Hello, all. Me again. I felt terrible about the tiny chapter last time, so I put in a longer chapter with a huge fight scene inside! Aren't I the greatest? REVIEW!
Chapter 14: Finally, To The Past!
Tobias leaped out of the well and was staggered by what was around him.
"This is...really nice. A pristine wilderness, mostly untouched by man." He took a deep breath. "And no pollutants in the air to kill you when you breathe. Just crisp, cool oxygen."
He then proceeded to light a cigarette. Inuyasha and Kagome looked at him funny.
"What?"
"Never mind. Let's go, we've got a lot to catch up to. We've been gone way too long," Inuyasha spat. Kagome smiled. Yeah...that's Inuyasha, all right. "Where did we say we would meet Miroku and Sango?"
"I think at the village a few miles south of here," said Kagome. "If we hurry we can get there today."
They set off at a brisk pace. Inuyasha wanted to run, but Tobias said he wanted to 'savor the pristine beauty of the forest'. After a "Feh" from Inuyasha, they decided to walk. It really wasn't that far anyway.
"So, Kagome...who are Miroku and Sango?" Tobias asked.
"Two friends who live in this time. Miroku is a monk, and Sango is a demon huntress. Miroku has a curse on his right hand called the air rip. If he takes off his rosary, a vortex forms out of his hand and starts sucking everything in. But it's growing, and eventually it'll suck him in too. Killing Naraku is the only way to break the curse. Sango's family was killed by Naraku, and her brother was resurrected and brought back to fight against her. So she's out for vengeance."
"So...everybody has a reason to kill Naraku. Makes sense. I certainly have a reason." Tobias stooped to pick up an interestingly shaped rock. "Anyone else I should know about?"
"Well, there's Shippo and Kirara. Shippo is a little fox demon who Inuyasha rescued from a couple of demons called the Thunder Brothers. Kirara is Sango's assistant; a cat demon who can transform into a really big cat demon and fly."
"Sounds about right." Tobias strode along. His cigarette had burned down, and he flicked it carelessly to the side.
"Tobias!" Kagome shouted irritably. "You said this was 'pristine beauty'? Well, don't mess it up by littering. Besides, you could start a fire." Tobias looked affronted. He retrieved the cigarette butt and deposited it carefully into a pocket of his robes.
CRASH!"
"What was that?" Tobias halted and looked around. Inuyasha's ears pricked up to listen.
CRASH!!
"It sounds sort of like…giant footsteps!" Kagome said worriedly.
CRASH!
Inuyasha pulled out Tetsusaiga. The rusted blade transformed in his hands, as the sound grew nearer. Tobias put his hand on his sword hilt.
CRASH!!
"Kagome!" barked Inuyasha. "Do you sense any shards?"
"Umm…" She concentrated. "No…actually, I don't."
CRASH!!!
"Whatever this thing is, it doesn't have any shards. It sounds big. Real big!" Inuyasha said. Tobias unsheathed his sword.
Suddenly, the forest to their left fell down as if crushed by a bulldozer. A massive shape strode out.
THOOM!!!!
It was terrifying. It towered over them, as tall as some of the surrounding trees. It had fists like anvils and arms thick as tree trunks. Each part of its body – legs, torso, arms, fingers, head – was smooth and cylindrical. It had a cavernous mouth and two small dark eyes. Its skin was completely hairless and was a deep, glossy brown. It looked as though it had been sculpted rather than born.
As Kagome gaped, she couldn't help but think that it looked like a huge version of the stick dolls she had played with as a child. Then it spoke, with a voice that shook the very air around it.
"thou have entered the woods of the all-powerful naraku," it rumbled. "for this offense, thou shalt die."
Tobias ran over and took up a fighting stance next to Inuyasha. "With the size of this thing," he muttered, "I wouldn't be surprised if it did kill us."
"Did that thing say Naraku?" hissed Inuyasha. Before anyone could respond, the beast swung one of its fists toward the ground. Tobias and Inuyasha leaped away in different directions as the fist smashed into the earth, cracking the stone beneath.
Tobias recovered quickly and dashed towards the titan from behind. With alarming speed, it wheeled and swatted Tobias away with a ferocious backhand. The warrior went sailing through the air and smacked into a rock face. He fell to the ground and struggled to get up.
"Tobias!" shouted Inuyasha. He leaped high into the air, aiming to score a gash down the creature's middle with Tetsusaiga. He never made it. It smashed a punch straight at Inuyasha. Inuyasha went flying, landing among the branches of a pine tree close by.
The creature roared as Tobias ran up from underneath it and slashed its legs. "Kagome! Hide!" he yelled. He was abruptly cut off when it raised one leg and stomped him under its clublike foot. Kagome took his suggestion to heart, dashing behind a boulder. She peeked out over the top to watch the battle.
