Lin Loses Out

"Invertido Meteoro!"

What sounded like a sonic boom erupted and shockwaves bounced around as Lin planted his heel into Muscle-Lin's stomach and fired him into the air, with a couple of other versions of Lin for good measure. They kept flying up until they hit some sort of fiery barrier and disintegrated; but if that was all it took to finish them, Lin would have been finished a long time ago.

But as soon as the ashes were lost to view, the 'Lin's' who had been killed pulled themselves free of the ground, much like Zombie-Lin had done when he had first appeared, and joined back in with the fray. Lin had been fighting alternate versions of himself for what seemed like days to him, although he had long ago lost track of how time worked in the warped world of Rascal California's, so it could have been mere minutes since he had begun.

Sweat covered his body head to toe and his breathing was beginning to get laboured, as he dodged yet another attack and landed a kick in the centre of the attackers face, sending him flying backwards and knocking over others like a bowling ball. But he didn't manage to gain any second to rest as more of his alternate versions delved in for the attack.

He crushed one's head to the floor, caught another one with an uppercut, booted a third in the gut and rammed his fist into the throat of a fourth; all within a second. Shit! This can't go on for much longer, I'm going to collapse with exhaustion in a minute. Lin elbowed another in the face while spinning to avoid the blade of a Lin with a katana and dressed like a samurai heading into battle. He planted the back of his heel in the side of Samurai-Lin's head and crushed his helmet into small pieces.

"Enough!" Lin roared and spun like a top, pushing the Lin's back until he had a circle with about 2 metres diameter. He crouched low, before springing into the air, flipping over and positioning himself so that his legs, one pointed up and one down, could have been a steel girder. "Angélical Bajada!"

He landed in the ground like an arrow as his attack took effect; a small crater appeared beneath the foot that hit the ground and systemically it spread outwards. The ground raised close to a foot in the air in concentric circles, throwing the Lin's up and away until they were all lying on the floor in heaps and piles. Lin spun once on a single leg and then came to a rest with bent knees and his hands resting there as he caught his breath.

"Phew…" he said, wiping away sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. "That wasn't meant to be used when I'm this knackered." He flexed his shoulders and wiggled his arms, causing a number of cracks to sound as he exhaled sharply and then drew air in slowly. The Lin's were now rising again and shaking their head from the attack. Only a dew of them had to actually revive from death from being crushed by other Lin's piling on top of them.

"This isn't going to end anytime soon it seems." He muttered as he got ready to battle again, before a loud gong sound filled the area. "Eh…" Lin said as the other Lin's all froze like statues. "What in the…" He watched as their skin became leathery and old and after a couple of seconds they seemed like nothing but skin and bones.

A breeze ran across the surface of the hell-like land and the Lin's all shook slightly before disintegrating and leaving Lin all by himself. That didn't last long however as the area around him turned into dust until Lin was left standing in Rascal's office, the owner himself stood before him with a shadowy figure behind him.

"Well, Mr Lin, you lasted a whole lot longer then I expected I must say." Rascal said, tugging at the armour covering his chest "Most the people can't even get past the first ones, let alone over one hundred! You have impressed me…" As he spoke, Lin's eyes drifted from his face to the shadowing figure behind. Rascal himself stopped speaking as he realised what Lin had noticed.

He chuckled quietly and Lin snapped his eyes back to Rascal. His teeth were clenched and his eyes showed anger beyond any form of reasoning. "What… the… hell… is… that…!" he said, through his teeth; his fists clenched hard by his sides.

"Well, this is the reason I'm not letting you continue with your…ah, exercise." Rascal stepped aside and gestured with his double-jointed arm at the shadowy figure. The figure stepped forward, the light catching the brown leather of his boots. "Now I know why you've been here before, and why I didn't recognise you in the first place. A sneaky little secret you've been keeping."

"However, you have been under my control long enough now that I was able to delve as deep as I needed to, to bring forth the part I was looking for." Rascal chuckled again and moved so he was stood an equal distance between the figure and Lin, facing inwards to look at both of them. "I was interested when you said the last time you had been here was before I had started catering for the marines; that was a long time ago. So I knew I had to catch you and keep you busy long enough to do what I needed to do. But I must say, I was surprised when he came out…" he gestured at the figure, who had now crossed its arms across its chest "…a very dangerous individual. Why, everyone in all the blues knows the name of K…"

Rascal's speech was interrupted as Lin exploded forward towards the shadowy figure, a face of pure rage. Rascal started to laugh but he stopped mid-chuckle as Lin placed a foot on the floor and changed directions, now heading straight for him. The shadowy figure dashed forward now, the light catching on metal, before he froze in mid-dash. Lin had also stopped as he looked at Rascal with confusion.

Rascal was still mid-laugh but it was now that Lin realised that that wasn't because Lin had changed direction; it was more to do with the thin red line now appearing along his chest, just above his belly button. A red liquid started leaking out of it as the bottom half of the chest armour clinked down, hanging from a single leather strap attached to his belt. There was the sound of suction, like a plunger being pulled free of a toilet, and Rascal no longer had any arms as they settled on the floor in pools of blood that kept growing as blood was pumped from the stumps Rascal now possessed.

