Kitana and Jade began to approach us, taking long and graceful strides that would soon put them within striking distance. Kitana held her fans in a protective guard position in front of her face and throat, and Jade spun her staff between her fingers confidently, waiting for us to attack first.
Jade was considerably more cocky than her counterpart, and appeared to have the skill to back it up. Her bright green eyes danced as she looked us up and down, trying to gauge our effective range and modes of attack.
Kitana appeared to be made of stone, standing still and watching the two of us with hard, determined eyes.
I looked frantically to Kenshi.
"Uh, any ideas?" I asked.
"Yes. You take the princess. I'll take her bodyguard," Kenshi said simply. He drew Sento from its scabbard across his back, holding it with both hands out in front of him, ears open and listening to our opponents' every move with superhuman ears.
"No I mean, like a specific way to do that," I pressed on, and the Beretta in the side of my waistband bumped me, reminding me that it was still there.
"Yes. Quickly."
In the next moment his blade connected with Jade's incredibly long staff. He swung high and she ducked, backing up and kicking him in the small of his back.
He stumbled for a moment before repositioning himself and coming at her again.
Their weapons connected in a flurry of sparks and clangs as both masters met their match.
I turned to Kitana, who was considerably closer to me than she had been a second ago. Her stance had changed to an aggressive guard, and her fans were now pointed at my heart.
I didn't waste a second.
I ripped the Beretta out of my pants and held it with both hands, putting the crosshairs in the space where her mask met the bridge of her nose.
She froze, somehow knowing that the weapon could end her with a single pull of the trigger.
"Human… you cheat!" she protested.
"I never fight fair," I laughed back.
In the next moment something unbelievable happened right in front of me. I later pieced together what in God's name had happened.
Apparently, Kenshi and Jade were doing some moving around in their duel next to me and Kitana, and it had gotten to the point that they had completely switched sides of the playing field; with Jade being closer to me and Kenshi advancing out from the direction of the Outworld barracks. Kenshi had actually gained the upperhand, and was driving Jade back toward us with his telekinetic sword. But Jade was fighting back, and whipping her staff all over the place to parry his blows, and even score one or two of her own.
Somehow, Jade's staff slapped the pistol out of my hand on one of her wild backswings, and she didn't even notice. She was too busy with her opponent.
I watched in despair as Stryker's Beretta skittered across the uneven pavement, bouncing over a few loose stones with some loud clicks and pops from the gun's inner workings, before disappearing into a bush on the edge of the treeline, some thirty feet away.
Kitana and I both were looking in the direction that the gun had traveled for what seemed like an eternity. She tilted her head to the side, and looked this way and that, giving the area a thorough sweep with her hard brown eyes before concluding that the gun was gone for good.
She slowly turned back to me, pissed off.
"Now let's just talk about this-"
I was cut off abruptly as she launched a wild fly kick in my direction, covering the gap between us like it was nothing.
I ducked under her leg, feeling the material of her boot graze the back of my neck as I dropped onto my knees to avoid the kick. Pain shot up my legs when my kneecaps hit the stone pavement, hard. It was the exact wrong way to land, but I could worry about it later.
Her momentum couldn't be undone, and she continued up and over me, completely missing her mark. I jumped back to my feet and we fought.
She whipped an open fan at me, aiming crosswise at my chest.
I leaned backwards, almost falling over to avoid the slash. A gust of wind whipped my chest as the weapon sailed by.
With her left hand, she fired a closed fist at my stomach.
I beat down her blow with the blade of my forearm, stopping the punch at the wrist. She quickly stepped back, having observed my close kombat fighting techniques during my battle with Kano.
Her jaw was tightly clenched to avoid biting her tongue if she was hit in the mouth, but her body was loose, and glided through the air in front of me. She was on the balls of her feet, moving gracefully from side to side, maintaining perfect balance.
She swung wide again with the fan, opening the five-bladed weapon fast as her arm came around in a hooking motion. She was crouching crouching low so that the swipe would disembowel me when the blade connected with my intestines, and would be bloody difficult to block.
