Rise of the Ryu-onna
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I do not own DC Comics.
Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed as Sinestro and Amarante flew through the air, the two had returned to the planet that Amarante had been found on. Eventually they stopped and landed on the ground. Looking around, Amarante felt something familiar about the location, and studying the ground around her, her eyes widened when she found her broken swords, still laying where they fell.
She walked over and picked the broken swords up, the blades vanishing from her hands, sent into her personal pocket dimension when she inverted her ki for a few seconds. Turning to face Sinestro, she found him ten paces away from her, the air around him vibrating as she felt his ki rising. Compacted dirt shivered beneath the tread of his shoes. Pebbles bouncing like jumping beans, skittering and clicking up and down on the ground.
Pieces of cracked gravel started to waft upwards between Sinestro and Amarante. The two dark haired warriors stared unflinchingly at one another, letting the tension build.
"Kore wa matowanu koto wa arimasen." Sinestro said, raising his right hand to shoulder height and the ring there began to glow in yellow light. "Anata ga nanigadekiruka misete, Hiroshi-dono."
The ground trembled beneath the two. Within a certain radius of the two, stone began to shatter, small bits of debris flying up from the combined force of their ki. A small depression began to form in the earth, Sinestro and Amarante further compressing the nearby soil with nothing more than the sheer weight of their combined energy levels.
Amarante was surrounded by a visible glow, a product of her hard-earned power, the woman's hair turning red and her eyes green as she grew a little. To the untrained eye, she would seem to have been replaced by someone else wearing identical armor.
Only a master would have been able to perceive the excitement, the hint of thrill in her eyes as lightning exploded to life around her, her body grew a little more, and her hair turned a little wilder. The lightning exploded to greater life, her body expanding EXPLOSIVELY as her hair grew to knee length and her eyebrows thickened, the hair above them vanishing entirely.
The soil around her, already being compressed and compacted by the sheer weight of hers and Sinestro's ki pressing down on it, detonated as if a bunker buster bomb was set off under it as Amarante's body began to glow and grow taller. When the dust finally cleared, Amarante's upper body was bared to the world, her modesty kept by the smooth, crimson scales that now covered her upper body save for her hands, head, neck, and inner abs and chest while eyeshadow matching the scales in color adorned her eyes. Her armor and robes were gone save for below her waist and on her forearms.
The two warriors stared each other down as the celestial cannonade above them finally released it's liquid cargo, the ground becoming soaked as the auras around the two, a corona of scarlet light around Amarante, and a corona of yellow around Sinestro, shot pillars of pure power into the air and keeping the two dry as static lightning seemed to arc between them.
Their auras, one red and the other yellow, grew until they began to fuse, rip apart, and create lightning so hot that it was white, the bolts slamming into and breaking apart the ground around them, the broken rock and soil floating up and into mid-air around them, as the clouds in the skies above grew out of control, the storm over the planet growing ever more powerful, stronger, deadlier, from the chaotic energy swirling around the two. Lightning from the storm even shot off into space, lighting up the planet like a sun from light years away.
As they stood there, a bolt of lightning suddenly explodes from the air, slamming into the ground between them, and setting off an explosion of movement as they shoot off from their left and right legs respectively, vanishing as if they were never there as sharp crackling booms echoed, from both the ground and the skies above.
Sharp crackling explosions and bursts of air shot through the skies as the two traded blows, and when the two reappeared, it was to the sight of Amarante sending a rapid-firing flurry of punches towards Sinestro's face and chest, the smaller man dodging by a hair each time or forced to outright block the blows, each block sounding off with a cannon-like boom. Eventually Amarante got in a hit by slamming her knee into his gut, followed by her elbow into his back, sending Sinestro flying towards the ground.
Sinestro hit the ground on his hands and knees, spider-web cracks shooting out, and getting on one knee and looking up, he shot away just in time to avoid Amarante's right foot hitting the ground hard enough to create an explosion of broken rocks, Amarante following him back into the air. The two hovered there for a few seconds before Amarante flew forward and attacked with her knee, Sinestro returning the favor and blocking the blow, lightning shooting out from between the limbs and arcing everywhere.
"Korehanani, watashi wa uōmuappu ga owatta to omotta, Hiroshi-dono?"
"Watashitachiha chi ga nagarete shutoku suru tame ni pusshu no mōsukoshi hitsuyōna ndarou ne, Sinestro-dono." came her reply just before the two shot apart and Amarante attempted to punch him, only the blow to be blocked and her fist grabbed inside Sinestro's own, punching with the other hand had the same result.
The two's locked hands remained that way as they kneed at each other, lightning sparking out with each blow, five, ten, fifteen times they struck at each other that way, eventually Amarante had had enough of the stalemate and suddenly threw her head forward, headbutting Sinestro hard enough to send him flying backwards a few yards.
As Sinestro went to recover, Amarante flew in and began delivering one sledgehammer blow after another into his exposed gut, eventually he regained his senses enough to grab her hands again and kneed her in the chin, snapping her head up and allowing him to get a solid kick into the side of her head, sending her flying into a mesa, dust and dirt flying out.
