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 SEVEN: Intruder



Translations:
zettai ni dame da! - no way!
oyasumi - good night
-chan - honourific used for close friends, children or pets
-kun - honourific used for respect towards younger colleagues
domo - thank you


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


About two hours later after dinner, David was getting ready for bed when he heard a knock on his door. Although it was getting quite late at night, he seemingly wasn't too suspicious. After all, he had been attacked and stalked by the Soshiki so much, he knew they wouldn't try to capture him in public. "Come in."
The door opened and Ellis entered quietly, like a small green-haired shadow. David's eyes flicked towards her once, then away again. "Thought you'd gone to bed already like the rest."
"Oh, I'm out in a few minutes," she said hastily, sitting down on a nearby armchair. "I thought we could just...talk for a while, first."
David's usual snarky attitude returned, and he turned his back on her, glaring out the room's window-doors into the starry night. "Huh. The way I see it, there's not really anything we can talk about that you'd understand."
Ellis shook her head. "That's not true. I never got to tell you, I know what it's like to have to grow up without any real family. I..." Her voice dropped to a quieter tone. "I lost my parents when I was really young, too."
"Is that was this is all about, then?" David asked her suspiciously, looking over his shoulder at her. "They didn't all just send you to find out info from me?"
Ellis suddenly realized she had just blurted out the real reason why she'd come. She sighed and fiddled with the armchair's covering. "I just thought I could help. I mean, I can't totally sympathize with you. Obviously, I didn't have as much pain in my life as you did, since I had people to care for me..."
David continued to regard her for a moment, and then looked away again. "Yeah, at least you were adopted. And it turned out your father was still alive. I've been alone for most of my life. No one ever looked after me that way. The people at the orphanage where I lived didn't even care about me. The orphanage was really run by the Soshiki, so they just wanted me for their blood rituals. It's not the same as what you went through."
Ellis nodded. "I know it's not. But you know what got me through those years without my parents? It was partly because my gypsy troupe was like a second family to me, but it was also partly because I finally decided that I should get on with my life. I still thought about them a lot, but I realized they wouldn't want me to be sad forever." Her bright blue eyes met David's cold ones. "And I don't think your family would either."
"So you're saying I should forget about them?"
"No, of course not. You never forget about your family. What I'm saying is that you should get on with things, like I did."
David was silent for a long while after this, then finally said, "You really think so?"
"It worked for me," said Ellis. "But turning your back on anyone who tries to care about you isn't the best approach to it."
David snorted. "Nobody cares about me."
"That's not true, either. Shizuku cares a lot about you," she said with a smile. "We all can tell. And I care about you."
"What? You...you do?" He looked at Ellis in surprise, with almost a hint of hope. She nodded at him seriously. "I care enough to want to be your friend, if you'll let me."
David's previously surprised exterior slipped away quickly, replaced by a mask of contempt. "Hah! Friendships don't mean a thing. Once something better comes along they disappear like that." David snapped his fingers.
Ellis was shocked at this, standing up from the chair and taking a few concerned steps towards him. "No, they don't! Why would you think something like that?"
David looked down at the floor, refusing to meet her eyes. "I used to have one friend. His name was 'Judgement', or at least, that was what he went by. He was the only person I could relate to, and the only friend I had, growing up. Then he became obsessed with becoming stronger and finding the ultimate power. Finally, he joined the Soshiki, betraying me, our beliefs, and leaving me out in the cold. He was the one who fooled me, made it possible for THEM to try and kill me...all for the glory of that bastard god of theirs."
"Oh..." The gypsy girl pursed her lips, then looked away sadly. "I can see why that could destroy someone's belief in friendships. But I'm not like that at all, and neither are any of the others. Trust me, I know them. We're not going to abandon you or Shizuku, David. We want to protect you from the Soshiki, like we all said we would. And we wouldn't be doing this for you if we didn't care."
"Really?" David stared at her for a second, and then did something that he hadn't done in the last nine years. He smiled. "Don't even know why I just told you all this."
"If you didn't have such a thorny attitude, maybe people would open up to you more often, and you to them."
"Maybe." David suddenly looked slightly embarrassed. "Um...Ellis...do you, um, you know...is it you and...?" He glanced away hastily, and it almost seemed that some red creeped into his cheeks. "Um, I mean, not that I care, but--"
Ellis looked to the floor, scuffing at it slowly with one of her feet, understanding what he was trying to say. "Yes..." Although there was no response from David, Ellis blushed fiercely. "Look, it took us both by surprise. Pretty much everyone knows, and that's why we get teased about it so often."
"Knowing that Amoh guy, you probably would."
"Oh, Kayin's just a lot like you. That's probably why you don't get along that well with him. Don't be offended; he doesn't really get along with anybody, except maybe Eiji-kun, and that's only at times." Ellis saw the time on a nearby analog clock, it was gaining on eleven o'clock. "Well, I should get going. Think about what I said. I'll see you in the morning. `Night."
David nodded. "Good night."
As soon as Ellis left the room and shut the door, she heard a voice from the other side of her. "You really meant all that."
Ellis closed her eyes and smiled. "Of course. You shouldn't have even doubted it. What're you doing, listening in on my conversation?"
"I was worried. He likes you."
"Maybe he does." Her sapphire eyes opened again, moving towards him in almost a sly manner. "You're jealous, aren't you?"
"Zettai ni dame da! Why would I be? He's a kid."
"And I'm not? I was sixteen when we met, and I'll be nineteen next year, you know."
"Not as much a kid as I first thought, then." He walked past her, touching her hand lightly in the process. "Oyasumi, Ellis-chan."
"Oyasumi, Eiji-kun."

