Author's note - (gets down on knees and bows) i am SOOO sorry for not updating for like, almost a whole month! GAWK!!! i can't believe how long that writer's block lasted! thank god for my awesome roommate who solved everything by introducing me to some new songs she found. So the next three chapters (yes, i wrote three chapters in one sitting WHOOT!) are the product of me listening to Pyramid by Charice Pempengco (featuring IYAZ) and Airplanes by B.O.B. (featuring Hayley Williams from Paramore) for hours on end. Great songs w/ catching melodies :D love them! Anyhoo, thank you to everyone who reviewed/favorited/story-alerted! I swear i WILL finish this story. Just hang tight, okay?
Chapter 27
Toya knew what he was doing was stupid but he had to see it with his own eyes. The Ice Master dashed through the forest, following Risika's potent aura as it flew over the center of the island – right between the two giant cliffs that were a prominent feature of Hanging Neck Isle. He wasn't sure where she was going but he could faintly see the ice at her feet glitter in the sunlight. She moved swiftly through the air and very soon Toya lost sight of her – but he kept running.
Toya's instincts were telling him to return to the stadium and leave Risika to her fight with the Elder Toguro, but his heart was telling him to go and see with his own eyes what a true Ice Demon was capable of. When she had stepped into the ring today, she was unbelievably stronger than when he had faced her. With that kind of demon energy, what could an Ice Demon really do – a fully trained Ice Demon?
She had told him she was from Okori's era. She had been there when the great Ice King had ruled half of Demon World. What was he like? What were his people like? All these questions raged inside him and he just had to know. His pride wouldn't allow him to continue carrying the title of Ice Master if he didn't even know where his powers had come from or his heritage.
Toya could faintly sense a powerful demon aura in the distance. He was closing in on the battleground now…
"Come out, come out where ever you are, Toguro," taunted Shikori as she flew over the island on her ice. "Weren't you the one that said you were going to teach me to beg for my life back in the locker room?"
Her eyes searched the forest for any sign of the elusive demon. His scent had disappeared from the wind, which must mean he had gone into hiding, waiting for her to land and ambush her.
But where did I throw him? Can't have been that far, can it?
Well, then again, she hadn't had this much power at her disposal for a long time. Likely neither she nor Risika knew her own strength.
Maybe he landed in the ocean…
Shikori descended onto the sandy beach and her demon aura instantly turned the sand under her feet to ice. She waited silently with her eyes closed as she concentrated on locating Toguro's demon energy.
Damn there's no sign of him! Where the hell did he go?
He wasn't on the island – that much she could sense. The bastard's demon energy was unique – slippery and malicious. It distinguished him from all the other demons on the island and yet it was like he'd vanished into thin air!
Shikori cursed in frustration. Where was he and why was she suddenly starting to get the prickling sensation that she was being watched?
The Ice Demon opened her eyes and scanned her surroundings with narrow, trained eyes. There wasn't a soul in sight and yet the feeling of being watched never dissipated… it only seemed to get stronger.
Steady… steady… must focus, she told herself and once more concentrated with her senses. She could hear the waves crashing on the beach, smell the salty air of the ocean, and feel the cool ice under her feet. But things were too quiet… there wasn't a creature in sight.
Another wave crashed onto the beach as high tide washed in.
He's here… I know he is. The bastard is impulsive and wants revenge. He's hiding somewhere nearby… I can feel it.
A third wave crashed onto the beach and this time it reached all the way to her ankle. She felt something wrap around her ankle and, at first, thought it was seaweed until she felt like someone had taken a sickle to her foot and tried to slice it off.
Shit!
Shikori couldn't help but cry out in agony as she fell to the ground. Her ankle felt like it was on fire! Blood dripped from the deep gash around her ankle, rendering her right foot useless. Shikori gasped for air as she slowly sat up and watched as a flesh-like liquid rose out of the water, cackling insanely. The demon solidified and was licking the blood off his red hand.
