Chapter 7: Unforseen Difficulties
Outside Tokyo Stadium:
"What…The…HELL?"
"You heard right. There's been a change in the plans."
There was a long silence, as the DHS team struggled to absorb this. They'd woken at five a.m., pumping themselves to the eyeballs with caffeine. One short trip to the Tokyo Stadium, they'd been awaiting their upcoming match with the Koreans, all hyper and ready to go.
…But instead, they got to have this half-assed idiot with a bad hairdo mouth them off instead.
As Andro would have put it, someone was going to pay.
Ryan was visibly fuming, obviously not liking where this was going. Jiazheng tapped his foot on the ground impatiently, simply hoping to get this over as quickly as possible. Andro was examining his blades with a psychopathic look on his face, as he contemplated their razor edges.
Chan shook his head with resignation. It would probably be all he could do to prevent premature violence.
"I'm not even going to ASK what caused the screwup, okay? So…What're we up against? Is the NESTS team making a premature showing or something?"
"Well…Uh…"
"Spit it out. Before Andro makes you."
"It's the Female Team."
Once more, there was a total lack of noise…Right before everyone started talking at once.
"BullSHIT! Those girls wouldn't even make it past-"
"You gotta be-"
"Screw you-"
"Wrong. They're already inside."
"Oh, God."
************
"RYAN LIM!!!!"
First up, Ryan strode into the arena, to a thunderous ovation from the audience. Unable to withstand the urge to show off, Ryan flung several lightning bolts sky-high, before turning a spiffy backflip, and finishing with a quick bow. He waited tensely, wondering who-or WHAT his opponent would be.
"MAI SHIRANUI!"
The crowd went absolutely *nuts*. The phone numbers went up. The
integrity of the glass windows dropped sharply.
"Yeah, I saw this coming," said Chan.
"Oh, shut up..."
Mai happily ran down to the ring to the Fighting Women Team's theme, and did a small flourish in the center of it, fans unfolded. She basked in the resulting cheers, smiling the entire time.
This was when Ryan made his first mistake.
"You're a fighter? I don't BELIEVE it!"
"I'm Mai Shiranui of the Shiranui Ninja Clan!"
Silence.
"No. Way. My friend, Andro, is a ninja. You're a…OUCH!"
A fan promptly smacked into his face, followed by another. And another. AND ANOTHER. Even as Ryan frantically tried to shield himself, Mai pulled out a seemingly endless supply of replacements.
"Quit it! That HURTS!"
"Good!"
Ryan rolled back, barely dodging another volley of butterfly fans. He fired back with lightning, clawing the next few from the air. With an incredible flip, Ryan launched himself into the air, flinging more and more blasts down onto the arena.
The schoolboy landed on his feet with a solid thud, kicking into a neat roll that bought him some distance from Mai, even as three more fans screamed overhead. Just to make a point, he batted them away with a simple sweep of his open hand.
Mai pouted. "Arrgh! Stupid ninja club. I keep telling them not to keep buying
these *cheap* fans, but do they *ever* listen to me? Nooooo--"
Ryan didn't even bother to answer. He began his assault in earnest.
For him, his first few attacks were light and slow. For almost anyone else, it was a systematic torrent of blows and electricity that a very good fighter would have been hard pressed to have kept up with.
Somehow, Mai managed to avoid everything aimed her way, punishing Ryan with repeated fan swipes. With a snarl, he spun away her with a quick spin kick, followed by an off-the-ground Electronic Revolution uppercut that sent the woman into the air.
Ryan crouched, preparing to follow up with the obligatory Lightning Curtain/ Power Drive combo…Right before a shot glass hit him in the back of the head.
"OW! HEY! WHO THREW THAT?"
"Screw off, ya bum! You don't hit a girl like that!"
The people in the stands were told not to get involved with the fights, but they were drunk, so they waived that rule. Bottles and chairs were thrown Ryan's way along with constant shouts of "Pick on somebody yer own size!" and "Ya stupid bum!"
************
Jiazheng sighed, and shook his head.
