Chapter 6-Confrontation

Soshi remembered the path to the large, prison-like room. He quickly tore through the tunnels, searching for it. As he was travelling, he noticed a peculiar sight. All of the tunnels were empty. Not a single sould to be found. Soshi felt the slightest bit of discomfort in this deserted place; it was empty, but the tunnels could not have been carved by nature. No. Someone, or something dug them all, even if there was no trace of whatever it was left.

At last, Soshi reached the grand room. It was just as he remembered, cold, ominous, and most of all, lifeless except for his mother, still trapped, fitfully sleeping. He produced an apple and quickly chomped it down to give himself some strength. Then he went to work.

He focused his energy into his claws and wings, turning them stiff and hard as steel. He focused on his target, the icicles of his mother's "cell". The light glistened off his dark wings as he aimed and struck forth with all his might. There was a sound of connection, and a cloud of snow and ice was thrown into the air. Soshi was blinded, but he knew it wasn't enough. Quickly, he conjured up a fireball and spat it at the icicles. This time, an eerie purple glow was visible through the ice. He hoped he had done it. The cloud cleared, and to Soshi's chagrin, the icicles were still there, not a sign of a scratch on them as Soshi's embers died away.

Soshi's mother was wide awake now and looking bewildered and worried.

"Soshi! You should not have come back here!" she hissed.

"I had to, mother. I had to save you." Soshi responded tearfully, and stepped back to try once more.

A very faint freezing gust stopped Soshi just before he unleashed another fireball. He turned around, and lost all sense he had.

Soshi found himself staring at the Ice Lord himself, Koujin. He studied Koujin carefully. Koujin wore all black, and had a red collar that ended in two spikes around his neck. His face was completely hidden, except for two faint yellow eyes Soshi could see glowing. In his hand, he carried a jagged scepter made from an icicle with a deep sapphire gem at the top. In a hilt on his waist, Soshi saw a smooth blade carved out of a chunk of ice, judging by its reflective properties. He was levitating, and Soshi could sense the dark aura in him and around him. He gritted his teeth. This would not be easy.

"I see you have intruded on my palace." Koujin chuckled.

Soshi bared his teeth even more. "I did not expect you to come out of hiding so soon.

Sosha gasped and pretended to be asleep.

Koujin, with one wave of his hand, extended his scepter to twice its usual length and hovered higher into the air. He began shooting blue energy rings at Soshi. He dodged every single one, got a running start, and became airborne himself. He tried a head-on collision course with Koujin, who merely teleported out of the way, leaving nothing more than an illusion. Meanwhile, he reappeared behind Soshi and blasted him with his scepter. Soshi fell to the ground, frozen solid in a block of ice. Koujin landed and chuckled to himself. He began to walk away when he was hit square in the back by a large purple fireball. He gathered up his flaming robes and whirled around; Soshi was not out of the fight yet.

Soshi bared his claws as he swooped down with blinding speed at Kpujin. He raised his scepter just in time to make Soshi's feet scrape it. Koujin jumped in the air, unsheathed his blade and slashed in Soshi's back. Blood oozed out of the wound, but Soshi ignored it as best he could. He was fighting a losing battle, but he didn't care. He spewed out another fireball and missed as Koujin teleported again. This time, Soshi could not find him. From his hiding place in the ceiling, Koujin silently laughed as he fired black orbs from his scepter.

Soshi never saw them coming. They connected and seemed to latch onto him. A long, drawn out, sucking noise was heard as they started draining his energy. Soshi tried to flap them away, but there were too many. They engulfed him, turning his vision completely black, and still more came. Soshi fell to the gorund and still he would not give up. He would continue to thrash until his last breath. He knew it couldn't be the end; not yet.

Suddenly, they all dissapeared. Soshi flipped over just in time to be stabbed in the tail. Pain surged up through his tail up his spine, and it felt very cold, as some blood began to crystallize on the mark. Soshi glared at his adversary and let out a mighty roar which shook the whole palace. Koujin was only affected while it lasted, however and quickly regained his balance and flew toward Soshi even faster than Soshi had. A quick punch and slice to the gut brought Soshi to the ground once more, holding his stomach, and fighting back the tears of pain. Soshi coughed up some blood. He couldn't go on. Koujin was still unscathed and he was a wreck. Still, he had to try.

As he drew in breath for another fireball, Koujin dissapeared yet again. Immediately, Soshi felt a large pain in his left wing, and then, nothing. He looked over and Koujin's sword was embedded in it. It was useless now. He closed his eyes and let the burning flame inside him ignite. He didn't need his wings. He didn't need much of anything. All he needed was his life. Soshi drew in all the energy inside him, and let it loose before Koujin could strike again. The room shone with a brilliant white that Sosha even squinted to see. When it faded, Soshi was nowhere to be found.

Dashing through the ice caves, Soshi didn't dare look back to see if Koujin was chasing him. He carefully climbed up above the caves and into the snow, now picked up by blinding wind. Soshi pulled himself to the top of the glacier and covered his face with one of his hands to see. He struggled to stay standing, as that blinding flash had drained much of his energy. One peculiar thing he noticed was that the strange pirate ship was no longer there. He knew that couldn't be a good sign. There was only one thing he had in mind. He had to go to Toad Town, strange as it may have seemed, warn the people about Koujin and possibly the pirates, somehow convince the princess that something must be done and as much as he hated to admit it, he'd need Yoshi's help, too. Soshi had to put his past behind him.

With great effort, he took flight once again, and headed out in the direction he guessed was the Mushroom Kingdom's capital.