Bloody Roar III: Reunited by Chance, a Reflection of the Past
By Tiger5913
Chapter 13
A Remembered Figment Returns
An old memory is back,
In the form of a familiar woman.
The innocent self is still inside
But is she in control, or
Has the powerful fighter taken charge?
Unresponsive, the Kenpo student stood hovering over the ground, eyes fixated on Kenji, studying him silently. He shivered upon spotting the cold glint in her gaze, but stared back and called out a bit uncertainly, "Uriko…? Uriko!!"
The glint slowly faded away from her green pupils at the sound of her name and she shook her head dazedly, shutting her eyes while doing so.
Uriko… she thought, a bit confusedly. Uriko… me… that's me…
"K-Kenji?" the Kenpo student whispered.
"That's right…it's me," he answered.
Tilting her head in curiosity, Uriko regarded him silently, her aquatic green eyes searching his face, as if noting his looks. Then, the familiar sense of recklessness overtook her and she wrinkled her nose, focusing on the reason why she had morphed a second time: Xion. She caught the surprised expression on his face, and smiled smugly, the grown woman inside her mind gloating triumphantly. But of what… she wasn't sure.
Her narrowed eyes settling on his red outfitted figure, she levitated over to the two men. Stopping a few inches away, the female zoanthrope swiftly swung her leg over and her heel struck against Xion's invisible hold on the young ninja. With a start, Kenji fell to the floor, but quickly scrambled up to his feet again and took a step back. A hint of fear was in his light brown eyes as he glanced over at his fiancée, wondering if she had control of herself.
"You…" she started to say, directing her comment to Xion. "You hurt my friends… my loved ones…" Her voice cracked a little as anger and resentment crept up to the surface. "How… dare you…"
"Puny little child," was his cool, hypnotic reply. "You think you can beat me with that form? Pathetic." He practically spat the word at her.
A fiery flame of anger flared to life in her eyes, seeming like real inferno with the background of her large green pupils. "Pathetic?" Uriko crossed her arms over her chest. "I will show you pathetic."
Lunging at her opponent, she grabbed a hold of his waist and leapt high into the air. Stopping about fifty feet later, she closed her eyelids as electricity surged through her arms, traveling over to Xion's body and shocking him. After she transmitted the lightning, the Kenpo student threw him back to the ground and flew down after him. Landing on his ribs, she purposely crushed them and then casually stepped off of his abdominal area.
Casting glowering red eyes at her, the steel-haired foe arose and pushed both palms at her, using his psychic abilities to force her slim figure to slam into a pine tree nearby. Barely fazed by the attack, the agile female shut her eyes as a chilly blue aura surrounded her body. Spreading her arms out and rising several more inches above ground, a vicious looking icicle quickly formed in front of her face. The jagged object pointed directly at her opponent; the moment she opened her eyes, it shot foreword with un-seeable speed, penetrating one of Xion's arms.
He let a pained groan escape his lips, but nothing more than that. Using weakened effort, a warm sensation came over his wound, and the icicle melted away from his arm. Watching what had happened emotionlessly, Uriko stood floating a few inches from the floor, looking at him coolly. All of a sudden, her head jerked to look to her right and settled upon the blue-haired mole zoanthrope.
Catching her gaze, he stared back at her, displaying a silent message, "Thank you." She smiled crisply in response, then turned her attention to Xion again.
It's time to finish this. She decided coolly. But, how do I…?
Rage Move… the voice guided her.
I… have one in this form…?
Of course… look inside yourself…
A sudden gust of cyan-colored energy blasted out of her palms, but Xion swiftly dodged the attack, smirking at her.
Try again… was the firm urge.
She did, but he twisted aside from the icy blast at the last second.
Damn it, Uriko thought, feeling frustrated. How many chances do I get at this stupid thing, anyway? It was always one shot in my first transformation…
This isn't your first form. The voice informed her matter-of-factly. Don't question it; just follow your instincts.
Seeing her contradiction, Kenji looked at Xion and frowned at him. Taking in a shaky breath, he gritted his teeth and charged foreword. Approaching the silver-haired man, he snatched his arms and twisted them around his back. Locking together his hands, the ninja stood his ground while the villain struggled against the entrapment.
"Uriko, now!" He managed to yell out to her, trying to hold down his squirming victim. Seeing her fiancé attached to Xion, she shook her head wildly, refusing his request.
"I'll get out of the way!" He promised, beginning to lose his hold. "Now hurry!!"
Nodding uncertainly, Uriko let the blue beam of energy shoot out of her palms, this time, hitting the target. Kenji released his grip on the foe and threw down a smoke bomb to escape, but Xion managed to imprison one of his legs. Slowing dragging him into the icy tech, the ninja cried out in surprise, but regained his posture and delivered a forceful kick to his opponent's shins.
