Sorry for the long delay…here's the fourth chapter. Went back from camp early due to a stomach cramp, bleah. Well, as usual, enjoy! Thousand apologies for any errors in the writing and story itself. Comments and critiques are well appreciated.
Disclaimer: I don't own Battle Bdaman, it rightfully belongs to Inuki Eiji. This is a fusion of the manga and anime, which explains some of the 'OOC' portrayed. Translation of basic techniques is credited to the anime Bleach.
Black Rose Zero
Chapter Four: Basking In Twilight
Gray was highly confused on how to react. Yamato was in a no better state either. Carat did not inform him on how to deal with Bull when he was out of control and being born with a kind nature, he refused to hurt anyone badly unless pushed in a corner. With a regular opponent a couple of scratches could wear him down, but Bull was different. It would take a lot more to reverse him to his first form.
Both boys fell onto their knees as Bull withdrew his sword. Changing to his second form, he snickered cockily, " What's wrong, men? Not having fun anymore? Well, all the more reasons for me to entertain…"
He lashed out his lengthened sword once more, a pile of dust swirling into the air as he brought it down to the ground. He continued doing this, occassionally changing to his third form to extend it sideways. Gray and Yamato dodged the onslaught of attacks, attempting to prevent anymore injuries from being inflicted.
Yamato's gaze flitted around Bull, hoping to find his weak spot. Unfortunately for him, Bull's moves were so fast and slick that every rock Yamato landed on was destroyed by him in a single second. Through the dust he could not decipher Gray's position, but he probably had escaped or already thought of some way to escape this dilemma.
' Damn it,' Yamato mentally cursed, gripping Cobalt Blade tighter, ' He's too fast, it takes my all just to dodge, let alone attack! What should I do?'
" Lets confuse him," Gray suggested, suddenly appearing beside him, " On the exterior, he may look powerful, but in truth its only his alter egos. From what happened, its obvious that he has three forms, which adds up to his weapon's three abilities. As you know, it takes one to master one technique, a professional to master thee. Apparently, his three are not stable ones."
" Gray!?" Yamato yelped in surprise, " When and how did you appear!?"
" Doesn't matter," Gray simply dismissed the subject, " Your friend here is pratically unstoppable anymore and at this rate, he may exhaust himself to death after destroying half this mountain. The sole way to stop him now is to change him back to what unimpressive first impression I had on him. Are you willing to help me get out of this predicament?"
" Sure," Yamato agreed, seeing he had no better ideas and somewhat understood the basics of Gray's killing side. " What do you reckon we should do?"
Gray lowered his voice and narrated his strategy to Yamato. The latter sideglanced at Bull, who was still swinging his weapon around like a madman, both his second and third forms too absorbed to actually pay attention to the fight.
" Get what you need to do?" Gray concluded.
" Of course," Yamato nodded, " For this once, I'll be counting on you then."
" Ripped the words right out of my mouth," Gray smirked.
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Bull paused for a split second in order to marvel at the destruction he created around him. It was a long time since he felt this free, a long time since he felt this rush of pleasure, all thanks to Carat. Sure, his first and second form thought she was a nice girl and indeed, she was, but did she really have to hinder their fighting spirit? It was true that she was the princess, but aside from that, she did not hold any control over them.
Just then, Gray landed directly in front of him, his demeanor still as cool as a cucumber. Bull stared at him in disbelief for a second, that he could survive all the previous attacks, but the expression quickly changed to a smug one.
" So you're tougher than I thought," Bull sneered, reverting to his second form, " In that case, I shoud not bore you by showing you no mercy!"
The lengthened sword aimed for Gray once more, nearly hitting him as he jumped up. This time, Bull followed in suit, planning to swing the long heavy sword off the ground and slash him into two with it. However, the boy before him was not Gray, but Yamato. Catching him unprepared, Yamato managed to weaken his grasp, cutting his wrists lightly as he hurled himself to the opposite end of the mountain.
Wincing at the bitter irritation coursing through his arms, Bull fell back on the ground, standing in the middle of Gray and Yamato. Refusing to be defeated, he turned to his third form in a moment of anger and roared, " If you think you're done, then you're wrong! I am strong and strong people don't lose!"
As preplanned, Helio Breaker extended sideways towards the two. It was time for Yamato and Gray to release their attacks at the same time. Gray used a different technique which made the bullets blow up the air around Bull instead of hitting him directly. Yamato swung his sword in the air a few times to add the power it could inflict and brought it down to the ground as hard as he could. " Cobalt power blast!"