"Mmm, that was a tasty treat. I can't wait to have some more." He took another lick and actually shuddered in pleasure.
"Sick bastard…" Shikori growled angrily. "Don't expect seconds."
An anklet of ice suddenly encompassed the wound, stopping the bleeding, and Shikori flipped back onto her feet.
In a blur of white and blue, she dashed forward, creating ice claws on both hands, and slashed at him, intending to shred the demon into pieces. But to her dismay, Toguro liquefied himself once again and retreated into the ocean. Shikori could hear his slimy voice cackling in the water but it seemed to come from everywhere.
"Come out and fight, coward!" she snarled.
"Why don't you come into the ocean and find me?" he taunted. "You are an Ice Demon, after all. Why don't you just try and freeze me? Oh, wait, then you would have to freeze the entire ocean." Toguro continued his maniacal laughter. "Face it, you can't kill me! You can't even hit me!"
"If it bleeds than it can be killed. That has always been my philosophy. You are no different!" snarled Shikori and leaped forward. Every step she took, she froze the water in her wake and by the time she had taken a dozen paces, the entire shore on her side of the island was frozen solid. There was no longer a beach – just an icy edge where the ground immediately dropped into the deep end of the sea.
On her last step, she leaped into the air and once more flew on ice, skimming over the surface of the ocean and searching for her prey.
"You want me? Come and get me, you slim-ball! I've faced stronger demons than you, weakling! Come out and fight me!" she shouted.
The predictable bastard shot fleshy tentacles out of the water on her right. Shikori smirked at the fool. The ocean was as much of an advantageous terrain for her as it was for him. It took less energy to freeze water than it did to freeze the moisture in the air.
A wall of ice instantly appeared to block Toguro's tentacles and Shikori countered by vaulting over the wall and grabbing onto the flesh tentacles. While the appendages struggled to slip out of her hands, she sent her powers into her claws, freezing the flesh. The ice travelled down the tentacle, heading straight for its master. Shikori could see Toguro's watery face beneath the surface as it gaped in surprise and, out of desperation, ripped the appendages from his body and fled.
"Tsch. Damn." And she had almost got him too.
Shikori really didn't have the patience for this. She could begin to see that this method of fighting was futile. Not only would Toguro take forever to track down, he'd also regenerate instantly and she would never have a real shot at delivering a fatal blow.
If Toji was here, he could fry the entire ocean –
Suddenly a ball of light appeared in the sky above her and Toji leaped out, smirking.
"You called?"
Shikori gaped. "Toji?! Why are you –?"
"I just figured that if he's gonna pull his cheap tricks on us then we might as well pull a couple ourselves," said Toji.
The Tiger Demon gathered lightning into the palm of his hands and a ball of crackling yellow light appeared.
"Lightning Strike!"
A beam of lightning streaked out of the ball in Toji's hands and struck the ocean, causing electricity to crackle along its surface, dancing in deadly waves. They could hear the screams of agony coming from their hidden enemy and soon a blacken form shot out of the ocean and landed on the frozen shore.
When Toji and Shikori landed on the ice, Toguro was already recovering as he crawled off the ice and attempted to retreat into the forest.
"Oh no you don't! You're not getting away from us that easily," said Shikori and leaped in front of the pathetic demon.
"Bitch…" he growled.
"Hmphf." Shikori kicked him in the face, throwing him onto his back and making him skid on the ice, stopping at Toji's feet. Immediately, ice spires shot out of the ground and wrapped around Toguro, locking him to the ice.
"It's over Toguro," said Shikori, moving to stand over him. She pointed her right hand at him and the ice claw turned into an ice sword. "Prepare for death."
Toguro smirked. "You'll never be able to kill me, bitch. I'm invincible!"
Suddenly, out of the woods, fleshy tentacles shot out and pierced through Shikori's abdomen. She gasped in pain as blood spurted out of her wounds and mouth.
