(Eheh… Sorry for the silent treatment in the last chapter. I just wanted to get it done quickly once I got over my Lazy Writer's Block. Also, my excuse for this one being a bit late is that I had a five-day trip and a tedious set of homework and chatting to wade through. Well, for lack for anything else to blame… Here's the next chapter!)
"Okay, okay, so… Since my power is within me, and is now a part of me, that makes my body greater than a mortal's."
"Yes."
"But since your power comes from a source outside of your body, which can give you power at will, your body stays the same."
"Yes…"
"Meaning that your body is still technically mortal."
"Yes…"
"And that it's easier to heal because of that."
"Yes…"
"Yet it says at equal strength to my body because Daachan is constantly feeding you with power."
"Yes…"
"…Well, if you're being supplied with power constantly, wouldn't you count as being greater than a mortal?"
"NO!"
"…Okay, then I'm confused. You'll have to run that by me again."
"I'M NOT RUNNING IT BY YOU AGAIN!" Hugh shouts in frustration, pulling at his hair angrily. Five minutes had already passed since Miro had stopped the fight suddenly and asked Hugh to re-explain the whole theory behind the different forms of power again. Hugh's temples were, if possible, now more swollen with anger than they had been at the start of the fight, and even the glow of Daachan seemed to have an air of frustration to it. Miro sighs and lowers his hands from their thinking position, looking a bit downcast.
"Well, okay, but if you don't tell me, how am I supposed to learn anything?" He asks.
"…What?" Hugh says, spitting out the word.
"Well, you're an older peer, you're supposed to be more wizened in the ways of the world and experienced in things like making good choices and keeping one's chin up." Miro explains, sounding quite serious of the topic. "If you don't teach me, I may never learn."
"…Okay, when did this turn into an afterschool special?" Kate asks, her eyes narrowed.
"I think he's trying to throw Hugh off of his game." Kai suggests, scratching his head. "Making him use his brain and feel guilty all at once."
"It might imbalance him." Mary adds, nodding in agreement.
"Well, what happened to just fighting?" Kate asks.
"Miro also just wants to annoy Hugh." Nami says. "It's a guy thing."
"You would know?" Gray asks.
"I'm a people-watcher. I've picked up some guy things." Nami explains.
"No kidding…" Kai begins.
Skipping the part where Kai is brutally assaulted for now, Hugh and Miro finally seem content with the knowledge they've shared. Or at least Miro. You see, Hugh was now so angry that Daachan was burning away the grass surrounding him, and Miro was content with that.
"I'm going to crush you so much they won't know which end of you to put into the coffin first…"Hugh hisses, one of his eyebrows working up a feirce twitch.
"Right, but what style should we try this time?" Miro asks, quite casually.
Hugh says nothing for a moment, but then seems to calm down slightly and consider it.
"Well…" He starts, his head tilting slightly… or at least seeming to tilt, although it may had just been the effect given by a major, involuntary eyebrow twitch. "…what do you have in mind?"
"Oh, I don't know…" Miro says, rubbing his chin in thought. "…How about music? I know I could beat you up to Switch."
"I could beat you up to Barbie Girl, dammit…"Hugh growls.
"Hmm… Well, what about something between those?" Miro suggests. "Like… Holiday? That's good fighting music."
"That's driving music, not fighting." Hugh says.
"It's fighting music…" Miro says defensively, his eyes narrowing.
"It's driving…"
"Fighting…"
"Driving."
"Fighting!"
"Driving!"
"FIGHTING!"
"You wouldn't know fighting music if you watched WWE!"
"Wrestling's fake."
"IS NOT!"
