CHAPTER 36: Talpa's Defeat
Tarun had never experienced exhaustion like the bone-deep fatigue that dragged him down after so long wearing the Kikoutei armor, so long fighting an opponent that was far stronger and more skilled than he. With every parry of Talpa's sharp swords, he felt his arms shake with exertion and his knees tremble. Every burst of speed that took him away from a serious injury from the long blades Talpa wielded him took a little more of his energy. Exhaustion was not something Tarun was accustomed to dealing with.
But still he fought. He was determined and afraid both. Afraid that if he stopped fighting, he'd die...or someone else would die. Determined not to show weakness in front of the enemy, or in front of Suisei—he knew Suisei was there, but could hardly take a moment to look at him. Tarun might have gotten discouraged, if he did not notice one thing; Talpa was tiring, too, and he was tiring badly. His energy flagged, and his strikes were not as fast, nor as hard. 'Who's gonna run outta energy first?' Tarun thought. The idea of letting some miserable, ancient demon jerk outlast him galled him mightily!
A sudden, furious swipe of Talpa's sword knocked Tarun's feet out from under him, and he went down on his back with a crash of metal and a surprised outcry. His katana flew out of his hands. With a snarl of rage, Talpa leapt at him, driving his sword at Tarun's chest. He heard a cry of terrified dismay from Suisei as he rolled frantically out of the way, only just missing being skewered. Clenching his teeth, Tarun scrambled to his feet, grabbing for one of the many swords on Talpa's back, yanking it away from his armor.
Talpa roared angrily as he stood, and Tarun gasped at a sudden surge of blazing hatred and evil that came from Talpa's weapon. He flung it away with a cry of disgust, and sprinted from Talpa's lunge.
"You dare to take a weapon from me!" Talpa growled, spinning to face him.
'Not again I won't," Tarun thought, frantically looking for something else he could use. Suddenly he remembered he had two swords, not just one, and grabbed wildly for the second katana. 'I can't lose this one!'
He caught sight of Killian and Rashida and Yasuo from the corner of his eyes, but could not stop to look at them. He yelled in pain as Talpa's sword struck him in the arm, opening a gash in the armor and his skin. He swung the katana wildly back, missing Talpa, but making him duck briefly—enough time to get out of the way.
'I can't do this,' Tarun thought frantically. 'I'm not strong enough, I can't fight him!' And he could feel the others' exhaustion through the link—they'd not be able to help! Were they going to die? 'No!' he thought furiously. 'I'm not gonna die because of you, Talpa!' Clenching his teeth he ran at the demon once more...
---
"He's not gonna make it," Suisei whispered, drawing his bow. "I've got to help him!"
Nohano shook his head, but did not stop Suisei, even though Suisei could barely stay on his feet. Nohano himself didn't know if he could stand, period, as Suisei drew an arrow, forcing back the string of his bow with an arm that shook badly. The arrow flew, badly aimed and weak, and Suisei stumbled.
But it was not just exhaustion that made him stumble; the ground had begun to shake, and Nohano looked down in horror. "What the hell!" He turned, alarmed, as Yasuo came running up, looking tired and worried, and Nohano asked what was going on.
"I-I don't know," he gasped as he staggered up to them, looking over at Talpa's battle.
Nohano felt like he was going insane; everything was happening at once. "It's not—the Nether Realm, is it Talpa's work again?"
Yasuo looked over at where Talpa battled with Tarun, and shook his head. "No," he said. I don't think that it is—surely Talpa could not spare any power from his fights to do this!" They all looked back again as two more pairs of footsteps clanged against the stone behind them, and Nohao's eyes widened to see Killian and Rashida.
"Nohano!" Killian smiled, jogging tiredly to meet him, and they embraced briefly. Then Killian caught sight of Tarun. "Holy shit, he's still fighting?"
"But they're both tiring," said Demetrius. "This fight has been fifteen minutes."
Only fifteen minutes? Killian couldn't believe it; surely it had been longer than that from the time he first joined Kikoutei until now! But then it had only seemed forever, constantly fighting fatigue, fighting the Nether Spirits...
"But why is the ground shaking?" asked Rashida. She looked even more worried than Nohano, and he wasn't sure why. Her eyes suddenly widened, and she stared right at the dark blue sphere that was Amaya's shield. Nohano followed her gaze and caught a bright, sizzling flash of light where he could barely see Cye crouched. A chill went through Nohano. "What's happening?
Nohano!
It was Ryo, and he sounded scared. What's going on? Cye's glowing weird, and Kento!
I-I know, so are we! I don't know what's happening—Anubis is to draw us into the Spirit Worlds, but this—this isn't right! It's not Anubis or the Ancient one, it...
Other voices came in, then, from Cye and the others of Ryo's group, and it was clear this was not something good, or expected. Nohano looked around wildly, wondering what it could be that was attacking him. A low rending sound began to split the air, and beside Nohano, Killian looked up in horror. "What IS it?"
