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 is about to end...
- TOH SHIN DEN III: Walking Into Ruin -
a Battle Arena Toshinden 3 fanfiction by Athena Asamiya and Kasumi Todoh
CHAPTER NINE: Defiance
Translations:
makenai mo - "I won't lose", one of Ellis' win quotes
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"This oughta be fun," Zola remarked, snapping her whip a couple times.
"You do realize you're outnumbered six to three, don't you?" Kayin replied snarkily, as the remaining warriors (him, Eiji, Sofia, Tracy, and Nagisa) took their respective fighting positions.
"Hah!" Rachael replied, tossing her red hair. "The Soshiki has made us five times as strong as you pathetic idiots. We could take you all on easy."
"You can go ahead and try something," Eiji said, unsheathing his sword. "We're ready for you, so come on!"
"Actually," Rachael answered, focusing on Tracy, who refused to meet her relentless gaze, "all I'm after is a fight with Tracy. She's the only one of you that I wanna personally see rid of."
"No way!" Nagisa shouted, stepping in front of Tracy and pointing his gun at Rachael. But Rachael just laughed at the sight.
"What'sa matter, sis? You've started using your friends to hide behind? Afraid of being beaten in front of them?" She stopped laughing suddenly and glared at them all. "Anyone who lets their emotions rule them is a fool."
Tracy stepped forward, violet eyes finally meeting her sister's, the same shade and shape. "We're...not fools." Turning to the rest of them, she glanced at the looks on their faces, then nodded and turned back to the three warriors she had fought with in the tournaments. "Let's at least make this fair to the rules of the Toshindaibukai. One-on-one only."
Atahua snickered. "That's not even. The only way the fight will continue in case of your death would be to have someone else take over."
She didn't hesitate. "That's fine by us."
"Well then, let's begin."
Tracy closed her eyes and smiled. "If you guys don't mind, it's come down to this for me, and I'm going to fight my sister on my own."
"I'll guard you, Tracy," Nagisa said, drawing his gun and dagger.
"Catwoman is mine," Sofia said. "How about it?" She turned to Zola. "One-on-one. Let us decide how 'equal' we really are, my dear."
Zola smiled, running her tongue along the edge of her bullwhip. "Just the way I like it."
Atahua faced Eiji and Kayin. "Well, I guess that leaves just you two and me. Shame the girlie isn't awake yet, I would have liked to have beaten her and be done with it." He closed his eyes and soon his body began to glow. Eiji and Kayin knew what he was trying to do.
Behind Atahua, Ellis was starting to show signs of regaining consciousness.
Atahua began the fight, spinning around in circle and bringing his arms down, screaming something in gibberish. Once again, ki in skull-shapes started exploding out of his small body and showering in all directions. The bombs of ki struck both Eiji and Kayin, harder than anything he'd ever felt, and both ended up on the ground, knocked a couple feet away by the power explosion.
"What the...what WAS that?" Eiji groaned, picking himself up off the ground.
"Nothing I've ever seen before," Kayin growled. "How could he do that...?"
"You see?" Atahua said triumphantly, walking towards them with blowdart tubes in hand. "You can't possibly stand a chance against me, or any of us. The powers of the Soshiki are stronger than anything on Earth!"
Suddenly, a new voice came from behind him.
"Has anyone ever told you that you guys like to gloat?"
Atahua turned around in surprise. A few feet behind him stood a slightly shaky Ellis, rubbing the back of her head.
"Ellis!"
"Ellis-chan!!"
"Well, well," Atahua said, smiling. "The gyspy girl decides to join the fun. `Bout time too. We've got a score to settle."
Ellis somersaulted through the air and landed so that she was facing him, Dirks out and ready. "Indeed we do. No offence, guys," she winked at Eiji and Kayin, "but I'd like to deal with this one on my own. If you don't mind," she added in mock-politeness.
Kayin started to say something, but Eiji cut him off. "Go right ahead."
"What?" Kayin protested. "Don't be a jackass, Eiji! We can't let her fight him alone!"
"Ellis-chan can handle herself," Eiji replied calmly, watching Ellis and Atahua taking their fighting poses. "She has before. This is her fight more than ours."
Meanwhile, Atahua was eyeing his female opponent with a smirk on his face. "Ready for round two?" he sarcastically asked.