"Well…" Rascal said, a small amount of blood dribbling out of the corner of his mouth "…looks like someone managed to sneak in without coming through the front." As he spoke his voice got quieter and quieter until he spoke the last word as nothing more then a silent whisper. His body pitched forward and Lin had to jump back to avoid the splash of blood as Rascal's body fell to the floor, his upper body falling away from the lower where he had been cut in half.

Lin glanced to his right but the shadowy figure had now disappeared, so he looked back at Rascal before a laugh filled the room. Lin started as he recognised the laugh and the wall in front of him exploded as a familiar figure stepped into the room, his head brushing the ceiling and a massive sword resting on his shoulder, while another similar sized sword was on his back.

"You're dead." Lin said, staring at the sudden appearance of the figure.

"Hehehehehe…" The man brushed his startling white hair back as his red eyes glared down at the person before him. "Mayo and that boy did quite the number on me, but they didn't deliver the final blow like they should have." Marshall T Kubin laughed again and swung the sword around slowly, digging the tip into the ground. "Now, I do believe I owe you something."

Lin scowled in reply but said nothing.

As the last of Rascal California's life drained away from him, the influence of his power over the island and its inhabitants dwindled away with it. The large building called Hotel California blew away in the wind as nothing but brown dust, as well as a number of pirates and marines who were standing around looking startled. One such marine recovered quickly and took in the sight of the gathered pirates. His mind jumping to the conclusion that the pirates were to blame, he pulled a pistol from his belt and shot the closest pirate to him.

This action seemed to spark the others to life and soon enough the island had turned into an all out brawl between pirates and marines. Most of the participants didn't really have a reason for fighting other then they were on opposite sides, whereas others clearly had a personal grudge to settle as they battled with grim looks on their faces and pride in their blades.

Soon the sound of gunfire and metal clashing on metal filled the air, along with shouts of anger, shouts of joy and other shouts of the like. Pirates clashed with the marines as the marines followed their duty and the pirates followed their freedom. Nothing could stop them now, not until one side or the other completed their goal. Some of each side had escaped back to their ships but they were now engaged in sea battles, the roaring of cannons joining in

And in the middle of it all; Lin facing off against Marshall, and it wasn't fairing too well for the blue haired pirate captain. Thanks to Rascals little challenge Lin wasn't in good shape and the skill of Marshall was just high enough that he was currently winning their encounter. The sword he had in his hand was the lighter of the two he owned, Rekishichizu or otherwise known as The Atlas Blade. It was flashing through the air at the great speed that Marshall could make it move and deep gauges were cut into the ground were he swung his blade.

At the moment, Lin was only in the condition to dodge the attacks; having fought with Marshall before, he knew that if he tried to clash with him, he would need the strength that his tired body couldn't provide him at the moment.

The blade flickered through the air and Lin jumped to the side as the ground where he had been previously standing exploded with a plume of dust and wreaking leaving a gouge in the ground. "Stop running like a rat!" Marshall called, stepping forwards out of the dust. "I was hoping for a rematch, not an execution."

"Heh, you're just lucky you caught me as you did, or I'd be whupping your butt right at this point." Lin sneered, his breath laboured now, sweat covering every inch of him. "Rascal's clever tricks just took a bit more out of me then I expected is all."

"I can't believe someone like him could give someone like you trouble, I just wish I was able to see what he was showing you."

"What?"

"Oh come on, I was listening outside the entire time. This California guy showed you something that made you pretty darn angry…I'd like to know what it was so I could use it and maybe you'd become more serious."

"Serious…" it was a whisper and Marshall didn't hear what he said, causing the tall pirate to lean forward to listen.

"Sorry, I missed that."

Lin glanced behind him, realising that he was pretty close to the edge, and a plan formulated in his mind. He flexed his muscles and made an obvious show as if he was recovering from something, throwing a glare at Marshall as he did so. "Serious is what I said. I was thinking it was about time I got serious and beat the living snot out of you as a lesson…unless you joined my crew of course."

Marshall was temporarily stunned but recovered quickly, snorting in laughter and stabbing his blade into the ground. "I thought I already answered a question about that…" he reached behind him and his hand grasped the whitened handle of the sword on his back. "…and I'm pretty sure I told you to fuck off." He pulled the sword free of the hook it was on and held it out in front of him. "You remember old Ryuujin Toorima right?"

He didn't wait for an answer and dashed forward, moving the blade high in the air and aiming for a vertical slice downwards. Lin made to move to his right but at the last second hesitated and the blade sliced down him from head to crotch. However, he had leant back at the last second and received the blow only down his chest; although it was a deep cut. Blood surged forth as Lin slowly fell backwards, until he was clear of the edge where he began to fall towards the sea.

His limp body spun in the air until he was facing the sea and a look of worry appeared on his face. Bugger, that attack was more effective then I thought, I can't move my body at all… he hit the surface of the sea with a sickening smack and then slowly sank beneath the surface, bubbles streaming behind him.

Marshall walked to the edge of the cliff himself, Rekishichizu now on his back and Ryuujin Toorima resting on his shoulder, and looked down with a saddened look on his face. "It is a shame, 'Devil Leg' Lin, that you fell so easily; it seems my revenge has been drawn short."

A/N: Dum dum dum! A twist (wait, another one!)! Hope you enjoyed the chapters, and keep eyes and ears peeled for the next chapter heading your way (which will come one time!) :)