Yasuo turned to face them all. "The worlds are splitting apart again!" he cried, his eyes wide with sudden, horrified realization.
"But that's good!" cried Nohano. "Isn't it?"
"Not for Ryo, not for the others! They cannot be caught here when the worlds split—I don't know how quickly Anubis can bring them from this world!"
Nohano didn't understand, but sudden, dawning realization on Rashida's face told him that she did. "No," she whispered. "Nohano, Anubis destroyed Badamon! He was the one whose rite brought Ryo and the others here and made them solid, and he must have been at least partly responsible for the worlds merging, as well! Now that he's gone—!"
"What do we do?" Killian cried frantically. "What'll happen to them?"
Nohano felt Killian's helpless fear, and felt his own helpless fear. What would happen if Ryo was caught here? Even now the rends in the sky were beginning to recede!
Something happened then, something so deep that Nohano could barely feel it, much less identify. He also felt Rashida's quick mind working furiously, felt her still herself and calm her thoughts...and felt absolute certainty as she came to her answer. The armors! she whispered. Nohano, call the Ronin! Call Ryo—our armors can shelter them! But we have to be inside the armor!
She's right! Yasuo said in amazement. You can harbor their spirits—you can keep them safe until Anubis can call them back! Let the armor call them—but you must give it permission to do this!
Nohano did not even think about it—the permission was already given, and his armor knew this. He very nearly forgot about Talpa as he felt a strange sort of opening of his spirit, a deep, frightening sensation, a call to Ryo's own spirit. Nohano felt sudden warmth overcome him, and then the strangest sensation he had ever experienced—it was somewhat like it had felt when he had joined spirits with the Wildfire armor, but it was more. He realized suddenly that it was Ryo. Nohano blinked. He thought he should be reacting more, saying something, but he could not think of a single thing to say. Even his face didn't know what expression it should use as he stood, staring in shock. Had Ryo made it?
I'm here, my friend, said Ryo quietly, and Nohano's shock broke apart in the wave of sheer relief. He didn't know what would have happened, but his base instinct was that it would have been horrible.
Well this is interesting. It was Kento's voice, sounding much like Nohano felt; blinking in complete surprise. Are...are we all here?
One by one, Ryo's group sounded off, and it was clear they'd all made it, and the relief from Nohano's friends was just as great as his own. Relief and shock both.
A sudden shout from Yasuo caught their attention, and Nohano's astonished relief shot back up to frantic anxiety: "Kikoutei! Join back with Kikoutei!"
Nohano's head snapped up and he gasped to see Tarun had just been knocked down, and he realized that when Ryo's group had merged with Nohano's, their connection with Kikoutei had severed. Nohano stopped where he was immediately, closing his eyes and concentrating...
---
Tarun had been badly scared when all of a sudden more than half the power coming through his armor stopped. Talpa knocked him clean across half the slab of stone they fought upon, and Tarun felt blood on his face, alongside where he'd caught the laser-pistol burn. Shaking, he tried to struggle to his feet, only barely making it as Talpa leapt at him. The lapse in energy did not last long, and a sudden, great surge went through him, like it had felt before, when all twelve armor-bearers had been behind Kikoutei.
Talpa could see the difference, too, and he paused for just a moment as Tarun charged him, the great frenzy of energy not distracting him now, but bolstering his exhausted body. He didn't know what happened, but he was grateful for it!
A voice came through the link then, a voice that belonged to Ryo—but it was as if Nohano were speaking to him! He couldn't stop to wonder how this had happened, only that he was glad to hear it! Tarun! Use your flare attack! Your special attack!
What flare attack? Tarun asked, ducking beneath Talpa's blades. That's Nohano, not me!
Your special attack, what is it?
I don't have one!
Don't ha—damn it I forgot! Okay Tarun, listen carefully to me. Kikoutei has a powerful attack, like the original armors, like my Flare and Cye's Wave Smasher! Reach within yourself, find the strength, connect with the armor—you can defeat Talpa with that! We're all of us supporting you now, you can do it! Listen to your instincts!
You can do it, came Yasuo's calmer voice. Think, feel—you will know what to do, little one.
Tarun staggered back from Talpa, and for a moment, they faced one another. Tarun felt terrified, but not of Talpa; it was impossible to fight someone for fifteen minutes and still be scared of him. But this power, this attack...how? He frowned, trying to search for that the way he had found out what capabilities his armor had. And was there something? Yes! There was—it was there all the time, he just hadn't recognized it, or known how to use it!
Talpa seemed to know what Tarun was about to do. He raised his straight swords up together, and seemed to be gearing up his remaining strength for an attack of his own; Tarun tried not to be distracted, tried not to interrupt the growing force growing in his mind, through his entire body. He realized a moment later, however, that nothing could have stopped it once it began—not even him.
