On my deathbed… maybe!
Rel 2.0
By Pizzigri
White moves its tower to threat the Black queen. The white king is safe… but, only until the next move. Drifting between the infinite streams and flows of time, She looks at the imaginary board and pieces. She shakes her head. Her game has its rules…
…
Yes, this is as dark as I can comfortably get it to be. You've been warned. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Urusei Yatsura and all regular characters from UY series are © copyright Rumiko Takahashi.
The Sleep of Reason spawns Monsters
…
Time ticks away, only half hour remains until the sunset of the tenth day.
Two years of constantly escaping and evading a jealous and angry Oni in Tomobiki, during Ataru's frequent girlhunts have finally paid off: since his decision to break every contact with Lum and giving up initiative to chase and pretending to tag her, a couple hours ago, he has managed to avoid or fend off every attack the beautiful Oni attempted on him throughout her relentless and wild hunt.
It's a sadistic game of cat and mouse, in a confined and evasion proof space; the challenge area is a one-mile radius circle around the center of Famdom's Capital city – in which the VIP stages are also located - encompassing buildings, parks, streets and avenues. The perimeter is electronically protected with a force field tuned to both champions' psi signature, impossible to breach.
Lum still pursues Ataru tenaciously, never losing sight of him.
All of a sudden, a chilling scream echoes behind Ataru.
"AAAHHH!"
Ataru turns to look back, only slightly slowing down his escape, to see why Lum shrieked.
His blood freezes as he sees her on her knees, both hands to her temples, her face twisted in absolute pain.
Shivering, she glances desperately towards Ataru.
"H…help me! Darling, please…! My head… I…"
Her body jerking sharply from what seems like a massive pain attack, Lum slumps limply, face first, to the ground.
"Oh, Gods! Lum!"
Ataru turns on his heels, running towards her.
Shit! I knew it! I knew all this was wrong, maybe they're attempting to mind control her!
Kneeling before Lum, he turns her lifeless body face up.
"Lum, answer me! Ple-"
Her eyes open instantly, and she beams Ataru with a broad smile, paralyzing him.
"Darling! You actually fell for it… does this mean that you love me?"
In a flash, she raises her left leg straight up, twists herself while spinning both legs in the air, and with both hands to the ground delivers an upside down double roundhouse kick to Ataru's head and shoulder, shoving him some thirty feet away.
Using her momentum, she executes a somersault landing softly in an offensive combat stance.
Ataru shakes off the cobwebs from his head, clearing his mind standing shakily up; then, fueled by a sense of betrayal, he feels a surge of rage and fury building up, while staring in Lum's eyes.
"You… tricked me! That was low, you bitch!"
Lum tilts cutely her head with both her hands behind her back, giggling and smiling. Then she mildly blushes, childishly fidgeting with her feet, her eyes to the ground.
"Well… Darling, in war and… Love, anything goes. You should know it…"
When she raises her eyes again, she finds herself alone. Ataru disappeared in thin air.
"Darling…?"
…
A few minutes ago, Ataru once more successfully eluded Lum, and she lost sight of him.
"Darling? Daaaarling? Why do you run away? Do not escape, I am not your enemy, I am here to help you! Please, show yourself!"
Sure… LIKE HELL, I WILL! Ataru thinks, with satisfaction, to himself.
As Lum slowly drifts along the deserted streets, singing in a sweet, siren like voice, Ataru darts from shadow to shadow, flattening against the walls, using camouflage and Kawarimi techniques to remain virtually invisible.
I have to hold on! I have to keep my distance, the challenge is almost over!
Ataru checks one of the giant electronic billboards counting the remaining time until the end of the Tag Race, displaying both Uruseian Standard Time and Earth hours, minutes and seconds. A smile.
Only twelve minutes left, I can make it! I really can! Come on, keep your cool man, once all this shits' over, even Lum's gonna be okay!
All of a sudden, Lum's chilling voice falls silent.
Ataru freezes. Cold sweat beads his forehead, breathing slows down to practically stop, while he carefully scans around, trying to spot her.
Shit, shit, shit, shit… where did she go, I can't believe I sidetracked, shit, this ain't the time to lose it! Getta hold, man…
Crawling slowly along a tight alley, Ataru warily pops his head around a building corner to a larger street, assessing the situation and planning his escape route.
All clear. She must have gone searching some blocks down. OK, dash to that garbage box, then to the parked vehicle, and then hide…
"BOOOH!"
"EEEEEP!"
Ataru turns white and finds himself twenty feet from where he was standing, slammed with his back against a brick wall, arms and legs wide, and his throat totally dry, staring down an amused and giggling Lum.
She crept right behind him!
"Oh, Darling! Playing hide and go seek on me!"
She claps her hands, laughing. She looks so darn harmless and innocent.
Fear driven into every fiber of his being, Ataru instantly jumps high over Lum, surprising her; he lands some thirty feet away, racing towards downtown Famdom City.
