Chapter 3 : Mass Conflict
Metal Overload - (reply to email) I am an Ayane fan, no way am I writing a fanfic without her in it.
As soon as Ayane opened the door, Hayate's eyes widened in shock and began rubbing his eyes.
"Are my eyes fooling me?! How many sisters do I have?!" Hayate exclaimed when he saw a dozen Kasumi and Ein clones waiting outside the school, 6 of the same type.
"They are clones, stupid. But I guess you forgot all about it when they erased the hell out of your mind." Hayabusa pushed his friend's head with his finger.
"What is Donovan up to now?" Ayane muttered to herself under her breath, switching to his fighting stance, everyone did the same, preparing for a 4 on 12 battle. When they were about to strike, ninjas clad in white filled in.
"Master Hayate," one of them bowed curtly and greeted Hayate, "allow us to assist you in battle."
"No, don't do it."
"?"
"This battle is not for all of you to take on, can't you see? They are clones of my sister and me." Hayate replied to the ninja with a worried tone, and then gave them an OK signal.
"Yes, Master Hayate, as you wish then." The ninja responded obediently.
Before Hayate turned back to face his enemies, Ryu had already charged at them, sending out his usual "war cry". The fight broke out soon enough.
"Heheheh ... they do work well, don't they?" Donovan said, pleased with his progress on the clone-making while watching their fight on a monitor screen, "looks like the mini-camera that I've hidden in their registration forms to the tournament showed us their whereabouts." He continued, grinning from ear to ear. The first, as well as the most powerful Kasumi and Ein clones were sitting by his side.
"Sir, do you think they'll win? I mean, looks like these 4 ninjas are skilled enough to defeat them." The E-clone asked.
"Hmph! I am not giving a damn whether the clones get killed or whatsoever. From the start, I knew they are going to lose anyway. I just want to see how skilled they really are, or even better ..." Donovan stopped when he watched Ayane and Hayabusa fight against his clones, "I think I've seen them somewhere in the tournament before but ... this purple-haired girl sure is fast, and skilled too. Hmm, wait, she just looks too familiar to me." He thought for a moment to regain his memory.
"Oh yeah, she's that girl adopted by Omega. Haha ... like father, like daughter. If I could make a clone out of her, then I would be inevitable!!!" his evil desires began to make its comeback.
Donovan stood up and walked over to his new project. He gazed at the half-completed specimen. Its whiskers were swaying in the liquid and its eyes were still black and blank. 2 pairs of wings were emerging from its back and 3 horns, 2 on both sides of its head and 1 at the front were also beginning to appear. Below the tube, there was a small screen which showed information on the creature.
STATUS : MATURING
TIME REMAINING : APPROX. 4 DAYS
PROGRESS : [=========================----] (reaching completion)
"The time will soon come. The most powerful being of all creation, will soon be born." Donovan spoke in a quiet voice.
Most of the attacks were successful in knocking out one or two clones. However, when they advanced to knock the others out, the downed would soon regain consciousness, this happened many times. So as not to spend energy, Hayate changed his strategy and gave out a command, "fall back!" the rest obeyed and flipped backwards. Hayate then gave a you-know-what-to-do look. Everyone nodded in understanding. Ryu and Hayate unsheathed their swords, Kasumi pulled out her short katana from her back and Ayane pulled out her ... you should know what it is. (I don't know how to describe it) 0.o
"What is that in your hand?" Hayabusa asked quizzically.
Ayane held the object tight in her hands. Two purple blades flared from the tips of the sword. His question had been answered without any word. Weapons drawn, the 4 of them were ready to fight once again. Hayabusa held his katana high above his shoulder, blade facing his enemies. Hayate had the blade of his sword point down to the floor. Kasumi held hers in front of her in a defending position while Ayane held hers behind herself, ready to slash anytime.
"The battle begins..." Ayane said, charging towards the clones, spinning her father's saber as she ran. The Kasumi clones brandished their short blades quite similar to the original's. The Ein clones held up long stick in their hands.
"I've never remembered practicing with sticks when I was training in the dojo for karate ..." Hayate recalled. The 4 of them seemed as though they were outnumbered when the K-clones started flinging their shurikens everywhere. Ayane was having a hard time deflecting the shurikens with her weapon, so were the others. The rest of the ninjas watching from the school watched in horror as they saw the ruckus being made. They couldn't make out their faces. One of them was about to stand up to help when he was stopped by a fellow ninja.
