Of Wind and Darkness
Chapter 12: Fighting Chance
Akane pushed herself up from the broken concrete, gritting her teeth as she wearily looked up at the monster that was savagely attacking her home. This one appeared to be more human then most of the beasts that routinely rampaged through Nerima, if only because it was able and willing to threaten and toy with its 'prey'.
The monster laughed, its wolfish grin spread wide over a blue face. Akane struggled not to cry. She won't cry. She couldn't cry. It was her job as a martial artist to defeat such monsters.
But she was just too weak.
"What's wrong?" the monster jeered, looking around. "Am I too strong for you?"
Not only Akane, but the whole of Nerima's fighting force had been thrown about. From what Akane could see, Shampoo was almost to her feet, but Ukyou was still on the ground, knocked unconscious. She wasn't able to spot Ryoga or Mousse, and feared that they may have been buried underneath the rubble of the building.
"You!" shouted Shampoo as she suddenly charged, her bonbori readied to strike. The monster only smirked, and struck the ground in front of him. A powerful explosion erupted from underneath Shampoo, throwing her backwards on the ground.
"Shampoo!" Akane cried, worriedly. But the Amazon could only groan in response, her head bleeding slightly from the impact.
"Pity," the monster drawled, his smile replaced with a bored grimace. "I guess I should have just sent a normal solider, this is going stale rather quickly."
"Just who are you?" shouted Akane, glaring at the wolfish monster.
"At least you are still kicking, missy," the monster growled with a feral smile. "So, you want to know who I am?" he asked mockingly as he made his way to her.
Akane tried to back away from the on-coming monster, but she couldn't gather her footing. She had seriously twisted her left ankle during a fall, and now it was a struggle just to move.
"I am the great general of Lord Bail," the wolf-man announced, giving his call a theatrical sound, as if he were trying to impress those around him. He caught up to Akane, snatching her up by her right arm, a snarl playing on his fanged lips. "When you ask someone a question, you should stick around to hear the answer, miss."
"Let go!" she cried, struggling in his grasp she brought up a powerful kick with her knee in the wolf-man's side, actually causing him to grunt from the impact. But he didn't let go, and only gripped her harder, his claws digging in her skin.
"A feisty little one," he snarled. "Maybe I should take you to my lord? I'm sure you'd be a tasty treat for him."
"Let go of Akane!" came a loud shout.
Turning, the monster barely dodged a flying Ryoga, who managed to connect his fist with the ground, blasting open the rock underneath.
"Ha! Here's one still able to fight!" gaffed the wolf-man, as he still held on to Akane's arm, intent on using her as a shield.
Ryoga gritted his teeth, trying to think of a good plan. He feared that if he attacked rashly, he would also hurt Akane in the process. So using his Shishi Hokoudan was out of the question, and the Bakusai Tenketsu was only good to break the ground around him.
"What's wrong?" jeered Ryoga, trying to look serious. "Hiding behind a girl?" It was the only thing he could think of as an attempt to get Akane out of harms way. A huge gamble.
"Ah, yes. How rude of me," the wolf-man sneered. With a mighty swing, he threw Akane to Ryoga, surprising the boy who barely managed to catch her.
"Akane?" Ryoga gasped as he held her, Akane's eyes wide with surprise.
"Look out!" she shouted, pushing Ryoga backwards. They just barely missed the sharp claws of the wolf-man raking through the air.
"Ah, missed," the wolf-man growled through a toothy smirk.
"Go, Akane, just get out of here," Ryoga said as he pushed Akane behind him.
"But," she started, but was broken off by another push, missing the claws again.
Taking a moment, Ryoga threw a heavy right punch, aiming for the monster's face. But the wolf-man dodged to the left, taking the chance to get a clawed grip around Ryoga's exposed neck.
"You have some talent," the wolf-man cooed mockingly. "But I am a bit faster than a mere human like you."
"Let go!" Ryoga shouted as he swung his left arm over the wolf-man's own, successfully breaking the grip on his neck. He then quickly shed his belt, straightening it with his chi. Ryoga slashed at the monster, making a surprising blow across its chest.
"I wasn't expecting that," it huffed. With one claw he gripped his chest, the sharpened belt only doing minor damage. The other claw went to his mouth, licking off a small bit of blood that he drew from Ryoga's neck. "Hmmm, you smell familiar," it growled out.
"What?" queried Ryoga, taking the chance to secure Akane behind him. He held the charged belt in front of him like a sword; he took a bandana and readied to throw it. "Sorry but I don't think we've met."
