Chapter Four: The all burning fire
Drake came back to the sound of Doku laughing. Drake raised Masamune's sword and pointed it at Doku. "Would you shut up and attack already?" Drake asked. Doku's laugh immediately died in his throat and his grin was replaced by dark frown. "Your funeral" Doku said before lunging forward with his sword. Drake sidestepped him and tried to stab him in the heart through the back. Doku crouched down and Masamune's sword slid into Doku's head.
"I see you've discovered my weak point." Doku said as Drake jumped back. Doku stood up and looked back at Drake, the hole in his head regenerating. "But you're still not fast enough to hit me there." "I guess I'll have to try something new." Drake said as switched Masamune's sword to his left hand and held his hand out twisting his wrist and facing his thumb downwards. Fire gathered in his palm and grew to form a buster sword with an orange hilt.
The blade was a deep black with white flakes scattered throughout. The top of the sword was red with a hole close to the tip. The top and bottom of the sword extend over the hilt slightly, extending the length of the sword blade. Drake lifted the sword up and pointed it at Doku. "Let's have a little fun." Drake said before swinging the sword and sending a wave of fire in Doku's direction. Doku dodged it with a roll, but some of his hair got singed.
Doku glared at Drake. "I see you've found your power." Doku said as his hair slowly regenerated, it took significantly longer then when his head regenerated. "Let's find out how well I can use it." Drake replied. Drake dashed at Doku, holding Masamune's sword behind his back and swung it forward, meeting Doku's blade. "Your attacks are weak with only one hand." Doku said pushing Drake back. "Then let me show how I will beat you." Drake said swinging his massive sword at Doku, stumbling.
Doku jumped out of the way laughing. "You compensating for something with that sword? It's too big to swing around fast enough to hit me." He taunted as Drake regained his composure. Drake ran at him again this time leading with his buster sword. He brought it down in a vertical slash, cracking through the floorboards, and once again Doku jumped back. Drake wasn't finished, however, and pushed off with his feet, using his sword as a vaulting pole, he swung down at Doku with Masamune's sword.
Doku half blocked it with his sword, sparks flying, it skidded down Doku's sword and cut into his left shoulder, severing the muscle. Doku shifted his weight and jumped back, pulling Masamune's sword and cutting out a chunk of muscle. "I'm surprised you can do that, I never knew Masamune could teach moves like that." Doku said, ignorant of his now useless arm. "All he did was toughen up my body, after I showed him how I fight, he said I shouldn't bother learning any specific fighting styles, this is all me." Drake replied, kicking his sword out of the floor and catching the hilt mid-air.
Drake stuck Masamune's sword into the floor and charged at Doku preparing a massive swing. Drake aimed at his chest, but Doku quickly jumped to Drake's right, preparing to stab him through the ribs. Drake summoned, condensed and released the flames of his sword in an instant and created a massive outwards burst of hot air. Doku was pushed back and shielded his eyes with his arm. Drake turned to Doku and held his sword at the ready.
Doku rushed forward getting ready to bring it down on Drake. Drake met him with an upwards slash, cloaking his sword in flames. The two swords met and created a large blast of air, shortly afterwards the two had to jump back as the ceiling collapsed. Drake quickly sliced at the ceiling and cut the entire roof in half, preventing the rest of the roof from collapsing. You could see the wall where the second floor ends before the first floor extends to the roof.
Drake looked at the ground around him. Sections of the roof landed in a perfect circle around him. Drake frowned. "Look at the mess you made." He looked up at Doku. "You're going to pay for this." Drake dashed forwards, cleaving the debris around him with just the flames he cloaked his legs in. He swung his sword with little force, faking out Doku, who attacked with all his strength, sending Drake and his sword flying backwards.
Drake pushed off of the ground before Doku struck his sword and did a half circle upwards and kicked Doku in the chin with his right foot. Doku's head snapped back and he was knocked off the ground. Drake landed on the hilt of his sword, which he used momentum to dig it into the floor. Doku landed on his back and rolled backward back onto his feet. He rubbed his jaw, which was almost shattered from Drake's attack. Drake smiled from his perch on his sword. "Are you ready to use your full power yet?" He asked.
