Disclaimers 'n' crap: Haihai peeps! Well, this is it. Sort of. A climactic battle that won't really be that climactic because I'm too lazy to write out a full battle scene (I'm also not very good at it). While reading through the actual fight scene and the part where Scott summons the aura at the end, it'll add a more dramatic effect to get Duel of the Fates (that choral battle music from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace) stuck in your head. You already know who and what I do and don't own. Enjoy!


"Shelby! Give me your hand!"

"Scott? Wouldn't it've been easier to've just taken the stairs?" Scott and Shelby were scaling the large black tower at the center of Capitopolis. Rosemary's voice came on over the communicators.

"Not really, Shelby," she said "The security inside is way too tight. Even Snake would have a hard time getting through there without Stealth Camo."

"As a matter of fact," said Michelle "It's a wonder you've made it this far!"

Now THAT was saying something. I know that Snake is a top-of-the-line espionage expert, but for someone to doubt him like that…well…there IS the fact that I don't think Snake's ever tried to sneak past a horde of demons before…

"We're almost at the top!" said Scott. He saw Shelby smile for the first time all day.

I had just had about enough of enough by now. If Elaine wanted to face me head-on, then, goddammit, that bitch was in for a serious ass-whooping. This conflict had gone too far, too long.


At the communications base, Rosemary and Michelle were running standard operation check-up procedures. Raiden's image suddenly came over the comm screens.

"Raiden!" said Rosemary, smiling at seeing her husband alive "How are things holding up?"

"Not that good," said Raiden "We're being overwhelmed out here. We'll retreat if we need to, but I promise you, I will get out if this alive." Raiden suddenly turned to the comm unit on his wrist. Snake's muffled voice was yelling something urgent to him. Rose and Michelle couldn't make it out but, judging by the panicked expression on Raiden's face, it was pretty serious. He turned back to the anxiously waiting women.

"I'm afraid there's been a very serious development," he said "The bodies of six out of the eight Cliffhangers were just recovered." His face darkened. "They're…all dead."

"All of them?" cried Rosemary.

"Scott! No!" Michelle cried into the palms of her hands.

"Scott and Shelby are the only ones unaccounted for," said Raiden.

"If we just spoke to them a minute ago…" said Michelle "Then they must be the remaining two!"

"The last of the Cliffhangers Unit…" said Raiden "Patch me through to Scott and Shelby." Rosemary hit a few buttons. Nothing happened. Michelle tried the same thing. Still no response.

"Something's wrong," said Rosemary "Something is very wrong…"


Scott and Shelby stood at the top of the tower. Standing at the other end stood Elaine. All three of them looked malevolent.

"Scotty, Shelby," said Elaine, her voice dripping poison "How nice of you to drop by."

"Shut up, bitch," Shelby snapped. She glanced at Scott "You have no right to talk to him. Not after what you did…" The sound of metal being removed from a sheath cut her off. Elaine had drawn a ridiculously long knife from her robe-like black overcoat.

"We duel," she said, speaking Scott and Shelby's thoughts "We end this." Shelby drew two daggers from their slots on her hips. Scott raised his hand and the bracelet on his right wrist began to glow. Two beams of yellow light shot from it to each of his hands and molded themselves into a pair of knives.

I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. The first time, it had been Hannah who had claimed revenge…and Elaine's life, but things are different now. Elaine's not human this time.

They lunged.

Our battle was fierce. We were pouring every emotion we felt into our moves, our stabs, our slashes. We cut each other quite a few times, but there was no serious damage being done. Yet.

Another few minutes into the fight, Scott and Shelby got Elaine pinned to the ground. An almost evil grin spread across Scott's face.

"Now," he said, quietly "You die. You pay for everything." A truly evil grin spread across Elaine's face.

"Not yet," she said, drawing out each word slowly.

What happened next happened in a flash.

Elaine shot to her feet, throwing Scott far off to the side and the knives out of his hands, next to Elaine. She smacked Shelby hard across the face, temporarily disabling her and allowing Elaine to lock her arms around her abdomen, one of Scott's knives in each hand.

And this part happened in slow motion.

Throwing Scott one last malevolent grin at the look of horror and helplessness on his face, Elaine plunged the knives deep into Shelby's stomach.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Elaine stepped back and let Shelby fall to the ground, bleeding heavily. Throwing every emotion he had into his walk, Scott dashed forward at an inhuman speed, thwacked Elaine across the head, knocking her unconscious, and clutched Shelby tightly in his arms, praying for the Spirits not to take her away from him again. Her blood began to soak through his uniform. She somehow managed to open her eyes again.

"…Scott…"

"Shelby?" Scott took Shelby's hand in his.

"You know…I always loved you…" breathed Shelby, quietly. Scott quickly leaned down to kiss her, one last time.

"Scott?" whispered Shelby when they parted "Do me…one last…favor…"

"Yes?" said Scott, nearly choking.

"Kick…Elaine's…ass…for me…" Scott's brow furrowed in heroic determination.

"I will," he said in his strongest voice, then, it wavered again "Shel…I…I love you…" Shelby smiled, closed her eyes, and, in that spiritual, ghostly way, left Scott sitting there, sobbing uncontrollably.

I was numb for awhile. Completely numb. Then, my mind returned to the mission at hand. There were few thoughts in my head, save these: Elaine was the enemy. She had taken everything from me, Shelby, my mom, my dad's love, the whole F'ing NORMAL life I could've lived!

Elaine rose to her feet silently. Scott slowly turned to face her. The usual boyish expression on his face had turn demonic in every way. His pupils were dilated to pinpoints with rage, there was a blazing fire in his eyes, and he had murder written all over his face. When he had regressed to killing people in the alleyways of Capitopolis over 20 years ago, he had worn this face often, but this time, he had a good reason.

"You took everything away from me…" breathed Scott, his voice labored with the urge to kill "Now…you WILL die. YOU WILL PAY!" A bright yellow-red aura suddenly shot up around Scott. His bracelet glowed again but this time, a long, wood-hilted sword shot to his hand. For the first time in a long while, Elaine actually looked scared. She drew her own blade.

"Let's not get carried away, Scotty," she said, unable to hide the nervousness in he voice. Scott reached out his hand and, using the aura around him, seized Elaine's sword and crushed in his glowing right hand. His eyes went yellow. Elaine could see that he was nearly overloading on power.

I had to avenge my fellow Cliffhangers, and there was only one way to do that: I had to kill Elaine.


Oooooooooooooooo. Semi-cool battle scene coming up next! Okay, I confess, it's not going to be a REAL battle, but it WILL have more of Scott using magic! That's cool, right? (Lookspatheticallyatcrowd) Well…I think it's cool…