- TOH SHIN DEN II: Thicker Than Water -

a Battle Arena Toshinden 2 fanfiction by Athena Asamiya and Kasumi Todoh


CHAPTER SEVEN: Discovery



Translations:
hai - yes
Kami-sama - God


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"Excuse me," Kayin asked a passing waiter, "but do you have any dishes that don't involve murdering a poor, defenseless creature just so we, the cruel human race, could use it for food?"
The waiter looked startled by this sudden confrontation. "Uh...I don't think so, sir..."
Eiji buried his face in his hands. "Must you do this every time we go out to eat?"
Kayin grinned defensively. "Ohhhhhh, yeah. I'm a vegetarian, y'know? Totally against slaughtering any animal that breathed or blinked."
"You know, I don't think the girls would appreciate having their appetites ruined," Eiji muttered. Ellis, who had been previously viciously attacking her pork chop with menace, had paused with her fork half-raised and was now staring at them.
"Sure, they'd like to hear about it. Right?" Kayin turned to the three women at the table, all of whom were trying their best to look like they didn't know him. But Tracy couldn't resist, so she held up a lettuce leaf from her salad with a nasty grin. "Hey, Kayin, look! I think it's blinking!"
Ellis was trying very hard to hold in her laughter, but it didn't help. She burst out laughing, as did most of their table. After the mirth had mostly subsided, Sofia hissed to the rest of them, "Everyone, I think we are making a scene."
Sure enough, the group was on the tail end of most of the tournament's on-site restaurant customers strange looks. Ellis quickly managed to get herself under control, although it took a bit of time to do so.
"Now," Sofia began, clasping her hands together on the table top, "We should forget about the food for now and focus on what happened today." The rest of them immediately calmed down as Eiji began the discussion. "What we can assume is that the attack on Kayin today was the Himitsu's 'first move,' which we were all expecting. And I think we can safely assume whoever's impostering me works for the Himitsu too."
"As if we didn't have enough things to figure out already," Tracy muttered. "Now we gotta find out who this imposter-type dude is and how he's tied in to all this crap."
"And we're still no closer to finding Naru," Kayin added forlornely.
"That's another thing I can't figure out," Tracy continued. "In other kidnapping cases I've dealt with, the kidnapper usually leaves a note, or a phone call, or somethin'. But we haven't heard anything. No ransom, no specific instructions, other than 'fight in this year's tournament.' But that can't be the only thing they want from us."
"Could be they're biding their time for something," Ellis suggested.
"Maybe we need to take a different approach," Eiji said. "Instead of trying to find information on the Himitsu, perhaps we should focus on their headquarter building."
"That's a good idea," Kayin agreed. "So we're sure that the gold building's the HQ?"
Shitennou... Eiji thought seriously. "Hai, I'm nearly positive."
"It is of no doubt," Sofia added on. "They would want to be able to watch the matches without being seen, and at the same time keep track of us. It is logical enough."
"Yeah," Tracy agreed. "All we gotta do is ask ourselves how we can get in and smash `em up!"
"Not yet. We need to keep a watch on them, to see if we can find a break in their defenses," Eiji warned.
Tracy's face fell, replaced by a look of disappointment. "You sure know how to ruin things, Eij."
"Looks like we got ourselves a plan," Kayin said, satisfied. "And I think we should get started on it right away."
Eiji nodded. "And we should check out the fight schedule while we're at it. They should have the next match posted by now."
They ended up taking their orders to go. Kayin was prepared to make another speech on the inhumanities of meat production, but decided against it after Eiji shot him a very threatening look and held up a table knife warningly.
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"I'm so nervous," Ellis muttered as she changed from her normal clothes into her fighting outfit in her cabin's small bathroom. The next match, as it turned out, put Ellis up against Mondo, the spear-wielding Yaki-Ichizoku warrior. "What if this Mondo guy is too much for me to handle?"
"You did fine in last year's tournament, Ellis-chan," Eiji encouraged, leaning against one wall, "and I'm sure you'll have no problem beating this guy." He was waiting for her to finish so he could "escort" her to her match in the arena. Ellis, meanwhile, had made him promise (twice) not to peek or try anything of the sort while she was changing, lest he be "breathing through a hole in his throat for the rest of his life". Finally, with a deep breath, Ellis stepped out. Eiji was rather surprised, as he had expected to see her wearing the same costume she wore last year. Although it was relatively the same from the waist up, the chiffon leggings had been changed to a large, feathery, fairy-like light pink skirt which billowed out around her, as did the sleeves in the same manner.
"You changed your costume," Eiji remarked, smiling.
"You like it?" Ellis spun around once, a smile lighting her pretty face. "I modified it a bit from last year. For something different, I guess."
"It looks wonderful, Ellis-chan," he replied. Holding out his hand, Eiji said, "Now, shall we get going? We promised Kayin-chan, Tracy-san and Sofi-san we'd meet them at the arena, and Kami-sama knows that they may be ripping each others' throats out by now."
The three were already waiting for them in the stands of the coliseum when they arrived at Ellis's arena, looking relatively calm, although Sofia looked quite pleased with herself, and it was noticible that Kayin had a very large lump on his head. The match was about to begin.
Ellis grinned. "Now everyone, watch the star take the stage!" she laughed as she broke apart from Eiji to go to center ring. Eiji smiled at her. "Good luck, Ellis-chan." He winked and made a thumbs-up. "Kick his ass!"
Ellis returned the gesture, adding a cute wink into it. "You got it, Eiji-kun!" She turned and climbed into the ring, clutching her double-edged Dirks proudly.