"I just knew it. This had to happen, didn't it guys…Guys?"
Chan and Andro were already moving off, drawing blades and gun respectively. Jiazheng's eyes bulged out, as both boys turned towards the stands, and aimed.
"YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!!!"
"Yes we are. MAGE CANNON!!!!"
"SHADOW EDGE!!!"
Abruptly, a large portion of empty seating was enveloped in smoke and dust, sending some of the audience running for cover. The barrage of junk stopped, giving Ryan a chance to recover, and return to the fray with a vengeance.
Calmly, Andro sat back down, as Chan loaded another shell into his smoking gun.
"Crowd control. Works every time."
************
"HIRYU-NOOOOOOOOOO-KENNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!"
With a devastating ka-ta yell, Ryan flung himself forward with all his might, letting off a flying kick that could smash concrete. Without the distractions posed by the hail of junk, he was finding it far easier to fight.
Mai back flipped from the oncoming onslaught (no pun intended) and bounced (still... no pun intended) off the wall, hitting Ryan with a downward dive. One thing on Mai's side was the knowledge of what she was up against.
Days before, she'd asked King for advice on what Juggernaut was capable of. Mai became unnerved when her close friend informed her that her opponent was more powerful than anyone she'd ever had the task of fighting. Goro Daimon? Maxima? Chang Koehan? Raiden? Ralf Jones? All weaklings compared to this abomination.
She spun around and hit Ryan with the flame-covered tail of her red outfit. This was met with two rock-solid fists sheathed in lightning smashing Mai back into the air. Again, she went for an air dive, but the leaping Quicksilver caught her out of it and slammed her into the ground. Mai rolled away to recuperate.
King was right. Ryan was tough. But Mai was determined.
She tossed a quick quartet of flaming fans, grimacing as Ryan blew them back with a football of water.
"Is that all you can do, lady? Stick to waiting tables!"
"HOU'OU NO MAI!!!!"
Mai leapt into the air, as if going for the aerial dive. Ryan went for the proscribed Electronic Revolution counter instantly, expecting a quick end to the fight. He was unpleasantly surprised when a massive ball of flames slammed into him, smashing him into the ground.
Intent on finishing him, Mai ran forward, drawing another fan from her endless supply. Then…
"AERIAL SLICER!!"
Andro hit her from behind with an Aerial Slicer, launching her into the air again. Ryan rolled to his feet, juggling Mai with a quick Electronic Revolution.
"SHADOW CUT KICK!"
"LIGHTNING CURTAIN!!"
Both boys leapt back up one last time, sandwiching Mai between two powered-up backflips. The ninja abruptly crashed back down, bruised and disorientated. Andro tossed off a quick salute and strode back into the seats, ignoring the boos that rained down from above.
Slowly, Mai tried to get to her feet, wincing slightly at the pain that shot through her every time she tried to move. If she didn't do something drastic, she was going to lose this match. With a snarl, Mai pulled off another flip, and charged.
Sure, Ryan was strong. But her will was stronger. Ryan was quite rudely surprised to discover that, at least in reaction time, the woman he'd written off at the start of the combat could match him speed-for-speed.
An Electronic Revolution rush ran headlong into a flaming fan and was stopped cold: Mai's try for a Sachiyo Dori followup was stuffed by a rising kick. The girl crashed to the floor and rolled back to her feet, brushing off shards but ready to continue. She lit Ryan up with the same triple flaming spin-kick that had started this whole fight, once more sending him into the ground.
"Flying Squirrel!"
From midair, Mai dove headfirst towards Ryan--
"SHADOW REAPER!" *SMACK*
--only to be launched *back* up by an uppercut from her opponent. As Mai landed, Ryan rushed in to follow up--
"KACHOUSEN!" *WHACK*
--and got hit in the face with a fan. Seeing her chance, Mai jumped away, hopping to the other end of the ring once more.
"This match is mine, boy!" Mai taunted, before letting loose an endless barrage of fans from her vantage point. Every half-minute or so, some of them would be *flaming* fans.
