Bloody Roar III: Reunited by Chance, a Reflection of the Past
By Tiger5913
Chapter 7
Unsettled Business - Alice and Yugo's battle
An unexpected tech separated
The nurse and her boyfriend
From the others; unaware of the
Situation her younger sister was in,
She sought out to counter her attacker.
Caught by surprise from the attack, the dark-haired woman rolled through the bushes that she crash into, while the branches tore at her black uniform and red stockings. She kept a hand plastered tightly over her matching black nurse cap as her body finally got out of the shrubbery and contacted the firm ground. Slowly, she stood up, wincing as she looked over herself and saw tiny rips in her leggings.
That, that rude, crazy little… Alice thought, feeling upset while she brushed the leaves off of her clothing and quickly glanced at her surroundings.
The new area was completely encircled by trees, with green grass in the middle. As she inspected all the little things more closely, like the absence of flowers and the two beams of light shining toward the middle, she felt that it somewhat resembled a battle arena. Everything was disturbingly quiet. All of a sudden remembering about Busuzima, she immediately whirled around, her anxious red eyes scanning the darkened spots.
"Alice! Al-ice!!" she suddenly heard someone to her right call out.
Recognizing whom it was, she shouted in return, "Yugo!!"
Turning her head toward the direction of the voice, the female zoanthrope heard a figure running and crunching over dried leaves. A split second later, she saw someone jumped over the line of bushes and land shakily on the ground, crushing the crisp blades of grass underneath his shoes. Hastily brushing the small branches and green leaves away from his mahogany-colored shirt and jeans, Yugo darted over to his girlfriend.
"You okay?" he asked, giving her a tight hug.
She nodded against the collar of his brown denim vest. "Uh huh."
"Where is that frickin' S.O.B.?" the boxer questioned, breaking away from Alice and pulling on his punching gloves more tightly.
"I don't where Busuzima is; you didn't see him while you were coming here?" she inquired.
"If I did, then I would have beat the hell out of him." He stated bluntly.
"Don't be so vulgar, Yugo," Alice whispered to him, walking off and carefully searching the area.
"Sorry," Yugo apologized, looking a bit sheepish; he dashed to her side to help look.
"Such a jerk…" the blue-haired nurse muttered, still angry at the lizard zoanthrope that attacked her.
"Who, me??" her boyfriend questioned, surprised.
"No-oo, Busuzima!" she replied firmly.
"I thought that we all had taken care of him, that time we beat him up…" Yugo trailed off.
"Yeah, he was pretty battered and bruised…" she chimed in. She remembered having to fight against her instincts of showing hospitality for the green-haired zoanthrope after she, Yugo, Long, Uriko, and Kenji had all confronted the estranged scientist.
"The same goes for Shenlong," her boyfriend remarked. "He killed himself, according to Long, and right in front of his eyes too."
"I bet Xion's responsible for it," Alice guessed.
"If that's so, then he's gonna be one hell of an opponent." Yugo commented.
The dark brown-haired nurse crossed her arms over her chest. "Yeah, you have a point there."
"I wonder what the hell Uriko was talking about, Stun killing Busuzima?" He looked a little flustered.
"I don't know," she shrugged. "But we should ask her later."
The boxer frowned slightly. "So what should we do now? There's no sign of that limp-wristed bastard."
Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Yugo, look out!" She tackled him to the ground, shielding her body over the confused man, just as a figure sailed clumsily over their head. After watching the newcomer stumble to a landing several yards away, the dark-haired nurse stood erect, reaching her hand down to help her boyfriend up. The two of them peered at the intruder through the midst of the darkness in the area. But even though they couldn't see very clearly, they knew it had to be the lizard zoanthrope.
"You snatched Kenji again, didn't you?!" Yugo started shouting, taking a few steps foreword and raising his fist in anger. "Both you and Xion were in on this together!"
Standing up to face his opponent, Busuzima gave him and Alice a crooked smile as he replied silkily, "Y'all should know by now that I'd never share my bodyguards. The master was the one who nicked that little numbskulled mole boy brat of yours…"
"His name is Kenji, you bloody bastard!!" the boxer yelled fiercely, running at the foe.