Ellis glared back at him, a determined gleam in her sapphire eyes. "You bet I am."
With no further talk, Atahua started the fight off with his version of the Arc Slash, which Ellis blocked and countered with her Soar Wind, sending Atahua to the ground in a blaze of yellow and blue sparks. Enraged, he counterattacked furiously with a barrage of lightning-quick slashes and kicks, most of which were blocked, but one kick slipped through Ellis' defence and whacked her in the shin sharply. The gypsy stumbled, and before she could recover, another powerful kick got her square in the stomach. She doubled over with a loud gasp of air. Atahua smiled, muttering, "Not so fast now, are we...?" and moved in for the kill. Just when he reached his coughing target, Ellis raised her head, and this time, though weakly, it was her turn to smile. She flipped backwards, jumped up, and, shouting "Screw Dancing!" launched into a sparkling flip kick that caught Atahua under the chin and sent him flying high into the air. As he came back to the ground, he was hit in mid-air by her Lollipop. Atahua's body hit the ground, bounced twice, and came to rest several feet away. As Ellis slowly and cautiously approached her fallen oppenent, she received a jolt as she saw the dark-skinned boy recover quickly, then jump into the air and fire three blow darts at her. These darts were avoided by Ellis cartwheeling to one side, and then another. Finally, Ellis slid in at Atahua's knees, and managed to follow up with an upward kick that hit him in very sensitive area. Deciding it was time to finish this, she closed her eyes and began channeling her ki.
Focus the ki. Put all the energy you can into it. If he can do it, I can. I CAN.
Her teeth grit in determination, Ellis spun around in a circle, Dirks held above her head, and brought her arms down, the way she had seen Atahua do it before. Only nothing happened.
Uh-oh.
Atahua, seeing her failure to replicate his Soul Bomb, grinned nastily and retaliated with one of the most powerful of his moves -- which was practically identical to her own French Kiss move. Ellis was repeatedly knocked hard and slashed with her opponent's blowdart tubes, and landed sprawled on her back.
Kayin started forward, but Eiji stopped him and said, "We have to let her do it herself."
Standing over the young girl, Atahua said, "I'd like to be fair about this. Before I kill you, I'd like to give you an ultimatum."
"Oh yeah?" Ellis replied from the ground, "And what's that?"
He tossed his head, as if he'd already won. "You're a very good fighter. One of the best I've seen. You'd make a fine warrior for the Soshiki. These weren't my orders, but if you join us, I'll spare your life."
Ellis didn't say anything. Instead she rolled out from under him and got up slowly. She closed her eyes again.
I've got to focus my ki right this time. Concentrate, Ellis.
Suddenly, she began to glow, lightly at first, but then stronger. For several minutes she stood like this, waves of different, bright pink ki radiating from her small frame. Then, feeling her power reach its peak, her eyes flew open. Ellis spun around in a circle and thrust her arms downwards. About a dozen pink hearts exploded out of her body, raining down on a surprised Atahua. Each one found its mark, striking a dozen times and sending her opponent flying through the air to slam against a nearby tree before falling limply to the ground.
Walking over to where the still, lifeless body of her opponent lay, she said, "Consider that my answer." Ellis turned back to her friends with a triumphant grin.
"Makenai mou! I did it! Eiji-kun! Kayin! Did you see that?"
****************
Meanwhile, Sofia was having problems of her own -- and that was quickly finding out just how equal Zola was to her. Thunder Ring cancelled out Flash Ring. Golden Ballerina knocked out Aurora Revolution. Neither one could land a good, solid hit; they were both too skilled to allow it from either side.
"Enough of this!" Sofia called out finally in frustration, snapping her whip out in front of her a couple times to release some of the tension. "Fight seriously, or we won't fight at all!"
