Chapter 11 – Mash – Standoff
Damn me and my competitive edge. I blame the Figaro blood within me. Our party managed to overpower Orthros but I was determined not to let him escape and survive. Unfortunately, not only did I fulfill what I set out to do, I was swept off into the current because I overestimated my strength against nature's forces. In my angry madness I'd forgotten one of Master's most important rules: Respect Mother Nature and she will respect you back. I evidently didn't respect her. Now, here I am, completely lost due to my carelessness. I was washed up onto a shore in God knows where. Thankfully, I'm not alone. Right by the shore was a small house off by itself. When I got nearby I was met by a merchant on a chocobo trying to sell his wares. I wasn't really interested in spending what little money I had on me but I noticed a man nearby who bought out the entire merchant's stock of shurikens. To say the least, I was a bit intrigued by the man's purchasing decisions. He must have bought at least thirty triplets of the stars. Judging from his appearance and openness about purchasing so many weapons he was already well armed. He was wearing all black martial arts and stealth garb. He looked like a ninja, but in any case I wanted to talk to him. Here I am completely lost; at the very least he may have a clue as to my proper direction.
"Where you from buddy?" I asked him. At first he seemed to ignore me as if he didn't hear my voice, but I know he did. After a brief pause I was ready to ask him again but he decided to form a reply before I could let the words flow from my already opened mouth. "….the shadows" he said. I figured this guy wasn't the cheeriest dude around so I just kept my voice to a business tone. "Any chance you know where we are? I'm lost and I gotta find my friends in Narche…." Before I could finish my sentence, which came out much like rambling by the way, he announced, "the Empire has built a base in the sands south of here and are planning to attack and take over Doma." Completely forgetting all about my previous problems I focused all my attention to this new discovery. "Wha! That damn Empire!..." Suddenly I remembered my own problems. "What's the nearest way to Narche from here?" He had been tending to his dog during the entire conversation, and now he stood up and looked at me for the first time. I had no clue what he was going to do but in any case I made my mind and body ready for anything. I thought that he may reach for and shoot a weapon at me at any second but he simply stood straight up and asked for my name. "Mash Rene Figaro…" I said, "brother to King Edgar Figaro." He shot me a mistrusting glance. "Ah, well if you're a king's brother then what are you doing lost, asking for a strangers assistance?" It was at this point that my soaking wet clothes were beginning to bother me. It wasn't the weight that altered my stance, it was the chills running over my body that was making me a little uneasy. The sun was setting, so I was hoping to make tracks soon. I wouldn't want to have to sleep on someone's front yard.
"Look, it's a long story. I got separated from my friends and I just need to get back to them." He seemed to be in the mood to depart from this area as well. "Well then, I suppose I could show you the way southward towards Doma. There's a forest nearby. If you make it through….ah…nevermind. I'll just show you the way." I expressed my deepest gratitude to him as we started to move forward. I went to pet his dog but it snapped at me like it was thirsty for blood. I think for my paranoia's sake, I'd best keep my distance from this man and his….. Speaking of which, I never did get a name from him…………………………………………………………………….
His name is….Shadow? Well, I'm not one to pass judgment over names. He did report right after telling me his name, "just know….if I feel like it I'll just leave you. It's nothing personal…I follow where the winds take me."……………….This guy is strange.
We got a decent ways south I suppose. Note to self: when I have free time to train, train with soaking wet clothes on. After hours of walking and fighting monsters I'm completely exhausted. I believe he sensed that vibe coming from me and asked if we wanted to stop for the evening. Although I had been dying for him to say something of the sort for hours I acted reluctant to agree. Something tells me he picked up on that vibe as well. One thing can be said about Shadow, he's got skills. Dressed the way he was I figured he either had skills in thieving or in martial arts like myself. Turns out I was wrong. When a slow monster attacked us he'd lunge into the fray with a dagger or short sword of some kind. When a fast and/or flying monster appeared and became hostile towards us, he's launch a trio of those shurikens I saw him purchase earlier. His timing and aiming were extremely precise in both methods of monster destroying. His dress was indeed for stealth and speed. I couldn't blame him really; I'm dressed for speed and ease of motion with my training gear on. He certainly is a worthy combatant. I'd soon learn this first hand………………….