Literally using his head as the saying goes; he knocked Busuzima's chest roughly, causing him to fall on his back. As the lizard zoanthrope was down, Yugo kicked at his knees, nudging for him to get up and fight. Rolling a few feet away from his opponents, Busuzima carefully stood up and eyed the couple angrily with his blood red pupils.
The wolf zoanthrope ran foreword at him, but he stomped on the boxer's foot when they were inches apart, while also yelling out, "Step off!" After that, he firmly wrapped an arm around to the other side of his opponent. Bending Yugo down, he slammed his large hand into the boxer's abdomen, watching in glee as he fell to the floor with a pained wince.
Seeing the situation, Alice darted at Busuzima, sliding down as she neared him, kicking at the former scientist's shins and tripping him. Yugo followed that up by grabbing both sides of his foe's head, and kneeing him directly in the face, sending him flying another couple of feet away. While he was still up, the dark-haired nurse back-flipped while moving foreword, kicking Busuzima even higher in the air with her brown sneakers.
Before he plummeted to the floor, he managed to retract and came to a soft landing on the grassy earth underneath.
Hehehe…I wonder how will they attack me if they can't see me… the evil zoanthrope pondered to himself, a plan in mind.
Keeping his distance, he quickly back-flipped in place, morphing into his beast form in the process. His scaly amphibian features appeared and his eyes turned yellow, growing larger as well; a thin green tail also sprouted out from the bottom of his spine. The minute that happened, he swung his arms around and turned invisible, blending into the shadows.
As soon as he saw Busuzima vanish, Yugo muttered angrily, "Damn it," and sneaked a peek at his compatriot.
"That disappearing tech never did work to our advantage," Alice remarked, alerting herself and straining to listen for any noises. "You know, we might be able to hear better in our beast forms."
"I know that wolves have a keen sense of smell," her boyfriend said, scanning the area cautiously. "But I'm not so sure about hearing."
"Well, I'm not one to initiate a fight-" she started to say.
"Oh really," Yugo interrupted, looking knowingly at her.
"Hey, you were injured and being uncooperative; it was for your own good!!" Alice protested, shaking a finger at him. "But if you'll just let me finish… I think that we should try."
He nodded his silent agreement. Swinging her arms around, the nurse concentrated on her rabbit form and black fur starting spreading over her body. Her pigtails grew taller, forming into the shape of two big ears while the rest of her hair got lost in the midst of the fur. Her arms and feet expanded slightly in size, turning into hard paws; lastly, a small cottontail attached itself to her rear.
Nearby, her boyfriend lifted his face toward the sky and as a burst of light enveloped him, he threw his arms toward the ground. Thick golden fur grew from his skin, causing the seams of his shirt and jeans to rip. His nose stretched out, turning into a snout and a short golden tail appeared behind him. The boxer's narrowed brown eyes were replaced by a fiery shade of red, portraying his true anger.
Looking up and spotting the crescent-shaped moon, Yugo let out a long chilling howl. As he did that, Alice screeched at him, lifting her hand to her lips, indicating that he should be quiet. The wolf turned his maroon-colored eyes at her and growled his protest, but reluctantly obeyed. While the couple was having their little debate, the black-furred rabbit felt something wrap around her stomach and sling her over backwards; she crashed to the floor.
Noticing the motion and sensing a presence, Yugo made a wild guess and reached out where he assumed Busuzima was. When his claws connected with flesh and the amphibian reappeared into view, he discovered that he was right. Yanking his opponent toward him, the golden wolf sank his teeth into the chameleon's chest. He roughly jerked his helpless victim around a couple of times, then threw him into the air, where Busuzima came to a hard landing behind him.
Flipping back up, the former scientist crouched and grabbed Yugo's leg, flinging him over his shoulder. Turning his attention to the female zoanthrope, he lashed out a silvery-green tinted arm, striking her abdomen several times. While she clutched at her injuries, glad that they were already beginning to heal, Busuzima ran foreword and slashed her up.