She sprints after him, happily laughing.
…
Duel
Ataru keeps a small advantage over Lum, his physical condition still optimal thanks to the constant use of the regen tank over the past week. He really could hope to stay out of her reach until the end of the challenge.
But now, the unthinkable happens. Ataru, in his escape down a large avenue closely stalked by Lum, unexpectedly finds her materializing in front of him.
"Damn!"
How does she- when the hell did she do it!
He takes a sharp turn to a large and fancy gate on his left, entering an immense glass lined building, and finds himself in the middle of a very large and round open space, almost four hundred feet diameter, completely surrounded on every side by what undoubtedly looks like ascending seating: an Amphitheatre.
He hurdles towards the seating, jumping over the edge of the arena, only to crash against something that opposes and repels him like a magnet against another: a force field! Like the one encircling the challenge area… and therefore, impenetrable!
There's only one entrance - and exit. And, a hovering feminine silhouette blocks it.
Oh, no… No, no, no!
He's cornered!
Ataru stands up, and slowly turns back to Lum.
She casually looms in front of him, maybe sixty feet away. She has her hands clasped behind her back, a triumphant, sweet smile on her face, and her eyes have the temperature of intergalactic space… a couple degrees above absolute zero.
"Hi, Darling."
Nowhere to run.
Nowhere to hide.
He turns around, completely at a loss, and then lifts his gaze to look up to the clouds visible above him, wishing to be able to fly away. Not that it would help much against Lum anyway, but the thought is there.
Finally, he shyly glances towards Lum, his gaze resting at her feet, unable to sustain eye contact.
"H-hi… Lum."
"Darling… I long to see you dance. Dance for me, Darling…"
Desperate, Ataru tries hard to think. For the first time in his life, his razor sharp mind fails him. A confused blank, crowded with chaotic, useless and meaningless thoughts. A child's memory pops up.
His grandfather would know what to do.
Right! Grandfather would help him!
Ojii-san! What can I do! I cannot escape!
Lum walks slowly towards him.
Panicked, Ataru takes a few steps back.
Ataru screams "OJII-SAN!" in the same way a frightened child would call "Mommy!".
Totally unexpected, a voice long lost answers his plea, and whispers within him.
"No need to yell, Ataru-Kun. It takes time, you know, to get all the way across the Heavens over here!"
Ojii-san! You're here! Help me get out of this shit!
"Accept the fight. Accept her, this is her true form"
What? This ain't the suggestion I wanted! You must be joking! She's gonna kill me!
"Just do as I say, Ataru-kun. It's the right thing to do"
Ataru looks in Lum's direction. The voice he 'feels' more than hear, is undoubtedly his Grandfather's. He cannot tell whether his spirit is actually here with him, or it is simply his subconscious that is acting to protect himself - Ataru doesn't care. Weirder things have occurred in Tomobiki.
Ojii-san, I'm… uh, afraid I could hurt her. Yeah, I mean, I would NEVER hurt a woman!
"Ataru-kun, you really think you can hurt her? Besides, you have learned from me a way to fight without hurting your opponent. But, we both know it's just a lame excuse, right?"
But…
"Will you stop being fickle just this once time and darn do what I say?"
Ataru crouches in a compact stance, barely containing the urge to run away, with his left fist forward and his right hand clawed open, palm up, over his solar plexus.
Yeah, yeah, I can make it, she's not using her lightning, thank the Gods, only seven minutes, I can avoid her for seven minutes, I can make it, Ojii-san's right, I can make it… oh shit…
Lum cautiously approaches him, still slowly walking.
"Dance with me…" she huskily repeats.
Their eyes lock. Her stare is mesmerizing, hypnotic. Space seems to warp around her, distorting Ataru's vision, as his head spins. His mind is under siege by some unknown force.
She tenses; at the optimal distance, Lum attempts a lightning fast snapping right side kick against him. He drops to the ground, as her foot misses his head by fractions of an inch.
Ataru twists and sweeps her left leg successfully, but of course Lum does not fall.
Instead, she uses the momentum of the flip to actually attempt a mid air inverted scissor kick, with both her hands now on the ground!
Ataru uses the momentum of the sweep to execute a roll to the side, avoiding the attack; he immediately stands up to face her in a cat stance, most of his weight on his rear foot, a half fist in high guard and an open knife hand over his heart, while she gracefully flips herself up and slowly glides back in front of him.
Dust settles, as they both briefly pause, studying each other.
What am I doing? A cat stance!
He's surprised of his own reaction, recognizing positions and movement schemes from katas long forgotten.
Grandfather's voice: "There, Ataru-kun. This is the way."
Lum continues her attack, sprinting forward. A low, middle and high-flying reverse roundhouse kicks, then a hook kick; Ataru avoids the first two, is forced to parry with both arms the high kick and takes in the hook kick, retreats, and strafes to his right, falling back and increasing distance between them.
