The Tale of Rage

by Empirialtank

Rage must find a master and Shogun seems like just the man for the job too bad he's a wanted man with the entire police force of Tokyo on his tail plus a rival Doji gunning for his head will he take the job and the resposibility to end the world? Complete

10. Chapter 8:Song of Battle, Dawn of War

Note: I do not own Ultimo or any of the character used herein. All rights go to their respective owners. I also don't own Johnny I hardly knew Ya. It is an old Irish anti war tune, the version that I had in mind for the scene is the property of the band The Dropkick Murphies and everyone within sight of these words should go to Itunes or Limewire or whatever system you use to acquire music and buy that song. You all should also go out and buy the latest issue of Ultimo while you're at it to.

Note two: This Chapter will contain a musical scene with:

Lyrics on this side And the corresponding action on this one.

Understood? This is still experimental and if anyone thinks it is a bad idea or simply can't be done properly please tells me in a review. You all are also free to write a review if you like the story or have problems with anything else. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 8: Songs of Battle at the Dawn of War

Shogun was impatient. He was tired of spending all this time waiting for someone to turn up and start the war. It had been over two years since he and Rage had met and founded the Evil Doji Club by taming Jealous and breaking his master. Since then they had not heard heads or tails of any of the other thirteen doji. Even Jealous had been quiet as his master obsessively tried to rebuild his political career from the death blow that the Yakuza had dealt him as punishment for stepping out of line. Two long years of doing nothing but training, of hiding from the police and doing minimal work for his own employer. Two years of doing almost nothing at all, and he was getting damn board of it.

Of course that time had been well spent and had been desperately needed. Rage was not ready for the war when Shogun first found him and to be honest he wasn't either. Rage was too reckless and impulsive to be of any good in a real battle. He had no control over his own anger, he drew power from the weakest portions of his hatred and attacked to recklessly. If they hadn't had time to train, Rage's power would've been wasted in suicide attack on Ultimo. Shogun also needed that time to train, to raise himself up to the point where he could control and focus Rage's power.

He had truly forgotten just how intoxicating Rage could be when they bounded together body and soul. He had forgotten how impossible it was to control and focus his anger, to keep his power from overwhelming him. Normally controlling anger was one of Shogun's specialties, he had thrived as a Yakuza because he could put his anger down and call it back up when he needed it. But Rages power was of a different kind altogether. Shogun wanted to watch the world burn to be honest, Rage wanted to butcher the whole universe one individual at a time. He didn't just hate the world, or the human race, he hated every single human being, every single animal and even every tree in the forest. He wanted to personally kill each and every one of them as slowly and as painfully as he could, while still committing genocide against the rest of world. It was a truly wondrous and terrifying anger that all but defied his imagination.

The real danger of his anger was how corrosive it was. After a day of training it was hard for Shogun to tell what was his own furry and what he had picked up off his page. It seeped into his mind and poisoned all the other emotions he had as it joined with his own furry and expanded it to an equal level with his own. It was nearly impossible for Shogun to keep from burning the forest to the ground the first time he and Rage used their full power. Yet he had done it, and after two years of training he had learned how to wield Rage as a sword. He could focus and bear Rage's hatred for the world and use it against his opponents and it was a truly terrifying sight to behold. It had taken him two years of training but Rage and Shogun were finally ready for the war, but apparently the war wasn't ready for them.

Two years and nothing had happened and it was driving Shogun mad with anticipation. Still he had to wait, he couldn't move until the Doji began to unite with their masters and until then he had to patiently wait. Rage was also being driven mad by the waiting. He was certain that either Ultimo or Regula were already out in the world, training and getting stronger and that filled him with excitement. He wanted to find them, he wanted to kill them, he wanted to let the fires burn and roar and consume the world. But he had to wait.

The waiting came to an end one Thursday morning in late May. With only one year to go till the Funeral of the Hundred Machines something in the world and in heaven stirred. Something shook the cosmos itself to the core and its effects were felt everywhere in the world. Earthquakes broke out hundreds of miles from a fault line. Every animal began to sheik. Every bird in the world took to the skies and began to fly around in circles. Every fish leaped out of the water, every predator attacked the nearest kind of prey. The most artistic humans in the world had the most terrible nightmares of their lives and the most intelligent humans could not bring themselves to sleep. It would have been the most amazing event in history, but it happened at two in the morning and had little effect outside of Asia so most people didn't notice at all. Shogun noticed it though, mainly because Rage all but ripped the building of the ground when he leapt out of bed that night.