As the dust began to clear, Sinestro flew over to see the effect of his counterattack. As he neared, he saw an imprint in the shape of Amarante's body and she opened her eyes with a smirk, saying "Now this is more like it." before a casual burst of her ki caused the mesa to implode around her, boulders the size of houses falling to the ground with deep booms while smaller rocks hit with sharp clacks. The two hovered closer to one another, confident smirks on their faces, until they got close enough that they could reach out and touch each other.
Staring each other down, they began building their power again, their auras recreating the fusing, ripping, and white lighting once more. After a few short seconds, they exploded into a flurry of punches again, trading one blow after another until Amarante got a good one-two punch/uppercut combo that sent Sinestro flying back a bit, whereupon the two began dueling punches once more. As the two flew through the air, their punches created bursts of air that destroyed the mesas around them, the two finally punching each other in the jaw at the same time.
Recovering from the hits, the two smirked at each other and went right back at it. Amarante eventually got in a good series of hits to Sinestro's stomach, whereupon she kneed him in the abs and elbowed the back of his head, practically bending him into an s-curve.
Before she could capitalize he got free and began sending in punches fast enough that all she could do was block the hits with her palms. As she blocked the hits, he snuck in a hard kick to the gut. As she moved back, he channeled power into his right fist, which she sensed and, timing it with his blow, seemed to teleport out of the way. As he turned to face the smirking woman, she channeled a swirling, sparking ball of ki into both hands and, before he could react, fired it point blank into his abs, creating a burst of crimson light that had a flying yellow comet coming out of it that slammed into the side of a mesa, dust and dirt flying out as the mesa itself fell.
Amarante hovered in the air, her left forearm resting on her sword pommels, and intently watched both the dust cloud and her ki sense. As she hovered there her eyes widened almost imperceptibly when she saw a yellow glow inside the cloud of dust. Thinking quickly she channeled another ball of ki and fired it, lighting up the darkness covered planet in a infernal crimson glow just as a beam of yellow light shot out.
The two beams slammed into each other and began to push, each trying to overpower the other as Sinestro slowly flew closer and closer to his foe, the yellow energy's focal point being the ring on his right hand. He eventually got close enough that the dueling energies were right in front of himself and Amarante in a giant oval-shaped mass.
"Watashi wa anata ga watashi o attō suru koto o kanō ni suru koto o kyohi, Sinestro-dono." Amarante said as she took her left hand off of her swords and use it to double her energy output, Sinestro doing the same but through his ring, not his hands. The energy kept growing and growing, becoming so unstable that it exploded in a massive mile wide ball of pure power that atomized the ground it touched.
In space, the massive storm began to change shape, transforming into a corona of color as it grew ever larger, encompassing the planet itself and a portion of the star system. Just outside of the system, a battalion of men and women, all wearing green on black with white gloves and boots, arrived.
Leading them were six individuals, one of them was Soranik with four humans and a towering alien with an appearance that seemed to cross a porcupine with a bulldog. The four humans were Hal Jordan, Kyle Rayner, John Stewart, and Guy Gardner while the big alien was Kilowog. Hal and Kyle wore masks over their eyes while Guy and John went without them and Guy's top looked like a sleeveless leather coat.
The Green Lanterns behind them and at their command looked on nervously at the cosmic storm that now raged around the planet that their enemy, Sinestro, was currently on and in combat with someone.
On the planet's surface, Sinestro hung from a rock outcropping with a surprised but thrilled smirk on his face. His uniform was ripped, his lip was busted, and cuts and scratches marred his face and exposed skin. "I knew that Hiroshi would be powerful, no one gets into Arielian history by being weak, but I had no idea that she would be this powerful." he said in contemplation, before he felt a grip on his wrist.
Above him Amarante had grabbed his wrist and easily stood back up while holding him, she turned and released him, sending him stumbling a bit, but she otherwise left him be. Looking up, he noticed scuff marks and scratches on her skin and scales as well as blood trailing from her own lip. Her armor had scratches and scuff marks as well, but to his surprise the imperfections and damage on the armor seemed to regenerate and vanish as if they never were, her left forearm resting on the pommels of her swords once more.
Taking the opportunity granted to him, Sinestro quickly went on the attack, getting two powerful blows into Amarante's face that sent her flying, vulnerable to the flurry of blows he began sending into her stomach. After getting in his licks, he finished it off with a knee to the chin that sent Amarante flying into a mesa, smoke trailing her as she slammed into a cavern below the ground.
Sinestro followed her in, a flash of lightning back lighting him as he flew in and quickly went back into the dark, not giving her the chance to see him in the light. As he moved, he heard the telltale sound of a ki ball and, when it was fired, sent it out via the hole in the ceiling.