Lum dashes towards him, attacking with animal ferocity in a zigzagging path akin to a great feline.
A blow similar to a butterfly kick. A right high snap kick.
This is no good; her leg attacks are too fast and strong!
Ataru instantly closes the distance on the last kick, his left foot entering her space, patting hard the inside of her thigh with his palm and throwing off her still extended right leg, to break her attack and avoid another possible high powered kick. She twirls back around and claws him on the chest, the talon like fingernails of her left hand cutting fabric and flesh like razors.
Blood is drawn. Ataru lets out a muffled cry of pain.
She instantly follows through with a right hook punch, her whole weight behind her fist; Ataru manages to slam his left palm into her shoulder, damping the blow. She curls up in mid air, throwing herself backwards, using Ataru's counter as a pivot, to raise her left knee aiming to strike his chest. Ataru blocks the knee with a downward right palm thrust, but she uses the rebound to spring her right foot up, painfully striking his unprotected side just below his left armpit.
Still in midair, she kicks him away with her now free left foot, completing the somersault and landing in a perfect stance.
Ataru kneels, panting, and holding his aching side, one fist to the ground. The exchange has been too fast for the eye to follow, and Ataru has been reacting on instincts alone.
Lum keeps pressing on.
Circling him in midair, again rapidly strafing from side to side until she dashes towards him.
Her attack doesn't surprise Ataru, sidestepping to avoid the hammer kick, and back flipping to gain vital maneuvering space.
What does surprise Ataru, is unexpectedly finding Lum behind him after his evasive action, anticipating his tactic.
He spins to face her and attempt a defense, but, in an instant, she's over him. A Spear Hand Thrust passes right through his block, striking on his sternum, causing burning pain.
She closes in, her arms moving in a flash, like snakes around his arms, and, using a painful joint lever on his elbow, fully penetrates his guard.
Lum pins down Ataru's left foot crushing it with her own, using her right knee to smash into his right thigh, only inches from his groin; then, applying more pressure to the lever with her left arm, almost to the point of breaking his elbow, her right arm circles Ataru's chest grabbing the hair on the back of his head, and pulls him in a totally unexpected and incredibly violent kiss.
Lum completely blocked Ataru in a vise like hold, and for a moment that seems to last minutes, deep kisses a very surprised Ataru. He had his mouth open to gulp in air since the Spear Hand thrust left him breathless, and cannot oppose her tongue. She even closes her eyes.
He can feel her soft bosom rubbing against his chest, her hard nipples scraping the freshly cut skin.
Breaking the kiss, she whispers, "I love you, Darling."
She untangles herself in a lightning fast move, and shoves him away.
Startled, he regains some form, still in pain and breathing hard.
Lum pauses, elegantly changing guard, her legs moving in what looks like a dance step, and smiles beautifully to him, her eyes glowing.
"I just wet myself, Darling. So that you know", she purrs.
Her Side kick. His elbow block. She spins, with a left reverse punch, barely contained by his counter. Her hand hooks his wrist, pulling his arm as she takes a step back, shifting most of his weight off-center.
A sweep to his front foot, Lum again spins on herself facing away from him, thrusting the heel of her right foot between Ataru's legs; he loses balance, she wedges in his defense, her back against his chest, falling to knee level and following her spin, she lands a back left elbow high strike on his cheekbone!
Excruciating pain once more, a flash of light blurring his vision, blood in his mouth! She flows into another stance, shoving him forward, then faces her opponent and hits his solar plexus with a double fist strike, driving him several feet away, toppling in the dirt. One of his sneakers breaks loose.
Lum huskily growls, "Darling… please, hit me. Attack me! Subdue… and take me!"
His wind gone, Ataru regains a stance, painfully struggling to keep a low center of gravity and his defense up, trying to retain proper technique, subconsciously shaking away the other shoe to maintain balance.
Conceding no pause, Lum fiercely assaults him.
Ataru panics, feeling lost. He staggers away from Lum's unstoppable fury, parrying her following blows, stumbling backwards.
Breathe! Control the rhythm! One-two-three, exhale! Now, one-two- uugh!
Knee strike to the lower torso! He bends over.
She utters worriedly, in a broken voice, "Darling! Fight back!"
Her half fist one-two; his knife hand parry and open palm counter. She claws his hand with her fingernails and a front snap kick reaches the target, planting the ball of her foot deep in his side.
Blinding pain.
Lum's tone is now desperate.
"ATTACK ME! DEFEAT ME!"
She spins mid-air, following her strike, and delivers a reverse side kick.
Gasping for air, Ataru manages to reply "I… don't… can't… hurt you. I…"
Another kick, and still another.
Ataru always thought that his speed and resilience would give him an edge against anyone, but Lum is insanely fast and strong, way too strong… to be only… human?
She ain't human. Gods, I can't do it. I'm no match for her! Ojii-san, Help me!
