Legendary Adventurers, Futuristic Saviors

Chapter 24: Saving Iron Town and the Forest; Hulk vs. Abomination pt.3

Iron Town

On the hill island that was Iron Town, the dark night bathed it in both smoke clouds and stars brightly glowing, giving it some light. The lack of the moon couldn't flash illumination among the war torn fortress town. Wooden barrier walls covered with arrows and spears sticking into the wood. The ground, both dirt, rock, and sand were soaking in blood from either side. Samurai bodies from Lord Osano were littered on the ground, and hanging from the wooden pikes that protected the town's remaining occupants, who were all huddling together at this very moment.

The women and the lepers were all on the guard barriers, huddled together and preparing for the next attack from the samurai hordes. Some were sleeping from complete exhaustion; the battle had been a taxing one on them, both physically and mentally. They struggled to ready for the next battle, if it ever came at this time before dawn struck. They were all half asleep, but only one sound was made; the sound of a small hammer tapping onto metal. It was from a corner of the blockade, that there were two women still awake, and one, which was a leper, was fixing the rifle.

The woman who remained to keep an eye out, was none other than Toki. Sleeping beside her was Koroku, and he was snoring up a storm, despite his broken arm. After the leper had finished tapping, she looked to the rifle woman, handing her the rifle, "There, it shouldn't jam up like last time."

"Thanks," Toki gracefully thanked her comrade as she slung the rifle in position.

"It's been awfully quiet now."

"Don't let your guard down, Kuki," Toki advised as she checked the lock hammer mechanism on the rifle. "Osano's just waiting for sunrise. Think he'll have a better chance to attack us during the day."

As the two remained quiet for a moment, the leper woman sighed as she looked out at the field, eating a rice cracker. "That young man," she asked, getting Toki's attention. "Do you think he made in time to Lady Eboshi?"

Toki was surprised by that question, but then smirked. "Oh, don't worry about him. He found her," Toki answered in full confidence for the boy. "If anything, they'll be coming up that mountain, along with Milady and the men."

"But what about that fire spirit and the Beast that accompanied him," Kuki asked, albeit curious. "Wouldn't that mean he's with the Forest?"

"Maybe," Toki answered truthfully, her smile never leaving her face as she kept an eye out there. "But the look on his eyes pretty much told me everything."

"That would be… ?"

Toki turned to her friend as she answered, "That he's not taking any sides but his own. The side that makes sure everyone lives." Just then, she heard a light snore come from her right and noticed her husband, blissfully asleep. She groaned at this sight as she mumbled to her friend. "Big dope. don't ask me why I love him," she then lightly shook him as she tried to wake him up. "Hey, Koroku."

"Oh, let him sleep, Toki," her bandaged comrade chuckled.

But their happy moment was over with, as they heard a small rumbled from the distance of their town. Everyone within the town, the women and lepers, all turned to where they saw the small light that meant the sun would soon be rising. Even Osano's samurai, who waited on camps on the hill and mountain sides took witness on this. But it wasn't the slow sunrise that caught their attention, but what would soon block it. They saw a strange ooze like cloud, a huge sea of them, slowly making its way from the other side of the hill, nearly blocking out all the light. This made all those who witnessed this run their blood cold of fright. A loud anger filled roar shook the mountains, reverberating off of them as the citizens of Iron Town nearly wet themselves as the sky-piercing roar nearly shook the mountains again, as well as Iron Town's walls.

Koroku stumbled awake, as the inhuman roar awoke those who were asleep, startled and reaching for their rifles. Kuki readied her rifle as best she could, looking to Toki, who seemed pretty calm. "What is that?"

"I don't know," Toki answered calmly, but did her best to hide the fear in her throat. "But I don't like it."

As they saw the dark cloud reach and nearly blanket the landscape, they saw that the shadow of the cloud began to bring about it death. For when the shadow touched the forest, it began to slowly whither and die, as it turned brown and black and lifeless. The roar as well was becoming much louder, as they saw something small plow through the dead forest, leaving behind it a bloody trail of destruction, knocking down trees like they were dominos rooted to the ground.

The women and lepers nearly gasped as they heard the same blood-curdling roar come from the beast. "What the hell is that?" Toki asked as she slung her rifle over her shoulder.

