A Passion for Fire
Chapter 9: Conviction
It was practically a bad Western film- they stood there, silent, in ranks before their ready and waiting Koubus, waiting for the enemy. They had to know they were coming, after the generators' destruction….if they hadn't had a total blackout, Satani's forces must have experienced some sort of power outage. Now it was just a matter of waiting.
Kanna itched for the fight to begin. She wanted to get Iris back. She wanted revenge on Setsuna and Resatsu for capturing them. She wanted to take Satani down for stealing Kohran's plans in the first place. Kanna stood there, fists clenched, seething with rage, building up, getting ready to let loose on the fight.
Silence stretched as far as they could hear in all directions.
Kanna jumped when she felt a hand on her arm.
"Kanna, calm down," Ayame said with a brief smile. Then her face returned to its usual businesslike expression. "I wanted to take the chance to apologize to you, Kanna. You were working for your team, and you had no way to know that I was okay. It is only natural for team members to look out for one another. I-" She was stopped when Kanna held up a hand. "Save it, Ayame. S'alright." Her gaze was not focused on the Vice Commander's face, but rather, over her shoulder, into the distance. Ayame turned around to see what Kanna was looking at, just as she heard Maria's commanding call. "Vice Commander! Enemies approaching!"
All of the Hanagumi got into their Koubus and took up their positions, rattling off the roll call. "Deputy Captain Maria Tachibana, ready." "Shinguji Sakura, ready." "Kanzaki Sumire, ready." Maria, Kanna, and Sakura stood next to each other as the first rank, with Sumire and Kohran behind them in windows, to block any breakthroughs. Kayama was behind them, using their primitive radio system to keep in touch with the Kazegumi and Captain Ohgami. Ayame returned to her place, almost in front of Sakura, near the turn of the tunnel that led to the holding cells. Her job was to collect Iris. For the first time in years, Ayame wore a sword at her side.
The enemies also came in ranks. The five black Koubu led, in a single shoulder-to-shoulder line, facing the Hanagumi Koubu. So far, it was only the black Koubu, but not a single one of the Combat Troop was fooled. Satani was here, somewhere, and one or more of his cronies, at least.
"Hold," Ayame called, seeing Kanna's Koubu start forward. The karate master halted, obviously annoyed. The fist of her Koubu's arm clenched. The Vice Commander ignored it, and appraised the situation for a brief moment before shouting commands.
"Maria, far left! Sakura, far right! Sumire, center left, Kohran, center right! And Kanna, take dead center! Move out!"
"YES MA'AM!" came the rushing answer as five Koubus moved forward to engage in battle.
Maria began by shooting out her enemy's light, which caused the black Koubu to stumble, thrashing out blindly in an attempt to hit her. She moved to the side, timing her attack very, very carefully. To do this right, she would only get one shot.
Sumire charged forward with a yell, brandishing the enlargened Koubu-version of her naginata. She swept it in a quick figure eight, slicing a steaming X in the front of her adversary. It reeled back, then came forward, planning to attack her in revenge, but she was too quick for it. Sumire raised the weapon above her head and brought it crashing down, just a she had done for the generator. The outcome was very nearly the same. The enemy Koubu screeched, and steam poured forth as it split neatly into two halves. Luckily, unlike the generator, these pieces did not proceed to explode.
Sakura danced forward, following Sumire's example and trying for a figure-eight pattern to help her become victorious. However, with her blade, it didn't work quite as well as with Sumire's naginata. By simply raising its arms in turns, the black Koubu that faced her was able to black Sakura's blows with ease. With a small grunt of determination, Sakura settled for a different tactic. She backed up a few steps, then took advantage of the black Koubu's confusion to run forward, leap, and bury her sword almost to the hilt in the Koubu's lid, into its controls. With a wild screech, it fell, and remained motionless.
Is it just me, or are these things too easy to beat? Kohran thought as she took aim with her bazooka. She shot quickly, which sent her enemy flying backwards to hit a stone wall. Then it exploded. Our Koubu aren't nearly this uneffective! Did Satani change the plans more than we thought?
