- TOH SHIN DEN: To Challenge Fate -

a Battle Arena Toshinden fanfiction by Athena Asamiya and Kasumi Todoh


CHAPTER SEVEN: Suspicions



Translations:
nakama - friend, buddy
sou ka - so then
betsu ni - nothing
masaka - impossible / it can't be


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"Oh God, no."
"Oh God, yes. This is gonna be good."
"It's awfully mean."
"Well, how else are we going to bloody well wake him up? Sofia said she was going to be coming over soon, and he has to pick today to sleep in."
"He won't be too happy with us."
"So? He hasn't been happy with me for years. You get used to it."
"Kayin, no."
"Kayin, yes."
Eiji then felt himself being violently woken up from having a bucket of very cold water dumped on his head.
"Argh!!!" Eiji sat up quickly, shaking the droplets of water from the spikes of his hair. "Just what the hell did you do that for?"
Kayin was leaning against the bed, laughing. "Well, Eiji-chan, you're a pretty heavy sleeper. And Sofia just called up my cabin to let me know that she wanted to speak with us." He shrugged. "About what, I don't know. But she said she specifically wants you there. And so, Ellis and I," Kayin motioned behind him, where Ellis was standing in her normal street clothes, looking very guilty for taking part in this, "decided that it was rise-and-shine time for you, nakama."
Eiji gingerly tried to dry his hair off with a nearby blanket. "And you had to do it with a bucket of water over the head, didn't you?"
Kayin grinned devilishly. "Hey, what are friends for?"
"I tried to stop him, Eiji-kun," Ellis said from behind him, "but he's very stubborn."
"I've known that for a long time, Ellis-chan," Eiji said, finally getting out of bed. He picked up his jacket off of a chair and pulled it on. He glanced at his best friend curiously. "Just how did you two get in, anyway?"
Ellis looked even more guilty. Kayin smiled. "I picked the lock."
"You WHAT??"
"I said, I picked the lock. We bounty hunters have to do that sort of thing, you know."
"You moron! What if I had been sleeping naked or something?"
"Then Ellis would have had a good time looking. But it wouldn't be at much, of course."
"Oh, my," Ellis said, blushing and looking away hastily.
"That's it! I'm really starting to hate you, Kayin-chan!" With that, Eiji sprung at Kayin and knocked him over. The two laughed, tussling on the floor with some mild joking insults, Ellis just giggling at them. But then, behind the three, there was an "Ahem."
Eiji and Kayin stopped. Ellis turned.
Standing tall in the doorway, wearing a black leather jacket with gold buckles over top of her black leather bodysuit, in all her full glory, was Sofia. She regarded the scene in a state of interest: Eiji soaked and wrestling with Kayin on the floor, and Ellis standing by. Sofia smiled and shook her head.
"I see we have a long way to go."