A strong ray rushed headlong into Bull, along with Gray's bullets. It was Bull's alter egos' turn to be at a lost on what to do with their sword, either attack or defend. Due to his slow reaction, both attacks successfully struck him, knocking him back to his original form. The bad side effect was that the impact caused Bull to fly to the end of the peak, allowing gravity to pull him downwards to his death.
' Oh dear, what's going on here…? I remember being the other Bulls, then…hey, I think I'm flying!'
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Instinctively, Yamato rushed over to grab Bull's hand without fear hesitation, temporarily delaying his plummet to hell. Gray smiled a little at the sight. How typical of the naïve character to rescue anyone who was basically innocent, not heeding the consequences and risks it cost.
" Hold on tight!" Yamato gasped, pulling with all his might in a futile attempt.
" Don't let go!" Bull grimaced, looking down at the miniature town below his feet. He did not even want to think about his journey towards there from here.
" Wasn't planning to," Yamato assured him. His decision to save Bull was free of doubt, but it seemed that he had not enough energy to do so, due to his earlier battles. Closing his eyes, he tugged again with all his might, already feeling his muscles weakening under his skin. Gradually his grip began to loosen and he fell into perpetual panic. Worse come to worst, he would be pulled down with Bull.
After watching this short scene of predicament number two, Gray finally decided to help. There was no harm in doing so, not to mention that he hated witnessing pointless deaths. Placing his hand on Yamato's, he fueled the grip. Yamato appeared the least perturbed and working together, both of them managed to haul Bull back onto the mountain top.
" We did it!" Yamato exclaimed in both relief and joy, " All thanks to you, Gray!"
" Don't mention it," Gray panted, " I'm not really in the sappy moment right now. Oh yeah, your friend okay there?"
" Fine, don't worry about me!" Bull chirped as he sat up. Yamato and Gray nearly fell over upon Bull's disregard about his alter egos. " Oops, so now you know about the other Bulls…by the way, shouldn't we get down from here first? Its getting late."
" Right," Yamato observed the darkening sky, " So how long will it take for us to climb down, Gray?"
" Well," Gray thought for a second, " I'm not sure, but its different from getting up here."
" Great!" Yamato's litted up at the prospect of an easy trip back home, where he would invite the two to tend their wounds for a while.
" It's a lot harder," Gray finished his sentence, bursting Yamato's bubble.
" Oh man," Yamato groaned. So much for the dawn after darkness.
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Finally, after much agony, they managed to reach the bottom as the last rays of sunlight disappeared. The trip seemed like eternity and more than three times did either one of them nearly fell off again ( mostly it was Bull, somehow sleeping with his eyes open. Yamato did not know whether to classify it as a gift or a liability.) Unexpectedly, Mie and Carat were already waiting for their arrival.
" Mom!" Yamato greeted jubilantly, " I knew you were alright! Don't mind these two, Bull's the one who saved me and Gray's not really the scary assasin everyone thought."
" I know," Mie nodded, tears of relief welling up in her eyes, " Miss Watts has told me all about what happened. Son, thank god you're safe too!"
" Takes more than that to hurt me," Yamato bragged.
" Now that all the fighting is done," Mie clasped her hands together, " I say we all go to our house to rest and heal our wounds."
" Thanks, but no thanks," Gray rejected, putting his cold attitude back on, " I have no more free time to mingle with you people."
" Aw Gray, don't be such a spoilsport," Yamato mock-pouted, " Its rather fun to relax and chat with all the savoury people you've met, you know."
" I won't really mind," Mie added, " The more the merrier. Miss Watts, will you be joining us?"
" Yes, gladly," Carat nodded, " I've also got something to discuss with Yamato—a good option I've discovered for the extraction."
Yamato's eyes widened upon remembering his main responsibility. From now onwards, he set down a resolution for himself, which was to not stray away from protecting King Watt's spirit anymore. With that, they left, including Gray after some persuasion ( read: whining) from Yamato.
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Yamato and Mie's house was a large vehicle shaped like a cat. It used to be Mie's makeshift restaurant when she was younger, providing her culinary services to the public while driving around to see the world. Everyone took their seats at a round table, waiting for Carat to start. She cleared her throat and placed the day's newspaper on the table, the page boasting the featured section.
" The annual Winners tournament, approaching greatness," She read out the headlines, " You all know about this, right?"
" Duh," Yamato rolled his eyes, " Only a person living under a rock doesn't. The Winners tournament, held yearly to allow all willing participants to prepare themselves. It's the biggest event of the year and the winner holds eternal glory, along with the prize of getting one wish granted."