"Damn, another one in the forest!" snarled Toji as he leaped forward to wrench the tentacle out of her back.
"Another… what?" grunted Shikori, clutching her stomach and turned to the forest.
"Another me," sneered Toguro as he emerged from the woods with one hand in his blue coat pocket.
"How… the hell –?"
"He can make dummies of himself by ripping off pieces of his flesh and controlling them from afar. He must have done it as soon as he climbed onto shore," explained Toji, hands balling into fists as he faced off against their new opponent.
"That's correct, boy. I transferred my heart and my brain into the tiny bit of flesh that was still unharmed and threw it into the forest so I could regenerate while you dealt with that piece of lump over there."
"A fake, huh?" muttered Shikori and stomp her foot irritably. Ice entombed the puppet Toguro lying on the ground and froze him solid so he was no longer able to move. "Damn. And I'm gonna bet he can create more than one too. So how do we know which one is the real one?" she asked Toji.
"Feh. That's a question I've been wondering since my fight with him in Sakyo's lab," growled the Tiger Demon. "You all right?"
Shikori nodded as a patch of ice appeared on her stomach. "Let's go. We'll kill him… one way or another. He can't control that many puppets with both of us fighting."
The moved at one in two streaks of white and blue. Toji, with his fist laced with electricity, charged the demon head on. One punch and he could send a hundred volts of electricity into the demon's body. Toguro stumbled back just enough for Toji's fists to miss contact, but not enough for his electricity to still affect him.
His chest was burnt black and the demon howled in pain as he scrambled backwards only to be sliced into three pieces by Shikori. Her ice claws cleaved him into thirds from behind and the pieces landed on the forest floor with a wet plop as blood splattered everywhere.
Shikori wiped the blood off her face and spat. "Peh. It's bad enough he stinks but his blood tastes like acid."
"Should I even ask how you know what acid tastes like?" asked Toji as he approached the body cautiously. He frowned and kicked the pieces irritably. "Stop pretending Toguro. I know you won't die this easily," he snarled.
Just then the three pieces began squirming and loss their original shape. They became blobs of grey flesh and were pulsing as they stretched and convulsed. Suddenly, they leaped off into three different directions – right, left, and forward – and disappeared into the forest.
"Shit. This is bad."
"Yeah… tell me about. It's obviously a trap," muttered Shikori, eyes trained on the forest. "Should we spring it?"
"Three against two… we've face worse odds but when you throw in the freak's ability to regenerate and move his organs around, then I'd say jumping in is suicide," replied Toji.
"We have to find a way to identify the original body," said Shikori. "What did you learn from fighting him in Sakyo's lab?"
"That it's virtually impossible to find his heart or brain," said Toji. "I burned him to a crisp – twice – and the bastard is obviously still alive. Both of them must have been dummies, which would explain why I couldn't read their thoughts. I bet the real one was still in the stadium the whole time."
"Hmm… then it'll be his thoughts that will give him away. We're both telepaths. We should be able to sniff out the real one out of those three."
"Nice idea except what if Toguro created more dummies while we've been standing around?" asked Toji.
Shikori sighed. "It doesn't matter how many there are. Search for Toguro's thoughts and go after the original. We'll know if we're right when all the dummies converge to protect the original."
Toji nodded with a smile. "After you, my lady," he said with a mock bow.
Shikori snorted and rolled her eyes. "Quit fooling around. We've got a trap to spring." And like a breath of wind, she was gone.
Toji crouched in a tree as he searched the forest for signs of Toguro. The whole forest was uncannily quiet… the animals had fled, knowing dangerous predators were on the prowl. Toji's animal instincts were twitching with anticipation of the hunt. As soon as they had entered the forest, Toji's nose picked up Toguro's trail. Unfortunately, all three trails smelled exactly the same. The two of them decided to split up with Toji going after the one on the left and Risika taking the one on the right. If neither target was the real one than both of them would converge on the third trail.