Doku managed to put a small smile on his face. "Might as well, It'll be embarrassing to be beaten like this." Doku twisted his sword with the blade behind him. Almost immediately, it was enveloped with twisting strands of black light. The black light quickly spread over Doku and when he was completely covered, the light disappeared and Doku was revealed, his sword now serrated and dripping a black liquid. When the first drop of the liquid hit the floor, the floor hissed and dissolved.
Now I know why he's called Doku, poison is part of his soul. Drake thought as he jumped off his sword, pulled it out of the ground, and faced Doku, all thoughts of joking aside. The battle had only just begun. Drake sighed, hoping the fight would end soon. Doku lowered his sword and looked at Drake. Before the fight, his eyes were a dark green, but when Drake looked into his eyes, they were a black, burning with a dark fire.
Drake brought his eyebrows together in a determined frown. He rushed at Doku, bringing his sword up to block Doku's counter, Drake placed his right hand on the opposite end of the hilt, and started to spin the sword in a defensive circle as Doku flung some of his swords poison at Drake. The move easily blocked the poison, so Doku ran around to attack Drake from the side. Drake took his right hand off of his hilt and sent a fireball at Doku.
Doku pushed it aside with his sword and stabbed at Drake's head, Drake moved his head back to dodge it. As the blade passed before his eyes, Drake noticed the blade didn't have a coating of its poison. Drake punched Doku in the chest to get him to back off. Drake looked at Doku's feet, where a small pillar of dark smoke rose. Then it dawned on him. The poison was burned by his fire, and pulled any residue off of the sword.
Doku flung more of his poison at Drake; Drake blocked it with his sword, flinching as some of the poison landed on his cheek. This time Doku came from above, bringing his sword down, trying to stab though his chest. Drake jumped back, sending another fireball at Doku's sword. Like before, the poison of the sword was incinerated, but only half of it burned before the fireball dissolved in a black flame. A plan quickly formed in Drake's head. As long as he burned hot enough, he didn't need to worry about the poison.
His sword started to feel heavy in his hands. I need to find a way to use a lighter sword while still being able to use his fire powers. "Drake, try concentrating the sword itself into something smaller. You won't be able to fight with it for very long, but it should fit your needs." Ryu said in Drake's head. "I can't fight much longer anyway." Drake replied. Drake shut his eyes and did what Drake suggested. First he cloaked his sword if fire, pumping more and more energy into the blade.
At first, it glowed red, then it gradually changed to orange and then yellow. Then it started to burn green, when it turned blue, the swords shape started to change. It slowly started to compress, glowing more vivid colors as it progressed. Eventually, it started glowing violet, and the sword had almost reached its final stage. Drake slowly opened his eyes. Around him time seemed to be moving still as he pushed the last of his available energy into the sword, in a large roaring explosion, Drake was enveloped in a pillar of pure red flames.
He pointed the tip of his sword at Doku, and the flames concentrated around the sword and flared out of the end of the hilt at an enormous speed. Doku was standing still, the flames of Drake's fire dancing in his eyes, and it seemed to spark a change in Doku. His eyes seemed less hostile and full of hope. Drake pushed his right foot back a little. Ryu spoke to him "You only have one shot at this, make it count." Drake ran forward, his speed enhanced by the flames pushing him forward.
Doku watched as Drake plunged his sword into his chest. As Doku died, he smiled at Drake; his eyes were a dark green. "Thank you." he said before he was engulfed if black flames. Drake stood back and watched as the black flame faded to reveal a fist sized green crystal. Drake slowly walked up and grabbed it as it slowly descended. "Hmph." Drake said looking at the crystal. The tension in the room lessened and Cloud walked up to Drake. "I'll take that." He said taking the green crystal. "What is that?" Drake asked.
