Hello minna-san! I would like to thank reviewers Hana-maru285, loozer-09, HN-I-Love-Inuyasha, Guardian Angel of ALL Anime, and Mihara Aya for not hating me because it took me five months to update. You people put up with way to much of my crap! Thank you all very much for sticking by this story.
And I hope you all enjoyed the Easter holiday or the vacation it brings with it.
Disclaimer: I do not own the anime/manga "Inuyasha". Rumiko Takashi has that immense honor. =)
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"It has been far too long, Genkotsu," General Vovoz laughed, "far too long. I never got the chance to fight you fifty years ago because of Mukotsu, but now I have that chance."
Genkotsu did nothing in retaliation but stare blankly and shift his feet, stirring up pockets of dust. He vaguely remembered a young man fifty years ago who said something about fighting. If his brain wasn't so small Genkotsu would have been able to piece together a few things, but tiny brains do not work too well.
"Well, Genkotsu," Vovoz growled, "have you nothing to say? Don't you remember me? You should because I remember you."
General Vovoz shivered slightly with the intensity of the mechanical man's energy. He knew all too well the destructive power of Genkotsu and the rest of the Shinchinintai. It seemed that fifty years of death had raised the power of this group, or perhaps that was Naraku's doing. Either way, he thought, we aren't going to have an easy time of this.
"Vovoz and Genkotsu," Bankotsu called out, "are you two ready yet? If you are, by all means begin. And Inuyasha the next match –should Vovoz win- will be held at the Central Square. Kyokotsu will be fighting against whoever you choose. Until then…"
And with a chill wind followed by a cloud of fog the Shinchinintai had gone, leaving a battle ready Genkotsu behind.
Genkotsu let out a mechanical hoot as he revved the five saw blades mounted to his back and flexed the pinchers of his left machine prosthetic. Bending over slightly, Genkotsu aimed his canon at Vovoz. He imagined the shot being released at the aging dog demon and chuckled once again when the canon roared and a mass of sulfuric scented smoke obscured his vision momentarily.
"Not good enough, Genkotsu," Vovoz said from behind his attacker," you did the same thing fifty years ago to start the fight against Inuki. I know better!"
Wasting no more time on conversation, Vovoz jumped to deliver a bone shattering kick to the resurrected man's back. Genkotsu flew forward, sending up grass and cobblestones in the air as he slid across the ground like a puppet. Vovoz dashed forward and sprung into the air again with his trident poised to strike Genkotsu a killing blow. Letting out a dominating cry, the General could feel the tips of his three pronged weapon touch Genkotsu's back before the mechanical man disappeared. With grunt Vovoz landed and was taken by surprise when a metal arm came into his vision. If his timing had been off by even a millisecond, the General would have found himself sprawled on the ground with a horrible gash to his temple, but Vovoz was fast enough to bring his trident up to block such a blow.
With all their might, Genkotsu and General Vovoz pushed and pushed, trying to force the other to back away or loose defenses. Neither men backed down. Tendrils of red energy snaked the ground near Genkotsu feet; a sure sign that he was struggling to keep his defenses up.
"Damn!" Genkotsu hissed and jumped back, allowing Vovoz that small victory.
Genkotsu took this respite to catch his breath as did Vovoz. For the most part they were evenly matched or had certain attributes that countered the strengths of another. It seemed that despite his size Genkotsu is the faster fighter when he evaded Vovoz aerial attack, but Vovoz appears stronger.
"You are not too bad of a fighter, dog man," Genkotsu finally spoke. His every word sounded like it passed through a long pipe and resonated with the growl of an engine.
"I could say the same about you," the General paused to wipe a bead of sweat from his hairline, "but we both know you've been dead until recently because of fighting. That's bound to happen today."
"No!" the Shinchinintai member yelled and ran forward, his every step rocking the earth. Genkotsu brought his mechanical arm around to hit with while Vovoz readied himself to block the left attack. The mechanical arm sailed forward as Vovoz raised his trident up, but found his body crashing to the ground no more than a second later. Genkotsu took this opportunity to pounce on the General, and he did, delivering blow after sickening blow to the aging youkai. Blood, spit, and sweat flew up in a gory mass, coating the resurrected man's hands –this always drove him on. He knew Vovoz was down and fired his canon as a finishing move.
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Inuyasha and all else present watched the battle between Genkotsu and General Vovoz with apprehension. It seemed at first the General had the upper hand, but Genkotsu was too quick. And with every punch aimed at Vovoz, he could see Kagome cringe in his peripheral vision. Over and over, the silent mantra of "Come on, Vovoz" played in Inuyasha's head, but the General did not emerge from the steadily growing crater. And when Genkotsu bent over to fire his canon at Vovoz, he knew it was over with for the General; no one could survive the fist assault and being shot at point blank range.
For the second time during the fight the wail of the canon being fired and the smoke it belched filled the air. When the canon shot meet with the earth, an explosion louder and grander rocked the ground and sent up bits of rock and sand.
"Balthos," Inuyasha simply said, "you'll fight in Vovoz place."
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As the smoke from the canon and explosion cleared the army looked curiously to the battle ground to find Genkotsu standing above a crater. Genkotsu laughed, the sound muffled by his metal lips but was cut short when a bloodied and battered Vovoz limped from the hole while using his three pronged trident to keep steady. It was quite obvious his left arm was broken by the way it hung limply at his side and one of his ankles appeared sprained.
Genkotsu made a choking, gurgling noise and stepped back from Vovoz in fearful awe.
