In a world of darkness sanctioned by evil,
where the only light of hope is a group of unlikely heroes,
the legend's final chapter has begun...

- TOH SHIN DEN III: Walking Into Ruin -

a Battle Arena Toshinden 3 fanfiction by Athena Asamiya and Kasumi Todoh


CHAPTER SIX: Escape



Translations:
kusou - shit


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Everyone dove for the ground, covering their heads and lying flat as pieces of charred wood and glass rained around them, hitting the ground with loud shattering noises. Once the shower of debris had ceased, everyone began to get up, stiffly, brushing the pieces off of themselves.
"Is everyone all right?" Eiji asked, concerned.
"Well, I feel like I've been hit with a bloody sack of bricks," Kayin muttered in sarcastic reply. "But other than that, sure, I'm just swell."
"It looks like it is not over yet." Sofia glanced towards what remained of the house, a pile of charred rubble. The five Soshiki warriors were emerging, and none seemed to have even a scratch on them, despite the destruction that they had just been in the center of.
"Now, have you had enough yet?" Vermilion questioned in a mocking tone. "Are you ready to surrender the boy to us, or would you rather we do to you what we just did to that house?"
David had been dangerously quiet through all of this. Despite his previous injuries, he began slowly walking, partly staggering, towards him, talking in the same low, furious voice.
"You've ruined my life. You've threatened me and my friends. Now you've destroyed our home. I'm not standing for it anymore! YOU'RE DEAD!!"
David ran straight at Vermilion, fist outstretched with orange-and-crimson ki-flames shooting out of his body and weapon. For a split second, Ellis thought one of Vermilion's henchmen might intervene again, but they all seemed equally startled by this sudden attack, especially after blowing up the house. Vermilion was, without a doubt, the most surprised of them all, especially when David jumped forward, hit him in the back and causing him to stagger forwards, then nailed him with a fiery backflip that sent the trenchcoated commander flying. He landed on the ground with a loud thud, and for a few seconds no one moved. The fighters all stared at David, open-mouthed, and the Soshiki henchmen looked equally shocked at the young boy's display of power.
"Wow, you're good," Ellis said to David. She was unsure if he heard her or not, but it didn't seem likely. He was only staring stonily at Vermilion, lying face-down on the rubble-scattered ground.
With that much power... Eiji pondered to himself, what else can he do? Is that why they want him so badly? The leader of the Toshindaibukai fighters regarded the boy, ki-flames finally beginning to subside, with a mix of interest and astoundment. Someone so young, yet able to handle ki so well...
Finally, Zola and Atahua shook themselves out of their stupor and ran over to their fallen boss, and in a couple minutes Vermilion was on his feet again, rubbing his jaw with his tinted glasses tilted on the bridge of his nose. For a second he too just stared at David.
"Very well," he said at last, though sounding rather reluctant. "You may keep the boy for now. But let me tell you, that you can't protect him forever. The time will come when you'll let your guard down. We shall return. Two days time. Only two days, warriors. Be prepared for the end." He turned and teleported out, with Zola and Atahua following. Leon shot a withering glare at Eiji (who shot a particularly nasty gaze back), and then he turned and headed out after the others. But Rachael held back. She gave her sister an icy look and said coldly, "You got off easy this time, Trae. But next time I will have my revenge for all the suffering you've caused me. Let me guarantee you, next time..." Then she walked off in the direction of the others.
"Racha--!" Tracy started to cry out, but she was already gone.
Meanwhile, Shizuku and David were looking at what little remained of their house. Shizuku sighed and murmured, "I should have known that they would resort to this..."
"The Soshiki will pay for this," Nagisa muttered fiercely, putting a hand on Shizuku's shoulder. "We'll take them down, I promise we'll get everyone on the force working on this."
"It would've been too dangerous to stay here anyway," Eiji said, coming over to them with Ellis right behind. "Now that they know where you live."
"At least I've got insurance on it," Shizuku added, looking at Eiji with a weak smile.
"I don't see what good that's going to do now," David replied darkly, folding his arms.
"You can have your revenge on the Soshiki later," said Kayin. "We've waited this long. And one of the things those assholes are short on is patience."
Sofia nodded in apt agreement. "Right now I think we have more important matters on our hands, such as finding you two a place to stay tonight."
"That's right," Ellis added. "Let's go, everyone."