With that, the two opponents charge at one another, trading blows in a frenzied tangle for a time. It took a moment for the observing group to even realize what the opponents were doing in the mess. Once they could catch on, the fight became more enjoyable. Hugh and Miro both match each other in attacks, blocks and counters for a time, until Daachan decided to step in a bit. The aura that surrounded Hugh previously strengthens, all in one large burst which knocks Miro back. Miro stops himself in mid-air (which startled him quite a bit, since he had no clue that nature abilities allowed him to hover (It turned out to be wind power but he really didn't give a crap at that point (although he still found it cool (and fun (and surprisingly refreshing, what with the breeze and all))))) and readies a long sword of ice before moving forward again. Daachan strengthens the aura once more, this time maintaining it to form a shield of heat. Miro stops once he notices it, and Hugh takes the opportunity to hold his hands out and launch a stream of fire at him. Miro quickly summons up a large amount of wind to keep the fire at bay and force it to spread away from him. Finally, he allows his body to glow completely blue and pushes his arms forward, sending ice into the wind as well. Both opponents close in on each other during this, and they are lost to sight in a massive spiral of fire, wind and ice.
"Wow, that's pretty…" Popuri comments, watching the whirlwind of power with interest.
"…Oh, that's what I should've brought!" Kate says, snapping her fingers. "A camera!"
"I wouldn't bother. There's no 1-Hour Photo in either town." Nami reminds her.
"Well, we recently had Saibara's shop double as one…" Mary notes. "And I think that Gray broght his. Didn't you?"
"Yes." Gray replies, nodding a bit. "I've already taken a couple of rolls worth of pictures."
"Really? I didn't see you." Jack says, blinking.
"I took them when others weren't looking. I wouldn't want to interrupt anyone." Gray explains. "And then there's… other reasons."
"Oh, show them your camera, dear." Mary requests, smiling. "It's so cute. It has these little bunny stickers and it's the shape of a Hello Kitty head-"
"That… would be one of the reasons… It's Dad's." Gray mutters. Everyone looks suspiciously at him. "…What? It is… Honestly, it is, it's not like I would buy it for myself… Stop looking at me! Hey, look, a fight! Everyone turn your attention to the fight! …Dammit."
At the exact same moment, both Miro and Hugh appeared from within the tornado, jumping out from the top of it and keeping themselves in the air for the moment. Hugh, however, was ill-prepared for this moment and Miro took full advantage by carving a wide line across Hugh's chest using the ice sword. Hugh was sent falling back and, as the whirlwind slowly calmed and dissipated, he fell the long height to the ground and landed with an unbraced thunk.
"Heh, score one for me." Miro says proudly, slowly beginning to float back down.
However, Hugh was far from finished. As Daachan began to do its usual patchwork on him, he starts to get back on his feet, stopping once he had himself on one knee.
"Grr… Yeah, I know we're losing…" Hugh says, seeming to be in communication with Daachan. "…It's not my fault, you're not doing enough. You're just fixing me up so I can make an idiot out of myself over again… Well, how am I supposed to win this if you're not going all-out? …What do you mean 'so be it'…?"
Suddenly, Hugh lets out a choked gasp, with Daachan's eyes beginning to glow quite stronger than usual. He raises himself to his feet, trembling slightly and looking at his hands. He then begins to groan as though he were in pain, and his face tenses and contorts itself. With only subtle things beginning to show at first, Hugh begins to change. He lets out a yell as he stares at his right hand, the fingernails of which start to morph themselves longer, much longer and sharper. Within several seconds, the had become long claws, much like Muffy's. The left hand, which he then turns his attention to, is given a slightly more radical change. A full-length, multi-bladed staff, like Celia's brooms, is somehow created or summoned from Hugh, made from some strong material which grafts itself to Hugh's hand. The only other change which Hugh suffers through takes place on his ears, which become slightly rounder and fuzzy. Once the changes had fully taken place, Daachan's eyes reduce themselves to a lesser glow and Hugh stops yelling, lowering his two changed hands, the weapon ends of which hit the ground, and simply breathes heavily for a moment.
"Well… I guess… that's better…"He admits, his voice sounding even slightly more warped by Daachan's influence than it was.
"Oh, boy…" Miro begins, touching down on the ground and staring for a moment.
"Hugh…" Lumina says in concern, her and most everyone else's faces with a reasonable expression of shock.
"For this… I think it's time for a name change…" Hugh says, smirking and raising his arms up, standing straight. "I… am Hughchan!"
