36. A New Threat Emerges
"Ugh. . . Oh. . . I just can't get a break. . ."
Darrell shook his head while getting up off the ground. When he opened his eyes he stared down, then closed it tight.
{No. . . No, no, no. . . This CAN'T be right. . .!}
He opened his eyes again and then they widened in a mix of fear, shock, and surprise. He was floating. . . Floating in air. . . Correction: he was floating in space, the earth lying beneath him.
"Wha. . . WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!?!?"
"Welcome. . ."
Darrell gasped as he heard a voice in front of him. He laid eyes on a tall man with wild yellow eyes and nothing on but a torn robe and some form of underwear. His skin was divided into two different colors; one side was red and the other was blue. He stood right in front of the youngster as he steadily rose to his feet.
"Who. who. What.?"
The man smirked. "You are confused, aren't you? Yes, you are in space. . . but not in the same void. This is the reason why you can breathe. . . let alone stand."
Darrell looked below him once again and looked back at the man.
"Who. . . are you?" he asked.
"My name is Gill, the new ruler of this planet," he replied as he looked down himself. "I bet you're wondering why you're here. . ."
"Yes, that would be nice to know," Darrell responded skeptically.
"I want to test your skill. I've been keeping an eye on you from up here fighting and I could really use you. . ."
"Use me. . .?"
"That's enough explaining," Gill answered sternly. "Fight me. . ."
Darrell gave him the "you have got to be kidding" look on his face. He wasn't a rookie anymore. He could definitely sense how power Gill was packing. He made Shin Akuma and Ultimate Rugal seem like playthings.
"I. . . I. . ."
Gill didn't let him think about it. He attacked with a violent kick to Darrell's stomach. Instantly he went up into flames, falling back onto the invisible ground. Gill didn't waste any time as he jumped into the air and came down with a flying elbow. Darrell saw this and rolled to his side, avoiding it, and jumped up to his feet, his red-orange aura covering his body. He didn't think. He just reacted.
"SHAKUNETSUKEN. . . SWORD!!!" he yelled as he created his sword and dashed in. He managed to strike Gill on the stomach but Gill's hit stun was practically non-existent. Gill rammed his arm into Darrell's neck with so much speed that Darrell's entire body froze. . . Actually, he really froze from the cold and didn't thaw until he fell to the ground, screaming.
Gill remained on the offense as he tried to plant his foot right into the center of his chest. One problem: Darrell countered with his sword, putting it across his body and blocked Gill's attack. Second problem, the sword was absorbed by Gill's red side and frozen by the blue side. In other words, Darrell still ate the attack, feeling both of Gill's elements simultaneously. Once again his scream went out across the vacuum of space until Gill got up. That didn't mean he let up. He pointed a fist towards Darrell and aimed.
"Pyro-ketesis!!!"
He fired a ball of flaming energy at his foe and Darrell had to roll back to avoid it, making it collide on the floor. Darrell immediately went into his Hadouken stance but Gill sped towards him, ready to floor him like last time.
{Gotcha. . .}
Darrell faked and dashed forward, getting nailed by Gill's attack. He took the flames to get to Gill's back and kick him in the back of the head as he passed. Gill slowed down a tiny bit and spun around, seeing Darrell dashed towards him, his right fist on fire.
"Rekka. . . NAKKURA!!!"
Gill blocked the entire super move, including the last Shakunetsuken, and countered by smashing his fist into Darrell's head. Fortunately Darrell blocked, but the move instantly broke his guard, making him reel back from it, stunned.
"Weak!" Gill bellowed as he followed with a strong kick to Darrell's chin, making him fly back into the ground. . . or so he thought.
{Wait. . . I'm. . . I'M STILL FALLING!!!} Darrell screamed in his head as he looked behind him to the earth behind him. . . then finally fell on another invisible floor. He stayed down and listened to his rapidly beating heart, his eyes still on Gill as he jumped down to the lower floor and stared at him.
"Is this all you have to show me?" Gill asked. "I've seen you do better than this on earth. . ."
"Apparently," Darrell panted as he stood up and went into stance again. . . only to go back out of it and shake his head. Something was wrong. He felt dizzy. . . as if Gill pummeled him a lot more than he actually did. It took a while to realize why. . .
