6/30/01
Disclaimer: the characters such as Jane, Long, etc. belong to Hudson Soft
Dedication: God, my parents, my 'brothers', Hudson for creating Bloody Roar I-IV and giving me a really good reason to write this story, and my readers, especially PokeDigi, LazzyQ, Alica Tylon, Deoku, VGuyver, StarryPeach, AKA, Brad Crawford, Arashi, Flyby, DCTyrantPuff, and Niteflite.
Bloody Roar III Alternative Arcade Endings
Shina/Jane's Arcade Ending
By Tiger5913
Peace. At last.
Finally, after all the craze with the Beast Emblem, and post the incident with the Tibula, she could relax now, calm down a bit. She had been hired to look into the events surrounding the Emblem, and it resulted in her almost losing control of herself. But she was known as a "fighting marvel", and her will of determination matched her strength in battle. The occurrence had frightened her though, to the point where she realized that she didn't want to take risks of the sort anymore.
Not for the time being, anyway. Who knew what she would end up doing in the future?
The woman was only twenty years of age, and she desired to experience other things that life had to offer before she fought another bout. Her love and enthusiasm had always been directed toward fighting, ever since she discovered that she had amazing potential at fourteen. She had a paternal figure, a man who'd been in a couple wars himself, a well-known mercenary, which she idolized in her teenage years. Many people would recognize the name Alan Gado if spoken to them, and she felt proud yet sometimes inadequate to admit that he was her adopted father.
From her childhood, she had always been a tomboy. Instructors from her schools had encouraged her to act proper and "lady-like", which she'd usually responded to with a stamp of her feet. She refused to be someone that others chose for her, and instead wanted to decide for herself what she wanted to do. Independence was a very important element to her, and she craved it even when she was still a child in grade school. Being entrapped always gave her a suffocating feeling, and she hated being imprisoned, not allowed to go out and be free, be herself.
And now, the Tibula had steered her mind to decide on yet another one of life's many obstacles, to go on and continue fighting the human-zoanthrope war for her father, or take a step down from everything. Alan would retire soon, if closest his female companion Jenny Burtory could convince him to, and then the burden would be passed down to his daughter. But what if she didn't want the responsibilities? She hadn't had enough time to enjoy the more sentimental parts of life, for battle had hardened her emotions and blocked out contemplation.
It was finally time to grasp what she had missed, and enjoy what she had missed while she had been busy fighting the world's problems.
*****
"…Do you ever miss it?"
Small orange beams of light reflected off a set of sky blue pupils, dimming as the sun slowly slid into the crevices of the far-away horizon. The wind howled, broadcasting the chilling weather of the day, and whipped around strands of partially stiff, spiky blonde hair. A seagull flew by overhead, its small white body flickering on the surface of the shimmering turquoise body of water. Waves collided with the shoreline, leaving a foamy trail behind as it disappeared back into the ocean, leaving just to come back once more in a short period of time.
Watching over the serene setting was a couple that sat nearby, glancing at the scenery, admiring one of the finer points of nature. The woman was immobile, gazing foreword while her eyes became slightly misty; something rare that hadn't happened in such a long while. She wondered why such a simple thing had not been introduced to her sooner, that she had to finally step down from her "career" to finally take notice. There apparently were more events that she'd neglected, but she would try to make up for lost time as best as she could, with his help…
"Yeah, sometimes…" she replied to her companion. "But then I remember the reason why I stepped down, and that reassures me."
"I hope you will still recall enough of your fighting techniques to stop me if… if what we both fear may happen someday."
"I won't let that damn Tibula spirit take you too," she said almost angrily. "It led Father running around like he was some hyperactive youth, which he isn't, then it lured a couple of our other allies into its little trap. The last thing that's going to happen is the Tibula making me lose you, which won't happen, I can say that with confidence."
"…Thank you for protecting and watching over me. I never favored going back to fighting, but that elderly gentleman direly needed my help to save his granddaughter, so I felt obliged to help…" the man next to her informed.
"Don't worry about it, you succeeded in rescuing the kid, and you're still alive, so I'm not going to fret over the situation that much."
