- TOH SHIN DEN II: Thicker Than Water -

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


CHAPTER ELEVEN: Blood



Translations:
hai - yes
ikuzou - let's go
saa, dou suru? - so, what are you going to do?
itee - ouch
ichi agari! - I'm number one!; one of Eiji's win quotes in TSD2
minna - everyone


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"So, everything is prepared then?" Master was sitting on some sort of throne-like structure, set at the top of a small staircase. At the bottom, her two shadowy 'angels' were both down on one knee, bowing to her, while Vermilion absently stood off to the side near the edge of the grand room, polishing his shotgun with the sleeve of his trenchcoat and watching the group through his rose-coloured spectacles. Master drummed her fingers impatiently along the armrest of the throne. "It had better be. I'll not wait any longer to eliminate these pests."
"Hai, Master-sama," the one figure replied from her kneeling position, not looking up from the floor. "Both the clones are fighting Eiji Shinjo and Ellis as we speak." She cocked her head slightly towards her partner next to her. "And I must say that my compatriot had an...enjoyable time handling the Shinjo boy."
He said nothing, but Master looked slightly amused. "So you harbor no feelings towards that childish excuse for a warrior? How interesting. I suppose that fool Uranus knew what she was doing, though her ambitions didn't serve her well in the end." She leaned on her hand, closing her eyes and concentrating. "What will the future hold in store for Eiji Shinjo, if I don't destroy him first...? hmmm...ah. That one--he has a clouded future. In twelve years the results will be clear. And I should say that they please me VERY much. I will most assuredly be around to see them."
The one figure still said nothing, but almost seemed to frown slightly, maybe in confusion. Vermilion sighed. "Master, don't you have something better to do? Attending to our other guests, that is?"
Master opened her eyes and glared down at Vermilion. "You dare tell me what to do?? Such...confidence in Abel's minions. Well, I suppose I should go and take care of the other three." She got up from the chair, but hovered off the ground slightly instead of standing on it. Master smiled coldly at Vermilion, a mocking tone in her voice. "You may come watch, if you wish. But remember--once this threat is destroyed, our alliance is terminated. In that case, maybe you better go running back to your Abel-sama now." With a high-pitched laugh, Master disappeared, a shower of little ki-sparks hitting the ground and dissapating from the teleport. Vermilion scowled, turning his back and stalking out of the room. I'll be watching, fool, watching as you die by my hand...
The two warriors were the only ones left in the room then. They exchanged glances, then stood up and teleported out. They had work to do.

