This conclusive chapter turned out so long that I had to split it into two chapters, so then you could come back to it if you haven't got time to read the whole thing. Anyway, this is the conclusion to The Calming of the Storm. I hope you enjoy it.

Japan, five years later.

Taki had deliberated with herself for five long years, after cleansing Tornado and obtaining the shards, whether to go through with what she had originally planned or not. She left the two lovers quickly, with hurried farewells to each of them, using every part of her ninja will for self-restraint. They were confused. She had walked briskly away from them, trying to keep her upright posture, but before she knew it, she had broken into a run.

For as much as she hated herself for it, she felt a certain emptiness whenever she settled into a forest at night without the youthful, handsome boy or the diminutive black-haired girl tied against one of the trees. It wasn't right, she told herself, it wasn't right and it was weak, a weak thing to have, and the big thing ninjas detested was weakness. Ninjas do not have weaknesses- even a weakness for one or two in particular was not satisfactory- a demon or a malevolence could suddenly be present in them, and the ninja would be killed- Ninja rule number one: Do not be killed, especially not by someone who was not a ninja! And she knew she had the weakness.

The weakness had presented itself when Tira attacked her in the forest. Taki was feeling rather content that night, having Yunsung taught her something she had never heard of-humility and heroics being one and the same. As a result, she did not sleep as attentively as she usually did- rather she slept deeply, blissfully unaware that she was about to be attacked. If it wasn't for Yunsung's warning, and how he quickly struck at the girl in green, Taki would be dead, whereas on a normal night, it would be Tira who would have been dead, or at least by the throat. One question had been bugging Taki all these five years- how could Yunsung have noticed the threat and not her??

It was the big reason why she returned to Japan and to her sensei successfully, Soul Edge in hand, ready to present to her master and hopefully he would tell her she was a true ninja at last. She would be reassured if he told her.

The ninja village was surrounded by many trees, clear, clean creeks and greenery, as well as ornate sculptures and pottery carved by the ninjas as part of their training. The path to the gates was long and winding. She walked calmly, recording her every movement as an epic one, the final journey of a legend who would be renowned for generations!

"Stop right there!"

Taki bristled, ready- aha, some other ninja was going to try and steal her bounty and win the sensei's regards! She'd expected it. But alas, down from the trees descended Talim and Yunsung, weapons raised. It was impossible, but in the same way inevitable.

"What are you doing here???" Taki roared, her blades arched.

"To stop you!" Talim's fair, valiant voice wisped through the still air to her ears. Her eyes were healed, both big and brown, and the scars on her face were less noticeable. Her chest was slightly more ample than it was before, and she was taller, now reaching Taki's own height. Her once intricately tied hair now hung loose around her still keen face of a woman of twenty, "You lied to us!"she yelled, "You said you destroyed Soul Edge, and you didn't! You-"

"How did you know???" Taki screamed back; she had left so discreetly, she had not spoken to anyone, she had never taken off her ninja robe- how could they have known???

"The wind brought me the forebodings!"Talim cried, holding her tonfas to the sky in reverence, "It told me Soul Edge was still present in the world, and it led us here, to you!"

Taki was enraged, "You vile, obnoxious, heathenish pig of a girl! I'll-"

"Taki!" She was forced to look into the green eyes of her one-time companion, Yunsung. Five years hadn't done that much to him- he still looked quite youthful. He now wore full-length white trousers instead of his childlike shorts, but he still wore his flamed waistcoat. "Taki, you're making a big mistake! You know what's right and wrong here!" His voice was slightly deeper. "Didn't we talk about things like this?"

"Ha!" she bellowed, "You were naïve enough to believe such drivel?"

"So...so that's it?"he said, looking angry, but also quite unnerved, "So it was all a facade? The kindness, the bravery you offered us, it was all a lie just to get the shards?"

She gave a cold, mirthless laugh, "Yes, you fool! The joke about the undergarments, the naivety of trusting the villagers- all a lie to make you believe I wasn't a threat!"

He stared at her. Yunsung couldn't believe he was hearing such things from her. He had never thought it was a lie all along, he thought she was just pressurized. "You're unbelievable!"he exclaimed, outraged, "That's completely disgusting! You talked about heroism and bravery- so you don't even desire those things? You want to get the shards to your sensei! But for what Taki? For what?"

She paused. She panted, still arched in her stance, giving each of them warning looks. Then, she snarled, "It matters not! When I reach the sensei I will be honored above all other ninjas!"

"For what??"Yunsung asked insistently.

"I have already told you, it matters not!!!"she screamed, "It is a matter of honor and a job done! Now go away from this place and never come back, or you will meet a very, very quick death!"

"No." said Talim, shaking her head slowly at her, "We're not leaving without those shards."

And she and Yunsung simultaneously took a step forwards. Taki stayed still, her small eyes darting to each of them rapidly, her weight changing from foot to foot, shifting across the ground, giving them, Yunsung knew, a few seconds to attack. When they didn't, Taki screamed, "CHAI!"and shot towards Yunsung, her blades aimed at his neck.