"But… what of the evil spirit that currently hovers in my being? I worry that someday it will take possession and control of my conscious mind…"
The female dismissed the matter with a wave of her hand, "Ah, I think we should jump over that hurtle when the opportunity presents itself. As for the present time, I think we should both just relax, and… and catch up on the things that we lost due to this bloody war amongst the responsibilities of being zoanthropes."
"How I yearn to reach a redemption…" his voice was tranquil, but filled with emotion. "Forgiveness is something that I will never be able to achieve-"
She turned to face him and placed a finger over his lips, silencing him. "Think optimistically right now, alright? We can worry about redeeming ourselves later, after we watch the sun leave its last glimpse of the day, and be replaced by the moon, the guardian of the night…"
"That was quite poetic," he told her admiringly, after he had backed his head away from her finger a little.
"Thanks," she replied humbly. "Now, are you going to take my advice, or will I have to make you?"
"Force will not be necessary," a wry smile formed over his expression. "Your will is very influential, and it is actually hard not to follow your ways."
Yeah… I guess that's why I became a fighter… She bit her lip slightly at the thought. Well, that's in the past; I need to live before I can continue my old ways, and go back to dueling almost daily…
He took her hand. "I have hopes for a brighter future, if my present on-goings can sort themselves out and everything can glide into place. And I also believe that with your help, I can acquire that goal."
"Sure, I'll give you assistance if you need it," came her immediate answer. "Don't hesitate; just ask for whatever you need, okay?"
Nodding curtly, he turned to face foreword, looking back at the rays that were slowly disappearing, losing their battle against the growing dark night sky. She peered at him, noting his profile with interest. Her beau, Long Shin, had sacrificed his spirit and allowed it to be possessed by the spirit of a demon, so that he could save a young girl would sustain the same fate. Since he had been altruistic, the child was freed from a kismet that would presumably haunt her later years to come. But instead, now he would be the one to suffer.
She often wondered, was this fair? Should he have taken a fall for someone that was practically a stranger to him? Someone who probably wouldn't even remember his selfless deed?
Then the woman suddenly realized what he had done. He gave hope to a little kid, to her future, gave her a chance for a normal, carefree life, the kind that most youths were insured with from birth. Such a noble act he had done, and it proved that his spirit was pure, even if he refused to believe it himself. But then again, he had always been hard on himself, and even from the first day they had met, she knew that he was a person with a complexed past that would be hard to decipher.
However, he had opened up to her. And she'd returned the favor. In doing so, they had helped each other understand their situations better, and reached somewhat of a revelation in the process as well. She hoped that the two of them would continue their conferences, and perhaps someday, they could heal all the emotional wounds that pierced deep into their beings.
"Bless your heart, Jane…" He murmured just then, barely above a whisper.
Hearing him, Jane Gado quirked an eyebrow but allowed a small smile to be displayed on her face. She rotated her head to look at him, discovering that he was gazing right back at her, and her smile spread albeit wider as she leaned toward him, their lips meeting in a soft kiss.
The couple had a lot of concerns to overcome, injuries to nurse, but their heart-felt affection was the first step toward the right direction. As long as they didn't let anything waver them in strolling upon the same path until the end, their redemption would be reached. Faith and stamina had to assist each other in this situation, but it was likely that with the help of their dogged determination, the goal was in good grasp.
Indeed the future looked cloudy, but like the weather, it would eventually clear up, and the confused citizens could once again look far, and once again continue the way to achieve what they were striving for.
The End
Author's Note: Heh, I bet that I'm gonna hear some "this was corny as hell!" remarks, but ah, what the hell! Yeah, this rewrite means that I think Jane's Bloody Roar III arcade ending sucked a lot as well; damn, BRIII REALLY needs a Story Mode to save itself!! Since Hudson did leave her boyfriend a mystery in the ending, I felt that it could seriously be Long. Who else would Jane confide her feelings in? Well, I hope that you readers enjoyed this, and please leave a review!
With love for my fans,
Tiger5913