Disclaimer: See chapter one

 Aki Kitsune- (As Jehuty) I won't let you down.

chero666- I think it's a brother thing.

Silvace Atronach- Don't worry. I'm going to try and stretch this out as long a possible. But yeah, it's almost over. sigh

Chap. 26

Kssshhhhhhhhhpooooowwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!

-"MOVE!!!!!"-

With everything I had, I burst away to the side a nanosecond before the Plasma Sphere could hit me. It continued to follow and I flew away until it dissipated. I've had close calls, but that was death knocking on the door there. Speaking of death, I looked around for Anubis. He was gone, which indicated that he had warped again. But where?

'There!'

His shadowy form suddenly appeared beside me and I was about to strike when I stopped. 'No good. I can't hit him like that.' He grinned at my reluctance just before he warped away, leaving me with nothing.

"Are you scared, Jehuty?" his voice crackled out of nowhere. "Do you now realize that you can't beat me?!"

I didn't respond. I was too busy looking for his presence. I couldn't let his taunting get to me, no matter how true it may be at the moment. My body was incredibly strained from the dodge and I couldn't recover as fast as I could before.  I would have to force him to make a mistake.

"Staying silent? Not for long!"

I turned to my right to see Anubis fully appear and charging his plasma sphere. I shot my arm forward to fire, but it was then that I remembered that I had lost that ability. With that hesitation, he was able to fire the sphere and the fiery ball came right at me. 'I'm getting tired of this. Shift!'

The ball followed me only briefly before my body warped away from it, leaving it far behind and putting me right above and behind Anubis. He simply looked up at me with disinterest and unsheathed his bladed staff.

"Come on."

I didn't hesitate this time. My blade unhooked and I charged. The blade swooped through the air and connected, but only with his weapon. He held me back with one arm briefly before he pulled back and slashed horizontally. I managed to pull back in order to meet the slash, but the force of power was enough to push me away.

"You're not strong enough to beat me." he mocked as he pointed his staff at me. "Face it, YOU CAN'T WIN!!!!!"

That was it. That was the opening I needed. During his ranting and raving, he had forgotten that his Plasma Sphere was still active and flying. And since my body was now directly on the opposite side, that means...

KAAPPPOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!

The sphere hit his back and exploded in a mess of fire. But within it, Anubis was completely unfazed.

"You didn't really think that would work, did you?"

But I was no longer there. Rather, I had shifted again, right next to his left side.

"That's why there's a Plan B."

The shock on his face was almost as gratifying at the pain off his face when my blade ripped right across his side. Anubis roared and slashed back, but I blocked the blow. Due to the injury, it wasn't enough to push me away and I moved in to attack. But his body turned to shadow and I again hit empty space.

"Good."

I half-growled, "Fight me, you coward!"

All I heard was chuckling, "Coward am I? I'm merely taking the time to enjoy this. You know, painting a picture, making a memory, as humans would put it."

Now he was really pissing me off. So much so that I didn't sense his presence behind me as he materialized into form. I turned around too late as his lance carried right at me. My hand arose, but the block never came and his lance ripped across my chest.

"Arrrrrrgggghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!"

Pain surged through my entire body like Metatron lightning. I couldn't think straight due to it and my body soared backward, spinning around like a rag doll in a storm. My eyes slowly focused and I saw the bodies of Vic Viper and the Anubis clone. 'Vic...Leo...Ken...I...get up...now!'

I forced my body upward and still. A red gash was right across my chest and body, but I didn't care. I focused off on the pain and onto the battle, which unfortunately wasn't over yet. Largely because of the red beams of energy that were coming at me.

'Move!'

I jerked my body back, moving to outrun the deadly beams as they traced across the landscape in pursuit. My wings help me outrun the first group, but a few beams was still on me.

"And now you run." Anubis taunted once again. "Doesn't that make you a coward now? Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!"

'Focus...' The beams almost caught me when I suddenly stopped and propelled myself in another direction. It was risky, but it work and the beam floated off into nothing. Glancing at Anubis, my body shimmered blue and gathered the Metatron within. At the same time, he called forth his Plasma Sphere. I raised my hand and made it seem as if I was calling the Metatron Sphere. At the same time, he unleashed his own energy right at me. As soon as it had gotten far enough, I stopped myself, quickly dashed off to the side and shifted right on Anubis, head on.

"Hmph."

His lance came up a split second before my blade could reach his head and blocked. I ignored it, pulled back, and attacked again. Again he blocked and again I struck. I continued my aggressive assault and he blocked them all. Finally, he had enough and back-lashed, pushing me back once more.

"Oh please. What was...?"

He didn't finish, because I had warped again and attacked. He was almost caught off guard, but his blade connected with mine. I pulled back and attacked again and again, with him continuing to block my blows. I savagely struck once more, but it only hit shadow as he warped away. I didn't move from my position and simply focused. The pain in my body hadn't dulled, but I couldn't let that stop me. Not if this was to work.

"My, someone's upset."

Bingo! I directed my attention to voice and saw Anubis's dark body materialize. He began to summon his Plasma Sphere once more, but he would never use it. I shifted right at him. Another risk, I knew. But at this point, I didn't have a choice. He saw me appear but he couldn't stop his technique and fired. But at the range I was at, avoiding the sphere was a simple sidestep and it harmlessly past me by. Blade unsheathed once more, I attacked. Anubis growled slightly as he was forced to bring his staff up to block. Again I attacked and again he defended. I shot back and made it look as though I was going to attack again, but as soon as he raised it to counter, I shifted away. His blade was now in dead air. Seeing this, I warped again, now toward him and lunged once more. He now cursed loudly as he blocked once more.

"You foolish...!"

I attacked and attacked and attacked. See, there were a couple of things I had learned from this fight. One, while Anubis may be powerful, he lacked the necessary skills to fight me face to face. He's never fought anyone who has lasted this long, certainly not one that has confronted him head on and most definitely not against anyone that had injured him, which means that my earlier strike on him and crippled him enough for me to take him on in close range. He would defend because that was his style, but due to my repeated attacks, the injury would certainly have drained him a great deal. His warping and his control in this terrain have given him the advantage, but then there's fact two. He gloats too much. That's leaves him open a lot more to my attacks. Three, my own control. He had been using his taunts to make me lose control and get angry enough for him to take control. I had to stay calm and focus and wear him out. Four, his vanity. Because of my weakened state, he could have killed me long ago. But he believes in his power so much that it has blinded him to one important fact.

We are twin brothers...

Anubis growled and warped away. I waited for him to reappear. Waited for him to show himself. Waited until...

"Now you die..."

I didn't allow him to finish as I was in warp by the time he was halfway through his sentence. He was so surprised that he didn't have time to warp and instinctively raised his shield. That would cost him, for I summoned my power and the blue aura shimmered around me. Anubis had been pushed just enough and his crimson face turned into surprise again as I unleashed my Crescent Slash. The shield shattered and Anubis was pushed back, dazed. My body flared with pain from the attack, but he was open. I had to...

-"Go now!"-

I swiftly moved toward the down Anubis and his body began to blacken again. 'No! I won't let you!'

Shhhhhkkkkkk!!!!!!!

His body returned to normal color as he gasped at what I had done. My blade had gotten to him just before he could go into full shadow form. Now my blade was impaled in his chest. He slowly looked down and surprise turned to shock. I pulled the blade out and hovered back. He was finished and we both knew it.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"

In a show of intense fury and lost temper, he reeled back his arm and reeled his staff at me. I narrowed my eyes and ducked the slash, causing him to clumsily fly past me. My body shimmered with energy again and when he turned I was already in full spin of my Crescent Slash.

Now it's over...