"Sure, okay." Miro says.
"Yeah." Cliff says.
"Sounds reasonable." Gray adds, him and the group, which he was glad to discover were no longer staring at him, nodding and grunting in general agreement.
"Cute ears, too. It suits the name." Kate admits, keeping herself from chuckling as best as she could.
"Get ready, Miro…" Hughchan says, putting his new weapons into a fighting pose.
"It's a…" Matthew begins.
"Waaaait a minute." Miro says, holding one hand out to Hughchan. "Is that it?"
"What?" Hughchan questions, tilting his head to one side.
"'Get ready'? That's your big intro to the final round?" Miro says incredulously.
"…What's wrong with that?" Hughchan asks.
"It's way too plain. If one of us is dying, I want the entry quote to be something big and cool, that other people would copy and use as a plug." Miro explains.
"…Okay…" Hughchan begins, pausing for a moment. "…Anything come to mind?"
"…Nope." Miro admits. "I thought you'd have something."
"Hrrm…" Hughchan says, getting out of his pose and scratching his chin with the side of one of his claws.
"…I can't believe this…" Ricca says, sighing. "Those two must be the biggest stooges this side of the…"
She then remembers something and looks back to Kai and the two Jacks.
"…Never mind." She says, looking back.
"You have to build up to it!" Kate yells suddenly, directing her shout to Miro and Hughchan. She was getting bored of just watching them think. "No good quote can just come out, you have to make it the clever end to a dramatic conversation!"
"…Hm, she's right." Miro says, looking back to her. "Thanks, Kate!"
Staring defiantly at Hughchan, Miro keeps his arms lowered idly, the sword's end resting on the ground.
"So, you're finally showing all of your stuff." He says. "Good. I was hoping you'd give it your all for the big finish."
"Heh… You have no clue." Hughchan begins, chuckling quietly. "This… this new power, it's more than enough to finally crush you into skinny, pale little splinters…"
"Ah, but you're getting cocky." Miro says, smirking. "You think there's no way you can lose, but I'd say the odds are dead even, since I'm thinking the exact same thing right now…"
"You've got nothing behind it." Hughchan spits. "My victory's gonna be the true one. You know why? I'm perfect! The perfect vessel for Daachan's power! You can't hold a candle to my physique!"
"And you couldn't hold a shaving of glow-in-the-dark rubber to my mind!" Miro replies. "I can, and will, defeat you since my wit outdoes your simple brawn."
"Heh… But my mind has been set for this much longer than yours…" Hughchan begins, holding his claws and his bladed staff out in another fighting stance. "I've been waiting for this moment ever since the day Lumina looked at your toddler face and squeed out more than I had ever dreamt I could manage. Ever since, it has been written in our fates to face one another, and now…"
During Hughchan's dramatic pause, Miro slowly and silently raised his weapon to a ready stance as well. Drips of water fell from its blade now, as the sun was finally beginning to affect it, but Miro could strengthen it or create another with the right opportunity.
"…it's destiny time."
"Hey, that worked."
"Yeah. Thanks, Kate."
"No prob."
"A… a Gundam…" Matthew wheezes out, staring up at that very thing standing near the middle of the large, warehouse-like room. The model of Gundam it was didn't necessarily matter to Matthew at that moment, as the fact that it was a large, shiny, powerful, two-legged metal thing was enough to keep him captivated enough.
"Anna…" He says, still staring up at the well-polished machine.
"Yes?" Anna replies.
"I love you." He states.
"Okay." Anna says, smiling and also looking up at the machine, which she found to be quite pretty, if little else. Matthew, on the other hand, was quick to act on his much more excited opinion of it.
With all of the haste expected of a young man with his fascination of certain otaku-esque subjects, Matthew scurries toward and up the large machine without need of any ladders or platforms whatsoever. He unlocks the cockpit by some complex means that he must have picked up from somewhere or another, and slips into the seat of the machine as it slowly opens, the hydraulic tubes and pipes hissing as it does so. He observes the controls and begins fiddling with them in some random sequence. Nothing happens, but he continues to play with the controls anyway.