{Those other fights. . . I think. . . I've lost a bit. . . to much blood. Not even healing could replace that. . .}
Gill looked down as Darrell fell to his knees and put one hand on his head, the other on the invisible ground.
"Hmm . . . I think you are finally realizing that no matter how much energy you have you cannot fight every fight to your fullest. . . Now, to end this. . ."
"STOP!!!"
Gill did stop and looked straight ahead at nothing.
"Yes. . . I see that the rest of your companions have made it here. . ."
Darrell's eyes lifted up and he smiled. He saw both Sakuras, Hiei, and Yusuke standing over them. Sakura K. dropped down and faced Gill, who still didn't face her.
"I don't know what the hell is going on but if you're going to hurt Darrell then I can't allow you to get away with it!"
Gill grinned. "I see. . . So you are also challenging me. . ."
He than turned around fully and faced her. Sakura went into her fighting stance. "You don't know what you're messing with."
"Sa. . . Sakura!" Darrell yelled out. "Don't do it. . ."
"Don't worry, Darrell," she reassured. "I'll make sure he'll be sorry. . ."
Gill no longer spoke. He just rushed the schoolgirl, getting ready to ram her with his arm again. Sakura saw him coming and at the last second she dropped down and swept his legs out from under him. She then quickly backed away from his getup attack and rushed back in.
"SHOUOKEN!!"
She managed to nail all 6 hits of the special move and sent Gill flying through the abyss. Gill air recovered and landed on his feet just as Sakura threw a Hadouken towards him. He blocked it with ease but once it cleared, Sakura was right in front of him, grabbing him by the arms. She then turned around, placing her sneakers on Gill's chest and kicked him away. Gill landed with a skid and stayed down for a second.
{Wow. . . She's actually doing well} Darrell thought as he tried to recuperate his senses. Gill got up off the ground and silently raised a arm up above him.
"Insolent gnat. . . WELCOME TO YOUR DEATH!!"
Sakura kept her eye on Gill, going defensive for whatever he would throw at her. Unfortunately, she wasn't prepared for it. . . Because Gill's move didn't come from Gill. It came from above her. . . and she didn't sense it until it was too late. About 30 spheres of ice and fire energy came raining down on her and since they cloaked their power, she didn't sense it. Although not all of them connected, those that did caused tremendous damage on her part, simultaneously flaming and freezing her. . .
{NO!!!} Darrell yelled in his head, frozen on the ground in shock. Sakura finally hit the ground after getting nailed by about 19 of the spheres and stayed down for about 10 seconds before slowly getting up, trying to get the feeling back in her arms.
{Shit. Why didn't I notice. . . something was up. . .?} she asked herself as Gill looked at her, a blue aura appearing around her.
"Hmm. . . I'm impressed that you survived that. . ." Gill let out. "It is a pity that I have to beat you like this. . ."
"What are you talking about?" Sakura K. asked while getting ready to pull off a super.
"I mean that your struggle against me is worthless," Gill said sternly as his energy went skyrocketing. "That was only my first successful attack on you and your vitality is already dropped severely."
Sakura kept mute as Gill started to sprout wings. . .
{What the hell.?} Yusuke thought as he watched the fight. {This guy. . . is so freaking strong it's ridiculous. . .}
"Now you'll die. . ."
By this time, Darrell got up just as Sakura charged up her Shinku Hadouken and Gill rushed her. He sensed his energy. . . and he didn't think. He charged up his own Shakunetsu Shinku Hadouken and rushed it. . .
{Come on. Come on, dammit!} he screamed at himself as he saw the red ball of energy go into his hands. At the same time Sakura got hers to it's peak. . .
"Shinku. . . HADOUKEN!!!"
"It's useless!!" Gill yelled as he prepared to go straight through it. . .
"Shakunetsu. . . SHINKU HADOUKEN!!!"
{It still won't matter} Gill thought as he ripped through Sakura K's blast and prepared to strike her. . . just as Darrell's Hadouken appeared to his right. Gill merely let the power from his winds reflect it at twice the speed back at Darrell. . . and struck both teens simultaneously with both attacks, Sakura getting the worst of it. . .