Vision is doubling, blurring. He's losing focus, overwhelmed by the sheer number of blows literally raining on him.
Time is running short, for Lum. A desperate thought in her mind: her Darling does not fight back; he's not fulfilling his duty in the Courting. She's going to lose him.
Minus four minutes to the end of it all.
This is it. I'm going down.
"Ataru-kun. This is the moment. Use the Teishi jikan. Concentrate yourself!"
Ojii-san! It can't work! It never has, I don't know how to do it!
"Nonsense, Ataru-kun. You know. You always knew. It is there, inside you, only sealed and forgotten. You will not disappoint your Sensei!"
Ataru focuses all his will. Desperately trying to believe in something clearly impossible; but when all the rest fails… you cling on to the irrational. And, you…
Believe.
Burning energy flows in Ataru's veins, a tide of lifeforce overwhelms his soul and he can feel an uncontainable surge of pressure exploding in his mind…
Time seems to crawl to a stop.
Mind-boggling silence now plunges around him.
Pain seems to fade.
Light slowly changes angle and tint, its intensity dims, everything is bathed in a darker radiance.
Dust and sweat droplets freeze in air.
He instantly feels paralyzed, as if his body was cast in concrete.
Ataru struggles to move, but his limbs refuse to do so. Panic creeps into him.
All of a sudden he realizes that he is moving, only very, very slowly; and that everything else, including Lum, moves just as slowly. Time is in slow motion.
Disillusion turns to surprise and then excitement: It ain't over yet!
Ataru has all the time in the world, now.
"Ataru-kun. You have now access to a different space and time, a dimension that allows you to fully express your shinobi skill", the voice of his lost Grandfather echoes in the absolute silence of his mind. "Grasp this chance and treasure it!"
With pain and fatigue totally gone and unknown energy flowing in every limb and muscle, he feels weightless, as if gravity stopped working; only inertia can be felt. It takes forever to very slowly turn to look at Lum. He can make out every subtle detail, every little shadow on her face, his vision has a clarity and crispness he never experienced before. At the same time, he's aware of everything surrounding him, an awareness akin to waking up after a blurry dream, except that Ataru feels like he's been dreaming his whole life and only here and now he truly is wide awake. He's surprised to feel at peace, a calmness and serenity never before felt permeating him.
Endless minutes seem to pass, as she painstakingly inches towards him. Ataru can calmly study her eyes. Her blue pupils, of the purest crystal, locked, frozen in time staring in his own, and for the very first time, he notices a glittering, a faint sparkling within her eyes, as if the stars reflect themselves in her soul veiled of sadness.
There's a whole galaxy, swimming in the infinite blue of her eyes.
Her expression, carved out of granite, is painful to bear. Desperation and obvious disappointment twist her features.
Her fangs are bared, and she has a glare that would send shivers down the spine of a Delta Force operator, her loose and long glittering green hair wildly twirling around her, frozen in place.
Ataru cannot help but notice how Lum's normally supple, smooth and relaxed body, so dreamingly soft and warm, is now turned to an equally beautiful and honed killing machine, every single muscle slowly rippling under her skin as if it was flexible steel, definite, lean and powerful, the ultimate athlete: the body of a Perfect Spartan female warrior.
She's focused, and determined to bring down her opponent.
Her half fist frontal strike very slowly lunges for his throat. He does not even wince, very calmly intercepting the blow as the back of his left hand gently taps and deflects it harmlessly to the side, his stare never wavering from Lum's eyes.
As their gaze lock, something in her eyes change. She perceives that Ataru is different.
A different light illuminates her marvelous pupils, and her face relaxes in a gentler expression, her grin turning to a kind smile.
Ataru smiles as well.
Her attack does not stop.
But, he can now see her blows, every single one, and counter them. She's so impossibly slow that he could just as easily reach out and touch her face to gently caress her, end the challenge tagging her horns or stop her cold altogether with a direct throat strike. Lum would not be able to react in time, helpless as a child.
This moment, Ataru would be able to effortlessly win the duel, his mind fast as a lightning and his body pushed well beyond every human limit.
Somehow this thought even crosses his mind, but he dismisses it with shame.
I could never hurt her.
Another thought way in the back of his mind suggests using this ability to escape.
But, Ataru makes a decision that will impact his life forever. He chooses to stand his ground.
…
Lum has a revelation, crossing her gaze with Ataru, which instantly relieves her of the desperation induced by his lack of response to her courting.
Darling will NOT fight back. He does not need to! He will endure any punishment, and show me he can take anything, to prove his strength, his love for me. He will not yield nor fail, taking pleasure in pain… t-this is so beautiful…
The Darkness acknowledges and approves.
Resilience and survival IS acceptable, my Child.
…
Ataru's speed is so high that it's like moving underwater, sensing the flow of a thick fluid around his limbs and body with every movement. Light bends at the edges of the compressed air in front of their fists. Every contact creates ripple waves in the air, which can be felt reverberating as gentle and silent vibrations on his skin.