"Umm, Matthew?" Anna calls up, her voice echoing in the large room. "I think it might be broken."
"What? It couldn't just be broken…" Matthew says, mostly to himself for reassurance. Looking the controls up and down, he finds a switch labeled in Japanese. He studies it for a moment, and eventually finds the english subtitle 'Start, you twit' in small characters beneath the label. Smiling, he flips the switch and waits.
"…Matthew?" Anna calls up after a moment of silence.
"Yes…?" Matthew calls back down.
"Are you absolutely sure it's not broken…?"
"Of course! They wouldn't just… I mean, it couldn't be, how could it… Th-that wouldn't be fair…"
"…Matthew?"
"Err… Wait. Just a minute…"
"Okay."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…Matthew?"
"OKAY, FINE, IT'S BROKEN! ARE YOU HAPPY? ARE YOU PLEASED?" Matthew shouts, uselessly slamming his fists on the control panel. Slowly, he gets up from the seat, steps to the edge of the cockpit, and begins to climb down.
"Matthew?" Anna calls again. "You should see something."
"What?" Matthew asks, looking down just as he had reached the leg of the machine. Anna points to her left, at the other end of the room. Matthew looks in that direction and, eyes bulging, accidentally loses his grip and falls. Thankfully, with his somehow-acquired knowledge of physics, he knew that the best, least painful way to fall would be landing directly on his back, and on the softest area below him. Unfortunately, this area belonged to Anna. By what he later explains to be no fault of his own, he lands on her and both of them spend several moments recollecting themselves on the uncarpeted floor.
"Owww…" Anna whines, slowly aiding Matthew off with a push and groaning. "That hurt…"
"Ugh… I'm sure it could've been worse…" Matthew says, crawling onto his knees. "I mean, at least I didn't land on solid ground…"
"Well, why did you have to land on me?" Anna says, muttering a bit and getting on her feet, her arms crossed and hands holding her shoulders.
"It wasn't the worst angle to land on." Matthew states, also getting to his feet. "Imagine if I landed on your head. It was lucky you were looking up so high."
"It still hurt a lot…" Anna mumbles.
Matthew suddenly remembers something. Looking to what he was looking at before, which he then noticed had a large sign on the nearby wall reading 'Original Movie Novelties', sat a leashed, sleeping Nazgul.
"A… Nazgul…" Matthew mutters to himself.
"A what?" Anna asks, looking at him in confusion.
"The large, cool, black dragons of the movie and book series The Lor… Wait…" Matthew begins, sighing and shaking his head. "What has this world come to that we can't even get away from shameless advertisements and ad products in an abandoned mall situated absolutely nowhere?"
"I don't know… Want a Mentos?"
"Absolutely."
Skipping ahead of that, we find Matthew and Anna standing about 20 feet away from the head of the sleeping beast. Matthew scans the creature up and down, finding that it was most definitely not broken.
"This is perfect…" Matthew says, mostly to himself as he holds a hand to his chin. "This Nazgul has a saddle attached to it as well… I should be able to scan everything in the surrounding area with this. Hopefully we can find Miro and the others this way- ANNA!"
Matthew had noticed suddenly that Anna had moved directly in front of the creature, and had a single finger held out to it. She froze in place as Matthew yelled, her finger about six inches away from it.
"Do NOT… poke… the dragon…" Matthew says clearly, his entire body going tense. Anna tilts her head.
"But if we don't wake it up, how is it going to fly?" Anna asks. "It's not very useful asleep."
"…Okay… okay…" Matthew says, stepping forward a bit as he spoke. "Wake it up, but be gentle…"
"Oh, I'm gentle." Anna reassures him, waving it off. Slowly, she inches her finger toward the beast, and makes the mistake of poking it between the eyelids, a squelching sound audible from the action. The two of them freeze, for a moment, but then Anna suddenly remembers to remove her finger, which she does quickly. Looking at the finger, she cringes and begins to wipe it off with her shirt.
"Eugh… dragon spoog…" She mumbles. Turning to Matthew, she smiles. "Well, at least that didn't wake it up, huh?"