***********

Later on that morning, the group decided to check over Ellis's cabin. Sofia told them that she used to be a secret agent for the KGB, so she knew a lot about bugged rooms and the like. They all agreed that the only way to watch the three of them was with hidden cameras. They walked up to Ellis's cabin, and Ellis tersely unlocked the door. The four of them (Eiji, Kayin, Sofia, and Ellis) stepped into the small room, and glanced around.
"I don't see anything," Kayin commented.
"Of course you would not. I do not honestly think that the Himitsu Kessha would plant cameras that were visible," Sofia shot back.
Okay, okay," Kayin muttered, the master of insults insulted.
Hey, wait a sec," Eiji said, turning to Sofia. "What's the Himitsu Kessha?"
Sofia looked surprised. "You do not know?"
Eiji shook his head. "None of us do."
Sofia sighed. "No, I suppose you would not. The Himitsu Kessha is--"
"'Secret organization'?" Eiji questioned, fluently translating the Japanese. Sofia regarded him for a second before continuing.
"Yes, they are the ones who..." Sofia seemingly stopped herself there. "No. If this room is set with cameras or the like, then this is not the time or place to be telling all of you this."
"All right. We'll wait, I guess," Ellis said quietly.
"So," questioned Kayin," where do you think those cameras would be hidden?"
"Huh. And here I thought you would have a faint idea, bounty hunter," Sofia answered.
What...? Kayin thought suspiciously. How did she know that I'm a bounty hunter...??
Meanwhile, Sofia was back to surveying the room carefully. "If someone were to hide a camera in here, they'd hide it in a spot where it would be the least likely to be seen. Also, the camera would have to be very small. The smaller the camera, the less chance someone would notice it." As the others watched, Sofia began to look the room over very carefully. Finally, she exclaimed, "Ah! Found it!" She motioned them over to the window, and pointed out a tiny camera that was inserted in a small hole in the window frame. Ellis frowned. "What a breach of privacy."
Kayin grinned slyly. "I hope you never undressed in here, Ellis."
"Ewwww!!" Ellis cried indignately. "That's SO bad. And thank you ever so much for putting the idea in my head, Kayin."
"That's what I'm here for."
Ellis ignored him. "Mind if I take care of it, Sofia?"
Sofia nodded approvingly. "Be my guest."
"Thank you." And with that, Ellis whirled out one of her Dirks, and with a short cry, threw it at the camera with deadly accuracy. The pointed end hit right on target, burying itself in the lens. There were a couple of sparks and a small pow, then silence. A little wisp of smoke appeared, then faded away. Ellis grinned, satisfied. "That's what they get for trying to spy on me."
"Sou ka. It looks like our suspicions are turning out to be right after all," Eiji murmured, as Ellis pulled her dagger from the wall. Sofia nodded in agreement, and Eiji continued. "Now what we need to find out is what our opponent's next move is going to be. That's not looking to be easy, considering we don't know who they are or what they want from us."
"I could help you with that," Sofia said. "I think it is safe now to tell you who they are, and just what we are up against."
"All right. Let's hear it."
I will start by telling you that they call themselves 'the Himitsu Kessha'. As you said earlier, Eiji, yes, they are a secret organization. They are an underworld crime syndicate, investing in almost anything that is illegal. They have soldiers, henchmen, guards, warriors...a veritable army. But what they are looking for most are new fighters who will work for them--as assassins, most likely. That is why they hold the tournaments of Toshindaibukai. They are searching for more warriors."
"And if the fighters don't want to work for them...?" Kayin asked. Sofia's eyes flashed.
"Then they make them."
Eiji, Kayin, and Ellis exchanged glances. They all now had a pretty good feeling as to what was going on. "Please, Sofia, continue."
"Very well. As I said before, they hold these tournaments to find warriors who suit their requirements. However, most of the time, they do not expect fighters like ourselves to interfere by finding out more than they should know." She paused here. "A while back, I was sent to retrieve information on the Himitsu by my superiors at the KGB. I was foolish. I underestimated them. The Himitsu Kessha captured me, and they..." Sofia took a deep breath. "They erased all of the memories of what I had seen there, including the memories of my past as well."
Eiji and Kayin tried to hide their surprise, but Ellis moved towards Sofia and put a hand on her arm. "I'm sorry, Sofia."
Sofia smiled ruefully. "It is all right. I am over mourning now." She looked up, eyes flashing again, only angrily this time. "Now I want revenge. I want to stop them from corrupting the world. And I want to find out if it is possible to retrieve my memories. For you see, the present is hollow without the past."
Eiji looked down. "I could understand it. Some memories may be bitter, but at least they're real."
"That they are, Eiji. That they are."
Kayin stood up. "Well, the next move is up to them. But I'd say that we're a lot better prepared now that we know just who and what we're fighting against."
"That's true," Ellis added. "And there's only two more matches left on the schedule. Maybe we could wait and see what happens."
Sofia nodded. "I would recommend that over doing anything rash. And I have a match today. Soon, actually. You may all come and watch for anything strange, if you wish."
They all agreed, but Eiji, in the meantime, was lost in his thoughts. So...it looks like the worst is yet to come. Something's going to happen after all the matches are done with...but I don't know what. And if the Himitsu Kessha was looking for fighters, and niisan came here and never came back, then that means... Eiji stopped right there. No. I won't let myself think like that. It's not possible. I know it's not.
"Eiji-kun?" Ellis said quietly, touching his hand. "Are you all right? You look like you're lost or something."
"Huh? Oh, betsu ni, Ellis-chan. I was just thinking, that's all."
Ellis looked at him, concerned. "Eiji-kun, if there's anything wrong, please tell me."
Masaka...
Eiji thought long and hard about this, about her question, about his own suspicions, about what may have happened, about the truth...
"No, Ellis-chan. Nothing. Nothing's wrong."

*********

Uranus stalked into the control room to find Gaia trying to fix one of the controls on the computers. Something was also wrong with one of the screens. Instead of the normal picture, there was nothing but static and whiteness.
"Camera 3 has gone off," Gaia said, "and I can't bring it back. It appears that it was smashed by something."
"Just how could that have happened, Gaia?" Uranus demanded. "All of our cameras were precisely hidden. No one could have found them. What could have broken it?"
"Either the camera was hit by some sort of flying object, or someone found it and destroyed it."
"Eiji Shinjo and Kayin Amoh," Uranus realized. "It has to be those two. I knew I shouldn't have let them get away the other night, curse them!" She thought for a second. "Whose cabin was that camera in?"
"The cabin of the girl Ellis."
"Hm. I've seen her with those two. It's very possible that she's joined forces with them. They all know too much. She'll have to be eliminated, the sooner the better."
"Ellis hasn't fought yet. It might raise suspicions if she doesn't show up for battle," Gaia countered quickly. "Besides, if we were to destroy them now, we'd be throwing away the old plan. And judging by how she did against the men who attacked her and Eiji, I'd say we have another potentially good fighter who could join us."
"That's an interesting idea. We can't try anything that might jeopardize the plan. I shall wait until after I see how the other fighters do. Then the plan shall be put into action," Uranus said.
"And are we sure that he will be able to do it?" Gaia asked.
"Of course," Uranus replied. "He has agreed to it. And in the most unlikely case of his failure, I will take care of them all myself, starting with the insulent Eiji and Kayin!"
Uranus turned and walked out of the control room, wings folded. Gaia watched her leave, then turned back to the computers.
Fortunately, I have my own plans for Ellis and her friends, Gaia thought to himself with a small smile, hidden by his armour. And it won't be long before I get the chance to put my plans into action. Not long at all.