Ryan inched his way towards Mai, dodging, parrying and blocking as best he could, but Mai would see this and simply inch back further. None of his potent projectiles were currently available, all requiring time to be let off.
Then he remembered he could teleport.
Oh, yeah.
He disappeared and reappeared two feet straight up, in the same position, feeling like an idiot. A fan screamed right through where he'd been, followed by three more. Ryan vanished one more time, and appeared right in front of Mai.
"Now, you die."
Judging from the look on her face, she believed him.
"RYAN'S FINAL SYMPHONY!!!!
Mai swung at Ryan with a fan, in a desperate attempt to knock him unconscious. It would've connected, except that Ryan had plenty of time to see it coming.
The fan landed several feet away after Ryan kicked it out of the ninja's hands. That in itself wasn't significant compared to the furious assault Ryan leveled against Mai in retaliation.
A dozen punches, kicks, swipes, and throat strikes nailed her, right before a final somersault kick sent Mai flying fifteen feet away to crash into the railings.
She slid to the ground, propped herself against the wall, and wobbled as she tried to retain her balance. "N-nice... I'll remem... remember that... one..." she managed to say before collapsing.
*************
"Great going, Ryan! You ROCK!!"
"Jiazheng, put the camera away. I can't believe you actually did that."
"Hey, it's all in da mochandizing! Capitalism is great! Besides…"
Jiazheng pointed to the crowd full of amateur and professional perverts, who were all busy snapping pictures of the fight. As could be expected, the brunt of the flashbulbs were aimed at Mai's unconscious body, as she lay unconscious in…Shall we say…A compromising position.
Ryan obviously hadn't noticed that not many people weren't paying attention to him. Grinning like an idiot, he continued waving, walking back and forth.
"You wanna tell him?"
"Don't spoil his fun."
*************
King checked her spare clothing. Decent fit, insulation lined...perfect. She could only hope, really. After her last encounter with Benimaru, she'd become very careful, especially when going up against superpowered freaks.
"NOW ENTERING THE FIGHTING AREA...KING!" King walked into the center of the arena, backflipped, and showed a sign, reading, "Pao Pao Cafe: The drinks are cold, and the action's hot!"
Ryan popped his neck and cracked his knuckles, once more assuming his versatile stance. Flickering bolts of electricity jagged down his arms, outlining them in a sudden shower of sparks.
"Bring it on."
King kicked out a fireball immediately, and watched it collide in midair with a orb of water that flashed out of existence. King tried sending two fireballs, only to be punched in the back. She composed herself quickly enough to block the combo that followed, however, and let Ryan have it with a backflip and a side of kicks to the face.
Ryan retreated, trading ground for recovery time. He kicked into an awkward backward roll, just ducking the spin kick that followed. The customary lightning bolts jabbed from his fingers, just missing King.
Immediately, they charged each other.
King ducked down and gave her opponent a few swinging kicks to the shins, and had the favor returned in kind with a set of sweeps. Once the sweeps were out of range, King jumped and flipped in midair, then sprang her feet out towards the student.
Ryan took the attack, but was able to recover in time to land another uppercut as King tried another mid-air spinning kick. As King rose from that, she decided that she had just about enough.
A flash accompanied King backflipping. This was quickly followed by a jumpkick out of nowhere.
The backflip was blocked, almost finishing what strength Ryan had left. The jumpkick, though....
...the jumpkick, Ryan wasn't there for.
He vanished in a spray of water, reappearing right behind King.
"PHONEIX…"
Ryan's hands came down, as he pounded the ground in an axehandle position.
"CYCLONIC!!!"
Knowing that a particularly nasty move was aimed her way, King did the only thing she could.
She rolled.
Ryan's scream of rage quite drowned out the sound of the short-lived windstorm that followed, even as King flipped to her feet. As Ryan's hands came off the floor during the suicidal long delay time, he knew that he was doomed. It was only a matter of what finished him off.
"ILLUSION DANCE!!!"
A huge wall of kicks smashed him flat.
