The Shapeshifter Battle Royale: The Battle

The shapeshifters stood in a wide circle, each eyeing the others and coming up with possible plans of attack.

Then in the same moment they all made their move. Chameleon vanished from sight, becoming invisible. She watched as her chosen target vanished in a smoke bomb. The tanuki was hers!

Rikuaoshi tore forwards and swung, his fist caught Saras in the face and sent the young fox flying backwards through the undergrowth. The hybrid gave chase pouncing after him.

Hei An assumed the form of a cockroach and followed the two through the jungle. That left Padaj facing Higo. The marten stood in a relaxed pose, while Padaj's own posture was needlessly over the top.

Danzaburo vs Chameleon:

There he was. Crouching amidst some berry bushes Danzaburo watched the mongoose and marten face off. As silent as the grave, she approached. Her glass daggers were in hand, she could not miss such an obvious target. She stopped suddenly, when she noted the pile of leaves scattered around him and narrowed her eyes. He was clever to have left the floor undoubtedly trapped, but he hadn't considered an aerial attack. Or a long-ranged one.

Her longue, sticky tingue flew out towards him, only for 'Danza' to vanish in a puff of smoke as soon as she made contact. The 'bush' assumed the form of the legendary Tai Lung, snatched the tongue and hurled her around his form, before throwing her high into theair. Dazed, there was nothing she could do as the leopard tore after her, his leg connecting with her skull for a powerful blow, one that knocked the camouflage clear off of her. She got to her feet. Her daggers were still in her arms.

Tai Lung landed in front of her and morphed into Danzavburo, who held in paw a katana.

"The Chameleon. Slayer of Tanuki." He spoke without a trace of emotion, but it was clear he loathed her.

"Beast." She replied simply, and dived forwards, swinging bith daggers. Danzaburo parried the blades repeatedly, but was forced on the defensive. Her tongue shot out again, and caught him on the paw, opening him up to a powerful roundhouse kick that sent the Spy of a Thousand Scents Flying bacikwards, his katana fell a few feet away from him. Chameleon camouflaged herself once more. This time, she would end him.

Acting quickly, Danzaburo shot three leaves at her general direction. Mid-air they became kunai and buried themselves into the earth.

"Invisible, eh? Not bad Chameleon-kun." He withdrew another leaf and threw it into the air, just as the lizard was about to strike. Momentarily blinded by the flash-bomb she could only watch in horror as Danza's kunai dug into her throat. She fell on her back, blood slipping freely from the wound.

"How?" She managed to croak. She had caught at least a hundred tanuki before... what made this one different? As death stared her in the face, so did the dark brown eyes of the Spy of a Thousand Scents.

"Simple. Just because you're camouflaged doesn't mean you can't leave a shadow. I simply used a flash-bomb, used my analytical prowess to spot your shadow and stab you in the throat." Then his face darkened. "This, is for tanuki everywhere." He grabbed the handle of the kunai and twisted, and Chameleon was no more. Well, at least no more in the Battle Royale.

Saras vs Rikuaoshi:

The fox got to his feet just as the hybrid pounced at him, claws outstretched. This time Saras was ready and teleported away in a flash of green. The hybrid's fist hit the ground, and he felt something sharp rake across his back, drawing blood. He spun round with a vicious backhand blow, but Saras evaded once more. The fox then appeared behind him, performing his signature Backstabber's Leg Sweep (a fancy name for a double leg sweep that comes from behind), and punching the larger mammal in the gut. He finished his combo by hopping into the air, morphing into a crane and landing a double-kick that sent Rikuaoshi back several feet. Still in Crane Form Saras landed, his eyes narrowed in concentration, a small amount of sweat forming on his brow. As far as shapeshifting was concerned he knew he wasn't the best, and while technically non-fatal, this Battle Royale was making his heart bounce up and down in his chest. He didn't want to 'die' at all, and especially hoped his 'death' wouldn't be painful.

Rikuaoshi got to his feet, growling, and tore forwards, swinging with all the force he could muster. Saras sidestepped the blow, before morphing into a mole and landing a headbutt with the strong, hard material that made up his crash helmet. He then morphed back into a crane, to sweep the legs out from under Rikuaoshi. His combo ended with him bringing his foot down on the larger mammal's stomach, knocking the wind out of him completely. Saras squeezed the flesh, his Talon Claws digging into the dog-hybrid's stomach with avengeance. The Kingswood Member grabbed the leg, and managed to fling the crane away, towards the lake. Saras swapped into his Armadillo Form, and let his leathery shell take the brunt of the impact. Rikuaoshi got up, growling like a feral, and charged forwards once more.

Hei An watched with disinterest from the bushes. The bigger one was a typical brute, his soul wasn't in any way appealing, but the fox...his could definitely serve as a snack.