Zola just laughed in replied. "Don't you know that cats like to play with their catch? However, I can see you're getting sick of my cat-and-mouse games, and quite frankly, so am I. Let's end this little game now!" With that, she jumped up and sent another Flash Ring shooting down at Sofia. Sofia blocked this, the energy dissapating against her outstretched whip, but in doing so she wasn't able to block the Golden Ballerina which Zola hit her in the back with on her way down from the air. Sofia landed on her stomach, and immidiately jumped back to her feet and resumed her fighting stance. Damn it...I cannot make any mistakes now--
"Oshiokidai yo!!" Zola snapped her whip several times in a powerful, star-shaped arc. This too was blocked by Sofia, but the barbs stung her gloved hands. However, as the move finished, Zola let her guard down for just a second. Sofia took advantage of that second and nailed her with a slash to the stomach followed by a kick in the head. Zola went crashing to the ground but was almost instantly on her feet again, this time clutching her side and slightly out of breath. Sofia was also breathing hard, the number of hits she had taken was becoming evident. Zola saw her weakness and decided to capitalize on it.
"Wimped out already?" she snickered at Sofia. Then, without waiting for an answer, she started moving towards her, yellow ki sparkling off her body. Suddenly she launched into a super version of her Golden Ballerina, circling Sofia at least five times with very hard whip slashes, sending her flying backwards to the ground.
"You see, dearie?" Zola replied, walking towards where Sofia lay. "We Soshiki warriors can study and mimic any attack. And I've got your moves basically memorized."
Sofia got up again, slowly this time.
"All right then," she spat, "Memorize THIS!! Call Me Queen!!!"
She spun through the air, trailing the same sparkling ki. She came right at Zola, landing on top of her and knocking her down. Then, before Zola could do anything, Sofia landed, dropped her whip, grabbed a handful of the collar of Zola's outfit, lifted her off the ground, and proceeded to slap her a half a dozen times across the face. She then finished off by kicking her in the stomach, and letting her fall to the ground again.
As Zola was getting up, rubbing her bruised face, she saw Sofia leap high into the air and seemingly disappear. Zola immediately brought her guard up, but Sofia was nowhere to be seen. By the time it occurred to her to look behind her, it was too late.
"SALAMANDER!!"
With that word, Sofia launched into her most powerful attack, a hyper-powered Rattlesnake that exploded with Thunder Rings and lightning energy. The combination attack hit Zola in the back, slashing and striking her body several times, becoming more painful with each blow. By the time it was all over, only one fighter stood still alive and moving. Sofia shook her finger and tsk-tsked her fallen oppenent, then raised a hand to her lips and started laughing mockingly.
"Hohohohohoho~!"
****************
Tracy leapt back to avoid another Atomic Blow that Rachael launched at her, and grimaced. During the entire fight so far, all she had been doing was blocking and dodging. It was annoying Rachael as well. No matter what she did or how much she taunted Tracy, her sister refused to fight back. With Ellis' and Sofia's fights now over, the remainder of the group were also intensely watching the two women fight.
"Why doesn't she fight back?" Ellis asked Eiji as they watched their friend take a pounding. Eiji didn't say anything. He stood there, watching them, and not giving any indication that he had even heard Ellis' question. Ellis fell quiet, realizing what Eiji was seeing in this battle. Sibling against sibling...sister against sister, brother against brother--
"Dammit, Rachael!" Tracy called out angrily. "Can't we just STOP THIS? I don't wanna fight you and you know it! If you're that pissed at me, let's just talk it out or something!"
"There's nothing to talk about, Tracy," Rachael replied in a deep tone, clutching her tonfa tightly. "You ruined my life. That's all there is to it. And, in case you haven't noticed, YOU may not want to fight me, but I have no problem fighting you. So you don't have a choice: Fight me or else you're gonna die!"
Tracy was silent, then looked away, refusing to meet her twin's furious gaze. "I won't," she whispered, hanging her head. "You and I both know that I never did anything to hurt you."
"You're not fooling me with that again. It's your fault I got dumped in the first place. If you weren't always so much better than me, things could've been different!"
"Your getting dumped had nothing to do with me! I didn't do it! I didn't decide it!"
"SHUT UP!!!" With that, Rachael launched a swift knee smash at Tracy, only to have it blocked. Rachael smiled suddenly, as though something had just dawned on her. "I know why you won't fight. You're afraid that if you do, I'll kick your ass. You don't want to get hurt by me, right?" Tracy didn't answer. "Answer me." Still nothing.