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

Half an hour later, the Toshindeners had managed to set David and Shizuku up in the same hotel where they were staying, the Osaka Daiichi Hotel. Sofia had managed to save the laptop from the explosion, and she insisted on going back into the Soshiki files. Soon she was typing away at it again in the privacy of her room, while the whole group, consisting of Eiji, Kayin, Ellis, Tracy, Nagisa, Shizuku and David, watched behind her.
"We have all heard enough about its members," Sofia said, not taking her eyes off the screen, "so let's go somewhere else, shall we?" In almost no time at all she had hacked her way into another file, one that was labelled, 'Origin of the Soshiki.'
"This oughta be interesting," Kayin whispered to Eiji, who nodded.
"Listen," said Sofia, reading out loud to the group. "It says here, 'When the sea runs red with blood, the Overlord will descend to Earth. On that day, the light shall be swallowed by the darkness.'"
"What the hell does THAT mean?" Tracy demanded, still bitter over the earlier confrontation.
"Keep reading and maybe we'll find out," Nagisa answered back sharply. Tracy decided to shut up and seethe on her own.
"'Only the one with a pure heart can hold the immense spiritual power of the Toshin, Agon Teos.'"
"Toshin?" questioned Ellis. "What's that? Isn't it the namesake of the Toshindaibukai?"
"Toshin is Japanese," Eiji explained, "for 'fighting god'. It's another old legend from ancient times."
"That's why the Toshindaibukai tournament was also known as 'The Grand Martial Arts Tournament of the Fighting God'," Kayin added. "Helluva long name."
Sofia continued, "'Eternal life and ultimate power to he who is reborn.'"
"'A young person with a pure heart', huh?" Ellis murmured. She turned to David. "They're talking about you, aren't they?"
David said nothing. He just narrowed his eyes and nodded.
"The 'eternal life and ultimate power' part doesn't sound so bad," Kayin put in. Then he glanced at David and the look on his face. "Kidding, just kidding! Damn..."
Tracy, who had been deep in thought, sat up suddenly, seeing something on the screen. "Um, guys...check that out."
A new, flashing message had appeared on the screen. It read as this:

To all members of the Soshiki,

Soon will come the time to awaken our Overlord. In a days' time, the reckoning will come to this world and all will know the omnipotent power of the Toshin, Agon Teos.
The boy must be captured at all costs. Forsake everything and destroy the Toshin warriors, so they do not get in our way again!

- Abel

"Who is he?" asked Sofia, almost to herself or the computer. Shizuku placed a hand on David's shoulder gently. "David-chan, do you know?"
David uncrossed his arms and turned away from the group. "Yes. But I don't know much of him. He's the leader of the Soshiki. The one who's plotting all this, to resurrect the Toshin and destroy the world."
"In a days' time..." whispered Ellis. "They're going to try tomorrow?"
"Looks like it."
"Kusou..." growled Nagisa, clenching his hand into a fist involuntarily. "If only we knew where they were, we could find them and take them down!"
"I will try to find its location on here," Sofia answered back, "but it's unlikely." She tapped away for a few minutes, then sighed and proclaimed, "No. There is nothing about it."
"Goddammit!" Tracy snarled, banging her fist on a table. "How are we supposed to stop `em if we can't find `em? We can't wait for them to come to us, that's instant death!"
"They likely will, though. So what's the big deal about all this, then?" said Kayin annoyedly. "They can't bring this Toshin to Earth if they don't have David. We'll just have to hide him away and take them down before they can find him."
David glared darkly at the swordsman. "I don't run from my battles, especially this one."
"So you think we do?" Kayin retorted.
"Guys," Ellis said, quickly getting between them. "Now's not the time to be starting any fights."
"With the 'reckoning' only a day away," said Eiji, "if the Soshiki really wants to have David by then, then they're going to start getting desperate in their attempts to get him. As long as he's with us, they'll come."
"There is more here on the history of it," Sofia interrupted. "This is not the first time the Soshiki has attempted to free the Toshin. They succeeded in doing it once before, about a thousand years ago to be exact. However, the forces of good managed to drive the evil force back to where it was held before, deep beneath the Earth. But before that, the Soshiki captured and saved the blood of the Toshin. It says here that drinking the blood can grant you powers. That is why the Soshiki has such strong warriors. They modelled them after us, with our moves and attacks."
"Drinking blood?" Ellis shook her head, making a face. "Yuck! What are these people? Vampires?"
"I guess that explains why those fighters we fought today were so hard to beat," Eiji muttered. "Superhuman power. Should've known he'd try something like that."
"Oh!" Sofia cried out then, and everyone turned to look. There was another message on the screen.