I stepped into her stance, breaking her perfect swing and stopped the fan by taking out her wrist with a swipe of my elbow. The blade still graced my bicep, searing my flesh as it passed. But at least I was still alive.
She countered with a sharp, unexpected blow to my jaw with her free hand.
Ouch. That one hurt a lot more than I thought it might.
She tried to step back to reset her stance, but I grabbed her arm and pulled myself closer to her instead.
We were at extreme close range now, my area of expertise.
I drove a flat palm at an upward angle under her chin, loosening her tightly-clenched jaw, and followed with an elbow to the cheek, using the entire weight of my body to power the sharp motion. There was a sharp crack, and she stumbled backwards.
I drove the attack home, lifting my leg up and snapping it forward, kicking her in the back of her knee.
Her leg collapsed and she hit the pavement. She hissed and fumed beneath her mask, equal parts angry and in pain.
"Now we're even, sister," I pointed down at her and laughed. "That's for last night."
Suddenly her leg shot out and arced under me, sweeping both of my feet out of the way as passed.
"Umph!" I grunted as I hit the ground ass-first. Kitana kicked back up onto her feet, regaining her footing on the stony ground, looking down at me and smiling below her mask.
"And that's for thinking you had a chance," she laughed back at me.
I shrugged. "Fair enough."
We put up our dukes and boxed began to dance.
She jabbed with a closed fist, and I beat it away with a desperate move of my forearm. I took heavy breaths, exhaling loudly so that I wouldn't forget to keep breathing. I kept my open hands in front of my face and throat, holding them high and loose. She held hers slightly lower and balled into fists, ready to dish out body blows.
I stepped forward and twisted my hips around like a windup clock, whipping my leg out at the last second for maximum power. The side kick came within an inch of her knee, but her experience and speed had honed her reflexes, and she simply stepped out of the way.
She jumped forward and clipped me in the jaw, my reaction time barely fast enough to avoid a full on blow. It stung like a mother, but it only made me more focused.
I faked left, about to employ a wild haymaker punch with my left arm, and she moved to block. In the half second that she wasn't expecting it, I drove another hit home.
I used my hips again as a fulcrum and delivered a straight punch to her solar plexus, driving my knuckles into her diaphragm. I bent my knees slightly for maximum power, and it paid off.
She hunched over, hacking and coughing, unable to get a breath.
I didn't let up, following with an open palm to her nose, whipping her head backward. And when her head tilted back, her body followed.
She stumbled again, almost collapsing.
I stepped forward and aimed another flat palm strike at her ribs.
But she parried, smacking my arm away as if I were a child.
She suddenly leaped into the air and spun in a 360 degree circle, coming back around with her foot extended.
Her heel smashed into my temple and I fell backwards. My world was spinning, and I landed on top of something a lot softer than concrete.
Dots clouded my vision, and I was literally seeing stars for a few seconds. Man, that had been a hard kick. I wonder how long it had taken her to master that.
I heard a grunt from under me.
"Max, get off me," Kenshi grunted.
"How did you get down there?" I demanded, sitting up next to him.
"Jade," he grunted. "Isn't that bad of a fighter."
The two of us staggered back to our feet, leaning on each other for support.
Jade and Kitana were standing side by side, facing us. Kitana's cheek was already beginning to bruise, and her revealing outfit showed me that my hit to her solar plexus had left a mark.
Jade's forehead also had a spot of black and blue, and she had a cut across her stomach.
I'll bet we looked worse.
"So what's the plan this time, Mr. Tactical Genius," I shot at Kenshi, pulling the sleeve of my open dress shirt back into place. "C'mon man, how is this going to go down?"
Kenshi shook his head. "Forget that, Max. Run!"
With that he took off in a dead sprint back into the jungle, with a good 5 second head start on me. Jerkoff didn't have to be faster than Jade and Kitana, he just had to be faster than me. And his sudden decision might make that a reality.
"Are you really that selfish?" I yelled, charging after him.
I burst through that shrubs at the edge of the treeline, and began weaving through the thick trees, hopping and skipping over the gnarled roots sticking up from the ground. I could hear them in hot pursuit, grunting and panting as they followed me.