As Darrell felt the pain of his own attack, finally sending him flying up to where the rest of the group was, Sakura was eating up Gill's second. . . and most powerful move.
"SERPENT WING!"
Gill finally stopped, mercifully and let a fully decimated schoolgirl fall to the ground, her blood covering her entire body. He shook his head.
"I told you that your efforts were futile. . ."
------- ------
The dark skinned fighter took a while to get up from his own attack and looked through the invisible floor. . . and he was hit. . . with the sight of Sakura lying on nothing, bloodied severely. . . and he could sense her aura decreasing still. . .
{No. . . NOOOOOO!!!!! SAKURA!!!!}
Darrell was livid. Totally livid. His girlfriend just got slaughtered by Gill's Serpent Wing. She was dying. . . The bad part was that he couldn't stop him. The power just deflected his super move like it was a basketball. and blasted him behind the rest. He was just staring at Sakura's motionless body. fuming.
{THAT BASTARD!!!}
His anger was too much for him to bare; it kept him in place, just staring at the self proclaimed god. He couldn't stand to see him. Then, he heard it. This wasn't his own thoughts. It was like another him inside him. just as angry as he was.
{Gill will pay for what he just did. I swear it!}
[That's right. We'll kill him. just like he tried to do to Sakura.]
{Yeah. that sounds good. We'll murder him.}
[Let your anger fuel you. Release it all on him. Release me. . .]
{I will. . .}
Darrell slowly walked through the darkness to where Gill was standing at, focused on his main priority. the destruction of Gill... He passed Sakura S., who was planning what to do now along with the group. As she saw him and spoke to him, he stopped but didn't look at her. His gaze was straight on Gill.
"Darrell, don't go back in to fight him. He's too powerful for you."
She stopped abruptly, noticing that Darrell's attention was only on Sakura K.'s body. then on Gill. It kept switching from both targets and the instant he fully looked at Gill, she gasped inside her head. She definitely sensed a change in Darrell's aura. It was still golden. but this wasn't the same pure feel. It felt somewhat tainted.
{It. it couldn't be.}
End of Chapter 36
"Ugh. . . Oh. . . I just can't get a break. . ."
Darrell shook his head while getting up off the ground. When he opened his eyes he stared down, then closed it tight.
{No. . . No, no, no. . . This CAN'T be right. . .!}
He opened his eyes again and then they widened in a mix of fear, shock, and surprise. He was floating. . . Floating in air. . . Correction: he was floating in space, the earth lying beneath him.
"Wha. . . WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!?!?"
"Welcome. . ."
Darrell gasped as he heard a voice in front of him. He laid eyes on a tall man with wild yellow eyes and nothing on but a torn robe and some form of underwear. His skin was divided into two different colors; one side was red and the other was blue. He stood right in front of the youngster as he steadily rose to his feet.
"Who. who. What.?"
The man smirked. "You are confused, aren't you? Yes, you are in space. . . but not in the same void. This is the reason why you can breathe. . . let alone stand."
Darrell looked below him once again and looked back at the man.
"Who. . . are you?" he asked.
"My name is Gill, the new ruler of this planet," he replied as he looked down himself. "I bet you're wondering why you're here. . ."
"Yes, that would be nice to know," Darrell responded skeptically.
"I want to test your skill. I've been keeping an eye on you from up here fighting and I could really use you. . ."
"Use me. . .?"
"That's enough explaining," Gill answered sternly. "Fight me. . ."
Darrell gave him the "you have got to be kidding" look on his face. He wasn't a rookie anymore. He could definitely sense how power Gill was packing. He made Shin Akuma and Ultimate Rugal seem like playthings.
"I. . . I. . ."
Gill didn't let him think about it. He attacked with a violent kick to Darrell's stomach. Instantly he went up into flames, falling back onto the invisible ground. Gill didn't waste any time as he jumped into the air and came down with a flying elbow. Darrell saw this and rolled to his side, avoiding it, and jumped up to his feet, his red-orange aura covering his body. He didn't think. He just reacted.