Fighters of the Toshindaibukai,

The end is near. You cannot win.
The reckoning is coming. YOU WILL ALL DIE.

- With deepest regrets, Vermilion

The computer screen went blank.
Sighing, Sofia turned to the group. "They knew we were reading those files. Probably all along."
"Damn it all to hell!" Kayin yelled, wishing desperately he had something to punch in frustration. "How come they're always one step ahead of us!?"
Nagisa shook his head. "They probably won't try anything tonight. It's unlikely they know where we are. We should all get a quick supper and then try to get some sleep."
Everyone unanimously agreed, and, weapons concealed just in case, headed down to the hotel restaurant. Ellis followed last, casting one last glance at the room they had just been in. Then she stopped. Was it her imagination, or did she see a shadowy figure dart away from the window? She turned back and headed down the hall, shaking her head.
Maybe I'm just being paranoid.

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

Zola headed into the Soshiki headquarters, preparing herself for the punishment she was about to receive. Abel had been less than happy when they had returned earlier without the boy, and Zola knew he was going to come equally hard on all five them. However, she had managed to skip out early with an excuse of going find the new place where they were hiding David. Being top spy for Soshiki, she hoped the new information which she had discovered on David's whereabouts would get her off the hook a little.
"I cannot believe what I'm hearing!" Abel was thundering at the rest of his henchmen as Zola walked in. "Not only did you botch the mission and return empty-handed, you revealed our existance known to our enemies, not to mention anyone else who happened to see that explosion! I expected such actions from my lower-ranking lieutenants, not from my five strongest warriors!"
The other warriors stood bowed before their master, their heads lowered. Even though Vermilion was still stinging from a red welt that stood out from the usual crimson marks on his face, he said in his typical gravelly tone, "I caught them hacking into our computer system, Abel, but it is undetermined where they are."
"That only makes it worse, Vermilion!" boomed Abel. "They now possibly know our plans!"
Hastily, Zola dashed in and dropped to one knee. "I have news that should please you, Abel-sama," she ventured. When Abel glared at her, she continued. "I have discovered the new location of our target. He and Shizuku have taken up rooms on the first floor of the Osaka Daiichi Hotel, in Osaka. The boy is staying in a room by himself, and judging by his nature, I doubt that any of his allies are staying at the same hotel. We should have no problems taking him this time."
After a period of silence under a relentless glare, Abel replied, "Excellent. I'm glad to see one of my warriors has made good use of the Toshin's blood."
"Thank you, Abel-sama."
"Abel-sama," Atahua said, stepping forth. "It would draw much less attention to just send one of us. Allow me to capture David for you. Give me a chance to prove myself to you. That boy shall not escape me."
"Very well. I shall give you this chance to show how good you are. However, if you disappoint me this time..."
"I won't fail you," Atahua promised as he bowed and disappeared out the door. As soon as he was gone, Vermilion protested, "How can you let him go off by himself? He's just a boy. There's no way he can do alone."
"Everyone deserves a chance to prove their worth," Abel replied stiffly. "He certainly can't do much worse than what you've done today, can he? Don't question my decisions again."
"Yes."

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