Inuyasha leaped from the branches and landed on the beast's head. He swiped at it with Tetsusaiga. It howled in pain; a terrible noise that made Kagome want to close her ears, made Inuyasha want not to have ears, and Tobias want for it to get off of him. It grabbed at Inuyasha, but the hanyou was too quick. He jumped back and landed on the top of a small oak.
"Ha!" Inuyasha taunted. "You can't hit what you can't catch, lumpy!" The behemoth stormed toward the tree (much to the relief of the suffering Tobias) and seized the trunk. It shook it, bellowing. Inuyasha wobbled but remained steady. "Oaf! You can't get me," he shouted.
The titan got a better grip on the tree, and ripped it out by the roots. It held it high in the air, flipped it over with Inuyasha clinging on for dear life, and drove the top of it into the ground. Inuyasha's hand popped out of the soil, and searched blindly for a handhold to pull himself out with.
He found one. Tobias yanked him out of the ground and plopped him on his feet. Inuyasha readied Tetsusaiga and was about to launch himself at the beast again when he glanced at Tobias. Inuyasha was startled at Tobias's apparent transformation. Tobias's eyes gleamed with rage. Inuyasha looked at Tobias's sword, and saw that it was glowing with a soft red light.
"That bastard is gonna pay for stomping me," he growled. "NOBODY steps on me and gets away that easily." The beast came roaring up the path towards them. Inuyasha held his sword tightly, but never got a chance. Tobias leaped impossibly high and seemed to hang, suspended in front of the beast's face. He slashed his sword one, two, three times across its ugly mug.
It bellowed, clasping its hands to its face. The action overbalanced it, and it fell with a bone-rattling thud. Tobias landed nimbly, while Inuyasha stared. Tobias turned to face him.
"Swiping at that S.O.B. with our swords isn't getting anywhere, and all I did was stun it. Got any ideas?"
Inuyasha grinned. "Yeah...just one." He put his claws into a wound he had suffered earlier and brought them out covered in blood. His hands crackled with power.
"Great! While you do that, I'll distract it." Tobias dashed in front of the behemoth and started yelling and swinging his sword at it. The beast tried to catch him, but it was like trying to catch a minnow in a pond. Tobias always slipped through its blundering fingers. Inuyasha brought his claws back, ready to strike.
"Blades of Blood!" The blades sliced a path through the behemoth. But, oddly, wherever they struck, fire sprang out on its skin.
"Fire?" Inuyasha said, boggled by this new development. "What...IS this thing?"
Bellowing, the titan beat out the flames with its huge hands. It stooped over, picking up a boulder to throw at Inuyasha and Tobias. Unfortunately, this happened to be the boulder Kagome was hiding behind. She shrieked in fear as her sanctuary was torn out from under her.
More unfortunately, the beast heard her. It chucked the boulder at the two warriors, scattering them like bowling pins; then it turned and swatted Kagome away. She sailed away and hit her head on a rock. Blood seeped out of a gash on her head. She lay still.
"KAGOME!!!" Inuyasha howled. He ran over to Kagome before the beast could blink. He picked her up and cradled her in his arms. "Kagome..." he whispered. He put his head to her chest and felt a strong heartbeat. Inuyasha was relieved that she was alive, but that feeling was rapidly being replaced by a burning anger, to destroy the thing that had done this to her. He gently lay her down on some soft grass, then picked up his sword and charged with all his might at the beast. He leapt at it, but just as he left the ground, he felt an iron grip holding him back.
"Inuyasha." It was Tobias. Inuyasha whirled angrily around to get him to release him, but when he looked at him he almost gaped. Tobias's features burned with a fury to match his own. "I know you're pissed off at that thing for attacking Kagome; and believe me, I am too; but just rushing at it will only get us both killed. I have a plan. We'll attack together and slice and dice this beast."
"I have another idea," Inuyasha growled. "How about you LET GO OF ME!" He struggled, but Tobias held firm. "Fine. I can shred this thing in one hit. Let me do that."
A slow smile spread over Tobias's face. "Right. Open up with that. Then you go on the right and I'll go on the left. Match your attacks to mine. Got it?"
Inuyasha brandished Tetsusaiga and growled. Tobias let him go, and the two stood side by side. The beast came roaring up the path towards them. "Ready?" Tobias muttered. It came closer, closer, closer...
"GO!" bellowed Tobias.
"Iron Reaver Soul Stealer!" Inuyasha cried. The attack sliced the monster wide open. Before it could defend itself, the two warriors hurled themselves at it. Slicing, ripping, tearing, a hundred blows landed in the space of a second. They leaped away to see what damage they had caused.
The beast was in pieces everywhere. Foul-smelling chunks of beast littered the path and the surrounding forest. Tetsusaiga and Tobias's sword were dripping with a dark black blood. Inuyasha flung down his sword and dashed to Kagome again. He picked her up and held her in his arms. Her eyes fluttered open.
"I-Inuyasha?" she whispered. "What happened? Are you okay? Where's that...that thing?"