A vine whipped me in the face as I ran past, but I didn't care.
I caught up with Kenshi, who was stumbling and tripping his way to safety.
"Where are we going?" he shouted as I came up alongside him.
"The hell away from here!" I shouted back. My side tightened up, and my heart rate was almost maxed out as I pulled Kenshi along through the jungle.
The Edinians were gaining, fast. A flash of anger hit me. It wasn't fair that they got 10,000 years to build endurance and strength compared to my 30, but such is life I guess.
"Jump!" I yelled as we approached a log. Kenshi timed it almost better than I did, lifting himself up and coming back down to Earth without losing any speed. For a moment, I stumbled to catch up.
We were charging through the woods full tilt. Kenshi couldn't see anything in front of us, and I was too dumb to have spotted it in a timely fashion.
Suddenly, the forest began to thin out in front of us, and…
Oh, crap.
The woods had given way to a steep hill, the kind that isn't quite sure what it wants to be just yet; as its way too steep to get down safely yet is not a completely vertical drop like you see in the movies.
I grabbed Kenshi and pulled him down with me into the dirt.
I got a mouthful of soil as we went down, and Kenshi cursed repeatedly at me under his breath. We rolled, and came to a stop an inch short of the ledge. And when I say an inch, I'm not exaggerating. Another instant and we would be tumbling down the hillside.
"What was that for?" Kenshi spat, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his uniform.
"We about went off of a cliff. I had to take us to the ground to stop us in time," I explained.
He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped suddenly. If he had eyes we would have exchanged an expression of panic, for Kitana and Jade were racing toward us, unaware of the drop-off.
"Stop!" Kenshi yelled. They were only a few meters away now, and closing fast. Their lithe forms maneuvered through the dense jungle at an unstoppable pace.
Kitana burst through the undergrowth, making a beeline for me.
"Kitana! Don't!" I yelled. "You'll take us both-"
I cut myself off as I dived to the right to avoid her dive tackle. I tucked and rolled successfully, and came back up to my feet, believing that I had won.
It was then that I saw her hanging over the edge of the steep incline by the front of my shirt. I was off balance, and couldn't possibly move fast enough to pull her up.
"Not good!" I yelped as she pulled me over the side with her.
We tumbled down the steep incline in a tangle of limbs and a colorful array of profanities. The mountain was several hundred meters high, and much too rocky for my taste.
She swung her body around and landed on me when we completed a roll on the muddy hill.
I squealed as she came down hard on my right calf, and I returned the favor by dropping my shoulder down on her chest when we rolled again.
She groaned and we broke apart. Our speed increased as my world was put through a washing machine. I could only see the bright blue of the sky and the dark red of the muddy ground, sometimes indistinguishable due to the high speed.
Shoulder
Foot
Back
The hill seemed to reach out and punch whatever part of my body dared to touch it. I only felt contact with the slanted Earth very couple of seconds, that's how steep it was. Whenever I was airborne, I had no idea when I would slam into the ground again, a suspenseful and humiliating ordeal.
The pain was sharp, and embarrassing at that.
I heard another woman yell some miles away. Jade must've fallen as well.
We hit a drop-off, and I came down squarely on my ass, and so did she. I tucked my head under and rolled over my shoulder to displace some of the inertia, but it was utterly fruitless.
She grunted as she smacked a root on the way down, and continued to fall. Her blue outfit was stained with mud, and the fan she had been holding tumbled into oblivion.
I managed to break the cyclone of rolls and began sliding on my butt, which was not only more painful to my already-abused tailbone, but gave me a wedgie like none other.
In a few seconds, the hill flattened out for a short distance, just enough to slow ourselves down in time to miss the next drop-off. The tall, wild grass on the hillside evened out, and suddenly the Earth was soft again.
We rolled to a halt next to each other, moaning in pain. I was dazed from the fall, and a heavy feeling fell on my gut. For a moment I thought I was going to throw up, but I held it back. It wouldn't solve anything.