***********

Early that evening, the trio of Eiji, Kayin, and Ellis went over to Sofia's arena to see her fight Mondo, the Yaki-Clan warrior that Eiji and Kayin had seen on the first day. The three took seats in the crowded spectator stands, and had a small discussion before the fight started.
"All right," Eiji began, "keep your eyes out for anything suspicious. They may know that we're onto them by now, and as Sofi-san said earlier, they already know her, so they may be wary of this fight."
"No doubt they're watching us right now," Kayin grumbled. "Dammit, I hate spies."
"And right now they're probably hating us for interfering, or at least we're going to," Ellis added. "But we can't give up."
"Whatever happens now, it's beyond our reach," Eiji said calmly. "We're just going to have to take it when it comes."
Kayin nodded. "Got it."
Ellis grinned. "Yep."
Eiji smiled amiably, and turned around to see Sofia and Mondo getting warmed up on the floor of the battle arena. "I guess now we see how good a fighter our new friend is."
Down on the floor, the two opponents were engaging in some pre-match conversation.
"I have never fought a woman before," Mondo was stating in a calm, quite voice. "It is dishonourable."
"Oh, you silly ninjas and your fool honour," Sofia replied carelessly. "When it comes to fighting, I am more than just a simple woman. Would you care to find out how much more?"
"Very well. If you wish to fight me, so be it. But I warn you, you're not getting in my way!"
"Hmph. That is fine. Better watch your fingers. This rose has thorns."
"Bout One! FIGHT!!"
Sofia was determined not to let what she knew about the tournament keep her from winning. For now, it didn't matter that the Himitsu was probably watching her. All Sofia wanted now was her victory. She rolled forwards, then came up shouting "Rattlesnake!!", as snapped her whip out in front of her multiple times with blinding speed. However, Mondo had managed to deftly leap backwards out of the way in time. As he was in the air, Mondo hefted his spear up, then brought it down, a large fireball shooting out from it. "Goriki Raijin!!"
Sofia quickly dashed to the left, but the fireball had brushed her side. She smiled, and curled her whip then cracked it forwards, releasing a pulsing energy ring. "Thunder Ring!!"
Mondo was just coming down from his jump and had no time to block. Then, before he could try anything else, Sofia rushed over, dropped her whip, grapped Mondo's collar, lifted him off the ground and started slapping him across the face. Her assault ended with a ferocious high kick to the face. Mondo hit the ground, and Sofia calmly strode over, ready to execute another attack. But instead, Mondo rolled backwards and slid his spear under her arm. He then proceeded to lift Sofia into the air, and finally slammed her into the ground. Sofia sprung back up quickly, and decided to go for it. She began to do a mockery of a pirouette with her whip trailing in wide circles around her, smacking Mondo in the face over and over again. He fell to the floor, seemingly not getting up anytime soon. Bout One was awarded to Sofia.
Bout Two, however, was different. Mondo was determined to make up for his earlier loss, and so he opened up the fight. He yelled "Goriki Fujin!!" and started whirling her spear in blinding circles in front of him. Sofia tried to block, but was distracted by the crowd and got pounded with part of the defensive attack. Then, before Sofia could recover, Mondo cocked backwards, then thrust his spear out towards her, hitting Sofia in the stomach. Sofia was growing weary of his games, and tossed a few more Thunder Rings at him before finally deciding, All right. I suppose this is where we do it.
With that, Sofia gathered her ki, and started to spin around in what could almost be her Aurora Revolution, except this time she was surrounded by shimmering blue sparks.
Mondo decided hastily to jump backwards.
That was not a good choice.
"CALL ME QUEEN!!"
Sofia rose up horizontally in the air and managed to knock him out with such force that the ninja hit the floor--and didn't get up until the Bout Two win was announced to Sofia, with her friends cheering in the stands.
"I do so hope we get to do this again sometime," Sofia said as Mondo started to get up in disgrace. "I am always willing to fight. Anytime, anywhere!"

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