Fourteen
A huge, armor-clad foot steps out of the light and crushes a small flower on the ground. As the huge figure emerges from the light, the terrible armor covering it's huge bulk begins to shimmer in the sunlight. It was easy to see why Jaaku had such reserved despite for this man. The armor is jagged in all the joints of his body, a brilliant silver color to it. The clawed ends of his fingers curl slightly in the cool breeze and two eyes are glowing from in the depths of the recesses of his helmet. On the helmet, an engraved dragon growls out at anyone who dares to look at it. The two eyes are not the same color, however; one is a purple color, while the other is a deep red. Both above and below the red glow on the helmet, a long gash blemishes that perfect silver and sticks out like an eyesore. The slotted mask covering his face begins to move oddly as an evil smile crosses his face. The huge figure looms over Jaaku and Ryoko as they both look back with equal intent. Ryoko already hated this man only from what Jaaku had told her. Jaaku, on the other hand, glares at him with a look Ryoko had never seen in his eyes before. It is hatred, pure and simple. Jaaku's eyes burn with it. His hands are gripped around Shibo-Ken-bo to the point where it might bruise the hard hilt. Then a deep, bellowing laugh floats from the mask and Ryoko quickly darts her eyes back to Dargon.
"Well, well. If it isn't my old possession." A deep voice taunts, "How are you, Jaaku?"
Jaaku lets out a low growl and his face turns into a sneer, exposing his fangs. "I am not your possession. In fact, I am your grim reaper, Dargon." As the words escapes from his mouth, Ryoko again is disturbed at the tone of his voice. She had never heard Jaaku like this, he always seems so happy and calm. But now his eyes are flashing and his whole body is tightened up.
"Is that so? I would love to see this." That deep laugh comes again and only seems to enrage Jaaku more. Then, Jaaku calms down a bit and gets a smug grin across his lips.
"How's the face?" Ryoko kind of blinks at his odd question, but Dargon is no where near as calm anymore. Those two mismatched eyes start to glow and his fists clench up.
"How dare you. You add to your sin by being so smug about it? For that, I won't just kill you. I will imprison you again to do my bidding."
That has the same effect on Jaaku. Jaaku sneers once again and finally Ryoko pops in. "Not while I'm around, big boy. Sources tell me you are going down." Those two glowing orbs move to her and Dargon's posture seems to lighten.
"And who are you?"
"Haven't you read? I'm Ryoko. I'm gonna be the one who kicks your butt." She says candidly. Dargon looks at her for a moment, then erupts into a dark laugh, making both Ryoko and Jaaku wince.
"Ryoko? You mean my brother's Ryoko? Oh, this is a treat. I will not only get back my lost possession, but I will get him his back his also."
Ryoko blinks and then stutters out, "Back? What do you mean by....back?"
Before Dargon can answer, the battle had already begun. Jaaku lunges off his position and swings his glowing blade at Dargon. "You will never touch my sister!" As the yellow blade nears his body, Dargon raises a huge arm up to protect himself. The crackling blade of Shibo-Ken-bo comes to a startling halt against the armor and Jaaku stares at it in disbelief.
Dargon looks down at him slowly and smirks under that mask, "Not as easy as the last time, huh? Well, I have a few more tricks to show you!" He raises up his other massive arm and swings an armored hand into Jaaku. The force sends Jaaku flying through the air and then to a skidding halt on the ground, a good fifty feet away. Ryoko winces and looks at Jaaku in concern, "Jaaku!" Then that laugh begins to float through the air again as Dargon turns his head towards the grounded Jaaku.
"My armor has been advanced.....powered up, you might say. Not even you can harm me now, my little pawn."
Jaaku stirs a bit on the ground, then slowly rises to his feet. A trail of dark blood runs down from a wound above his eye, streaking along his face. The two blades on his hilt erupt even brighter and his feet slide a bit from each other, widening his stance. "In that case, I will just have to stop playing this little game with you. You'll not touch Ryoko. Not while I stand." Jaaku's bold words are met with a smug laugh from Dargon.
"Well, if she means that much to you, Jaaku, then I will do as you say." Jaaku blinked at his words, only to see Dargon turn to Ryoko once again. He raises his massive right hand to her and those two eyes began to glow. Before Ryoko even realizes what is going on, the air around her ripples with energy. A sudden shock of transparent energy slams through her and drops her to her knees, wincing a bit.
"Ryoko!" Jaaku yells and watches her. Then his eyes turn back to Dargon, now starting to glow a deep orange. Dargon slowly looked back at him and twisted his mask in a devilish smile.
