Toh Shin Den II: Thicker Than Water Chapter One: Invitation, a battle arena toshinden fanfic

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Toh Shin Den II: Thicker Than Water

A Toshinden 2 fanfiction by Kasumi Todoh and Athena Asamiya / Empress Katzy

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Athena's Glossary:

hai - yes

-sama - honourific used for higher persons, gods etc.

shikashi - but...!

Soshiki - Organization

Byakko no Tachi - White Tiger Sword (ceremonial name for Eiji's katana)

-chan - honourific used for close friends, children or pets, etc.

niisan - informal version of oniisan; elder brother

oi, kodomo! - Hey, kids!

baibai - bye-bye

chikusho - dammit

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"...And now we're guilt-stricken, sobbing, with our heads on the floor,
We fell through the ice when we tried not to slip, we'd say
We can't be held responsible."

-- Verve Pipe, "The Freshmen"

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That which the world has never seen before,
the ultimate fighting tournament,
Battle Arena Toshinden.
It has been a year since the incredible tournament took place.
Those who fight to find their true selves,
Those who fight to preserve the future...
They have assembled to fight again!
And so, the next tournament begins...

***************

Chapter One
Invitation

In a darkened room made of shadows and evil, where thoughts of good are destroyed without reason or reflection, two people are conferring in the official office of the Himitsu Kessha, the secret host organization for the weaponry tournaments of the Toshindaibukai. A young girl is sitting behind a desk and facing another teenage girl seated in front of it. At first glance, one might think this girl is Ellis, the fighter from last year, but she isn't at all. Although the girl is the same height, with the same straight, short hair, blue eyes and a similar outfit, this girl has brown hair and an outfit made of black silk with a blue ribbon wrapped around her waist and tied in a big bow at the back. The younger girl behind the left desk looks to be more tame, in a jumpsuit of pastel mauves, yellows and pinks, shoulder-length azure hair with a golden jewelled tiara crowning her forehead. However, looks can be deceiving, and here, they most definately were. She was known as Master, the Master, ruler of the entire Himitsu Kessha at the age of sixteen. Cold and emotionless, with her undisputed psionic powers and manipulative abilities, she was more than fit for the dark job.

Leaning over the desk and clasping her hands together with finality, she simply stated, "You have your orders, then."

The other girl nodded, unfazed. "Yes. Once the second tournament begins, I dispose of the fighters any way I can, starting with my original, Ellis, and her two friends Eiji and Kayin. And I'm to leave the traitor Gaia up to you."

"Correct." A new, raspier voice rang out through the otherwise-silent room. As a tall, spider-like figure wearing a ragged black trenchcoat and tinted glasses made his way towards the two from the room's entrance, the dark-clothed girl simply turned her head to acknowledge his presence, but Master rose from her chair. "Vermilion, we have no use of you or your Organization for now. I am addressing one of my minions."

Vermilion, named so for the crimson patterns that etched his face underneath a pair of rose-shaded spectacles, only smiled maliciously. "Whom I created."

"If that had any importance right now, I would say so. Leave."

"Soon you will, Master. The next tournament will be set in motion within the next week. Then the partnership between your Himitsu Kessha and our Organization will prove its use."

"Hmph. For your sake, it had better. We have yet to hear from your great superior, whereas I am the leader of this organization."

Vermilion's returning look was shrouded. "He...does not wish to confer with you at this time. Don't forget, he sent me, his ruling commander, to work here as our alliance, so we could put aside out war with each other and work together to destroy the fighters who thwarted last year's plans."

Ignoring the last part, since she saw it as unimportant, Master settled back down and turned to her silent henchwoman. "We have invited all the fighters from last year's tournament. We want you to scout these fighters and find their weak spots, before trying anything. And do nothing without my commands, understood?"

"Hai." The girl pushed back her chair and bowed to Master, then turned and bowed to Vermilion in an equal manner, before leaving the room. After she was gone, Vermilion muttered, "As good a clone as she is, she won't be able to do it alone. Uranus was much more powerful, and even she couldn't defeat all of them."

Master turned around in her chair. "Uranus was too overconfident. She didn't completely follow my orders. But it does not matter. Your so-called 'Dark Ellis' proves that the cloning process works. We'll simply create another fighter to help her." Musing for a moment, Master finally slammed her fist on the desk. "I have it. Eiji Shinjo was the best fighter in last year's tournament. Make a copy of him."