"Ow," I groaned as my everything hurt. My muscles themselves had given up, and I was doing my best to stay conscious. I was lying on my stomach, and I tilted my head to the side to get another look at Kitana.
I whispered a silent prayer, desperately asking God to have made that fall painful for the both of us.
But the prayer wasn't needed. Kitana was out cold.
I took in several breaths, and fire seared my lungs as I took in air. Ribs bruised, maybe even cracked, but that was okay.
For a moment all was quiet in the world. The soft wind blew through my hair, and I looked up at the billowing clouds forming in the distance.
A storm was coming, and it would arrive soon.
The sound of Kenshi and Jade tumbling down the hill in tandem shook me from my daze. They were actually fighting as they went, the sound of steel on steel unmistakable.
Kenshi nearly landed on top of me, and Jade was only inches away from him.
"Ouch," he said flatly before sitting up. His blindfold was hanging loose around his neck, and his bare eyes sockets were visible for a brief instant before he pulled the red fabric tight around his head once again.
He turned his head to the side and cracked his neck before drawing his sword once again.
"C'mon, we have to get up," I pleaded. "Here, help me to my feet. I think I can walk."
"What? I don't think you're in condition to go anywhere fast," he said as he stood up to his full height. "I'll finish her."
"Finish? Pal, you didn't even start! And I'm fine by the way, just slipped and fell, that's all," I grunted as he pulled me up to my feet. My shins killed, but I could stand.
I turned to see Jade coming at us, staff extended.
Kenshi stepped forward, but out of nowhere came Kitana, with a fresh pair of fans in her small hands.
"Whoa!" he yelled as he tilted his sword to block her attack.
One of her fans struck Sento and was deflected, and she followed up with another swing.
Kenshi ducked, and he counterattacked swiftly. But she was too fast, and jumped out of the way before resetting her stance.
My eyes met Jade's. She was bruised and somewhat bloodied, but she stood at her full height, cradling her staff in one hand and a boomerang in the other.
She hurled the boomerang, and I freaking dived down the hill, sliding several feet before coming to a rest in a patch of grass.
I could almost taste the ground for a second, but I got up quickly, throwing my body backward just in time to avoid a jab of her staff.
She thrusted again with the staff, and I moved left to avoid the hit.
She reached into the air and caught the boomerang before tossing it again at close range, a low throw at my legs.
I jumped into the air as the device whizzed under me, and I came back down on my feet, facing Jade.
"Quit throwing shit!" I yelled as the boomerang made its return trip, tearing my shirt as it flew past.
She swung high and I ducked. The purple staff glowed like a lightsaber as it passed over me. The damn thing was taller than she was, and looked to be some sort of bean weapon that would feel really awesome if it cracked me upside the head.
I jumped back up and popped her in the jaw with a closed fist.
She staggered, but remained on her feet. She was not only just as tough as Kitana, but she had more range with her weapons.
Suddenly, Kenshi slammed into me and took the both of us to the ground.
I cursed as he fell on top of me. The guy was a lot heavier than he looked.
"Watch it!" I grunted as he rolled off of me.
He was heaving, out of breath and looking even more pale than usual.
"Too fast…" he mumbled. "Too quick and too strong."
"Welcome to my world," I shot back.
I looked up, expecting Jade and Kitana to be on top of us, but both of them had taken a knee and were talking in low voices. We were all tired, and beat up.
"What's next?" Kenshi asked. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up."
"You and me both, but I think they're getting tired out too. C'mon, if we can get up and give 'em one more good round, I think we'll get out of this," I was not only pleading with him, but with my own body as well. I couldn't drop now, no way.
We rose to our feet and Kenshi drew his Katana and I pulled my combat knife. A sudden burst of motivation had hit both of us, and we were ready for more.
The two of them turned, slowly, and drew their weapons.
Here we go again.
Hey everyone, sorry for the delay but here you go. Part two of the fight will be up next weekend, and I only realized how long it was once I stepped back and re-read everything LOL, so it had to be broken up into two parts(Man, did that ever take a long time). Please gimme some feedback and have a good one!