Kohran was the only one with this train of thought, however. Kanna was busy pounding the tar out of her adversary, until it was so warped by her brute strength that it could do no more than twitch on the ground in an attempt to move its twisted metal shape. The Okinawan turned her attention to Maria, who struggled to get her shot lined up. Kanna could see what Maria was aiming to do- she planned to shoot the light, where she had hit it before, in the same bullet hole, which would be a weak point. However, the black Koubu she faced wouldn't hold still long enough for her to shoot, and it was harder for her to aim with her Koubu's arm than with her own. Kanna decided to help.
She threw herself at Maria's opponent from behind, tackling it and putting it in a swift headlock. (Yes, it is possible to be swift in a Koubu.) As soon as the beast was unable to move, Maria shot. The black Koubu staggered in Kanna's grip as its inner controls were torn apart by Maria's bullet. In just one short moment, the last of the black Koubu was incapacitated. Now it was time to turn their attention to the real enemies.
A high-pitched, simply evil cackling filled the air, followed by a snarl from Sumire. "Such good work you do, little dog!" came the hauntingly piercing voice of Crimson Miroku, as she appeared, floated elegantly above the remains of the black Koubu that Sumire had destroyed. A terrible glint filled her eyes. "But I'm afraid that this sort of behavior simply won't do." With no sense of patience, Sumire threw her Koubu forward with a yell and began swiping at the death-defying spirit woman. Miroku danced out of her way, and the familiar sounds of battle banter echoed through the tunnel.
Kohran was an inch from jumping in to help Sumire, when she felt a large, heavy force crash into her Koubu from behind. She pitched forward, and rolled over to see Rasetsu the Lumbering Brute standing over her, his fisted hands raised above him as if he planned to bring them down like a hammer. He roared. Kohran glanced back at Sumire, but her vision of the fight was blocked by a pale pink Koubu. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it!" Sakura called, and went to assist Sumire (if the snobby Kanzaki girl would let her). Kohran turned her attention to the situation at hand.
Bang. With a single shot, and a roar, Rasetsu was gone from her. He crouched on the ground, clutching at one of his hands that oozed the black, sticky version of blood that all of Satani's minions had in common. But I didn't shoot- Kohran thought, then realized that the second shadow in her Koubu's peripheral vision was Maria's Koubu, cannon-arm upraised.
Serves him especially right, Kanna thought as she watched, having seen how that cut across the brute's hand had occurred. Maria had shot at a tricky angle, so that the bullet sliced the back of his hand from the base of his thumb to halfway up his wrist. Not that everyone in the Hanagumi knew it, but Maria had a scar exactly like that on her own right hand. Had the justice been planned, or was it just a perk?
"No!" Kanna tensed and spun around when she heard that voice. "No, no, NO!" screamed Setsuna. "Get up, you useless fool, get UP! Attack them! Now!" He disappeared to avoid Kanna's quick punch in his direction. His voice still echoed everywhere, even over the sounds of Sumire's screaming at Crimson Miroku. "Have to try harder than that, little doll! Otherwise someone just might not get HURT!" He punctuated his last word by appearing directly in front of her and whooshing toward her face in an attempt to make her stumble back.
Sakura had told her about this. Kanna planted her feet, let out a standard Okinawan war cry, and stood her ground. Setsuna was forced to veer sharply to the right to avoid hitting her, his plan having failed, which brought him directly into Kanna's grasp. She brought her Koubu's arm down on top of him, pinning the little demon-boy to the ground. Then, before he could disappear again, she ran him through with her claw arm.
With a choked cry, Setsuna vanished. They knew he would be back, but he would be out of the picture for now, and probably for a while. According to Iris and Kohran's past studies with the Kazegumi in evaluating enemy power, he might even be out for the rest of this battle. Certainly Rasetsu would be- he was such a baby.