He brought up White Storm to block the blades as was his practice. She began to let fly with increasingly swift slashes towards his face, neck and torso. He blocked one, two, three times, then swung his sword aggressively at her. She dodged, but it was never intended to hit, for he threw up his free hand to hold one of her swords at bay, as she swung the other. She was too strong for him to hold, snapping free, bouncing back once, rolling along the ground, and letting a jab fly towards Yunsung's torso- he had to lean right backwards to dodge it, and it scraped painfully across his shoulder.

Angered, but proceeding with his plan, Yunsung held off Taki's speedy strikes, trying to slide the blades away so she was caught off balance. But her strike was impressive; every block he did opened up an opportunity to slash her other blade at him. Finally, he was forced to use his hand, throwing it down onto Taki's right hand while he let Taki's blade slide across his sword. At great risk, he dropped White Storm and took hold of her arm, holding both the blades upwards and away from him. Her eyes pierced into his as she gritted her teeth, and she pulled her arms as hard as she could, trying to free herself from his grasp. But before she could, she was being seized around the neck and pulled backwards, and seemed to realize too late that she'd forgotten about Talim.

"NO! Get off me!" she yelled, as Talim pulled her backwards by the throat, dragging her along the ground, "Get off me you impudent girl!"

Yunsung watched Talim pull Taki to the ground and sit on top of her legs, facing her and still forcing down her hands. Yunsung went around to hold Taki's hands for her, and he tugged Taki's blades out of them and threw them just far enough to be out of her reach.

"No!" she roared again, "No!"

"Where are they?" Talim said, zealously looking into Taki's eyes fiercely. "Where are they or I'll search you, every inch of you!"

As suddenly as she'd fired up, Taki silenced, and the angry colour faded from her cheeks, and she lay her head back onto the ground and heaved a sigh through her nose. She didn't say anything, but regarded them dully. She looked like she'd given up, but Yunsung knew better.

"Are you going to tell us?" Talim asked again.

Taki gave a slow, unnerving blink.

"Right." Talim drew her gaze on Taki's robe put her hands together in a kind of preparation, "I didn't want to do this. I really didn't want to do this." and she really didn't- she looked a little repulsed as she laid her hand on Taki's wide, black belt, "But it has to be done."

And with that, Talim loosened the belt, and slowly, tremulously opened Taki's ninja robe. As Yunsung expected, Taki wore nothing underneath it. On Taki's toned abdomen was the scar Tira had given her five years previously, as well as many, many others from past battles, some of which Yunsung would have been proud of, and just below that were those black hot-pant-looking things which looked like part of a cat suit. Yunsung looked elsewhere, and saw that what was on either side of her chest (which was admittedly distracting to him), on the splayed open inside of the ninja robe, was something else altogether.

There must have been sixteen small leather pouches, eight on either side of the robe- they were of the kind used to hold marbles; each one was strapped to her robe in rows of two. Yunsung let Taki's hands go briefly before kneeling on them, and then reached forward and unhooked one of the leather pouches from it's brass clasp on the black strip it was on, the same material as Taki's belt. He loosened the white string which bound the noose of the bag, and retched and flung his head back at the foul stench which emitted from it. He repositioned the bag a considerable distance from his face, and saw a shiny glimmer; the fiery metal of Soul Edge.

"It's here! It's in these bags!"he announced, feeling enlightened with relief and success. Taki looked bored with the proceedings.

"Right, good." Talim replied, sounding a little disgusted, her eyes blinking rapidly each time she saw Taki's chest, "Sorry...I was hoping I'd never have to do this..."

"It's not that bad!" said Yunsung, grinning.

"You would say that! You're so typical, Yunsung!"she exclaimed, but as had been usual across these past 5 blissful years with her, Yunsung knew she was amused. "I didn't know they could get so big...oh dear...right, focus, focus, loot the shards then."

Yunsung began to unclip each and every one of the leather bags from the right hand side of Taki's robe, while Talim took the left, Taki's hands still safely held under Yunsung's weighty knees. Talim dictated a dry, scathing running commentary to Taki:

"Ah yes yes, it all makes sense now. You just cut all the shards off the strips of skin and...what's this?-" (she took a small,empty bottle out of an inside pocket in Taki's robe)- "Of course, to hide the smell of Soul Edge. But it looks as if it ran dry. That's why I and the wind could find you, and that's how we've got you now!" Taki just looked back at her, her face becoming more of a snarl.

Meanwhile Yunsung would pass the shards to Talim, who would put them in a large leather bag she had prepared and attached to her belt. Once they had them all, Talim instructed, "On the count of three, we jump off her, okay?"

"Got it."

"One...two...three!"

They both jumped to their feet and backed right off. Yunsung watched closely, White Storm out and ready as Taki got up slowly and methodically. She closed and belted her robe and picked up her blades. She raised them.

"You've got no chance, Taki." said Talim (She always did the talking). "You back right off as well."