" Thus, the wish can be used to free King Watts," Mie concluded, " I see what you're getting at, Miss Watts but exceptional as I admit my son is, I doubt he has enough skill and experience to win. You said King Watts has done the transfer to other young men, why don't we just use the extraction method done on them?"
" We can't," Carat shook her head, " The alchemists required is currently not in town. Lately, because of some secret organization, the crime rate has heightened rapidly so they're sent out on field work, hence this is the only option available. Are you willing, Yamato?"
" Yeah, for the people and the king!" Yamato raised his voice enthusiastically, punching his vist in the air and standing up abruptly to step on the table with one leg, " I'll undergo any training to make myself the strongest!"
" The first training you have to undergo is to not dirty the table with your feet!" Mie reprimanded and shoved him back into his chair, " But then again, I can't recommend any good teachers…"
" Ooh, I can," Bull piped up, " My master in Saitoon is a legend in both mechanism and the fighting art. He's more than happy to accept any dedicated student at anytime."
" Then its settled," Yamato said excitedly, " Tomorrow, I shall set out on my journey…is that okay, mom?"
" Definitely," Mie tried to sound supportive, barely suppressing her worried frown, " Though I'll normally prevent you from going on these dangerous adventures, it can't be helped since this is a royal order."
" Great!" Yamato grinned from ear to ear, then turned to Gray, who had not said anything so far, " Gray, what do you think?"
" In my opinion," Gray commented, " You are not ready for this."
" What!? Why!?" Yamato demanded to know why the assasin did not place any confident in him. Did he not taste his fighting spirit only a while ago?"
" Yamato, first and foremost," Gray asked, " Do you know the basics of fighting?"
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As the wise men pointed out, it took ninety-nine percent skills and one percent intuition to be victorious on a battle. Gray admit that Yamato was strong in the intuition department but his skills, compared to the older and experienced, were way off. His fighting spirit, though strong, was not foundation built.
" Yeah I do," Yamato arched an eyebrow, " So what's your point?"
" I don't think you do," Gray said, " Its very obvious that your techniques don't mirror any of them."
" Ah? Quit talking in purple prose," Yamato scratched his head in confusion, " Aren't those single techniques?"
" Exactly what I'm talking about," Gray pinpointed, " You don't understand at all. As we all know, there are four categories to classify every technique under-Zanjutsu ( cutting), Hakuda ( bare hands), Hohou ( movement) and Kidou ( demon arts). Each of the basic attacks are based on each one of these. Then, they can be furthermore classifed for the more advanced techniques. Zanjutsu and Hakuda are what most swordmen like you use. Hohou and Kidou, otherwise known as Ninjutsu ( secret arts) or magic, is probably the highest class of attacks and are more flexible to fuse than the other two."
" Yeah…" Yamato waited for Gray to continue.
" A messed up combination of either two is the problem most fighters have," Gray supplied, " For example, even though Bull was using a sword, he was fusing Hohou and Hakuda. I have to agree with your mother that you're an exceptional fighter. Exceptional as in not applying any of these four basic techniques."
" That can't be right," Yamato scowled, " Remember that I had a draw with you."
" Pure intuition," Gray stated, " After our two fights, I can easily see through your technique and so can others. You let the latter attack first and harm you, then you find their weak spot through personally experiencing their style. Sure, it's a decent tactic…but too risky if your opponent is on a much higher level than you."
" Well…I haven't really thought of it that way," Yamato slowly digested what Gray said.
" What you need to learn right now," Gray adviced, " Is first to strengthen your foundation. Predict what category and combination the opponent is using through their weapons. Never act rashly and use training experiences for a strategy base. Eventually, you will become stronger."
" Hoo boy, is that accomplicated or is that accomplicated," Yamato sighed for the umpteenth time that day. Along with the series of events, he had to accept the fact that he had yet a long way to go. And to think that before, he thought he was above average.
" If you can't grasp this concept, you can't jump over the next hurdle," Gray continued to give Yamato a reality check, " And I'm not talking about the training you have to endure. The aforementioned secret organization? It also has plans to win the tournament's grand prize, to get their goal accomplished once and for all. It treats it so seriously that its willing to attempt any alternative to get what they own, dirty tricks not excluded. Not long ago, it dispatched two of their most powerful subordinates to decrease the number of contestants by a great margin to increase their chance at success. As you start on your journey you will sooner or later have to face them. It will be unwise to treat them lightly, for they are famous for their technique fusing abilities. Remember my warning and these people. You will recognize them as chinese brothers—Li and Wen Yong Fa."