Her strikes are easily avoided, stopped or deflected by appropriate blocks and countermoves. Ataru draws on Ojii-san's experience; total economy of movement, fluidity, and control. Ataru indeed feels his Grandfather at his side.
Ojii-san's martial arts skills, consciously returning to him, finally allow Ataru to understand what Lum's incredible advantage in hand to hand combat is all about. A sense of admiration emerges in his mind. It is not only inhuman strength, speed, skill.
It's Balance.
She does not need balance, an essential fundament of any martial art, because she simply ignores gravity.
No - Ataru corrects himself - she uses gravity; Lum can instantly nullify, or shift all or a portion of her weight, controlling how gravity affects her, at will in any part of her body, focusing it in her blows, regaining her stability in any possible situation, using momentum, of course her mass is still present, and her flight thrust to add up to speed and power.
Moreover, she follows no identifiable style. No recurring pattern can be perceived in her movements, making her every single attack and stance totally unique and unpredictable, while Ataru's technique is based mostly on various Kempo and Ryukiu styles, especially Jujutsu.
Fighting this would be the ultimate challenge for even the greatest of Earth's Masters.
Lum does not hold back, she does not pull her punches, putting all herself in the fight. But Ataru realizes that her blows are apparently not vicious, or directed to vital targets, they are not meant to kill.
Almost as if the fight was, indeed, a dance.
An enlightenment.
They are dancing; she is expressing herself, enjoying the fight.
This is what she asked for.
Lum is daughter of a warrior race.
She is a Warrior.
The Darkness reveals the shining brilliance of her essence.
So, this is the real Lum, her truest and most hidden self.
Strong, fast, deadly, and at the same time gentle, caring and loving.
Loving… Yes, she loves him, and she's proving that she loves him through this fight.
H-how and why, in my right mind, should I be able to notice and acknowledge all this? What is the Darkness? Ataru thinks, bewildered; his mind is filled with strange and foreign thoughts.
Another roundhouse kick, he avoids it ducking, a reverse side kick follows, he dodges it.
Give in to the power, and indulge in the love you feel for her. You should grant her the love she craves. You should unleash your love, and strike her. Lovingly administer pain.
Alien thoughts swarm Ataru's mind.
His movements are now extremely elegant, precise, mostly following sections of an arc, like a door swinging on its hinges, fluid and uniform; opposing as little resistance as possible to her blows, redirecting their force whenever practical, using rebound from a block or strike to assist movement. Breathing in perfect harmony to his movements.
He can see the shadow of his Grandfather over him, guiding his actions. He feels synchronized. In tune.
Ataru's so focused he completely ignores every ethic and value he always thought were his driving principles and beliefs.
Once more, free choice has been taken away from Ataru. Tricked into doing what the teenager loathes most, violence. A conflicting thought cries for attention, in the back of his mind: This Is Wrong. You don't want to hurt her. Stop. Run. Run away.
But, Ataru cannot, or doesn't want to, listen.
The VIP Stage's point of view
Shortly after Ran's lecture and after a few more details had been exchanged on the legendary, and believed lost, Oni courting ritual, Invader's family and Lum's friends returned to the VIP stage.
A hasty meeting with the Oni judging panel regarding Lum's and Ataru's 'role exchange' in the race decreed that, however unprecedented, it is acceptable and within the rules, since Ataru's goal of tagging Lum's horns remain unchanged. The fact that Ataru decided to forsake his goal for the remaining duration of the race does not break any rule.
Of course, Mr. Ionberindei and the representatives of the Famdoomi government currently in charge vehemently opposed the decision, but the judging panel rejected it on the grounds that their Champion acted on his own will, without any outside influence.
Since then, Mr. and Mrs. Invader almost relaxed at Ataru's ability to avoid Lum, and hoped that it would last until the end of the race, given that it would essentially mean victory for the Oni side, and at the same time, an ending of the ritual without any real damage.
But, as Ataru trapped himself in Famdom City's main Contact Sports Stadium, Lum's parents and friends immediately knew that their hopes were not to be rewarded.
From the outside, the raging battle seems a duel to death.
The gigantic screens placed next to the VIP stage show multiple angles of the challenge, thanks to hundreds of small robotic video cameras shooting continuously every single instant of Lum and Ataru's fight. The footage is also live feeding throughout the Galaxy Quadrant, using Subspace real-time connection to simultaneously reach every technologically advanced, and Federation acknowledged, sentient race.
Including Earth.
Lum's parents are ill at ease to see their beloved daughter relentlessly attack a boy they finally admit they both care for, and now consider as much as a son.
Sure, the Swamps' priests reassured them on the nature of this ancient and barbarically violent ritual, the legendary preliminary to an Oni nuptial union, in which both parties demonstrate and test each other's physical strengths and abilities to defend a future family against an enemy, and emphasized on the fact that the confrontation should be nothing more than a passionate sparring session, at the end of which, a bonding of some sort should happen.