"No, I said it wrong," the wolf glared at him. "I should have said, 'you have a familiar scent on you' instead."
"That still doesn't make any sense." Not wasting any more time, Ryoga tossed the chi infused bandana, watching it make a sharp beeline towards the wolf-man. The blue skinned creature simply dodged, marveling at how the piece of cloth had cut so deeply into the concrete behind him.
Ryoga took the chance of distraction and rushed at the monster, his belt drawn like a sword. A powerful thrust cut cleanly through the wolf-man's armored chest, cutting it deep enough to draw blood. The wolf-man took the initiative to wrap an arm around Ryoga, locking him in a thick head lock.
"Yes, this is the scent," the wolf-man growled as he sniffed at the back of Ryoga's neck. "So tell me, did it hurt when the fledging bit you?"
"What?" Ryoga gasped as he stiffened in surprise. "You were of the guards there weren't you?" he asked, knowing that the wolf-man was talking about Ranma.
"Heh, you can call me Lo'pin," the wolf snarled. "I had worked for the lord of that castle. You must be the one that got away."
A heavy rock suddenly hit Lo'pin on the back of the head. Though he growled in agitation, the wolf-man didn't seem fazed as he turned to look behind him. Akane stood there, holding a few more stones.
"You had better let him go," she warned, raising her head to throw another rock.
"What a nuisance," Lo'pin grumbled, as he started to walk towards her, drawing Ryoga behind him.
"Akane!" Ryoga shouted, trying to struggle against the wolf's grip. Even with his abnormal strength, he still couldn't pull away. "Get away!"
Just as Akane threw another rock, Lo'pin snatched her arm. His claws digging into the previously wounded skin, causing her to gasp in pain. Using her free arm, she punched the wolf-man in the face with the hard stone she still gripped.
"Urgh, you are a feisty one," Lo'pin snarled.
"I'll never forgive you!" she cried as she tried to hit him again. Though Lo'pin was quicker, bringing his sharp knee into her stomach, forcing the fair out of her lungs.
"Forgive me? You think I really care?" the wolf-man jeered, moving his claw from her arm to her short hair, pulling on it roughly. "This is just one small town that will soon be a simple notch on our belts."
"Ranma was right, you were planning something!" Ryoga cried, as he successfully managed to elbow Lo'pin in the side, but to little effect. The wolf-man growled in annoyance and tightened his grip on Ryoga's neck.
"And just where is he, huh?" Lo'pin snarled. "I bet you've seen him since the castle fell! Tell me right now or I'll break this girl's skull." To make a point, Lo'pin's claw wrapped around Akane's head. As he began to squeeze, Akane started to cry as she tried to flail her uninjured arm to hit the wolf-man.
"I don't know where he is!" Ryoga shouted, desperate. "The last I saw of him is when he led me out of that fortress! I swear!"
"You're a liar!" the wolf growled, squeezing harder. "There is no way he could have left the castle while Lord D'aray was still alive."
"You mean that guy's dead?" Ryoga queried, only causing Lo'pin to growl louder.
"Don't toy with me," the wolf-man growled. The arm around Ryoga's neck tightened, making it harder to breathe.
An arrow flew by Lo'pin's face, causing a thin cut to bleed on his right cheek. Looking up, the wolf-man noticed a young man, bow sting still humming. The bowman readied another arrow and wasted no time in launching it.
Lo'pin had to drop Ryoga and Akane to successfully dodge the second arrow, jumping back about two feet. Ryoga coughed, relieved to be able to breathe easier. He quickly turned to check on Akane, who held her head in pain.
"Are you alright?" he asked. He moved to put a hand on her shoulder, though was surprised when she slapped it away, giving him an angry look.
"You lied to me!" she cried as she tried to sit up, also trying to resist the urge to punch him. "You said you hadn't seen Ranma!"
"What?" Ryoga stuttered, too shocked at Akane's sudden anger towards him. Before he could say anything, the bowman rushed up to the two teens, standing between them and the growling wolf-man.
"Get her out of here," the young man said.
"Oh! Its you!" Ryoga gasped, recognizing Yuzuru. The young man spared Ryoga a glance, not wanting to take his eyes off the monster.
"I guess you have bad luck with monsters huh?" Yuzuru responded jokingly as he readied another arrow. "Back-up is on the way, can you help by taking care of your friends?"
Ryoga took a quick look around him, glancing at the still bodies of his knocked out companions. The only obstacle was the wolf-man, so it shouldn't be too hard to gather every one up.