"ANSWER ME!!" Furious at her twin sister's lack of response, Rachael executed her version of Tracy's Electro Spartan, spinning upwards with her arms straight out at her sides, tonfas spinning and trailing orange flame. She hit Tracy in the face, sending the policewoman spiralling to the ground. Tracy rolled over and spat out a little blood, then looked up at her sister. Finally, she answered, "I don't care if I get hurt. I just don't want you to get hurt by me. That's why I won't fight you. I don't want you to die, Rachael. And that's what's gonna happen if you stay with the Soshiki."
"Hmph. Still the goody-goody, huh, Trae?" Rachael tossed her head. "Well, what do YOU know? We're going to win over this world. And you've always led the sheltered life, with all your friends and family to care about you. You've got a nice little life. I hear you're even a policewoman on the NYPD, huh?"
There was not much Tracy could do except nod her head.
"See? You don't know what it's like to have to struggle every moment of your life," Rachael went on, tears starting to form in her angry green eyes. "I bet you've never suffered like I have. I've been all alone all my life, with absolutely no one to love me. No one ever cared about me! And no one still does! That's why I'm stuck with them! This gives my life some meaning!!" She thrust one arm out behind her. "This is all I have!!"
"That's not true! They're just using all of you! Look what happened to your friends!" Tracy motioned to Atahua and Zola's lifeless bodies. "And I care about you, Rachael. Why else would I not fight back?" Tracy was standing up now, and Rachael regarded her suspiciously.
"I don't believe you. Why should I?"
"You're my twin sister, dammit. I said I wouldn't fight you because I didn't want to hurt you. But I wouldn't say that if I didn't care about you."
"You're just saying that so I'll spare your pathetic life. Why should you be different from all the others? Well, it ain't gonna work, sis." She suddenly started channelling her ki, much the way Atahua and the others had done, absorbing it into her double-tonfa rods.
"No, Rachael!" Tracy cried out. "Wait!!"
Suddenly Rachael's eyes opened. She spun both her flaming tonfas around in circular motions and pointed them at Tracy. Several diamond-shaped blasts of fiery energy came exploding out of the tonfas, aimed straight at Tracy's heart. Tracy tried to block them, but the force of Rachael's Soul Bomb was still enough to knock her to the ground again.
Standing over Tracy, Rachael raised her tonfas, prepared to strike the final blow. "See you there, Trae," she muttered fiercely.
But Tracy suddenly sprang to life. She shouted "Pale Slider!!" and struck Rachael twice with a giant double flip kick, surrounded by blue and yellow sparks, sending her flying backwards. Now it was Rachael's turn to be lying on the ground, with Tracy approaching her.
"Now," the policewoman said, "you're gonna listen to reason, even if I have to-"
She stopped short when she noticed the look on Rachael's face. All the colour had drained out of it, and the look in her cold green eyes was one of shock, and even almost fear. But why would Rachael suddenly be afraid of her? A moment ago she was trying to kill her. It couldn't be the Pale Slider she just did...she hadn't even hit her that hard. What the hell--
The 'look-behind-you' feeling kicked in at about the same time Tracy realized that Rachael wasn't staring at her but rather over Tracy's shoulder, at something - or someone - behind her. She quickly spun around. There, standing only a couple feet away, was a tall, very muscular man with blond hair covered by a black bandana. He was wearing a small black top which barely covered his upper body at all, and baggy red pants accented by a pair of huge belts. Golden bands surrounded both of his upper arms, which were folded in obvious displeasure. There was a grave expression on the man's face, and his green eyes burning.
"Who the hell are YOU??" Tracy growled, readying her tonfas in case she had to fight him as well.
But it wasn't the man himself who answered her; it was Rachael. "Abel-sama..." she barely whispered.
"Abel?" Tracy murmured, taking a cautious step back -- there was something about this guy that just wasn't right. The other fighters all had their weapons ready and were waiting nearby. Eiji was the next one to speak out.
"Who are you and what are you here for?" he yelled at the massive man, levelling his sword. "You'd better tell us now. None of us are in very patient moods."
Abel simply turned and look over his shoulder, then smirked. "Well, well. If it isn't our dear Toshin warriors. I'll be dealing with you in a minute." He turned back to his underling, approaching her and glaring down at her crouched form, short red hair askew. "You have failed me, Rachael. You didn't get rid of the Toshin fighters."
"Let me explain--" she began meekly.