*************
Chan winced, as the medics dragged Ryan's comatose form off the ring. Judging from the sure speed and number of feet that had hit him, it had to hurt. To make things worse, he was next up…Against an opponent he'd fought before.
And that was really bad. Normally, his unique (Read: Crappy) way of fighting served to surprise and confuse his opponents-The first time, at least. But with Requiem below full strength-
"Just get in there, idiot."
-He'd just have to try it.
With unseemly haste, Chan hopped into the ring, looking far more confident than he felt. Flipping the Mage Cannon, he squared off against King. The woman shook her head, smirking slightly.
"Still using that? Good luck."
That didn't sound good.
"FIGHT!!!"
The synthesized command rang over the intercom, signaling the beginning of the brewing violence. The crowd let out another roar, expecting the defending champions to easily put a quick end to this fight.
And the running began.
*************
"SON OF A BITCH!!!! WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?!!!"
The moment the fight started, Chan turned tail, and ran for his life. He wasn't dodging, wasn't trying to pull off any insane stunt. Without even summoning up anything, the boy simply turned, and flat-out ran.
King was stunned and not a little surprised by this sudden retreat. She began to pursue him, cautiously at first, by slowly picking up speed as there was no clear retaliation.
Very soon, she was in full pursuit, with a ***huge*** volley of Venom Strikes aimed Chan's way. Weaving like a maniac, Chan managed to dodge most of the assault, though a few connected, sending him skidding off his feet, and right ***into*** the wall.
Thud.
"Ouch."
Chan climbed back to his feet, finally opening fire. The Mage Cannon in his hand began to thunder out the customary salvo of fireballs, blasting huge holes in both the floor and the railings. King simply dove aside in an incredible acrobatic flip, intending to charge in when he reloaded.
"Requiem."
The Stand shimmered into existence, a solid barrier between the blond fighter and the student. It carefully followed King's motion, granting Chan time to reload, as always.
Jiazheng frowned. Something was wrong, but he couldn't put his finger on it…
*************
The fight was not going well.
Chan was in serious trouble, that much he knew. The power flowing through him now came in slow, sluggish spasms, rather than the usual limitless reservoir it was. Just like dipping a hand into paint, there was a definite resistance to anything he was trying to do.
Requiem seemed to sense its master's difficulties, and was busy taking full advantage of them. The thing turned occasionally, snapping a pair of razor-sharp jaws at Chan. There a strange, vicious light jagging from its eyes, as it glared murder at the Stand-wielder.
Enough! Chan lashed the thing back into its place with a whip of azure light, keeping his gun trained on King all the while. If he lived through this, Requiem was going to pay.
Determinedly, he raised his other hand, cupping a rather feeble tongue of warpflame. What did it matter, anyway? He still had enough warpfire to burn anything that opposed him…He hoped.
*************
King didn't particularly know what was going on, and didn't particularly care. She fired off a quick pair of Venom Strike fireballs, running in to score a Trap Shot on Chan. The student's response was surprisingly weak, with a subpar Flintlock Dragon Uppercut that merely shoved her back.
Requiem body-tackled her away, a threatening growl coming somewhere from its maw. A scythe of bone cut into her midriff, right before King fed the thing a Venom Strike in the face.
With a howl, Requiem staggered back, a small hole evident in its transparent body. Chan clenched his teeth in sympathetic pain, retaliating with flickering bolts of fire, and yet another Mage Cannon round.
Requiem broke into a charge, with Chan right behind. Evidently, he was back in control…For now, at least.
"REQUIEM PUNCH!!!"
A huge spectral fist slammed into King, spinning her even further back. Rolling with the blow, the bartender hopped right back up, coming back in with Venom Strikes ablazing. Bullets caught and tore the projectiles from the air, annihilating both in a brief implosion of light.
Things rapidly went downhill from there, as Chan and King closed in once again, to continue the beating the old-fashioned way.
*************
Chan's face cracked into a disturbing smile, as the fight went on. He'd regained both his centre, and his control. Slowly, he settled into his standard procedure: Use the Stand to shield oneself, while moving in to fire and withdrawing to reload, as was necessary. The boy kept up a constant rate of fire now, slamming in more bullets even as empty rounds fell to the ground.