The mole zoanthrope was relieved and he rolled away to safety. Her aquatic green eyes glowing with heightened energy, the young woman smiled evenly at the sight of Xion frozen in her light blue icicle entrapment.
Triple Solidify Strike. The words subconsciously embroided themselves into her mind. Before she had time to ponder the meaning, strong instincts took over her body.
Uriko raised her arms over her head, making the icy prison float up above her slender form with the wind's assistance. Gently shutting her eyes, her summon of a vicious blizzard initiated, focusing solely on Xion. The prison broke, freeing him, but then the barrier that he saw as an imprisonment left him vulnerable to the icicle javelins that had materialized and were pummeling him repetitively, striking multiple parts of his body with their pointed ends.
But it wasn't over yet. The green-haired woman kept her eyes closed, frowning as she concentrated deeply. It proved successful, and two enormous ice structures formed high in the air, rotating around Xion and the aggressive javelins. One last icicle connected with his back, chilling his spine, and the large glaciers took into their place. With him still floating in the air, they sped directly at him, meeting in the center with a loud, powerful smash.
As soon as the structures dissolved upon crashing into their victim, Uriko readied herself to finish the tech. With her arm poised stiffly in front of her face, she flew straight up, harshly slicing through his figure from beneath as she floated back down, in her normal figure. Loose strands of her otherwise long, braided auburn-colored hair danced with the windy breeze as her feet came in contact with the sturdy dirt floor.
The silver-haired man fell to the ground shortly after she'd finished her new Beast Drive. Directing her focus elsewhere, she darted over to the young ninja's side, looking him over for serious injuries. He shook his head, indicating that he was fine, but she scanned his cuts and other deeper wounds, biting her lip in concern. Grasping her hand tightly and getting back up, Kenji flashed her a reassuring smile; it disappeared as he suddenly jerked his head toward Xion, who had gotten into a standing position.
He's still standing?! The Kenpo thought a bit frantically. Damn, what stamina-!
"You will not get rid of my bloodline that easily," he promised. "There is still another…"
What does he mean by that? Kenji wondered, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
Without saying any more words, just grinning nefariously at the couple, he raised a hand at the mole zoanthrope. Before they could so much as protest, a ball of blinding orange light emitted from his chest, around the heart area, and lifted up into the air. His actual body then slumped to the floor and began to dissolve, melting away in the midst of the wind. As if the light was biographical, it seemed to broaden, vicious flames forming around the edges.
The two teenagers stepped back, fear beginning to faintly flicker in their light brown eyes. Without warning, the ball of light appeared to explode into a fiercer source, and then shot straight at the young zoanthropes with lightning fast speed. Not even their vast agility could help them this time; they attempted to push each other out of the way. Proving futile, the flaming ball struck both of the fighters hard, crashing into Uriko's abdomen and Kenji's chest.
While they were being pushed back into a tree behind them, flames from the ball nipped and torched Uriko's flesh, seemingly going right through her clothes and aiming straight for her tender skin. Traveling throughout her entire body, the fire tortured her arms and legs, leaving angry red scars as reminders. They paid no attention to her face, just going for the areas below her neck, setting an immense amount of pain to her figure; she screamed in agony.
A couple of feet away from her, Kenji wasn't getting any better treatment. Although he usually felt some sort of immunity to fire, it being his element specialty, the pain that was going through his body wasn't anything minor. As if chuckling in wicked glee, the flames continued their trail of the different parts of his body, burning each spot left behind. Clenching his teeth, he let out a muffled cry of his own, trying to 'absorb' the fire into him, but failing to prevail.
In addition to that, a rebel part of the fireball levitated freely in the air, and after a split second, decided its target. Speeding toward the trees of the forestry area, the flames got bigger and licked provokingly at the bark, igniting larger versions of its kind. Within a few minutes, the area that had been surrounded by trees exploded in a loud boom, now reflecting red-hot fiery flames onto the small pond.
Moaning in agony, the female zoanthrope winced as her body began to succumb to the pain. Her fiancé groaned his agreement, attempting to crawl over to her but grimaced each time the burns pelted different parts of his being. Some time later, they both faintly heard noises of multiple gasps and footsteps approaching them.
"Oh my goodness!!" Uriko vaguely recalled the voice.
A…Alice…sister… she realized silently in her mind.
"What the hell-!!"
I-it's Yugo… Kenji recognized weakly.
Soft material swiftly came to beat away frantically at Uriko's flames; the same was being done to the blue-haired ninja nearby. They both heard various murmurs and exclamations, but couldn't answer due to their condition. Managing to half-open her eyes, the young woman could faintly see an image of people rushing around to put out the flames in the forest.
The park…us…we're all saved… she thought somewhat deliriously before going unconscious.
End of Chapter 13