She found her opponent already in the ring, waiting for her. Mondo appeared to be in his late forties, with long gray hair and wearing a fighting costume that reminded Ellis somewhat of a gi outfit that karate fighters wore while training, with white tassels hanging from the front. On his back he appeared to be wearing a red, square-shaped box, although Ellis had no idea what that was for, maybe a backpack of sorts...? Mondo carried as his weapon a long spear, the legendary Seiryuu Spear. Rumour had it that he had been the only warrior so far worthy enough of wielding it. Mondo was already in his fighting position, ready and waiting to start the match. Ellis could not resist bowing and saying happily, "So, may the best fighter win in this match!"
Mondo issued a cold reply. "It's a pity a child such as yourself must taste defeat so early in her life."
Ellis tossed her emerald hair and grinned while cocking one eyebrow, something she had picked up from Kayin. "Well, this 'child' is going to show you one hell of a fight. We'll see who goes down first." She bowed to her opponent again, as she always did before the beginning of a fight, and rose her Dirks into her fighting stance.
"Very well, then." Mondo gripped his spear with both hands and readied himself for the fight.
"Bout One! FIGHT!!"
Ellis decided to get things going by jumping into the air and diving back down at Mondo with her Arc Slash. Mondo saw this coming, and knocked her out of the air with his spear-spinning Goriki Fujin. Ellis landed flat on her back, only to jump to her feet again and resume her fighting pose after a couple seconds. She launched into her quick knee slide, which Mondo had a hard time blocking against and took some damage as a result, stumbling to his knees. He jumped up and shot two fireballs at Ellis, who rolled out the way and brought him back to the arena floor with her Flaming Crescent. Mondo fell, but got up quickly and hit her with his Goriki Tenbu. Ellis staggered back, clutching her stomach in pain. She recovered and attacked Mondo while he was coming down from his uppercut with a fast combination of kicks while crouching, only to have it blocked and counterattacked by a strong hit with the spear. It looked about even, but Ellis felt an inner strength building and rising to the surface. Throwing in a short slash for added effect, and shouting "KISS KISS KISS!", she whacked Mondo again and again, with one flaming Dirk and then the other. Finally, she thrust both arms forward, slamming him in the chest and into a K.O.
Bout Two appeared at first as if it was going to go the same the way, but Mondo still had a few tricks to ensure that it didn't. For the first few seconds the two just traded hard kicks and slashes, both getting about the same amount of damage to each other. Eventually, Mondo slid his spear under Ellis's left arm and lifted her right off the ground. He let her hang in the air for a second or two, and then slammed her to the arena floor, hard. Ellis got up again, determined not to lose, and moved in closer to him. She then spun into her Lollipop, one of her more recently-learned moves. Mondo was just a bit too close at the time, so it got the desired results. Mondo once again stood up, and this time appeared to be gathering his ki for a large move. To Ellis's complete surprise, before she could do anything, four fireballs came exploding out the box on his back. The first two hit Ellis and knocked her over, the third missed because she was already on the ground, and the fourth was too high anyway.
Guess now I know what that box is for, Ellis thought as she slowly and painfully struggled to get up. She needed to rethink her strategy somewhat. Wearing him down with kicks and slashes might take too long. Best to end it as quick as possible. Suddenly Ellis knew what she had to do.
She slid into Mondo and launched him upwards with another Flaming Crescent, following him up into the air and hitting him again with her Screw Dancing as he was coming down. After that, she got him with a Lollipop in the back. She followed it up a thrusting kick, a hip slam and an Arc Slash in the back. Then Ellis decided Mondo had been worn down enough, and began channeling and gathering her ki. Ellis flew into the same super attack she had before, and since Mondo was just getting up, he didn't block in time.
"Kiss Kiss Kiss!"
Mondo was pummeled several time before being knocked backwards with a loud scream. He lay on his back, unconscious and barely breathing, as Ellis was proclaimed the winner of the match. After striking a victory pose, she jumped down to the arena floor, where her friends were waiting.
"Looks like you were worried over nothing," Eiji remarked as they headed out and back to their cabins. "I knew you'd do just fine."
Ellis bowed, cheeks flushed with pleasure. "Arigato, Eiji-kun."
"He didn't beat you up too badly, did he?" Kayin asked.
"Nah. I'll probably have a few more bruises than I did when I wake up tomorrow, but I don't think anything's broken."
"That's good. It really would've sucked if you had gotten yourself killed back there."
"Uh, thanks, Kayin--I think."

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It was getting dark as Ellis entered her cabin later that night, after discussing plans of attack on the Himitsu headquarters in Eiji's cabin earlier. She grinned in the dark, remembering on how Eiji had wanted to walk her back, but she insister she was fine on her own. Come to think of it, walking with Eiji would be nice...
She hadn't taken more than another two steps into her cabin when she suddenly felt a heavy weight flung onto her back, and an arm wrapped around her neck in a chokehold.
"`Bout time you got back," said a female voice behind her.
That voice!
Ellis managed the arm around her neck and flung her assailant over her shoulder onto the floor in front of her. At the same she found the light switch. Once her eyes had adjusted and Ellis could see the person now standing in front of her, her mouth fell open.
The opponent facing Ellis was an exact copy of herself.

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