"What are you talking about?" Tracy shouted, even though she was being ignored by both of them. "What's going on here?"
"I'm tired of your excuses," Abel went on to his henchwoman. "You're a failure, Rachael. You and Zola and Atahua. Vermilion and Leon did a better job than you." He snorted. "It's a pity they're both going to die anyway. They were...useful. As you all were once, but of course, you're also all disposable."
Rachael's face seemed to go even paler than what it had a minute ago. "What...what--are you saying, A-Abel-sama? You're going to kill--?"
"Why not? I have the boy. They're no longer useful. And neither are you, Rachael. You are no longer worthy of the Toshin's blood."
Making a noise that sounded like a half-hearted squeak, Rachael attempted to stumble away from Abel and begged, "Please, Abel-sama. Just give me one more chance, that's all I ask..."
Abel closed his eyes and shook his head. "You three had your chance and more, and you allowed these pathetic fighters to make fools of you. Now you must face the consequences. SHI NE!!"
Abel raised his right arm, and his closed fist began glowing with powerful blue ki. Suddenly, he started firing balls of pure ki energy at Rachael, and raised both arms to release one giant ball that seemed to engulf him. By some invisible force, Rachael's beaten body was elevated from the ground and flung right into the mass of energy.
"RACHAEL!!!!!" Tracy screamed, attempting to get to her sister, but was held back by Nagisa. She struggled, screaming at Abel. "NO!!! Stop it, you bastard, STOP!!!!"
"Tracy!" she could hear her sister yell in return from the middle of the hellish energy inferno. "I didn't mean for this to happen!! I'm--"
"Huh." Abel dropped his arms, and the blast dissapated. "You're pathetic, Rachael. And a fool." Rachael's battered body fell back to the ground, and Tracy dashed over to her.
"Rachael! Wake up, dammit, come on! Come on!" Tracy continuously shook her sister, but it was no use. It was too late; her twin sister didn't wake up.
"Shit..." whispered Tracy, closing her eyes and feeling her body shake, tears streaming down her face. "God...damn...you FUCKING BASTARD!! You killed my sister!!!" Enraged, Tracy dropped Rachael's body and dashed at Abel, tonfas flaming. Abel simply smiled and put up a barrier around himself that Tracy could not penetrate. It was electrocuting her in the process, the pain excruciable, but Tracy's angry yells got louder as she kept pressing against the force field, trying to break through. The smile slowly disappeared from Abel's face, as he flung one hand out towards her. Tracy went flying backwards and hit the ground near her friends.
"Tracy!" Nagisa ran towards her, followed by the others. "You okay? Tracy?"
Bruised with her face covered in sweat and tears, Tracy turned vengeful eyes on Abel. "Bastard...you BASTARD..."
"Hm. You showed more than I expected from only one of you. Emotions are powerful things when used correctly, it would seem." Abel looked amused. "You've all grown much stronger since you destroyed the Himitsu Kessha. And I should thank you for that."
"Why thank us?" Kayin snapped. "Didn't think you guys would be that happy about it."
"Oh, on the contrary. We were secretly at war with the Himitsu Kessha, or should I say the Gerard Foundation...they were our enemies for a very long time. Our top commander and spy, Vermilion, joined them as a ruse to destroy them..." Abel's face darkened. "Until they held that tournament and invited all of you. They should have known a tournamant would be their demise. There were bound to be fighters like you, and they were warned, but did not listen. They were all fools, Master and her Shitennou, the lot of them. Just fools."
"Just what do we have to do with this?" called out Sofia. Abel smiled slyly.
"It's quite simple, really. You're threatening our plans. Therefore we want you dead. And make no mistakes, you all WILL die. Today is the reckoning...soon, actually."
"We won't let it happen!" Eiji yelled, preparing to take Abel down on the spot.
Abel smirked. "You can't stop it. None of you have the power. Not even the two angels can stop us -- I'm sure they'll try though. That will be played right into our hands."
"Not my niisan..." whispered Eiji, dropping his sword slightly. "There's no way... You can't!!"
"Remember," Abel said warningly, "the reckoning will come soon. Soon will be our Overlord's ascension to this world and all with good in their hearts will die before him!"
With these last words, Abel's form blurred, faded, then disappeared. He was gone, but the threat was far from over...
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