Taki's eyes darted to each of them, as if deciding between them who she wanted to kill first. She muttered something under her breath. Then, suddenly, she pounced at Yunsung again.

"She's at me, Talim!" he called, raising White Storm high above his head as Taki landed beside him, and he readily swung it at her. But the sword went through her very image, leaving a gap of air. And she faded in front of him, as if he was looking at her through a window, and then disappeared altogether.

"Talim, she's gone!" he moved backwards, expecting to feel Talim's back against his as it would when they covered each other. It didn't come. He heard a choking sound from behind him instead.

Yunsung whipped around. Talim's eyes were popping and her mouth was agape in shock and astonishment, making the choking sounds. And Taki was behind her, looking at Yunsung savagely from over Talim's shoulder. Taki pulled something out of Talim, and Talim jerked forward. Her shivering eyes wavered to focus unsteadily on Yunsung's face. Then she wobbled and fell forward on top of Yunsung, who just caught her. There was a huge red gouge in the left of her back.

"T-Talim...?" he shook her- her head lolled. Yunsung eased her down onto the ground, but not before Taki had attempted to go past him. He swiftly swung his leg along the floor and tripped her, "No, you don't!" he shouted. She tried to get up but he was already on top of her, tugging her knives free from her grasp. He punched her, hard, five times on the side of her head. After making sure she was too dazed to get up, he hurried over to Talim, who was lying face up and still, eyes open and watching him.

"Talim..."Yunsung said to her urgently, "Talim, speak to me!"

"I..."Talim gasped, her jaw shivering and her body keeled over slightly in pain, "I...could be dying..."

"No, you're not!" he said determinedly, turning her over and examining the gaping wound. Taki had managed to hit the exact spot where he threw White Storm at Tornado five years ago. That had always been her Achilles Heel afterwards, and this gouge was much deeper and more deadly...

"Yunsung..."Talim gave a rattling cough.

"What is it, love?"he said, turning her back over and holing her hand with his two.

"You m-must chase Taki away..."she told him, "Th-then you must come back...take the shards and destroy them...Soul Calibur is in the bag...I took it from her..."

"Talim, I can't leave you..."

"If you carry me anywhere...I will die quicker..."she gasped. "There she goes!"

Yunsung spun around and saw Taki disappearing into a bunch of trees to the left. He looked at Talim for what could be the last time, and then set off after Taki, determination swallowing him up.

"Stop!" he called. But she already had- in the middle of a large clearing with a beautiful lake beside it. She was looking at him, her small eyes fierce and dangerous, the right one blackened and squinting from Yunsung's punches.

"I would tell you to stand aside, but I would still kill you anyway." she snarled.

Yunsung roared and charged at her, swinging White Storm faster and harder than he could ever remember, but Taki was putting in the exact same effort, her knife blades simply throwing Yunsung's this way and that. Finally, she stumbled backwards. Yunsung, who in his anger didn't care if he killed her, stabbed into Taki's torso.

But again, it shot straight through air, and the image disappeared. Yunsung looked around him and found she was to his left. He swung at her, but she faded again. He turned around one hundred and eighty degrees and took a step backwards at the shock of what he was seeing.

There were eight identical Takis in a curve around him, smiling fiendishly at him. Yunsung couldn't run- in front of him were the Takis and behind him was the lake. He deliberated about diving in and swimming the lake, when the Takis said unanimously, "Go on, take a guess. Which one of us is real?"

Yunsung paused and then understood- Taki was only cloning images of herself. One of the eight Takis in front of him had to be real. But which one? If he attacked the wrong one, he would be wide open to an attack by the others. He had a one in eight chance. He may as well take it.

He peered at the Takis suspiciously, who all stood there, stock still and wearing the same fiendish smile. None of them blinked or scuffled or looked in the least different from the others. He would have to take a complete guess. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and swung...

"YOU LOSE!" Came a scream, and Yunsung found himself being choked around the neck by unmistakably the real Taki. The other Takis vanished, as Taki dragged him, flailing and struggling but not getting anywhere, towards the lake.

"Assassinating you will be the peak of my career!" screamed Taki fiercely into his ear. Yunsung heard her feet enter the water with a soft splash, "And don't you worry, I'll go back and make sure your little wife is dead too!"

Yunsung tried to scream 'no' but he could barely breathe. Suddenly he felt Taki shove him headfirst into the water. He choked and spluttered, pushing himself off the ground to try and get out but Taki's strong grip around his neck meant he couldn't escape. He could feel his consciousness fading, his life dripping away...

But suddenly Taki had stopped holding him down. He threw himself backwards and out of the water, and was blinded by a gold and red light. He raised his arms to cover his eyes as his ears rang with a horribly familiar screaming coming from his left:

"WHICH ANGEL DID THE DEVIL'S BLOOD BLEED INTO TONIGHT?"

Yunsung couldn't remain conscious for the answer.

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Thats the end of Part 1! Hurry onto Part 2!