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Ellis yelped and slid to the side as one of the flashing daggers narrowly missed her arm, but sliced off one of the chiffon petals on her sleeve. Dark Ellis growled slightly at her miss, and lashed out with a roundhouse kick to Ellis's side. Ellis blocked it, and the elbow that came after it, aimed for her stomach.
Dark Ellis held up one of her Dirks, displeased. "What's the matter, daughter of Gaia? Too cowardly to try and attack? You know, once you're out of the way, I can be his daughter and everyone will forget all about you..."
"I won't let you!!" Ellis dashed in, swinging back with one Dirk, but was met with an identical Lollipop from Dark Ellis, knocking her back again. She looked up to see her clone diving at her, daggers first, shouting "Arc Slash!". Ellis quickly cartwheeled out of the way, rolling to her feet right after and spinning around to face her opponent, just in time to dodge a kick aimed at her face. Dark Ellis came at her again, this time jumping up and somersaulting through the air around Ellis before landing behind her. Before she had a chance to turn around, Dark Ellis hit her again with two more slashes in the back, causing Ellis to stagger forwards and drop to her knees.
As she climbed to her feet once again, Ellis decided that she had to try a tactic she hadn't used yet, because it seemed her usual fighting style wasn't getting anywhere. She ran towards Dark Ellis, who braced herself for some kind of physical attack. But Ellis simply grabbed her, climbed over her, and jumped off. She used her back as a launching point, kicking in her sharply and pushing her to the floor. The fight, however, was far from over. Dark Ellis's recovery time was astonishing. She wasn't down for more than a few seconds, then she was standing again and facing Ellis, who was already breathing hard and getting tired quickly.
Dark Ellis couldn't help gloating. "I'm just getting warmed up, and you're practically exhausted. There's no way you can last much longer. Why don't you give up and let me kill you right now?"
"You may have got my moves," Ellis panted, "but you obviously didn't get my brains, if you think I'm honestly going to answer that."
"Hmph. It's your funeral."
Dark Ellis spun through the air and came in with every kick she knew. She didn't count on Ellis blocking every one. Furious at this, Dark Ellis tried a Soar Wind, but before she could Ellis knocked her down by sliding in at her knees and slashing at her ankles. This seemed tick her clone off even more. "Damn you! You're going to pay for that!"
Ellis only narrowed her eyes and prepared to take advantage of the mistakes her double was beginning to make from her anger. She struck Dark Ellis out of her Screw Dancing with a Soar Wind, and then hit her with a sweep kick as she was dropping out of the air. Dark Ellis rolled up into another Homing Swallow, but Ellis could see it coming clearly and uppercutted her back down. Finally Ellis decided that she'd have to finish this now, while she still had the apparent advantage.
"You're just a clone. You don't stand a chance against your original. So go tell your Master that they don't stand a chance!"
Her Dirks sparkling with ki, she flew at her clone and began the merciless attack of her Kiss Kiss Kiss. Over and over again she whacked her, until at last Dark Ellis could take no more and collapsed. But Ellis still had quite a bit of energy left over, so for good measure, as soon as Dark Ellis weakly stood up again, she somersaulted towards her in what looked like another Homing Swallow, except this time she shouted "IKUZOU!". After landing, she proceeded to deal another four hard-hitting slashes at her battered opponent, and thrust both shimmering Dirks out in front of her, calling "French KISS!". Dark Ellis collasped one final time, and after a few moments of her not moving, Ellis bent down and checked for a pulse. She found none. Exhaling sharply and sheathing her daggers, Ellis dashed down the hall that she had seen Kayin, Sofia and Tracy leave through. "Wait for me, guys! I'm coming!"