"It's a Soul Stone, within it contains the spirit of the person who was taken over by the Chaos." Zoro explained "Look who's trying to be smart." Dante said, breathing heavily. "If you weren't injured I would fight you for that comment." Zoro replied. "Way to show some sympathy." Dante said with a slight smile. "Hmph!" Zoro grunted as he sat by the wall angrily. "Don't worry about them, they always argue." Allan said to Drake as he walked over with Cloud.
"You ok?" Drake asked Jade as he sat down next to her. "I'm doing better than the Dojo, You guys really messed it up." Jade replied, looking at the wrecked room. Drake laughed "You've got a point there." "What was it that you did to gain those powers?" she asked. "I don't really know myself." Drake replied. "I think I can explain that." A male voice said, that caused everyone to stiffen up. Everyone slowly looked to where Drake left Masamune's sword.
Walking through the rubble was a tall man dressed in what looked like a blue kimono, but he had a pair of light blue pants. He had a black trench coat over his kimono, but never put his hands in its pockets. Masamune's sword was at his right hip. They watched him in shocked silence. "What? It's not like I haven't done this before. "He said with a grin. "Masamune?!" They shouted I unison. "Wha, how, just, graah!" Drake stuttered in confusion. "Calm down before you hurt yourself. Like I said, I can explain." Masamune said. "Now listen closely, Doku didn't kill me, I used a Transformation Jutsu to hide myself as a strip of cloth wrapped around my sword." He continued on with a drawn out explanation of what happened after Doku defeated him.
"How much longer is he going to do this?" Drake whispered to Jade. "I'm guessing another five minutes." Jade whispered back, with the same irritated look Drake had. Dart, Zoro and Dante were playing with some cards, ignoring Masamune's rambling. In another six agonizing minutes, Masamune had finished. "Can we start cleaning up now?" Drake asked. "We're not going to clean up, you're coming with us." Masamune replied. "We should leave before they call the cops." "I've already taken care of that, remember? I just finished explaining it to you." Masamune said with a confused look.
Allan and Dante grabbed Masamune's shoulders "We should get going." They said, dragging him along. "Jade, make sure you give Drake the tour when you get there!" Masamune shouted as they drug him through the back door. Jade sighed. "Zoro, you're with me." She said grabbing him as he was trying to walk through a side door. "What did you do that for?" He asked. "The door's over there." Jade said pointing at the door Squall, Cloud and Allan walked through.
Jade pushed him towards the door. "Go, I'll catch up later." She said walking to where her stuff was, buried under a foot of rubble. She flipped off a piece of the roof, pulling her boots and bag out as well as Drake's. She quickly slipped them on and put the bag over her shoulder. "Come on Drake." She said jumping over the majority of the debris. Drake quickly followed her, running straight through. They walked out the door together, into a small sand garden with a short stepping stone path to a dense forest that was at the far end.
Jade lead him across the garden and into the woods, following a small dirt path. "I always thought that we didn't own these woods." Drake said, looking around at the dense ferns and occasional bamboo plant. "We don't, the village does, and they let us use the space for any private training." Jade replied. They reached a clearing after a few minutes. In the center of the clearing was a rock, a bit taller than Drake, a circle with a single spiral within it was on the side of the rock.
Jade stopped half across the clearing. She shook her head and walked to a tree that was to the right of the path. She punched it, causing the top of the tree to shake wildly. Something fell from the top and broke a few branches on the way down. Zoro landed on one of the bottom braches, clinging to the bottom of it with his arms and legs. "What was that for?!" He yelled. "Next time don't get lost." Jade replied. "You were the one who got lost." Zoro said, still hanging from the branch.
"You just float everywhere don't you Marimo?" Drake said, laughing. "Don't make me kill you." Zorro said, dropping his head down into Drakes face, glaring at him. "Enough of this, just go through the Gate already." Jade said with a wave of her hand. Zoro dropped down and walked to the stone. He placed his hand on it, and went through it. Drake looked at the stone with disbelief. "C'mon" Jade said pushing Drake at the stone.