Chapter 5: Arne vs. Kogoro, Master of Mirrors
AUTHOR"S NOTE: Before reading this, it would help you to know what a tonfa is. I suggest a visual search on Google, then a little research as to how they are wielded. You might get a little confused if you don't know what I'm talking about
Before Team Mirushito knew it, the referee was in the ring. Some might call this referee pretty, if you're in to demons. She was a thin blonde with shoulder-length hair, cat ears, and a matching tail. She wore a collared white sleeveless top with a green skirt just above her knees.
"Hey there, carnage fans! My name's Midori, and I'll be your hostess this year!" she announced. A few demons in the stands whistled. "Will the Team Captains please come see me?"
Kakome and the man in the black attire came to the ring where Midori was standing. "So, how's this gonna work?" Midori asked them as if it were nothing.
"My vote is one-on-one matches, best of five." The man in black said.
"Fine by me." Kakome said, not at all meaning it. How was she supposed to watch out for her teammates if she couldn't fight with them? She felt small; helpless.
"Alright! It looks like it's gonna be one-on one fights, best of five! Will the first two combatants please step into the ring?" Midori announced excitedly.
"I'll fight first." Arne volunteered. He stepped into the ring, clutching his weapons: wooden tonfa.
"I shall take this novice," Said the preteen boy in samurai armor. He pulled a pole from a sheath on his back.
"It looks like it's Arne from Team Mirushito versus Kogoro from Team Shishiotogi! Ready? FIGHT!"
His teammates didn't know this, but Arne had stayed up all last night honing his craft: wind. Arne was a human, so he couldn't be classified as an Apparition, but that didn't make him any less of an opponent. He was ready.
As he held his tonfa to his forearms, he jerked to a ready stance, and, suddenly, blew himself into the air with his wind, flipping several times. As he bgan to fall, he went into a dive, one arm out, holding a tonfa backwards (he did this to jab at the stomach).
Kogoro, Arne's opponent, bowed his head, closed his eyes, and put his hands together in a ninja prayer. Suddenly, his Turquoise aura began to glow. He then shouted "FORCE-REFLECTING MIRROR!" and, as Arne came within about a foot of him, he fell to the ground, as if he had hit his head in mid-dive.
Arne rubbed his head.
"Like that? It's my Force-Reflecting Mirror. It measures the force you're about to use, then meats you head on with double that!" Kogoro triumphed.
"How is it a mirror if it's not the same as the force it reflects?" Arne mocked.
"Do you not understand how mirrors bend some of the light they reflect? Same goes here. It bends your force by multiplying it." Kogoro explained in a 'duh!' kind of way. Arne could tell he was trying to use higher, more ninja-like vocabulary.
"Don't care." Arne shot back in a split second. In this same second, he had thrown one of his tonfa like a giant, oddly- shaped shuriken, propelling it to sonic speeds with his incredible wind.
This wooden projectile hit Kogoro right in the gut. He hunched over, wheezing in pain. Meanwhile, Arne used his wind to return the weapon to his hand, just like a boomerang.
Arne seized this opportunity to run over and punch his opponent in the jaw. Kogoro was still for a moment. Arne knew he was trying to figure out whether he should clutch his stomach or his face.
"That's it! No more playing around!" Kogoro shouted furiously. He then began to do his ninja prayer again, but this time he was chanting an incantation Arne could not understand. It was probably a demon language. He then took his pole, grasped it with both hands in the middle, and spun it around. Arne saw that as Kogoro spun, a circle of turquoise aura appeared where the pole had been. It was a perfect circle, and, when Kogoro stopped spinning, this circle remained. He then hit this circle like a gong, and it shattered, sending the shards flying straight at Arne.
Arne attempted to blow them away, but his wind had no effect. He began to jump backwards to avoid the shards of light that were crashing at where his feet had been milliseconds before.
To Arne's horror, when the shards had broken, they flew back into the air, this time in smaller pieces.
"Run all you want, Arny Boy! You'll never escape my Mirror Shards of Death!" Kogoro cackled. "Just one more thing: if one touches you, you'll be dematerialized and reappear in this!" He held up a coral hand mirror with horns and spikes all over it. "This is my own little kingdom, and I won't release you unless your teammates win the round!" he cackled.
With that, Arne stopped dead in his tracks, not thinking about what he had just done. Thousands of broken light shards came upon him at once. He yelled in agony, but, as he knew, no one could help him now.
Arne disappeared, and his teammates could have sworn they saw him banging on the glass from the inside of the mirror.
"Well… on the grounds that Arne is unable to continue this match, I declare Kogoro the winner!" Midori announced, shocked. "It also appears that a little wager has been made. If Team Mirushito wins this round, Kogoro will release Arne from his magic mirror. But, If Team Shishiotogi wins… I'm sorry I… didn't quite catch that part."
"Then I smash the mirror, and all chances of ever rescuing your little human friend! But, I'd better hurry- there's not a whole lot of air inside a mirror!" The audience cheered and cackled at this. They wanted to see the humans perish, and, well… they might just get their wish…
"Will the next two fighters please step into the ring?" Midori suggested, just now remembering what her job was.
"Oooooooooooo! I wanna fight next! They look like fun!" said the little girl with silver hair.
"I wish to fight her. She needs a lesson in manners." Inaryu told them in his monotone voice.
"Inaryu, no! we need you to fight the strongest people. Let Takaan take her!" Kakome pleaded. "Inaryu, plea"-
"I will fight her, and you will not stop me." Inaryu snarled, his voice becoming more demonic. This was from the demon blood in his veins. Inaryu walked into the ring, an impossibly angry look on his face.
"Alright! It looks like the next match will be Inaryu versus Team Shishiotogi's Ikuyo! Ready?..."