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"So I'm supposin' we just knock?" Tracy muttered sarcastically as she looked up at the large double-doors that loomed before them, at the end of the hallway they had just taken. Sofia wound her bullwhip around her thin fingers as she glanced back down where they had come. "This is not too rational. We should back out and look for another way in than just barging through here."
"I s'pose you're right," Tracy reluctantly agreed. "Think we should, Kayin?"
Their male companion hadn't said anything up to this point, and neither of them had tried to force him. It was obvious Kayin wasn't in too good a mood, and, as Tracy had whispered to Sofia earlier, "that boy's SCARY when he's mad."
Kayin just glared at the doors, and in a sudden movement, pushed them open and started to walk into the blackness that was past them.
"H-hey! What'dya think you're--" Tracy started, seeing Kayin disappear into the darkness without a word. Sofia shook her head. "Hopeless. We will have to follow him."
"Fine by me!" She grinned hugely, gripping a tonfa with delight. "It's time to kick some ass!"
As the three wordlessly walked into the dark room, there was a large bang behind them. Tracy whirled around in surprise to see that the doors had slammed shut behind them. "Damn...it's a trap!"
As if on cue, a childlike laughter started echoeing through the room, high and eerie. The three all took a few paces back, weapons ready, unsure of what to expect. But when a single light beamed on, their eyes focused enough to see their surroundings: a large platform that was some sort of arena, by the looks of it, with nothing but darkness surrounding it and them. And the one light shone down on the source of the laughter, the small, azure-haired girl dressed in robes that they had seen earlier with Vermilion. Kayin was quick enough to recognize her.
"Bitch--" he swore, tightening his grip on the hilt of Excalibur. "Where's Naru? And don't give me any of that bullshit about-" He was sharply cut off as an invisible force pushed him back and slammed him hard against the doors. The wind knocked out of him for a brief second, Kayin slumped to the floor as Sofia and Tracy ran over to see if he was okay. And the girl just stood in the same spot, eyes closed, hand outstretched.
Tracy tensed, as if ready to attack the girl at any second. "Who - or what - the hell are you?"
The girl opened her cold blue eyes and raised one eyebrow. "I am the Master."
Kayin coughed. "What--you...you're the Master?!? But you're just a little girl."
The composed exterior of the Master evaporated quickly. "Silence, fool! I am more powerful than all of you, the leader of the Himitsu Kessha -- the Gerard Foundation!"
Kayin seemed to get a odd look in his eyes after she said that. "The Gerards...?"
"Ah, so you know?" Master smirked at him. "I recall you, bounty hunter, but only briefly. And since you appear to be the leader of this little band, I think I shall see what you're truly like." She closed her eyes, seemingly concentrating hard. Kayin raised his sword warily from his position on the ground, unsure of what she was trying to do. But instead, she began to talk.
"Now, you are quite the one...the Storm, Kayin Amoh...afraid of many things, but never showing it. Afraid of losing. Afraid of failure. But most of all--afraid of yourself." A small smile crossed her lips. "Now I remember you. Our wonderful assassin. How effective you were too." The smile grew wider, and more cruel. "What will your child think, when she finds out what you did? Your real reason for adopting her?"
"Kayin?" Sofia looked over at him, concerned. "What is she talking about--?"
Kayin stared at Master with empty eyes for a second, before covering them with his hand to avoid the strange looks from Tracy and Sofia. "Shut up...I didn't...didn't mean to...I was ignorant, had no idea...just shut up..."
Master smiled coldly, apparently pleased with his reaction. "Murderer. You are no better than the one you sought for vengeance."
"I said SHUT UP!!!" Kayin shot off the floor in a flash, swinging Excalibur at Master in rage. She, however, just stood there, looking completely calm. At the last second, right before Kayin would have cut right through her, Master blurred and disappeared. Kayin, seeing that his hit didn't land, whirled around in defense and slashed out again. But he sliced only air, and Master appeared in the air above him--floating.
"Kayin!" Sofia yelled in warning. "Watch out!!"
"Shit!" He looked up quickly, just in time to see Master drop down almost faster than any of them could see, brandishing a fistful of glowing energy. Unable to defend against the aerial attack, Kayin had no option but to take the full hit. He was slammed back into the ground. Master descended the rest of the way to the ground, eyes almost gleaming.
"What a man you are. Well--" She tossed her head here, looking away, "Deny it as you may, you're still a murderer."
"What'd ya mean, Kayin's a murderer?!" Tracy growled from behind him. "He couldn't have ever worked for you--right, Kay..." She trailed off slowly as she looked down at him. He was hanging his head, refusing to look at any of them. Sofia inhaled sharply. "Oh, Kayin..."
"That's right." Master turned away for a second, seemingly in thought. "We at the Gerard Foundation, many years ago, hired your wonderful Kayin Amoh to 'take care' of a particular traitorous scientist. We fed him lies about how he was an escaped convict, who was better off dead than alive. Kayin Amoh was so full of rage at that time over the death of his father, he gladly accepted, not knowing-" she fixed him with a cruel smile "that we were the villains all along, and he was innocent. Isn't that right, Kayin?" Still, he didn't move. "The scientist had a baby daughter, however, and after our hired bounty hunter killed him and found out that he had just murdered an innocent man, he didn't have the heart to abandon the child, I suppose. So he took her in as his own. And called her Naru, am I right?"
"What....?" The two women looked to Kayin for the answer, but he just sighed and looked upwards. His eyes were filled with sadness. "Yeah. It's all true. I'm not Naru's real father; I killed her father. Killed someone who was just trying to escape from their corruption. And you..." He rose slowly, clutching Excalibur so tightly his knuckles were white. "You and that fucking Gerard Foundation...told me all those lies...taking advantage of my pain from my father's death...and now, you've taken Naru away from me..." Kayin's voice reached a scream. "GIVE ME MY DAUGHTER BACK!!!"
But she only snickered in reaction to his outburst. "Well, if you feel THAT way about me, we might as well wait for a second before we begin the fight. It will be more interesting when the other two come." Her cold blue eyes glowed with excitement.
"Then you may all die together."