"SHAKUNETSUKEN. . . SWORD!!!" he yelled as he created his sword and dashed in. He managed to strike Gill on the stomach but Gill's hit stun was practically non-existent. Gill rammed his arm into Darrell's neck with so much speed that Darrell's entire body froze. . . Actually, he really froze from the cold and didn't thaw until he fell to the ground, screaming.
Gill remained on the offense as he tried to plant his foot right into the center of his chest. One problem: Darrell countered with his sword, putting it across his body and blocked Gill's attack. Second problem, the sword was absorbed by Gill's red side and frozen by the blue side. In other words, Darrell still ate the attack, feeling both of Gill's elements simultaneously. Once again his scream went out across the vacuum of space until Gill got up. That didn't mean he let up. He pointed a fist towards Darrell and aimed.
"Pyro-ketesis!!!"
He fired a ball of flaming energy at his foe and Darrell had to roll back to avoid it, making it collide on the floor. Darrell immediately went into his Hadouken stance but Gill sped towards him, ready to floor him like last time.
{Gotcha. . .}
Darrell faked and dashed forward, getting nailed by Gill's attack. He took the flames to get to Gill's back and kick him in the back of the head as he passed. Gill slowed down a tiny bit and spun around, seeing Darrell dashed towards him, his right fist on fire.
"Rekka. . . NAKKURA!!!"
Gill blocked the entire super move, including the last Shakunetsuken, and countered by smashing his fist into Darrell's head. Fortunately Darrell blocked, but the move instantly broke his guard, making him reel back from it, stunned.
"Weak!" Gill bellowed as he followed with a strong kick to Darrell's chin, making him fly back into the ground. . . or so he thought.
{Wait. . . I'm. . . I'M STILL FALLING!!!} Darrell screamed in his head as he looked behind him to the earth behind him. . . then finally fell on another invisible floor. He stayed down and listened to his rapidly beating heart, his eyes still on Gill as he jumped down to the lower floor and stared at him.
"Is this all you have to show me?" Gill asked. "I've seen you do better than this on earth. . ."
"Apparently," Darrell panted as he stood up and went into stance again. . . only to go back out of it and shake his head. Something was wrong. He felt dizzy. . . as if Gill pummeled him a lot more than he actually did. It took a while to realize why. . .
{Those other fights. . . I think. . . I've lost a bit. . . to much blood. Not even healing could replace that. . .}
Gill looked down as Darrell fell to his knees and put one hand on his head, the other on the invisible ground.
"Hmm . . . I think you are finally realizing that no matter how much energy you have you cannot fight every fight to your fullest. . . Now, to end this. . ."
"STOP!!!"
Gill did stop and looked straight ahead at nothing.
"Yes. . . I see that the rest of your companions have made it here. . ."
Darrell's eyes lifted up and he smiled. He saw both Sakuras, Hiei, and Yusuke standing over them. Sakura K. dropped down and faced Gill, who still didn't face her.
"I don't know what the hell is going on but if you're going to hurt Darrell then I can't allow you to get away with it!"
Gill grinned. "I see. . . So you are also challenging me. . ."
He than turned around fully and faced her. Sakura went into her fighting stance. "You don't know what you're messing with."
"Sa. . . Sakura!" Darrell yelled out. "Don't do it. . ."
"Don't worry, Darrell," she reassured. "I'll make sure he'll be sorry. . ."
Gill no longer spoke. He just rushed the schoolgirl, getting ready to ram her with his arm again. Sakura saw him coming and at the last second she dropped down and swept his legs out from under him. She then quickly backed away from his getup attack and rushed back in.
"SHOUOKEN!!"
She managed to nail all 6 hits of the special move and sent Gill flying through the abyss. Gill air recovered and landed on his feet just as Sakura threw a Hadouken towards him. He blocked it with ease but once it cleared, Sakura was right in front of him, grabbing him by the arms. She then turned around, placing her sneakers on Gill's chest and kicked him away. Gill landed with a skid and stayed down for a second.
{Wow. . . She's actually doing well} Darrell thought as he tried to recuperate his senses. Gill got up off the ground and silently raised a arm up above him.
"Insolent gnat. . . WELCOME TO YOUR DEATH!!"