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

Just after midnight, most of Osaka Daiichi Hotel was dark and silent, when a hand reached out of the bushes and slid open the outside doors of David's first-floor room. Atahua silently entered and looked around the darkened room, until his keen eyes fell on the bed where David was sleeping. He walked quietly over to the bed, then whipped off the sheets and grabbed David.
"Hee hee hee! I've got you now, boy!"
That woke David up all right. He let out a yelp and struggled to break free as Atahua dragged him out of bed. But the Soshiki fighter was surprising strong, and he quickly grasped David's arms in a vice-like grip behind his back, and then in a breath-shortening headlock as well. Atahua started shoving David towards the open doors.
"Don't bother struggling, it's useless! You will help us release our Overlord to Earth!"
Ka-pwing! Something shot through the air and embedded itself into the wall next to Atahua. Both turned to look at it. Even in the darkness, it appeared to be some sort of dagger, moonlight glistening off it as a silver sliver of light. More specifically, a Dirk.
Atahua quickly looked behind him. There, leaning against the frame of the open doorway, dressed in a white camisole and baggy flannel pants, stood Ellis. In one hand, her other Dirk gleamed in the pale light. The other hand was clenched into a tight fist. "Don't you guys ever give up?"
"Get lost, girl."
"So I take it this isn't room service. Attacking a person that's unarmed isn't very fair, you know," Ellis repremanded with an innocent smile, showing off the Dirk in her right hand. "I, on the other hand, happen to have my weapons with me, so I propose that you take me on instead."
"My fight isn't with you. Another time, perhaps, after the reckoning," Atahua answered with a huff, and gave David another shove towards the window.
Ellis stalked forwards. "We know about your reckoning plans. What is it all about, anyway?"
Atahua snorted. "Like I'd tell you."
"So you claim to be my equal, let's see you prove it!"
Atahua paused in thought, then answered, "Very well." He let go of David (who hit the floor coughing and choking from the headlock he had just been in) and pulled out his two long sticklike weapons. Quick as lightning, Ellis yanked her other Dirk out of the wall and got into her fighting stance, only seconds before Atahua came rushing straight at her. Ellis quickly cartwheeled out of the way as he ended the charge at the spot where she'd been standing, and watched as the native boy jumped skyward in a quick, sparkling uppercut.
Almost like my Soar Wind, she thought to herself as she knocked him out of the air with her Arc Slash. Atahua jumped to his feet almost as soon as he'd landed, smashing a lamp to the floor in the process. He then turned around and, yelling something in a language Ellis couldn't even identify, began kicking the air. This attack startled her, and she had no time to block. The momentum carried him through the air and delivered several sharp kicks to Ellis' head, the last of which sent her flying into a small table, and both of them went down with a loud crash. However, she quickly got up, shaking her head in an attempt to clear it.
"Lollipop!" she called as she gathered shimmering yellow ki into her knives and twirled around in a circle, releasing the energy in a display that lit up the darkened room. The attack should've sent Atahua flying into the wall, but the boy blocked, and her attack had no effect. Atahua immediately jumped up and fired something at her from mid-air. Ellis quickly made a small dodge to the right, and the object lodged itself in the remains of the table, only half an inch from her shoulder. She stared at it. A dart. Those sticks Atahua was carrying were blowdart tubes!
"Hey, watch it with those things," Ellis demanded angrily, although she knew he wasn't listening to her. Jumping up and falling back into her defensive stance, Ellis noticed that Atahua was beginning to charge up his ki. Realizing he was doing the same moves as right before Shizuku's house got blown up, she braced herself for what she anticipated to be a large, and very painful, super move.
Even though Ellis tried to be ready for it, nothing could've prepared her for came next. Atahua spun around in circle and bent down, saying something in that typical gibberish language of his. A bunch of skulls, pure illusions created out of ki, seemed to jump and explode out of his body. They struck Ellis hard, launching her so she bounced off the ceiling and slammed into one of the walls. Coming back down to earth, Ellis lay still for a moment, and just as Atahua was about to walk away, she got up, more slowly this time, wiping some blood off her lower lip. "What...what WAS that?!"
Atahua cocked his head at her. "You mean you've never seen a Soul Bomb before?"
"Soul Bomb?"
"And I thought you and the others were such martial arts masters," he replied, shaking his head. "Anyone can do a Soul Bomb. But enough talk, I'm getting bored. It's about time we ended this, gypsy girl."
Ellis picked up the Dirks from where she had dropped them, and resumed her battle stance. "Yes, let's."
The little discussion had created a lull in the battle long enough for Ellis to gain some of a second wind and begin gathering energy to pull off one of her more powerful attacks. But just then a blast echoed through the room. Both fighters looked for the source, and found it to be a small, smoking pistol which the now-recovered David held in his left hand. In his right hand he held up his chainsaw, which he had reclaimed from under his bed.
"Leave her alone!" he barked at Atahua. "I'm the one you want!"
Ellis' face showed gladness that he was all right, but it was also mixed with a look of confusion. "I didn't know you carried a gun."
"For extra protection," David replied. "When you've got asses like HIM after you, well, better safe than sorry." He took up a fighting stance. "I'll take it from here. Go, before you get hurt even more."
"But-"
"I said go!" David was already charging towards Atahua with an uppercut of his own, and quickly followed by slashing at him with his chainsaw as Atahua came down. Atahua sprung back up quickly and paced towards David, but all that time he had made the fatal mistake of turning his attention, and his back, away from Ellis, who had not left.
"Kiss Kiss Kiss!!"
Atahua turned around again, but not fast enough to do anything but watch as Ellis shot towards him, trailing golden ki-sparks. Ellis struck her countertype over and over again, at least half a dozen times, first with one Dirk and then the other. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of pounding to Atahua, she thrust both Dirks straight out in front of her, sending him crashing to the floor beside the bed. Suddenly they heard voices and footsteps far off down the hallway, probably investigating the source of the shotgun blast. Ellis turned back to Atahua.
"If I were you, I'd leave quite quickly, right about now."
Atahua looked at the pair for a second, then muttered, "This isn't over, bitch," and vaulted through the open window and was gone. Ellis stared out the window for a second, but then the pain and exhustion of her battle overwhelmed her, and she slumped down on one knee. David ran over to her.
"Are you all right?" he asked, sounding worried.
She looked up at him, breathing hard. "I'll be fine. I've been through tougher battles."
"How did you-"
"...Know what was going on? We all had a feeling those Soshiki creeps would try something, so I'm staying in the room across the hall, instead of on the higher floors like the others. You're just lucky I'm a light sleeper."
"But how did you get into my room?" David confusedly asked. "The door was locked."
Ellis held something shiny and metallic between her thumb and forefinger. "Shizuku gave me the spare keys."
"You did all this for me? Why?"
"I told you before, friends care about each other, and they look out for each other." She winked. "Especially in situations like this one."
At that moment, the door burst open, and Shizuku rushed in, staff in hand.
"Is everything all right?" she asked.
Ellis looked at David and grinned. "Nothing we couldn't handle."