"There, I didn't even touch her. Satisfied?" He chuckled darkly as Jaaku began to fill up with rage once again. His teeth clenched and he growled through them at Dargon.
"Now....you are through." Again he lunged from his position and sped towards Dargon, clutching Shibo-Ken-bo along his left arm. Dargon watches in confidence as Jaaku spins around the hilt and arrives at his target. Jaaku brings the main blade down at his head, straining greatly. Dargon again just raises an armored arm and blocks it. Jaaku quickly rears back and brings the crescent blade to the side at his torso, but again is denied by Dargon's awesome armor. The hits continued as Dargon kept every attack Jaaku had in check. Then Jaaku leaps back, landing on one foot and then lunges forward with incredible speed. The holds his hilt horizontal, pointing the crescent blade right at Dargon. Dargon raises his arm up and widens his stance, catching his forearm right in between the crescent. Jaaku and Dargon stood for a moment, glaring at one another, struggling to get an edge. Jaaku was very shocked Dargon could stop his blade like that and wondered if he was going to have to resort to more powerful attacks. Suddenly, a barrage of energy blasts strike Dargon on the back and make him lean forward a bit. Ryoko comes flying full speed from behind, her hand raised and sending out the assault. Dargon turns his head to look and Jaaku sees his chance to strike. He pulls his blade from it's place and raises up his right hand at him.
"How about this?" He narrows his eyes and a small blue energy swirl appears behind the orb in his hand. As the energy funnels through the orb and out the other side into his palm, it becomes a fire ball. A much larger fireball than the one he used against the golems, Jaaku smirks confidently it would knock Dargon for a loop. Dargon glares at Ryoko with a flash in his eyes as the fireball is launched from close range.The fireball then has an affect less than satisfactory to Jaaku. As the fireball slams into Dargon's armor, all of the energy just reflects back right into Jaaku. He is sent flying through the air by his own attack and slams right into a thick tree, sending a big crack up the trunk. A quiet yell rings in his ears and he struggles to open his eyes. Leaning back against the tree, his eyes are opened to a horrible sight. Dargon holds Ryoko by her throat and peers at her, his miss matched eyes glowing triumphantly. Ryoko is grabbing into his armored hand and struggling to escape, but not being able to.
"No! Let her...go!" Jaaku says weakly and puts a hand to his side, his body still hadn't fully healed from the GP incident. Dargon slowly looks to him and tilts his head a bit.
"And if I don't?" He starts to laugh quietly and tighten his grip on her throat, making it harder for her to breath.
"Stop it! Dargon, you'll kill her!" Jaaku finally rises to his feet and leans on Shibo-Ken-bo heavily. "Please! Let her go!"
Dargon looks at him with interest, then lest go his grip a bit, "Begging, Jaaku? This is a new low for you." Jaaku winces and closes his eyes, lowering his head a bit.
"Please, Dargon. I'll do anything....." Ryoko looks at him out of the corner of her eye, trying to protest but finding no breath. Dargon opens his free hand to Jaaku and two small, yellow crystals appear in it.
"You did say.....anything." Jaaku didn't even have to open his eyes. His stood as straight as he could and held up Shibo-Ken-bo. Both blades from the hilt slowly fade out and disappear, then Jaaku solemnly sets the hilt along his back. He walks with a bit of a limp towards Dargon until he arrives right in front of him. His orange eyes slowly open and he looks at Ryoko with a sad look. Then, he raises up his arms, palms up, to Dargon and nods. Dargon grins in triumph and looks at Jaaku, "Excellent. Absolutely excellent." With a fling if his arm, he tosses Ryoko a few yards away, then turns to Jaaku in full attention. Ryoko lands on her stomach, sending up a cloud of dust. She winces in pain, the opens her eyes looking at the two.
She rests on her elbows and stares back into Jaaku's empty eyes, "Jaaku?"
Jaaku just looks at her as Dargon takes his hand out from under the crystals. The two crystals float through the air to those metal clasps on Jaaku's wrists and start to glow. The look on his face is so sad, it almost makes Ryoko shed a tear. A small circle of light appears on the ground below surrounding Dargon and Jaaku and the crystals start to merge with his clasps. Jaaku closes his eyes and speaks very quietly, but Ryoko does hear him.
"Good-bye, my Ryoko." She winces at his words and gets one last look at him before the circle erupts into a column of light, surrounding the two figures. Only Dargon's dark laugh escapes the column as a terrible transformation takes place inside, out of Ryoko's reach.