Bowing to Master, Vermilion only replied, "As you wish. This year, the fighters won't know what hit them," before turning around and letting slip an crooked, evil smile, one that spoke of betrayal and hidden agendas, and hastily exiting her presence. Master watched after him, eyes narrowed.

"You forget I am the most powerful psychic in the world, Vermilion. We will see who wins this war, partnership or partnership betrayed."

More footsteps were heard, and two appeared out of the shadows, warriors without equal. The first did not meet Master's gaze, only quietly offering in a Japanese-tinged male voice, "May we help, Master-sama?"

"Yes, please let us," the other, definately female, added on with breathy desperation. "We haven't seen any fun lately. Destroying the Toshin fighters would be enjoyable."

Master closed her eyes and smiled coldly. "No. I'm leaving that up to the clones. After Vermilion's...helpful...work here is over, kill him. He will be of no use."

The man seemed slightly surprised. "Shikashi, what about the Soshiki?"

"There is no need to worry about them or their ruler. I could destroy him single-handedly, especially with you two at my side." She snickered. "The two angels of my apocalypse. I trust neither of you will let me down."

The woman bowed in a similar fashion as those had before her. "As you wish, Master-sama. We will take care of Vermilion..."

"...And then the Toshin warriors if the clones fail," finished her shadowy partner. Master raised an eyebrow.

"Very well. You two did respectable jobs for me last year, so I'm sure I can trust you. If not..." She fixed a hard stare on both of them. "You know I will find out."

"Hai, Master-sama." The two nodded, before teleporting away into thin air. Master sat back down, but instead of in her chair, she eerily hovered a slight bit above its seat. She started absent-mindedly tossing a ball of ki between both hands, looking like a mere child's game, but quickly extinguished its spark with an unspoken violent malevolence.

"Just you wait, Abel. I'll win over you yet."

***************

"REKKUZAN!!"

The large fireball, pulsing with fiery-type ki, slammed into its oak-tree target nearby, reducing it to a charred black skeleton of its former self. In front of the smouldering tree stood a young man, exhaling sharply from the exertion of his ki. A few strands of his spiky auburn hair fell out from under a white headband and across his deep red eyes. In one hand he clutched a long katana sword, better known as the Byakko no Tachi, an inherited keepsake, passed down through the family lines of father-to-son throughout the ages. Eiji Shinjo, Japan's star master swordsman and adventurer, stared at the result of his work and smiled, pleased with himself.

"I'm getting better," he murmured out loud. "I'd like to see Kayin-chan try that."

He moved in closer to an opposite tree to get a better shot at it. With that, he shouted out, "Hishouzan!" and jumped upward through the tree in a blender-like uppercut, his blade slicing off leaves and limbs as he went. Finally, he landed, whirled around, crying, "Mukurowari!" and split the tree right down the middle. The two halves landed with small crashes on opposite sides.

Removing his headband and wiping his forehead with the back of hand, Eiji exhaled and raised a hand to shield his eyes as he glanced at the sun's position. It's getting pretty late...I should head in before it gets dark.

Just as he was re-sheathing his sword and packing up his training equipment, Eiji heard several young childrens's voices ringing out behind him. "Eiji-niisan!!"

Eiji smiled brightly, remembering what that special word had meant to him. Even though he had no relation to any of the younger children of the village, they all saw him as their "big brother", or "niisan". He turned around to see four kids approach him happily. "Oi, kodomo! What can your niisan do for you?"

"Eiji-niisan, whatcha doing?" one of the oldest, a boy named Gyoshuku, asked him.

"Just training for a while. You have to practice if you want to stay good, you know."

"We wanna be just like you, Eiji-niisan!" Yukio, a younger girl, said, beaming. "The best swordfighters in all of Japan!"

The four kids broke up into mock-swordfights, yelling out in their excitement. Eiji laughed. "Keep up your training kids, and you'll be able to whip your niisan in no time!"

None of them mentioned Eiji's real elder brother. They had never met him, and the legends of the almighty Sho Shinjo, the true inheritant and representative of the Shinjo clan, had slowly died away after his disappearance from his and Eiji's home village of Aizu-Wakamatsu, and the rest of the world, four years ago. Disregarding these thoughts, Eiji picked up his bags and waved to the kids. "Well, I'm off. See you all later!"