Sakura kept her eye on Gill, going defensive for whatever he would throw at her. Unfortunately, she wasn't prepared for it. . . Because Gill's move didn't come from Gill. It came from above her. . . and she didn't sense it until it was too late. About 30 spheres of ice and fire energy came raining down on her and since they cloaked their power, she didn't sense it. Although not all of them connected, those that did caused tremendous damage on her part, simultaneously flaming and freezing her. . .
{NO!!!} Darrell yelled in his head, frozen on the ground in shock. Sakura finally hit the ground after getting nailed by about 19 of the spheres and stayed down for about 10 seconds before slowly getting up, trying to get the feeling back in her arms.
{Shit. Why didn't I notice. . . something was up. . .?} she asked herself as Gill looked at her, a blue aura appearing around her.
"Hmm. . . I'm impressed that you survived that. . ." Gill let out. "It is a pity that I have to beat you like this. . ."
"What are you talking about?" Sakura K. asked while getting ready to pull off a super.
"I mean that your struggle against me is worthless," Gill said sternly as his energy went skyrocketing. "That was only my first successful attack on you and your vitality is already dropped severely."
Sakura kept mute as Gill started to sprout wings. . .
{What the hell.?} Yusuke thought as he watched the fight. {This guy. . . is so freaking strong it's ridiculous. . .}
"Now you'll die. . ."
By this time, Darrell got up just as Sakura charged up her Shinku Hadouken and Gill rushed her. He sensed his energy. . . and he didn't think. He charged up his own Shakunetsu Shinku Hadouken and rushed it. . .
{Come on. Come on, dammit!} he screamed at himself as he saw the red ball of energy go into his hands. At the same time Sakura got hers to it's peak. . .
"Shinku. . . HADOUKEN!!!"
"It's useless!!" Gill yelled as he prepared to go straight through it. . .
"Shakunetsu. . . SHINKU HADOUKEN!!!"
{It still won't matter} Gill thought as he ripped through Sakura K's blast and prepared to strike her. . . just as Darrell's Hadouken appeared to his right. Gill merely let the power from his winds reflect it at twice the speed back at Darrell. . . and struck both teens simultaneously with both attacks, Sakura getting the worst of it. . .
As Darrell felt the pain of his own attack, finally sending him flying up to where the rest of the group was, Sakura was eating up Gill's second. . . and most powerful move.
"SERPENT WING!"
Gill finally stopped, mercifully and let a fully decimated schoolgirl fall to the ground, her blood covering her entire body. He shook his head.
"I told you that your efforts were futile. . ."
------- ------
The dark skinned fighter took a while to get up from his own attack and looked through the invisible floor. . . and he was hit. . . with the sight of Sakura lying on nothing, bloodied severely. . . and he could sense her aura decreasing still. . .
{No. . . NOOOOOO!!!!! SAKURA!!!!}
Darrell was livid. Totally livid. His girlfriend just got slaughtered by Gill's Serpent Wing. She was dying. . . The bad part was that he couldn't stop him. The power just deflected his super move like it was a basketball. and blasted him behind the rest. He was just staring at Sakura's motionless body. fuming.
{THAT BASTARD!!!}
His anger was too much for him to bare; it kept him in place, just staring at the self proclaimed god. He couldn't stand to see him. Then, he heard it. This wasn't his own thoughts. It was like another him inside him. just as angry as he was.
{Gill will pay for what he just did. I swear it!}
[That's right. We'll kill him. just like he tried to do to Sakura.]
{Yeah. that sounds good. We'll murder him.}
[Let your anger fuel you. Release it all on him. Release me. . .]
{I will. . .}
Darrell slowly walked through the darkness to where Gill was standing at, focused on his main priority. the destruction of Gill... He passed Sakura S., who was planning what to do now along with the group. As she saw him and spoke to him, he stopped but didn't look at her. His gaze was straight on Gill.
"Darrell, don't go back in to fight him. He's too powerful for you."
She stopped abruptly, noticing that Darrell's attention was only on Sakura K.'s body. then on Gill. It kept switching from both targets and the instant he fully looked at Gill, she gasped inside her head. She definitely sensed a change in Darrell's aura. It was still golden. but this wasn't the same pure feel. It felt somewhat tainted.
{It. it couldn't be.}
End of Chapter 36