The moment she saw that the Hanagumi were hard at work vanquishing the enemy, Ayame ran for the holding cells. She knew exactly how to get there, thanks to her previous exploring and Kayama's detailed explanation. Her breath and pace quickened at the same moment as she ran, pistol held low to her side. The sounds of the battle followed her, and she briefly begged whatever gods there may or may not be to get the Hanagumi out of this one safely.
"Where are you going, Ayame?"
That cold, yet somehow warm voice sent chills up her spine. Ayame turned to face the man she once loved, the man who had turned to evil ways simply because he wanted the power. The man Yamazaki Shinnouske who had been destroyed by Aoi Satani.
She could not speak. Why could she never speak when he was around? Why was it so difficult to cast Yamazaki from her mind, and fight against Satani without a second thought, as Yoneda did?
Ayame raised her pistol.
Satani's dark laughter enveloped her. "We've been down this road already, Ayame…you have no will to fight me." Ayame growled. "Is that what you think, Major Yamazaki?" she said, her voice suddenly the strong, confident, iron voice that she used as Vice Commander. She cocked the gun and aimed straight at the man's forehead; her target, the decorative metal brooch that held his long silvery hair out of his face, revealing his cold, dark eyes that held, she saw, a flicker of the warm golden light that used to be there.
"No!"
With that scream, Ayame pulled the trigger. Bang.
Satani let out a scream of rage, but he was not finished. At least Ayame had struck her target. His hair now hung limp on either side of his face, stained a blackish-red from the new wound in the dead center of his head.
The demon-posessed man rushed at her. Ayame stumbled back, reaching for the sword she wore at her belt. She drew it, blade glowing a steady, pale blue, and swung it an in horizontal line. Satani, still retaining Yamazaki's sword expertise, danced out of the way, drawing his own blade. Ayame attacked ferociously. Satani's calm and expressionless defense was irritating, it reminded her of fencing with Maria. The two combatants danced elegantly, swords flashing. Unlike Sumire and Miroku, these two were silent for the majority of their battle.
"Ayame, stop this foolishness," Satani crooned. "You can't stop me. Quit waiting on my precious little Koubu to come to your rescue. Or hadn't you noticed…" He began to attack, rather than defend, "…that I know everything about them?"
The Vice Commander said nothing. She didn't have breath to waste. This was tiring.
"AYAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
That scream was neither Ayame nor her opponent- so then, who was it? Ayame and Satani stopped their sword dancing at once, as a bright yellow glow enveloped the Vice Commander. Energy filled her- spirit energy, like she hadn't felt since the Kouma War.
Ayame threw herself forward with a new strength, only to find her blade blocked by Satani's- hand?! It sparkled with purple and black fire, like a wall against her. However, that wasn't the end of it. Ayame felt her newfound energy being drained, being leeched away. Her connection to Iris pulsed as the little girl tried to feed the Vice Commander more energy, only to have it sucked away by the dark powers of Ten-Kai. "No, Iris," Ayame called. She tried to make it loud, but her voice came as a whisper….nevertheless, the energy feed broke away.
"And so it begins," Ayame heard Satani hiss before her energy was completely gone. She fell to her knees, unable even to stand. It was only seconds later that she fell unconscious.
Kayama was coming to see what had become of Ayame and Iris when he stumbled across the Vice Commander herself, out cold, and alone. Her face was as pale as death. Kayama stepped back in surprise, then steeled himself, picked up Ayame's limp form, and began walking with her down the tunnel that had been her route, watching out for signs of danger. He was strong- Kayama only needed one arm to hold Ayame over his shoulder. In his free hand, he held a pistol at the ready.
Where were the enemies? Miroku, Setsuna, and Rasetsu were accounted for, but where was Satani?
"Kayama!"
The spy turned at the voice, only to see that it was little Iris who called his name. she was in the holding cell next to where he, Kohran, and Kanna had escaped. She was pressed up against the gridded bars, eyes desperate, dress and hair insurmountably mussed.
"Iris! Are you alright?" Kayama asked, rushing over to take hold of her hand through the bars. Even then, his mind raced with ideas on how to release her from the cell. He didn't have a metal file this time, or Kanna's brute strength. How would they get out of this one? He laid Ayame on the floor, propped against the bars for support, as he tried to think of a solution.