"Baibai, Eiji-niisan!!" they all called after him as he left the woods behind his small residence. As he approached his house and turned the doorknob, he noticed it wasn't locked, the way he'd left it.

Chikusho...burglars or rival fighters, no doubt. It's been so quiet lately, I knew it wasn't going to last. Carefully unsheathing his sword again, Eiji swung open the door and warily scanned each of the rooms for any intruding figures. Instead, he found only a small white envelope sitting on the kitchen table.

I don't remember that being there when I left. Then someone must have been here, but who...? Curious, Eiji picked up the letter and examined it. On the front was his name and address, but no returning address. On the back there was just a small gold sticker that was used to seal the envelope shut. Peeling off the sticker, Eiji opened the envelope and pulled out a matching white card...and froze when he saw the combination of three Japanese kanji characters that had been printed on the front of the card in black ink.

The kanji read as Toh, Shin, and Den.

In a flash, Eiji's mind was immediately taken back to a year before, where he had accepted an invitation to a martial arts/weaponry tournament known as the Toshindaibukai, the Grand Martial Arts Tournament of the Fighting God. Back then he had been completely occupied in finding Sho, his lost older brother. Sho had trained Eiji and Eiji's childhood best friend Kayin Amoh since they were teenage boys. But then, on that fateful one day a few years ago, Sho mysteriously disappeared, leaving no indication where or why he had gone. All Eiji found was the Byakko no Tachi and a note, saying that Eiji was to keep the sword and that he was on his own now. After years of luckless seaching, Eiji finally narrowed it down to the possibility that Sho was at the Toshindaibukai. After receiving an invitation to fight as a representative of the Shinjo clan, who were descended from the Byakkotai samurai, Eiji entered the tournament and met up with Kayin, who was looking for the murderer of his father, believed to be one of the champion fighters in the tournament.

After a long week of fighting, friendships, suspicions and fear, the two swordsmen finally found and confronted their sensei Sho. They learned that not only was it Sho that killed Kayin's father, but that he was determined to kill both of them as well, by some mysterious order. In the end he spared them, and then vanished again, telling them only strange riddles and leaving them both very confused and unsatisfied by their encounter.

It was right after that that they had to fight the leader of of an underground crime organization, Uranus, the dark angel of death. After a fierce battle, Eiji, Kayin and three other fighters whom they had befriended during the tournament managed to destroy Uranus, and that, they thought, would mark the end of the Toshindaibukai tournaments.

So apparently we thought wrong, Eiji thought to himself as he stared at the kanji. Uranus is dead, so who's organizing the tournaments now? What parts are we to play this year, and will we all return only to be marked for death yet again? Eiji was then struck with a sudden, and more important, thought. Niisan...will I be able to find him again, at this year's tournament? Maybe I can't bring him back, but I don't want to live under his shadow anymore. I'll find him and win this time, proving my worth as the one bearing our clan's sword!

Discovering the card was double-sided, Eiji flipped it open and read the contents, printed in Japanese characters.

Shinjo Eiji-san,

We of the Himitsu Kessha request your attendance at this year's Toshindaibukai. Judging by last year's performance, we are expecting quite a display from you and your friends. The tournament will commence in one week's time. You must have signed in before three days of its opening. We expect to see you there.

Signed, the High Council of the Himitsu Kessha

Just what the hell is going on?

His mind made up to settle this, Eiji went into his bedroom, found a suitcase and hastily started packing clothes into it. Everyone else should be there as well...and I have to go. If not to stop the Himitsu Kessha, if it's just a normal tournament this year, then I'll go to best my niisan in battle...and try my hardest to get him to come home again. Also, to figure out just what he's up to, and what really happened last year. As Eiji finished packing his bags, he closed them shut and sat on his bed for a moment, thinking.

Kayin-chan...did he get invited again too? I wonder what he's up to now...

***************

"Holy SHIT!!!"

A line of gunshot was fired, ripping through a row of cardboard boxes stacked in tall columns on the warehouse's shelves. Another line was fired, causing the handsome broadsword-bearing man to duck and roll out of the way yet again, in order to avoid being pumped full of lead. Leaping through the air and dodging bullets at almost inhuman speed, the man approached his suspects, two large, muscle-bound goons, swiftly kicking the machine guns out of their hands. Swinging and bringing his leg downwards in a yellow-sparking arc, he yelled the familiar attack name out. "Shoulder Crush!!"

