Bloody Roar III: Reunited by Chance, a Reflection of the Past
By Tiger5913
Chapter 5
Cat Fight - Long and Jane's battle
Singled out by a foe, those two are
To fight their own personal battle.
Without the others around for
Stable support, they will have
Only have themselves to rely on.
Caught off guard by his clone's throwing tech, Long was pushed out of the area and fell onto the cold wet grass of another clearing. Recovering from the attack, he leapt back up and cautiously scanned his surroundings.
I did not want to do this, but apparently, I have no choice… the thirty-four year old man thought as he slowly slipped out a couple of daggers from the two sheaths that were attached to the belt of his jeans.
"I know you are here somewhere…" he murmured quietly.
All of a sudden, he felt something connect forcefully with his back. He was thrown a few feet foreword from the impact, and fell to the ground but quickly flipped up into a standing position.
"I thought I saw you kill yourself," Long commented as he turned to face his clone, tightening his hold on his daggers.
"Silence! I did nothing of the sort!" Shenlong retorted, raising a clenched fist in anger.
He either doesn't remember or is in denial… I suppose Xion or Busuzima is responsible for this… the Kenpo master thought.
Without exchanging any more words, his clone darted at him and thrusted both of his hands foreword. Twisting away from the assault, Long grabbed one of his arms and kicked at the back of Shenlong's knees, tripping him.
While he was down, the Asian man quickly stomped on his twin's abdomen before backing away a few steps. Annoyed, Shenlong got up and punched three times at his opponent, then jumped a little into the air. Bringing his legs up, he struck Long's head with the heel of his shoe as he landed in a neat set of splits, tucking an arm behind his back in mocking respect as he stood.
Rolling away, the Kenpo master crouched as his clone tried to repeat the action. Standing upright again Long reared one of his arms back and when lightning encircled the arm, he jabbed his elbow at Shenlong. While his foe was trying to rise again, he quickly leapt on the downed man's head and jumped a few times, stepping back after the fourth stomp.
Snarling, the kung-fu master imposter regained his posture and immediately went on the offense. He struck Long with his fists, then yelled out, "Take this!" as he pummeled his opponent eighteen consecutive times.
As the Kenpo master lay on the floor, wiping away the small trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, Shenlong stood sneering over him. Folding his arms over his chest and standing with his legs in a stiff stance, he laughed cruelly and smirked, "Hah, what made you think you could beat me!"
"Hrmp, is that the best you can do?" a voice called out confidently from behind.
As he turned around, he saw Jane running full-speed at him, she shouldered her beau's clone and he fell down. She flipped over him, clutching the spear tightly in her hand; going over to Long, she offered her free hand and helped him stand up.
"Thank you for the assistance," the Asian man said to her, getting into his ready-to-fight position, holding the daggers over his head.
"No problem," she replied with a faint smile. Crouching with her knees slightly bent, she held up a hand protectively in front of her face, keeping the spear behind her back.
"Hrmp, two against one?" Shenlong snarled disapprovingly. But then, a mischievous grin came over his face.
Directing his attention at Jane, he sprinted toward her, rolling into a ball of orange fur and striking her roughly as he transformed into his beast form.
"Jane!!" Long called out in concern when he saw his girlfriend get thrown back, her weapon flying out of her hand as she landed.
Glaring at his clone, he quickly aimed and threw one of his daggers as the tiger was stalking towards the blonde-haired woman. His aim accurate, the small knife cut through the fur and stabbed into Shenlong's back. Temporarily forgetting about Jane, he turned and focused two glowing yellow eyes at Long. The fierce tiger reached a hand around to his back and yanked the dagger out, then tossed the weapon into some bushes nearby.
As the clone started to walk toward the Kenpo master, Jane took advantage of the distraction and immediately grabbed for her spear. Flipping up into a standing position, she ran over to the tiger and jammed the sharp object into his side. Growling in pain, he stumbled to his knees and proceeded to pull the weapon out from his body. After doing so, Shenlong turned to Jane and flung the spear at her, roaring his anger as he grabbed for her throat with his clawed hands when they were only a few inches apart.