"ULTIMO!!!" Rage screamed as he leapt out of bed and through the ceiling above him, shaking the house and awakening Shogun from a pleasant dreamless sleep.

"WHAT?! WHERE?!" Shogun shouted as he drew a colt magnum and his desert eagle out from under his pillow and swept the room for any sign of his ancient foe.

Rage looked about himself trying to get his bearing, "I don't know, I was just resting next to you and then suddenly his face forced his way into my mind. It must have been a dream." He said.

Shogun reached up and grabbed Rage by the leg as he floated in the middle of the hole in the ceiling and pulled him back down. He looked Rage in the eye and said, "Rage, calm down, remember, you don't dream. The best you can do is watch my dreams happen in your mind, so think carefully about this. Why did you see Ultimo in your mind?"

Rage closed his eyes and stopped shaking for a minute and started to concentrate on what he had seen. As he did so Shogun felt the mark Rage had placed on his right arm begin to burn signaling that Rage was subconsciously asking for Shogun's help. He gladly opened up his mind to do just that. He felt a slight pain as his nerves connected with Rage followed by the familiar warmth of Rage's subconscious mind. Rage showed him the memory of what he had seen in his mind.

He saw Ultimo in all of his splendor and power standing above a tower with a drawn blade. Below him was the shattered body of a demon that had clearly been struck down by the blade. The demon was blurred as if Rage had only seen it in the periphery. That figures, Shogun thought to himself. Rage gets shown a vision like this and he misses half of it because he focused only on his enemy. Shogun examined the fallen demon as carefully as he could, and he could just barely make out the sight of someone standing in the middle of the fallen corpse looking at Ultimo from below, with burning green eyes. Shogun smiled and looked back over the rest of the scene, especially at the tower and the buildings around it. He recognized the tower within a few seconds and then he backed out of Rage's mind.

Once he did Rage began to speak, "It wasn't a nightmare, and it was a still shot, a single image of what is to come."

"Correct. You're getting much better at interpreting your own memories Rage; do you know who was in the image?"

"Ultimo, he will arise soon and will make his presence known in a dramatic way."

"True but that isn't all, Vice is there as well. They both must have just awakened. They must be heading for their masters."

"I don't think so master, neither Yamato nor K was in that vision. I think that are going to attack each other without their masters."

"You think so?"

"Yes Master, I can feel it, war is about to break out they will clash with each other in just a few days."

"No Rage," Shogun said smiling at how much restraint Rage was showing in his voice right now. A year before this he would have taken off by now to find and attack Ultimo, "They are going to clash tomorrow and we must be ready for them. The first battle of the final war is here and the battlefield is set to be the Farmless Tower in Tokyo."

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Rage exclaimed as he grabbed Shogun and prepared to break through the wall to make a mad dash for Tokyo.

"WAIT, WAIT! Rage, I need to put some clothes on first." Shogun screamed trying to keep Rage from destroying more of his Sister's home.

Rage put him down and Shogun made his way over to the dresser and pulled out a shirt and pair of pants that could easily conceal his firearms. Two years of long work and he still only retains self control for three minutes. Oh well, I suppose that works too. After all, patient planning has never been my style either.

Skip to: Music time.

Woman:While on the road to sweet Athy Woman and man are walking in Farmless tower looking over the restaurants and flirting with one another as they sing

Man:Huroo hurooo

Woman:While on the road to sweet Athy

Man:Huroo hurooo

Woman:While on the road to sweet Athy

A stick in the hand a drop in the eye

A doleful damsel I did cry Woman screams at sight of demon

Demon:Johnny I hardly knew ya Demon smashes the tower as he speaks

Where are the eyes that were so mild? Demon descends on the people of the streets smashing buildings. Police rush to the scene

Police: Huroo Huroo Demon attacks police destroying helicopter and cars,

Demon: Where are they eyes that were so mild? turns to Woman2 clutching baby,

Woman 2: Huroo Huroo Woman screams as the demon swings at her,

Ultimo: Where are they eyes that were so mild? In Distance Ultimo watches and takes off towards the demon and Woman2

When my poor heart you first beguiled

Dunstan: Why did you run from me and my child? In greater distance Dunstan watches quietly while smiling to himself.

Ultimo: Johnny I hardly knew ya. Ultimo blocks the demon's attack.

Ultimo: We got guns and drums and drums and guns Ultimo forms his arm into a lion and rises up in the air throwing the demon off balance

Police: Huroo, Huroo Police and people look awestruck at Ultimo

We got guns and drums and drums and guns

Ultimo: Huroo, Huroo Ultimo swings and utterly destroys the demon

We got guns and drums and drums and guns

Police: And the enemy never slew ya, Policeman 1 approaches Ultimo

Together: Johnny I hardly knew ya.