Suddenly, Iris' eyes went wide. "Get down!" came a cold, familiar voice, and Kayama and Iris both ducked, and Kayam yanked the Vice Commander out of the way. Bang bang bang bang bang bang. With a full ammo clip gone, Iris was free. Maria had shot out the edges, as Kohran had done with her file. With the combined strength of Maria and Kayama (and a LOT of tugging) they managed to get the corner free enough for Iris to get out. "This is a lot easier when Kanna's around," Kayama muttered. Maria said nothing, only took Iris in her arms like the child she was. The three of them began to run back toward the raging battle in the main tunnel's entrance.
Iris wrapped her arms around Maria's neck, burying her face in the Russian woman's lapel as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Ayame ayame ayame ayame ayame…" she murmured repeatedly. A pale yellow glow surrounded Iris as she tried to give the Vice Commander enough spirit energy to awaken.
Her efforts were stopped cold, though, when they reached the tunnel. Smoke was everywhere, none of them could see a thing. Kayama and Maria exchanged a worried glance, before Maria called out.
"Flower Assault Unit, attention!" The usual roll call did not come. No voice was heard, save one.
"Maria!"
Kayam and the Deputy Captain rushed toward Kanna's voice. They found her Koubu at the edge of the smoke-filled chamber (which was slowly beginning to clear), on the ground, just extracting herself from beneath a thoroughly mangled Wakiji body. "About time you guys got here," she grumbled. "Now what's this about attention? We got a new enemy?"
"No," Maria said quietly, pointing. The smoke was dispersing, and they could see the battlefield now. Sakura's, Sumire's, and Kohran's Koubus lay unmoving, each half-destroyed. Not one of the villains was anywhere to be seen. Kanna quickly got out of her Koubu. "What happened to the Vice Commander? Guys, what's goin' on?"
"The Vice Commander is unconscious, I suspect by Satani's doing," Maria said, glancing at Kayama, who nodded. "What happened here?"
"There was this big explosion," Kanna said. "Then everything got quiet. I don't know what did it, but I guess we know what it did." She indicated their defeated comrades, who had not answered the call.
Kayama looked at Maria. "Since we have no communication available to reach the Commander, the Vice Commander is unconscious, and the Captain back at headquarters, you're in charge, Deputy Captain. What do we do?" Maria stared right back at him. She opened her mouth to answer, but someone else did it for her.
"What? You can't come up with a simple two-minute tactic without your beloved commanders? I'm disappointed." Satani appeared, hovering above the battle wreckage.
Kanna immediately whipped around and struck a battle stance, glaring at Satani. Maria had her pistol raised, despite Iris trembling in her arms. Kayama was likewise burdened with Ayame, but drew his weapon nonetheless. Satani's dark laughter echoed around the chamber. "This should be most exciting," he said. He drew his glittering sword, which bore no trace of the black lightning that usually decorated it. He smiled, his expression sinister.
Satani rushed at Maria and Iris. Maria let loose one shot, realized it was futile, and turned away, curling her form over Iris to protect the girl. She took the hilt of Satani's blade to the side of her head and fell, as lifeless as the Vice Commander, who now lay on the ground as Kayama shot round after round at Satani. The demon-man dodged it all. He stretched out a hand, and black lightning began to flicker around it. Satani let out a raging cry, and threw the collected black magic at Kayama. Kayama shouted, and was down, unable to continue fighting.
"Kanna!" he called, forcing the words out through the pain of Satani's attack. "Kanna, you have to finish him!"
Until now, Kanna had stood, frozen, unable to find something to do as her comrades were incapacitated. She had no weapons but her bare fists, and now, she was prepared to use them. Satani stood, staring at Iris, who had worked herself out from underneath Maria's crumpled form. She looked terrified, her arms wrapped around herself.