No! "Stay away from her!!" Long cried out as he rushed toward his opponent and kicked at the orange-furred tiger's back, knocking him to the floor.
The blonde-haired woman reared her arm back and morphed smoothly into her leopard form of pale yellow fur and dark brown spots. Her tail formed as she was knocking Shenlong up into air with her sharp feline claws. When he came back down, she leapt on top of him and sank her teeth into a spot near his neck. She tightened her grip and jerked a couple times, then got up and effortlessly wiped her muzzle. While she was doing that, the Kenpo master clenched his fist and roughly stomped the ground with his right foot.
A flash of light enveloped him and during the period, thick, dark gray fur sprouted from his body, as well as the other changes. His long black hair disappeared and was replaced by two big tiger ears; a gray and black striped tail grew out from the bottom of his spine. Fully transformed as his brown eyes turned into a glowing color of yellow, he let out a roar and went to assist his girlfriend.
Furious by the turn of events, Shenlong leapt into the air and shot both of his legs foreword, kicking Jane a few feet away. When he landed, the evil clone stomped the ground and raised his legs, striking her multiple times in the head. While she dazedly shaking her head, he started stepping mechanically toward the blonde tomboy. On the fourth menacing step, he reached an arm foreword to grab her head but she quickly interrupted his tech by executing her own Beast Drive.
Cross Blade Zapper. She thought silently.
Knocking her opponent out of his tiger form, Jane slashed viciously at him three times, then leapt into the air, slamming him up as well. Almost immediately after he was airborne, she slashed one last time at Shenlong, knocking him to the ground and leaving faint scratch marks on the pavement nearby where he was lying.
Coming to a graceful landing, the blonde-haired woman punched her fist in the air and yelled out triumphantly, "Yeah!"
Angry that his Rage Move had been blocked, Shenlong flipped back up, seeming a bit weakened. Casting his two glowing red eyes upon Jane, he brought both of his arms back, then thrusted them at the female zoanthrope's stomach. Tiny bolts of lightning licked at her bare skin as she was thrown a few feet away, her back connecting with the grassy floor.
Raising herself up with one arm, she brushed off the weeds that had attached themselves to her black sleeveless shirt and matching long pants. Busy with his attack, Shenlong didn't notice that his other opponent had pounced at him in a feline manner. The male tiger gripped his shoulders and threw Shenlong over his head, onto the ground. While his clone was still down, the Kenpo master started stalking toward him.
Ferocious Tiger Laceration. Long said to himself while he grabbed a hold of his twin's head with one paw just as he was standing back up.
Blue electric energy started forming at the palm of his other paw, and he quickly shot his arm foreword. A beam of laser caught Shenlong in the chest and he flew across the clearing, stopping only when his back roughly met a tree. A faint hologram of a gray-furred tiger stood in front of Shenlong, striking him twenty-two consecutive times with the laser, while from hundreds of feet away, Long clasped his hands together and bowed respectfully and with dignity. Nearby, Jane slowly got up, nodding her approval at her beau's multiple hit Beast Drive.
Heh, Shenlong's gonna be feeling that for a while, the blonde-haired woman chuckled.
Shaking off her thoughts, Jane noticed that Long had started walking toward his clone; silently, she followed him to inspect. Stopping a few feet away, she hung back, and suddenly noticed two black objects sitting on top of the grass. The parts appeared to her like a couple pieces of a broken ring. When he was standing right next to the downed man, the Kenpo master leaned down and placed two fingers on Shenlong's neck, under his jawbone.
Staying still for a moment, he rose up and turned to look at Jane as he shook his head, murmuring to himself under his breath, "This futile battle is over…"
"He's… dead?" she inquired.
"Yes…" was his quiet answer as he slowly went over to her side.
"Hey Long…" the blonde-haired woman started to say.
"Yes?"
"What do you suppose those are?" She pointed at the two dark objects.
He frowned, going to them for a closer look; following him, the couple crouched down and inspected the broken pieces curiously.
