Ren, Rin…Rin, Ren.

Pretty in Black

Chapter 8

Yoh, Rin, Manta, Ren, Jun, Bailong, Horohoro and Ryu were walking down a corridor to Yuan's throne room. Horohoro, Rin and Ryu were not necessarily feeling well after being thrown around, courtesy of Sha-wen. Ryu's head had just stopped bleeding, and Rin and Horohoro were recovering from being smacked against the wall.

"My head is spinning." Horohoro said. "I can't believe that I was thrown around like that."

"I know. It was crazy. Who knew that someone, even a dead person could be that strong?" Rin said. "That was the toughest opponent I've ever faced. Who was that guy anyway? I remember picking up part of the battle while I was trying to fight off the urge to drift off into unconsciousness."

"That was Sha-wen. Bailong's teacher." Manta said.

"Oh. Well, to be honest, I don't know who that is, but I think that I am happy not knowing. Ugh, I have not had a headache this bad in years." Rin groaned, holding her head in her hands.

"It's no surprise, after the beating we took. Man, look at this place: bones everywhere. How can any sensible person live in such a place?" Ryu said looking around.

Ren and Jun stopped and looked back at him.

"Ryu! Be careful about what you say!" Manta and Rin rapidly said.

"Sorry!"

"It's alright." Ren said. "I've often wondered that myself." He paused. "All right, we're at the top floor, and almost to the throne room. Again, this is my personal battle. If you all don't want to get injured in some way I recommend that you leave now."

"You've become such a weakling in the time that you have been away Ren!" a voice said. "Such consideration for your friends." Then out of the blue, Yuan came crashing down from…somewhere. "I realize that you all have helped Ren in countless ways. I'm extremely dissatisfied."

"He's huge!" Horohoro said.

"Look at that mustache!" Yoh exclaimed.

"Most people would be happy if we helped their children like we have helped Ren." Rin said.

"Yuan is not just any 'people'." Ren retorted.

"So you still refuse to call me 'father' Ren?" Yuan said in fake sorrow. "Perhaps you need to be punished again." He pointed a finger at the group, causing a bomb effect, and causing everyone to trigger their Oversouls; except Manta, who ran to a place out of the line of fire.

Horohoro and Ryu attacked Yuan, whose arms fell off leaving bloody stumps.

"His arms just broke off? That was a too simple if you ask me." Ryu said.

Yuan laughed as his arms suddenly grew back.

"Whoa! That's creepy!" Horohoro exclaimed.

"That's disgusting!" Rin said covering her mouth with her hand.

"You hesitated to kill another human. That is why you're attack failed. That, and you are not strong enough to defeat me." Said Yuan, who then flicked the two shamans out of the way.

"I told them not to interfere!" Ren said angrily as he started to run over to them.

"Your mind has become weak! Your still caring for your friends!" Yuan said as he drew back his hand to attack Ren. "Your caring has left your defenses wide open!"

Suddenly, Bailong's foot pierced Yuan's head in a spray of blood.

"Yuan, I don't see you as anything now. Not a father, a human being, not anything. So I'm afraid that I'm going to have to smash that thick skull of yours." Jun said.

"You're like the others." Yuan said turning to look at Jun. "You hesitated to kill another human and you still can't strike without making pronouncements. Your wretched little jiang-si is no match for me."

He took Bailong in his vast hand and violently threw him into the wall behind him.

Manta was on the floor trembling. "Is he immortal? He lost both of his arms, but they grew back and he took a kick to the head which should have killed him!"

"No one is immortal!" Ren said stimulating his Oversoul. He jumped up and attacked Yuan, who suddenly ended up behind him.

Crap! He got behind me again! Ren thought. What's his secret? Super speed? Afterimage? Illusion? The only way to find out is to attack.

"Everyone has their own path to follow." Yuan said. "But the weak fear it, so they waver and go astray."

"Keep talking you unguarded fool!" Ren yelled at the top of his lungs. "Golden Vorpal Dance!"

Ren attacked Yuan, cutting his top half into pieces.

"Those who stray from their path can never master their Tao. It is so ridiculous that you call these creatures your friends. Everyone's path is different; no two are the same. The more people waver, the more they wander from their path. I've done all that I can. If you still don't understand, you may as well die."

One of Yuan's detached arms hurled itself towards Ren.

"Ren!" Jun screamed.

Yoh and Rin jumped up and blocked the arm with their Oversouls.

"Yoh! Rin!" Ren said in surprise.

"We won't let you kill Ren." Rin said. "You may be his father, but if we have to we'll kill you first before you kill Ren."

"That's right." Yoh said. "We'll do everything we can to protect Ren."