Just as I was getting relaxed I overheard him mumbling something. I thought at first he wasn't talking to me, but who would he be talking to? Then I thought about what I heard, "I'd like to test your abilities." Would he be saying this to me? What does that mean? Before I could answer, my instincts acted for me. I was sitting with my legs crossed and I leapt to leaning on one knee, did a ¾ turn with my wet top in my left hand, flinging it counterclockwise, catching Shadow's right wrist holding a knife in that hand, and quickly within the same motion grabbed the other end of my top with my right hand pulling it against Shadow's wrist and holding back the blade still just an inch or so from my face. We both froze in that instant that felt like forever. Behind the black wrappings hiding all of his face less his eyes I could feel him smiling and I followed suit. With the next motion I used my left hand to knock away his weapon wielding hand as I leapt up and back to assume a proper stance. He leapt back as well to do the same, although I know he has no prior martial arts skills. Otherwise, he could have been using them this past day. We stood glaring at each other for several seconds until he started to run towards me, both hands concealed in proper stealth fighting fashion. As I think of it now, I wonder how long this man has been practicing such techniques. I can tell that he has not been practicing his entire life. For, if he had he'd have surely learned more martial arts skills. No, this man is definitely trained to kill and nothing more. So I assume if he is not able to kill whatever target he pursuits, then he is willing to accept the fate he would have dealt out upon himself. This is a cold, soulless man. I imagine he has nothing to live for, which in his case is a blessing and a curse. The double-edge effect is much like his blades. He has nothing to live for, therefore has no fear of death. He has nothing to live for; therefore he has no drive to protect him from that sudden death.
As I said before, he ran towards me, a half second before he was within striking distance I saw the shine of a blade immerge from his body. Where it was coming and where it was going I had no clue, I had to follow, in this case, the most basic of martial arts' rules: follow your opponent's eyes. He wasn't an easy opponent though, for his eyes focused solely on my eyes as well. Just then, as I began sensing the blade move towards me from an unknown angle, I saw the moment of switch in his eyes. I hadn't but maybe the smallest of fractions of a second to react and all I heard and saw became a blur. When I stopped to look at myself and my surroundings I saw that I was indeed unharmed and saw Shadow behind me, seemingly stunned. I turned my full attention to him and returned to my previous battle stance. He pointed to the ground between me and him, and I stupidly looked down. Luckily, Master taught me very well, my instincts kicked in and I bent my knees as far as I could and twisted my left side towards Shadow, grappling him and sending us both careening to the ground behind us. We hit the ground with a thud and within a split second we were in a double point blank mortal attack. He has his blade as close to my face as he possibly could without scraping the skin. I had my hands clasped into a deathblow position for my Aura Cannon attack aimed directly between Shadow's eyes. We sat on the ground in that stance for what seemed like an eternity but were probably only a minute. What was weird was that in that minute it seemed as if the entire world was silent. He nodded and retracted his weapon; then rolled over and went to sleep. A very odd ending to a battle, but at least I'm unharmed. We truly are an even match in skill.
Oh, by the way, when I looked on the ground before that double attack standoff, I saw one of Shadow's shurikens. Apparently, he must have assumed I would be able to dodge and deflect his close range attack, based on how I did with his first attack, and so deliberately used shurikens as a decoy so he could still have his main weapon handy. I must say a sneaky but very effective move. If my Master weren't the best in the world, I may be dieing now. Then again, judging this night I'd say if I couldn't at least match this man, then perhaps I'm not much of an addition to the Returners after all.
Author's Note: Just a little note, this whole idea of a night-time battle between Shadow and Mash, I got the idea from this one fanart I saw. I was looking up various arts and one was a standoff of shadow and mash just like in the fic, where shadow has the blade in mash's face and mash has the deathblow attack in shadow's face. Sorry I hadn't updated in a couple days...i've been a little sidetracked lately.
Japanese/American
Mash/Sabin
Deathblow/Blitz
Aura Cannon/Aurabolt
Orthros/Ultros