Policeman1: Where are the legs with which ya run? Policeman 1 questions ultimo

Ghosts: Huroo, Huroo Ghosts of the dead take to the air form second chorus.

Ultimo: Where are the legs with which ya run? Ultimo ignores Policeman 1 and flies over the fallen demon speaking to it.

Police: Huroo, Huroo Police follow him

Ultimo: Where are the legs with which ya run? Ultimo speaks to center of the fallen demon

Vice: When first ya learned to carry a gun? Vice arise smiling at Ultimo

Indeed your dancing days are done. Vice knocks Ultimo back

Together: Johnny I hardly knew ya. They greet each other with wide smiles

K: We got guns and drums and drums and guns K departs from Chorus and fires on Vice with his gun

Vice: Huroo Huroo Vice catches bullets

We got guns and drums and drums and guns Vice copies guns and fires back

Police: Huroo Huroo Police panic

Ultimo: We got guns and drums and drums and guns Ultimo blocks the bullets with his hands

and the enemy never slew ya. Vice is Angry, Police terrified,

Together: Johnny I hardly knew ya. Ultimo has face of grim determinations

Musical interlude Vice and Ultimo dual in the air

Vice: You haven't an arm you haven't a leg Vice lashes out at Ultimo with Turtle blade

Ghosts: Huroo Huroo Ghost shudder at the force of the blow

Police: You haven't an army you haven't a leg Police cry out as Ultimo's guts are ripped out by a second blow from Vice

Ghosts: Huroo Huroo Ghosts morn

Ultimo: You haven't an arm you haven't a leg Ultimo counter attacks with Crane sword takes Vice's arm off

Vice: You're a spinless boneless chickenless egg. Vice screams as his arm falls anger pouring from his very being

You'll have to be put with a bowl to beg

Together: Johnny I hardly knew ya Ultimo and Vice glare at each other

Vice: We've got guns and drums and drums and guns Vice forms hand into a drum and points it and Ultimo and the whole town

Huroo Huroo

Police: We've got guns and drums and drums and guns Police panic at sight of new terror

Huroo Huroo

Ultimo: We've got guns and drums and drums and guns Ultimo contemplates Vice's move and reveals the jets under his kimono.

and the enemy never slew ya. Fires Rockets and flies at Vice

Ultimo and Vice: Johnny I hardly knew ya Vice and Ultimo fly off into heaven.

Shogun: Well I am happy oh, to see ya home Shogun and Rage watch them ascend from a nearby building speaking reverently

Rage: Huroo Huroo

Dunstan: Well I am happy oh, to see ya home Dunstan stares up as he watches his creations ascend

Muziki: Huroo Huroo Muziki speaks sarcastically

Ultimo: I am Happy oh, to see ya home Ultimo whispers to Vice as they leave the Atmosphere

Vice: From the isle of Ceylon Vice presses the drum into Ultimo chest

Ultimo and Vice: Johnny I hardly knew ya They smile and glare at each other

K: We've got guns and drums and drums and guns K approaches Vice's fallen arm and lifts it up the ground

Police: Huroo Huroo The police cry in morning for the dead

Old man: We've got guns and drums and drums and guns Old man in the mountains speaks to Ultimo's fallen body

Ghosts: Huroo, Huroo Ghost sing in quiet caring voices

Shogun and Dunstan: We've got guns and drums and drums and guns. Dunstan leaves his roof top as Shogun looks over the destruction with a wide smile

Rage and Muziki: and the enemy never slew ya Rage's eyes are filled with madness, Muziki with disgust

Policeman 1: Well Johnny I hardly knew ya. Policeman 1 scratches his head with his pistol while staring at the ruins of the tower.

End of song People slowly depart from the scene of carnage

Skip

"Damn," Rage said as the people began to disperse out of the disaster area, "That was violent, destructive and artistic, I had expected the first two but the sure beauty of it all took me completely by surprise."

"They're everything you remember and more." Shogun responded, "Ultimo is surely the god of heaven, who personally slew four of the Seven Deadly sins, and Vice is truly the lord of hell, who's power was great enough to challenge a rival with five long years of training under his belt."

"Even without their masters they are damn near unstoppable. We should've struck now, Master while we had the chance."

"Rage if you would just extend your sense, you would see that there was no chance to attack here. Isn't that right, Eko-san?"