As the samurai on the hills prepared to get away, the figure that had rummaged through the forest, suddenly shot up from it with tremendous power, and jumped right at the hills to where they were. The crash landing that the thing had made, shook the mountain, creating a shockwave of unimaginable strength, either crushing the samurai with the blast wave, shattering every bone in their body, or it sent them flying across the hills, falling to their deaths.

Then out of the smoke, they saw a huge creature shoot right out of the bellowed smoke, and running at high speed towards Iron Town.

"It's heading straight here!" one of the women shouted, causing a riot panic amongst them all.

"Calm down, everyone!" Toki shouted, getting their attention as she slung her rifle off her shoulder. "We promised Lady Eboshi we would defend Iron Town. We can't…" but suddenly, the roar had grown louder as they all looked above them, and saw that the creature was plummeting towards them at this point. The crashed impact that the beast had made once he crashed into the center of town, shook the fortress violently as everyone was thrown hard on their butts or fell to the ground, crashing hard enough to cause a bit of injury or two, but nothing serious.

The women all looked as the dust was starting to settle, but that wasn't important anymore. Slowly, a shape was appearing from the dust as it started to walk out. Suddenly, the women and lepers bear witness to the horrific creature that stood out of the dust clouds and the massive crater it created. It was a nine foot abomination of a creature covered in black ooze and black sharp and jagged armor. Its arms were long and muscle bound, with the shoulders stretched out, nearly separating from the chest, and the fingers were nothing but flexible black claws. The axe-size blades on its knees and ankles looked dangerous on its hind legs. The fur mane on its back was long and sharp as scales, stretching down as a tail with a mace-like tip with blades instead of spikes. The demon's face was covered in a jagged tooth armored face place, with the mane stretching up on the head, and a scar appearing on the left eye. The beast then roared out inhumanly as the forest nearly shook enough to break from the ferocity of his appearance and voice.

Rifles fired right at him, striking his armor as the beast cringed out, being pushed back. Toki, who was firing as well, shouted out to the women, "Keep firing! It'll take more than one shot to kill a demon!"

But as they shot him, they all soon came to realize the terrifying conclusion: the iron balls had no effect on the beast. They all simply dropped to the ground, clattering at his feet. Feeling fed up with this, the beast grabbed the nearest thing he could get. One of the trees that had yet to be burned that they chopped down, and threw it right at them. The people scattered, running scared as the tree came crashing down at them. The screams and scattering women ran, trying to take cover, as the beast ran at them, punching or smacking them around the fortress that trapped them all inside.

Toki and Kuki had taken cover as they were prepared to fire two more shots at the beast. "Go for the head," she advised. "Ready…" the two took careful aim, as the beast had its attention turned away from them. They fired two shots straight at him, nearing the back of his skull… and he suddenly turned around and caught the iron balls in his teeth. He smirked at seeing the shocked expressions on their faces as he crushed them in his mouth, and spat them out.

He was about to charge right at them, when all of a sudden, a loud shrieking roar pierced the land as well. The loud booming cry echoed over the semi ruins of Iron Town, gaining all the attention of both the women and lepers, the samurai that began to cower away from the battlefield, and the demonized form of what was still Takemaru. Takemaru turned around as he now had a visual look at the beast that had unleashed its enraged cry.

… standing at the edge of the other side of Iron Town, facing the forest, was none other than Alex. He was looking upward, roaring to the heavens, hoping to catch Takemaru's attention. When he stopped, he looked back down to earth, forward towards the demonic evil samurai turned monster.

Takemaru's lone eyes squinted into dangerously sharp slits as they peered at the outlander in front of him nearly at the end of the wall. His yellow jagged dagger toothed mouth stretched as it made a demonic smile at the boy, almost happy to see that the boy didn't cower away from their last encounter. He stretched his shoulders a bit, making cracking sounds as his attention was finally focused on the boy, whom was slowly stepping forward, balling up his fists tightly.

As Alex took three final steps, he stopped, hunched forward like a cat would when sensing danger, and made one last roar out. The bellowing voice almost echoed out a declaration of challenge to the samurai at this point.

Takemaru simply smirked as he let out one word escape his deformed and armored lips. "ALEXANDER…." and proceeded forward to the boy.