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

"What do you have to say for yourself!?" Abel thundered at Atahua, concluding a long lecture which had been spoken at top volume, which, coming from Abel, was almost akin to a sonic boom. The boy stood before the Organization leader, tending to his wounds while Vermilion looked on. His expression was unreadable, but he wasn't smiling.
Atahua looked up at Abel. "I admit I have failed and disappointed you, Abel-sama, but if you would please give me another chance, I have come up with a new plan, one that will make David come to us."
Abel folded his arms and regarded him with annoyed contempt. "Very well, proceed. However, since you already have two strikes against you, this plan had better be a good one, for your sake."
"Thank you." Atahua stood up. "As you know, I had the boy and everything was going according to plan until my original, Ellis, ruined everything. I could tell by the way she fought that she has feelings for David, and I also noticed by the way David stood up for her that he's beginning to feel the same way about her. It seems he's starting to make friends with the fighters who are protecting him. My plan is this: why not capture Ellis, or one of the other Toshindeners, and force David to surrender to us in return for their safety?"
"And what makes you think such an idea would succeed where your others failed?"
"Actually, that might work," Vermilion interrupted. "In all my experience with the Toshinden fighters, I've learned that they tend to protect and look out for each other. Emotions are their weak spot. If we were to take one of them hostage, they'll probably do what we say, as long as we don't hurt their little friend. And that includes handing over David."
"I see," Abel replied. "Well, if you can make this plan work, then I'll leave the necessary arrangements up to you, Vermilion. Don't forget the usual double-cross as well, and destroy the Toshin fighters."
"Domo, Abel." Vermilion bowed to him, then motioned Atahua to come. The boy obediantly followed.
Unknown to all, however, was that Leon had been eavesdropping on their entire conversation.
Stupid fool. First sending Atahua to get that boy, actually believing that he would succeed. And now putting Vermilion in change of this new plan, when I should be the one to carry it out. Verm thinks he can beat those fighters, huh? Well, no one should have the privelege of killing Eiji Shinjo but me! I'll show them...I'll destroy Vermilion and take his place, and then I'll kill Abel too and become the new leader! Annoyed, Leon slunk off into the shadows.
Just you wait...I will win.

**********