"Oh, I am not so sure about that, Nobuhide-dono," A man said as he stepped out of the shadows behind a billboard. He was a very large man, almost as tall as Shogun with a hundred pounds on him easily. He looked like a Sumo wrestler had had a bastard son with a grizzly bear in every respect save that he was smiling like a fool. He wore a kimono and a butcher's apron which reeked of fresh fish. He also wore a chef's hat with his name on it. Behind him there was a small boy with a bald head. He was shorter than Rage but looked to be about the same age. He wore black pants and had large gloves on his hands but they were not nearly as large as Rage's. He was floating a few feet off the ground with his legs crossed Indian styles.

Shin Ekoda continued as Shogun measure him up to his old memories of the Buddhist priest he had once known. "I don't know if I would've attacked you, the last time we fought each other I died and it was a very painful death that I would not want to repeat."

"Too bad," Rage said with a devilish grin as he saw his old rival, Reguala the Moral, "I've longed to feel your guts sliding over my spears again ever since I woke up. The memory of your murder is one of most favorites."

"If you treasure that memory," Regula said in calm voice not even glancing up from his meditative stance, "Or any other for that matter, you should not speak in such a way again Rage the Wrathful."

"Why Regula is that a challenge? I would love to have your mind within reach of mine once again." As Rage finished he drew one his long Yuri pikes from his gloves and took up a fighting stance.

Regula immediately leapt in front of his master and brought his gloves together as if he too planned to draw a weapon. But before he could, Ekoda put his hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. Eko-san then said, "Nobuhide, you really should maintain more control over your doji. You know that this town has suffered enough under the ultimates's furry, there is no need for it to suffer further and yet your doji is clearly trying to provoke mine."

"What makes you so certain that I don't want to see this town burn from such a battle? Or that Rage isn't acting under my orders?"

"I you wanted to fight and kill me, then you wouldn't waste time trying to provoke me into battle, you would simply attack and be done with it. Besides not even you are so heartless as to seek out such rampant destruction."

"Is that an observation, or a desperate plea to my better nature?"

"What do you mean?"

"Shin Ekoda, you have had that Doji for at least two years and there is no way you could not have guessed that I had mine as well. So I ask myself, 'Why hasn't Eko-san sought me out? Surely he knows that if Rage possesses two years of training when the other Doji arise it will lead to horrible battles as I seek to destroy them all. Does he fear me and my power? Or does he fear his own?' I can't find answers to these questions. In the last life you hunted me endlessly yet in this one you have cowered in your sushi shop for the last two years. Why? Why are you shrinking back from the call of justice and your duty to judge my evil deeds?"

"Nobuhide, you must realize that for us to fight is to invite ruin upon the world." Eko-san said as he became deathly serious for a moment. "When you and I and the ultimates fought each other for the final time in the last life, over half of Japan was destroyed. Four doji fought and tens of thousands died, and you can't really say that I fought in that battle, you threw me down in a couple of minutes, most of the fighting was between Vice, Ultimo and you. Can you imagine how much greater the destruction will be in modern Japan? Can you imagine how much greater the destruction will be when fifteen Doji clash instead of only three? The Funeral of a Hundred Machines, the final battle between good and evil will surely destroy the world we can't let that happen."

Shogun remained silent for a moment and thought about this. Then he said, "I agree, the final battle would be a tremendous waste of human life to settle our old scores. Don't worry though; I have a simple plan for preventing it. I have men who are tracking the movement of each of the masters of the Zen Doji and of the Evil Doji. You just go back home and return to your family and I will see to it that Rage attacks and kills each of the Zen Doji before they can take the oath with their masters. I will also unite all of the seven deadly sins, so that when Ultimo returns we can rush him all together and kill him quickly. With him dead there will be no one left to oppose the Evil Doji and we will peacefully remake the world. No climatic final battle, no destruction of the human species. Just a few isolated assassinations and that will take care of everything. What do you say Eko-san? All you have to do ensure the survival of mankind is just sit back and do nothing."

"You can't be serious."

"Deathly so I am afraid. The only way to prevent the final battle is to destroy one side or the other before they can amass enough power or influence to put up any serious resistance."

"Why side with the Evil Doji? You don't honestly think that mankind will survive for long under a sadistic bastard like Vice? Your plan doesn't save humanity it just drags out it suffering."

"Well I am, sure as hell, not going to stand idly by while you kill of the Sins and Vice. It's not like the Zen Doji could do any better. How long do you think it will be before Ultimo blasts Las Vegas and the slums of Tokyo out of existence for their sins? You don't honestly think that mankind can live up to the expectations of the perfections?"