One of the men managed to dodge out of the way, however, the other took the powerful attack head-on and howled out in pain, stumbling backwards before smashing into a shelf, causing a group of heavy boxes to fall on his head, putting him out immediately. The sword-wielder snickered.

"Pity, I was looking forwards to taking care of that one myself." Having said this in a naturally broad Scottish accent, with the other man unarmed and helpless, he began to slowly walk towards him, broadsword held out and ready.

"You damned kid!" yelled the man. "What're you after us for?"

His attacker shrugged. "I need info. `Course, the money on your head didn't look too bad to me either, but I need my answers first."

Eyes narrowed, the thug continued. "I've heard of you, the bounty hunter they call Storm. You're Kayin Amoh, ain'tcha?"

"Pleased to make your acquaintance." Kayin took a sarcastic half-bow before placing the tip of his blade at his victim's throat. "I need information, asshole. Who's heading the Himitsu Kessha now and where is my daughter??"

"You...YOU have a daughter?" The thug snickered. "That's real funny, y'know...ouch!" Kayin had pressed the sword-tip a slight bit deeper into his neck. Kayin smiled politely. "Oh yes, that's REAL funny. You know what I'd find funny? Putting my sword right through your neck right now, that's what I'd find funny. Ach, of course YOU wouldn't find it funny, but I sure would." Replacing the mocking smile on his face with a serious, and slightly angered look, he pushed his sword a little deeper into the criminal's neck. "Now talk."

"All right, all right! Word on the street's that some big-shot named 'the Master' is heading up this whole next tourney thing. That's probably who's got yer kid."

Kayin grinned, pleased. "Thank you. That's all I needed to know." With one swift movement, he kicked upwards, catching the man's jaw, then downwards again, smashing him into the concrete for a solid knockout. Kayin stared down at this scene, cold aqua eyes hard and unforgiving. Reaching into his red shoulder-padded coat pocket, Kayin pulled out a small white card, imprinted with the black kanji that read, in almost a chilling tone, "Toh Shin Den".

Damn, thought Kayin in frustration. Naru...this was all my fault, I should have known, I... He crumpled the invitation in his hand in anger, remembering what had happened earlier. He had been out on late call about a week ago to find a certain very slippery crook who had quite a large price over his head. Kayin had left his adopted daughter, Naru, with a babysitter and headed out. He knew something was up the minute he found that the tip-off was a ruse, and returned to find the babysitter brutally murdered and Naru gone.

All that was left was the invitation, with one of Naru's pink hair ribbons tacked to it.

Kayin easily made up his mind right then and there. I'm gonna go to this year's tourney, to find Naru or die trying. If anything's happened to her, I swear to God, I'll... Sighing, Kayin headed back to his car and pulled out the cell phone he kept there, dialing a few numbers and waiting for an answer.

"Guys? Yeah, it's me, Kayin. Yeah, I got the crooks...don't I always? Whaddiya mean I have too much ego? Yeah, you shut up too...Got what I needed to find out as well. I'll be taking a leave for a while, so don't expect to see me around or worry `bout me either. Where'm I going? Well, I guess you could say..." Kayin smirked, recalling the event's of last year's "harmless" tournament.

"I'm going after my destiny. See ya."

Abruptly hanging up, cutting off any objections from his superiors at the bounty hunting organization he worked for, Kayin got behind the wheel of his car and prepared for the long trip he had ahead.

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Next Chapter: Reunion
Main Page of Toh Shin Den II: Thicker Than Water

Chapter One: Invitation

Original Title(s):
An Invitation (Rewritten Version)
How It Began Again (Original Version)

Revised by Athena Asamiya, 1999.

Original Copy by Kasumi Todoh, 1997 / 1996 (Original Version).

If you wish to use this fanfiction for any purpose, please obtain permission prior to doing so. Arigato, Athena Asamiya.

empresskatzy@hotmail.com

DISCLAIMER: All character names, plot, story, and original moves copyright of Takara Co., Ltd., Tamsoft Co., and Playmates Interactive Entertainment. Used without permission; no rights reserved.

Toshinden Always and Forever!!