"I don't know…" Long answered finally, standing up.
"Hmm," she murmured thoughtfully. "I wonder if they came from Shenlong…?"
Suddenly, she vaguely recalled spotting a thin black object wrapped around the throats of Stun and Busuzima's necks. Jane didn't get a real close look at Kenji, although she assumed that he had one on too.
She opened her mouth to comment, but then sensed her boyfriend's disturbance, and decided to talk about it a little while later. Looking questioningly into his stormy brown eyes, she asked gently, "Is something wrong?"
"It, it feels as if a part of me died with him," Long replied with a frown of uncertainty. "Strange, isn't it…?"
"Not really," his girlfriend commented as they started to slowly walk foreword, shaking her head. "After all, there were two of you at one time. It's probably the same feeling as if your twin brother died or something similar to that…"
He smiled weakly. "Even though he wasn't my twin brother or anything… I think you are right."
Spotting her spear in the shrubbery, he plucked it out and handed it to her; the blonde-haired woman mouthed "thanks." As she accepted it and their hands contacted with each other, Long rested one of his hands over hers and said, "By the way… thank you for your help."
With a pleased grin, Jane replied, "You're welcome. Hey, if you need assistance at any time, just give me a holler; I'd be glad to help."
How supportive of her, the Chinese man thought with a gentle smile while he tucked away his single dagger with his other hand. I am still glad that I did not wear my glasses for this event… "I will definitely keep that in mind."
With the middle part of her spear attached to a metal clip on her pants, Jane clenched her free hand into a fist and asked, "Think we should go see how the others are doing?"
"Good idea," he answered with a nod.
"I want to make sure that the others are holding up well. Actually, I, I don't even know who Father is facing, although if he's fighting, I'm sure that Jenny is by his side." She remarked, concern clearly heard in her voice.
"We should still go," Long said, gently tugging on her hand.
"Uh… Hold on…" the tomboy paused.
"What is it?"
Without giving him a verbal answer, Jane went up to him and closed her eyes as she quickly placed a soft kiss on his lips; surprised, Long looked at her wordlessly.
The leopard zoanthrope flushed slightly. "I, I just wanted to do that… I apologize for not asking first."
Recovering, he smiled at her, amused, and teased lightly, "Well, then, Jane… may I ask permission to kiss you?"
A bit taken back, her eyes widened slightly but she managed to nod her answer. Placing a hand on her arm, Long leaned foreword and kissed her with insistence, but still with a touch of tenderness. She responded, kissing him back; they backed away from each other after a too brief moment.
Not bad for a first kiss, Jane thought with a smile.
Looking a bit dreamy himself, the Kenpo master cleared his throat awkwardly, then spoke up; "Ready to go now?"
"Mmmhmm…" she answered.
As they starting walking, glancing around for signs of their friends, the blonde-haired woman heard her beau murmur quietly, "I hope we'll do that again sometime…"
Although she wasn't sure if that was directed toward her or himself, the twenty-three year old smiled in amusement and whispered to him, "I hope we will too…" Just then, she remembered about the rings. "Long?"
"Yes, Jane?"
"Those black pieces we found nearby Shenlong… I think the others have them too."
The Kenpo master paused and turned her to face him as he asked, "What do you mean?"
"I kind of remember seeing rings on Stun and Busuzima," she replied. "Do you think that is what Xion's using to control them…?"
"That is a serious accusation… but I bet you're right." He agreed with a frown.
Reaching down to unhook the spear from her waist, Jane remarked matter-of-factly, "Well, it looks like we'll have to get those things off then, won't we?"
She glanced at her companion and he nodded stiffly as a slightly pained look appeared in his eyes.
"Trust me, Long," she said to him, gently grazing the side of his cheek with her hand. "Although I thought I would never admit it, I will: right now, I'm not feeling in the mood to fight either… but it appears we don't have much of a choice or a say in this."
"I know…" he sighed. "Well, come on, we need to let the others know about this."
I hope they're all right… Jane thought to herself as the couple started walking again.
End of Chapter 5