"No I don't, which is why fighting will not solve this. Weather good or evil wins it will lead to the ruin of the earth. So we must ensure that neither good nor evil fight. We must stop the funeral by keeping the Doji from killing each other. Don't you see Shogun? The way of war leads to madness and suffering."

"And how do you intend to keep Ultimo and Vice from ripping each other a new one?"

"We can't but I am certain that you could persuade their masters to hold them back. None of the Doji can dare fight each other without their masters. In the last life we all had issues that drove us to war with one another, but we can all see where they got us, surely even you have sworn off your desire to avenge Osamu. What reason do any of us have to fight one another now?"

"You misjudge me Eko-san, I did not seek Yamato's head for Osamu's sake. I sought to kill him because I despised the world itself with a passion the likes of which you could never imagine. That has not changed. Rage follows me because I honestly want to watch the world burn as much as he does. You will find that all the other sins and their masters are the same way."

"Yet for all your hatred you have not tried to take my head. I can see it in your eyes and I can see it reflected in Rage's you want to kill me quite badly right now, but you haven't because you know how pointless it would be."

"Maybe, or maybe I just want to see how much you have changes since we last fought. Nonetheless you will not find any of the others sins so peaceful and calm. Jealous's master already tried to kill me, I doubt he will hesitate to try and kill you."

"There are other ways to pacify the Doji."

"How?"

"Not 'How?' but who?" Shin Ekoda said as he got to the point of the matter, "Dunstan is the answer, he has manipulated us all since the first war and the grave will not keep him from manipulating us now. If we can capture him and turn his power for our own use we could stop this war at its source."

"Ah, so that's the real plan. Catch the uncatchable, insane Professor Dunstan you certainly have high minded goal don't you."

"He's not uncatchable, together we could take him."

"No," Shogun said as he shook his head, "Not you and me. Rage and Regula could never work together and even if they could they couldn't capture Dunstan. To capture him you would need Rage, Desiru, Service, Ultimo and Vice working together. Ultimo would be the key. Without him any plan would be damned to failure."

"So you have given thought to it?"

"Of course. One doesn't spend two years with a Doji chopping up raw fish; I have thought about everyone of the possible battles facing Rage including the chance that we face Dunstan."

"Can it be done?"

"Possibly. It all would depend Ultimo and Yamato. They would need the Wisdom of the Gods and the Wisdom of the Traveler to get the job done and they would need three counters and Vice to support them. Not to mention you would have to track down Dunstan, a feat that I openly doubt can be done."

"But if he was, and if Ultimo and Yamato were prepared for it; then you would join us and help to take Dunstan down and prevent the war?"

Shogun looked over at Rage who had remained silent and in a fighting stance the whole conversation, focusing solely on Regula. Rage turned one eye off of his rival and looked up and Shogun. The look said it all, and Shogun smiled.

"Deal." He calmly replied. Regula dropped his guard and Rage lowered his pike to the ground. Ekoda smiled and approached Shogun with his hand outstretched. Shogun walked up to him and took his hand in his and shook it. In the same instant he drew his Magnum Revolver out his suit pulled back the hammer and pressed the gun up against Eko-san's head.

"But I am warning you," Shogun said as Regula panicked and Rage rushed into place right between Regula and his master, with two pikes in his hands. "I don't think that it can be done, but I will prevent the Funeral from occurring. So until you bring Ultimo and Yamato to me when they're ready for war and to face Dunstan, I am your enemy. I will hunt down and kill each one of the perfections as well as Ultimo, if you try and save them I will kill you. And if we both fail and the perfections and the sins are gathered and readied for the final battle, then I will find you on that battlefield and I will cut you open and I will kill you. Got that?"

"Understood." Eko-san said calmly enough.

"Good," Shogun said with a smile as he pulled the trigger on the Magnum. The hammer fell and Regula panicked and tried to rush past Rage who calmly sliced his side open with one fluid swing of his right pike. The hammer hit the chamber and went click. After that Shogun pulled the gun away from Eko-san head and opened up the chamber to the magnum reveal that there was no bullet in the space where the hammer fell, and in fact two other spaces were empty with only three bullets in the gun.

Shogun smiled and walked away from Ekoda and said, "You're a very lucky man Eko-san, to bad Regula isn't blessed in the same way."

"You're a cruel man Oda Nobuhide." Ekoda said as he picked up the injured Regula who immediately began to self repair once in Eko-san's hands.

"This time around I am not named Nobuhide. It's Fusatarou. Fussa Fusatrou and don't you forget it. Next time we meet Eko-san your luck will have run out."

"We shall see, Fusatarou."

End of Chapter 8