"No, don't go forward, you might injure yourself, you might also mistake Master Hayate and his sister for a clone. Besides, if you go in there to help, it would mean disobeying Hayate." He informed. Meanwhile, Kasumi, Ryu and Hayate were busy defending against the E-clones' damaging blows. One of the K-clones vanished leaving sakura petals floating in the air, which Ayane never noticed. The K-clone reappeared behind Ayane as fast as she had disappeared. She gave her one last shuriken a fatal throw towards Ayane's head. Ayane neither realized nor sensed the danger coming towards her at wind's speed.
"CLANG!!!" Ayane never knew what happened. She turned as she heard the sound coming from her back. All she saw Kasumi's back facing her. A piece of sakura petal landed on Ayane's shoulder. Kasumi was holding her dagger tight in her hands and panting heavily and perspiring profusely. Ayane looked on the ground only to see petals and ... a shuriken.
Then it dawned on her that she was saved by her own sister.
"Kasumi ..." Ayane whispered softly to her sister, she was totally astounded at this moment. The rest of the K-clones seemed to freeze too. This was the first time in ages she called Kasumi by her name. Kasumi, too, finally braved herself in giving a smile in return.
"Hmph! You've just saved a neck. Pity it's wasted!" the Kasumi clone who attempted to kill Ayane sneered. After she finished her last sentence, the rest of the K-clones leapt and flipped forward, landing in their positions. By now, Kasumi and Ayane were already surrounded.
"I have failed to kill one, but I'll kill both of you in return for that loss." The same K-clone said to Ayane and Kasumi in sheer determination.
"Oh no ... Kasumi, Ayane ... urgh!!" just as Hayabusa was calling out to them, a stick hit with such force it nearly broke his back. Hayate seized the opportunity to chop the stick with his sword, followed by a murderous stab through the E-clone's chest. Hayate defended his friend while he got to his feet. So far, 4 E-clones were killed, while none of the K-clones were taken down. The remaining E-clones were easy to handle. They swung their sticks but Hayate and Ryu jumped over and landed behind the enemy. Hayate did a swift sweep-kick and Hayabusa finished his with a three-fold kick. With the clones on the ground, Hayate and Ryu stabbed through them and into the ground. The E-clones were completely eliminated.
Ayane and Kasumi were focused as the circle of the K-clones closed in on them. When they charged, both of them flipped high into the air, landed a clone's shoulder each and kicked them by the cheeks. The 2 of them were thrown off their feet. Ryu and Hayate came over to join the fight. Ayane spun around in different directions and flinging her saber as she went, she targeted with perfect accuracy on the enemy. Any ordinary person who would want to try to escape that attack would have to think twice before even stepping into the battle. even Kasumi, Ryu and Hayate have to keep a distance away from her while dealing with the rest of the clones. Ayane managed to slit 2 of the K-clones on their throat. It happened so quickly the clones never realised there was a cut in their throat until they felt the stinging pain about a second later. It killed them instantly.
The K-clones now sensed the danger that was befalling them when they saw their numbers depleting. They held their daggers and dashed forward, then flipped up in the air to attack from above. Hayate and Ryu held their swords up high to defend their heads. Only Kasumi and Ayane were fast enough to move out of the way, causing the clones to slump onto the ground. still lying there, the clones did a sweep-kick. Kasumi flipped backward but Ayane leapt forward, landing on the clone's back. Since the K-clone could not move under Ayane's feet, she had no other choice but to surrender to death as she felt the stabbing pain on her back done by Ayane's weapon.
The other K-clone stood up all of a sudden and did a high-kick, Kasumi ducked and tripped her. Kasumi caught her by her neck and pushed her against a tree.
"I wouldn't be as cruel as to kill someone with cold blood just like my sister does. But everyone has to live to the fact that there is only one me." Kasumi told the fake with reluctance as she stabbed her heart. She removed her blood-coated dagger from the clone, letting her body slide down the tree, leaving a trail of blood on the trunk.
Meanwhile, Ryu and Hayate were having a hard time dealing with the remaining 2 clones. They seemed to be losing to the latter's speed but fortunately realised they were being assisted when they saw a blade protruding from each of their stomachs. When the blades were removed, the clones dropped dead.
"1-0 for us, but he won't give up that easily." Hayate said under his fatigued breath while tending to his friend's wounds.