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Eiji went sprawling back into the wall, gasping in pain as he slid back down it. Gritting his teeth in determination and using his sword as a prop, he shakily stood again, facing the identical copy of himself, who had hardly a scratch on him. The darker-clothed Eiji smirked, dropping his sword a little. "Pathetic. I'm ashamed to be a clone of you." He grinned wickedly, admiring the blood on his katana. "You don't stand a chance against me."
Eiji growled, taking up his fighting stance once again. "There isn't...enough room...for...two of us..."
"That can easily be rectified." With that, Dark Eiji bolted towards his original, thrusting his sword forward, which Eiji managed to narrowly avoid. But Dark Eiji wasn't easily discouraged, and he swiftly responded with a Rekkuzan, copying the original attack perfectly. Although Eiji just managed to bring his sword up in time to block the energy blast, the fireball was still strong enough to knock him over and back to the ground. His clone stood over him, smiling, tapping his katana against one boot.
"Saa, dou suru...? I could kill you right here and now, and take your place...I doubt anyone would even notice..."
"You're wrong." The words were quiet, tinged with anger. "My friends would know."
"Oh?" Dark Eiji cocked an eyebrow. "And what about that beloved brother of yours? I'd be willing to bet that he'd prefer me to you...especially judging by the way he just treated you a little while ago."
"Shut the hell up!" Eiji crouched down and slid towards his opponent, low at his ankles. "Shugekidan!!"
Unguarded, Dark Eiji stumbled backwards a bit, but countered with inhuman speed by trying to smash his sword over Eiji's head. Fortunately, Eiji saw this coming and was able to bring his sword up to block in time. The two clashed swords, neither one willing to give the other any chance. Although he had his sword up and was blocking the attack, Eiji could feel his arms tiring and Dark Eiji pushing down harder. He knew he couldn't count on Ellis for help; she had her own clone to deal with. Therefore, he had to something, fast! Suddenly Eiji pulled back, then immediately slid in with another Shugekidan. Dark Eiji wasn't prepared for this. Eiji's foot digging into him finally knocked him forward to the ground. However, he wasn't down for more than a few seconds.
"Good try," he said. "You caught me off guard that time. But you won't get the chance to again. Ryuseikyaku!!" He flipped backwards, up into the air, and dove at Eiji foot-first, with sheer inhuman speed so fast that Eiji could hardly see him. It was out of pure instinct that he rolled out of the way.
Eiji tried his Hishouzan but missed, his clone dodging it even faster than he could. There wasn't much he could do while dropping out of the air, and as he did, he was shocked to see Dark Eiji coming towards him, sword out in front, with the same ki flowing off him. Eiji quickly tried to block, but it was no use. He found himself being pounded with his own Jigokumon attack, his own upwards slashes that carried him back into the air and dropped him to the ground. Then, before he could even get up, Eiji found himself being grabbed, picked up and slammed into the floor behind Dark Eiji hard enough to dent it. Eiji struggled to his feet again, which was not an easy task. His clone was half-enraged and half-impressed to find his opponent still able to do this, and delivered half a dozen lightning-fast slashes, only two of which Eiji was able to block or dodge. As soon as Eiji lowered Dark Eiji struck again, this time with a Mukurowari, an overhead splitting slash. It missed, fortunately for Eiji, but unfortunately for him, the Hishouzan that followed it did not. As he landed on his back again, Eiji finally decided he'd had enough of being beaten. I've got to beat this guy or I'm dead. I know all his moves, and I should be countering them instead of avoiding them. He's also relying on his strength too much. So that means...
Dark Eiji stood over him and raised his sword over his head. Eiji could tell by the evil glint in his eye that he intended to bury it in his skull. The sword came down, but just in time, he pulled out his own sword in front of him. There was a loud clang as metal crashed off metal. Slowly, holding his sword out with one hand, Eiji got back up, grasped his sword with both hands and began forcing the other katana back towards its wielder. Dark Eiji was stunned. It had never occured to him that his "original" might be able to even match his strength, let alone overcome it. In a matter of seconds he found his sword pushed up against his own chest. Then Eiji reared back just long to thrust in the hardest kick Dark Eiji had ever experienced. Eiji pushed his foot into his clone's stomach as far as it would go. Dark Eiji fell over, clutching his stomach and gasping in laboured breaths that were hard to come.
"How..." he barely whispered, "how could you have managed that? I am superior to you. I'm stronger than you could ever be."
"Your speed and strength were genetically enhanced," Eiji said. "They didn't come from years of training and practicing. You've only only fought two people your whole life, yet you expect go up against fighters who have had years of experience in fighting and swordsplay. No one can ever become a superb fighter overnight."
Dark Eiji was already starting to stand, although this time it took him slightly longer than before. "You...won't beat me...that easily."
But Eiji was just getting warmed up. He did another Shugekidan to knock his clone off-balance, then a Mukuworari to send him down. He stood up again, but not before Eiji hit him with a foot sweep as he lay on the floor. Dark Eiji tried to attempt a flying slash, only to be knocked out of the air by Eiji's Hishouzan. And yet he got up again, determined not to lose. Eiji was amazed. He's either really persistant or really stubborn. He grinned involuntarily. Then again, that's probably the one thing we have in common.
Dark Eiji, because of his increased strength, had almost no trouble summoning enough ki for another Jigokumon, despite all the hits he had just taken. This time, though, Eiji saw it coming and rolled to the side. As he passed him, Eiji brought his sword slicing across Dark Eiji's hand. He yelled in pain and dropped his sword, which went flying through the air and landed with a clatter several feet away
Now it was Eiji's turn to smile. Dark Eiji knew he was in serious trouble. Eiji's Rekkuzan slammed him into the nearby wall, and before he had chance to do anything (not that there was anything he could've done), Eiji was practically on top of him. He smiled one last time, this time it was a smile of obvious victory.
"Byakki-MOSHUKEN!!!!"
The barrage of kicks and slashes, all of them too fast to see, let alone block, were way too much for Dark Eiji. Finally, Eiji finished off with a Hishouzan, with knocked him to the ceiling. His clone fell to the ground and lay slumped against the wall. His chest did not rise again. Eiji couldn't help but flash a thumbs-up and say, "Ichi agari!" before leaving the arena room and charging off down the hallway, knowing that his friends were in serious trouble.