"Yoh and Rin is it? You two were not listening to what I have been saying, so I shall repeat myself: CONCERN FOR YOUR FRIENDS DIVERTS YOU FROM YOUR PATH!" Yuan said irritably as he smashed Rin and Yoh into pillars, probably cracking a few bones in the process.

"Your rebellion is over Ren." Yuan said. "All the friends that you brought with you have fallen. You will do as I command and follow the path that the Tao family has set for you. You are still weak in mind and body."

This massacre is all my fault. Ren thought as he looked around at his fallen friends. "Your right. I am weak." Ren said to his father.

Yuan smiled at this and said, "That's all that I wanted to hear! You will still have to be punished but…"

Ren cut him off and said, "But I am weak because I'm fighting you." Ren then disengaged his Oversoul.

"I told you that we wouldn't let you kill Ren." Rin said getting up.

"That's why we came to China in the first place." Horohoro said also getting up.

Yuan watched, as everyone he thought was dead get up and congregate around Ren.

Why are they getting up? Why do they still resist me? Don't they fear me? Yuan thought. "Why do you sacrifice yourselves for other people? How can you believe in other's like that?"

"Look at yourself Yuan, you're losing your self-control, and that, promises my victory." Ren said. "Yuan, you're not immortal. Your human like the rest of us."

Angry now, Yuan attacked Ren.

"Ren! Activate your Oversoul!" Jun screamed desperately.

Ren didn't move and showed no sign of activating his Oversoul. When Yuan's fist finally reached him, the unexpected happened: Yuan's arm became translucent.

"His arm is translucent!" Manta said in disbelief.

"He's an Oversoul." Rin said in final awareness.

"An Oversoul?"

"A shaman materializes a ghost with his mana, and mana is produced from willpower. When it fades, the Oversoul becomes less ample." She explained.

"You mean…?" Jun began to ask.

"Yes. We always tensed up when we were in his presence, so we never realized that he was an Oversoul. Just relax and close your spiritual eye and you can see him. That is our real father." Said Ren.

Instead of a giant man with a crazy moustache, everyone saw a normal looking man with a crazy moustache.

"I can't believe it." Jun said. "The father we've always known was an illusion."

"Hey, without that oversized Oversoul, he actually looks normal." Yoh said.

"I knew that there was something odd going on." Horohoro said.

"Yeah, I mean, how can anyone be that gigantic?" Ryu asked.

"He's far from normal." Ren said, not taking his eyes off his father. "He has preserved that Oversoul for decades. That would require huge amounts of mana, and he was even so distrustful that he deceived his own children!"

"You did well to see through me. I did not deceive you, nor have I faltered. I was just taken a bit off guard." Yuan said matter-of-factly.

"That's faltering!" "Come on!" "Admit it!" Yoh and Co. said.

"How can I falter? I know the truth: humans are miserable creatures beyond all salvation! Look."

Yuan took off his top robe and let it fall to the ground, revealing mortuary tablets strapped all over his body. Then all of a sudden, thousands of spirit flames surrounded him.

"These are our ancestors, the custodians of our family's 2,000 year history."

"Look at all those spirit flames!" Yoh said.

"My Oversoul, Da Dao Wang, the Great Tao King, is a cumulative of their souls. As head of the Tao family, I must keep them with me always and carry out their will."

It sounds a bit like my family. Rin thought sadly. But she shook that thought away reminding her that she had no family; that they had all abandoned her. I'll bring them back and have everything the way it used to be before everything went wrong when I become Shaman Queen.

Upon returning to the real world from her thoughts, Rin managed to catch the last of Yuan's words.

"…we were feared, betrayed and persecuted!" Yuan said angrily. "So if you want to cut the ties to your family then go ahead. I won't stop you. But first you must show me your resolve! Da Dao Long!"

All of the Tao spirit flames came together to form a great, long dragon with the Great Tao King's head above Yuan.

"Great Vorpal Spiral!"

"This isn't about family or friends. I'm not going to succumb to anyone. I will choose my own path and decide things for myself. Wo Bu Mi." Ren said, powering up his Oversoul with all his mana.

He then ran and collided with the Great Tao Dragon. Blood sprayed from the dragon's head and splattered on the floor and walls. The dragon then split back into the thousands of spirit flames it originally came from.

"It dematerialized!" Rin said. "Did Ren win?"

It was a terrible silence before anyone dared to speak or move to see if Yuan had given up after Ren's attack or not. Then that eerie silence was broken when Yuan pulled back his sword and said,

"I'm still alive! You have not defeated me yet!"

But he was stopped by the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back.

"That's enough Yuan." A man's voice said. "The moment your convictions wavered, you were defeated. If you don't recognize that, then die."

"Your being dead won't accomplish anything, dear." A woman's voice also said.

Everyone looked to see an elderly man and a middle-aged woman standing some distance from Yuan. The old man was short, bald, was wearing black and yellow robes with a Yin Yang symbol on the back. In his hands, he held two pistols; one of them was pointed at Yuan.