"…"
"…What?"
"…Meep." Matthew squeaks in a much higher pitch than his tone would suggest he could accomplish. He had noticed that, whilst Anna was looking away, the Nazgul's eyelid had fluttered… open… and was now staring, bloodshot, at Anna. She turns around, notices this, and gives it a weak smile, a sweatdrop appearing on the back of her head.
"Hiiii…" She says.
Slowly, the beast raises its head, extending its long neck up and getting itself up on its huge, dark-scaled haunches. It looks at Matthew and Anna, exhaling a slow hiss. Matthew looks at it for a moment, and goes against his first instinctive urge to void himself and run for the farthest visible landmark. Instead, he walks forward as steadily as he could and clears his throat.
"Say… Would you like to stretch your wings a bit?" He asks, swallowing once. The Nazgul stares at him silently.
"Umm… I guess you can't with that leash on you, huh?" Matthew continues, pointing to the collar around the base of the creature's neck. It turns and stares at what he was pointing at, and then looks back at him.
"Yeah, that…" He says, nodding. "If you'd let me look at it…"
Without delay, it lowers its long neck to Matthew, seeming to understand his idea. Matthew swallows again and, after a rather uncomfortable process, manages to clamber up and onto its back. Examining the collar, he notices a weak, strained and stretched-out area in the leather. He attempts to pull it apart, but it was quite a bit too strong still. Also, his work is interrupted as the creature turns its serpentine head around completely and bites into the chain of the leash, near the area where Matthew sat. With a powerful jerk, the chain snaps, and the creature spits it out.
"…Well, that was redundant of me." Matthew says, shrugging. "Though it makes me wonder why you didn't do that in the first place…"
The creature simply looks forward, though Anna could notice what almost looked like a smirk on its serpentine face. Matthew looks down at Anna.
"Well… I'll be right back." He says. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
"…Heheh… right…" Anna says, nodding and stepping out of the way. She looks around and notices a large, open entrance at the end of the room, which proved that this area was indeed a warehouse.
With a sudden, swift motion, the creature spreads its wings and, Matthew noticing what was about to happen and gripping the leather handles on the saddle as tightly as his sweaty hands could accomplish, took itself to the air with a single, powerful motion. It then continues to pump its wings, accelerating forward at a very unnecessary pace in Matthew's opinion. Within seconds, it had cleared the distance across the warehouse to the opening and passes through it, taking off to the sky and becoming lost to sight by Anna, who sighs and looks around for something interesting to stare at.
In a rather climatic-looking exchange of attacks, Miro and Hughchan continually trade blows with one another. Miro had a slight problem, however, since the number of pointy things he was armed with was dwarfed by Hugh's quantity. He manages to get all of Hugh's pieces of weaponry pushing against one side of his sword and he pushes them back, forcing the two to float a distance from one another. They pause for a moment, looking at one another.
"Ready to quit?" Miro asks, panting slightly.
"Hah… never…" Hughchan mutters, holding out all of his weaponry in front of him. "Until this is over, I'm not gonna give up one inch for you…"
"Well, you just did, which is why we have enough room to chat…" Miro reminds him. "But figuratively speaking, yeah, I thought you'd say that."
"Good." Hughchan comments. Focusing, he pulls his arms back. "Now DIE!"
He suddenly takes a huge, rushing lunge at Miro, pushing his arms forward and shooting himself in the same direction with his pointed limb-attachments ready to skewer Miro in several, non-specific places. However, Miro holds one hand out to pause him, and he stops in mid-air.
"…What?" Hughchan asks, a bit confused.
"Check out behind you." Miro says, pointing over one of Hughchan's shoulders.
"Oh, right, and then you stab me." Hughchan scoffs. "I'm not that stupid."
"Whatever you say…" Miro remarks, shrugging.
"Now, time to…" Hughchan begins. However, he cuts himself off as he hears rapid wing-beats approaching from behind him. He pulls a quick 180 and looks around just in time to see a pair of open jaws flying right into him.
"Oh, hell…"