as the girl nearby. Despite this frightful change in attitude and appearance, Ban didn't worry about it one bit.

"You realize that the 2nd state on refers to how many ECs you have released in your body. It doesn't make you a better fighter," mocked Ban.

"Really then, lets see you keep up!" shouted the gang leader as he suddenly charged, he was now faster than stock car, in terms of speed, and in a matter of seconds he was face to face with Ban, with a clenched fist ready to connect. However, when he threw the punch, he was only swinging at air. Ban had somehow managed to duck in time to dodge the punch. However, he had to get away from a close combat situation, having to release the mallet from the hold it was in. Getting more distance between them, he positioned his sword in his attack stance to continue the fight.

"Round two?" shouted Ban.

"Heh, how you managed to dodge my attack is beyond me, but now that I have my mallet back, its over," laughed the gang leader, as he lifted his mallet into the air and then brought it crashing to the ground, causing a giant fissure that began to tear its way toward Ban.

"Oh boy, with that much power if I dodge it, the town and villagers will take the attack. I'll just have to cancel it altogether then," muttered Ban. He proceeded to do the same as he lifted his sword up into the air and brought it crashing down, causing another similar fissure, which collided with the gang leaders and cancelled each other out. The gang leader stood dumbstruck.

"How did you manage to do that?"

"Practice," mocked Ban.

"You, I'll crush you where you stand," shouted the gang leader again. Ban looked at the gang leader as the gap was quickly closed and Ban was now just inches away from being flattened like a pancake. Ban again, took a stepped back and dodged the attack, but only by a hairs breath.

"Wow, I really did cut that a bit too close,"

"You won't dodge it next time," shouted the gang leader as he tried the same tactic again. Ban went into attacking stance and held his position. The mallet was once again a few seconds from crushing Ban flat, when Ban finally made his move.

"Strike of release, HALO ROTATION," shouted Ban, swinging his sword in a full 360 degree spin. The resulting swing create a pure halo out of wind and in an instant, shot off a blast of air pressure in all directions. The power behind the air pressure was enough to stop the mallet man in his tracks and then blast him down the road where he finally collided into a building. The building unable to bare the amount of energy that was just smashed into it, collapsed on top of him. The rest gang proceeded to bail out of the city after such a momentous turn of events.

"Amazing, without the use of any ECs, he managed to defeat an opponent in the 2nd state," whispered the girl who was watching close by. Ban walked over to the mallet man, who had returned to normal self, having lost all EC energy from the impact into the building.

"This wasn't even worth 3,500 WDs, but at least I'll have something to eat tomorrow," grinned Ban with satisfaction of his victory.

--

Author Notes

(I guess I should explain why a story like this is here. Besides that fact that it isn't using any final fantasy references, other than the use of powerful crystals, it was the only place that at least had the same theme as this story. I originally tried to write it in a blog on MySpace...but...ah...just wasn't cutting it. I would like to finish it and this seemed to be the best avenue, sorry if this doesn't meet expectations.

Feel free to review, comment, whatever it is the other authors usually jot down at this point, I wanna have a least one story under the completed section before I get to the other "actual" fanfic)