Airborne, the rabbit tried to retract, but her foe struck at her body with several forceful punches. He then finished the combo by lying back on the ground and revolving his feet in a circular rhythmic motion, as if he were riding a bicycle. After kicking her in the face multiple times, he got up and sneered at the female rabbit, who had shaken her head dizzily.
Feeling really annoyed, Yugo rushed at Busuzima and jumped into the air, kicking the chameleon's chest with both of his feet. Deciding to execute another tech, he thought to himself, Spiral Fang.
As soon as Busuzima got into a standing position, the wolf uppercut him right under his jaw. The foe reared back a bit stunned, but the boxer charged on foreword to finish the tech. Knocking the other male zoanthrope into the air, Yugo launched a fury of punches on him as they rose higher. Reaching a certain point, he latched his fangs onto Busuzima, then directed the both of them back toward the ground; as they landed, Yugo crushed the chameleon under him and bounced a few feet away.
A little weakened but still in his beast form, Busuzima raised his large estranged eyes at the boxer and flicked his tongue at him. Disgusted, Yugo spat at him, holding his fists up in anticipation and all of a sudden, the amphibian heard a swishing noise over his head, and saw Alice land next to her boyfriend. Angry at the turn of events, the evil zoanthrope pounced on his selected opponent, nicking the brown-haired man's head and throwing him into the air as he disappeared briefly.
While Yugo flailed in the air and Alice prepared herself to jump up and save him, Busuzima suddenly appeared again and knocked the rabbit up as well. Slicking his long tongue out, he stretched it so that it wrapped around the couple; as they struggled, the chameleon laughed mentally in sardonic glee. Turning his attention back to his attack, he battered the two of them on the ground three times, forming a triangle. Letting them go, Busuzima tossed them into a nearby tree as he came out of his beast form.
Groaning, Yugo slid to the ground, his expression wavering as he clutched his arm, feeling something wet trickle down from it. Even though his head was pounding, he knew it was blood; slowly turning to look at his girlfriend, he saw that she was lying flat on the floor, still a rabbit. Crawling over to her, he gently nudged the nurse, arousing her into awareness.
Shaking her head, Alice blinked her wide red eyes as she shakily stood up and looked back at her boyfriend. Spotting his bleeding arm and the numerous bruises and cuts marring his bare skin and smooth complexion, she let out a screech of surprise. Concerned, she bent down to his level and took out one of her black darts. Cutting it through the bottom of her black nurse uniform, Alice tore off a strip and wrapped it around Yugo's arm.
When she turned to his other injuries, the boxer waved her away, saying faintly, "Don't worry about me… take care of Busuzima…"
The rabbit shook her head and started ripping another strand off.
"Like I've said before, I don't want to be a nuisance! Besides, as much as I'm enjoying this 'strip tease'," Yugo said wryly, quickly looking at her to let her know that he was only kidding, "there's other matters to be more concerned about."
Thinking for a moment, she nodded reluctantly. Giving him a brief hug, a bit awkward due to her form, the female zoanthrope stood up to face her foe.
"Wee hee hee…" Busuzima snickered. "Looks like I get to experiment on a wolf and a little bunny!"
Why that sleazy little-! She thought angrily.
Sprinting toward him as he began to laugh insanely, Alice knocked the unguarded psycho into the air with one leg, her back ending up turning to him. When he started to fall a little ways down, she kicked him away with both of her hind legs. As soon as Busuzima stood up again, the agile rabbit threw two darts at him for distraction. While he was twisting away from weapons, she ran at him, stopping when they were a couple of inches apart.
Lifting Star Lane. The nurse said silently to herself.
Alice punched at the male zoanthrope's stomach furiously, then suddenly grabbed the sides of his body and tucked him into a round ball. Tossing him up slightly, she bounced him on both of her knees, then delivered a forceful kick. Knocking him over her head as she turned back into human, he let out a painful scream, but was soon silenced. Physically exhausted, and also feeling mentally tired, the nurse fell to her knees and held a hand to her forehead.
"Alice!" she heard someone yell out, sounding close to her.
Twisting her head around to see the caller, Alice was relieved to see Jane darting toward her, while Long was running to Yugo. The blonde tomboy came to a stop and offered the nurse a hand, helping her stand up. Weakened, the rabbit zoanthrope faltered and her female companion took a hold of her limp arm.