Nonetheless, the fact that no one has witnessed an actual Oni courting for several thousand years did everything but help to relieve their concern.
Everyone else on the VIP stage is totally entranced by the astonishingly elegant and violent combat unfolding before their eyes. The sheer speed at which each blow is delivered is unbelievable; air is actually compressed around them, shock waves visible, and dust blown away from the ground.
But, what deems more incredible to one specific onlooker is not that Ataru seems more than capable to hold his own against Lum, rather that his defensive movements feature an unconceivable and unprecedented grace and beauty. Benten whistles in admiration at the sheer perfection of the martial Art he's performing. She unconsciously feels attracted to Ataru, for the first time in her life, recognizing him as a Warrior, among Warriors; the only way her people is willing to grant respect.
As the minutes pass, Benten notes that the fight is essentially one sided. Lum attacks relentlessly, and Ataru expertly counters. Every punch and kick strikes his defense with massive energy, which he seems to absorb and dissipate with relative ease.
The battle is fought silently, with no tenseness in both fighters' faces.
Ataru is completely focused in defense, countering Lum's attacks, only following through with a blow if it is a logical consequence of a defensive move, concentrating in executing throws, instead.
Benten hopes against hope that Ataru will make it relatively unharmed to the end of the challenge.
Ataru stands his ground… but, for how long? Thanks the Holy Stars time is running out, only minutes to the end. Maybe, just maybe…
Benten's expert eye notices an otherwise imperceptible change of pace. Ataru appears to slow down, and suddenly attacks Lum. Her hopes crumble. She bitterly thinks, This is it. Lum won.
…
Lum and Ataru find themselves almost in contact in front of each other.
Her right knee blow to his side, evenly countered with his right hand, her right elbow strike feint to the face, he blocks it but for the first time cannot avoid the following back fist.
She opens the hand millimeters before the impact, damping the hit. Her knuckles actually caress his cheek. Somehow the surely excruciating pain does not register with Ataru, feeling a pleasing, warm, soft sensation instead, against his face.
He shakes it off before pivoting in yet another defensive position, troubled by this slip. Her speed seems to inexplicably increase.
Lum pivots herself, after a horizontal left back elbow strike following the spin of the previous attack, rolling into a crouching position right below her Darling.
He's somehow wide open. She focuses all her mass in the heel of her right palm, striking almost vertically for his chin.
She curbs a potentially fatal blow millimeters from the impact, transforming it in yet another caress, sliding her hand along his face. He only feels the stroke, not the sting and blood gushing out of the cuts her sharp and rock hard knuckles leave.
Ataru sidesteps and crouches, performing a calf kick, using the swing to penetrate her defense, reaching with a double palm strike her midsection. The mighty blow compresses the air between them, and there's no physical contact; she actually perceives the attack as a slow, controlled and cuddling push.
Nonetheless, Lum finds herself ten feet away from Ataru, her wind momentarily gone.
This time, Ataru is decidedly worried.
W-what is going on? I had to attack her, I'm starting to lose track of her movements… Gods, Gods, don't leave me now!
…
The fight almost hypnotically fascinates Rairale.
A slightly more confident Mr. Ionberindei whispers to Rairale:
"If Moroboshi stands his ground, that demon is going to kill him! If this happens, we won!"
Rairale stares back disgustedly to him.
"Ioni, you not understand. They are making love, yes? It is ancient Oni warrior way of loving, Dance of Warrior Lovers, and I marvel he accepted it. I imagined he would not have enough guts to."
Ionberindei, with a puzzled expression, turns to face her.
"Rai… How do you know?"
"Devil Lum my enemy, reason all this happened, yes? I know everything about Devil Lum."
"But… you seemed surprised, months ago, of my plan to induce Invader to… and…"
His guts tense with a dreadful feeling; it takes a moment before he can express his fears.
"You… conned me into this? You… becoming my trusted… you… worked me for months, years, suggesting, convincing me that it could be done, that it would work, we could seize power… only for this?"
"Yes. I wanted revenge on Devil Lum. It was only way to touch Devil Lum, with only thing in Universe Devil Lum care for… Moroboshi. It worked, yes?" she answered simply.
"Y… you double crossing whore! You accused me of lying to you! You risked all our lives and the lives of every…"
A dagger magically appears in her hand, the serrated blade gently stroking his neck's skin. A drop of blood stains the razor sharp edge.
"Ioni, now, shut up, yes?"
A pause.
"Please, enjoy the dance. It is beautiful, yes? Outcome may, or not, be end of one's life. Nonetheless, both will deeply be scarred. Let's go and see with our eyes first hand!"
…
Into the white ashes
In the darkest hour, even just a flicker of light is enough to spark hope. But, just as easily, it can be put off like a candle in a gale. The black queen moves, the white tower's gone and it's a checkmate to the White King
…
Only a couple of minutes separate Lum and Ataru from the end of the challenge.