His arms both rose, though Tarun scarcely did it himself . They gripped the hilt of the sword, leaving him wide open for attack, but for some reason he was not worried. The power spiraled up, ripping through his body, but there was no pain. His hands shook as he fought to keep a hold of his katana, and he brought it down to aim at Talpa, without even knowing he needed to do it. He cried out words in Kannada, his native language, without having been told what the words were, and everything exploded in a bright flare of blinding light—light so bright even he had to shut his eyes to it and he faintly heard Demetrius cry out in pain.
Tarun did not see what happened then; the flare died down and he collapsed, fear overcoming him for only a moment before he blacked out.
---
Nohano was exhausted, but he was not as fatigued as he would have been had he borne Kikoutei himself. He fell to his hands and knees when Tarun blasted his attack, looking for a moment like an exploding star, and then the kid collapsed. Alarmed, Nohano looked up, seeing no sign of Talpa, and gently withdrawing his power from Kikoutei, struggling to stand. Rashida and Demetrius were also standing up, though Killian wasn't able to get up. He wasn't out cold, but close.
Suisei let a strangled cry and lurched to his feet, and no one tried to stop him. Demetrius and Rashida followed him to where Tarun lay, and Suisei knelt next to the boy. Tarun's armor had vanished, leaving him in his riot gear, and then only his clothing, the power orb rolling away across the stone. Nohano tried to reach him through the mind link, panicking slightly when he could not. 'Please just let him be unconscious!' he thought desperately.
It was a tense few moments as Suisei lay his hands on Tarun's chest before the sheer relief came through the link. Nohano closed his eyes and sat back down on the ground, shaking. Tarun was alive. It had been close, but he was alive, and would be all right...though it would take him some time to recover. Suisei reached out and took up Tarun's power orb, slipping it into his pocket.
That...was awesome, my friend.
Nohano blinked at Ryo's voice, almost having forgotten that he was playing host to his friend's spirit. Don't look at me, he said with a weary laugh, running a hand through his hair. Tarun's the one who did it! I just helped. He glanced around to see how Xander and Amaya were doing, and saw that they'd managed to hold onto consciousness. Yasuo looked tired, but Nohano suspected he was tougher than any of them, and was probably not as bad off!
That's true. But 'just helped' is nothing to laugh at either. All of you—you really are Ronin Warriors.
That was the best ass-kicking I've seen in years! crowed Kento. He sounded exhausted as well, though exultant, and Nohano realized belatedly that the original Ronin had given their spirits into Kikoutei as well. He also realized that he was being possessed, and thought, not for the first time, that he must have gone insane.
Me too, brother, said Ryo with a gentle laugh. Me too. Interesting, isn't it?
It didn't bother Nohano that Ryo had caught his thoughts, even though he hadn't sent them on purpose. Their spirits were sharing the same body, he probably couldn't hide anything from him if he wanted to. That's one word for it.
"Look!" It was Amaya; she was sitting on the ground in her armor, looking up at the sky. He looked up, wide-eyed, to see that the sky was very slowly returning to normal, and that the crags and other aspects of the Nether World were collapsing back into the ground, leaving a good deal of San Francisco recognizable again to Nohano. The rips in the sky were closing as if they were giant zippers, and in his exhaustion, Nohano actually saw the zippers closing up for just a second. He began to laugh, getting wearily to his feet.
People stood in the streets, looking dazed and ragged, and Nohano bit his lip, slowly standing and helping Killian to his feet.
We must leave soon I think, said Yasuo. We must find a private place to go. These people will be regaining their senses soon, and perhaps some memories of what has happened...
'No kidding, Nohano thought as the group of them moved together, some leaning on others, and all of them hurt and absolutely drained. Suisei carried Tarun in his arms, and Nohano winced on seeing the kid's injuries. 'No kid should have to fight a war,' he thought, biting his lip. Then he sighed. 'Guess that means me, too.'
Nohano rather thought they looked like the walking dead as they staggered out of the middle of the street and into a sheltered alleyway and towards the street on the other side. He knew he certainly felt like walking dead. Nohano told everyone to drop their armor before they emerged, and they did, waiting several minutes to make sure no one had followed them into the alley. Looking more like everyone else did, injured and dazed, it was far easier for them to travel. It was a relief for Nohano to get the armor off; it was getting unbearably heavy. He frowned slightly, then took off his shirt, telling Suisei to wait for a minute so he could at least somewhat hide Tarun's riot gear. It was too big, but better than drawing attention to themselves.
"We need to get home," said Demetrius quietly. "We need to find if it has been spared...or not."
Nohano didn't know why some buildings seemed to be untouched, and some seemed to be half-destroyed, and some were completely gone. He supposed explanations could come later. For now...Demetrius was right. They needed to get home.