"What happened??" Jane inquired, concerned about her condition.
"Busuzima…" Alice managed to reply weakly.
The leopard snarled. "Little piece of shit…"
"I thought we all beat him," a voice from behind chimed in.
The girls turned and saw the two guys; Yugo was standing, leaning against Long for support.
"Yugo!" The nurse cried. "Are you sure you're strong enough to stand??"
"This short guy is helping me out," her boyfriend answered, grinning at his helper.
"Hey now, I have an inch over you," the Kenpo master informed him in a stern tone of voice, although he grinned back. "Besides, you should respect your elders, Yugo."
"Oh, so now you admit that you're old?" Yugo kidded.
"You know, since you are feeling so much better, I suppose I could just let you walk by yourself…" Long shot back with a small smile, loosening his grip on the boxer's shoulder.
"H-hey! Mercy!" the wolf yelped, staggering while his friends laughed.
"I'm only kidding," the Chinese martial arts master informed, helping him again.
"You, make a joke?" Yugo asked with only half-mock astonishment. "What happened to the serious guy we all got to know and are used to, eh?"
His male companion didn't answer, just smiled as he shared a quick secret look with Jane. Catching that, the boxer teased lightly, "Ohh… I get it… Old Gado's daughter has a good influence on you…"
"He-ey," the blonde woman said. "We could say the same for you and Alice, Yugo!"
Alice chuckled at the comment. "I'm a good influence on him? How can we tell?" The three of them laughed while Yugo pretended to look hurt.
With a serious look on his face, the boxer suddenly asked, directing his question at Jane and Long, "Where is old Gado, anyway? And Jenny?"
"They're both with Stun," Jane answered.
"By the time we met up with them, Alan and Jenny had already finished their fight with Stun," Long added. "He was lying unconscious on the floor."
"Oh! Is he hurt badly?" Alice inquired, looking concerned.
"Well, I didn't exactly get a close-up…" the tomboy said dryly.
"We're not sure," the Kenpo master translated. "But Alan and Jenny stayed behind to tend to his injuries."
"I can help," the nurse remarked.
"…It's very generous of you to want to assist them-" Long started to say.
"-But you're injured yourself," Jane stated incredulously.
Alice sighed. "I suppose you're right… Hey, where's my little sister?"
"Uriko?" the leopard zoanthrope asked. "I don't know; Shenlong, Long, and I were the first to leave the center, remember?"
"…? Oh yeah… Alan, Jenny, and Stun left after you three did… Then Busuzima tossed me away…" The nurse frowned. "Yugo… did you see anything before you ran to this clearing?"
His cheeks looking a bit flushed, he didn't answer; the others all turned to him.
"Well, did you?" Jane asked.
Seeming guilty, Yugo nodded.
"Where is she?" his girlfriend questioned.
"Back at the center," he replied.
"By herself…?" Long inquired, eyeing the boxer.
"Yeah…"
"With Xion?!" Alice's voice rose a notch.
When he didn't answer, Jane narrowed her cool blue eyes. "Tell us, damn it! We need to know!"
"Yes. And Kenji."
"I would feel relieved about that situation, if only Kenji wasn't under Xion's control and being force to fight against Uriko," the Kenpo master said as they all began walking; he appeared as irritated as Jane was. "I'm not saying that she is weak or anything like that - far from it - but none of us can handle both of them by ourselves."
"Come on, we've got to go to them!" Alice urged, tugging at her blonde friend's arm.
"I agree, but calm down, Alice!" Jane ordered. "You two are hurt, so we have to go slowly. She'll be able to hold out; trust me, I ought to know."
"Uriko has knocked Kenji's senses back before, I'm sure she will be able to do it again," her boyfriend added.
"Even so, let's hurry! I don't know what Mitsuko is going to do if Uriko gets hurt," the nurse insisted doggedly.
"Have some faith Alice," Yugo chimed in.
But even with their protests, the group hastened their pace, going toward the center of the park as fast and as carefully as they could.
End of Chapter 7