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"Where ARE they already...??" Ellis muttered in annoyance, stalking down the hallway with daggers in hand, checking all the corridors to see where her friends may have gone. "I can't find anything around here--huh?" In front of her were a pair of huge stone double-doors, with some odd insignia imprinted on them. "Could they be in there...?"
WHAM!
"Kyaa!" Ellis fell rather hard on her backside, before flipping back up and pulling one Dirk back, ready to attack the person who lay on the ground after running right into her. "Who are you??"
"Itee..." The figure rubbed his head. "Ellis-chan, it's me!"
"Eiji-kun?" She lowered her Dirks, finally recognizing her friend in the dark. "Sorry, I didn't know..." She offered a hand to help him up, but then pulled it back suddenly. "Wait--how do I know you're not the clone?"
Eiji grinned up at her weakly. "Because I'm better-looking?"
Ellis stared at him blankly for a second, before laughing and helping him up. "No clone I know would say that."
"Thanks a lot." He glanced up at the doors. "Is this it?"
"I think so. But how are we supposed to get in--" Ellis cut herself off when, with a loud creak, the doors began to swing open for them. Eiji and Ellis stared into the darkness, trying to make out the people inside...and they saw a very bruised Kayin, Sofia, Tracy, and a pastel-robed little girl wearing a golden crown.
"Minna!" Eiji dashed into the room quickly, with no regard for anything else. Ellis followed behind him, looking both concerned and worried when the doors slammed shut behind them. Kayin grinned weakly.
"Where the hell were you guys? Those clones shouldn't have been THAT hard to take out."
Eiji and Ellis exchanged looks. The latter shook her head. "Anyways, Kayin, what happened to you?"
He motioned at the girl behind them, who had her eyes closed in rapt concentration. "The Master."
"Of the Himitsu Kessha?!" Eiji lept in front of them, brandishing the Hyakko no Tachi. "Isn't she going to fight us?"
"We are not quite sure of what she is doing..." Sofia murmured, walking up to them. Suddenly, the ground began to rumble and a loud hum came up from around them. Tracy grimaced. "I think we're about to find out!"
Immediately, bright blue-flaming torches lit up all around the room they were in, showing that it was an arena platform that they were standing on. In the center of the arena, a large symbol, the same that was on the doors, glowed unearthly. But the most shocking of all was a giant bug-like creature that hovered in the air above the flames, waving its numerous wings and legs up and down.
"What the..."
"Welcome," the Master said, "to my arena."

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