"You look surprised," the General mocked. "You thought I would have died, didn't you? It would take much more than that to kill me you worthless piece of shit. Don't look at me like that, Genkotsu! You should have known that no matter how hard to try I will always be your better."
Vovoz heart beat with anticipation. This is the exact situation he had hoped for and dreamed of for years. Vovoz wanted revenge. He clearly remembered the day that Sylvie had died at the hands of this monster and he, a man no older that eighteen, had not been able to protect his beloved. There was no reason Vovoz ever found for the machine like man to kill his Sylvie, but he did.
"This is for you," Vovoz whispered.
The aged dog youkai charged forward, putting all his strength into this last charge; if he was to win at all, it would be now. Genkotsu chuckled and got into a defensive position and all the while thinking Vovoz was on a death charge. Despite his sprained ankle and broken arm, Vovoz ran like a healthy man half his age and allowed the same rage as after Sylvie had been killed to fill his soul. Vovoz tightened his leg muscles and sprang off them, trident points poised for piercing Genkotsu's armored flesh.
With speed hardly proportional to a body of his size Genkotsu knocked Vovoz out of the air and sent him careening into a building. Wood splints and stone chunks flew in all directions, propelling dust skyward in thick puffs. Genkotsu let out a strangled cry –much like an animal successful in the hunt- and raised both arms in the air in victory.
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"Damn," Inuyasha cursed. "Genkotsu was just too strong."
Kagome wrapped an arm around her husband's waist as comfortingly as possible and rested her check against his shoulder. She felt Inuyasha place a kiss on the crown of her head and hold her closer. They both knew the seriousness of war and that people died, people lost their battles, but the fact of the matter was still hard to handle.
Balthos felt the claws of his fingers cut through flesh as he clenched his hands tightly. He was both determined and scared to face Genkotsu in battle, and those two emotions ran in circuits through his veins which fueled his body with the will to avenge Vovoz.
Genkotsu was still bellowing like a blood hungry monster, jumping about and waving his arms in victory. But then he stopped, much to the surprise of everyone present. He clutched as his middle with wide eyes as blood spilled from a gigantic slash crossing horizontal on his abdomen, and then without so much as a warning he turned to dust and a pile of sun bleached bones.
"What just happened?" Kagome mused allowed. No one, it appeared, had struck down Genkotsu and yet he fell over dead.
And from the crater that Genkotsu and pound Vovoz into the said inu youkai emerged looking smug and not a scratch could be seen on his body. He walked quite proudly over to Inuyasha and the other fighters with his trident propped up against his shoulder.
"Vovoz, what the hell?" Inuyasha laughed and pulled the general into a semi-hug when he reached them; he wasn't quite ready to part with the battle-smart man.
"Over the years I've learned lots of things and the most useful is kitsune youkai magic. They are the masters of illusions and I had taken it onto myself to learn illusions. It was an illusion Genkotsu was beating up the whole time and I waited until he thought he won to strike," Vovoz explained with a big grin plastered on his face.
Kagome stepped forward and gripped him lightly on the arm, "It's good to see you're alright."
"Yes, it is," Balthos agreed, "but we have the next fights to worry about. I am sorry to be the one to remind everyone of our current situation, but this is only one victory. We have to win all the others to make it into the city and to Naraku. It is good to celebrate but we must move on."
"Yeah, yeah," Inuyasha said. "Let's get going."
Without thinking, he took Kagome's hand and squeezed it three times. They had developed some way of communicating certain emotions and thoughts through squeezing the other's hand. One squeeze was to comfort, two meant everything was fine, and three meant love. Kagome turned to him and smiled, returning the gesture. She felt like a heavy, cumbersome weight had been lifted off her chest when she removed the helmet and revealed herself to Inuyasha. With the situation a bit more desperate than before it was a great comfort to her to have Inuyasha –her pillar of strength- holding her hand.
"I found Kouga," Giltong finally caught up with the wolf demon in tow.
"Good for you," Inuyasha said while narrowing his eyes at Kouga. Even though Kouga had accepted their marriage, Inuyasha still did not trust the wolf around Kagome.
Giltong snorted and retorted with sarcasm, "I am glad I could please you, your highness. Anyway, did I miss anything?"
"You missed my whole glorious fight, Giltong," Vovoz gloated. "I had Genkotsu and everyone present convinced that I was loosing, but then I killed him."
Inuyasha didn't hear Giltong's response when Kagome whispered, "I've never seen General Vovoz act like this before."
"Me neither," he agreed before giving Kagome another kiss on her cheek and following with a long, sweet one on the lips. Inuyasha could get over how relieved he felt to be able to hold and kiss Kagome again. It was as if almost every care was just washed away into oblivion and it was only he and his wife. "I wish that this could all go away."
"We all do, Inuyasha," Kagome said, her voice low and sympathetic as she brushed his silver hair away from his eyes. "I wish this was happening to someone else so we could go back to Yogo and be with our children, but that's not how it is."
Inuyasha and Kagome could very well have been swept away to their own little land if it wasn't for the mocking voice of Giltong, "Would you two prefer if we set up at tent for the two of you and the rest of us continue on?"
"Bitch," Inuyasha said under his breath.
This round- Shinchinintai 0……………. Our heroes 1…………………………
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I updated! I hope everyone liked the chapter even though it was short. I think all the battle chapters will be kinda short, but that also depends on my mood. I've got a cold right now, its 11:27 p.m., and my mind is in a complete fog. So if there are any errors in the chapter I apologize and I will correct them when I'm feeling better, but right now I feel like crap. My entire body aches, my nose is stuffed, I can't breathe, and I feel like crap! I'm sorry for ranting on.
Buh-bye and don't forget to review!