Saras sidestepped Rikuaoshi's hopeless charge, and kept his foot outstretched, forcing the hybrid to fly headlong into the lake. The armadillo watched nervously. Was that it? Had he managed to beat him?

Then a massive tentacle flew out of the lake and smacked him into the sand. Then it smacked him again. And then a third time. Then a huge squid-like beast, rose up from the depths, his tentacles long and slimy and strong. Each one had a dozen suction-caps, each armed to the teeth with enough teeth to scewer his opponent a hundred times over. Saras teleported away from the fourth blow, and was now rolling away from the scene as fast as he could.

"Oh NO YOU DON'T!" Yelled Rikuaoshi. His tentacles suddenly began sucking in the air, and Saras was pulled in against his will, tearing clumps of grass he had tried desperately to hold onto. As he flew towards his doom, the Jit Kun tried another trick, and assumed his Dragon Form. Flames flew out of his mouth, and were pulled towards the squid by his own strength, and a moment later the oil-splattered octopus was covered in flames and screaming in agony. Saras flapped further into the air. Better him than me, anyways.

But Rikuaoshi had one more form up his sleeve. And from out of the water, flew a massive red dragon, one that made Saras' own dragon form pale into insignificance. And, courtesy of his opponent, he was covered in flames and was overcome by rage.

Saras squeaked in terror, before flapping back into the relative safety of the trees, his form was smaller now, having assumed the shape of a hummingbird to detect capture. He unfortunately, didn't see the tree until he had crashed into it. He landed, dazed, on the ground, and Rikuaoshi stood above him, throwing him under his massive shadow.

Saras teleported, feeling with growing desperation that he got more and more tired.

"You can't hide! I will destroy you for that stunt you pulled on that lake, and when this Battle Royale is over, I'm going to hunt you down and kill you for real!"

Hei An watched the brute tear up the trees as Saras the mouse evaded capture, mainly due to his small form. She couldn't risk the big idiot tarnishing her soul! She had called dibs! Hei An assumed the form of a cockroach, if he was as stupid as he looked, this was going to be easy.

Saras scurried every-which-way as the trees fell all around him. Rikuaoshi's rage was clearly very bad for the environment. Assuming his mole form he dug into the soft earth and vanished underground. Here, the brute wouldn't be able to get to him.

"Where are you!" Rikuaoshi raged, uprooting an entire tree in his mad quest. He failed to notice the minute cockroach scurrying over his form, placing tiny, tiny bombs all over his body.

"For your information." Hei An said, the demon-bound-to-a-doll appeared before the dragon, her arms crossed behind her back. "I have laid a claim towards the soul of your current opponent. That means that your body will have to be permanently eradicated for the time-being of this Battle Royale."

"What?"

"You are about to experience the sensation of 'exploding'."

"What?"

Some people just didn't get it..."You can go boom now."

"Wh-" The bombs set off all at once, scattering massive chunks of dragon flesh all over the surrounding area. By the time the resulting smoke cleared, the pleasant smell of charred flesh filled the air, and Rikuaoshi was nowhere to be seen-well his body parts were scattered all over the place, but you really didn't want to be looking at them!

"Now, where have you gotten too." Hmm, he had been a mouse before. He wasn't in the air. She had seen him become a mole... yes, underground...ah she could sense him now. "Perfect." She placed a paw on the ground, and spikes of red fog flew out of the earth, carrying a mole, now being held up by his belt, and dangling precariously over a ring of similar spines.

"W-what?" Just when he had been thinking of staying underground for the rest of the time.

The spines receded back into the earth, and let Saras fall on his face. Hei An waited for him to get up.

"W-who are you?" He gulped nervously. An inaminate monster trying to kill him? He still had scars from the last one!

"My name is Hei An." She said politely. "Or, you may call me the current claimant to the possession of your soul."

Saras' eyes widened, his mouth slightly ajar. The mole did not know how to respond to that.

"In short, I am your current opponent. That is, until I have defeated you."

Right... The fearful sweating kicked in with avengeance.

K: Chameleon, while a specialist in hunting tanuki, lacks much beyond her 'surprise' factor. Once she's out in the open she's an easy target, and her reliance on her only move makes her quite susceptible to defeat, especially by an experienced fighter like Danzaburo.

Rikuaoshi, while he has got more powerful forms, has got nothing on either Saras' mobility or Hei An's intellect. He's mostly dumb muscle and while more powerful than the average brute he doesn't belong in this top-cream of shapeshifters.

VL: As you can see we decided to split up the Battle Royale so you get the same fights, in small pieces, quicker. Note that the characters understand that they are part of a non-permeneant-fatality Battle Royale. As for the Tai Lung fic... We shall see. Currently only have two out of sixteen spots on that story and anyways this is much more fun to write!

Next time we get Padaj vs Higo and Hei An vs Saras!

Notethis particular Battle Royale should take up three chapters in total. Four if you count the intros.