"Shh...it's all right, Kagome. We killed it. You're safe now. Are you hurt? Do you need a bandage?" Kagome almost laughed at how protective Inuyasha was being. She struggled to a sitting position on the ground.
"I'm fine, Inuyasha. My head hurts, though. Is Tobias all right?" Inuyasha thought. Where was Tobias, anyway?
"Hey, Tobias! Are you okay?" he shouted.
"Inuyasha?" Came the response. "We have a problem. This is big. Really big."
"How big?" yelled Inuyasha. "Big enough to make me leave Kagome INJURED and come mess around with your stupid little problems? Is it that big?" No answer. "How big?!"
"I never had a good head for heights, but I'd say about forty feet tall." Inuyasha reeled and ran over to Tobias, who had a look of rapidly increasing shock on his face. The beast was reforming itself before their eyes. The pieces of it leapt off the ground and swiftly assembled themselves. Before long, the beast was whole again.
"thou have done well, but not well enough. your pitiful strikes do no lasting damage to me. the abilities granted to me by the all-powerful naraku are vastly more powerful than thine. surrender or die," it boomed.
Tobias recovered and leaped at the titan, slashing a path across its midsection. Before he had landed, it was already healed. Inuyasha tried the same, with similar results. They regrouped and held a hasty conference.
"Well, shoot," Tobias said. "If we can't whack it with our swords, and you can't use your Iron Reaver something something, then we're in deep shit here. Is there anything that hurts this beast?"
"I don't...wait!" Inuyasha glanced at its torso. The burn mark from the Blades of Blood attack was still there! "Tobias! Fire hurts it. My Blades of Blood attack left a scar on it." Tobias appeared lost in thought. "Tobias? This is SORT OF IMPORTANT HERE!!" Inuyasha roared.
"Fire hurts it," Tobias whispered. His face resolved into grim determination. "I have a plan," he said. "Let me handle this one. I'll kill him in one shot." He drew his sword once more, which glowed with a soft red light. Tobias took off. He leaped from tree branch to tree branch, until finally he balanced atop a tree that was taller even than the beast.
"You!" he shouted. The beast turned. "Yes, you! You're the dumbest excuse for a living being I've seen this side of the world. How do you walk around without tripping over your own feet? My SWORD is smarter than you!" he bellowed. The monster growled and started towards Tobias's tree. Tobias held his sword straight up, in front of his face. He started to speak slowly.
"Big..." His voice echoed, like it was coming from a hundred miles away. The sword's glow increased. It became brighter and brighter.
"Bang..." The beast was almost to the tree by now. It was not frightened at all of Tobias and was ready to rip him to shreds.
"BLADE..." The sword shone like a torch in Tobias's hands. Tobias glanced down at Inuyasha, who was holding a very frightened Kagome. "Everybody...stand back!" he shouted. The beast recoiled before the light of Tobias's sword. Tobias used this distraction to leap high into the air, and bring his sword down on the beast, burying it to the hilt in the top of its head.
BOOOOOOOM!!!!
(imagine this in about 72 font here, folks)
A massive explosion of fire engulfed the beast and a bit of the surrounding forest. Inuyasha took off with Kagome, outrunning the blast, and stood in awe watching it. Suddenly, Tobias himself came flying out of the top, wreathed in flame. He came soaring down, the flames around him dissipating on the way down, landed near the two, and sheathed his sword. He then immediately collapsed to his hands and knees and began panting as if he had just been underwater for five minutes. His sword had lost its glow.
"What the FUCK was that?!" Inuyasha shouted. "If you could do that all this time, then WHY DIDN'T YOU EVER? DID YOU EVER THINK THAT WE COULD'VE USED THAT BEFORE?" Tobias lay there, gasping like a fish. "WELL?"
"I...can only...do that when...I'm enraged..." Tobias panted. "Let me...catch my breath...then I'll tell...you." After a few minutes, he regained his composure.
"Doing that takes a lot out of me. I thought you knew already that this was no ordinary sword," he explained.
"Well, I sort of realized that when you created that GIGANTIC EXPLOSION! HOW THE FUCK CAN YOU DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT?!" Tobias held up a hand and struggled to his feet.
"I suppose there's no use hiding it anymore," he said slowly. "All right. I'll tell you."
"This sword has several powers. Some of them include giving strength, speed, agility, and fast healing (among other things) to the wielder. This sword in particular has a unique ability. When the wielder becomes enraged, truly enraged, its power increases tremendously. Not only that, but it gains powers of fire as well. You just saw one of them. There are about a dozen, all told. The wielder becomes immune to all fire, magical or mundane. I was enraged at the fact that Kagome was attacked by the beast, and so my sword's power activated itself. However, doing so exacts a terrible toll on my energy reserves. It's mainly used for short bursts of power. The longer I prolong it, the more power I use; the worse off I am at the end of it. All right? All right. That's my story."
REVIEW! What else can I say?