Today, King was having her hands full, as munitions rained all around her. She dashed in, struck with a kick or short combo, and leapt away before the damnable Stand circled round to strike him. It was time to call in her help
Silently, Andro dropped down behind King, blades scything through the air as he dashed forward on padded feet-Just as the world's smallest sumo wrestler crashed into Chan from behind. His aim went wild, sending his next shot streaking towards the horizon.
King leapt forward, ready to deal another flying kick to Chan's face. Andro ran right beneath her, eyes widening in sudden shock. Chan, still trying to shove Hinako off him, looked up just in time to see Andro slam into him. All three went down again, in a confused pile of steel, bullets and curses.
The bartender managed to skid to a stop, inches from the mess. Swearing, Chan got to his feet, his eyes glowing an unhealthy shade of red. Andro, realizing the startup of his SDM, got the hell out of the way. So did all of the audience directly in front of him.
"All right. THAT'S ENOUGH!!! Prepare to…"
With no other way out, King ran straight towards Chan, hoping to take him out before whatever he was casting was unleashed. To her credit, she was close.
Requiem warped back to Chan. Both of its massive cannons flipped open, even as Chan himself raised the Mage Cannon.
"DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!"
***THOOMMMMMMMMMM***
A barrage of bullets, energy, light and micro-rockets tore ahead, as Chan went (You guessed it.) Postal. It didn't matter exactly where he was shooting. Everyone ran like hell, or simply dove for cover. A final bright explosion lit the sky, as a small mushroom cloud billowed up from the ring.
Jiazheng poked his head around the corner and took in the scene. The stands were now shallow craters, littered with various debris that had the misfortune of not being vaporized. Amazingly, the walls were still standing, and the audience had escaped relatively unharmed.
There was no sign of King.
"You…Got…Lucky…"
Chan managed, sinking to his knees. He suddenly didn't have the strength to stand. So slowly that he almost missed it, a single hand emerged from the rubble. It clawed round, as if trying to find something to grip onto, before it collapsed again.
"Then again…I guess you didn't."
*************
Later…
After the ring was tidied up, and Chan helped offstage, the final fight began. Jiazheng and Li Xiangfei, each the underdog of their respective teams, walked right into the ring.
"FINAL ROUND: JIAZHENG V.S. LI XIANGFEI! FIGHT!"
Jiazheng unstrapped his scabbard, holding it in front of him. This was it. The survival of the entire team depended on him! He could not-would not lose. And of course, there was Andro's promise to think of.
As he had said, in deadly earnestness:
"Jiazheng, if you lose…I'll kill you."
Jiazheng believed him. Not that it had any bearing on the current situation, none at all. He was beginning to circle Xiangfei, when a thought struck him.
"Hey, wait. That name…You're Chinese, aren't you?"
Xiangfei looked at him oddly, but nodded.
"Of course! Your point is?"
"You're the biggest disgrace to the race I've ever seen. I mean, you play up EVERY stereotype I've-"
He should've been paying more attention to the fight.
Xiangfei shoulder-tackled Jiazheng, with a quick yell of 'Ekisupo!' The swordsman was shoved several steps back, but quickly regained his stance. It was time to get serious.
"BLAZING STRIKE!!!"
His scabbard burst into flames, forming a massive blade of emerald fire. Jiazheng began to advance, swinging his weapon in careful controlled circles around himself.
"See? Even that cheap attack brings up-Oof-"
Xiangfei blasted him away with a small chi ball.
"And that's for annoying the hell outta me! Just shut up and fight, alright?"
Andro began to sharpen his blades again, with a decidedly ominous noise. His glare could be felt right through the visor, and two layers of cloth. Jiazheng gulped, picking himself back up.
"EMERALD WAVE!!!"
That caught Xiangfei by surprise. She barely managed to parry it, blowing a small hole in the wave with her chi blast again.
"Who's being cheap now?"