During their battle, they moved out of the amphitheatre on to the streets.
His confidence and speed gone, Ataru lost initiative, and Lum gradually took over, scoring hit after hit, slowly tearing down every defense and inflicting incremental damage to his body.
Fear and fatigue oppresses Ataru. He feels depleted, exhausted, and no longer able to maintain the technique he mastered for the first time in his life.
The subjective flow of time, which progressively sped up since the almost freezing moment of his awareness of Teishi jikan, suddenly fades completely. What felt like hours of combat, actually lasted less than four minutes.
A roar fills his ears, his vision blurs again, and searing pain washes over him, like a mighty splash of boiling water.
Wiping his face with his wrist, he realizes that blood flows from his nose and mouth. Still more precious blood seeps from cuts and gouges on knees, elbows, and his chest, lazily dripping to the ground.
Ataru can't move his right leg anymore, sensibility gone in a painful numbness; many ribs are cracked, one must have punctured a lung, he absent-mindedly thinks, noting the red froth he coughed up moments before.
A few fingers in his left hand are surely broken.
He cannot muster his breathing, now completely out of control.
Every muscle in his body screams, from the immense strain of the Teishi Jikan. Even without Lum's damages, he'd be helpless and weak as a newborn baby.
The teenager's body is crumbling, only his exceptional spirit allows it to stand.
Gods! Ojii-san, What am I supposed to do now?
Silence.
Ojii-san!
Only now Ataru notices that the shadow of his Grandfather shrouding his body subtly disappeared along with the Stop Time technique.
Shit! Why didn't I use Teishi Jikan to break contact and just run away! I really blew it…
Lum stands maybe fifteen feet in front of him, apparently fresh as a rose and deadly as a tiger, eagerly preparing her attack.
Ataru looks at her magnificent figure.
…and I've also burnt all I have… into white ashes.
He raises and holds his open left hand towards Lum.
Stop.
She freezes in response.
"L-Lum-chan... Let's end it here. OK?"
He tries to sound strong, in control. Childishly wishing to maintain a semblance of dignity, of male superiority. But, inside, Ataru's only a cowering puppy…
Please… Please Lum. I've had enough… I give up, you win… have mercy.
Ataru looks at her, expectantly, with hope in his eyes. After all, only seconds separates them from the end of the challenge. He made it!
His vision blurs again, but in reality it's only Lum's incredible speed. She accelerates towards him like a bullet.
He doesn't even try to parry her attack, a sense of betrayal clutching his heart at Lum's reaction to his plea; a roundhouse kick slaps him in the face, removing his guard to expose his chest, and she follows through with a tremendous flying thrust side kick to his lower abdomen that almost cuts Ataru in two.
The thunderous sonic crack of her right foot, breaking Mach speed before the massive impact, is partially muffled by his flesh, and echoes throughout the empty streets.
The thrust is so powerful that Ataru is propelled across the street, to smash against a parked hovercar, ramming through the side door, and tearing down everything inside; plastic, metal and bone sickly screaming from the impact.
The dust settles. Everything is now motionless, and totally silent.
…
Ramu Invader, daughter of Oniboshi and Uru Warlord Invader, Noble Oni Raijin Race, and one of the last Hannya still in existence, is master of the field. She majestically stands tall, breathing evenly and deeply, gazing down with curiosity her fallen opponent.
While the last, golden, light ray of the sunset dies over the mountains surrounding Famdom's capital city, a distant report echoes.
The judges far, far away, declare the winner of the challenge.
…
Lum breathes deeply, savoring the absolute power flowing through her, feeling unnaturally and recklessly ecstatic, her darkness satisfied at last.
Like stars shining through the dark blanket of a moonless night, light starts to punch through the dark matter that swallowed her mind.
The incredible tide of excessive emotions, ranging from sheer intoxication, to depravation and lust, to deepest grief, that engulfed her conscience for the last weeks, slowly retreats.
Light dissipates darkness. A benevolent smile forms from the last strands of darkness overwhelmed by the blinding light that is Lum's passion and love.
But… something is off. Her Elected one is not rising from the ground, smiling to her. He is not happily running towards her, to sweep her off the ground, ecstatic that the courting has been granted, that his resilience and determination has been judged acceptable. He's not moving… Why?
The puzzling sensation slowly fades, her conscience flowing back in her mind, as an answer struggles to be acknowledged. With it, weak sparks start forming again on her skin.
As the Darkness leaves, a sensation of expanding awareness fills a void in her mind, flowing like water around herself and towards her Elected one.
Moments later, only one thought explodes in her mind, once again free and in total control of herself.
Darling!