"So, you're of the hunters that took the castle?" called Lo'pin, a smug look on his face showing that he was not worried about the arriving help. "Maybe you could tell me where the fledgling went?"
"What would a wolf want with him?" Yuzuru spit out, agitated. A nagging gut feeling told Yuzuru that even though the vampire Lord D'aray was dead, others would come calling for the young vampire. And that meant only more trouble.
"You shouldn't act so stupid, human," Lo'pin sneered. "We all know how valuable he is. I'm sure members of your Order have already seen the great potential in having him."
Gritting his teeth, Yuzuru let loose his arrow. Though he knew Lo'pin would dodge easily, he took the time to pull out his earth soul-stone, wrapping its cord securely around his arm. And in one swift motion, Yuzuru fisted the ground, causing a shock wave through the concrete.
A burst of hard stone shot up in front of the wolf-man, still too stunned to react accordingly. Before Lo'pin could prepare himself, another stone shot out of the ground, this time with a sharp point. He successfully dodged it, but almost backed up to another one, flying outwards behind him.
Ryoga and Akane watched in amazement. Yuzuru was using his earth magic to keep the wolf-man on constant guard and never allowing him to stand still.
"So this is the power of an elemental?" murmured Ryoga, fascinated by the display of power.
Akane turned to Ryoga, curious as to what he meant. But he held a serious face that she never really seen before and decided not to ask for him to elaborate.
In truth, Ryoga was a bit intimidated. Ranma had asked him to try and find away to counter the power of a soul stone. But watching Yuzuru easily wielding its power, throwing large boulders to springing up large spikes up from the ground, made Ryoga doubt that there really was a way to counter such magic.
Meanwhile, Lo'pin had finally managed to regain his footing and was squaring off against Yuzuru.
"I'm actually glad you arrived," growled Lo'pin in a voice that dripped with primal excitement. "I was tiring of these...children."
"It looks to me like these 'children' had you chasing your tail pretty good," Yuzuru quipped.
Lo'pin's throat emitted a low growl that could have meant either anger or amusement. "I let these fools live in the belief that they would tell me the location of the boy I seek. If nothing else, I had hoped to make enough noise to draw his attention. I couldn't have done that if I had killed them all in the first five minutes."
"Five minutes, huh?" Yuzuru asked. "Well, let's see if you make it that long against me." Yuzuru gripped his soul-stone until it glowed a fierce amber light.
I really hope it doesn't take that long, Yuzuru thought with a touch of desperation.
Those who were still awake could feel the very ground beneath them react to the ancient magic. The earth seemed to heat up, and a current could be felt running beneath the surface. It was almost as if the ground had come alive as living flesh, ready and willing to respond to its master's command.
Lo'pin, unwilling to allow his adversary time to prepare some fantastic new attack, charged with all the fury of a rabid dog.
Surprisingly, Yuzuru just stood in place, as if he didn't care. Lo'pin grabbed the man by the throat and tried to lift him off the ground with savage force.
But Yuzuru did not move a single inch.
Lo'pin grumbled in confusion. He quickly jumped back out of range, his attack having failed, and tried to come at this problem from a different angle.
"You'll never have the strength to move me," Yuzuru smirked. "You're a hundred years to early."
The goading worked, and Lo'pin charged again. This time, he wrapped his arms around the body of his prey, and tried to lift him off the ground by bending himself over backwards.
"That won't work, either," Yuzuru remarked. "But thanks for getting into position for me."
"Hurm!" Lo'pin growled.
Suddenly, Yuzuru's stone flared up again. The earth began to shake and rumble around the two.
"Oh, god!" Ryoga shouted. "He's going to take them both out! He's going to sacrifice himself!"
"Don't do it!" hollered Akane.
Lo'pin shouted with rage.
"God, you guys are dramatic," called out Yuzuru, cutting through the tension. "Just get back."
Immediately, a shower of stone rained up in a circle around where Yuzuru and Lo'pin stood, locked in their embrace, forming an impenetrable wall of earth, separating the pair from the others.
"What! A cage?" asked Lo'pin.
"No. An arena," Yuzuru answered. "You have a bad habit of grabbing helpless people and using them as shields. Let's see how well you can do on your own."
Lo'pin snarled with disgust. "All I have to do is squeeze, and I will shatter your puny human body!"
"You can't even lift me off the ground, so what makes you think you can crush me? As long as I remain connected to the Earth, I can't be moved or broken. But even so, I'm getting tired of the way you smell, so I think we should break this little love-in up."