But there was also the threat of Toguro setting a trap that was lingering in the back of Toji's mind. Separated as they were, if either one of them stumbled into an ambush, it'd be impossible to escape unscathed.
Instinctually, Toji's mind reached out to Risika's to make sure she was all right. The Ice Demon growled back irritably as she followed her target's trail.
"I'm fine, Toji. Concentrate on your own target."
Toji sighed and ended the connection. He'd been on edge lately. Ever since Sakyo brought Risika to his lab, he'd had a twisted feeling in his gut and he wasn't sure what it was. Maybe it was fear… fear that he might lose her, one way or another. He might lose her if she fell into madness again or he might lose her to Spirit World if she was killed. Either one seemed to bring Toji to his knees as his stomach knotted painfully and his heart pounded in pain.
Even now Toji was clutching the tree trunk so hard that the bark began to crack as his claws dug into the wood. He couldn't let that happen, he told himself. He won't allow things to end like that. Both of them were going to walk away from this island and live – live the life they've always wanted. No more doing Spirit World's bidding. They were going to finally be left alone.
"I'll protect her," muttered Toji determinately, balling his hands into a fists.
Suddenly, a high pitch cackle rang in his ears. Toji turned, eyes wide, to see Toguro's face looming over him. His head was protruding from the tree trunk and he had a sinister smile on his face.
"I suggest you worry about yourself before you think about others." Five tentacles shot out of the tree but Toji managed to escape with just a shallow gash on his arm.
"Oh? You're fast," commented Toguro as he emerged from the trunk of the tree.
Toji landed on the forest floor and turned to glare up at the demon. He did a quick scan and cursed, realizing that this was just a dummy.
Shit, I don't have time to waste with this guy. I need to find the original!
"You seem disappointed, boy. Am I not the one you were looking for?" Toguro taunted.
"Tsch. Out of my way, you useless sack of meat," snarled Toji, throwing a bolt of lightning at Toguro. The demon leaped off the branch and Toji's lightning set the tree on fire.
"Better be careful, there. Wouldn't want to burn down the whole forest and your precious Shikori with it. I hear Ice Demons are quite vulnerable to fire."
Toji snorted under his breath. Like normal flames would affect either of them now that they were at A-class level.
"Obviously you must be one of the brainless puppets since you can't tell the enormous power gap between you and me. You're in way over your head, Toguro and aren't even worth my time."
"We'll just see about that! Nyaa!" Toguro's fingers shot out in an arch, trying to cage Toji in.
Toji countered with a barrier of lightning by concentrating his powers first into his finger tips and then opening his arms, creating a domed net of electricity. As soon as Toguro's tentacles touched his barrier, the electricity shot up the appendages and travelled back to the body. Toguro screamed as a thousand volts of electricity shocked him and, just like in Sakyo's lab, more appendages shot out of his body; but this time Toji was prepared for it.
The Tiger Demon poured more power into his barrier so that not only was he protected, but it gave Toguro a second wave of agony as his flesh made contact with Toji's lightning. Soon there was nothing but charred remains of the demon puppet and Toji dissipated his barrier with a crack like thunder.
He spent a minute catching his breath as the air still crackled with static. Then he approached the body cautiously. It smelled like burnt hair and flesh and the grass around him was still on fire. Toji grabbed a stick and poked the remains but the body didn't move.
Toji finally sighed with relief but only to then scratch his head as he surveyed the damage he'd done to the forest.
"Too bad Risika isn't here to put out the flames," he muttered. There was nothing he could do to put out the fire and it was likely to spread to the rest of the island. A part of himself told him to leave the flames and go after the real Toguro but another small, guilty part – a part that belonged in the past – twisted in guilt.
"Respect life, Toji. Everyone only gets one chance at it."
Toji sighed as his father's ancient, rumbling voice echoed in his ears. Jeez, the old Tiger had been dead for at least a thousand years and still he could somehow find a way to lecture him one last time.