Alex spotted this as well as he continued his pace, until Takemaru smirked and began to jog towards him. The young time traveler saw this and proceeded to do the same. As they headed towards one another, their paces began to pick up, until they were running towards one another. Nearing blinding speed, the two half-demons were charging towards one another, until when they were twelve feet from each other, they pounced towards one another. Time nearly stopped as the two slowly were on the verge of tackling their opponent. Alex, at his usual size height, and Takemaru in his monstrous new height, closed in… until time returned again, and Takemaru, having the most power, was able to push back Alex as they finally slammed into each other.

The collision created a sort of shockwave that split in the center of town, carving a crater below the two as the wave then split between in a horizontal line, cracking towards the wall, and nearly shattering the sides. The women and lepers who occupied the town, were all racing from one angle to the other. However, Toki took charge as she ordered an immediate evacuation, but asked for those who could help to stay behind.

The two beasts were clawing at each other as the two finally crashed into the ground. Takemaru picked the boy up in his large grip, and tossed him into the main furnace of Iron Town. Alex's body crashed into the many support beams of the tower, but not toppling it down. He then slammed into one of the smelting pots, causing the contents to crash on the ground, setting the straw covered floor on fire. He finally scooted on the ground in a halt, flat on his back but still conscious. He started to get up, feeling groggy from the impact of his little tussle with the rogue samurai.

He groaned a bit, trying to right himself back into balance. "Ugh… he's a lot tougher… than I remember…" he rubbed the back of his neck to get the strain out.

A low disembodied chuckle came from the opening of the now ablaze Iron Town center home. He looked and saw the large form of Takemaru step inside and stop a few feet away from the door. He then chuckled in a taunting tone, as he stuck out his hand and curled his finger towards himself, taunting the young boy, "C'mon, Boy. Surely this can't be all the strength that those foolish Spirit Kings have given you." and then to make the straw break the camel's back even more, he took from his side the severed head of Shisha Gami, and shook it around. "Or did you forget what was at stake?"

Alex snarled at the taunt, but knew deep down he wasn't at peak strength at this point. Whatever gift the other half of Shisha Gami, the Night Walker, needed to bestow on him, he had to make him whole again. But first he needed to beat Takemaru, 'C'mon, think, Alex. Think!' he looked around, and saw the empty cauldron of molten steel. He ran over to it, and immediately began to bash into it, making the iron entangle around his forearms and fists.

Takemaru began to make his way towards the boy, attempting to gut him in half. The young outlander had finished making his makeshift metal boxing gloves, which were oversized sheets of metal wrapped around his forearms and fists. Making sure they stayed on, he slammed the two fists together, making a bashing sound. As he brought his fists back, he snarled right at the cursed samurai, and charged right at him.

When he was in range, the cursed samurai attempted to take a swipe at the boy, but the outlander dodged it by a split hair. And as soon as he was in range, Alex swatted him hard, two times in the side, and finally straight into the ground; the very impact of such strength hitting the floor nearly shook the building to almost come crumbling down. As soon as Takemaru on the gorund, the young outlander continued to smack and punch at him, breaking the steel armor gloves off as he continued to pound him inot the ground, creating a massive crater.

As soon as he looked done, Alex grabbed the samurai by the armor collar, and gave him one final right hook to the face. After shaking it off, Takemaru spat out some blood, and glared at the boy, taunting, "IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?"

Alex was about to punch him once more in the face, but Takemaru had kicked him out of the Iron Works like a cannon ball being shot out at high velocity. He crashed into one of the huts at high speed, shattering it and having it fall on him, burying him in hay and wood. The cursed samurai shot out of the rooftop and stood on the burning roof of the Iron Works, looking for where his prey was hiding at now.

Going unnoticed, Toki, Koroku, and a few of the women stayed positioning themselves in key points. They all had their rifles at the ready as they took careful aim, while Toki ordered, "Alright, give him some help."

"Um… which one?" Koroku asked.

"Help Alex! Who do you think?" Toki blasted out as she pointed to the creature that was once Takemaru. "That's the one we're gonna cut in half!"

Without arguing about it, the women all took fire on the beast, hitting it directly on target. But the iron balls just bounced off his massive body, however it irritated him immensely. He turned to look at the women shooting at him as he growled, "STAY OUT OF THIS!" and then hopped on all four limbs, charging at the women like a wild animal, charging towards them.