…
Inside the wrecked hovercar, with both eyes closed, unable to move and breathing in short gasps, Ataru tastes the oily and coppery flavor of blood congealing in his mouth, and realizes that Lum must have broken something really important inside him, this time. She hit him with more force he'd ever believed possible. Ataru feels an immense weight on his chest, and crumpling cardboard inside his collapsed lungs. Pain is slowly fading away, turning to cold and wet numbness.
A sense of defeat, regret and sadness… for Lum's betrayal.
Who cares… Who just gives a damn! I always knew it would all end in a pile of crap.
Nothing really matters for Ataru, anymore. The distant noises of a crowd gathering around fade into silence, and the dancing shades of light in front of him slowly disappear, his mind dizzily swimming in a dark void, detached from his body and the material world.
So this is the bitter end. Now, if it wasn't so lonely, at least…
Alone… all alone. No one to comfort him, not even Lum.
Gods, it's so cold. Cold… I want so much to see you, one last time. To tell… you that… I… I…
-I know, Darling.
What? Lum…?
-Yes. I can hear you, the Art allows me to. I love you so much. Help is on the way!
Lum… help, help me, it's cold, don't leave me here… all by myself… alone…
-Darling, hold on! I'm here!
Silence.
-Darling?
…
Suddenly, eons before or after the end of Time, Ataru finds himself naked right below the surface of the ocean. Physically whole, but with no memory of any past. He can see, above him, the warm and bright light of the sun, the blue sky, filtering thru the waves. He can wave his hands above the water, feeling the comfortable heat of the sun on his skin. But, slowly, he starts sinking. He tries to swim back up, to the surface, to the sun's cozy warmness; but, his weight drags him down, towards the freezing, dark depths of the ocean. The light becomes more and more distant as everything turns black and cold. His last conscious thought before yielding to the void is the warm memory of a little girl's gentle kiss on his cheek.
Notes.
Hey, I did warn you it would be dark… of course, it's still rated T, so I feel this is the max I can do. I'm working hard on the next chapter, but I'm also looking for a new job, so it will take some time.
I hope I got the descriptions of the fight right. I have some experience in Martial Arts, and although I can visualize the whole fight, describing it is REALLY difficult. I desperately will accept any suggestion to improve this chapter!
…
You win a no prize if you can correctly place my citation of a movie in this chapter's ending.
…
Teishi jikan: Literally, "Stop Time" in Japanese. Believe it or not, the experience of Time Distortion is something that really happens to human beings in over 85% of all life threatening moments. In 65% time slows down- in essence, it is the perception that time slows down, even to the point that a second seems a whole minute. Being it a subjective perception, it is assumed that the mind is actually "overclocking".
There are recorded instances in which SWAT team members could actually see bullets fly around them, surely not as in "the Matrix", but slow as a hand thrown rock. A US Police officer reported a firefight lasting about two minutes, in which he shot various rounds, emptying his handgun. The audio recording of that fight shows it lasted less than six seconds.
The problem is that no one still knows how to actually trigger it, and that its effect does not last for more than a few seconds; plus, it comes with a lot of drawbacks, like losing fine movement control, tunnel vision and "black condition", high heartbeat rates, etc.
Again, I suggest reading Lt. Col. D. Grossman's works on Combat Physiology to whoever is interested in this subject in real life.
In my story, I imagine that a Ninjutsu art discovered how to activate it at will (preventing all the above mentioned "side effects"), enhancing the effect to multiply it tenfold –imagine thinking hundreds times faster, fractions of a second lasting many subjective minutes, your body working at speeds and power levels on a par- and that Ataru, in a particular situation, has been trained to trigger it. Paired with his "everyday" incredible speed and already superhuman stamina and endurance, it would be an amazing combination.
Into the white ashes: remember, UY (and, therefore, this fanfiction) is placed in the first half of the 90's. At that time, the 70's anime "Ashita no Jō" (Tomorrow's Joe) was really, really still hot in Japan -hell, apart from the really dated art style, the story is magnificent even today: I love it! - and the ending is one of the best known in Anime history. It is safe to assume that Ataru is, in anime, a fan of "Ashita no Jō": he impersonates Joe in the Battle on the Roof in Anime Episode 43, "The Terror of Meow", and correctly identifies Ryunosuke's attack to her father as Joe's against Wolf, in Anime Episode 63, "Ryunosuke Arrives! I Love the Sea!".
The quote "I've burnt all I have… into white ashes." is from the emotionally strong "Ashita no Jō" ending, and is Joe Yabuki's last line before asking his boxing gloves be removed and handed to Yoko. Seconds later, Joe dies in the ring, never to know that his opponent Mendosa actually won the match.
Lum's kick: Assuming you're really curious, I have calculated that the striking portion of her leg, integrating the different speeds of various parts of her body for a total mass of about 52 Kg would yield roughly 14 Kg, at a speed estimate of about 400 m/s (just a bit above Mach speed at ground level), the energy of her kick is equivalent to a M102 howitzer's 105mm projectile at 4000 m (which delivers about 1,080,000 joule!).