"Yeah yeah, old man, I know but do I look like a firefighter to you?" he growled irritably. "At least point me to the nearest river or something."
Suddenly, Toji's ear twitched as he caught the sound of light footsteps traveling swiftly on the grass. It was heading in his direction…
Toji instinctively crouched, claws extended, and waited for whoever was about to appear. He could pick out the person's thoughts faintly. The mind was relatively calm with few thoughts running across its surface.
"Fire… there! They must be there…"
Whoever he was, he was almost here. Toji stepped into the shadows and as soon as the man shot out of the trees Toji tackled him to the ground, snarling. They rolled dangerously close to the flames before Toji ended the tumbling with him on top, claws wrapped around the boy's throat and fangs bared.
It took Toji a few seconds to recognize who the intruder was and he instantly swore in disbelief.
"Toya! What the hell are you doing out here?" he snarled.
Toya coughed and sputtered, reminding Toji to remove his claws from his windpipes so the Shinobi could speak. Toji got off him and Toya sat up, rubbing his throat.
"The same goes for you, demon. What are you doing out here?" he asked in a slightly hoarse voice.
"Hunting Toguros. And you should be back in the stadium watching the finals. So I'm going to ask you again, why are you here?"
"I came to see Risika… I came to see her fight," said Toya in a defiant voice, daring Toji to call him a fool. "Never have I seen someone wield ice like she did. I came to see what a true Ice Master could do."
Toji gaped at the boy incredulously. "You've got to be kidding me. You came out here, with a dangerous, maniac demon on the loose, just to see Risika fight?"
"Yes," said Toya, eyes blazing in defiance.
Toji shook his head. "Dear Kami, kids these days…" he muttered and got to his feet.
"Kid? I am a master Shinobi. How dare you call me a child?!" exclaimed Toya. "If anyone's the child, it's you." He pointed.
"Hey, I may look young but I'll have you know I've been around even before Risika was born. And you already know how old she is, so watch your mouth, kid."
Toya's eyes widened in surprise. "You're even older than Risika?"
"Yeah, so scram, kid. I don't have time to babysit you," snapped Toji, irritably. "I've got a fire to put out and a demon to hunt."
"I don't need you to protect me. I am a proud Shinobi warrior and I can protect myself. As for the fire, it's nothing an Ice Demon can't handle," said Toya. Green balls of light appeared in his hands and he blew on them gently. "Ice Bombs."
The green lights dashed forward and upon impact, they turned the tree into a giant ice sculpture, effectively putting out the fire.
"Thanks kid. Now go back to the stadium," ordered Toji.
"I don't take orders from strangers," said Toya folding his arms across his chest. "And I don't need your permission to go after Risika."
"Fine, suite yourself," snapped Toji with impatience. He then leaped into the nearest tree and dashed off into the forest as fast as he could, hoping to lose the persistent Ice Master and find Risika before she got ambushed.
I've wasted too much time!
Toji called out to Risika with his mind but was shocked to not hear a reply. Alarmed, Toji called out again, this time with a stronger wave but still got nothing. And what was worse, his nose couldn't pick up her scent at all… but he could pick up Toguro's.
There were two of them – one somewhere in the forest on his left and the other by the cliffs overlooking the ocean on his right. Both were too far for him to scan for the demon's thoughts.
Damn. Which one is the right one?
He had a sinking feeling in his gut that Risika was in deep trouble and Toji didn't think he would get a second chance if he guessed wrong. Toguro must have somehow blocked her thoughts and masked her scent. Toji needed to hurry but he knew that no matter which trail he picked, he'd have Toya hot on his tail. The kid was going to be a liability and yet Toji just had to trust it to Fate that the Ice Master could handle himself while Toji rescued Risika.
But which Toguro should he go after?
It's a fifty-fifty shot… right or left? RIGHT OR LEFT?!
*A/N ~ wanna take a guess which one Toji chooses? :D