He was closing in towards them, and was about to pounce at them all… Suddenly, two golden metallic vines shot out, wrapping around Takemaru's shoulders. Alex stood back on the roof, half of his faceplate broken off, but still revealed to be covered by the black ooze film. And connected into his back being held by his hands, the same vines were coming from. Truly this was the gift that Somiesa had granted the young outlander. And it would also perhaps be an irreplaceable weapon and tool to use against such an opponent before him… and possibly in the future.

And with a mighty tug, Alex pulled back the cursed samurai from going after Toki and the others. However, the young outlander had pulled him too hard, as he was coming in fast into him. The impact had caused the two to go crashing through the roof and back into the Iron Works. The two crashed onto the floor as they both groaned and got up, now completely focused on one another, instead of the flaming surroundings that they were currently occupying.

As the place burned and started to fall apart around them. They looked at each other and snarled, as they once again charged at one another, and crashed into each other, nearly shaking the whole building. Alex climbed up on Takemaru's back, as the cursed Samurai tried to shake him off. He did so by slamming into the flaming pillars, trying and hoping to hit the boy. But no such luck; Alex was holding on to dear life, and he did so by slamming his right hand on the samurai's back, and digging his fingers to where his spine, hoping to at least break a part of the column.

Takemaru growled in pain as he attempted to do so, but ignored it at this time with low growls. He balled up his massive right fist, and reached back, punching Alex hard repeatedly. But as he did so, he continued to stumble back and forth as he slammed in more of the walls, causing the building to go down even more.

Outside, Toki was getting everyone out of Iron Town before it was too late. "Everybody! Head for the Main Gate," she ordered the huddling crowd as best she could. "When you get out, head for the river! It'll be the only safe place from the fire!"

"But, Toki," Koroku stated, feeling slightly worried. "We've got to save the Iron Works. If it blows up, it'll be the end of Iron Town."

"Then let it blow!" Toki shouted, startling her husband a bit. Realizing she had lost her cool, her demeanor calmed down as she gave Koroku a gentle smile, the same one that caught his attention and asked him to marry her. "We can rebuild this place; but the lives here can't be. As long as we live, Iron Town'll live too."

But then suddenly, a huge explosion from the iron works suddenly, blew out, shooting a huge fireball at the main gate. Suddenly, without warning, it crashed into the walls, destroying it, nearly killing lives, and closing up the pathway. The remaining citizens that didn't get out, along with Toki and Koroku. The couple stared in freaking out but in a calm way, except for Koroku who was shaking in his cast.

Toki gulped as she sighed, "Guess we're not getting out this way."

The Iron Works building suddenly exploded, the fires reaching the oil and molten iron. Fire and wood erupted all over, but the townspeople managed to dodge it just in time. Debris showered over them as they heard a thud not too far from them. The citizens looked up from their hiding places as they saw the outlander had been shot out of the burning Iron Works, probably a twist of fate of sorts.

Suddenly, they heard a howling sound from behind them as they saw a huge object hoping over them. It landed on the ground in front of them as they got a good look at what it was. To their fright, it was one of Moro's wolf cubs, Kiba, and on his back, a familiar wolf Princess was on top of him. San immediately looked and saw where Alex was, lying face into the ground. She feared the worst as this point in time… until he slowly got up.

As he got to his feet, San's smile slowly showed as she hopped off Kiba. She stood there as he slowly walk to her as she whispered, "Thank the Gods…" he stumbled towards her, a few portions of his armor covered in soot and a little smoky in some areas. "Alex… " she whispered as she took only one step towards him.

And that's when it happened. Something erupted from the ruins of the Iron Works as everyone, San, and Alex looked to see a small portion of the Iron Works erupted upward as an object shot out and stood with the ruins behind him. It was Takemaru, still alive, and super pissed off at the outlander, as he glared daggers at the boy. His mane's sharp points flexing and shaking like the tip of a rattlesnake's tail. His glare intensified as he looked at the young outlander and charged right at him.

Alex snarled as he charged forward, but was pushed back, but he kept his foothold. The two struggled with each other's strength, as the young outlander and the samurai looked at each other eye-to-eye. "YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS POWER!" Takemaru snarled as he was about to gain the upper hand in his strength. Suddenly, his maw stretched out, with enlarged sharp teeth growing as he snarled, "AND AFTER I'M DONE BEATING YOU UNTIL THERE'S NOTHING LEFT… YOU CAN WATCH HER DIE!" He then lunged and bit the outlander in the right shoulder, causing Alex to shout out in immense pain as Takemaru began to gnaw at it.