There was no way Jiazheng was falling for that trick again. He broke into a zig-zag run, spinning his blazing weapon through loose fingers. Xiangfei flipped forward, making a quick grab at him that missed. Jiazheng swiped at her with his scabbard in return, clipping her skin with an odd sizzling noise.
Xiangfei hissed in pain, landing a one-handed double flipkick on Jiazheng's chest. This time, Jiazheng managed to get in a solid strike, searing through one of her hair buns with a fast spinning slash. They broke apart, both limping now.
"I CAN'T LOSE AGAIN! I CAN'T!!!"
Jiazheng charged his foe, making his sword move faster through sure force of will. It was as though a faint green haze surrounded him, chopping through the air with a keening noise.
"WHIRLWIND SLASH!!!"
Suddenly, Jiazheng sped up to twice his normal rate. His feet blurred, as he brought his weapon round in an incredibly fast swing. Xiangfei leaned back like a dancer, mildly surprised as the weapon scythed past overhead. She kicked Jiazheng in the back, sending him sprawling.
With a clatter, Jiazheng hit the ground again, skidding along on his face.
The momentum of battle suddenly on her side, all Xiangfei had to do was to rush in, potentially ending the fight prematurely. Of course, being Xiangfei, she did the exact opposite. She taunted.
"Hah! Some kind of swordsman you are! DAI TETSUIJIN!!"
Jiazheng blurred out of the way, snatching up his sword again. He lit back into Xiangfei with a vengeance, cracking her a good one across the skull.
"SINISTRAL!!!"
Somehow, Jiazheng managed to turn a single quick backfist into an elbow bash, a brief shoulder-charge, and a ferocious uppercut, launching Xiangfei sky-high. He leapt up, giving her a boost back to the ground with a vicious two-handed Heaven-To-Earth cut, complete with a detonation of light at the end.
Still game, Xiangfei got up again, announcing her return to the fight by breaking Jiazheng's nose. Superbly pissed, he struck back even harder, this time with a four-hit dashing strike known as the Rising Nova.
Now bruised and bleeding, they both fell back, on some unspoken agreement.
"Had enough?"
"No. You suck."
Upon hearing the dreadful words, Jiazheng went pale. He'd enough. He was sick of hearing how crappy he was. He'd trained hard for this too! And now, nothing, no nothing AND no one was going to get in his way.
"I…DO NOT…SUCK!!! OVERCHANNEL!!!"
With a roar, he forced more power into himself than was safe. He HAD to win!
Green tides of force poured into the ring from an unseen reservoir, each and every stream stabbing into Jiazheng and lighting him up with an unhealthy green glow. His motions smoothed out, each one flowing into another as he advanced one last time, heavy scabbard swinging effortlessly in one hand.
Xiangfei made the mistake of trying to close in for the kill.
"MUSASHI NO SHUGGEKI!!!!!! DIE!"
Suddenly, Jiazheng's blade seemed to be everywhere, slashing and stabbing all at once. It bashed back blows and teeth with equal effectiveness, leaving trails of light in its wake. A last swathe of light smashed Xiangfei back, bringing her down to the floor, just as Jiazheng leapt into the air.
"THIS ENDS NOW!"
There was a final, massive detonation that quite dwarfed the original. Stone shards sprayed in all directions, shattering glass and metal with abandon. Jiazheng came to a stop, coughing up streamers of blood. Xiangfei wasn't moving.
"I…Won…I…Win…But more importantly…YOU LOSE!! YOU LOSEEE!!!!"
There was the faint sound of applause, as the audience began clapping. Grudgingly at first, the noise grew louder and louder, as more people joined in. Ignoring the pain of his wounds and the fire burning in his sternum, Jiazheng put on a brave smile. Hacking up more blood, he managed to bow once, arms open.
"Ah…Showbiz."
(From here on, the story will begin to pick up a bit, with a surprise reappearance from the other DHS team. It may take me some time to write it, but I think I can get it up before the end of the holidays. Once again, any suggestions are welcome, so please read and review as always.)