Lo'pin recognized the ground shifting under his feet just in time to release his hold on Yuzuru and leap out of the way of several more spikes that shot out of the ground, each coming within an inch of Yuzuru's skin.
"You and your witchcraft!" Lo'pin spat. "Fight me!"
"Do you even know what a fight is?" Yuzuru asked. "Fighters use whatever skills they have at their disposal. And it just so happens that, for me, any earth you stand on is my weapon!"
Lo'pin felt the ground shift again, but this time nothing rose up to strike at him. Instead, his feet sank rapidly into the ground. When he was caught up to his knees in quicksand, the ground solidified again, trapping the wolf-man in place.
This is going to be some trick, Yuzuru thought as his felt his muscles beginning to lock up.
Lo'pin howled in savage fury as he tried to free himself. But to no avail.
"I'm sorry," Yuzuru stated. "But this is going to hurt." Both of us.
As his stone began to glow again, a column of earth emerged under Yuzuru's feet, carrying him high into the sky for safety.
Then, the pillars of rock that had formed their arena began to shake themselves loose from the earth that supported them.
Lo'pin's eyes widened in fear as each and every stone began a slow and painful descent as they all toppled down on top of the monster.
The thunderous sound reverberated for miles, and the earth shook so much that a few people thought they were going to be sea-sick.
Ryoga and Akane gaped in bewildered awe at the spectacle. Yuzuru stood atop the tall column, glaring down at the devastation he had just brought about, like some vengeful god of old.
Slowly, the column began to sink into the earth and Yuzuru stood on the ground, level with the rest of the mortals.
As Yuzuru turned and walked over to the others, Ryoga could see that he now appeared less as a god and more as a man who was on the brink of exhaustion. He was sweating profusely, and he looked as if he had lost ten pounds during the fight.
"That takes... a lot out of me," Yuzuru said when he reached Ryoga and Akane. "Are you both okay?"
They both just stared at him some more.
"Okay, I'll take that as a yes."
Akane quickly regained her composure, and blurted out, "Ranma! Where is Ranma! You know where he is, don't you?"
Ryoga tapped Akane on the shoulder. "I think the proper words are 'Thank you.'"
"Oh, right. Sorry," said Akane, embarrassed. "Thank you."
"It's okay," Yuzuru chuckled. "I don't do this kind of work for the thanks. Ranma is fine. He's with our..." Yuzuru trailed off as if something had caught his attention. "Oh, no!"
He quickly knocked Ryoga and Akane to the ground and equipped his bow and arrow, aiming at the pile of rubble that had once been Lo'pin. The top layer of stones exploded, and the wolf-man stumbled out of the wreckage. He was wobbling and appeared to be having trouble seeing out of both eyes.
But he was definitely still alive.
Yuzuru sighed as he saw that this battle was far from over. His keen eyes could tell that not only was his opponent quickly regaining his balance, but his wounds were actually closing up. He was healing, and fast.
"Freaking werewolves..." Yuzuru muttered.
I'm going to have to finish this in one shot, he thought. But do I have enough strength left for 'that' move?
Even the dust around Yuzuru's feet began to flee as the archer began to charge 'that' move.
Through the use of friction, Yuzuru had the ability to build up enough static electricity to release a devastating shock attack. The bearer of the Earth Soul-Stone should have been able to deliver it as a free-standing bolt of lighting, but for some reason Yuzuru had never been able to master that technique. The best he could manage was to charge up his arrow with the energy, and release it that way.
The quality of the air changed as the ionic energy began to build in and around the two warriors.
Lo'pin's fur began to bristle, but whether from the static or from anger, it was impossible to tell.
A fierce looking electrical storm surrounded Yuzuru's body as he prepared to deliver his finishing blow.
Suddenly, the proud archer fell to his knees and collapsed. He muttered something about "Used up... too much," before finally succumbing to exhaustion.
Lo'pin started to snicker with amusement. The snicker turned into a coarse chuckle, which evolved into a full throaty laugh that carried into the night.
Taking a moment to gather his strength, the beast shuffled over to his weakened prey and prepared to tear the man's head off.
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Helen's Notes
Yeah, this took a while. I've been in a rut lately when it comes to writing. Meh, I guess it's the self-esteem issue again. Let's hope I don't go back and rearrange stuff again. That may take awhile.
Well, I put Ranma back in Nerima. So now what? Hmmmm...
Thanks to my bf for helping out with the big fight scene. :)