"Alex!" the wolf girl shouted. She pulled out her dagger, and charged forward to the demon samurai. "Let him go, you demon!" but when she reached to him to take a swipe, he swatted her away like she was nothing. She skidded to the ground, nearly unconscious.

"San!" Kiba snarled as he charged forward. However, Takemaru shot his tail out, stabbing it nowhere near a vital area. Kiba howled in pain as he was thrown back.

As this happened, Alex saw this, even as Takemaru tried to eat his arm off, saw the whole thing. Both friends, especially one that meant more to him than just a friend, were hurt because of this fight. Suddenly, something inside him grew… something powerful. Suddenly, Alex grabbed Takemaru by his jaw points, and began to push him back. Seeing this happen to him, Takemaru grabbed the boy by the shoulders, and attempted to try and push him off. But to the samurai's shock, it was to no avail. The boy's strength, surprising Takemaru, was vastly growing at this point. There was no contest: the boy was winning. But before Takemaru could gain some advantage, Alex gave him a massive kick in the chest, causing him to step back, as the boy ran towards him.

He ran behind him, the vines shooting out of his back, and wrapping around the samurai's neck. Alex hopped onto his back as his opponent tried to fight back. But then all Alex had to do, was tighten the vines, brining about pressure, choking the life out of Takemaru. The samurai's eyes were nearing red, indicating oxygen was being cut off. Seeing this, Alex became excited with satisfaction as his half-armored smirk popped up on his face, and he roared aloud like an animal.

"STOOOOP!"

Alex stopped as he looked to his side… and saw San, back on her feet, and looked at him pleadingly. This caused Alex to return to his senses, as his hold on the vines loosened, and Takemaru collapsed on to the ground. The townspeople of Iron Town, some a bit skittish as they held hteir rifles at the ready. Kiba, sitting up and trying to right himself from the bleeding spot on his side, looked at this scene. Suddenly, as if a crowd was forming, Isaac popped up, in his beast form, along with Rukia in her human form on top of Tsume.

As the whole crowd watched over this, Alex looked down on Takemaru's still from, he noticed he was trying to get up. However, Alex stomped his foot on him, making sure that he would stay down. As he made sure, Alex grabbed at the armor faceplate on his face, and tore it off, leaving nothing but the black ooze film on his head. He then grabbed the film, as he revealed his real human face; his hair, still a lighter color and a little longer, and the same black and yellow eyes with the same horned tusk tattoos underneath his eyes.

He took one look down at Takemaru, and then huffed as he looked up. And then, he let out a huge roar, that nearly shook the whole town as he claimed this victory. The roar echoing across the mountains at this triumph. The townspeople, beasts, spirits and princess all watched as this battle had finally come to an end. The Hulk had beaten down this beastly abomination.

Alex stepped down from the beast, as Takemaru had finally passed out from exhaustion. He sighed to himself as he rubbed his head, groaning, "I'm really… gonna need a vacation after all this."

Suddenly, San ran up to him and embraced him lovingly, burying her face into his chest as she did so. Alex, for one, was surprised by this display. But before he could ask what reason for this, he heard her muffled voice. "Stupid!" she muttered. "You're so stupid, Alex!"

After hearing such worry, it only caused Alex to smile a little, knowing she was worried about him. He gently returned the hug, with his bleeding right arm. As he held her, she looked up to him, both their eyes glistened for a moment, as the two nuzzled each other, cheek to cheek. And when they stopped, Alex smirked as he simply replied, "You know… I think I like how wolves kiss."

San just let a small giggle escape her throat as she looked up into the eyes of the human boy she had fallen for. "True," she replied as she leaned up and whispered to him. "But I like how humans do it much better."

"Ahem," a voice called out to them as they turned to look, and saw Isaac walk towards them. "I hate to ruin a pretty good romantic scene here. But in case you've forgotten, there's a huge swirling blob of death stomping on over here. I suggest you give him back his head."

The two broke apart for a moment, but didn't back away from one another. Alex looked back to Takemaru, and ran towards him, leaving the others confused. He reached down and found what he was looking for. He then turned around, holding Shisha Gami's severed head as he fastened it to his belt now. "C'mon," he smirked to the others confident. "We've got something to return."

Next Chapter: the Journey back to Home; A Thorny Rose