"Hey you! Mr. Fashion-Statement-Gone-Wrong!" Kanna called tauntingly. Satani turned, distracted. "Yeah, you!" Kanna went on. "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" With that, Kanna yelled and pitched herself forward, feet-first. Her soles slammed into Satani's chest, throwing him backward. Satani growled and his sword flashed, cutting deep into Kanna's right ankle. Kanna landed on her left foot, facing Satani. Iris backed away. It was one-on-one.
A grin spread across Satani's face. "You really think you can defeat me unarmed?" he said. "Really, my dear, I'd have thought you were smarter than that." Kanna just shrugged, and her grin matched his. "No one ever said I was the brains of the operation." She raised her fists and came at Satani, trying to pound him from every direction possible. He dodged most of the time, being excellent of reflex, but the Okinawan warrior did manage to land a few blows.
What Satani didn't realize that, in his dodging, Kanna had managed to back him up against a wall. "Nowhere to run, tough guy," she said wickedly. He glared at her and raised his hand, calling the black magic. Kanna went to hit him before he could do anything, but when she raised her arm, she found herself glowing a bright, steady yellow. The golden sheen of Iris' reiryoku covered her from head to toe. Satani's magic grew stronger, and lightning flickered around both of his hands.
"Uh oh," Kanna muttered. "Might need a bit more than that, kiddo…" She closed her eyes, willing the spirit energy to grow stronger.
I was just wondering, sir, why you picked me for the field operation. I'm no spy…
We're gonna kick some bad guy ass, get your blueprints back, and go home without a single scratch for Sumire to make fun of, okay?…
So I got us caught, did I?…
I am NOT a deserter…
Isn't it enough that I've done nothing but screw things up since we got here?…
I was supposed to watch out for Iris…
Kanna's yellowy shell began to change to a fiery orange…then it darkened to red…
Kirishima Kanna, reporting for duty!
Completely encased in the red glow of her spirit energy, Kanna let out the most fearsome Okinawan battle cry she held in her. The flaming red of her hair flashed as her fists moved with the speed of lightning. Satani brought up his magic-covered hands and attempted to block her. His two hands met Kanna's as she grabbed his wrists…
Pain shot through her. Kanna yelled and writhed, but didn't let go. She held her ground, fighting back with every ounce of strength she possessed. She gripped Satani with the force of iron, and they were locked together. His blade fell to the ground. Kanna's force grew stronger, and the black lightning of Satani's dark magic was drowned in the red fire that surrounded the martial artist.
Unfortuntealy sheer brute force wouldn't be enough, Kanna knew that. No amount of bruising could destroy this demonic spirit that possessed Satani. She had to fully defeat him, she'd need a weapon…
"Let go, you wretched girl, before I destroy you!" Satani growled, redoubling his efforts, but Kanna beat him back. "I don't think so, your High and Mightiness!" she told him, sweating from the pain of his attack, but she held strong. This would have been so much easier if only she didn't need to arm herself…but what if she didn't?
Satani himself can be the weapon, Kanna thought to herself, a grin on her face. There were sharp objects everywhere from the battle wreckage of less than an hour before, and the force of a fatal collision could come from either direction.
And there…just waiting for her…Sakura's Koubu had fallen, blade up.
Kanna wrenched Satani around by his wrists, taking control of the struggle, He tried to pull away, but she followed him mercilessly, dancing him backward farther and farther.
"Any last words, Mister Self-Denial?" she grunted, readying herself.
Satani spat dark blood at the ground- the force of Kanna's attack had caused his nose to bleed black. "I will see you destroyed!" he hissed, but Kanna just shook her head. "That wasn't the right line."
She pulled together all of her strength, and in one enormous shove, impaled the demon-man upon the upturned blade of Aritaka, the spirit sword.
Satani shrieked, his scream the highest-pitched Kanna had ever heard (and that was with Kohran living at the theatre). All at once, his entire body became encased in black and violet flames. It was so bright that Kanna had to turn her face away. There was an explosion, and Kanna was knocked to the ground…
When she looked up, Satani was gone. All that remained was a blackened spot on the ground, and slowly clearing smoke.