"Watashi wa anata ga suterusu o shiyō shite, jōki shita omottadarou. Anata ga anata no yūjin kara nanika o hiroumashita ka, Hiroshi-dono?" he asked with a confident, knowing smirk on his face, and a snarl of disgust that Amarante was unable to stop issued forth a mere millisecond before she appeared and trapped his arms by raising her own, pushing her stomach and breasts against his back as she flew into the air. As they neared the hole in the ceiling, Sinestro released a burst of energy that threw Amarante off of him and back towards the cave floor.
Sinestro turned and charged a ball of energy on his ring, Amarante using both hands to charge and fire a ball of ki that met Sinestro's energy head on.
Outside, spiderweb cracks broke through around the hole in the wall, then a giant explosion went off, illuminating everything so brightly that it was blinding. As the light went away, it revealed a colossal mushroom cloud so tall that it broke through to the upper atmosphere before transforming into a massive dome-shaped mass of smoke.
In the center of the smoke, Sinestro hovered in the air, waiting for Amarante to join him. He didn't have to wait long as she quickly reached the same altitude and the two stared each other down. Below them a crater that was a quarter of a mile wide and half that deep now sat, scaring the landscape.
Quickly shooting apart, their auras exploded back to life and they charged at each other once more. The force of their colliding energies banished the smoke as if it were never there as they began trading punches, Sinestro quickly forced to block a rapid series of knee strikes and kicks from Amarante before retaliating with his own, which were also blocked before the two returned to trading punches.
The two soon split apart again before coming in close, somehow grabbing each other's shoulders and beginning a knee duel, lightning sparking out with each block. The two tired of that and split again, closing and trading flurries of punches, interlacing a few kicks in, then returning to using their fists.
Soon Sinestro pulled back to get some room, rushing in with a punch, only for Amarante to counter and send him flying, chasing after him and throwing a hard kick at him. he counter attacked with a punch to the jaw, and the two quickly began to trade blows, punches and kicks being thrown, blocked, and thrown again with a fire and intensity that would put any human martial artist to shame, smoke being thrown about as a storm followed them every step of the way.
Bright flashes resulted from the harder blows and the mesas unfortunate enough to be close by were broken apart from the air pressure fired off with each blow. Sinestro tried to knee Amarante only for her to block and counter with a hard punch, Sinestro evading by flying up.
As Sinestro hovered there, he and Amarante smirked at each other.
"Inshō-tekina, mottomo inshō-teki. Watashi wa hoka no wakusei kara no hitobito ga kono tsuyoi koto ga dekiru koto o rikai shite imasendeshita, Sinestro-dono."
"Tashikani. Anata wa kyōryokuna senshi no kazu ni odoroku kotodeshou uchū ga teikyō shite iru, Hiroshi-dono." came his reply.
Amarante's smirk grew alongside her thrill for combat just before she seemed to vanish, reappearing behind Sinestro as she threw a hard kick aimed at his head, only for him to evade and give an elbow drop, sending her rocketing to the ground. Landing on her feet, the instant Sinestro joined her she fired a double handed ki blast, the man wisely avoiding it and allowing it to slam into the rock formation behind him, which exploded into a huge cloud of dirt and dust.
Inside the cloud, the two traded blows, the sound like that of two batteries of cannons shelling each other. Sinestro tried to knee her only for her to block it and slam a hard right into his jaw followed by an uppercut, ki trailing her limbs as she tried to kick him in the head only for it to be blocked. This caused a rolling wave of destruction as Sinestro blocked the hits she sent at him even as it forced him back, a rock formation splitting in two as they plowed through it, a cloud of dust flying up.
Author's Notes:
"Kore wa matowanu koto wa arimasen." - This will be no holds bared.
"Anata ga nanigadekiruka misete, Hiroshi-dono." - Show me what you can do, Lady Hiroshi
"Korehanani, watashi wa uōmuappu ga owatta to omotta, Hiroshi-dono?" - What's this, I thought the warm up was over, Lady Hiroshi
"Watashitachiha chi ga nagarete shutoku suru tame ni pusshu no mōsukoshi hitsuyōna ndarou ne, Sinestro-dono." - I guess we needed a bit more of a push to get the blood flowing, Lord Sinestro.
"Watashi wa anata ga watashi o attō suru koto o kanō ni suru koto o kyohi, Sinestro-dono." - I refuse to allow you to overpower me, Lord Sinestro.
"Watashi wa anata ga suterusu o shiyō shite, jōki shita omottadarou. Anata ga anata no yūjin kara nanika o hiroumashita ka, Hiroshi-dono?" - I would have thought you were above using stealth. Did you pick something up from your friend, Lady Hiroshi?
"Inshō-tekina, mottomo inshō-teki. Watashi wa hoka no wakusei kara no hitobito ga kono tsuyoi koto ga dekiru koto o rikai shite imasendeshita, Sinestro-dono." - Impressive, most impressive. I had no idea that people from other planets could be this strong, Lord Sinestro.
"Tashikani. Anata wa kyōryokuna senshi no kazu ni odoroku kotodeshou uchū ga teikyō shite iru, Hiroshi-dono." - Indeed. You would be amazed at the number of powerful warriors the universe has to offer, Lady Hiroshi.