The woman was tall, slender and graceful looking. Her hair was up in buns on both sides of her head, she wore elaborate robes with Yin Yang symbols in numerous places. In her hand she held a fan.

"Mother! Grandfather Zhen!" Jun said in surprise.

OOO

A while later, Yoh and Co. found themselves in a large dining room. In front of them was a large, round table with all sorts of Chinese food on it and a suckling pig in the middle. (A/N: Yeah, you know, those pigs w/ the apple in their mouths?)

"Well Horo, you said you wanted to have some Chinese food. It looks like your wish came true." Rin whispered to Horohoro. Horohoro smiled at this thought. Orikir came out of his memorial tablet and perched on Rin's shoulder to get a better look at his surroundings.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't think that I would be eating at Ren's house!"

"What's going on?" Manta asked. "We were fighting Yuan, then Ren's mother and grandfather showed up and stopped it, then invited us to dinner!"

Ran, Ren and Jun's mother, laughed and said, "Your our guests. Please sit and eat."

"Yeah, but can we trust you?" Horohoro asked suspiciously. "I mean, that pigs probably gonna get up and attack us!"

"Oh come now, that's not poisonous either." Ran laughed.

"Why are you being so nice? Aren't you the bad guys?" Yoh asked.

"Well, it's true that we have killed many people for the sake of our family. I suppose that people nowadays would consider that evil. Anyway, I am impressed with you all: you came to Ren's aid and survived Yuan's wrath. We were afraid that Ren would never make any friends."

"You had better be impressed after all the crap we went through: being smashed into walls and floors and thrown across rooms!" Orikir said. "That said, when's food? I'm hungry!"

"Orikir!" Rin hissed at the bird, hoping that the old man would shrug off that comment.

"You have one rude spirit ally, young lady. He had better watch himself. I am excusing that comment for now, but there are some who would not hesitate to attack you after a comment like that is made to them." Zhen said with a murderous glint in his eye.

"Yes," Rin said casting the bird a death glare. "He can be very rude. I apologize for him." Orikir returned the death glare. He obviously had no intention of apologizing and did not like the fact that Rin apologized for him.

"As I was saying, "Yes, I am impressed that you survived Yuan, and most people would consider what we do evil, but good and evil, light and darkness, beauty and ugliness has no meaning without the other." Zhen paused then continued.

"Poor Yuan. He became so obsessed with our family honor and his Tao he lost sight of the true path. The narrow-minded cannot embody a great spirit. That's why Ren won. His Tao was purer than Yuan's"

"Ptah." Ren spat. "I won because I was stronger."

"Believe what you want, foolish boy." Zhen laughed.

"Well, my business here is done. I'll be going now." Ren said pulling on his coat.

"What!" everybody asked, following Ren out of the room.

"What about food?" Orikir asked.

OOO

"Ren, can't you stay a bit longer?"

"No, because it will take me a whole week to get back to Japan from here." Ren said mounting his horse.

"You're just taking off? We just saved your skin!" Horohoro said accusingly.

"I didn't ask for your help. You shouldn't have any problem getting back to Japan on your own."

"You are so ungrateful Ren." Rin said crossing her arms.

"Whatever."

Rin: angry vein mark.

"You may use our jiang-si horses if you so desire." Ran said.

"Uh, no thank you!" Horohoro stuttered.

"We had better get going. The shaman tournament is about to begin."

OOO

Yoh, Ryu, Horohoro and Rin got off a boat and got onto a bus headed back to Beijing. A few hours into the trip, Yoh was asleep, Manta sat beside him reading his Mantannian dictionary, Rin, Horohoro and Ryu sat in the seat behind them. Rin sat next to the window, Horohoro sat next to her and Ryu sat next to him flirting with some Chinese girl who seemed freaked out by him.

At least she doesn't live with him. Horohoro and Rin thought.

OOO

"What do you want? Are you looking for another fight?"

Ren was riding fast on his horse and Yuan was following him on the Great Tao Dragon. Yuan did not answer Ren's question. Instead, he threw Ren a sword hilt, who caught it in surprise.

"This is the Bao-Lei sword."

"Yes. It's our family's most precious heirloom. It will open a path to your future. Good luck Ren."

"I'll be alright. I swear by these boundless lands."

OOO

Momo-chan, I have made this chapter as bloody as I could just for you!

Note: I sometimes refer to Yoh and everybody with him as "Yoh & Co." Kinda rhymes when you say it the wrong way. Again, I am reduced to using OOO for seperation lines.

Da Dao Long Great Tao Dragon. Wo Bu Mi I shall not waver. Bao-Lei Jewel Thunder

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Copyright 2006 Jai Akari